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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Psion" data-source="post: 2009541" data-attributes="member: 172">The Bonds of Magic - Vol I: The CabalThe Bonds of Magic - Vol I: The Cabal is the first of two PDF releases by Sean K. Reynolds that detail a number of pre-generated spellcasting NPCs. This volume features arcane spellcasters and the second one will feature divine spellcasters. The PDFs will later be released as a single print product. The book is published by Malhavoc Press.A First LookThe Bonds of Magic - Vol I: The Cabal is a 36 page PDF document, including a color first and last page that act as covers. The book is priced at $5.00 US, and is available at www.rpgnow.com. The interior layout is the norm for recent Malhavoc products. The chapter headers (as they are, there is only a main section and an appendix) has an illustration in the top right cornet, and the border has a graphic that looks like a scan of an astrological chart or some other time-related circular chart.This PDF lacks a bookmark section, which is unfortunate. Bookmarks allow laptop-happy GMs quickly navigate a product.The "cover" features a picture by Lars Grant-West depicting a man with energy surging from his hands, floating above some ruins.The interior art is by Malhavoc and Green Ronin veteran artist Toren "MacBin" Atkinson, most of which appear to be pencil sketches. There is one sketch for each character. Many of the pictures look rather demented (which may or may not be appropriate for a given character.)A Deeper LookThe Bonds of Magic - Vol I: The Cabal details 25 arcane spellcasting NPCs. Each character takes up one page. Each character has a statistic block complete with known spells or prepared spells and a spellbook, along with sections describing the background, personality, campaign use ideas, and tactics for the character. The statistics block equivalent levels and listing of additional PC Gear, allowing the characters to be used as quick PCs if necessary.Each character also has a new spell, feat, or magic item, all of which are collected in the index, giving the book some extended use as a sourcebook. Some of the new spells, items, and feats aren't all that great for integrating into a game. For example, the spell I Summon My Brother is merely a summon monster spell that summons one of two specific half-fiend fighters related to the caster.The characters run the gamut of the core character races. There are also characters of monstrous races such as kobolds and orcs, as well as a few new races, such as the half-medusa and fleshbound vampire (defined on the Malhavoc website.)The backgrounds of the various characters suggest some possible plot hooks and adventure ideas. Most of them are interlaced, providing connections to other character in the book.As might be expected from a former longtime WotC staffer, most of the stat blocks are solid and well considered, taking into account various subtle points of character creation.ConclusionNPC books are normally a hard sell for me. It seems that either the NPCs are too bizarre to allow them to fit easily into your campaign, or too basic, not giving you much more than a random character generator could.The PDF is a nice compromise, however. Sold at the lowest price you can realistically sell a PDF at, the NPCs come at a mere 20 cents a piece. Further, the format is a good one for this sort of book. The NPCs are sorted so they are one per page (and that page is well used), so you can print out just the ones you find interesting or useful for your game.-Alan D. Kohler</blockquote>

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