The Book of Templates

[Messageboard Golem]

For GMs that want to add a little variety to the creatures in their game! Over thirty (30!) new templates for fantasy gaming, including the ebon servitor, ferrovore, half-genie, half-human, and many others to add some unexpected "spice" to ordinarily mundane encounters. Example write-ups are provided for each template. This product is for GMs only.

 

[JoeGKushner]

The first release from Silverthorne Games that I had the pleasure to look through was Races of Evernor, a well-illustrated collection of different races to add to almost any campaign. The Book of Templates starts off the same way with a covery page with name and symbol, but doesn’t boast the same interior design.

There are thirty templates in this book and they range from the Blind Oracle, a template that blinds the creature but provides sight beyond sight, to the Feral. Each template starts off with an introduction, appearance changes, how to create the template, stats modified, and a sample creature.

For example, were you to look up Dreadnaught, you’d discover that these creatures are the elite warriors of the race, gaining maximum hit points per hit die and having its hit dice doubled, as well as its ability modifiers and its other bonuses. You’d find out that such creatures are hardier than normal ones being larger and more muscular and see a Dreadnaught Hobgoblin where a lowly humanoid now has a CR of 4. The creature examples have all their combat information as modified by their template so GMs not only get thirty templates, but thirty monsters as well.

One place where the book takes off is the concept of half races. We get demi-gorgons (no, it’s not the demon price!), creatures that are half gorgon and half something else, half-genies, half-giants, half-humans, half-nymph, and half-orc. The example creatures are excellent starting points like the half-orc/half-bugbear, and the half-nymph/half-pseudodragon. Of course not every combination is appropriate, because if you have a half-human, half-nymph, do you use the human and add the nymph, or the nymph and add the half human?

Even the undead get a little boost with greater skeletons, skinhusk, dread vampires and greater zombies. Of these four, the skinhusk is my favorite. Here, a necromancer takes the skin off of a corpse, or a still living person, and animates it. Unfortunately, there are no spells, rituals, magic items or other means of actually making the undead listed here so GMs will have to wing it. The section, “Creating a X” might’ve been a good place to put such information.

The pdf file itself bookmarks all the templates in the book so it’s a snap to jump from one template to another. Each template takes up full pages and doesn’t overlap onto another template. There are no other options, like the pop up boxes that Bodies & Souls, another template book used, and since there’s no art, there’s no need for a non-printing art option.

The lack of art and design really hurts the product. When looking at it, it’s easy to read but lacks flair. If Races of Evernor didn’t have such great art, then I wouldn’t expect this product to, but since this is the second product, it stands out. In addition, while not a problem, since this isn’t the first PDF on Templates to hit the market, it has some competition. In addition, a lot of template ideas have already been covered. How many more variants for the ‘tough’ guy do we really need? If there were some new ideas and new types of templates, like the Quick Plates found in the Monsternomicon, the product would fare better. How about some feats that only certain templates could take? The product needs something new and innovative to stand about the competition. $7 is costly for a book with no art, especially a PDF file.

I’ll be adding several of the templates to my own campaign setting but will have to be careful as to what gets added. With another book of templates out, and lots of variation to increase monsters abilities, prestige classes, feats, unique variants, etc… Standard templates remain a solid alternative to creating new monsters, but don’t have the same appeal they did a few months ago. To get a four, the product would either have to drop in price or have art. To get a five, the product would have to go beyond standard templates.

If you’re a lazy GM and want thirty predesigned and unique monsters, the book is a great timesaver. For those who can never have enough templates, and there are a wider variety of them to chose from the Book of Templates is perfect for you.

 

[Crothian]

Review of Book of Templates by Silverthorne Games

I did receive this as a review copy.

This is a pdf filled with templates that can be added to any creature in the any of the many monster books. This review will cover the 69pg main book, the 20pg web enhancement, and the two free templates that were released as a preview to this product. There are thirty templates in the Book of Templates, eight templates in the web enhancement, and two free templates. It should be noted that one needs to have the Book of Templates before you can access the web enhancement. The layout of the Book of Templates is okay. It does have a color cover, but doesn’t have any borders so it should be relative easy to print out.

All the templates are presented in the standard way introduced in Core Rulebook III. Also, they all have one sample creature presented with the template attached as an example of how the template can be used. All the templates were designed for DMs to use as add on to the monsters. It is strongly suggested that players not use these templates as many of them can really disrupt a game. I would have liked to see suggests to use these for players along with some ecls given. Also, the each template gives a challenge rating adjustment, but the DM must keep in mind that some creatures will benefit more or less from certain templates. Therefore, the DM might need to alter the CR a little higher or lower then is suggested. Below I’ll disguise a few of the templates.

Amorphous: This template can be applied to any creature. It gives many defensive abilities and interesting qualities. The example given is of an Amorphous Hill Giant and that can really be an interesting challenge to players.

Denizen of the Deep: This is a template that an evil creature earns. It is a curse that takes a creature from the land and places him into the sea. These creatures have a hunger that can never be filled so they become a true terror under the waves.

Enchanted: The enchanted template is given to creatures that through some means like drinking from an enchanted pool or meeting a magical creature. The template is one of the weaker ones, yet is also one of the more interesting. They get the use of some spells like detect magic and light. They also gain sorcerer r as a preferred class.

Feral: This template is another good idea. It takes a creature and makes them a little more mean and vicious.

Half Human: The Half Human template can be applied to most intelligent creatures. It is a nice way of doing something a little different.

Hypermitotic: This strange template gives the creature amazing reproductive ability. Basically, once a week the creature divides into two identical creatures. It’s very strange and does not sound that easy to use.

Overall the templates in the book seem pretty balanced. The DM really does need to be careful with some of the templates and with certain creatures. The CRs will need to be watched with certain creature especially from third party sources.

The web enhancement is in the same format as the Book of Templates. The apocalyptic template will take almost any creature and allow it to challenge even epic level characters. The apocalyptic titan they have as an example is truly something that can change many gods. The half troll template is good one that easily be applied to any humanoid or monstrous humanoid. It gives the creatures many typical troll abilities and can really make an interesting creature. Hive Mind is one of the most creative templates anywhere. It is used with a bunch of creatures to allow them to share thoughts and gain bonuses for other being around.

The two free templates are Quickened and Iron Kin. The Quickened creates a very fast creature with amazing ability to get around. One of these could possible out maneuver a high level monk. The Iron Kin is a construct in the form of the base creatures. Rather basic, but nice easy to use.

Overall, the templates are all varied and cover many different ideas. This is a good product to take the routine monsters and give them unique qualities and interesting abilities.

 

[GameWyrd]

The Book of Templates is the latest PDF product from Silverthorne Games and I’m sure you’ll be amazed to discover that it’s a book of creature templates. New templates seem to have lagged behind new creatures in terms of new supplements from publishers and perhaps that’s an indication of wider roleplaying tastes. A brand new hardback of new monsters will arithmetically increase the number of nasties the GM can torment the players with and it’ll probably cost a fair bit too. A new book of templates will geometrically increase the number of nasties the GM has at his beck and call since one template can be applied to a whole range of monsters. This isn’t lost on Silverthorne Games and right up front you’re given a similar pitch – but you’ve already bought the supplement by that point.

There are 30 templates in the electronic book and no illustrations. The 69 pages of text are presented without a sidebar graphic and in two columns. Each new template begins on a new page and this helps to break up the sea of text that an electronic document without illustrations can become. The lack of illustrations is noticeable and it does impact on the quality of the supplement but it’s not a fatal flaw. The benefit of the choice of layout is that the book is easy to print off and this printer friendly copy is the only copy you have to download. The lack of illustrations may also help keep the costs down and score more points for templates as being especially good value for money.

It’s easy to find the template you want. The bookmarks (nicely coloured) all work correctly and allow you jump straight to the template you want to use. The design of the templates themselves makes life easy for the busy GM as well. They’re straight forward to apply and each have an example that includes both mechanics and explanation of the modified creature.

I was pleased to see that the templates begin with a quick note of how the physical appearance of the creature might change. I just can’t ever imagine wanting to apply a template without begin able to adapt my mental image of what the modified creature might now look like. If the GM isn’t sure what the new creature looks like then what are the chances of it leaving an impression on the players at all? There’s also text on why and how such a template might be applied; creatures are most likely to become Amorphous through ritual, they’ll be elevated to the ranks of Argent Servitor by the forces of Good but they’ll become a Ebon Servitor by striking a pact with dark powers. The mechanics of the creature and the appropriate changes come next, modifications to Size, Speed, Hit Dice and similar attributes. That’s good and expected the bonus, though, is that these attributes are included even when the template doesn’t change it. "Size: Same as base creature" is a common example of this. This inclusion simply washes away any doubt or uncertainties as to just what changes when the template’s applied. A primary feature of the templates in the Book of Templates is a long list of new special abilities, special attacks and special qualities. You certainly pick up that the author wanted to design templates that’ll put the thrill of an encounter with the core creature back into the game for jaded gamers and this is primarily done through the supernatural and spell like twists and changes that the templates bring about. Inevitably the creatures that benefit from the templates are a tougher than the original creature and some templates bring significant boosts of power and so each of the templates suggests a Challenge Rating modifier.

The templates themselves are mixed collection. Some of the templates are applicable to almost any creature whereas others demand a presence (at least in part) of at least one race. All the "half-something" templates, for example, have a requirement of one race being present in your game. I’ve mixed feelings on the "half-something" templates; it’s great to get away from the assumption that any half-breed is something human but I’m not sure which of the templates here have priority if two overlap. If I want to create a half-nymph with a human father and nymph mother then do I use the half-nymph template or the half-human template? Not both surely? Although I could add a second template if I wanted to have a "feral half-nymph" or what about a third template if I wanted to have an "Elemental feral half-nymph"?

Here’s the list of available templates – and I think there quite a few combinations that aren’t mutually exclusive but perhaps that’s not a bad thing.

Amorphous
Argent Servitor
Blind Orcale
Demi-Gorgon
Denizen of the Deep
Dreadnught
Ebon Servitor
Elemental
Enchanted
Feral
Ferrovore
Half-Genie
Half-Giant
Half-Human
Half-Nymph
Half-Orc
Heightened
Hypermilotic
Immortal
Phantasmal
Plantform
Scryling
Siphon Beast
Skeleton, Greater
Skinhusk
Vampire, Dread
Voidspawn
Wretched
Zombie, Greater

The Book of Templates achieves what it sets out to do. The Book of Templates achieves its goal professionally despite the rather basic appearance of the product. There’s just a slight lack of cohesion in the book though, there’s no common theme linking the templates together other than the fact they’re all templates. That said the number of "Half-something" templates is fairly significant. I also think the book would have benefited greatly if it was possible to index the templates by some other means than just alphabetic. An ordered list of Challenge Rating modifiers or a list of suitable environments with the appropriate templates indicated would have been handy. It would also have been nice to tell at a glance those templates that change the creature’s type or size. A single summary page probably could have squeezed all this in.

* This GameWyrd review was first published here.

 

[Messageboard Golem]

By John Grigsby, Staff Reviewer, d20 Magazine Rack

The Book of Templates is a new release for the d20 System from Silverthorne Games. This 69-page PDF is written by Ian Johnston and can be downloaded from the Silverthorne Games website (http://www.silverthornegames.com/products.htm) for $7.00.

The Book of Templates leaves no doubt as to what it’s all about. It’s a book that is chock-full with templates. As anyone familiar with D&D 3E knows, a template is an overlay which can be applied to certain creatures to make them more powerful. This is one of the new concepts of the 3rd edition of the venerable RPG and also one of the more interesting.

The book is sparse on flash, with no artwork beyond the Celtic knot-design on the cover, but what it lacks in style, it makes up for in content, offering 30 brand-new templates for DMs to use to spice up an otherwise boring encounter. In addition, it contains a special password which can be used to unlock a free web enhancement with eight more templates! Combined with the two free offerings available at the Silverthorne Games site, that’s forty new templates to bother and bewilder your players!

So who wants more templates? The Monster Manual offers up a solid dozen or so, with a handful of others to be found in Monsters of Faerûn, the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, and the Monster Manual II. Why would you ever need more?

If your players are like mine, you already know the answer to that question. Sometimes you want to spice up a monster without having to create a brand new creature. That’s a perfect use for The Book of Templates. Best of all, just perusing the book has given me plenty of ideas for encounters!

Each template is very detailed, with an introduction, a paragraph describing the appearance changes to the base creature, what kinds of creatures can benefit from the template, and the effects of applying the template to the creature in question. Each also has a sample of a creature to which the template has been applied.

The templates offered in this book range in power from the relatively mundane half-human (designed for use in campaigns where humans are a rarity) to the über-fearsome dread vampire. None of the templates seem overpowered (of course, that’s a matter of opinion), but just as there were some really good ones, there were a few that made me ask, “Why?”

Take, for example, the half-orc. There’s nothing all that special about this template. Essentially, it just adds half-orc traits to whatever creature you apply it to. I didn’t need a template for this. Same goes for the half-human.

Fortunately, the sensible templates outweigh the nonsensical by a wide margin. While the prospect of a half-orc/half-bugbear left me dazed, I cackled with glee at the idea of unleashing a ferrovore (they breathe a cone of rust) goblin against my players.

All templates and game-related content are designated as Open Game Content, which seems to be the trend. The templates are compliant with the established format for such, but as the Introduction states, the CRs are arbitrary and subject to interpretation. Personally, I found one or two that seemed too low to me, but that may be my quirkiness.

While certainly an original idea, the book is intended for GMs only and players will get little or no use from it (and, in fact, should stay away). It suffers slightly from the inclusion of a few templates that I saw mostly as “filler,” but overall, the good outweighs the bad, making it a worthwhile purchase for any GM interesting in expanding their selection of foes.

To see the graded evaluation of this product, go to The Critic's Corner at www.d20zines.com.

 

[cthuluftaghn]

The Book of Templates is a well-written DM tool, designed to add spice and variety to monster and NPC encounters. This book outlines, in explicit detail, thirty new templates that can be applied to nearly any of the monsters in the MM, or a wide variety of NPC's. In essence, this book takes an already impressive amount of creature possibilities offered in D&D, and multiplies them by thirty!

The first thing that struck me about the Book of Templates was the professionalism and attention to detail. The layout is simple, and easy to follow. The wording is clear and precise, and designed to be implemented in just about any campaign world. There are no "frilly", or unnecessary distractions in this book... just good content. In fact, other than the simple and eye-catching artwork on the cover, the Book of Templates contains no art at all. I wrote to Ian Johnston of Silverthorne Games inquiring about this fact. His response was that the lack of artwork was "a conscious design decision to focus more attention on the contents." I was skeptical at first, but after a thorough review of this product, I believe the design team achieved their goal!

As I read through the templates in this book, I felt the gears in my brain turning and grinding as to how I could implement some of these ideas into my campaign... a sure sign of a useful product. I was especially impressed by, and grateful for, the interesting assortment of half-breeds offered by Silverthorne Games. Half-genies, half-nymphs, and even an interesting and diverse new angle on the half-orc are provided.

The Book of Templates is now more than just a book that I received for review... it has become a permanent part of my d20 library. Currently selling for $6.25, it is well worth the purchase price, as it will remain useful for any campaign you might choose to run, at any level of play. Thumbs up!

 

[blackshirt5]

The only problem I have with this product(having not read it yet) is that it is a PDF, and generally, I hate having to pay for something that takes up space on my computer and requires quite a bit of ink to print. Still, from this review it looks pretty good, so maybe I'll check it out. How big of a file is it?

 

[Frilf]

Hi, blackshirt5. The Book of Templates file is about 500KB (1/2 MB). It's quite compact (you could store it on a floppy disk!) and requires very little ink for those who wish to print it off (esp. if you skip the cover). Hope that helps.

Ian Johnston
@ Silverthorne Games