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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="Vanuslux" data-source="post: 2009297" data-attributes="member: 937">There were three major reasons behind my decision to purchase Traps & Treachery.  Reason #1 was that rogues are one of my favorite classes.  Reason #2 was that I really love the d20 mechanics for traps.  Reason #3, probably the most important factor, was the heaps of praise I heard lavished upon this product.  It took me quite a while to obtain a copy of Traps & Treachery, and once I did I must say my reaction was luke-warm.Appearances - A hardbound book with 174 pages, give or take a few ads.  I find the cover quite inviting, and the interior art really impressed me.  The layout is pretty uncomplicated and easy to follow.  If I have any complaint is that the font size seems a bit large.  That's pretty common to d20 products though.Contents -     Chapter 1 - Way of the Rogue: This 52 page chapter is most useful chapter for players.  It starts with some exposition about how to really get into the roguish role.  It's about as good as this sort of information gets.  Hot on its heels is a small set of urban oriented prestige classes (Discreet Companion, Guildmaster, Roof Runner, and Trapmaster) and a new NPC class (Thug).  The first two prestige classes didn't impress me much, but I liked the latter two.  Though I may be biased, as the Roof Runner reminds me a lot of my first character ever...a 2nd Edition Thief who never left his home city.  The Thug is pretty basic, though it seems little more than a simplified Fighter/Rogue multiclass.      Then we get a pair of new skills.  Most people are adverse to new skills (Mimic Voice and Urban Lore), and I understand the reasoning behind the sentiment.  Urban Lore seems worthwhile, but Mimic Voice seems to be a throwback to games were every slight specialization of a skill was treated as an independent skill.      After that, we get a nice selection of feats.  Most of them are just different combinations of +2 to two different skills, but most are fairly reasonable.  My particular favorite is Casing Sense, which helps a rogue quickly recognize the most valuable items in a room.    Next is some new equipment.  There's some pretty cool things in here like honey paper and one-handed drills.  Then there is a sizable section on poisons, both mundane and supernatural.  There's also some supplemental rules regarding creating these substances.  After that is the magical items sections, which frankly didn't feel very inspired.    The last part of the chapter is a new clerical domain (Thievery) and a small assortment of rogue related spells like Detect Traps and Invisible Object.  Nothing really exciting, but they seem balanced and could easily find use in the hands of a magic using rogue.    Chapter 2 - Trap Design: A nice set of trap construction rules.  I've not gotten a chance to tinker with it much, but I haven't encountered any major problems using them so far.  The last page of this short, 14-page chapter is a new creature, the Arkitek.  Basically a humanoid-like outsider with a penchant for devising traps.  I'll probably end up using it at least once in my DMing career.    Chapters 3 & 4 - Mechanical Traps and Magic Traps: These two chapters combine to 83 pages and make up the main point of the book.  Traps.  A lot of them.  Most of them are pretty darn cool.  There's a pretty good variety here, which is important.  Many of them are more elaborate than I'd ever actually use, but there's still plenty of useable stuff for a guy like me who prefers his traps to be effective and straightforward rather than goofy, bad comic villain style complexity.  I especially like the magic traps, as they at least have some inherent explanation for their quirkiness.  Magic users are typically show offs, sadists, or just nuts.    Chapter 5 - Puzzles: The last real chapter, 20 pages in length, consists of a few dozen (well...almost) nifty puzzles of various types.  Some could also be considered traps, but others are just meant to confuse and discourage the characters that encounter them.  They are pretty neat, and I really stink at concocting puzzles.  Thus I'm fond of the chapter.    Free Preview - Traps & Treachery II: Ten more traps to inflict on the PCs.  Good stuff, though they don't entice me to purchase the book they're previewing.  I think I have enough traps to last me a good, long whileIn Conclusion - This is a really good book that does what it sets out to do quite well.  It is attractive, reasonably price, and has solid content.  The only reasons I don't rate this book higher is because of the frequent lapses into the realm of boring.  A lot of the book just doesn't leap out at me as particularly fresh or exciting.  Just nicely done. Even so, it's a worthy book for any collection.</blockquote>

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