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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Simon Collins" data-source="post: 2010082" data-attributes="member: 9860">Beware! This review contains spoilers (there is an adventure within the book).This is not a playtest review.Oathbound: Plains Of Penance, is a sourcebook covering the lands surrounding the city of Penance in Bastion Press' Oathbound campaign setting. Readers are advised to first read some of the reviews of Oathbound to get an idea of this complex and unusual setting.Plains Of Penance is a 160-page full-colour softcover product costing $29.95. Font size is good, margins average and some white space at the end of most chapters. Eight different artists are used and this variety shows more than in most other d20 products, perhaps because of the colour. Beauty is of course in the eye of the beholder, but the art in Plains of Penance runs the gamut from appalling to superb, to my mind. I've stated before and I'll say it again - I don't like the insectoid, textureless creatures with unbalanced muscular structure that comprises about half of the art in the book or more, including the front cover. Two different artists did make their mark on me - the distinctive beauty of Jason Engle's full-page pieces particularly appeal, but another of the artists (not sure which one) uses colour in deep pastel shades glowing with inner light that reminds me slightly of the expressionist painter, Franz Marc. Maps are basic but clear, with scale and compass direction where appropriate, though scale varies between maps. The writing style is average to good; a bit clumsy at times - e.g. "The Wall in which the archway once was set has long crumbled away, leaving it freely standing". Editing is fairly good, with occasional if regular errors.Chapter 1: Overview Of The PlainsDespite its title, the chapter actually takes a look at the forests, rivers, cities, and ocean surrounding Penance, as well as the plains which dominate much of the region. The chapter also takes a look at the politics of the region, particularly in terms of the influence of Queen Israfel and the local Bloodlords. It also deals with travel in the region, which takes place mostly along the rivers.Chapter 2: Inhabitants Of The Plains Begins by taking a look at the demographics of the area before introducing five new races:* Aurads - Peacock-like humanoids, who can dazzle others with their fearhers, and whose favoured class is bard.* Dolphins - yep, dolphins. With names like Flipper and Dancer, a +2 to Perform and Jump checks, and a favoured class of monk.* Wild Frey - similar to the frey introduced in the core setting book, these are larger and more aggressive - somewhat like the difference between a leopard and a household cat. Wild Frey are forest dwellers on the whole, and their racial features reflect this.* Hovara - evil flying manta rays with sorcerous powers, which it casts with its tail. Various racial features such as telekinesis to allow them to wield weapons, and magical blood that allow sorcerous spells to be cast with no verbal and material components.* Thorns - animate intelligent plants who are grown and pruned by their elders to resemble the dominant species (in this case humans) on any world. Several plant-oriented racial features such as requiring nutrition from soil, some plant immunities, and ability to regrow.The next section takes a look at channeling, a form of magic unique to Oathbound - channeling uses divine magic leaked by the imprisoned deity at the core of the Oathbound setting. Any being able to channel this divine magic gains a certain number of points dependent on level and Con, with which to fuel his powers. The channeler can also fuel further powers by taking physical damage. Channeling does not provoke an attack of opportunity. A channeler must focus on a very specific area, such as weather, creation, etc. Though there are more possibilities mentioned, two 10-level prestige classes who use channeling are detailed:* Artificer - this prestige class focuses on creation and can create materials, objects, and even life, including grafting of flesh, and shaping plant life. The PrC seems to have very low prerequisites (possibly 3rd level, though I can't remember what level you have to be to gain the Evolve feat from the Oathbound core setting book), which wouldn't sit well with the suggested minimum 7th level entry point for the setting suggested in the core book).* Disjoiners - opposite of artificers, this PrC is focused on destructive forces. A lot of the class features are centered around the concept of destructive magical bolts, but can also focus destructive forces into a weapon. They also have the ability to destroy magical items from 3rd level in the PrC. The chapter ends by revisiting the popular concept of prestige races introduced in the Oathbound core book and also seen in Dragon magazine. Five new foci for these genetic changes are offered:* Focus Of The Claw - improving creature's natural weaponry (using wild frey as an example) - 4 levels* Focus Of The Enigma - improving hiding skills (using faust as an example) - 4 levels* Focus Of The Huge - getting bigger (using a dwarf as an example) - 1 level* Focus Of The Light - radiating light to varying degrees (using an aurad as an example) - 4 levels* Focus Of The Small - getting smaller (using an asherake as an example) - 1 levelChapter 3: Ecology Of The PlainsAfter a brief explanation of biodiversity and the food chain in the wilderness area surrounding Penance, this chapter looks at the four sub-sections of environment in the area - forest, ocean, plain, and river. Each sub-section is discussed in terms of native plants and animals, micro-organisms (i.e. disease), and weather (strong winds and heavy bursts of rain being the norm). Some of the plants and animals are covered in more detail and statted out in the appendix.Chapter 4: The DruidsThe most powerful group in the forests of Penance are the druids, who are a political and military force with strong ideals set out in a unified code of behaviour towards nature. They preserve and cultivate the forests that surround Penance. Their code, society, and laws are discussed in detail, as are their religion and politics (which include their own bloodlords). Eight bloodholds and their druidic bloodlords are covered. In order to maintain the sanctity of nature and nforce the law of the wilderness, there is a Watchers Guild that are based in watchtowers spread across the area, which can also be used as waystations by travellers. The details of the guild are discussed, along with membership benefits laid out in a similar way to guild benefits introduced in Bastion's 'Guildcraft' product. These benefits cost XP and therefore replaces the level progression of the core rules with a weaker rule-set, though there are some useful details on the advantages, disadvantages, and actions of membership. A map of the typical watchtower layout is given, along with some brief advice on running druidic campaigns.Chapter 5: Cities Of The PlainsThis chapter looks in detail at six major cities in the area other than Penance itself (covered in the main Oathbound setting book). It goes on to give an overview on the other twelve cities in the area, as well as a general overview of the towns, villages, farmland, and nomadic bloodholds of the area. The main cities are described in terms of number of cantons, population, major industries, the name and level of the bloodlord, history, as well as a general overview of notable locations. Some bloodlords are described in more detail. Some of these cities are highly populated - Beacon has over 3 million and Decree over a million inhabitants, not to mention the 40 million inhabitants of Penance. Others, like the ruined city Illium, have a comparatively tiny population.Chapter 6: The Northern OceansThis chapter looks at the ocean that lies to the north of the plains of Penance. It begins with a rundown of the main ocean peoples - ceptu (intelligent whales), dolphins, aquatic elves, aquatic humans, locathah, makkrus (shark-crab creatures), merfolk, sahuagin, and trusk (walrus-like mammals who are mainly against the rule of the ceptu). More detail is given on the ceptu nation and their underwater city of Attatal. The chapter also covers a brief overview of adventuring in the area, with a few sites of note, though there are no rules given for underwater adventuring here.Chapter 7: The WildernessThe chapter takes a look at adventuring in the wilderness beyond the cities, including travel times, getting lost, and wilderness hazards. It also has twelve wilderness locations to create adventures in - most of these are actually man-made structures located in the wilderness.Chapter 8: Ascension DayThis is an adventure for 4 to 6 PCs of levels 8-10, with advice for scaling the adventure for higher level characters. The PCs are caught up in a war between two bloodlords. They come into possession of a powerful vial of blood taken from the mysterious ulatra in Illium. They must attempt to keep control of the vial and make a decision as to who to trust and what to do with it. The adventure hooks into several of the ideas presented in the book including the druids society, Illium, and one or two of the bloodlords mentioned in the 'Cities' chapter.Appendix A: New MonstersSeven new monsters are offered in this appendix - mainly magical beasts. They are Kytus (coyote-like predator), Mara (teleporting message-carrying birds), Merain (amphibious birds), Moab (gargantuan predatory whales), Rat Demon, Scavan (Thorn-eating large snakes), and Volt Polar (feline that emits blasts of mental energy). CRs range from 4 to 16, and sizes from fine to gargantuan.Appendix B: ItemsRules on creating magical engines, and armour, weapons, chemicals, and materials made from or suited to creatures from the book. There are also a few magical items in the same vein.Appendix C: New SpellsTen new spells suited to solving problems in the location covered by the book, including 'mana' (powers magical engines) and 'antioxidation' (helps to maintain magical engines).Conclusion:This product gives a useful overview of the area surrounding Penance for those GMs running Oathbound campaign, who want to explore the nearby wilderness. The product has some strengths (the druid society and its politics, some locations with good adventuring potential, the prestige race foci) and some weaknesses (the guild advancements, weird new races, possibly over-powerful prestige classes). The art also has the same mix of good and bad. Overall these elements balance out to produce an average product.</blockquote>

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