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Message: <blockquote data-quote="BrotherD" data-source="post: 2661988" data-attributes="member: 16218">Take the plunge with 'Stormwrack'Stormwrack is the third Dungeons & Dragons Environment Series Supplement from Wizards of the Coast, following 2004's Frostburn and Sandstorm, released earlier this year. While Frostburn focused on arctic environments and Sandstorm covered the desert, Stormwrack attempts to, as the cover states, master "the perils of wind and wave."Designers Richard Baker, Joseph D. Cariker, Jr., and Jennifer Clarke Wilkes (and developers Stephen Schubert, Andy Collins and David Noonan) have crafted a solid book. In a market in which there are so many expensive hardback books that are expensive simply because they're printed as hardbacks, Stormwrack is worth the $34.95 cover price.If you can work some seafaring adventure into your game.The first chapter of Stormwrack ('Into the Maelstrom') tells you how to do just that. The amount of information in this chapter is fairly dense, but once you get through it, you'll have a good grasp of how to not only introduce coastal, marine and aquatic environments and encounters to your game, you'll also learn how to incorporate elements of the planar seas (the Elemental Plane of Water, Abysm and so on). This chapter covers everything from how to handle running an adventure across beach terrain to how to handle initiative and naval combat aboard or between a ship or two. There's also adequate mention of "special perils of the sea" - diseases, poisons and supernatural threats unique to a sea-based game or campaign (including a concept called airy water - water breathable by both air-breathers and water-breathers). This chapter is solid and provides a base for DMs wanting to introduce Stormwrack material into their games.The following chapter ('Races of the Sea') provides information for both players and DMs. Doubling the amount of new playable races in an environmental source book, Stormwrack presents four new races (whereas Frostburn and Sandstorm only presented two new races in this section): the Aventi, the Darfellan, the Hadozee and the Aquatic Elf. Aquatic Elves have been mentioned before in previous 3rd edition and v.3.5 supplements going at least as far back the Monster Manual as a subrace of the elves, but Stormwrack gives them more personality and presence than they've ever been given before, defining their place in the greater D&D menagerie. The Aventi are the most noble of the new races, bringing players a regal undersea race built around tradition and personal honor. The Darfellan and the Hadozee are the two standout races here, however. The Darfellan were once a peaceful race, but a 100-year stretch of attacks by the sahuagin has turned this race into a group of refugees. Their loose tribal-based society affords roleplaying opportunities for players interested in playing a melancholy character with well-earned angst. (The parallels between the Darfellan and the Native Americans treatment at the hand of early America are fairly obvious. Even some of the artwork featuring the Darfellan evokes a sense of Native American pathos.) The Hadozee, on the other hand, are fun-loving, adventure-seeking creatures of exploration and discovery. And they're monkeys. That can fly (sort of - they have vestigial wings that allow them the ability to glide 5 feet for every 20 feet they fall). The rest of this chapter is devoted to how to inject the other established player races into the Stormwrack environment, and even offers a few new subraces - the seacliff dwarves, the wavecrest gnomes and the shoal halflings. Stormwrack improves upon Frostburn and Sandstorm by providing tables for random starting ages, aging effects, and height and weight tables for these new races (and for new subraces as well, which is a welcome addition to these environmental sourcebooks).The third chapter ('Classes') also improves upon the previous two books' pattern. This chapter devotes its time to class options, explaining how both DMs and players can mold the standard Player's Handbook character classes to a Stormwrack game. However, Stormwrack boldly includes information on how to mold some of the classes presented in Wizards of the Coast's Complete... line of the supplemental books. The scout (from Complete Adventurer), the spirit shaman (Complete Divine), the swashbuckler (Complete Warrior) and the warmage (Complete Arcane) are all mentioned here, giving these classes and the Complete... books their due and showing that they do have a solid place in the D&D mythos (if only more D&D sourcebooks, or even Dragon magazine, gave these other classes more credence, credibility and consideration). This chapter also presents seven prestige classes which all seem interesting to play (especially the scarlet corsair), but seem mostly restricted to an aquatic or marine environment.The first section of fourth chapter ('Skills and Feats') explains how to get the most out of your character's skills. Rules for listening through water, keeping your balance on a ship while it rocks at sea or how deep you can dive unassisted using your Swim skill are included. The second part of this chapter lists 24 feats distinctive to the Stormwrack environment. Most of these feats are so unique that unless you're adventuring in or around water, these feats will be useless to you.Expanding upon the vehicle listings from the Arms and Equipment Guide, the fifth chapter ('Ships and Equipment') provides detailed rules and information of more than 20 different kinds of ships, and even goes as far as providing maps and layouts of some them. Combining this information with the ship maneuverability and combat from Chapter One makes it easy to work a seafaring journey or two into your next adventure. Ship-based weaponry and accessories are also covered (including the stats for a ballista and a basilisk). Since wearing metal armor would not be advised for a character at sea (not only is metal armor heavy and prone to corrosion if submerged in seawater for too long, but in game terms, the armor penalty could hinder Swim checks), new armor materials are presented (sharkskin, an alternative to leather armor, has become my favorite). Aquatic crossbows and longbows are presented, along with my favorite of the Stormwrack weapons - the cutlass. This chapter ends with a near full-page of special gear, including the official D&D listings for a sextant and a tricorne hat! Unfortunately, not all the ships or equipment are illustrated, which is missed, especially when these unique fantasy weapons or armor are so detailed in the text.Four new cleric domains are introduced in the sixth chapter ('Spells and Magic Items'), as well as a number of new spells (including one that changes regular water into the aforementioned airy water). As is the theme of the entire book, most of these spells would seem restricted to an aquatic or marine game or campaign, but there are a few that might find use in a non-Stormwrack style setting as well. Notable spells include stormwalk, a new take on the standard teleportation spell that uses the power of an electrical storm to transport the characters from place to place; mudslide which, as it sounds, creates a mudslide, potentially burying the caster's targets (causing extra damage to creatures who are actually aflame, like salamanders or fire elementals); flowsight, a scrying spell that allows the caster to gaze into any body of water (not just an ocean - flowsight works with rivers, streams, and really big puddles) to view other creatures and objects in contact with that body of water; and tojanida sight which provides Spot and Search bonuses and makes it impossible for the caster to be flanked during the spell's duration. There are three new epic level spells, and four new psionic powers provided as well. Among the new magic items are buoyant and gilled armor, as well as a few new items in the rings, rods and staffs, and wondrous items categories (since I've been pointing out favorites, I'll mention the bag of teeth, a small sack made of fish skin and filled with piranha teeth that, when opened and its contents scattered in a body of water, creates a piranha swarm). There is some repeat of what's been published in previous Wizards of the Coast books; the acidic burst and corrosive magic weapon special ability enhancements have already seen print elsewhere.Monsters are the focus of the seventh chapter (appropriately titled, 'Monsters'). Over twenty new beasts and creatures are introduced, and while most of them would be restricted to a sea- or marine-based game (like most of this book), there are some neat additions to the D&D bestiary. The anguillian, a seeming cross between an eel and a humanoid, fits in just fine with the rest of the aberration family, and the caller from the deeps, a tentacle water elemental infused with malevolent energy, would give any PC a good scare, if not a good fight. The scyllan (featured on the cover of Stormwrack), a lesser fiend from the frozen ocean of Stygia, is terrifying (any creature with the swallow whole special attack really should be feared). Aquatic variations of the chuul and the yugoloth are also included, as well as statistics for jellyfish and leech swarms (as well as the aforementioned swarm of piranha). New animals include the albatross, barracudas, sea lions and seals, and I have at least one player in my gaming group that would likely do everything he can to avoid the monstrous diving spider.For DMs eager to inject a little Stormwrack into their regular games, the final chapter ('Adventure Locales') gives you the material to do it. Four aquatic adventure sites (ELs ranging from 5 to 12) are detailed and give excellent starting off points for marine and sea-based games. Secret pirate bases, sea hag sorcerers and a ship graveyard will give players and DMs a good salty taste of Stormwrack, bringing the material provided earlier in the book together into unique encounters not found anywhere else in D&D-dom.Overall, the book impressed me. As the third in a series, it's hard not to draw comparisons between Stormwrack and its predecessors Sandstorm and Frostburn. There are some elements of this supplement that push it above what's been done before - the increased number of playable races and recognition of the newer non-Player's Handbook classes, as well as an overall tightening of the text and presentation. The material in Stormwrack is as least as good as Sandstorm, if not more useful. However, I felt the artwork in Frostburn has been the best of the three Environment Series Supplements (with Stormwrack's coming in second, easily edging out Sandstorm).The writers worked hard to make playing in an aquatic- or marine-based game of D&D easy to grasp and understand. However, if Stormwrack were to have any downfall, it would be that so much time is spent presenting a water-y view of the game, that nearly all of the Stormwrack material would not be applicable to a non-aquatic game. Players: I would be sure you can use the material in Stormwrack before purchasing it.But DMs: I would encourage you to take the plunge with Stormwrack; your players will be pleased.- Derek M. Koch<a href="mailto:dkoch@improbabilia.com">dkoch@improbabilia.com</a><a href="http://brother_d.blogspot.com" target="_blank">http://brother_d.blogspot.com</a></blockquote>

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