JoeGKushner
Adventurer
Template Troves Volume II: Oozes & Aberrations, provides twenty new templates for any d20 campaign. Written by Philip J. reed and Michael Hammes with cover art by Ted Wing III and interior art by Cara J. Mitten, Volume II has a full color cover but the interior is presented in black and white format in electronic edition only at this point (PDF).
Layout is simple two columns and makes good use of white space. The book is bordered on the interior with a gray pattern. The template listings aren’t done up in single page format and suffer some bleed over between entries so you can’t always just print out what you want. Bookmarks are not always accurate. For example, when using Adobe Acrobat 5.0, when I click on Filth Ooze, I get taken to Eldritch Ooze. I have a different issue when I use Reader 7.0 as it takes me to all pages with the reference so it may be a local issue. I’m not too fond of the cover art, as it looks blurry and sloppy, as opposed to dark and scary. Interior work is black and white and captures the templated creatures well.
The book starts with a table of contents and is followed by information about the authors, the template series, and how to use this book in terms of applying the templates. After that, the monsters get started.
It’s hit or miss for me. I don’t find a lot of utility in oozes and aberrations will differ on taste. For example, the first creature, blasphemous terror, is an inherited template that can be added to any magical beast of good alignment. That’s a fairly limited template in and of itself and not a great example of an aberration. The example of a unicorn with the template is also, well, so expected that it’s pointless. How many other magical good creatures are there and do we need another corrupted version of a unicorn? The answer for me is not many and no.
For others, they’re aberrations, but not what I consider aberrations. For example, mind flayers, aboleths, carrion crawlers and umber hulks are all good examples of what I consider an aberration. Nagas, despite being aberrations, are not the example I’d follow, so seeing something like the darkscale, a “sterile offspring of a dark naga and a humanoid”, doesn’t do me a lot of good and it’s good cousin, the Guardian Naga’s offspring, the Guardscale, falls in the same boat.
Some are tied to the planes. Take the starborn for example. When a falling star hits an area, say by using the Event Book, When the Sky Falls or something, some of the animals in the area may be changed by the event. These creatures become aberrations with hardened skin, a glow, and from their origins, radiate cosmic radiation, making them loners among their kind. This would be perfect for those who want to recreate a certain Palladium Fantasy dragon in d20 terms.
One of the creatures, the chuul spawn, is perfect for dark fantasy games. Those who gain this template gain claws and a chitinous skin and it makes a good substitution for deep ones in those out of the way sea ports where characters may be staying.
I’m not crazy about oozes; the other half of the book doesn’t do a lot for me personal. This doesn’t mean that others won’t find some use out of it. For example, supposed you’ve got the Complete Guide to Vampires and you want to add a unique guardian or two to a vampire lord’s lair. The Bloodseeker template is added to any ooze and create an ooze that not only is bettered armored and has better hit dice due to becoming undead, but it gains a blood drain ability. I thought it a little strange that this thing creates spawn only upon other oozes, both other blood oozes and when using it’s energy drain ability, necromantic ooze, but to a point, it makes sense.
In terms of game mechanics, well, I’ll be lazy and let John Cooper handle those issues as he’s given credit here as the proofreader. For me, the whole benefit of templates is that I really don’t care about a given creature’s stats as the examples rarely get used as is in my campaign anyway.
The book includes template indices, including creatures by challenge rating (1 to 11), templates by alphabetic order, by challenge ratings (1 to 4), level adjustment (only one, +2 for the chuul spawn), and creatures by alphabetical listing. Two pages of ads and a rear cover close the book up
The isn’t my cup of tea. The organization for example, could be better. Putting things onto their own pages is supposed to be one of the strengths of the PDF format as it allows the user to print just what they need. I don’t know what’s up with the bookmarks as that may be my own PC so others who have it, let me know. I don’t like the cover, especially in comparison to the first Template Troves with its excellent rendition of a medusa’s face.
Having said that, if you love oozes and you feel that the aberration type is wide open, this book should suit your needs perfectly. The writing flows well and the page layout leads the eyes.
Layout is simple two columns and makes good use of white space. The book is bordered on the interior with a gray pattern. The template listings aren’t done up in single page format and suffer some bleed over between entries so you can’t always just print out what you want. Bookmarks are not always accurate. For example, when using Adobe Acrobat 5.0, when I click on Filth Ooze, I get taken to Eldritch Ooze. I have a different issue when I use Reader 7.0 as it takes me to all pages with the reference so it may be a local issue. I’m not too fond of the cover art, as it looks blurry and sloppy, as opposed to dark and scary. Interior work is black and white and captures the templated creatures well.
The book starts with a table of contents and is followed by information about the authors, the template series, and how to use this book in terms of applying the templates. After that, the monsters get started.
It’s hit or miss for me. I don’t find a lot of utility in oozes and aberrations will differ on taste. For example, the first creature, blasphemous terror, is an inherited template that can be added to any magical beast of good alignment. That’s a fairly limited template in and of itself and not a great example of an aberration. The example of a unicorn with the template is also, well, so expected that it’s pointless. How many other magical good creatures are there and do we need another corrupted version of a unicorn? The answer for me is not many and no.
For others, they’re aberrations, but not what I consider aberrations. For example, mind flayers, aboleths, carrion crawlers and umber hulks are all good examples of what I consider an aberration. Nagas, despite being aberrations, are not the example I’d follow, so seeing something like the darkscale, a “sterile offspring of a dark naga and a humanoid”, doesn’t do me a lot of good and it’s good cousin, the Guardian Naga’s offspring, the Guardscale, falls in the same boat.
Some are tied to the planes. Take the starborn for example. When a falling star hits an area, say by using the Event Book, When the Sky Falls or something, some of the animals in the area may be changed by the event. These creatures become aberrations with hardened skin, a glow, and from their origins, radiate cosmic radiation, making them loners among their kind. This would be perfect for those who want to recreate a certain Palladium Fantasy dragon in d20 terms.
One of the creatures, the chuul spawn, is perfect for dark fantasy games. Those who gain this template gain claws and a chitinous skin and it makes a good substitution for deep ones in those out of the way sea ports where characters may be staying.
I’m not crazy about oozes; the other half of the book doesn’t do a lot for me personal. This doesn’t mean that others won’t find some use out of it. For example, supposed you’ve got the Complete Guide to Vampires and you want to add a unique guardian or two to a vampire lord’s lair. The Bloodseeker template is added to any ooze and create an ooze that not only is bettered armored and has better hit dice due to becoming undead, but it gains a blood drain ability. I thought it a little strange that this thing creates spawn only upon other oozes, both other blood oozes and when using it’s energy drain ability, necromantic ooze, but to a point, it makes sense.
In terms of game mechanics, well, I’ll be lazy and let John Cooper handle those issues as he’s given credit here as the proofreader. For me, the whole benefit of templates is that I really don’t care about a given creature’s stats as the examples rarely get used as is in my campaign anyway.
The book includes template indices, including creatures by challenge rating (1 to 11), templates by alphabetic order, by challenge ratings (1 to 4), level adjustment (only one, +2 for the chuul spawn), and creatures by alphabetical listing. Two pages of ads and a rear cover close the book up
The isn’t my cup of tea. The organization for example, could be better. Putting things onto their own pages is supposed to be one of the strengths of the PDF format as it allows the user to print just what they need. I don’t know what’s up with the bookmarks as that may be my own PC so others who have it, let me know. I don’t like the cover, especially in comparison to the first Template Troves with its excellent rendition of a medusa’s face.
Having said that, if you love oozes and you feel that the aberration type is wide open, this book should suit your needs perfectly. The writing flows well and the page layout leads the eyes.
Thanks again!
