Liber Magus

[Strutinan]

This product is made with the Prometheus Gaming License, created by the Free Gaming Association.

Liber Magus is a novel new concept in spellcasting. It utilizes the current 3.0/3.5 spell structure,m but presents a new method of CASTING spells and utilizing Metamagic. It is meant to expand and deepen the experience of playing a spell-caster, as well as to fix a few problems with spellcasting classes.

Designed as a PHB insert, the file is slim and well laid out. It is meant to be printed off, then inserted into the back of your PHB for easy referrence. Inside this 17-page PDF you will get:

* A new spellcasting option for both divine and arcane magic-users.

* A new spellcasting system that makes multiclassed spellcasters as viable as other multiclass characters. Including notes for using this system with Assassin and Blackguards.

* A new core class meant to replace BOTH the Sorcerer and the Wizard.

* Several new feats that add some much-needed flavor to magic.

* Many new spells, including one designed specifically for each type of Specialist Mage.

* Alterantives to the much-reviled Eldritch Knight and Mystc Theurge prestige classes, with the new versions being both flavorful and balanced.

* A mechanical REASON to take levels in class-typical skills for magic-using characters.

* A new flavor of Metamagic that makes it both more useful, and more risky to use.

All that in under 20 pages. Have fun with it!

 

[Vanuslux]

Liber Magus is a short PDF from DaemonEye Publishing. I received a complementary copy for review so it didn't cost me a penny. Most of the rest of you will have to shell out a buck for it. It is essentially a supplement of alternative magic systems.

Appearances - This PDF is pretty straight forward. There is no art except for the border, which is reasonable. There's nothing really to complain about or compliment.

Content - Aside from the standard table of contents, introduction, and license stuff there are three chapters to this book.

Chapter 1 - God of Magic: Here we get a system of defiling arcane magic and sacrificial divine magic. Defiling, as any Dark Sun fan should know, is basically sucking the life out of things to power spells and sacrificial magic should be obvious to anyone. I haven't play tested them, but as basic tack ons to the existing system they look like they'll work quite well without unbalancing anything.

Chapter 2 - Free Magicians: This gives us the Mage core class and a bunch of feats. I don't much care for the Mage core class. I like the ideas behind it...a hybrid of the Wizard and Sorcerer class that rolls for spell success. It presents another alternate spell casting system which can be used for any class. It works. It's just that the presentation is a little stilted. The new feats in this chapter are mostly metamagic feats. Instead of spell level adjustments it gives difficulty adjustments for the new system, but it wouldn't be hard to use the chart for existing metamagic feat difficulty adjustments to figure out an appropriate level adjustment for those who choose not to use the system.

Chapter 3 - Book of Magic: Prestige classes and new spells finish up the book. There are only two prestige classes...Eldritch Warrior and Magical Savant. They're described as alternatives to the Eldritch Knight and Mystic Theurge class and as such they do fine if one uses the Mage class and spell casting system from Chapter 2. There are 14 new spells...none of which really relate to the new systems in this book so they'd be useful to anyone.

In Conclusion - This is a bittersweet product to review. It has the concepts and gives the bare bones, but doesn't go the distance it should to be a really stand out product. It falls a bit flat. Even so, the systems do work and do think that anyone who likes the sound of the Mage class or is interested in adding defiling or sacrificial magic should give it a try.