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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JoeGKushner" data-source="post: 2009220" data-attributes="member: 1129">Races of Evernor Part IA Compendium of Legendary RacesWriten by Ian JohnstonPublished By Silverthorne Games60 b & w pagesRaces don’t get to get the same treatment that prestige classes, magic and monsters do.  Oh sure, we’ve got Monsters from AEG and Mythic Races from Fantasy Flight Games, but you can’t swing a dead cat without hitting a Monster Manual style book.  Well, Silverthorne games looks to be hitting two birds with one stone.  First, they’ve made a supplement for their setting, Evernor.  Second, they’ve made it a book on the races of Evernor that can be used in almost any setting without too much hassle on the GMs part.The book starts off with a brief introduction to the Lands of Evernor.  It provides the reader with a quick break down of the number of continents, what’s open game content, and the gods of the setting, like Ahlorn, the god of truth, justice and the American Way (oops, I meant Valor), and Thoss, the god of death, evil and other bad stuff among other deities.  It’s not an extensive section, taking up roughly four pages, not counting the section devoted to using the book.  Those worried that it’s focus is too heavy on the setting of Evernor can rest easy that it’s not.The book then jumps right into the races.  Races are listed in alphabetical order with this stat block:  Type, Pronounced, Singular/Adjectival form, Plural Form, Frequency, Frilf’s Notes, Background, Personality, Physical Description, Diet, Relations, Alignment, Lands, Religion, Language, Names, Adventurers, In the Realms of Evernor, Role Play Tips, Adventure Seeds, Racial Traits, New Feats, New Spells, and A Prime Example.Most of this stuff is pretty self-explanatory.  For those worried about the space involved with In The Realms of Evernor, rest easy.  It’s a few paragraphs and most of that can be used to situate the race into another setting based on geography.  The parts most players will find useful are the names and role-playing tips as it’s often difficult to get inside the head of a new race.  The Prime Example is a good idea, a first level character of the race with a full stat block and some background information.  I would’ve preferred a little more variety in the Prime Examples like some high level chiefs or leaders but it does make the book good to go for those wishing to use one of these races right away.One of the things I enjoyed about this book is that the publisher didn’t feel the need to reinvent the wheel.  While there are some new races here, a lot of them are variants of existing races.  This makes it much easier to inject then something brand new.  You can always explain the Cabaran, desert dwelling elves, as being exiles from the standard high and gray elf clans.  The variants are usually way off from the original as the Fjurnian gnome, a barbaric subtype of gnome, proves.  These hardy warriors are more barbarian than illusionist and can be quite the potent warrior.  Those looking for variants of evil races will enjoy the Glimjara, a merchant based caste of goblins that thirst only for more money and prestige.    Those looking for a civilized orc get a race that’s almost civilized.  The Orusk are ork in origin, but tend to ply the water waves.  Makes ‘em a perfect fit for a place like Freeport.Among my favorite new races is the Celedhriel.  These outsiders are very similar to the Luminous from Mythic Races in appearance in that they’re beings of light.  These bad boys are a bit more powerful though with some innate spell powers and access to some feats that augment their light based abilities.  The Elyrian, a race of studious humanoids, are another one of my favorite races.  Here, the reason is because they’re easy to slip into a campaign world without upsetting the balance.  They generally tend to not be great warriors or master spellcasters but stick with their books and research.  Makes them great patrons for parties looking for funding to explore that latest discovery (or dungeon!).The races seem fairly well balanced in relation to normal characters.  Most of them are ECL of 0, which makes them perfect for starting campaigns.  Some of the higher-powered races though, might’ve benefited from a Monster Write up as well as a character write up.  I have a hard time with the physically powerful Lissk lizard folk being a ECL of +3.  Sure, they get some nice bonuses, but they’re not going to have as many skills points and their armor class bonus for natural armor is partially cancelled out by their size penalty.  In part, I think that because of the feat they can take, Vorpal Blow, that they might’ve put that ECL up a little higher than would normally be the case.The publishers did a real good job with the PDF interface.  Each page has a thumbnail so you can move from page to page if you see an illustration that blows your socks off.  More importantly though, is the use of the bookmarks.  Here, the standards are done, i.e. one bookmark for each race, but they’ve went a little further.  Click on the Elyrian and you’ll have the option to go to any of the stat block information.  Want to see the Role Playing Notes?  Click on it.  New Feats?  Click on it.  Prime Example?  Click on it.  This makes moving around very easy.  The fact that they added Quick Lists for feats, spells and weapons only sweetens the deal making moving around very easy.The book’s layout follows the standard two columns common to most publications.  Art ranges from good to great.  Some of the illustrations by Lance W. Card for example, are top notch and the best I’ve seen from any publisher recently.  The artist who did the Fjurnian gnomes and Kefgrald dwarves, among others, is also top notch.  More than makes up for the 'merely okay' art gracing the feline Myrrond and the strange artic dwelling Fezroki.One of the things I didn’t like was that there is no table of contents.  Now that’s perfectly okay if you’re running this off your computer because the bookmarks on the Adobe file do an excellent job of getting you around to very specific parts but if you’re like me and don’t like reading off you’re PC, well, it needs a toc.  In addition, there were a few minor editing errors that crept into the book.  The author has assured me thought that since it’s an electronic publication, it’ll be taken care of shortly.  Ah, if only ever product could have such a nice turnaround.  “Hey Wizards, can I turn this Sword & Fist in for a new printing?  No? Damn…” Lastly, some of the writing is choppy.  Take for example this piece of text from the Fjurnian Gnome.  “Typically, a Fjurnian gnome values survival.”  Well, I would hope so.  Keep me anyway from those untypical gnomes who hate survival eh?  “Must end life!  Must be untypical!”Not a fault of the sourcebook itself, but I would’ve loved to see some Prestige Classes for these unique races.  The new weapons, feats and spells go a long way in making each race unique and I feel that some PrCs would further that goal a bit.Those are all minor complaints though and this book serves as an excellent example in using standard layout without any borders to save on ink.  Using excellent art to augment the subject instead of just being eye-candy and providing enough detail without overwhelming the reader, all make this a top notch product worthy of anyone’s time whose interested in adding new and variant races to their campaign.RESOURCEShttp://www.silverthornegames.com/free_stuff.htm Download two new races not included in this book and see for yourself if you enjoy the style and substance of Evernor.</blockquote>

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