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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Simon Collins" data-source="post: 2009887" data-attributes="member: 9860">This is not a playtest review.Pale Designs: A Poisoner's Handbook, is a sourcebook on poisons and poisoners from Bastion Press.Pale Designs is a softcover 96-page colour book costing $24.95. Margins and font size are average, whilst there are a few chunks of white space in the book. Art runs from poor to average, with most being poor. The writing style is good considering much of the text is rule-orientated. Editing is average with regular, occasional mistakes.The introduction begins with some solid advice on using poison for adventure hooks and in campaigns, as well as to heighten tension.Poisons: A Comprehensive LookThe section begins with a definition of a new measure of the strength of a poison, toxicity - essentially a function of its DC and damage die. It then goes on to offer an optional rule for the damage done by poison. This is based on the concept that firstly the DC of the secondary damage should be at +2. Then, if the victim fails, they suffer hit point loss that slowly decreases over a number of rounds. For example, a poison that does 25 damage in the first round will do 24 in the second round, 23 in the third, etc, etc. This can make poisons ridiculously deadly. I might use this concept for the odd poison here or there, but it would be necessary to really think through the CR of a trap or creature doing this kind of damage to ensure it wasn't the equivalent of a 'save or die' scenario. I felt this variant rule needed much better guidelines for use in conjunction with the CR of traps and creatures, instead of the somewhat over-excited repetition of how lethal this rule makes poisons. Next follows over 250 poisons from a wide mixture of OGC sources including such heavyweights as Atlas Games, Green Ronin, Necromancer Games, and AEG, amongst others. Each poison gets a short description and a DC for harvesting, whilst underneath the descriptions is a running table showing standard stats as well as Toxicity and the Variant Damage hit points. Poisons include fantasy poisons such as blood sprite venom and ungol dust, as well as such real-life favourites as arsenic, hemlock, and of course alcohol (which, by the way, would do 528 hit points damage in just over three minutes according to the Variant Damage optional rule).The section ends with some rules for harvesting poisons, using existing skills such as Knowledge (Nature) and Wilderness Lore as well as some new Knowledge-based skills - Knowledge (Monster), (Poisons), and (Physiology). Some tables give potential modifiers to the roll for creature size and type, and body location where the poison can be found on creatures.New PoisonsA selection of over 50 new poisons that take much the same format as poisons in the previous section, except they come with longer descriptions and are split into alchemical, magical, planar, mineral, multi-stage, and natural (plants, flowers, fruits, etc.). The multi-stage poisons are particularly interesting; two or more normally non-harmful components that create a poison when mixed together in the body of a victim. The section ends with an optional rule for poison immunity, allowing characters to develop an immunity to a certain poison by imbibing small quantities over a long period of time, also known as the 'Iocaine Powder ploy'.Drugs18 drugs are presented, from fantasy ones such as Dragon's Tears to real-world opium. The stats also include information on duration of the effects of the drug as well as a DC for addiction. Why wasn't alcohol in this section?Alchemical Processes And ProductsThis section actually looks at some possible modifiers to the effects of poisons, including changing the method of delivering the poison and anti-toxins.Equipment & WeaponsA variety of weapons and equipment for creating and dispensing poisons including rings with poison needles, blowgun, a manticore-tail whip, and lab equipment for creating poisons.TrapsSeven poisoned trapsMagic ItemsA variety of armour and weapon qualities, magical armour and weapons, and various miscellaneous magical items with a focus on poison, such as the useful cup and plate of poison protection and the rather gross tongue-pin of spitting venom.Feats18 new poison-related feats including 3 monster-only feats (venomous, venomous spittle, and venom immunity)Monsters11 poison-using monsters including the hymele, a fey counterpart of the dryad, whose homes are hemlock shrubs and a template, the vile shambler, undead originally killed by poison with some plant-like qualities.SpellsTwo domains, Murder and Poison, and over 20 (mostly) poison-related spells including poison resistance, mists of ecstasy, and toxic storm. The spells are fairly evenly spread across class and level, but there are only three spells usable by druids and none by rangers, which seemed odd. There is also an alternate assassin spell list using spells detailed in the section to improve the assassin's efficacy, particularly in relation to poison use.Prestige ClassesThese PrCs are 10 levels unless noted:* Acolyte - a religious assassin skilled in the use of poison* Anarchist - a seeker of chaos who uses poison to bring down governments* Beguiler - charmer who seeks to gain wealth by eventually poisoning his enchanted 'lover'.* Bondsman - mercenary assassin attached to a guild of bounty hunters* Infiltrator - 5-level PrC, evil character who destroys a persons life and loved ones, and eventually poisons their victim* Mage Hunter - hater of wizards and sorcerers who will resort to poison to kill them* Psi-Slayer - as above, but for psions and psychic warriors (5-level PrC)* Nightstalker - ninja-style assassin with a penchant for darkness* Sniper - long-range ranged combat specialists with poison use* Trapmaster - 5-level specialist in poisoned trapsNPC ClassesThe Canthartisan is a 10-level NPC class, a specialist in creating poisons, with limited arcane spellcasting.The Henchman is a 5-level NPC class with brawling ability.Conclusion:Pale Designs is most notable for its collection of OGC poisons. It failed to excite me with any of the new rules presented here and I found most of the prestige classes lacklustre and unoriginal. Some of the new feats, magic items, spells, and monsters presented were of interest but not enough to wholeheartedly recommend the book on this basis. If you like the concept of poisons and want to make poison a more important part of your campaign and adventures, it is worth getting for the plethora of poisons within. However, the book is poorly organised and presented.</blockquote>

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