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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Khur" data-source="post: 2010362" data-attributes="member: 5583">Once I said D&D is about fighting. Well, I was wrong--it's about magic, all about magic. Weaving spells of mass destruction, creating items of power, and singing mystical tunes are some of the best bits of fantasy roleplaying. The team at Fantasy Flight Games (FFG) realizes our want for witchery, and has conjured the Path of Magic just for such needs.Like its blade-wielding counterpart Path of the Sword, Path of Magic comes on strong in the prestige class department. Though their names are uninspired, the classes themselves are superior material. No doubt players who read this book will find themselves trying to figure out how to meet the prerequisites for the Ring Sage, or how to use their newfound Summoner powers. DMs have no shortage of inspiration either, with the ideas provided by the likes of the potion-brewing, future-knowing Swamp Witch. Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble indeed.While these prestige classes are actually better than the fighting classes found in Path of the Sword, they do have their quirks. A master of conjuration, the Arcane Negotiator cannot select what type of creature she summons when determining a series of permanent extraplanar allies, possibly resulting in a helper that has an opposing alignment--a really bad and unnecessary design choice. Some of the classes are allowed to know all of the spells from a given school in lieu of one known spell at each level, which can be unbalancing for sorcerers (if one doesn't consider them too weak as is). Definitely unbalancing, the Chanter can give bonuses to the skill checks of large groups of other characters that amount to +20, with little repercussions.Speaking of groups though, once again all of the prestige classes are tied to interesting organizations. Even the most mundane of the classes have societies tied to them that can inspire entire campaign arcs, either from the group in question being a foe, a patron, or having a PC as a member. More than one of the organizations offer potential as both villains and heroes, according to how a DM adds them to a campaign. Even a seemingly simple assemblage of singers has its intrigues and plots. The low point of the organizations was the Sons of Thunder, though not because the idea wasn't good. You see, the Sons are orcs belonging to the Force Weaver prestige class (also found in Path of Magic), which is a war mage that focuses on force effects, and requires a character to be a 5th-level wizard or sorcerer--both classes for which orcs are not particularly well suited. It seems the underutilized hobgoblin, with no penalties to Intelligence or Charisma, a superior Constitution to orcs (for Concentration checks), and a lawful, as well as martial, society would have been a better choice than the orc. Maybe it's just because orcs win the popularity contest in the genre.Sure to be all the rage with players, FFG's trademark legendary classes present a real challenge to DMs seeking balance. Despite the storytelling potential some of these classes offer through titanic quests, a wise adjudicator must consider each one carefully. Not all of the aforementioned quests are monumental enough (some are downright easy), and the power offered by even the dullest of these vocations (and there are a few dull ones) is well beyond that of any prestige class. Yet, magic-loving players may shrink from many of these classes, because they cost the adherent character five levels of spell progression.Those familiar with Path of the Sword should know, however, that the legendary classes in Path of Magic are not only more numerous than those in the former tome, most of them are better constructed as well. The Death Lord proffers to build the better necromancer (and bigger legions of shambling dead). Combine this guy with the ideas in the "Shades of Death" article in Dragon 298 and you've got one scary arch villain (or PC). Similarly, classes like the Elemental Lord, Oracle, Traveler, Wizard King, and Landwalker present ways for wizards and sorcerers to focus their abilities into a clear theme, and thus claim incredible might.Unfortunately, bards are left with the worst of the legendary lot. The Infiltrator has quests that are too easily accomplished by any character of upper levels, the results of which would hardly result in a vaunted reputation or status.  The class's abilities aren't much better, besides one that could ultimately result in a game-shattering +25 bonus to four skills. The Maestro (used in its simple "master" meaning) has nothing to do with music as one might think, but is instead a great leader. As bad as the Infiltrator on almost every count, one of the Maestro's "legendary" powers amounts to a maximum +5 bonus to the character's Leadership score. Uh ...wow. The Puzzlemaster could have pulled one out for the bard, but the good idea falls short on execution. A player of bards will have to wait for more worthy legendary classes.Not to worry, though, because Path of Magic comes through with a section dedicated to bards. The short piece is tremendously rich in information, such as an interesting distinction between mundane performances and those with truly magical properties. This good idea is taken a step further, turning it into one of the most triumphant bardic portrayals I've seen in a d20 product. With these rules a bard can use his spell power to alter the nature of spells cast by friends and foes. By exchanging his own spells per day, and making a Perform check at the appropriate DC, a bard can extend the range, duration, or damage of another's spell. With a well-timed chant, such a minstrel might turn an enemy's fireball back so it lands at the feat of its own wicked caster. These are mere examples, as there are many more possibilities.Possibilities expand with the idea of the troupe--a group of bards performing together for greater effect. Not only can a group of bards improve the chances of intended effects on the spells of others, but they can also generate raw magical power that may be directed for the use of other spellcasters. These rules expand the bard as a support character, relate the value of music to other parts of culture (such as church ceremonies), and create great thematic potential in the game.The theme of the more musical bard continues with alternate bardic music abilities. Now a bard need not have the abilities listed in the Player's Handbook for her bardic music, or perhaps she has those and another set of powers based on another form of mystical performance. The alternate abilities are very nice, and solidly within the themes chosen for them (singing, dance, chanting, and instrumental). The potential of game imbalance is there, however, should a bard have too many of these abilities, despite the fact that each performance type requires a feat.Those feats are just a few of the talents outlined in Path of Magic. Being familiar with a number of FFGs products, I'm not surprised at the high quality of most of the new feats. Still, some are illogical, like Arcane Artisan, which gives a bonus to Craft checks only if the article in question is intended to be a magic item. So the crafter's skill changes just because of his intent? Others are decent feats, but have misleading names, like Expert Bardic Knowledge, which provides no expertise at all, but a way to coax information about a magic item out of the ether by using a mystic performance. There's over three dozen new feats, and though about a third require that one use some of the rules variants in Path of Magic, almost every feat here has a place in the D&D game.Things that don't have a place are the alternate core classes (leveled 1st-20th) presented in Path of Magic (much like their inane counterparts in Path of the Sword). There's only four, but none of them are good. The Arcane Engineer is an interesting concept, especially for more "science-oriented" tales, but the class is much more powerful than a wizard in class abilities, with no real penalties to spell ability or anything else. The Arsenalist, also a tech-mage, isn't even that good of an idea (and seems derivative of concepts from White Wolf's Mage: the Sorcerer's Crusade). Worse, this "master of gunpowder" doesn't have the ability to use Craft (firearms) until 11th-level, the Craft (firearms) description is written in a way that must preclude decent editing, and the prose refers to a chart of Craft DCs that does not exist. The final two classes are a bland jumble of magical abilities and fail to live up to their own themes. Though the Sun Mage comes close to avoiding this accusation, the wishy-washy writing and inherent illogic in the contents of its restricted spell list make the class something I'd not bother using.There's something else I won't use as it's written, but not for the same reason, and that's the Magical Tradition section. This part of Path of Magic is full of inspiration, great story elements, and things that make good ideas for prestige classes, new spells, and feats. Magical Traditions allow a character to follow the teachings and philosophy of a specific group of mages. As he does so, the character expends XPs and time to learn ten techniques in manipulating magic (or other abilities). The idea (also appearing in Path of the Sword) is novel, but adds power to a character outside the context of feats, skills, and class abilities, therefore the potential for abuse is high.The same cannot be said for the organizations included in Path of Magic. While suffering from the ho-hum naming conventions under which many of the prestige classes languish, these things are great. The organizational template shows a precision way to construct guilds, complete with benefits and costs for membership. Strangely, just like Path of the Sword, this template for organizations is not used for those groups associated with the prestige classes in the earlier section of the book. A question I still can't answer is, "Why not?" Moreover, unlike some of Mongoose's class books, the section doesn't really show a player how to construct his or her own guild. That would have been nice.What a PC wizard can build is a tower. Despite the painfully cliché nature of such a topic, Path of Magic provides some shallow rules of construction for the stronghold-minded thaumaturge. While interesting in places, most of the guidelines pale in comparison to the Stronghold Builder's Guidebook. Like the latter volume, the mechanics rely on heaps of gold pieces to provide the desired accoutrements in the building--both denying that there are combinations of spells that might allow a clever player to build a stronghold for the mere cost of the materials for the magical architecture. Unfortunately, unlike Stronghold Builder's Guidebook, Path of Magic is not even remotely clear on how the wondrous architecture is constructed (as a magic item) within the context of the D&D rules. Further, the powers of some chambers can be used outside the tower with no maximum range on the same plane. While it's desirable, and even wickedly fun for players and DMs, to have an archmage reign supreme in his sanctum sanctorum, allowing the tower to provide benefits beyond the boundaries of the building (or even grounds) is a potentially game-breaking flaw.Less unbalanced, and arguably more interesting, are the items and places of power. The section suggests some alternate power sources for mages to use. Expendable foci (think items that are crafted much like traditional magic items, store spell energy, and crumble to dust when consumed) can be used only to power metamagic feats, and are dangerous if used improperly. Entire "fonts" of energy are delineated for DMs who want unique twists to source(s) of magic power. The system for fonts is overly complex, but useable--especially for designing unique magical traditions focused on a specific energy, or even heredity. The suggestions here can inspire some very flavorful additions to a campaign.Another morsel I hoped would be tasty just left bitterness behind. When flipping through Path of Magic, as I do with every book before I settle in for the read, I noticed the section on eldritch staffs. "Finally," I thought, "someone has been bold enough to come up with wizard staffs that work like those in fantasy literature." Well, I thought wrong. These rules won't be used by anyone who wants even a fair exchange of remuneration for drawbacks. Eldritch staffs do give some extra power, but the "balancing" factors are way too heavy--and those things remain even when a character eschews the use of the item, while the benefits do not. Further, the wizard bonded to the staff loses one permanent point of Constitution, which cannot be regained if the staff is destroyed. Should that happen, worse punishment is in store for the unfortunate spell-weaver. Gamers have to wait for a viable alternative.Yet, of all the books I've seen dedicated to the path of magic in the D&D games, this is one of the best. Notable is the diverse content, as well as the fact that the truly flawed sections are small. Some of the materials in this book will certainly see use in my campaigns, and those that don't could still provide ample inspiration for games yet unplayed and campaigns uncreated. Path of Magic isn't the wise, pseudo-angelic Gandalf of roleplaying supplements, but neither is it that bumbling Sorcerer's Apprentice. It's like a robe of useful items--cool to have, certainly stylish, and those who draw from it carefully come out ahead.This review was originally written for <a href="http://www.unitedplaytest.com/gamingfrontiers/index.html" target="_blank">Gaming Frontiers</a> on 11/26/02.</blockquote>

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