JoeGKushner
Adventurer
When I first saw the title, Forbidden Arcana: Lost Spells, I thought, ah, here are spells from ancient tombs and tomes opened up for modern consumption. Boy was I wrong. Forbidden Arcana Lost Spells is a short book on what happens to spells that are lost in casting.
How does a spell become lost in casting? In essence, it's not being able to finish casting a spell. This could range from being struck in combat, to almost falling off your horse.
There is a table that has a simple 1d8 results. These range from the spell energies detonating to nothing happening to two effects. Then there are specific tables for specific classes like Cleric and Wizard. These range in terms of what effect they have depending on the class in question. The sorcerer for instance, rolls a d20 and can have anything from acid rain falling down to hailstones scattering about the area. Bad news is that the core PrCs from the DMG aren't covered. It would've been nice to see what the Assassin spell fumbles would be like.
In terms of layout, it uses a simple two column format on the landscape format. Perhaps due to it's short size, the standard portrait version would've been more appropriate. I say this because it might've prevented you from having to flip from page to page to page for some of the larger tables to get what is in essence, a little flavor to your campaign. Art ranges from painting style, from the Ronin Arts clip art, to black and white Elmore Clip art with some additions thrown in there. Very simple book with fair editing and writing that's easy to read.
Due to it's limited space and results, either there will have to be an expansion or it'll get old and magic will lose that lust again. For those who want magic to continue to be a mysterious and powerful force, Lost Spells is a nice niche book.
How does a spell become lost in casting? In essence, it's not being able to finish casting a spell. This could range from being struck in combat, to almost falling off your horse.
There is a table that has a simple 1d8 results. These range from the spell energies detonating to nothing happening to two effects. Then there are specific tables for specific classes like Cleric and Wizard. These range in terms of what effect they have depending on the class in question. The sorcerer for instance, rolls a d20 and can have anything from acid rain falling down to hailstones scattering about the area. Bad news is that the core PrCs from the DMG aren't covered. It would've been nice to see what the Assassin spell fumbles would be like.
In terms of layout, it uses a simple two column format on the landscape format. Perhaps due to it's short size, the standard portrait version would've been more appropriate. I say this because it might've prevented you from having to flip from page to page to page for some of the larger tables to get what is in essence, a little flavor to your campaign. Art ranges from painting style, from the Ronin Arts clip art, to black and white Elmore Clip art with some additions thrown in there. Very simple book with fair editing and writing that's easy to read.
Due to it's limited space and results, either there will have to be an expansion or it'll get old and magic will lose that lust again. For those who want magic to continue to be a mysterious and powerful force, Lost Spells is a nice niche book.
