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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Messageboard Golem" data-source="post: 2011708" data-attributes="member: 18387">By Steven Creech, Executive Chairman d20 Magazine RackInitiative RoundRaces of Stone is a 192-page hardcover that focuses on dwarves, gnomes and goliaths (a new race). Written by David Noonan, Jesse Decker and Michelle Lyons and published by Wizards of the Coast, this book carries a retail price of $29.95.The book itself is broken down into eight distinct chapters. Chapter one addresses dwarves. Mind you, it’s not the detailed level you get from a book like Hammer & Helm (Green Ronin), but rather a detailed overview that sheds more light about appearance, psychology, society, and religion than what you find on dwarves society and familial bonds as they relate to playing a dwarf more than anything. Chapter two follows the same formula and addresses gnomes. Again, no great drawn out detailed treatise but a good overall sample of flavor.Goliaths are a new race to D&D. These mountain-dwelling nomads are large (around 8 ft.) and have good relations with dwarves. In a sense, they are a tribal version of a mountain barbarian. Much of their society is based around their competitive nature. Again, the chapter follows the same formula as the first two, giving the reader a good overview with the exception of the presentation of an example goliath tribe.Chapter four is a summation of the “other” races or sub-races. The detail of previous chapters is dropped in favor of the outline approach used in the PHB. Chaos gnomes, dream dwarves, feral garguns, stonechilds, and whisper gnomes are all covered as new playable character races (provided the GM is willing to allow it).Prestige classes make up chapter five. Battlesmith is a 5-level dwarven PrC that requires ranks in Craft (armorsmithing) or Craft (weaponsmithing) as the character use this skill to not only repair weapons of war but become more of a threat in combat. The Blade Bravo is a gnome who lives to duel and enjoy the adrenaline rush of combat. Cragtop Archer is a long distance sniper. He can shoot from hundreds of yards away and rain down a flurry of arrows upon his target. Downcallers are essentially goliath bards while Deepwardens are the dwarven version of an early warning system again attack. The Divine Prankster is a gnome that takes humor to a new height, ultimately killing his opponents (talk about a killing joke). An Earth Dreamer is a spellcaster that has a deep affinity for the earth itself. Goliath Liberators are goliaths who rescue other members of their race that have been captured or enslaved. Iron Minds are members of a psionic prestige class and usually come from dwarven psychic warriors. A Peregrine Runner is a goliath who specializes running long distances quickly, essentially a marathon runner and sprinter rolled into one. A Runesmith is a dwarf that combines runes with casting arcane spells for a powerful combination. A gnome may become a Shadowcraft Mage and use illusion more effectively. Stoneblessed characters come from “outside” a mountain race culture and live with that race, adopting that culture as their own (this is only a 3-level prestige class). Stonedeath Assassins are goblinoids who specialize in waging war on dwarves. Finally, a Stonespeaker Guardian uses the divine power of the earth to protect friendly races from giants, orcs and other evil races.Chapter six focuses on character options. New rules for existing skills and feats presented along with a significant amount of new feats. Many of these new feats are either divine, racial or wild in type. Fling Ally allows you to throw a smaller companion a certain distance. Yes, you can finally officially toss a dwarf. One complaint here is that some of the feats would have been better as a spell than a feat. An example of this is the feat Pierce the Darkness, where a character can spend one of his turn undead attempts to double the range of his darkvision for a number of minutes. In my opinion, the is one of those instances where the costs outweigh the benefit, especially because it is a divine feat.Chapter seven is a collection of new racial equipment, magic items, spells and so forth. Rules for mounts for the earth races are presented along with the acquisition of companions and/or cohorts with ties to the earth. Ancestral weapons and magic forges each have a brief section but lack creation rules and rules for use. A new concept that do have rules, however, is rune circle. A rune circle is a stationary place of power that has been infused with magical power.The final chapter is meant for GMs and provides ideas for making good use of this book. Tips for adventuring in earth communities, sample NPCs, making use of racial holidays, a few new creatures, and a one hundred adventure idea table are all included.Critical HitThe best strengths of Races of Stone lie in the first three chapters and their expansion on the dwarf and gnome cultures along with the introduction of the goliath race. It helps add more flavor to these races and presents some interesting ideas for use by the GM. Many of the prestige classes also excel in this regard.Critical FumbleWhile the book does go into more racial information about dwarves, gnomes and goliaths, it only scratches the surface and glosses over far too much. Much more flavor and detail could have been presented. Dwarven appearance, grooming and personality traits only take up about 2-1/2 pages. There was ample opportunity to do so much more. This is where books like Hammer & Helm (Green Ronin) and Dweomercraft: Gnomes (Dark Quest Games) can complement Races of Stone by filling in the large gaps and pieces.Another problem is that new concepts such as ancestor weapons and magic forges have no solid rule mechanics and explanations on how to effectively use them. Ancestor weapons are simply explained as being an intelligent magic item that contains a link to a deceased spirit of some importance. Magic forges are given even less of an explanation yet both are clearly tools of great importance in a GM’s campaign. Again, the ball was dropped. Rules for creation and suggestions on proper campaign use would have made these so much more useable.Coup de GraceDon’t get me wrong, Races of Stone is a decent book and offers some good ideas and options to enhance characters that have a strong connection to the earth, but it should have gone farther and been better. If you are looking for a resource that provides more general flavor and ideas for the “earth” races, the book is worth considering, especially if you like the goliath race. But if you want more meat on gnomes and dwarves, there are better sources to consider. Pick it up, give it a thorough look and decide for yourself if it is worth your dollars.Final Grade: B-To see the graded evaluation of this product and to leave comments that the reviewer will respond to, go to The Critic's Corner at <a href="http://www.d20zines.com/html/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1243&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0" target="_blank">www.d20zines.com.</a></blockquote>

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