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ShortQuests -- Pocket Sized Adventures! An all-new collection of digest-sized D&D adventures designed for 1-2 game sessions.

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Messageboard Golem" data-source="post: 2009201" data-attributes="member: 18387">There is something about the arcane that brings out the best in game designers.  The endless possibilities of magic perhaps, the lack of any boundaries, seems to foster incredible creativity.  Tome and Blood is my favorite of the WotC classbooks for this reason.There are five chapters in Tome and Blood, and I'll go through them one by one.Chapter 1:  Arcane LoreThis first chapter starts with a primer on creating an effective spellcaster.  Old hat for experience role-players, it is quite useful for newbies.  One thing it mentions, however, truly irks me.  It's a rules loophole that could have done without underlining.  It says that even though you might be a specialist wizard, you can take sorcerer levels to cast spells and activate magic items from your forbidden school.  Technically it's legal, but I find such blatent powergaming tips a bit annoying.The next section is on familiars and how to use them.  Also rehashed are familiar abilities and ways to make use of them.  There are also a couple sections on familiars for Tiny and smaller and Huge and bigger masters.  The ones for the Tiny and smaller masters all seem well-balanced, but I'd be wary about allowing any from the Huge or bigger section.  Many offer animal companion-type damage in addition to familiar bonuses.  Also included are the improved familiars for those players that care to burn a feat for a more flashy familiar.  Included are mephits, fiendish and celestial animals, and other different creatures.Next section included different arcane organizations, including a descriptions, leaders with stat blocks, and a few maps.  Also there's a completely statted wizard's abode, good for visiting or invading.  Chapter 2:  FeatsThe feats are for the most part uniformly good and useful.  However, some fairly simple metamagic feats have a prereq of any other metamagic feat, something that I believe is excessive in some cases.  Your milage may vary.Chapter 3:  Prestige ClassesI'm a big fan of prestige classes, and there's a lot here to interest me.  The ideas are original (or classic) and well executed.  The Acolyte of the Skin, for instance, exchanges his own skin for that of a demon or devil and gains appropriate powers.  The Alienist is shades of H.P. Lovecraft.  However, be aware that the Bladesinger was errated.  Get the version on the web supplement on the Wizard's website or you're cheating yourself.  Some have been slammed for being silly, such as the Candle Caster.  However, you could substitute almost any other object for that class to suit your fancy.  You get an incredible amount of metamagic feats, but they can only be applied to one type of object.  Still, it gives you an incredible amount of versitility.Note that some PrCs may have to be modified for your campaign.  If you're using psionics, then throw out the mindbender.  Chapter 4:  Tools of the TradeSeveral mundane items (like a familiar carrier) are presented here, which is a nice touch for roleplaying.  Also some special items like different inks are noted.  Several magical items included exploit school specialization and metamagic, which is nice because so few items do.  Chapter 5:  SpellsThere are a few utility ones (a faster detect magic, some spells to help your familiar), a school of spells (orb spells of the five different energies), some spells to help constructs, and a few other miscellaneous spells.  Most have some definite use, but the orb spells I felt were almost a waste of space.  There's enough variation in magic without this kind of repetition.All in all I found this book quite useful and interesting.  I would recommend it to any arcane enthusiaist.</blockquote>

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