Sovereign Stone Campaign Sourcebook

[trancejeremy]

" Ability adjustments are not balanced for most races (as per the DMG p.24)."

While not 100% false, this is mostly false. For one, no one says you have to do that, even the DMG.

Secondly, most of the races actually are balanced. It's just it didn't fit the concept in some cases...

For instance, the Ork, which seems to be the main exception. It gets a +2 Str, -2 Cha. But as Sov. Stone Orks are just as smart, and just as wise as other races, there's no way it can be balanced. If not for their complete lack of tact, their charisma would be the same.

"Several classes are introduced that have a narrow focus, and will be weak in all other situations comparative to standard classes such as fighter, barbarian and rogue. These classes could sometimes have been recreated by choosing certain skills and feats as one of the standard classes"

That is a silly argument, and defeats the whole premise of a class system. Why not just have one class then?

Also, bear in mind, since the sovereign stone system does not use the regular D20 magic system, it had to eliminate all d20 classes that used magic. So without adding more classes, people would have very little choice of what to play.

It's true that the soldier or archer don't match up with the Fighter very well outside their specialties. But neither does the Barbarian.

"Magic takes a long time to cast comparative to the standard D&D magic system. If the standard D&D system is balanced, then extending casting times will unbalance magic-using classes.

Magic isn't meant to be as powerful as in regular D&D. Which is part of the reason why their mages get more hit points than in regular D&D, and have a much more flexible system of spell casting.

In practice, I've found that the new classes & magic system work very well (though the magic system requires a fair amount of record keeping)

 

[JustaPlayer]

"That is a silly argument, and defeats the whole premise of a class system. Why not just have one class then?"

I think that was his point here. There was no need to make a new class because a player could have just used a fighter taken feats and skills already provided if he wanted that narrow of a focus.

I'll tell you something d6 doesn't make up for the slowness of casting, especially at higher levels. I know because I've play tested it myself. However, if I make some tweaks such as +2 casting bonus/level and also add the int modifier it works a little better. Then I can also run the PrCs in the Codex Mysterium as presented without them being inherently more powerful, which a prestige class shouldn't be anyway.

 

[Plane Sailing]

It sounds as if you are rating this low on its suitability as a sourcebook for adding additional stuff to a D&D campaign rather than on its merits as a complete campaign/rule setting on its own - is that true?

I'm wondering because of your comments on alignment, and some of the elements of the magic system which you've identified as weaknesses.

 

[Messageboard Golem]

By Brad Mix, Staff Reviewer d20 Magazine Rack

Sizing Up the Target
This review is for Sovereign Stone Campaign Sourcebook that retails for $29.95. This 224 page hardbound book from Sovereign Press is the first book detailing the Sovereign Stone campaign world of Loerem. This world was conceptualized by Larry Elmore, Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. With additional help from other big name people like, David “Zeb” Cook, Jeff Grubb and James Ward to name a few. This has everything you need to get started playing in an imaginative, well balanced world.

First Blood
The first thing that I noticed about the book is that it is not the stereo typical world of, Elves frolic in the forest and Dwarves live under the mountains, and Halflings love as many meals a day as they can get. Each race is unique and reasons are detailed as to why they act the way they do. Dwarves live on horseback and live off the land traveling from area to area. Elves still live in the forests but a strict honor code forbids the use of magic. Although there is a class of mages that is used by the Elven ruling class. There are no halflings but two new races are introduced. Orks (yes with a K) are an intelligent seafaring race that is also the technologists of the world. The catapult, crossbow and siege tower can all be traced to the Orks. The Pecwae are a short race of humanoids that average four and a half feet tall and are skilled in the use of earth magic. More on magic later under the Critical Hits. The humans are divided into different nationalities and have different ability modifiers.

Several new playable classes are also introduced and some standard classes are eliminated. The first notable class that is not available is the Cleric. While there are gods who are active in the daily lives of their followers, they do not grant spells. There are only three classes from the PHB, Barbarian, Fighter, and Rogue.

The new classes are Archer, Elemental Mage, Mounted Warrior, Noble, Sailor, Soldier, Stalker, and Void Mage. The Archer is trained in the use of missile weapons and gets a few new skills. The Elemental mage uses energies of the elements to cast spells. Earth magic is used for healing. Mounted warrior is trained at fighting from the saddle. A Noble is skilled at court intrigue and commanding on the battlefield. Sailor is adept at seafaring and improvised weapons. Soldier is not as capable as a Fighter in a one on one contest, but the Soldiers strength lies in numbers. The Stalker is trained at tracking and spying in both urban and wilderness settings. Void mages do not use any of the elements as a source of power but rely on Void or anti element for power. The Sailor and Soldier are the weaker of the new classes and would have been better suited as professions.

Skills and feats unique to the world are described. Some of new skills that I found interesting were, Sign language, Cooperative spell casting, and Subduing strike.

A good description of the ruling nations and how they interact with each other is detailed in chapter 8.

Chapter 9 details some new monsters and some changes to existing foes. Giants are not broken into different classes but are instead one race. They are around 20 feet tall and what is hopefully a misprint, 7,000 pounds. I think 700 pounds is more accurate. They tend to hunt in groups and have sometimes been known to build houses. Hobgoblins are large larvae that grow inside unburied corpses. They grow from inside the body and feed on its remains. Sometimes during the growing phase the Hobgoblin will ingest magic items from its host. After they mature they have the kill or be killed mentality and resemble the traditional Hobgoblin. Trolls are two headed brutes that tend to live in small groups that do not get along with others of any species. Dragons are all together different as well. First off there is only one race of dragon, no colors, or metallics. When a dragon egg is fertilized it is magically transferred to a Human, Ork, or Dwarf and is born a Dragon child. It resembles a normal child of the host race. These children often grow up feeling different and seek to understand why they are different. Once the child understands what it is, it can transform into its true form. This ensures that only the strongest of its species is allowed to survive.

The book ends with a description of some of the notable NPC’s and a small nine-page adventure. Blank character sheets are also provided.

Critical Hits
The magic system is new and very interesting. Instead of memorizing spells and having a limit on the number of spells that can be cast per level or per day, this system allows you to cast spells on the fly and is done without spell points. Spells are divided into the four elemental groups and Void magic and still need to be in some kind of spellbook. The character still has to have knowledge of the spell to cast it. Spells do not have levels but have a casting threshold (CT). Say your 10th level Fire mage wants to cast the spell Fire Bolt that has a CT of 17. A d20 is rolled, and a modifier equal to the characters level is added then compared to the CT. Say 15 is rolled and the plus you level modifier of 10 for a total of 25. That is enough to cast the spell this round since it is higher than the CT then the 3d6 points of fire damage is inflicted. Say instead of a 15 the character rolls a 5 and the 10 is added for the level modifier for a total of 15. That is not enough to cast the spell this turn but next turn another d20 is rolled and added to the previous total. Say another 5 is rolled to bring the total to 20. The spell then goes off as normal as the new total is higher than the CT. If a natural 1 is rolled a concentration check is made to see if the spell fizzles and has to be recast from the beginning. CT ratings range from 4 to 159. The benefit is that you can cast as many times per day as you want. The downside is that it may take a little longer if you get some bad rolls.

Critical Misses
I have to admit I am a huge fan of Larry Elmore’s art and actually have a signed print of “Raistlin and Crysania” hanging in my computer room. With an artist as talented as Larry at the helm I would have loved to have seen color used throughout the book. It is done in all black and white sketches. While the artwork is good I think Sovereign Press missed a great opportunity to define the style and atmosphere of Sovereign Stone.

Coup de Grace
Overall this is a great work and ranks up there with the best campaign settings. It is both innovative and detailed.

To see the graded evaluation of this product, go to The Critic's Corner at www.d20zines.com.