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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Simon Collins" data-source="post: 2010030" data-attributes="member: 9860">This is not a playtest review. Plot & Poison is a guidebook to drow from Green Ronin Publishing, another in the OGL Interlink series. Plot & Poison is a 160-page mono softcover product costing $24.95. Margins, font size and space usage are all good - my only complaints would be about the odd font used for titles and subtitles which is rather hard to read at first, and the small font, white on black, in the flavour text sidebars, also hard to read. The art runs from average to superb, with most internal art being good whilst the cover art by Todd Lockwood showing a female drow framed by two male drow warriors with a backdrop of drow catwalks and victims hung upside down from a stake, is outstanding. Writing style is good as is editing, with occasional, if regular, errors. Chapter One: The Way Of Darkness This chapter introduces some of the concepts offered in the book, such as drow subraces, playing drow PCs, and has ideas for making drow unique (including my own favourite - to give drow cosmetic changes to reflect their subterranean existence such as pale skin) and introducing drow into your campaign. A more detailed rundown of drow physiological, social, and religious traits is also given, along with a detailed explanation of the make-up of drow naming conventions, and a reiteration of their game-rule racial traits. A sidebar also looks at the theory behind the drow ECL of +2. Next up is basic information on five drow subraces (though some of these are dealt with in more detail in Chapter Three): * Half-Drow - magical or sexual genetic pairing with a variety of other races. * Aquatic Drow - live beneath the underdark seas, with detect thoughts instead of darkness, and cold resistance. * Drey - chaotic evil barbaric drow race with white eyes. * Spiderling - mini-drider-like mixture of spider, drow and deep halfling * Vupdrax - winged drow with a feral temperament that live in bat-like colonies There follows a useful discussion on encounters with drow, which gives advice to both players and GMs running drow characters, and those running characters facing drow. A section on drow society gives a brief version of drow history, the life of a drow from birth to death, the psyche of a drow (including a sidebar giving advice on roleplaying drow), and an explanataion of how drow society lives by laws but not morality. There is a detailed section on drow craft, artistry, and entertainment (including the use of scar tattoos) followed by a section outlining the interaction between drow and the different core classes, as well as the psion and psychic warrior. The remainder of the chapter looks at drow cities in the underdark, with advice on drow city creation, and the geography, environment, hazards, and encounters in the underdark surrounding those cities (including an underdark encounter list with suitable underground creatures). Chapter Two: Religion And Gods This chapter takes a somewhat non-standard view on drow religion, providing a pantheon of deities under the generic Spider Queen. Each of these demigods is known as a Claw, and includes Demzer the Lord of Pain and consort of the Spider Queen, Xarcon (a god of fire and destruction, and Black Widow (a daughter of the Spider Queen bent on death and vengeance). Each deity is discussed in terms of appearance, history, rank and relations with the other gods, ceremonies of the religion, priestly garb, and dogma. There is an interesting web of plots involving these 'claws' as they vie for power. This plotting is further complicated by three deities outside this pantheon, especially a Vermin Lord who opposes the Spider Queen. A table outlines such things as domains, symbol, favoured weapon, etc. Chapter Three: Creatures Of The Underdark This chapter gives monster stats and descriptions for a number of creatures including drow and the five subraces introduced in Chapter One. This includes templates for driders, half-drow, and verminoid (a half-humanoid, half-vermin creation), as well as monstrous slugs and leeches, a living web, and a scry warden (incorporeal outsider that leeches power from those with the ability to scry). Chapter Four: Prestige Classes After a brief discussion on the use of prestige classes in the DMG by drow, there follows 16 new PrC's suitable for drow: * Blessed Of Xarcon - pyromaniac evocation specialists. 10-level PrC. * Creature Cultist - drow who are ostracised by drow society for worshipping and gaining powers of underdark creatures such as umber hulk, chuul, and purple worm. 5-level PrC. * Dark Dancer - 5-level fighter PrC that uses dance as a medium for destruction, with slightly different powers depending on which demigod Claw they worship. * Darksight Slayer - 10-level assassin type that has advanced evasion and hiding abilities. * Deepsinger - 10-level subterranean bard with specialised sonic attacks. * Dominant - sadistic dominatrix with abilities to torture and enchant. 10-level PrC. * Dweomer Defender - 10-level PrC specialised in magical defence. * Fateweaver - 10-level worshippers of the Spider Queen specialising in spellcasting and gaining additional spellcasting power. * Master Summoner - 5-level PrC specialising in summoning magic. * Spell Addict - 5-level PrC with powerful casting abilities but unstable and debilitating magic. * Submissive - grovelling servant type with dedication to a master or mistress which inures to pain and hardship. 5 levels. * Talion Apostle - 10-level worshippers of Black Widow, specialists in Necromancy and assassination, with some monk abilities. * Transmorph - 10-level transmutation specialists dedicated to creating new creatures born of pain, magic, and insanity. * Unseen Sniper - 5-level ranged assassin with advanced hiding abilities * Vermin Outrider - 5-level PrC with abilities to aid in riding vermin through the underdark. * Vile Tormentor - a mixture of torturer and martial artist. 5-level PrC. Chapter Five: Skills And Feats This chapter begins with some new uses for old skills, notably crafting of verminous items (of which more in Chapter 6 and 8) and poisons, hand cant (innuendo), and torture (intimidate). Over 80 feats are described including a variety of enhancements to combat and spellcasting, as well as various feats used for crafting verminous items. Several feats are drow-only feats such as the negation of their susceptibility to bright light and variations to their faerie fire spell-like ability. The chapter ends with some drow martial and magical arts styles, requiring a plethora of prerequisites to gain a single combat or spellcasting benefit related to the style being described (e.g. the Bloody Dervish fighting style which concentrates on the use of double weapons with prerequisites limiting access to at least 9th level, and gives a +1 to attack and damage for double weapons). Chapter Six: Equipment This chapter begins with Verminous Items - a mixture of alchemy, surgery, engineering and a living verminous victim. This creates such things as a cross between a mosquito and a hypodermic needle for injecting potions and poisons, as well as verminous weapons and armour made of chitinous material. Other weapons (e.g. repeating hand crossbow) and armour (e.g. web armour) are also given, as well as some new adventuring gear (e.g. spidersilk rope) and vermin mounts and gear. There is also a discussion of the various races drow use as slaves, their worth and their role in society. Along with various alchemical items is a useful sidebar discussing the creation of alchemical items with spell effects and their impact on game rules. And, of course, several new alchemical poisons are described along with a large table showing their stats along with a wide range of natural poisons mainly from an underdark source. Chapter Seven: Spells And Magic Begins with three nasty developments in drow spellcasting - enchantments that affect vermin, draining XP from loyal servants for spellcasting, and using blood sacrifices to fuel spellcasting with an XP component (with a sidebar discussing the impact of introducing the latter two aspects into a campaign). Following this is a discussion of an optional rule system for power components - rare ingredients, usually part of a monster, that can alter the effects of spells in various ways (usually similar to metamagic feats) or reduce the associated costs. A 2 page table lists a whole range of these power components and their effects. 26 new domains (including bat, poison, underdark, vermin, and web), and around 50 new spells (including such spells as web wall, vermin messenger, power word (pain), and envenom object) are given. Chapter Eight: Magic Items Begins with the concept of verminous magic items (like verminous items in Chapter 6 but magical) and includes sidebars explaining differences in the use and creation of these items including pricing aspects. Next up are some weapon and armour special qualities (e.g. armour of tumbling, an ioun weapon which floats around your head) with a few specific ones. Six new magic poisons are given, as well as some potions, rings, wands, staffs, rods, and wondrous items, finishing with two intelligent items (one of which ties cleverly into the flavour text that is scattered through the book). Appendices Appendix One is a collection of reference tables from the book all in one place. Appendix Two gives 20-level stats for a drow weapon master (Rog/Ftr/Rgr) with a level 7/7/6 example, and does the same for a mage-priest with a Clr9/Wiz11 example. The book finishes with a 2-page index. Conclusion An excellent reference book for both GMs and potential players giving a new view on drow, their society, religion, and abilities, whilst mainly staying true to the basic concept of evil dark elves. There are numerous ideas that can be taken away from the book for campaigns outside the underdark, but the book really takes off if you want to develop a drow-centric underdark campaign. The best aspect of the book to my mind is its somewhat toolkit approach, where various possibilities are discussed and the ramifications of decisions to implement ideas are made clear as you read through the book. Apart from the odd title font and the occasional over-powered rule, there is little to complain about and much to take away.</blockquote>

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