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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 9536875" data-attributes="member: 6750502"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/DsEY8cZ.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /> Chapter Three, Part Two: Rest of the Character OptionsWith race and class covered, the remainder of this chapter covers smaller yet still relevant features for character creation.Pretty much every Background from the Player’s Handbook can be adapted without much trouble, but we still get six new ones with more explicit ties to the setting. The Lorechanter is akin to a Sage but chooses from History, Nature, or Religion as their bonus skills. They are flavored to be more of a collector of their own people’s tales, and thus have advantage on checks to recall histories and legends of their home island. Mangangalakal are merchants who conduct inter-island trade, and are proficient with water vehicles, two trade-related skills, one bonus language of their choice, and their feature gives them advantage on haggling and discerning the value of goods. A Panday is an artisan who dedicates their life to mastering one particular type of craft. They get three bonus skills instead of 1 (Perception, Performance, and Sleight of Hand) along with one set of artisan’s tools, and their feature lets them spend half the usual cost of materials for their specialization. A Sea Raider is basically a warrior experienced at naval combat and not necessarily a pirate. They get proficiency in Athletics and Intimidation along with water vehicles and a bonus language, and their feature lets them reroll one damage die when making a successful attack against a boat. A Voyager is a more generic traveler of the oceans, and gets Perception and Survival along with proficiency in a hunter’s kit (new tool type) and water vehicles, and can hold their breath for a minimum of 5 minutes regardless of their Constitution. The final background, Aswang Lineage, is explicitly supernatural, representing someone whose family tree contains an aswang monster, and some of that lineage has rubbed off on the character. They are proficient in Deception, Stealth, a single tool of any type, the Abyssal language, and have advantage on any checks made to instill fear in someone else.Thoughts: The backgrounds overall look more or less balanced, although the Panday’s half cost might need consideration if the DM is using a dedicated crafting sub-system, and Aswang Lineage’s feature makes it really good for Intimidation and fear-based abilities. I do like it when Features are made to give explicit benefits, and giving half the backgrounds water vehicles proficiency is also a good choice given the setting.The Feats section is short, with 5 new ones all fitting on a single page. Adept Conduit can only be taken by spellcasters, representing someone who managed to gain the favor of some spirits even if they’re not a babaylan. They get +1 Intelligence, learn a babaylan cantrip, and gain 2d4 Spirit Dice which they can use like the babaylan’s class feature. Cannoneer represents one who makes the lantaka (handheld cannon) their weapon of choice, where they ignore that weapon’s loading property, don’t suffer disadvantage on ranged attack rolls when adjacent to an enemy, and roll one bonus weapon damage die when they get a critical hit with a lantaka. Headhunting Master grants proficiency with the bunang (axe with a point on the butt of the axehead), lets the user ignore its two-handed property, and adds their ability modifier when making a bonus action attack with the pointed side of the weapon. Oceanborne Warrior grants a swimming speed equal to walking speed and ignores disadvantage on weapon attacks when underwater. Unrelenting Hunter increases Strength or Dexterity by 1, grants proficiency with the hunter’s kit, and as a free action on their turn can apply a substance on a single melee weapon or three pieces of ammunition.Thoughts: Adept Conduit is a great feat given its granting of Spirit Dice. Oceanborne Warrior is more situational, but is likely to be useful in the setting. Unrelenting Hunter is ideal for quickly poisoning weapons while in the middle of combat. As for the weapon-specific feats, the latanka is a very strong ranged weapon  so ignoring its loading property really ups the damage potential. As for a bunang, it’s clearly inspired by Polearm Master but the weapon isn’t as good (1d8 with the axe, 1d6 with the pointed side) given that it lacks reach.Equipment provides us with new armor, weapons, and adventuring gear. While some kinds of warriors can go unarmored, most people choose such protection before heading off into battle. An armor’s weight and ‘breathability’ are highly important, as gear that can weigh someone down risks drowning and heatstroke. Since metal tends to be reserved for weapons and tools, most armor is made from bamboo, bark, and animal hides and parts, with corded fibers used to make some armor waterproof. We get a list of armor types in the setting along with new ones, and the good news is that heavy armor lovers still have options in the form of Chain Mail (costs twice as much) and Pakil armor (AC 18, made of interlocking bamboo/hardwood/ebony plates, costs 800 gold). For light armor we have Reinforced Leather which is basically Studded Leather. Habay-habay replaces normal Leather but is half that armor’s price. For medium armor, Chain Shirts still exist but cost 4 times as much and has a base AC of 14, Carabao Hide is AC 13 at 30 gold, and Barote is akin to half-plate’s 15 AC but costs 400 gold, imposes no disadvantage on Stealth checks, and is made from abaca fibers or bark cords and is waterproof.As for weapons, almost everyone has access to ones that can be easily used as tools or for hunting, and spears and swords are the most common melee weapons. Shortbows, blowguns, and spears with tied cord to serve as harpoons are the most common ranged weapons. Headhunters are known to wield the bunang which is ideal for beheading someone, and the latanka portable cannon can be mounted on ships. Some weapons are designed specifically for fighting aswang. While any weapon can be plausibly coated in the substance, it degrades iron quickly, so people typically forge anti-aswang weapons from materials found in the sea.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/nFYoFb6.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />We have 18 new weapons, 5 of which are Simple Melee, 2 Simple Ranged, 7 Martial Melee, and 4 are Martial Ranged. Several of them are made to substitute for or are modifications of existing PHB weapons, such as the baladaw which is basically a dagger that cannot be thrown, a kris which is like a shortsword but is simple instead of martial and deals slashing damage, the kalawit is a 1d4 throwing spear that has the Harpoon property which lets you bring it back to hand as a bonus action, and the Sumpit is a blowgun whose ranged attack deals 1d8 but has a sharp blade that can be used in melee for 1d6 damage.Regarding some of the more interesting options, the Stingray Tail Whip is akin to a regular whip but is permanently treated as though it’s salt-imbued, and the Coral-Tipped Spear has this same property but is otherwise a spear that costs 5 gold. The Astinggal is a matchlock rifle that deals 1d10 piercing and has a range of 100/400. The Songil is a big spear that deals 2d6 damage and has reach and the finesse property, so you can easily play as an agile polearm-user in this setting. The Lantaka is a hand cannon made out of a large segment of bamboo or bronze, and its ammo is gunpowder-propelled arrows and stones. It deals 2d8 piercing damage and has a range of 120/480.Adventuring Gear covers everything else, a lot of which includes setting-specific flavor touches on existing items such as arcane foci. Some of the more interesting pieces include new poison types like the buta-buta leaves that can blind someone if they touch bare skin; tambal bundles which can be used with a herbalism kit for specific remedies (mostly flavor, but lists real-world plants and their common medicinal properties); and common forms of gaming sets such as spider-fighting where two spiders are placed on the ends of stick and they try to knock each other off, or sungka which is a board game similar to mancala where players move small shells or stones between pits.The book has a sidebar discussing what existing core equipment can be adopted to Sina Una easily, but otherwise says the classic “talk with your DM” when it comes to more culture-specific stuff like rapiers and scale mail.Thoughts: The armor replacements more or less cover the AC ranges well enough, although there are no bludgeoning weapons so I do feel that the weapons don’t cover all bases. There’s still quite a bit of neat and innovative ones, and given the cheapness of salt-imbued weapons PCs shouldn’t have a hard time finding stuff to harm aswang.Sailing the Seas of the Islands covers common water vehicles and pre-colonial Philippines had all kinds of vessels, but this section simplifies the many types into three general categories. Baroto are dugout canoes without sails and are designed for river travel, balangays are seafaring fishing vessels and merchant ships, while the karakoa are huge warships that can hold up to a hundred people. We also get expanded rules for seafaring action and adventure, such as boats getting increased speed when commanded by someone proficient in water vehicles, applying modifiers to AC, hit points, and damage threshold based on a ship’s intended Purpose, and new condition types to apply to vessels based on weather. We even have optional rules for ship conditions should they be damaged by a critical hit, such as a flooding hull that increases the DC of movement-related checks.Thoughts: The new rules are quite light and relatively undetailed. I feel that this section was unfinished, as I spotted two times where the book refers to “see page xx” when referencing something, and we don’t get sample gold piece prices for ships and Purposes. It’s just enough to make seafaring encounters feel deeper, but other rulesets and sourcebooks dedicated to naval combat and travel are a lot more detailed in covering this type of stuff.Magic Items is self-explanatory, and provides us with 28 new pieces of supernatural gear. In terms of rarity we have 5 each of Common, Rare, and Very Rare, 7 Uncommon, 3 each of Legendary and Artifact, and 12 of the 28 items require attunement. Some of the more interesting items include Anklets of the Trembling Earth, which grant tremorsense of 60 feet to the attuned; a Bamboo Messenger, which allows a letter or small item to be inserted to magically teleport to a target landbound creature in 1d10 days, as a bamboo shoot with the contents magically grows next to them; a Black Egg which is spawned from an aswang and one who eats it is cursed undergo a transformation process into such a monster over 2d10+10 days, but the eater gains immunity to nonmagical physical damage and can speak Abyssal; Enchanted Limbs are typically made from wood and clay to serve as prosthetics, and can even have muted tactile sensations and are immune to dispelling effects; Piercings of the Wind Spirits are similar in function, which use air spirits to allow deaf people to hear; a Golden Death Mask can be placed on the face of a recently diseased humanoid, copying their memories which can then be transmitted to someone who then wears it; Mango of the Pure Maiden is a magical fruit which requires an Arcana check to identify, and can be sliced into 6 pieces which if consumed individually can immediately cure the charmed, frightened, or poisoned conditions, but the eater is unable to lie for an hour on a failed Charisma save; Salimbal is a unique balangay boat which can fly, cast Plane Shift once per day, and has a host of damage immunities and resistances; Singing Spears, which are +1 weapons that can sing as a bonus action, the music summoning a local nature spirit that grants +1d4 damage whose type is determined by the environmental spirit in question; and Sword of the Earnest Moon, an artifact kampilan sword that is a +3 weapon, can cast Moonbeam at will, Celestial Chaos (new spell) once per long rest, grant a use of Legendary Resistance once per day, and deals 2d12 bonus radiant damage when the attuned’s current hit points are half or less than their maximum.Thoughts: There’s quite a bit of interesting magic items here. I do like the worldbuilding implications of several of them. The ear piercings and limb prosthetics are of common rarity, showing that the islanders have easy access to magical aid to help disabled people. The bamboo messenger is also common, which allows for relatively quick long-range communication between islands. The Singing Spear is perhaps my favorite, even if it’s simplistic in concept, as it encourages the party to take into account their surroundings to better understand what enhancements they can get.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/RRDzUeb.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />We have 24 new magic Spells as well as a handy table showing what classes get access to them, as well as the complete Babaylan spell list. Clerics, Druids, and Wizards get the most, the Sorcerer a decent amount, and the Bard and Warlock don’t get too many. The Paladin and Ranger, predictably, get the least.Like several of the subclasses and races, quite a bit of these spells are higher on the power scale, but a few deserve mention for being easily able to break the game, particularly the rituals. Bonded Spirits is a 2nd level spell which grants +1 to saving throws and +1d6 weapon damage based on the spirit type, and the damage die increases by 1 for every spell slot above 2nd. It lasts for 1 hour, so it’s enough to last for a few combats. Colors of Hanan is also a 2nd level ritual lasting 1 hour, conjuring a magical tattoo on the target which can either grant +1 AC, have their weapon attacks count as magical, gain advantage on Dexterity and Constitution saves, or have them heal 1d4+1 hit points per turn as long as they aren’t incapacitated. As a minute has 10 turns and 60 minutes are in an hour, this ritual spell pretty much obviates the need to spend Hit Dice to heal during short rests. Mayari’s Embrace is a 4th level ritual that lasts 8 hours, conjuring a tattoo on the target based on one of the moon’s phases. Some of them are fine, like being able to see in magical and nonmagical darkness and granting advantage on Charisma saves and saving throws, but Crescent Moon and New Moon are strong to the point of being build-defining. Crescent conjures an illusory double, granting the target advantage on all melee attacks given the double’s distracting nature, as well as a 15 foot boost to all movement types they have. New Moon allows the target to turn invisible until the end of their next turn as a bonus action, and they gain immunity to all effects that can read or sense their thoughts and emotions.Lastly, there’s Tropical Paradise, a 5th level ritual. It is akin to Tiny Hut but is 15 foot radius, can hold up to 10 creatures, and has plants growing magical fruit that increase a consumer’s hit point maximum by 1d8 + spellcasting modifier as well as immunity to poison. Doesn’t specify if this is poison damage, the poisoned condition, or both.And none of these rituals require concentration, so a party with time on their hands can easily buff everyone with powerful magic!As for the other spells, some interesting ones include Apolaki’s Light, a 1st level spell cast as a reaction to an attack, dealing radiant damage and also blinding the attacker should they fail a Constitution save; Celestial Chaos, a 9th level spell that summons moonbeams and solar flares as an AoE attack, dealing radiant damage and blinding people in the storm, and the caster can choose up to 8 creatures to be immune to the spell; Control Lava, a 4th level spell that can control up to 100 cubic feet of lava to overflow, part, or redirect; Coral Cage, a 3rd level spell that deals force damage and restrains a target who fails a Dexterity save, and aswangs automatically fail the initial save; False Self, a 1st level spell cast as a reaction to being grappled or restrained as the caster replaces themselves with an effigy and teleports to an unoccupied space within 5 feet; Lizard Skin, a 2nd level spell that grants temporary hit points and +1 AC to a target for 1 hour, and can shed skin upon being grappled or restrained to end the condition and move 5 feet away; Ride Lightning, a 4th level spell where the caster zips to a point up to 90 feet away, dealing lightning damage to all those in their path; Viper Eyes, a 1st level spell that grants the target the ability to detect heat signatures and thus grants blindsight 60 feet for 8 hours, but the effect is ended early if they take fire or radiant damage and fail a Constitution save; and Wrath of Lalahon, an 8th level spell requiring a consumable material component up to 500 gold, but in exchange the caster gains a protective rocky shell that grants temporary hit points, immunity to the elemental damage types as well as thunder damage, can deal fire damage against up to 10 creatures within 30 feet once per turn, and auto-succeeds on concentration checks to maintain spells that deal fire or radiant damage.Thoughts: This section of the chapter is perhaps the lowest point, as quite a bit of the spells here are just way too strong. Even for the non-ritual spells, we have some potent choices like the Viper Eyes that grants long-term blindsight for a 1st level spell slot, and given Colors of Hanan and Lizard Skin don’t require concentration they can easily be stacked with other AC-boosting spells such as Shield of Faith and Warding Bond. While there are quite a few spells here which I like, particularly Coral Cage, the overpowered ones weigh the rest down.Thoughts So Far: I’m fond of the backgrounds and items, feel a bit mum on the ships, and am unimpressed with the balance of the spells. Chapter 3 as a whole is thus a very mixed bag, and DMs would do well to prune the more broken options from play.Join us next time as we review the first half of the bestiary in Chapter Four: Monsters!</blockquote>

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