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Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="bramadan" data-source="post: 2008378" data-attributes="member: 1064">If I only got the first 56 out of 166 pages of this book it would still be well worth its price. That is not to say that the remaining 110 are of lesser quality, but rather that this book succeeds in what no other d20 rules supplement (except maybe “Relics and Rituals”) did – to make its content 100% useful for me.First third of the book (said 56 pages) are essentially the thief class book – done in the way one can only wish for in the WotC published class books. It starts the obligatory info on playing thieves and on their role in the world. This info is similar to one usually given in WotC class books but is less verbose and marginally more useful. Then come prestige classes. I have grown to dislike prestige classes by now; they are largely unbalanced (Hospitaler) and in many cases so obscure (Acolyte of the Skin, Master of Chains) as to be of very little use in most campaigns. Prestige classes in this book, though, are tightly balanced to the existing classes and, in my opinion at least, fill in rather important niches in the fantasy landscape. Discreet Companion is a highly skilled courtesan-spy. This is so far the best rendering of such a character in game terms and will see much use in the games with renaissance flavor, especially if a city like Venice features in it. Guildmaster is just that, a thief prestige class for those who intend to run their own guilds or organizations. Fact that there is so far no equivalent class for the fighters does make it a bit of an experiment but hopefully upcoming “Fields of Blood” will give us something to compare this one with. Till then it looks imminently playabe and even more usefull as an NPC class. Roofrunner is brilliant. A single city specialist; something absolutely necessary in the campaigns featuring Lankhmar, Greyhawk, Ankh-Morpork or any other huge fantasy city. Like the Discreet Companion this prestige class suggests a whole campaign worth of ideas which can not be said often. Trapmaster is an important specialist and although it is a more useful as an NPC class I can well imagine the dungeoneering rogues who specialize in this class. It is probably the perfect example of what a prestige class should be – an opportunity for the character to specialize in one area at the cost of others. Two new skills are very useful and although I am very skeptical with allowing the new skills into the game I believe that both of those are actually needed. Urban Lore particularly is a most worthwhile skill and its attendant feat “Shadow” (the equivalent of Track for the wilderness) are definitely adding a new urban dimension to the game. New items section is as useful as such a section can be – it is nothing to be amazed at, but there are some items I have not thought before and prices and descriptions for some I have. Poison section is way more interesting and informative then its equivalent in DMG including the much more detailed instructions on preparation, pricing and categorizing variety of poisons. Enchanted and supernatural poisons is also rather interesting concept that I have not thought of for myself. Magical items are nice and useful and spells (including a thievery domain) whle not many in number put to shame in terms of sheer ingenuity anything out of the Tome and Blood. By now, there is about as much, if not more, useful material as I expect to get from the upcoming Song and Silence book (at least from the Silence part of it) but, lo, here comes additional 110 pages of absolute utility. The book has finished with Treachery and is onto the Traps. I have to admit, I suck at designing traps and as such any book that does that for me is a valuable DM aid. My players are already sick of “poisoned needle in the lock” and “pressure plate activated blade” routines. This book is chock full of possibilities for expanding on those. First chapter of this second part is dedicated to teaching the DMs the trap lore, how they are made, why there are there, what purpose do they serve, what kind of challenge they are and so on. Whether this will help my trap building capacities remains to be seen but is definitely he best written text on traps in game book that I am aware of. Next chapter is one for which I originally bought the book. It is mechanical traps – about 60 of them thus increasing my library of those about thirty-fold they are all imminently usable in the dungeons regardless of the magic level of the campaign and bunch of them can see the use in the non-dungeon adventures that still involve breaking into other people’s homes, vaults and similar places. Next are the magical traps, not so useful to me as the mechanical ones but still very ingenious and interesting. They largely do not presuppose too advanced spell casting for their setup (although there are exceptions) and are thus very good for those types of dungeons that are part of a temple or wizards abode. Again the sort of things that are very difficult to come up on ones own (for me at least). Finally, there is (lamentably too short) chapter of puzzles on the utility of which in any fantasy campaign one can not say too much. All in all – this is a class book and the book of traps rolled into one, beautifully illustrated from the inside and hardbound and I got it for only $4 Canadian more then the WotC class book which speaks volumes about its value for money. I do honestly believe that no DM whatsoever should miss this one and that even the players who play thieves can find value in it even if your Dm makes you tear out the last 110 pages and hand them to her.</blockquote>

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