Book of the Golden Vizier
Review: Book of The Golden Vizier
by William L. Collins
This 9-page pdf comes from Peter M. Ball of the Clockwork Golem Workshop. It contains a cool description of an interesting spellbook with an unusual twist – the names of powerful Janni to summon. The majority of the pages are 11 new spells relating to the book’s theme. The spells are primarily aimed at wizards, but some are usable by druids and bards, making the product slightly more appealing. The product has excellent ideas, which make it worth a purchase if you like books that have ideas. However, the spells themselves have numerous errors (detailed below). I would hope for a corrected version from the publisher, especially if you intend to purchase this book for use in your campaign.
This volume would make a neat special treasure for a party wizard that could also foreshadow plot elements if you’re running an Arabian-themed game or one that visits a desert.
There are eleven new spells listed in the Book of the Golden Vizier:
Burning Serpent – This 6th level spell description has one error. It has Target: one Large creature instead of Effect: one Large conjured creature. The spell is essentially a variant on a conjured energy creature, but instead it’s presented as an evocation with a duration. That being the case, some more space should have been devoted to explaining that it does not have hit points and is not actually a creature. (It has an attack mode as if it were a creature.) It’s also far higher in level than it should be for a spell that essentially is a mobile single-target attack dealing 1d6 + 1d6 fire if it hits.
Burning Yoke – This 2nd level spell is an excellent idea. I love the potential of it. There are mistakes. It lists ‘M’ on the Components line when no material component is given. It is described as an Enchantment (Compulsion). Compulsions (from the PH and SRD) behave like this: “A compulsion spell forces the subject to act in some manner or changes the way her mind works.” Since this spell actually causes an adverse condition and causes subdual damage, it would be best suited as a Transformation, but could conceivably be an Evocation. That said, it’s a nifty concept I’m stealing.
Desertform is the third spell in the book, a 2nd level druid/sorcerer/wizard spell. (It’s nice to see that the author included some spells usable by other classes.) It essentially lets you transform into a mobile sand creature. I love spells like this that “theme” a polymorph spell into a specific version. The spell’s Target line though should say “willing creature touched”, instead of the current “creature touched”, a la the 3.5 polymorph spell because otherwise this could easily transform opponents without a save, giving it far too much power for a 2nd level spell. It does look like it’s been tried in play though because the author did include detailed guidance on the changed form’s effect on the character. I would want to try out the DR it grants to determine if it needed a bump to L3.
Hands of the Genie (4th level) is a cool spell. I wish I’d thought of it. Your wizard PCs will like this one in the right circumstance.
Oasis (Dru 5, Sor/Wiz 6) works like a Leo’s Tinny Hut or Mord’s Mansion or other shelter-the-party spells, but with a lot more flavor. The oasis only affects those designated by the caster, which immediately gave me a hilarious mental image of a bunch of adventurers stripping off their armor to dive into the water while an ogre in black robes comes over the dune and scratches its head after seeing these lunatics.
Parch (Bard 2, Sor/Wiz 3) has an interesting effect – you become really thirsty. The spell again has some errors and needs a tiny bit of fleshing out. The save is listed in the parameters as “Fortitude partial” whereas the text says, “Will negates.” The duration says “1 round/level or until completed”, but the spell doesn’t explain what “completed” means. You continue to try to slake your thirst every round until it ends apparently. I like the spell, but I can’t use it as written currently.
Sands of Fire (Sor/Wiz 5) is a decent variant fire spell to do damage, but it’s too weak for its level compared to fireball or cone of cold. I like that it’s half slashing damage, but that alone would not encourage me as a wizard or sorcerer to take it given the 30 foot range.
Serpent’s Tongue (Bard 4, Sor/Wiz 3): There’s a mistake in the Saving Throw line. It appears to be a ‘(‘ that should have just been removed, but this sort of mistake just causes lots of confusion. This is a neat spell whose title does not quite match 50% of its benefit. I would be tempted to make this a Bard 3 spell because the Bard still won’t get it until 7th level.
Shimmering Wall (Clr 3, Drd 2, Rng 3, Sor/Wiz 2) takes another desert environmental effect and turns it into a clever spell. The benefits of the spell are too good for a baseline Sor/Wiz 2 spell though. It should specify if the nonlethal damage dealt is affected by endure elements or other common protective spells.
Phantom Palanquin (Bard 5, Sor/Wiz 5) is presented out of alphabetical order. This reminds me of an Arabian Nights version of the old Chariot of Sustarre, although it’s actually a reworked phantom steed. For the benefit you get versus just casting phantom steed (3rd level) for everyone, I’m not sure it’s worth taking before you get to the 16th level effect that lets you go ethereal. Even then other spells are available that are easier to use to get the same benefit. The phantom palanquin has very low Hardness and hp. It’s not an attended object, so one good damage spell will take it out. This becomes problematic because the spell description indicates that the “palanquin and it’s passengers disappear.” [Emphasis mine.] There’s no explanation of what the passengers disappearing does. I think this is an error on the writer’s part reworking the original spell, but it’s going to cause immediate arguments in a game.
Spectral Guardian (Sor/Wiz 3) is a decent spell that conjures a floating warrior to do your bidding. This could be useful in the right circumstances. Given an OGC declaration from Complete Book of Eldritch Might, this does however seem like a rework of something else that I prefer.
Storm of the Golden Sands (Dru 5, Sor/Wiz 5) is a nifty effect that needs a bigger area. For a fifth level spell to hamper foes with, I’d rather use a cloudkill. Were this lower level (perhaps 3rd or 4th), or had a much larger area, it would be darned good. As it stands, it’s a neat idea though.
After the spells, there’s a reproduction of the Janni listing from the SRD, along with the unique features of the twelve named Janni that you can summon when you have the book. This is a handy feature having the stat block right there. I like this little bit because it opens the door for some roleplaying and mystery when you actually summon these creatures. The author has also gone to the trouble to give a value for the book including the value of the unique creature summoning ability, which is a timesaver.
The OGC declaration could be laid out better. It’s a correct, if not generous, declaration (all text is OGC) that’s combined in a text box with the artwork information and a statement that “You may not distribute this PDF without the permission of the author.” This needed to be separate and not all boxed together. Some people are going to get confused by the various statements and wonder if they can reuse the content because of the pdf statement.
The layout in this book was decent – no funky fonts or odd techniques, which is preferable when you’re getting a pdf-only product. But I got the distinct impression that the author was also the editor, which may be what lead to the many typos and errors as spells were reworked into the theme. There is only one small piece of art, but that is actually more than several other short pdfs I’ve seen.
I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. The editing and errors rendering almost 50% of the spells unusable or needing work by the DM brought it down. The flavor of the theme and the several neat ideas in it brought it back up to the three star rating. This book will have a much higher utility to a desert-themed campaign than others, but that did not impact the rating. I will look for other books by Clockwork Golem Workshop in the future to see if the editing improves. Reading this reminded me of the old “Pages from the Mages” feature in Dragon, and that’s a good thing.
Disclosure: I received a free copy of this product in order to review it.
