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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Psion" data-source="post: 2011787" data-attributes="member: 172">Oathbound: Mysteries of ArenaMysteries of Arena is a supplement for the Oathbound setting by Bastion Press, concerning the domain of Arena (which is expanded upon in detail by the Oathbound: Arena setting supplement). The book has supplementary setting and rules material and an adventure for the Oathbound setting.The lead designers for Mysteries of Arena are Todd Laing, Thomas Knauss, and Brannon Hollingsworth. Additional contributions are by Glenn Brown, Kevin W. Melka, Shannon Bennett, Steve Creech, Tim Hitchcock, and Will Harper.Disclaimer: I am writing this review without the benefit of owning the Oathbound: Arena book.A First LookOathbound: Mysteries of Arena is a 160 page perfect-bound softcover book priced at $25.95.The cover, illustrated by Chuck Lukacs, depicts a huge lizardlike beast with a robed humanoid figure atop it, with similar humanoid figures surrounding it.The interior is black and white, with art by Ben Eargle, Brannon Hall, Chris Pickrell, Chuck Lukacs, Eric N. Peterson, Jesse Mohn, Phillip James, and Stephen Lanham, with cartography by Ed Bourelle. The art is fairly good, especially the full page pictures.The copy I received was very grainy in appearance, however. I am assuming the copy I was provided is a print-on-demand preview version and not a production version.A Deeper Look(Spoiler warning: some secrets unveiled in the book are discussed below.)One of the fundamental aspects of the Arena sub-setting is that beneath the bloodied war-torn sands that dominate much of the domain lie ancient mysteries and hidden treasures. This book hopes to introduce many of those secrets as campaign elements. That said, much of what is herein is not all that hidden, but simply expanded options for Arena characters.The book is divided into 6 chapters, two appendices, and a hidden bonus track... er, appendix. The first chapter is a brief introduction, the next two cover character options, followed by chapters on spells & magic items, locations, and an adventure set in Arena. The appendices include NPCs for the adventure, new creatures, a map, and pregenerated PCs (presumably for the included adventure, though they are not discussed anywhere in the text.)One of Oathbound’s distinguishing traits is the array of new and unusual races that populate the setting. This book is no exception, bringing you four more PC races: -Rockbiter Dwarf (Ugruu): These unique subterranean dwarves actually subsist on minerals; they can also (slowly) take on the appearance of natural rock formations, and shape their hands into spikes that do additional unarmed combat damage. They have a favored class of monk, which goes well with their racial wisdom bonus, but not their racial dexterity penalty. -Karnos: Barbarous creatures with a spiked hide, Karnos were drawn to Arena by it’s ruler, Barbello, whom they revere. Their priests even derive power though this worship, by means unknown (since none of the Feathered Fowl are considered deities, this is considered something of a mystery). However, the book fails to mention the domains or weapon that such clerics would use. -Ramzadi: Hulking, lizard-like humanoids, Razmadi dwell near the jungles of Arena. They have a skull crush grappling technique. The race neglected to provide a favored class, and uses an odd ability modifier against race design conventions. -Sythiss: A race of cobra-hooded snakemen who once controlled much of the domain of Arena, but their empire crumbled under mysterious circumstances. They are still a force to be reckoned with and plot to regain their status. The race is sexually dimorphous, with males favoring fighters and females sorcerers, with a commensurate difference in ability modifiers. -Ok’weel: Keeping up the Oathbound rep for bizarre races, the ok’weel are basically hybrid octopus/snail men that dwell in the oceans of arena. The race is amphibious but must occasionally soak their skin in water. The race is physically weak, favoring wizards, but they have tentacles, can dispense obscuring ink (which provides concealment in water and can blind a target on land), and have neurotoxin on some tentacles.New classes include both core and prestige classes. The core classes are basically variants of the basic core classes: -Duneslayer: A variant of the fighter that replaces the feats with class abilities that optimize them for the desert warfare that signifies arena. Probably primarily suited as an NPC, the class never gains the sort of potency that an optimized fighter gains. -Operative: A close variant of the rogue, the operative has class abilities more tuned towards scouting and infiltration. -Sandmystic: The sandmystic is a variant of a wizard that draws power from crytalized sands of Arena instead of spellbooks. The class lacks a familiar or a bonus metamagic or item creation feats, but can tap additional spells with a random roll, and has a "maniacal focus" ability that acts somewhat like barbarian rage, save that it applies to intelligence and wisdom instead of strength and constitution.There are several prestige classes as well: -Spellbinder: An arcane casting class with full casting advancement. The class is something of a mass combat specialist, gaining benefits primarily when casting in concert with other spellbinders; the abilities and full casting advancement are probably justifiable given the restriction of the abilities to group casting. -Forest Slayer: A ramzadi-specific class, the forest slayer is a commando style ranger/rogue hybrid with a few shadowdancer style stealth abilities. The class was close enough to existing classes that a prestige class probably wasn’t highly justified. -Legionnaire: A mounted warrior representing the armies of Arena. A mass combatant prestige class is probably a bit beyond the levels normally associated with a prestige class, but the higher level emphasis of Oathbound makes the class more justifiable. -Shadow Assassin: Disciples of a being known as the Shadow Mage, shadow assassins are actually the class I would be most likely to port to a non-Oathbound game. Shadow Assassins lack the spellcasting ability of core assassins (something I felt that not all assassins should necessarily have, an issue made even more problematic with its unusual spellcasting under 3.5), replacing them with shadowdancer-type stealth abilities. -Wellspringer: The wellspringer is sort of a desert druid with the specific ability/responsibility to nurture the various oases that are centers of civilization in the desert of Arena. Additionally, the class has an affinity for vermin, and gains the ability to shift into vermin shapes.There are three new prestige race focuses: focus of the gloom (suiting the creature to life in the subterranean Gloomskien), focus of the grave (gaining undead like qualities), and focus of the lodes (provides a link with the so-called memory lodes, see below.)A number of new feats, skills, and equipment appropriate to the campaign appear in the third chapter. There are some guidelines of the applicability of feats to the mass combat system presented in Oathbound: Arena (not owning that book, I really can’t comment on how approrpriate the guidelines are.) Some feats are interesting and useful, such as forest stalker (improves cover bonuses from trees.) There are, however, a few questionable feats and a lot of questionable skills. The heighten hearing feat does not have prerequisited beyond being able to hear, but it clearly better than skill focus (listen), providing a +4 bonus to listen checks and other skill bonuses while in the Gloomskien. New skills include find water (which sounds like a subset of survival). None of the new skills define which character classes have them, nor do any of the new classes mention them. You would think at the very least, if you were going to use find water as a skill, the desert warrior duneslayer would have it. This is rather poorly integrated design.The Forgotten Magic chapter has a variety of spells and magic items related to Arena and its environment. Barbello’s favor, reflecting the love of melee of the domain’s ruler, provides luck bonuses to AC against ranged attacks. Depth charge, with an anachronistic concept, shoots a canister which explodes, causing sonic damage underwater.In addition to the normal spells, there is a short selection of special spellbooks, much like the old Pages of the Mages feature in Dragon magazine, with its own unique spells and some special rules.There are a few new magic items, some somewhat interesting (like the Rings of Watery Shielding, which envolop an aquatic creature with a protective sheath of water that they can also use for attack). There are also several legendary artifacts associated with Arena.The fifth chapter, Secrets of Arena, is less mechanical and has details about a variety of locales in Arena that a GM might use in the Arena setting or in a similar primarily desert setting, as well as some secrets regarding Barbello and the few who have faced her and still live. Example entries include the Oasis of Lost Souls, where the sythiss race dwells, the tunnels of the Gloomskien, The Last, a paladin/horizon walker cursed to walk the planes, and who has business with Barbello, The Brotherhood of Dust a demented band aimed at unveiling the secrets of the life-altering goddust. There are several NPC writeups, many of them high level, and rules details for such things as the goddust and memory lodes. Some of these are suitable for adventure backdrops, but few of them provide direct ideas for PC involvement, leaving that task to the GM.The sixth chapter Goddust, is an adventure for 9th to 12th level characters involving the Brotherhood of Dust. The adventure is written as a sequel to the adventure Sands of Change, and assumes the characters have come into control of a holding in Arena. Other hooks are described with a few notes on adapting each, but the default text assumes that the characters have played the prior adventure and the GM will have to do some tweaking if this is not the case.The adventure itself isn’t bad, with various time based events as part of the structure and a good deal of pressure on the PCs to uncover the activities of the Brotherhood.A number of new and interesting creatures appear in the appendices, including the Guardian Golems of Penakhimen (intelligent but single minded defenders of that city), mirajii (vexing and canny undead shapeshifters), and the bizarre insectoid terrors of the Gloomskein, the molesti.ConclusionsThis is a fairly nice supplement with some weaknesses. The classes are decent; though some might not be strictly necessary or appealing, most are balanced and fit the setting well. The most compelling class for inclusion in another setting might be the shadow assassin prestige class, which eschews the spellcasting of the DMG assassin. The weakest of the mechanical components are the skills and feats, which repeats mistakes that I thought most seasoned d20 System writers and developers were beyond by this point.The setting features have some interesting possibilities, though a few of the associated mechanics are heavy handed (like Goddust, which while it has interesting possibilities, can randomly inflict side effect that cannot be reversed by any spell). The major NPCs are well detailed, but most appropriate for a rather high level setting and (as most of the depicted major NPCs are depicted sympathetically) the statistic blocks are not as likely to be used directly.In comparison to other Oathbound setting supplements, I would say that it is more lucid and brings better ideas to the table than Plains of Pennance, but probably does not add as much to the setting as Wrack and Ruin.Overall Grade: C+ -Alan D. Kohler</blockquote>

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