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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Capellan" data-source="post: 2010316" data-attributes="member: 6294">Potent Portals is a 25 page PDF that collects more than a hundred magical doors, windows, locks and gates for use in D20 Fantasy games.  As such, it fits into a group of releases that I think of as "utility" products.  By this I mean that its primary function is to give the purchaser a variety of resources that they can quickly and easily plug into their campaign.  Not everyone has much use for utility products, as they generally offer little that could not be achieved by an individual DM, given sufficient time and effort.  (Consider what is probably the classic utility product: "Everyone Else".  At heart, it's simply a collection of NPC statistics, which any DM could - in time - have compiled).  If you have the time and the inclination to generate dozens of magical doors and alcoves, or if you have little need for them in your campaign, then Potent Portals is not going to offer you very much value.On the other hand, many DMs - myself included - find utility products extremely useful.  The reasons for this can vary, but they usually come back to convenience.  Perhaps a DM has a demanding work or study schedule; or perhaps they simply prefer to focus on other aspects of their campaign.  Whatever the reason, the value of utility products arises from their convenience; the time and effort they save; almost as much as it does from the quality of the contents.Make no mistake, however.  The quality of the contents is as vital to a utility product as to any other.  If a release like Potent Portals doesn't deliver interesting and useful resources, then it fails in its purpose. So does Potent Portals deliver?On the whole, yes.  There are a few entries which seem to work somewhat illogically (why do so many of the magical knockers only affects people who are polite enough to use them?  Surely they would be better designed to operate against those who try to break in?), and several that do little more than imbue a door or archway with fairly predictable offensive spells (a facility already offered by a glyph of warding), but many of the entries are sufficiently imaginative and distinctive that they will stick in the minds of players and DMs long after they are first used.Often, it is the more whimsical entries that seem the most interesting, such as the Capable Coffin Lid or the Suspicious Curtains, while some of the applications found for spells are extremely inventive (I particularly liked the uses found for spells such as web and shatter), and should make memorable gaming scenes.  There are also some clever variations on classical magic items: the portable hole for instance now has a couple of rather ingenious "cousins".One odd oversight in the list was a "seeing door" - I'd fully expected that a door which allowed the owner to activate a clairvoyance effect on it would appear in the product: it's the obvious magical equivalent of modern day security cameras, after all!  On the other hand, CMG have included a number of other "convenience" related doors, to round out the collection and offer something a little different from the various traps that are included, so this was obviously a direction which they were considering when writing the product.It's also good to see that the item creation details of all the items are provided, though some of the gold piece costs seem a little 'off', to me.  The Alcove of Magic Detection, for instance, appears to be 27 times as expensive as an item that provided its function would need to be.  There's also an absence of details on CR, Search DC and Disable DC for the 'trap' style entries.  Sure, a DM could calculate these, but it would have been nice to have them included.In terms of the technical and presentation side of the product, the writing is generally clear, if a little wordy at times.  There are a number of small proofing errors, but nothing that significantly affects the meaning of the text.  The PDF only comes in portrait format, which makes it a little difficult to read on the screen, but the layout is uncluttered and easy to follow.  Some line art breaks up the text without being too demanding of printer ink.Potent Portals is a solid product, offering plenty of good resources for DMs who are looking for nefarious traps and magical "labour saving" devices to use in campaigns.  It will also be useful for players who wish to have their characters build strongholds.</blockquote>

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