Swashbuckling Adventures: 7th Sea d20 review

[Kaptain_Kantrip]

Hey, I just bought Swashbuckling Adventures (basically 7th Sea remade as d20) and it is a pretty cool $34.95 HC.

1. Nearly a dozen new core classes! Nonmagical bards, clerics,
rangers, paladins and a (magical) witch!
2. Over 90 PrCs, including different fighting styles!
3. Tons of new feats, plus flaws and advantages!
The problem with the flaws/advantages is that many are
inadequately explained as to how to use them.
4. New rules for naval warfare, ship creation and mass combat!
5. New NPC only classes like Brutes, Bully Boys, Fancy Dans, etc.
6. Maps and info on the world of 7th Sea (Theah).

The book seems a bit rushed (particularly in the sloppy editing and glaring ommission of an adequate explanation for how to use flaws/advantages). The cover is really bland looking. The logo is amateurish. I can't believe how crappy the editing at AEG is. Instead of rampant misspellings as in their "one word" d20 books (Evil, Monster, etc.), this time, they just cram two words together without any spacing. Whoever is editing AEG's d20 books needs to be kicked in the ass. Seriously!

Overall, I think there is a lot of really good material in here (regardless of whether you want to play in a swashbuckling/3 Musketeers/gunpowder game, regular "high fantasy" DnD, historical earth, or low fantasy). The portability of the material (like KoK's Player's Guide) is the book's real strength. There is more than enough good stuff to warrant the price. Check it out!

 

[Kaptain_Kantrip]

What? Nobody else seen this book yet?

 

[Numion]

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2. Over 90 PrCs, including different fighting styles!
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5. New NPC only classes like Brutes, Bully Boys, Fancy Dans, etc.
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Hmm.. I think I'll give this one a pass. Bully Boys and Fancy Dans? Riiight....

90 PrCs? Is that a typo? You meant 9, right?

 

[Black Omega]

Saying "Over 9 PrC's" just doesn't sound right. I suspect it'snot a typo. Sadly.

 

[Furn_Darkside]

1. Nearly a dozen new core classes! Nonmagical bards, clerics,
rangers, paladins and a (magical) witch!

Wow, that is interesting. so the Fate Witch is a class? How about the other magics of Theah? (Portal, Legend, runes, etc)

2. Over 90 PrCs, including different fighting styles!

Hmm- this is what I am most interested in. How are the fighting styles designed? They only have three(or was it four) levels of expertise in 7thSea. Are these 3 level PrC's? Is a skill added to know the weakness of the fighting style?

3. Tons of new feats, plus flaws and advantages!
The problem with the flaws/advantages is that many are
inadequately explained as to how to use them.

IIRC, 7th Sea had many flaws advantages that were rp oriented.

4. New rules for naval warfare, ship creation and mass combat!

How is the ship creation? Does it use character ability stats? 7thSea really impressed me with what they had with this.

Check it out!

Will do- thanks for the heads up, Kap'n.

FD

 

[Psion]

/me gives KK a sympathetic giggle.

 

[Kaptain_Kantrip]

To clarify, there are over 90 PrCs. Most are 3-5 levels, some are 10. Most seem to be balanced, but three are "intentionally over the top" (The Reis, Champion of the Lady of the Lake, and Chosen One). The fighting schools do talk about the style strengths and weaknesses and there is a way to find the style's weakness. The Zweihander sword also has all its stances detailed over several pages.

The rules make occassional reference to skills or 7th Sea stats that do not exist in d20, like Knack and Bull. Panache is turned into a feat. I've reread the flaws/advantages section and it makes somewhat better sense now, but it is still poorly written as far as clarity is concerned.

I haven't read the ship rules. I also haven't read the mass combat system yet.

The Fate Witch, Porte magic, and indeed ALL magic is to be detailed in a separate d20 MAGIC OF THEAH book from AEG. The witch in Swashbuckling Adventures is more generic, but features a new skill, Manipulate Spell, that allows her to roll against a target DC to add virtual metamagic levels to each Manipulate (insert spell name here) she devotes skill points to.

There is also a neat weapons, armor and equipment section, including the cat o'nine tails, dracheneisen steel, panzerfist, herbs, poisons, etc.

Did I mention there is a non-magical assassin core class? And a spy class? Plus at least three assassin PrCs, new assassin feats, etc.

 

[Furn_Darkside]

Thanks Kaptain!

FD

 

[Kaptain_Kantrip]

Sure thing!

 

[Kaptain_Kantrip]

Having reread the arcana feats (flaws/advantages) for a fourth time, LOL, they seem extraordinarily hard to properly implement--being dependent on RPing rather than game mechanics.

How exactly does a DM or player activate another PC or NPCs hubris/flaw? Under what conditions? Must this be RPed (and I assume it should)?

And again, constant nagging references to 7th Sea mechanics really confuse things (Presence, Knack, Bull, etc.). These rules are just sloppy and poorly defined. AEG dropped the ball here, though the section certainly has potential. But I don't like spending $35 for something I have to majorly tweak to get to work right. Fortunately, the rest of the feats and other sections of the book (classes, PrCs, etc) more than make up for this bummer.