Crothian
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Template Troves Vol 2 Aberrations and Oozes
Templates are easily becoming one of the most versatile aspects of the game. They can be added on to certain creatures making all those monsters that party has fought for years seem different and interesting. Many of them now are also coming ready wit plot ideas built in the history of such a creature. A few of the templates can also be used to create player characters, though that is not as common as I would like. Template Troves Vol 2 tackles templates designed for two of the under appreciated creature types: Oozes and Aberrations.
Template Troves Vol 2: Aberrations and Oozes is a PDF by Silverthorne Games. They are the produces of the great Deluxe Book of Templates. This books is written by Philip Reed and Michael Hammes. Mr. Reed has been writing role playing books for over a decade and owns his own highly regarded company Ronin Arts. The PDF is forty two pages long. The art is black and white and mostly good; there are plenty of pictures in this book. The layout is solid with the occasional white space problem. The book is well book marked as well.
The book contains twenty new templates. Each one has a a reason for being, an explanation on why the template exists. These are great for adding mystery to the creatures and having something the players need to investigate as a sort of side trek. Each template also has an example creature ready to go for easy use.
The templates are designed from aberrations and oozes, but many can be applied to a variety of creatures. The Waterscale for instance can be applied to any humanoid. The Waterscale is a the template that represents the off spring of a humanoid and a water naga. There is also the Rustwyrm, a template that gets applied to dragons. It represents the offspring of a rust monster and a dragon.
The templates add a lot of definition but can also add some needed power. The templates boost a creature’s challenge rating by one to four, with more of the lower CR numbers. Only one template though, has a listed level adjustment for characters to use. Most of the templates would not be that appropriate for the type of character people usually play, but there are some like the half ooze that would actually make an interesting character.
This volume of Template Troves is filled with cool and interesting creatures. Many of them serve as the off spring of two creatures that do not usually mate together creating some weird new creatures as a result. This is a fun book that should serve to confuse and confound players everywhere.
Templates are easily becoming one of the most versatile aspects of the game. They can be added on to certain creatures making all those monsters that party has fought for years seem different and interesting. Many of them now are also coming ready wit plot ideas built in the history of such a creature. A few of the templates can also be used to create player characters, though that is not as common as I would like. Template Troves Vol 2 tackles templates designed for two of the under appreciated creature types: Oozes and Aberrations.
Template Troves Vol 2: Aberrations and Oozes is a PDF by Silverthorne Games. They are the produces of the great Deluxe Book of Templates. This books is written by Philip Reed and Michael Hammes. Mr. Reed has been writing role playing books for over a decade and owns his own highly regarded company Ronin Arts. The PDF is forty two pages long. The art is black and white and mostly good; there are plenty of pictures in this book. The layout is solid with the occasional white space problem. The book is well book marked as well.
The book contains twenty new templates. Each one has a a reason for being, an explanation on why the template exists. These are great for adding mystery to the creatures and having something the players need to investigate as a sort of side trek. Each template also has an example creature ready to go for easy use.
The templates are designed from aberrations and oozes, but many can be applied to a variety of creatures. The Waterscale for instance can be applied to any humanoid. The Waterscale is a the template that represents the off spring of a humanoid and a water naga. There is also the Rustwyrm, a template that gets applied to dragons. It represents the offspring of a rust monster and a dragon.
The templates add a lot of definition but can also add some needed power. The templates boost a creature’s challenge rating by one to four, with more of the lower CR numbers. Only one template though, has a listed level adjustment for characters to use. Most of the templates would not be that appropriate for the type of character people usually play, but there are some like the half ooze that would actually make an interesting character.
This volume of Template Troves is filled with cool and interesting creatures. Many of them serve as the off spring of two creatures that do not usually mate together creating some weird new creatures as a result. This is a fun book that should serve to confuse and confound players everywhere.
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I hope you will post it to the review area when that's up and running again. Phil and Michael are both the primary authors of this work, the other names are truly "contributors", adding a creature here and a few little blurbs there. Phil and Michael both have very good imaginations and really understand what makes templates fun and useful for DMs. They deserve the credit!
