This review contains two separate reviews by d20 Magazine staff members John Grigsby and Bruce Boughner. Consequently, it is quite sizeable in length but reflects the opinions of two different individuals. Both reviews are included so you may compare and contrast the differences between the two reviewers.
By John Grigsby, Staff Reviewer, d20 Magazine Rack
Sizing Up the Target
Oathbound: Domains of the Forge is a massive, 352-page tome from Bastion Press by Greg Dent, Jim Butler, and Todd Morasch. It retails for $39.95 and is liberally sprinkled with full-color artwork. It serves as the core rulebook for the Oathbound campaign setting.
First Blood
I feel it necessary to admit that I looked on this review with trepidation. I’d seen the product advertised and from the cover art alone, stunning though it is, it just didn’t interest me. As a result, I almost wanted to beg off of reviewing this one. Ah, but this reviewer is nothing if not dedicated, so with a heavy sigh, I opened the book and took my first steps into the Domains of the Forge.
As it turns out, passing on this one would have been a grave error. Once I began reading in earnest, I became enamored with the idea of playing a campaign set in this fascinating realm. I’m already planning on extending an “invitation” to my tabletop group when they come of age (they’re a bit low-level right now). The short of it is, don’t overlook the fantastic potential that Oathbound offers as a campaign setting.
Oathbound is a daunting work, perhaps one of the most daunting I’ve yet seen cross my review desk. That isn’t to say that it is difficult to understand, it’s just the size that puts me off. This is a big book and it contains some really big ideas! When I get something like this, I usually like to take a chapter-by-chapter approach, so I’m sure I don’t overlook anything.
I guess the first place to start is to answer the question, what is Oathbound? Actually, that might be more accurately phrased, “Where is Oathbound?” Oathbound is a campaign setting perhaps unlike any you have ever encountered before. It can stand on its own, certainly, but it is intended to function as a world to which other heroes from other worlds are drawn to adventure. It is a violent, dangerous place, where only the fittest survive, and those that do often emerge changed. Ideally, characters should be at least 7th level before their first introduction to The Domains of the Forge. It is also suggested that the DM have a copy of Minions: Fearsome Foes and Arms & Armor (both from Bastion press).
The introduction brings the DM into the world of The Forge. Besides providing details on terminology and the like, it is also rich in detail about the setting and its history, secrets, and adventuring in the Forge. A DM planning on using this material would do well to read the introduction carefully, then do so a second or even a third time, paying careful attention to details that they might have overlooked in the first read-through.
In the first chapter, Arrival, we learn how easy it is to enter the Forge. That is, deceptively so. Simply put, the Forge finds individuals of potential or talent and invites them in. Sometimes the invitation is offered, other times the individual is simply abducted, regardless of their will. Because heroes are drawn from across time and space, there are few restrictions on what manner of beings may enter the Forge. Of course, the DM and players may also choose to generate natives of the Forge. There are a wide number of options for such characters, including 12 new PC races, six new prestige classes, and a host of new skills, equipment, and powers.
Magic is much more plentiful in the Forge, but then, the opponents are much tougher as well. Further, all new arrivals gain a magical power called a gift. Gifts vary from one individual to another, but usually match the personality of the receiver in some way. Further gifts may be earned as a reward for great efforts while in the Domains of the Forge.
Chapter One also details the universe that is The Forge, including how to leave (which is not nearly so simple as entering). The cosmology is intriguing, with two moons, two suns, and countless fixed “stars” (actually gateways to other worlds). By coincidence (or perhaps convenience), the 364-day year is divided into 13 months of 28 days. Each day is 24 hours, each hour is 60 minutes, and each minute is 60 seconds. The Forge does have seasons, of a sort, changing from week to week instead of month to month. Each hour, day, week, and month has its own individual name. Years, however, go uncounted.
Chapter Two: Inhabitants introduces the peoples that populate The Forge. In all, 17 new races are fully described in this volume, in addition to the “stock” fantasy races contained in Core Rulebook I. Several of the races have ECLs (referred to as Class Level Adjustments (CLA) in Oathbound), which normally doesn’t sit well with me, but because the default starting character level for Oathbound is 7th, it actually works out well. The races range from the oddly familiar (such as the dog-like humanoid dovers or the frey, which resemble upright domestic cats) to the truly alien ceptu (think of a giant, colorful, jellyfish and you’re on the right track). There’s something here that will appeal to the taste of everyone, whether you prefer the traditional or the truly twisted. But just in case, the book reminds us that these are just the common races in the Forge. As the secret masters of this land have access to many hundreds of thousands of world, the DM is permitted, nay, encouraged to bring new races into the fold.
Of course, the intelligent races are not all that the Forge has to offer, and flora and fauna are touched upon in this chapter as well. You won’t find much in the way of game statistics here, it’s strictly background information (that’s covered elsewhere), but it’s just the kind of thing that natives would be aware of to tell to (or withhold from) newcomers. A small treatise on herbs and shrubs does offer a few metagame uses for these.
Chapter Three: Matters of Prestige deals with, what else, prestige classes. There are, in fact, six new prestige classes described in Oathbound. The demagogue wields the spoken word as a weapon, the hone is a warrior who has dedicated himself to the mastery of a single weapon, the inquisitor is a religious fanatic on a crusade to eliminate all other beliefs, the rafter is a solitary explorer of dangerous places, the stalker is a tracker and spy most at home in the city, and the vigilante is a very skilled lone warrior.
Also in this chapter is one of the most interesting features of Oathbound. So interesting in fact, that the February issue of Dragon magazine (#304) is running a feature that expands upon it. I’m talking about prestige races, the idea that a character can force themselves to evolve, becoming more powerful as they gain experience. Thus, one character may choose to follow the path of the beast and gain fur, claws, or a tail, while another may choose to follow the path of the deep and develop gills, fins, and a resistance to pressure. Truly ambitious individuals may follow multiple paths of focus, becoming insanely powerful (but also vastly changed). Evolution is permanent and bears a heavy cost in the form of unspent experience points, but for those looking to enhance themselves in ways never dreamed possible, it is definitely a path to consider.
Chapter Four describes the seven regions that make up the Domains of the Forge. Each is given a brief overview (along with a full-color world map), discussing the lay of the land, key settlements, notes on the inhabitants, barriers to travel and the best ways to get about, commerce and economy, and politics of the realm. If the first release for Oathbound, Plains of Penance is any indication, each realm will eventually be fully covered in a separate sourcebook, but in the meantime, there’s more than enough here to give the DM a good feel for each area.
Chapter Five describes in detail the Black Flock, the seven rulers, if you will, of the Domains of the Forge. But that description is a misnomer, for the Black Flock do not rule over their domains. They take no notice of political events, nor dictate laws. They hear and see everything that happens in their domain, but they rarely interact with the peoples of these lands. And this is considered a good thing, for when the Seven do intervene, the results are often epic in scope.
Each of the avatars of the Seven (for their physical forms are bound with powerful magics) is both described and shown in a full color illustration, though only one (Israfel, the one with whom newcomers are most likely to interact) is given game statistics. One can only hope that the others will be detailed in future sourcebooks, though to judge from Israfel’s stats, it is safe to label them as bordering on the divine. I’ll not reveal the secret of the Seven here, since it is a major part of the campaign focus, but this information is covered in the text. It explains why champions are summoned to the Forge and the roles of these godlike beings in the campaign.
In this chapter can be found also cursory information on the citadels of the Seven. Only minimal details are given, and in a way, this is good, because it means that each citadel will be unique to that DM. It also means a lot of extra work for DMs wishing to detail these places of immense power.
As strange as it may seem, the major religious networks of Penance are also touched upon in this chapter. Penance is the “default” locale for adventures within the Forge, so this makes sense, but I found it irksome that they couldn’t give the same treatment the other six realms. There is no solid information here, just snippets to help the DM (mostly because there are no real deities in the Forge), so there’s no reason that similar treatment could not have been given for all realms.
Chapter Six: The City of Penance expounds and expands on the “default” realm of the Forge, the one in which newcomers are most likely to arrive (coincidentally, it is also the most “friendly”). Penance is a city the size of a small nation (i.e., huge) and is described as a difficult place to navigate and dangerous to walk at night. A lot of detail is given to the city, including prices, layout, means of getting around, city politics, law and justice, guilds, and crime syndicates. There is enough here to keep a campaign going for quite some time without ever leaving the confines of the city.
A plethora of guilds and power groups provides for endless potential for quests and favors, while the lost city (regions of Penance which are uninhabited and in a state of ruin) offer a more conventional, “dungeon” environment for adventurers to sate their thirsts for fortune and glory. Some of the more interesting locales in the lost city include a great rift and a massive records repository known simply as the Great Archive. Because of the monster and bandit-infested status of the lost city, few people willingly venture there, making it a lawless and dangerous place.
And then there is the undercity, more colloquially known as “the Maze.” Penance rests upon a quarter-mile high plateau of ruins—the incarnations of the Penance City that came before. Thus, beneath its current layers of architecture lie the crumbling remains of previous centuries of building. This tangled web of lost streets, ancient buildings, and scattered rubble is the Maze, a realm of monsters, natural hazards, and rumored treasures. If Undermountain in the Forgotten Realms is big, then the Maze is indescribably huge!
Chapter Six finishes with write-ups for some of the better-known personalities of Penance. Each is given a detailed history and backstory, a stat-block write-up, and a full-color picture. The mix of characters offered is fair, though pitifully few are described. A crime lord, the head of the rafter’s (adventurer’s) guild, a well-known bard, a former Bloodlord, a powerful mercenary, the local seer, and a legendary celebrity are those given treatment here.
Chapter Seven: The Bloodholds discusses in detail the Alliance of Bloodlords that holds sway over the Pedestal (a section of Penance). The Alliance is five decades old and consists of a dozen local rulers of cantons (roughly equivalent to a city block) ranging in number from one to a dozen or more. Each faction within the Alliance has its own laws, borders, judicial system, and tax structure. The bloodholds were created to provide a place of relative calm within the torrent of the remainder of Penance and have largely succeeded.
Each bloodhold is given good detail, with backstory and stat blocks for the current Bloodlord, notes on trade and commerce, judiciary systems, and important personages. Each bloodhold is treated as a community within itself, which gives the DM a better feel for just how big Penance really is (considering that the Pedestal is a relatively small area).
Chapter Eight: The Hub Tavern describes perhaps the best-known location in Penance. It was once the palace of a long-gone Bloodlord and is not built within the boundaries of a single neighborhood, but rather is centered on the corner of seven great and rich cantons. Today, the Hub is tavern and inn, brothel and exhibition hall. It is a place where all are welcome and delights to every sense can be found.
The final chapter, Chapter Nine: Dark Welcomes, is an adventure intended to introduce newcomers to the Forge. This adventure alone could take several sessions to complete, and spans a good portion of the city, including the Hub and the undercity. It serves as an excellent introduction to the setting and I highly recommend that DMs at least read through it for themselves, if for no other reason than to get a feel for the campaign.
Chapter Nine is followed by three appendices. The first appendix details rules specific to the setting, such as how divine intervention is handled. It also provides some new magical spells, magic items, and two new feats. The second appendix describes ten new monsters unique to the Oathbound setting. The final appendix is a compilation of stat blocks for NPCs so that the DM has a spur-of-the-moment encounter if one should be needed.
Critical Hits
Obviously, the prestige races are an impressive part of the package, so impressive that Wizards of the Coast was moved to license them for inclusion in a current issue of Dragon magazine. Now that’s pretty darned impressive. The concept is a new idea and is well-balanced in terms of sacrifice for what is received. Though some players may balk at trading hard-won experience points for special abilities, it is entirely optional and the result is a more powerful, though ultimately lower-level character. Note that it is designed so that one cannot actually lose levels in order to achieve these abilities. They are earned over time.
I was also very impressed by the level of detail put into this work. Oathbound packs a lot of information, comparable to the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting hardcover that Wizards of the Coast released last year. Even if you never bought another Oathbound product (but you probably will, once you see this one), there is enough here to keep you and your players busy for years.
The artwork could go either way. My wife described it as “ugly,” while a close friend found it “really well-done.” I guess it’s all in how you look at it. There’s an array of artistic talent here, and I think that, overall, it adds to the quality of the work. Some pieces may disagree with individuals, but there’s enough variety that everyone will find something they can appreciate.
Critical Misses
I’ve already expressed my disappointment that more attention was not given to the role of divinity in the setting. I understand that there are no gods, as such, in the Forge, but it would have been nice to know more about what people use to fill that role in various domains of the Forge. The short of it is that any religion from any world can be found on the Forge if one searches hard enough, but I’d still like to know more details.
Perhaps the greatest failing of the work is that the title is not necessarily reflective of the contents. The title is
Oathbound: Domains of the Forge, but it reads more like
Oathbound: Domain of Penance. Four of the nine chapters concentrate on Penance, while only one chapter gives any detail at all on other domains (and that is pretty scant). Since Plains of Penance was one of the first releases for the Oathbound line, I wonder how much of this could have been saved for that work and the space filled with information on the remainder of the Forge.
Coup de Grace
I don’t like to see expensive game books. The cost of our hobby is on the rise and I hate to spend money unnecessarily, especially if what I’m getting is a rehash of old material. With this book, you get a complete campaign setting, startling in its immensity, though much of it is concentrated on one area. It’s a good work and worth the cost, but there could have, nay, should have been more on the setting as a whole.
There’s a good amount of Open Game Content here, roughly a third of the book, I’d say. All game-related mechanics are OGC (which is as it should be), but all of the flavor text is reserved (which I can fully understand). D20 Compliance is good, though the stat blocks are not in the standardized WotC format, which I found a little annoying (trying to locate ability scores when they weren’t where they were supposed to be left me searching the whole stat block for them). An abundance of the characters herein are very high level (though none above 20th; when, oh when, will the Epic Level Handbook be given OGC?), but that’s not a flaw, that’s a feature of the setting. This is a powerful campaign.
I have to say that Oathbound is very original. I’ve not seen anything akin to it in D&D before. The concept of planar travel is nothing new, of course, but the idea of a world where champions from other realms are brought to grow in power is brand-new. It’s as exciting and fresh as the 3E release of Core Rulebook I. Players and DMs will find plenty to pique their interests, though DMs are more likely to benefit than players (and in fact, most DMs would probably rather their players not do too much delving into this book, because of the amount of background information that is given).
Oathbound presents a brave new world, chock-full of adventuring potential. Whether you are seeking a brand-new campaign setting or just a temporary distraction from your standard milieu, this is worth looking into. You might just find yourself caught up in it enough to start a campaign set in the Forge.
In the long run, I give it an A-, because I did find that it paid a lot of attention to Penance and glossed over the remainder of the domains. It’s a great work, and that saves it from a lower grade, but I’d like to have seen more details of the rest of the world. I know that there are sourcebooks coming out to handle this, but I shouldn’t have to purchase supplements when the book is billed as a campaign setting.
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By Bruce Boughner, Staff Reviewer d20 Magazine Rack and Co-host of Mortality Radio
Sizing Up the Target
Oathbound is a 349-page hardcover world book published by Bastion Press. The authors are Greg Dent, Jim Butler, and Todd Morasch. The cover is painted by a’lis, and is reminiscent of Planescape and interior art is by a’lis and a number of others and is available for $39.95.
First Blood
I’ve heard it said that Oathbound is Planescape for 3rd edition. Boy, are they wrong. Planescape is about adventuring on the Outer and Inner Planes, Oathbound is more like Ravenloft or Dungeon World, where the characters are trapped on the world. Like Dungeon World, there is a way out, it is expensive and requires some searching for the components, but unlike Ravenloft, there is a way out.
Oathbound IS a prison world, but it is a prison for a god. The seven guardians of this god crafted this land and deemed it a forge as heroes from thousands of worlds are brought here and tests them to the extremes of their abilities. It is a world of violence and conflict. While it does require the usual list of D&D core books, Minions: Fearsome Foes and Arms and Armor by Bastion Press are recommended to enhance the book.
The unnamed deity imprisoned here was trapped by an army of gods, envious of his power and magnitude, shattered his world and chained him at its core. His seven chief followers as penance were sworn to guard the god in the remnants of the world. The seven cannot escape this penance until they find replacements even more powerful than they. So they search the multiverse seeking champions, magic and artifacts to maintain the prison and seek their release.
The god, however, does not slumber. His power is growing and he is chafing to be free. His power is leaking out, enhancing the emotions powers and abilities of all that are on the forge. These enhancements are not the chaotic mish mash that is generally assumed but designs of the trapped one. The seven, called the Flock, each rule a realm on the Forge. They pull in heroes and artifacts from many worlds. Upon arrival each character receives a ‘gift’, an enhancement such as pluses to skills and feats, ability boosts or unique gifts like youthful appearance or telepathy. Favor of the seven also can earn additional gifts.
The Forge exists in its own plane by itself with only its two suns, Storm (red) and Crux (yellow) and its two moons, Anahita (blue) and Zadkiel (rust red). The stars of the plane change as they are portals to other planes used by the Black Flock to bring their recruits here. It is never wholly dark on the Forge.
All of the core classes and races are usable on the Forge, but there are indigenous race available as well. Seventeen different races in fact, ranging from the jellyfish-like Ceptu to the feline Freys to the four-eyed, shape-shifting Lunars and the dragon-like Chromithians. All have their own set of special abilities and they are natives to different domains of the Forge.
Normal native flora and fauna are given in gazetteer form before moving into the next chapter: Prestige Classes. Entry level for these Prestige classes are set lower than normal to allow newly arrived characters a chance to blend in quickly. The political Demagogue, the religious Inquistitor, the stealthy Stalker and the vigilante are among the classes. As character improve in rank, they can evolve into Prestige Races. Adaptions to environment, extra appendages or thicker skin might be examples of evolution to an existing race. The character doesn’t so much change into another race, like from Elf To Halfling, but becomes MORE Elven.
The domains of the Forge are next described, with a beautiful, 2-page color map of the world starting off the chapter. As with everything in this plane, normal everyday things are amplified to their highest point. Following this is a chapter on the Black Flock, with each guardinal illustrated and delineated in great depth. Their individual citadels and domains are then described, over the next seven chapters, as well as religions on the Forge.
In the Appendixes that follow, new skills, feats and spells of the Forge are listed. Then come the magic items. The Flock searches the planes for artifacts and powerful magic items and seeds their domains with them, newly arrived characters may be stripped of items to have them replaced by more challenging, less powerful items.
Monsters round out the Appendixes, these are some of the most bizarre looking beasts I’ve ever seen in many years of gaming. The rubbish pile name Orts, the beastial Kith and the undead Lectors are the more mainstream monsters given here. The book closes with NPC stat blocks and an Oathbound glossary.
Critical Hits
Oathbound is a tight book. It was long in development and it shows in the richness of detail. It is NOT Planescape for 3rd Ed. But it is the same power levels and the potential for high octane play.
Critical Misses
God, I don’t know who does some of this art but I seriously hate the waif-thin character drawings with the faux-muscle cords (or even the muscle showing thru slashed skin). Give me an Elmore or Caldwell illustration any day. If there is one area Bastion can improve, it’s to get back to a more familiar form that can be related to. Not to say that this is not a beautifully illustrated book, it is. Its more like when Bill Sienkewitz took over New Mutants back in the 80’s, he changed his art style and everyone hated it, but it took Marvel almost 2 years to figure that out.
Coup de Grace
Despite the art, this is a strong book. It’s very pricey, but that can be expected for an entire world stuffed into one book. Unlike Sword & Sorcery who are portioning out Ghelzepad and Ravenloft in small chunks, you get it all here. I like that. Most of the new character races look fascinating; the Prestige Classes are pretty fair also. I waited a long time for a copy of this and I was well rewarded. I would have eventually picked this up, but it wasn’t as high on my list as other world settings have been, it is however, the best packaged one that I have.
To see the graded evaluations of this product, go to The Critic's Corner at www.d20zines.com.
I personally like the PREMISE but I will admit, not everyone will. That said, I liked your review, EVEN if I disagree slightly with the rating you gave. Still much respect for you opinion Simon.
