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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Henry@home" data-source="post: 2008800" data-attributes="member: 159">Monte Cook's latest offering in the Malhavoc press Imprint delivers on almost all points, and falls down on only one.The Artwork quality of this book is amazing for a PDF product. Toren Atkinson has a vivid quality, reminiscent of Jeff Easley or the Lakeys of Second Edition; Stephen Shepherd has a style that reminds me of Erol Otus - but to this First Edition Fan's heart, this is a good thing. Think "Erol Otus, but with extended quality and life."The material itself is striking in its ability to offer DM's new tools to confound his players. In Typical Monte Cook style, he has taken a cool concept - in this case, SOul Magic, and Spellsongs - and broken the bottoms out, adding new depth that is just plain scary. What was only a DM's plot hook has been given fleshed-out rules for use and a literally sanity-blasting element (in the case of the Extemporaneous Effects).The variant classes (Bard and Sorcerer) was very good, and I can see droves of DM's incorporating the Variant Bard into their campaigns - if nothing else, then a different style of music. Allowing Bards to weave Notes, Chords, and Melodies into spells of great power is an excellent way to make Bards return to truly musical roots and take them away from the "jack of all trades" that they became in 3E. The new mechanics, in particular the casting times of notes, may cause many DM's qualms about game balance, but at worst they ride the edge of imbalance, and at best they present a really novel mechanic to the game.The Sorcerer represents changes that in truth many have already made to the already beleagered class by many DM's, but this change comes with a price: Many utility spells come at later levels, or not at all. The only problem I see with this is the further entrenchment of the sorcerer in the "machine-gun" mentality that the class slightly suffers from.The only place I see a "fall-down" is in the new spells and in the feats. The feats are not overpowered in my opinion, but are somewhat unoriginal, when compared to the First book (which others inevitably will). and the same problem applies to the spells (with the exception of Prorogate Death, which I myself was using in a slightly different form about 7 years ago in a home campaign). Perhaps in the comparison between first and second books, the Spells and Feats, which is what the BoeM #1 was known for, is of necessity fails; Monte Cook offered us a sterling collection in that first book to show us what he was capable of. Perhaps the second set suffered from being "the poorest wine at the feast being served last?"The magic Items are my meat and bread, and I will be using them in my campaigns. Everything from the grace and maneuverability enhancements, to the Black Grail itself, offer something that allow a DM to startle his players - which is what every DM wants to do.OVERALL: The Book of Eldritch Might 2 is a worthy successor to the first book, and Monte has  kept that high standard of quality set down in the ealrier work. This book is useful for any DM who wants to introduce his PC's to eldritch surprises - just to keep them on their toes. As an idea book, and a resource of curveballs for DM campaigns, this book is well worth it. For the price of a meal, you can keep your players surprised for months.</blockquote>

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