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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Simon Collins" data-source="post: 2009612" data-attributes="member: 9860">This is not a playtest review.Path Of Magic is the seventh volume in Fantasy Flight Games' Legends & Lairs series, and a companion volume to Path Of The Sword. This volume provides new rules and advice for arcane spellcasters.Path Of Magic comes in at $24.95 for a 176-page hardcover book, fairly good for its type and size in terms of volume content. Like Path Of The Sword, Path Of Magic has a largish font but margins are small and there is little wasted space (though there are 3 pages of ads at the back). Mono internal art is good to superb - the cover is again reminiscent of the core rulebook covers. The writing style is fairly average, focusing more on mechanics than atmosphere. Editing seems good.Chapter One: The Spellcasting Classes, begins with a number of 10-level prestige classes accompanied by an organization:* Arcane Negotiator - summons extraplanar allies that can bestow game advantages. The School Of The Unbroken Circle is an organisation dedicated to conjuring and summoning.* Chanter - bard-like chanting abilities. Aaramaskillis is a dwarven organisation of chanters that worships the dwarven god Alapantin.* Force Weaver - specialists in force energy. The Sons Of Thunder are a group of elite humanoid wizards.* Grand Deva - singing specialist. The Honorable Sodality Of Cantatrices is dedicated to gaining power through social channels and attempts to advance individual members to gain positions of authority.* Jester - juggling, luck, and madness abilities. The Benevolent Order is a group dedicated to the god of trickery.* Ring Sage - specialists with magical rings. The Ring Sages are a group of mages attemting to atone for their forebears' sins.* Spellbinder - specialists in enchantment magic. The Companions Of The Penetrating Gaze are a group of such specialists.* Summoner - specialists in summoning and dismissal. Garju and Daughters are a business that sells summoned creatures.* Swamp Witch - archetypal witch with abilities with prophecy, nature, and potions. Children Of The Swamp is a coven of witches dedicated to prophecy and divination.Like Path Of The Sword, Path Of Magic offers more legendary classes, a high-level prestige class (5-levels only, all of which must be taken one after the other) designed for a unique individual with a legendary destiny. They must fulfill dire quests before taking up their mantle:* Death Lord - master of undead hordes and necromantic specialist.* Elemental Lord - ditto, but for elementals.* Infiltrator - master spy.* Landwalker - nature specialist, with a dire familiar.* Maestro - a great leader of men who uses arcane magic to influence others.* Oracle - enlightened visionary.* Puppetmaster - master of constructs.* Puzzlemaster - specialist in enigmatic riddles and inspiration.* The Traveller - extra-planar traveller.* Wizard King - obsessed with the concept of magic and its workings, specialists in magic mastery and metamagic.There are also some 20-level classes offered, which are variants of the core classes:* Arcane Engineer - a wizard who uses tech to enhance herself.* The Arsenalist - alchemist specialising in gunpowder.* Mind Weaver - cross between a wizard, sorcerer and psion.* Sun Mage - uses sun to power internal spell 'battery', specialist in fire spells.Chapter Two: New Feats, offers 36 feats for arcane spellcasters. There is a mixture of general feats (such as Deceptive Casting, Reduced Spell Failure, and Superior Familiar), Item Creation feats (linked to new rules in chapter 5), metamagic feats (such as counterspell riposte, which allows an immediate spellcasting attack following a successful counterspell action), and Special Feats (such as Additional Spell, Arcane Strike (deliver a touch spell via a melee attack with any weapon), and a number of bardic feats related to rules in chapter 3).Chapter Three: Bards: Performances Of Power, looks at four new performance-related powers using singing, instruments, chants, and dance. These powers are based on a Perform skill check, and can be used to augment allies' spells and impair enemy spells, and gives variations on bardic music abilities for bardic characters who wish to specialise in a certain area such as chanting, or dance. Some discussion and rules are given for bardic troupes, when a group of bards combine their performance skills to produce enhanced magical effects, using a spell pool mechanic.Chapter Four: The Spellcaster's World, offers a number of Schools - these are magical traditions that teach specific magical techniques. Each tradition comprises ten lessons, each one giving more powerful game advantages as one learns new lessons, at the cost of XP and time, with a certain minimum level.* The Stormweavers - weather mages who can conjure storm elementals.* Arcane Marauders - sea pirates who specialise in negating magic, with magic.* The Galvanar Spellmasters - a school dedicated to the academic study of magic.* Telwar Pyros - specialists in fire and explosions, through alchemy and magic.* Celestial Chorus - school that tecahes ancient and mysterious songs as a means to magical power.* Snakebrine's School For Witches And Warlocks - academy teaching a varied range of skills, very Harry Potter-ish!* Carharte Timekeepers - specialists in time magic.The next section in the chapter looks at magical towers, giving advice and costs for building the tower, its rooms, and any accompanying magical effects. The effects of the tower are enhanced by an Energy Conversion Chamber, which uses the power of the spellcaster's most treasured possessions to energise the magical effects of the tower, after being attuned to the owner.The following section offers some arcane organisations. Each organisation is based on a template, which can also be used to decribe your self-created organisations. The template discusses ranks, membership requirements, benefits, drawbacks, and causes for expulsion.* The Bringers - an organisation dedicated to finding new potential sorcerers.* The Guild Of Alchemists - specialists in Alchemy, and a ruling body for alchemists.* The Royal Society Of Singers And Storytellers - a group of bards who works for a king.* The Sanguine Society - sorcerers who believe their dragon heritage gives them the right to rule others.* The Wayfarers - loose band of immoral wandering minstrels and performers.* The Wizards' Guild - archetypal guild for wizardsChapter Five: Items Of Power, begins by introducing the concept of expendable foci - items that are charged with certain levels of metamagic energy. A command word releases the metamagic energy, which can then be used to power a spell. Three types - rings, talismans, and potions are described. The energy released must be used quickly to power a spell, otherwise it has a tendency to burst into 'manafire' - magical energy that backlashes on the caster. Rules are given for creating expendable foci.The next section looks at fonts of power - the sources of magical energy in a campaign setting (e.g. graveyards and battlefields for necromantic energy, extra-planar gates for planar energy, etc.). These fonts can be accessed by arcane spellcasters to power up spells if they are near the source. Several suggestion are made for balancing this power with some drawbacks. There are guidelines given to create fonts of power and energy types for the GM's own campaign setting, with four examples - elemental, necromantic, and planar energies and fonts, as well as The Soldiri Family Bloodline, a group of sorcerous assassins with magical energy in their veins. Each energy type has a spell list accompanying it, and guidelines are given for creating your own spell lists to match your energies and fonts of power.The next section in the chapter looks at the Eldritch Staff - these are powerful staves that are enhanced over time by their owners to specialise in maximising the power of certian types of magic. A detailed creation system is laid out for these types of staves.The book ends with an index.Conclusion: Path Of Magic is a collection of mostly good ideas for enhancing and varying arcane magic in a campaign setting. Like any book of this type, only a limited amount of these ideas are going to be used. The number of things from the description above that interest you will define if the book is worth your money.</blockquote>

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