JoeGKushner
Adventurer
Morningstar is the new setting from Goodman Games that was one of the semi-finalist for Wizards of the Coast setting search. The book clocks in at 160 black and white pages and is $29.95. Now some might think that's expensive, but outside of Fantasy Flight Games, and Sword & Sorcery Studios, most hardcovers, like Crime & Punishment from Atlas, that check in at 160 pages, go for $29.95
The art and layout are not like the nostalgic feel that Goodman is going for with their adventure modules, but rather, more modern taste using artists that are well known to most of the d20 community. Artists like Andy Hopp, Kennon James, Jennifer Meyer and Scott Purdy are a few of internal artists and they do a good job of capturing not only the heroic and empire scale of the game, but also the darker parts of the Canticle.
When looking over a setting, I have a couple of ways I examine it. One of those it to see what I could pull from it to another campaign setting. In that aspect, Morningstar is about 50% crunch or game related material that I can fairly easily port to another setting with little difficulty.
Let's start off with the racial options. Like Savage Species, Character Customization or Arcana Unearthed, there are options to have players take powerful races and build them up through racial levels. The author takes it a step further though, and we get two options. The first is to just take the hit in the effective character level. This gives you all of the special abilities but no hit dice, saves or base attack. Most races are +2 ECL. The second option is to take the racial levels, up to five of them, and get the special abilities, broken up by level, with the other class features. This provides a nice level of diversity and I hope that we see more companies embrace this dual feature.
For the elder races, I was a little disappointed that the focus is more on the standard D&D style, elves, dwarves, halfings, etc..., then new variants. Like 'em or hate 'em, Monte's non-standard races got a lot of people thinking and talking about racial assumptions. The races presented here do add a lot of diversity to the standard roles these creatures play in a campaign and can make even cynical dwarf haters look again at this proud race.
Here's a look at the names of the races:
Dwarves
Davrinhai or Stonecutter Dwarves
Garhai or Flayed Dwarves
Kanin or Clay Dwarves (these are treated as PHB dwarves)
Kharak or Storm Dwarves
Elves
Cairn or Bone Elves
Nenir or Briar Elves
Iyewn or Crown Elves
Pelel or Meadow Elves
Vol or Stream Elves
Muryans (treated as the standard elf from the PHB)
Orphan or other races
Anhain, Ao and Cleothe, all halflings both get standard PHB treatment
The one new race, the Thull, is a standard race and doesn't get the benefit of the elder races and their racial levels. These beings are 'the missing link between giantkind and various evil humanoids.” As such, it'd odd that they're not evil and are more spiritual in the shaman or witch d20 sense.
All in all, a very high amount of subspecies allowing a very custom feel to the campaign.
New classes are found in Thraxis as well though. Because of the many engineering feats and marvels that are common during this golden age, a new class is needed to facilitate those marvels. Enter the Artificer, a master of making magical and mechanical machines and objects. These are not spellcasters mind you, but uses scrolls and books for reference to craft in an item's creation and use spirits, the Numina, to help him build his machines. The caster has some limits on how large his constructs can be, depended upon his level, ranging from Diminutive at 3rd to Colossal at 17th.
The artificer has a lot of abilities and the player and GM are going to have to work together to make sure that this class doesn't fall into the 'Cool on paper' trap where so many of the abilities are non-combat oriented that the class is more suited for an NPC. Some of the abilities that experienced artificers can command include artifical limbs that bond to the wearer, transfer consciousness to a construct body, repair constructs or even control constructs. A very detailed class with a lot of features
On a much more physical level, what type of champion does a setting use that doesn't rely on knightly orders and the horse riding armored warrior that brings with it? What is done to replace the paladin? Here, we have the Eidolon, champions of good or evil, but not law or chaos. These individuals gain numerous abilities in a similar vein to the paladin in that they're divine based but are more about heroism than knightly honor. Able to cast a limited amount of spells like Bless and Detect Poison on the lower end and Death Ward and Holy/Unholy Sword on the higher end, the Eidolon is a worthy paladin replacement for any setting that is undergoing an age of empire or has passed beyond the armored knight figure.
In terms of PrCs, there are some hits and some misses. Part of the setting involves a war with Hrum Vaat and this is an underwater war. To help in the battle, we have the Dolphin Legionnaires. It's not a bad class or anything but it strikes me as very exotic and has a BAB +7 requirement prohibiting most players from getting into it until at least 7th level. The Inquisitor is a PrC that has been done up in the d20 system numerous times. Described as 'fantastic detectives', the Inquisitor's are of course, looking to root out evil and gain abilities that help them ferret out the truth.
To me, the most useful class is also perhaps the never likely to be used by players, the Morning Star Apostle, agents of the Canticle who serve it directly. These individuals can get into the PrC as early as third level as the only requirement is the ability to cast spells and 5 ranks of Canticle Knowledge.
Because they are servants of a living prophecy, the apostles have the ability to use foreknowledge to know what spells would best be used in the immediate future or appraise the 'destiny' of people, places and things in relation to the Canticle. Imagine a hero having his life saved by one of these servants only to latter learn that he should have died in order to stop the prophecies.
The mosstrooper is a servant of the Empress. The Empress is one of the most powerful beings in Morningstar, the creator of the elves. These are her elite guards able to use subtle spells like invisibility and polymorph self in addition to powers over nature itself like cloak of vines, a supernatural ability that allows the mosstrooper to increase his number of attacks as vines cover him and attack his foes. Outside of the name, the class is sound and acts as a good foil to those expecting the elves to merely use bows and spears.
The ovate, the last of the PrCs, is difficult to explain as it's a nature lover who enjoys the city. They seek the middle ground between urban and wilderness living and have many abilities that allow them not only to speak with people from both sides of the fence, but also use his natural abilities in the city without loss.
Players are always looking for that extra edge. Sometimes that's feats and sometimes it's spells. Some feats that looks similar to those we've seen before. Take Hard to Kill where you can survive past -10 hit points based on your Con bonus. I know I've seen that before. How about Iron Lungs where you can hold your breath for 3 times your Con score? Of more interest was Flickering Spell, allowing a user to activate or deactivate a spell already cast on him. I can see some potential abuse with spells like Invisibility. “I deactivate invisibility, cast fireball, and then reactivate it. Since I didn't cast the attack spell while invisible, it still works right?”
Another useful feat that I'm surprised we haven't seen more types of, is Minimize Spell. Your spell does half damage and occupies a spell slot one level lower and can be applied more than once to a single spell, dividing the damage dice in two each time. So if you were a 10th level mage you could cast fireball at 2d6 as a 1st level spell. No reason you'd really want to, but it's an interesting option. I'd be more worried about 1st level spells and wouldn't allow any spell to go below 1st level as a 0 level magic missile doing 2d4+2 points is a little too high for 0 level.
In terms of spells, my favorite is Danse Macabre, a Cleric 9th level spell where the target is possessed by 'alien spirits' that cause the body to jerk and move about, keeping the body living well after the point of death. It's a powerful spell with a high level, high material cost and high experience point cost. Perhaps of more use to general campaigns that don't have specific books devoted to it, is Crossbreed, a transmutation spell that allows a caster to fuse two creatures with one another.
But what about the GM? The author hasn't forgotten you. For those GMs looking for little gems to pull out of Thraxis we have Signature and Countersignature Descriptions. These themes, like aberrant, aquan, auran, and dozens of others, are detailed with brief snippets of fiction, physical description, likely areas where this signature would exist, creature that stand to promote the signature, natural formation, signature magic, and what happens when the strength of the signature is total.
This is the way to get those areas where oracles read prophecy on high mountains when the wind pounds away at the sides of the cliffs. This is the way to go into forest guarded by elves who are hundreds of years old and have made the land into a natural habit for a Fey signature.
Depending upon the strength of the signature, spells are modified in terms of DC, duration, feats which are automatically applied to signature spells, countersignature effects, and signature situational modifier. This allows the GM to quickly customize vast tracks of land with a mythic feel. Because the author covers so much territory in terms of types of signature, there's a lot of room to play around in.
Now as for the setting itself, there are some brief introductions to the setting via the various races and their backgrounds, as well as the whole of chapter one, a small (less than eight pages) chapter that provides things like time lines, months, the name of the world, introduction to the idea of numerous faiths and other little bits.
The main thrust of the setting focuses on Brendir. This is an Empire that has it's share of problems, mainly with other countries and some of it's conquered territories, but is one that is at the zenith of it's power. I haven't read any Roman literature or history in a while, but I definitely get the vibe that this empire is one that sets out to bring empire to the whole world. That it's a place where various politicians struggle for fame, fortune and power, even as powerful heroes wage undersea war against foreign threats and dangerous aberrants strike from below.
There is a lot of information provided on numerous aspects of live in Brendir. This ranges from the branches of the military, to the clergy and wonders of the world. The military is broken into different aspects like foot soldiers, light cavalry, heavy cavalry, sky cavalry, and under some of those, subsections like pegaus, hippogriff, griffon and dragon legions. This gives the campaign a high fantasy feel and provides the GM with a broad framework to build military adventures on.
But what about the negative aspects of the book? There is no real discussion on starting a Morningstar campaign. While it has an epic feel, that's not necessarily reflected in the rules. The material for starting the elder races off in racial classes, while keeping them in line with other characters, also takes away some of the grandeur. Some settings like Oathbound, start the characters off at a higher level to help convey that feel. Some have special rules, like Mignight, where the players are able to tap into inner reserves. Some use different rules for some magics, like Nyambe, where armor or defense based spells are rare and hard to cast. Morningstar, despite having some great ideas behind it, seems like it would play in game terms, very similar to standard D&D.
Morningstar needs to be a bigger book. Let's look at some other recent settings.
Oathbound, full color, 352 pages $39.95.
Nyambe, color inserts, 256 pages, $37.95
Midnight, color inserts, 256 pages, $35.95.
For a core setting, not a city setting, not a player's focused guide, but a core setting, the book should be big and include a lot of information on all manner of things ranging from using standard classes with customized changes, magic effects, monsters and lots of maps. Morningstar gets it right more often than not, but it's got a lot of competition already on the market and a lot more coming down the pipeline.
The maps have a good, old style feel to them, as if they came from one of the old pulp stories of Conan where the detail is clear enough to read but looks like it could easily be added to. The map of an idealized Brendirian City Plan, including 14 different noted locations, is a good template that a GM can use over and over again.
The numerous provinces are detailed on four levels, local geography, local culture, notable places, and signatures. This allows different signatures to get their own information under notable places even as it provides numerous examples of how the signatures would work in a setting. The nice thing about the provinces is that despite the age of might upon the land, not many of these lands rest easily. Take Homm, 'strange woodsy folk and more intrigue than an area with such a low profile should have.' with madness and insanity being common. How about Tobra or Hell's Window where Devils are invading? The land is in motion, getting ready to gear up, putting the GM in the spotlight of showcasing the almost action about to happen.
The Nine Empires, each receive some information in terms of capitals, background, provinces, people, key locales and signatures, but doesn't go into any real detail. It's mainly for those players who want characters to originate from those locals and to provide a bit of spice and an opportunity, for those GMs with the time and energy, to customize a chunk of the world for their own needs.
Now one of the things that's different about this setting is the gods. These gods are effected by their worshippers and the example given is a good deity accepting the worship of evil beings and in turn being effected by that worship. Gods are often not worshipped singly, but in Pantheons. The Brendir gods being some of the oldest but also perhaps, in the most trouble as they come under assault by the different peoples that the Empire has conquered and not converted. Gods are detailed with a brief paragraph about their role and their domains but little more in most cases.
Now with all of this information, the GM should have dozens of ideas ready to spill out over the setting. For those that need something more though, there is the Canticle. This is 'A malevolent Prophecy' that is broken up into two parts. The Greater Canticle effects are perfect for those GMs looking for epic campaigns where the players strive against world changing effects while the Lesser is good for one shot adventurers. The thing unique about the Canticle is like a malevolent predator, it adapts to the events that thwarted it so that it can't be beaten the same way twice.
Morningstar is an excellent start for a new setting and rapid support online and in print will help expand the potential that I see here. Without it, the book can be used as the seed of a campaign in a golden age but it'll require work on the GM's part to squeeze everything together.
The art and layout are not like the nostalgic feel that Goodman is going for with their adventure modules, but rather, more modern taste using artists that are well known to most of the d20 community. Artists like Andy Hopp, Kennon James, Jennifer Meyer and Scott Purdy are a few of internal artists and they do a good job of capturing not only the heroic and empire scale of the game, but also the darker parts of the Canticle.
When looking over a setting, I have a couple of ways I examine it. One of those it to see what I could pull from it to another campaign setting. In that aspect, Morningstar is about 50% crunch or game related material that I can fairly easily port to another setting with little difficulty.
Let's start off with the racial options. Like Savage Species, Character Customization or Arcana Unearthed, there are options to have players take powerful races and build them up through racial levels. The author takes it a step further though, and we get two options. The first is to just take the hit in the effective character level. This gives you all of the special abilities but no hit dice, saves or base attack. Most races are +2 ECL. The second option is to take the racial levels, up to five of them, and get the special abilities, broken up by level, with the other class features. This provides a nice level of diversity and I hope that we see more companies embrace this dual feature.
For the elder races, I was a little disappointed that the focus is more on the standard D&D style, elves, dwarves, halfings, etc..., then new variants. Like 'em or hate 'em, Monte's non-standard races got a lot of people thinking and talking about racial assumptions. The races presented here do add a lot of diversity to the standard roles these creatures play in a campaign and can make even cynical dwarf haters look again at this proud race.
Here's a look at the names of the races:
Dwarves
Davrinhai or Stonecutter Dwarves
Garhai or Flayed Dwarves
Kanin or Clay Dwarves (these are treated as PHB dwarves)
Kharak or Storm Dwarves
Elves
Cairn or Bone Elves
Nenir or Briar Elves
Iyewn or Crown Elves
Pelel or Meadow Elves
Vol or Stream Elves
Muryans (treated as the standard elf from the PHB)
Orphan or other races
Anhain, Ao and Cleothe, all halflings both get standard PHB treatment
The one new race, the Thull, is a standard race and doesn't get the benefit of the elder races and their racial levels. These beings are 'the missing link between giantkind and various evil humanoids.” As such, it'd odd that they're not evil and are more spiritual in the shaman or witch d20 sense.
All in all, a very high amount of subspecies allowing a very custom feel to the campaign.
New classes are found in Thraxis as well though. Because of the many engineering feats and marvels that are common during this golden age, a new class is needed to facilitate those marvels. Enter the Artificer, a master of making magical and mechanical machines and objects. These are not spellcasters mind you, but uses scrolls and books for reference to craft in an item's creation and use spirits, the Numina, to help him build his machines. The caster has some limits on how large his constructs can be, depended upon his level, ranging from Diminutive at 3rd to Colossal at 17th.
The artificer has a lot of abilities and the player and GM are going to have to work together to make sure that this class doesn't fall into the 'Cool on paper' trap where so many of the abilities are non-combat oriented that the class is more suited for an NPC. Some of the abilities that experienced artificers can command include artifical limbs that bond to the wearer, transfer consciousness to a construct body, repair constructs or even control constructs. A very detailed class with a lot of features
On a much more physical level, what type of champion does a setting use that doesn't rely on knightly orders and the horse riding armored warrior that brings with it? What is done to replace the paladin? Here, we have the Eidolon, champions of good or evil, but not law or chaos. These individuals gain numerous abilities in a similar vein to the paladin in that they're divine based but are more about heroism than knightly honor. Able to cast a limited amount of spells like Bless and Detect Poison on the lower end and Death Ward and Holy/Unholy Sword on the higher end, the Eidolon is a worthy paladin replacement for any setting that is undergoing an age of empire or has passed beyond the armored knight figure.
In terms of PrCs, there are some hits and some misses. Part of the setting involves a war with Hrum Vaat and this is an underwater war. To help in the battle, we have the Dolphin Legionnaires. It's not a bad class or anything but it strikes me as very exotic and has a BAB +7 requirement prohibiting most players from getting into it until at least 7th level. The Inquisitor is a PrC that has been done up in the d20 system numerous times. Described as 'fantastic detectives', the Inquisitor's are of course, looking to root out evil and gain abilities that help them ferret out the truth.
To me, the most useful class is also perhaps the never likely to be used by players, the Morning Star Apostle, agents of the Canticle who serve it directly. These individuals can get into the PrC as early as third level as the only requirement is the ability to cast spells and 5 ranks of Canticle Knowledge.
Because they are servants of a living prophecy, the apostles have the ability to use foreknowledge to know what spells would best be used in the immediate future or appraise the 'destiny' of people, places and things in relation to the Canticle. Imagine a hero having his life saved by one of these servants only to latter learn that he should have died in order to stop the prophecies.
The mosstrooper is a servant of the Empress. The Empress is one of the most powerful beings in Morningstar, the creator of the elves. These are her elite guards able to use subtle spells like invisibility and polymorph self in addition to powers over nature itself like cloak of vines, a supernatural ability that allows the mosstrooper to increase his number of attacks as vines cover him and attack his foes. Outside of the name, the class is sound and acts as a good foil to those expecting the elves to merely use bows and spears.
The ovate, the last of the PrCs, is difficult to explain as it's a nature lover who enjoys the city. They seek the middle ground between urban and wilderness living and have many abilities that allow them not only to speak with people from both sides of the fence, but also use his natural abilities in the city without loss.
Players are always looking for that extra edge. Sometimes that's feats and sometimes it's spells. Some feats that looks similar to those we've seen before. Take Hard to Kill where you can survive past -10 hit points based on your Con bonus. I know I've seen that before. How about Iron Lungs where you can hold your breath for 3 times your Con score? Of more interest was Flickering Spell, allowing a user to activate or deactivate a spell already cast on him. I can see some potential abuse with spells like Invisibility. “I deactivate invisibility, cast fireball, and then reactivate it. Since I didn't cast the attack spell while invisible, it still works right?”
Another useful feat that I'm surprised we haven't seen more types of, is Minimize Spell. Your spell does half damage and occupies a spell slot one level lower and can be applied more than once to a single spell, dividing the damage dice in two each time. So if you were a 10th level mage you could cast fireball at 2d6 as a 1st level spell. No reason you'd really want to, but it's an interesting option. I'd be more worried about 1st level spells and wouldn't allow any spell to go below 1st level as a 0 level magic missile doing 2d4+2 points is a little too high for 0 level.
In terms of spells, my favorite is Danse Macabre, a Cleric 9th level spell where the target is possessed by 'alien spirits' that cause the body to jerk and move about, keeping the body living well after the point of death. It's a powerful spell with a high level, high material cost and high experience point cost. Perhaps of more use to general campaigns that don't have specific books devoted to it, is Crossbreed, a transmutation spell that allows a caster to fuse two creatures with one another.
But what about the GM? The author hasn't forgotten you. For those GMs looking for little gems to pull out of Thraxis we have Signature and Countersignature Descriptions. These themes, like aberrant, aquan, auran, and dozens of others, are detailed with brief snippets of fiction, physical description, likely areas where this signature would exist, creature that stand to promote the signature, natural formation, signature magic, and what happens when the strength of the signature is total.
This is the way to get those areas where oracles read prophecy on high mountains when the wind pounds away at the sides of the cliffs. This is the way to go into forest guarded by elves who are hundreds of years old and have made the land into a natural habit for a Fey signature.
Depending upon the strength of the signature, spells are modified in terms of DC, duration, feats which are automatically applied to signature spells, countersignature effects, and signature situational modifier. This allows the GM to quickly customize vast tracks of land with a mythic feel. Because the author covers so much territory in terms of types of signature, there's a lot of room to play around in.
Now as for the setting itself, there are some brief introductions to the setting via the various races and their backgrounds, as well as the whole of chapter one, a small (less than eight pages) chapter that provides things like time lines, months, the name of the world, introduction to the idea of numerous faiths and other little bits.
The main thrust of the setting focuses on Brendir. This is an Empire that has it's share of problems, mainly with other countries and some of it's conquered territories, but is one that is at the zenith of it's power. I haven't read any Roman literature or history in a while, but I definitely get the vibe that this empire is one that sets out to bring empire to the whole world. That it's a place where various politicians struggle for fame, fortune and power, even as powerful heroes wage undersea war against foreign threats and dangerous aberrants strike from below.
There is a lot of information provided on numerous aspects of live in Brendir. This ranges from the branches of the military, to the clergy and wonders of the world. The military is broken into different aspects like foot soldiers, light cavalry, heavy cavalry, sky cavalry, and under some of those, subsections like pegaus, hippogriff, griffon and dragon legions. This gives the campaign a high fantasy feel and provides the GM with a broad framework to build military adventures on.
But what about the negative aspects of the book? There is no real discussion on starting a Morningstar campaign. While it has an epic feel, that's not necessarily reflected in the rules. The material for starting the elder races off in racial classes, while keeping them in line with other characters, also takes away some of the grandeur. Some settings like Oathbound, start the characters off at a higher level to help convey that feel. Some have special rules, like Mignight, where the players are able to tap into inner reserves. Some use different rules for some magics, like Nyambe, where armor or defense based spells are rare and hard to cast. Morningstar, despite having some great ideas behind it, seems like it would play in game terms, very similar to standard D&D.
Morningstar needs to be a bigger book. Let's look at some other recent settings.
Oathbound, full color, 352 pages $39.95.
Nyambe, color inserts, 256 pages, $37.95
Midnight, color inserts, 256 pages, $35.95.
For a core setting, not a city setting, not a player's focused guide, but a core setting, the book should be big and include a lot of information on all manner of things ranging from using standard classes with customized changes, magic effects, monsters and lots of maps. Morningstar gets it right more often than not, but it's got a lot of competition already on the market and a lot more coming down the pipeline.
The maps have a good, old style feel to them, as if they came from one of the old pulp stories of Conan where the detail is clear enough to read but looks like it could easily be added to. The map of an idealized Brendirian City Plan, including 14 different noted locations, is a good template that a GM can use over and over again.
The numerous provinces are detailed on four levels, local geography, local culture, notable places, and signatures. This allows different signatures to get their own information under notable places even as it provides numerous examples of how the signatures would work in a setting. The nice thing about the provinces is that despite the age of might upon the land, not many of these lands rest easily. Take Homm, 'strange woodsy folk and more intrigue than an area with such a low profile should have.' with madness and insanity being common. How about Tobra or Hell's Window where Devils are invading? The land is in motion, getting ready to gear up, putting the GM in the spotlight of showcasing the almost action about to happen.
The Nine Empires, each receive some information in terms of capitals, background, provinces, people, key locales and signatures, but doesn't go into any real detail. It's mainly for those players who want characters to originate from those locals and to provide a bit of spice and an opportunity, for those GMs with the time and energy, to customize a chunk of the world for their own needs.
Now one of the things that's different about this setting is the gods. These gods are effected by their worshippers and the example given is a good deity accepting the worship of evil beings and in turn being effected by that worship. Gods are often not worshipped singly, but in Pantheons. The Brendir gods being some of the oldest but also perhaps, in the most trouble as they come under assault by the different peoples that the Empire has conquered and not converted. Gods are detailed with a brief paragraph about their role and their domains but little more in most cases.
Now with all of this information, the GM should have dozens of ideas ready to spill out over the setting. For those that need something more though, there is the Canticle. This is 'A malevolent Prophecy' that is broken up into two parts. The Greater Canticle effects are perfect for those GMs looking for epic campaigns where the players strive against world changing effects while the Lesser is good for one shot adventurers. The thing unique about the Canticle is like a malevolent predator, it adapts to the events that thwarted it so that it can't be beaten the same way twice.
Morningstar is an excellent start for a new setting and rapid support online and in print will help expand the potential that I see here. Without it, the book can be used as the seed of a campaign in a golden age but it'll require work on the GM's part to squeeze everything together.
