Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="johnsemlak" data-source="post: 2010270" data-attributes="member: 7233">This is not a playtest review.I was immediately intrigued when I saw Tombs! for the first time.  It is a rather unique product, a guide to designing tombs, and I don't remember anything similar to it for d20.  However, the topic is highly relavent for D&D; a quick look at the titles of some popular early D&D modules (Tomb of Horrors, Tomb of the Lizard King, Phaoroh, The Lost Tomb of Martek, and more recently, Necropolis) shows that tombs are indeed popular places for adventuring.  PRODUCT BASICSTombs! is a 128-page PDF product.  Unlike other recent PDFs on the market which often come in color versions and b&w versions for printing, you get only one version of this product.  The PDF is quite printer-friendly, however.  It is black-and-white except for the cover.  There are no margins.  Much of the product is not illustrated, though chapter 3 contains superb b&w drawings of the monsters presented.  Text editing is o.k., though mistakes were sometimes a minor distraction.  More distracting were the occasional b i t s  o  f    t   e   x   t   s  p  a  c  e  d  t o line up the columns.Tombs! is divided into 4 chapters totalling 44 pages.  However, the bulk of the work is contianed in its 6 appendices.  There were a couple of things I didn't like about the organization.  No bookmarks are provided, which is pretty much a standard feature of a professional PDF product.  Furthermore, the table of contents didn't have page numbers listed.  On the other hand, the table of contents does contain a link directly to each chapter and sub-chapter.  A few useful links to relavent appendices appear in the four chapters as well.  The second thing I didn't like what that the default viewing setting for the cover and table of contents was "Fit in Window".  That's not a particular problem, but it's far too small to read (at least on my computer).  The problem is every time I flip back to the beginning, which you need to because there are no bookmarks, the PDF is automatically reset at "Fit in Window".  It's a minor irritation, but can bother the reader quite often.SUMMARYThe chapters and appendices are summarized below:Chapter 1: The Nature of Tombs (5 pages)An introduction of sorts, this short chapter summarizes what is contained in the work, talks about the general nature of tombs, and discusses fitting tombs into your campaign.  The most useful section is the 'adventure hooks' section; however, only 6 are given.  A list of 20 or so such hooks would have far increased the value of the chapter, in my opinion.Chapter 2: Types of Tombs (11 pages)This chapter outlines seven different types of tombs, some based on real-world examples and some purely fantasy-based: Catacombs, Cryptplanes, Godmourns (a tomb of a god), Necopolises, Planar Tombs, Pyramids, and Spiritstone Sepulchers (which have the power to draw the souls of the dead to and burn them, fueling the rise of the body from its resting place).  The Pyramid and Catacomb sections contian a lot of real-world historical flavor with many Latin/Egyptian words supplemented.  Each section discussions how the tombs are built, and how they would fit into your campaign.  Good maps and diagrams of sample tombs are provided.The section on Spiritstone Sepulchers was certainly the most original and was very extensively detailed with both flavor and game information.  Within such a tomb are placed special crystals, which are magically enchanted and can draw in the souls of PCs (or other tomb invaders).  With the detail given, a whole adventure could easily be built around one of these.One issue I have with this chapter was in the description of the pyramids.  The writer assumes that the builders of such tombs must be or have been exceedingly wealty to afford such a complex.  This was not so in the real world.  The Egyptian pyramids were build by the people out of respect for their phaoroh,  The phaoroh was considered an embodiment of the nation and the culture, so building a pyramid for him was for the country itself, not for wealthy individuals.Chapter 3: Guardians and Traps (21 pages)This is a very crunchy chapter and is full of monsters (all undead, outsiders, and constructs) and traps to put into a tomb to guard it from outsiders.   A bit of background text on placing guardians is also provided.  The new monsters were all very original and each was accompanied by an excellent illustration.  For example, there is the Jura, an undead created from a madman who can make opponents insane with its gaze.  Also, there is the Issathraelen, an outsider with assassin/rogue sneak attack abilities.  The traps section is shorter and less original.  8 mechanical and 5 magical traps are provided, with full stats.  Some are rather unoriginal (a boulder trap, an acid pit).  The section on 'Sentient Traps' (actually constructs) is better.  Here we find flying pits, skittering glyphs (mobile, intelligent glyphs of warding) and others.Chapter 4: Rewards (7 pages)This chapter is obviously about treasures.  It is largely meant to provide useful supplementary information to the already existing core rules material.  A comprehensive list of gem types is provided.  Descriptions of precious metals and materials are provided (including standard D&D metals like gold and platinum and others like brass, white gold, and ivory), with their relative values.  Two new magic item types are detailed: Spell stones--stones which grant the holder the ability to cast a spell, and Foci--tokens which increase the magical effects of certain types of spells or certain aspects of spells (fire, air, righteous, distance).  For example, a fire focus increases the effects of fire-spell effects.  A distance focus increases the range of magical missile weapons, etc.).Extensive treasure tables for tombs are provided in Appendix E (more on that below).Appendix A: Feats and Spells (2 pages)Two feats (Create Spell Stone and Entrap Outsider) and three spells related to creating undead guardians are provided.Appendix B: Tombs in Non-Fantasy Settings (2 pages)This appendix provides brief information on adapting tombs for modern settings (presumably some sort of Indiana Jones-style campaign) and science fiction settings.  The information here is very brief and nearly all non-game rule related.  I wasn't entirely sure who this chapter is being aimed at or whether it was even necessary, but it provides some useful ideas.Appendix C: Customizing Undead (5 pages)This appendix is essentially one table outlining various ways necromancers and evil priests can customize characteristics of undead by adding a certain component when casting animate undead or similar magic.  For example, using ruby dust can give undead fire resistance.  Emerald dust makes them acid-resistant.  Eagle feathers and gold dust together grant a (large) charisma bonus.  In each case, the stats for the material cost, the ability, and the CR adjustmant are provided.  The table is over 4 pages long and thus offers a lot of possibilities.Appendix D: Customizing Golems (4 pages)This is rather similar to the previous chapter.  Numerous ways of adding special abilities to golems are listed.  Here, however, in lieu of a material component the creator must make a ritual adjustment--usually casting an additional spell.  For example, if the spellcaster casts fly while making a golem, the ability to fly is granted (there is a 2000 gp cost and an XP cost as well).  Again, the list is quite extensive.  Ways of granting golems an extra limb, fast healing, speaking ability, toughness, increased damage reduction, and other abilities are provided.Appendix E: Treasure Tables (47 pages--not a typo!)This appendix is a massive set of tables.  The purpose of the tables is to determine the sort and value of a particular non-magical treasure.  The DM must first decide what approximate value he/she wants.  (6 categories, from 100 gp to over 10000 gp are provided).  The DM can then roll on a table and determine whether the item is a ring, earring, dinnerware item, weapon, gemstone, etc.  Again, all items are non-magical.  Then the DM rolls on subtables to determine the exact nature and value of the item.  The array of possiblities is a bit overwhelming.  For example, table 5-13b allows you to determine what sort of painting (possiblilities include a portrait of a peasant, portrait of a cleric, portrait of a bard, etc.) you have rolled up.  Table 5.9a--Unique Rings (a table you have to roll on if a "Unique Ring" result comes up when rolling on table 5-9--Rings I) is over 7 pages long and has an incredible range of possible rings of various descriptions.  Several tables are quite long, taking up 5+ pages, and would be rather unwieldy.Many DMs will find these tables arbitrary and will scoff at determining treasures this way.  Others will find it all a bit overkill.  Also, a few of the tables contian some mistakes.  However, the tables do provide a lot of ideas, even if you don't use them as directed.  All-in-all, the tables evoke a feeling of many random generation tables found in the 1st edition DMG.Appendix F: The Valley of Despicar (20 pages)This chapter provides a mini-setting intended to be an example of a land filled with numerous tombs.  The chapter includes a brief history, a description of important places and personae, previous cultures which inhabited the valley (and their tombs), and a mini-adventure (for charater levels 10-13).  A lot of interesting flavor is provided, including various tomb markers (with illustrations) of the different cultures of the valley.  No map is provided, though one is referred to by mistake in the text.I found this chapter the most difficult to rate.  It's hard to say how many DMs will use it.  The valley is a relatively contained and could be dropped into another setting with a few adjustments.  The adventure at the end could be used with or without this setting.  Personally, I liked the inclusion of this valley and found it an interesting read.  Others who are primarily interested in developing their own settings might find it a bit of a waste, though.CONCLUSIONI found this product to be very interesting and intend on using a lot of the presented material in my campaign.  Tombs! has a good mix of flavor text and ready-to-use game rule information.  The new monsters and constructs, the undead and golem customiztion rules, and even the treasure tables provide the DM with very practical tools.  The different types of tombs outlined provide the DM with very inspirational information and seeds for a number of adventures.Of course, the focus of this product is extremely specific and will not be useful for many types of campaigns.  And even if you really like the Sword-and-Sorcery feel of this work, you're unlikely to get constant use out of it, as not every adventure you run is likely to be based around a tomb.  Overall, though, at $6.95 the product is well worth it even if you only use it for a few adventures.My main compaints are the failure to make complete use of advantages of the PDF format, such as bookmarks and printer/screen friendly versions.  Text editing is a minor complaint.  Some chapters and appendices will be much less useful than others.Overall, I rate this product as a "4" as I feel I got a very good product for my money.  However, if you don't like the particular genre or focus of this product, you should stay away from it.</blockquote>

Verification