Crothian
First Post
The Kingdom of Kalamar is a very rich and detailed setting. It has lively descriptions through out the many books and the setting as a whole is very dramatic. This PDF is an updated version of the old Players Guide to Kalamar. It updates it to the 3.5 rule set and covers everything that was in the original book. This PDF will fully replace the old book. This book is only being released as a PDF. I understand that there might not be enough demand for the book to be in print but a PDF of this size and with the type of useful content that is in here I feel is just easier to use as a book. I can see a lot of people printing this out to use.
The Players Guide is a big PDF coming in at two hundred and seventy seven pages. It has a great lay out and really good art. It has the quality of any book in these areas. It is in full color with lots of graphics so printing this on a home printing can eat up a lot of ink. One might want to get this printed out elsewhere. It only comes in one PDF so there is no graphics light or black and white version for easy printing. For people who want to use the PDF from the computer there are no book marks. That will make electronically flipping from item to item much harder and time consuming.
There is a lot in here. As a Players Guide it has a lot of mechanics in it but does an excellent job of keeping the great detail of the setting fresh. Kalamar is a very alive setting with many things going on. It is a place of politics and great nations. It can also be a place of exploration and adventure. It has a great level of detail and a wide variety of places that allows a DM to do most anything they want with the setting. Because of that there is a lot of information in the book. It is packed with options and everything in it makes the book feel actually much bigger.
The book starts with a good one page introduction to the setting. It explains the world in a simple over view. It tells more of what the setting is about then specific details. That is left other areas. What it does tell is some of the importance of the Player Characters being the heroes of the setting. It goes into a bit on the importance to not have the rest of the world stop moving and things stop happening just because the players are not there. It is a setting that is going for a bit of realism in it even though it is still a setting of magic, of many fictional races, and plenty of creative ideas.
There are twenty three playable races in Kalamar. Actually, there might be more but there are twenty three listed here. Each race gets a nice description to help on get the feel for the race and be able to play him. They are physically described, have basic relationships with other races detailed, what alignments the race seems to go toward, what type of lands they usually live in, their languages, their religions, and what adventurers from that race are like. Each is also mechanically described when different from the players handbook version of the race. Many of the races are sub races for instance there are many types of hobgoblins, elves, and dwarves. There is also a really nice sidebar about bringing in characters created for other settings. I like that they include fine details like that.
The book has plenty of new classes but first it gives a short paragraph to each of the Player Handbook classes to inform the reader what they are like in this world. Next, the section does a great job of making some use of the variant class guidelines from the Dungeon Masters Guide. There is not a lot there but I think this is the first setting to even recognize those guidelines exist. There are seven new base twenty level classes here. Each is given the same level of detail that is found through the book. The Basiran Dancers are a little bard like especially in mechanics. They get spells to sixth level and a good amount of class skills and skill points. They have a very limited known spells list though. The brigand is a charismatic fighter. They are a little more rogue then the standard fighter enjoying more skills and skill points and sneak attack ability. They do not get the base attack bonus of a fighter though. Gladiators are powerful fighters that fight in the many public arenas. They can hold their own well in a fight and learn many interesting tricks of their trade. The Infiltrator is part rogue and part ranger. They have great sneaking and movement abilities. The shaman is a divine spellcaster of tribes that deals in spirits. They have a totem and can eventually take on that totems form. The Spellslinger is a bit of the singing music of the bard mixed with the raw power of the sorcerer. There does seem to be an error in the class though. They can cast never spell levels at odd levels but do not gain new known spells of that level till an even level. For instance they can cast fifth level spells at ninth level but do not actually know any fifth level spells till tenth. The Watchmen are warriors to protect people in cities and other places danger prowls. They have good city based skills and abilities making this one of the better classes for any city based campaign.
There are of course plenty of setting specific prestige classes as well. Some like the Muse I like the abilities but would prefer that it build on the spellcasting abilities of a character instead of just starting over. Others like the Wavemaster are just solid concepts that work as a character and well in the game. There is also a nice section for making new prestige classes and a few short ideas on concepts that would make good additional prestige classes.
The book has a full chapter each for skills and feats. There are some new knowledge skills and plenty of new ways to use the older skills. There are many new feats as well. There are many creative and useful feats. Knock Prone allows one to knock over an opponent whenever they score a critical hit. Targeted attack allows one to hit a certain body part and damage it instead of doing extra damage with a critical hit. There are some feats that are bit weak like ones that give a plus two bonus to two skills but they have prerequisites to them. Many of the ones richest in flavor just do not have a worthwhile mechanical benefit to take them.
The section on religions is very complete. They have a table of the gods listing the names the non human races have for the gods. There is a nice sidebar about adjudicating followers actions. There are table to convert gods of other settings to the Kalamar equivalent. Each god is given a basic description of their canons. Then it goes into temple rank. This is not a level determined thing it depends on how well the character does in the eyes of the church and their god. Each rank has a description, specific duties, and privileges. The highest rank is the leader of the church. There is also a bit on sainthood and the divine right of Kings. Each religion also has a secret way to use the channeling/turning undead ability. This is a great section that really gives powers that fit the beliefs of the church cleric follows instead of just giving everyone the same thing no matter what they believe.
There is a chapter on equipment. In addition to many nice new mundane and alchemical items there are slaves and their costs. There is a nice bit of information on the coins and the different places that use different types of them. This is going to be a useful chapter for anyone that wants to do more with the simple equipment and not have the magical stuff quickly over take it all. There is also a nice chapter on spells and magical items. There are plenty of good and creative things for the people that want the magic as well. It is a rare book that includes so much of both and that is not a catalog of equipment.
As one might expect the section on the known world is filled with great detail. This place is alive and there are plenty of things that are going on. What I really enjoy most is that the world is written with the idea that the players are going to be adventurers and the DM is going to need all sorts of plot hooks and things for them to do. There is plenty of things outside that scope but the book does not forget that it is for a role playing game and seems to really know what people that play the game actually do. I think some settings and writers forget that at times.
This is a very dynamic and exciting setting of countries and politics and adventure and of monsters. It can really support a nice variety of adventures and character types. There is a lot of information here much more then I was fully able to cover. But the most important thing one needs to understand about this world is that it really seems like a great blend of ideas and adventure and makes a great setting for many role playing campaigns. This book has the character options and information for the players to make that happen.
The Players Guide is a big PDF coming in at two hundred and seventy seven pages. It has a great lay out and really good art. It has the quality of any book in these areas. It is in full color with lots of graphics so printing this on a home printing can eat up a lot of ink. One might want to get this printed out elsewhere. It only comes in one PDF so there is no graphics light or black and white version for easy printing. For people who want to use the PDF from the computer there are no book marks. That will make electronically flipping from item to item much harder and time consuming.
There is a lot in here. As a Players Guide it has a lot of mechanics in it but does an excellent job of keeping the great detail of the setting fresh. Kalamar is a very alive setting with many things going on. It is a place of politics and great nations. It can also be a place of exploration and adventure. It has a great level of detail and a wide variety of places that allows a DM to do most anything they want with the setting. Because of that there is a lot of information in the book. It is packed with options and everything in it makes the book feel actually much bigger.
The book starts with a good one page introduction to the setting. It explains the world in a simple over view. It tells more of what the setting is about then specific details. That is left other areas. What it does tell is some of the importance of the Player Characters being the heroes of the setting. It goes into a bit on the importance to not have the rest of the world stop moving and things stop happening just because the players are not there. It is a setting that is going for a bit of realism in it even though it is still a setting of magic, of many fictional races, and plenty of creative ideas.
There are twenty three playable races in Kalamar. Actually, there might be more but there are twenty three listed here. Each race gets a nice description to help on get the feel for the race and be able to play him. They are physically described, have basic relationships with other races detailed, what alignments the race seems to go toward, what type of lands they usually live in, their languages, their religions, and what adventurers from that race are like. Each is also mechanically described when different from the players handbook version of the race. Many of the races are sub races for instance there are many types of hobgoblins, elves, and dwarves. There is also a really nice sidebar about bringing in characters created for other settings. I like that they include fine details like that.
The book has plenty of new classes but first it gives a short paragraph to each of the Player Handbook classes to inform the reader what they are like in this world. Next, the section does a great job of making some use of the variant class guidelines from the Dungeon Masters Guide. There is not a lot there but I think this is the first setting to even recognize those guidelines exist. There are seven new base twenty level classes here. Each is given the same level of detail that is found through the book. The Basiran Dancers are a little bard like especially in mechanics. They get spells to sixth level and a good amount of class skills and skill points. They have a very limited known spells list though. The brigand is a charismatic fighter. They are a little more rogue then the standard fighter enjoying more skills and skill points and sneak attack ability. They do not get the base attack bonus of a fighter though. Gladiators are powerful fighters that fight in the many public arenas. They can hold their own well in a fight and learn many interesting tricks of their trade. The Infiltrator is part rogue and part ranger. They have great sneaking and movement abilities. The shaman is a divine spellcaster of tribes that deals in spirits. They have a totem and can eventually take on that totems form. The Spellslinger is a bit of the singing music of the bard mixed with the raw power of the sorcerer. There does seem to be an error in the class though. They can cast never spell levels at odd levels but do not gain new known spells of that level till an even level. For instance they can cast fifth level spells at ninth level but do not actually know any fifth level spells till tenth. The Watchmen are warriors to protect people in cities and other places danger prowls. They have good city based skills and abilities making this one of the better classes for any city based campaign.
There are of course plenty of setting specific prestige classes as well. Some like the Muse I like the abilities but would prefer that it build on the spellcasting abilities of a character instead of just starting over. Others like the Wavemaster are just solid concepts that work as a character and well in the game. There is also a nice section for making new prestige classes and a few short ideas on concepts that would make good additional prestige classes.
The book has a full chapter each for skills and feats. There are some new knowledge skills and plenty of new ways to use the older skills. There are many new feats as well. There are many creative and useful feats. Knock Prone allows one to knock over an opponent whenever they score a critical hit. Targeted attack allows one to hit a certain body part and damage it instead of doing extra damage with a critical hit. There are some feats that are bit weak like ones that give a plus two bonus to two skills but they have prerequisites to them. Many of the ones richest in flavor just do not have a worthwhile mechanical benefit to take them.
The section on religions is very complete. They have a table of the gods listing the names the non human races have for the gods. There is a nice sidebar about adjudicating followers actions. There are table to convert gods of other settings to the Kalamar equivalent. Each god is given a basic description of their canons. Then it goes into temple rank. This is not a level determined thing it depends on how well the character does in the eyes of the church and their god. Each rank has a description, specific duties, and privileges. The highest rank is the leader of the church. There is also a bit on sainthood and the divine right of Kings. Each religion also has a secret way to use the channeling/turning undead ability. This is a great section that really gives powers that fit the beliefs of the church cleric follows instead of just giving everyone the same thing no matter what they believe.
There is a chapter on equipment. In addition to many nice new mundane and alchemical items there are slaves and their costs. There is a nice bit of information on the coins and the different places that use different types of them. This is going to be a useful chapter for anyone that wants to do more with the simple equipment and not have the magical stuff quickly over take it all. There is also a nice chapter on spells and magical items. There are plenty of good and creative things for the people that want the magic as well. It is a rare book that includes so much of both and that is not a catalog of equipment.
As one might expect the section on the known world is filled with great detail. This place is alive and there are plenty of things that are going on. What I really enjoy most is that the world is written with the idea that the players are going to be adventurers and the DM is going to need all sorts of plot hooks and things for them to do. There is plenty of things outside that scope but the book does not forget that it is for a role playing game and seems to really know what people that play the game actually do. I think some settings and writers forget that at times.
This is a very dynamic and exciting setting of countries and politics and adventure and of monsters. It can really support a nice variety of adventures and character types. There is a lot of information here much more then I was fully able to cover. But the most important thing one needs to understand about this world is that it really seems like a great blend of ideas and adventure and makes a great setting for many role playing campaigns. This book has the character options and information for the players to make that happen.
