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Message: <blockquote data-quote="John Cooper" data-source="post: 2491183" data-attributes="member: 24255">UNDERDARKBy Bruce R. Cordell, Gwendolyn F. M. Kestrel, and Jeff QuickWizards of the Coast product number 885810000192 pages, $32.95Underdark is a Forgotten Realms product that has been sitting on my shelf for some time (it was published in 2003).  As is often the case, I picked it up when it came out because I was interested in the subject matter, but then it got pushed to the side due to one thing or another.  I recently found myself without anything else to review and decided that now would be the perfect time to finally get around to reading (and reviewing) it.The cover artwork is by Sam Wood, and depicts a band of three adventurers surrounded by skum.  The piece is very dark, with the only source of illumination being a sunrod held by the middlemost adventurer, a barefoot, human woman.  (She's apparently been through some rough times: if you look closely, not only has she lost her boots, but she's got parallel scars across her right eye - a very nice detail that adds some personality to an otherwise "generic" adventurer.)  Her companions seem to be a heavily-armored (and beardless!) dwarf and a rather stupid-looking elf (not that he was rendered poorly, just that, from his facial expression alone, it looks like he used Intelligence as his "dump stat").  Sam did a pretty good job of getting in some nice detail despite the lack of illumination (which I can't complain about too much, as this scene is supposed to take place in the lightless realms of the Underdark).  The back cover continues the scene, only now everything is illuminated by an eerie, bluish glow (no doubt coming from that ever-present, phosphorescent fungi that has a tendency to helpfully light up what would otherwise be completely pitch black): an aboleth rises up from a subterranean pool, sending forth its skum minions to aid the others surrounding the adventurers on the front.  Yep, there's little doubt about it: those adventurers are screwed!The interior artwork consists of 57 full-color illustrations, 9 full-color maps (one of which spans two full pages!), and 9 monochromatic rune emblems at the chapter headings, all provided by a team of 13 different artists.  As always when the "artist pool" is so large, the quality of the artwork tends to span a considerable range, with some truly excellent pieces (the kuo-toa leviathan on page 92, the gray dwarf under the effects of a camouflage spell on page 57) and some lesser works (the "little more than a watercolor sketch" earth node wizard on page 51, the rather cartoonish maur on page 95, the "there's no way my leg could really bend in this way" slave with drow slavemaster on page 182).  Taken as a whole, it's pretty good, but at the same time it isn't quite as good (on the whole) as some of the other Wizards of the Coast books that have come out in recent years.The book is broken down as follows: <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Introduction: How to use this book in your campaign, plus a list of monsters from other books (Monsters of Faerûn, Monster Manual II, Psionics Handbook (the original one, as the Expanded Psionics Handbook hadn't been released yet) that would be appropriate to an Underdark campaign (and substitutions from the Monster Manual for those without those books).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Chapter 1 - Races: Information on chitines, deep Imaskari, drow, duergar, gloamings, grimlocks, kuo-toas, slyths, and svirfneblin as Player Characters, each complete with personality, physical descriptions, relations with other races, alignment, religion, language, sample names, adventurer types, and regions from the Forgotten Realms where they're most often found.  There's also a little information on playing derro, mind flayer, minotaur, orog, quaggoth, tanarukk, and troglodyte PCs.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Chapter 2 - Regions and Feats: Regions of the Underdark from which a PC might come, each with information on the preferred classes, automatic/bonus languages, regional feats, and bonus equipment for PCs from that region, followed by 24 feats appropriate to the Underdark.  </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Chapter 3 - Prestige Classes: The arachnomancer, cavelord, deep diviner, drow judicator, illithid body tamer, Imaskari vengeance taker, inquisitor of the drowning goddess, prime Underdark guide, sea mother whip, shadowcrafter, vermin keeper, and yathchol webrider, all but two of them of 10 levels each.  (The two specifically intended for kuo-toas are both 5-level prestige classes; I wonder why they got the short end of the stick?)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Chapter 4 - Magic and Spells: Faerzress (magical radiance that messes up divination and teleportation magic), node magic (tapping into magical pools of energy that amass underground), portals, 3 new clerical domains (Balance, Portal, and Watery Death), and 45 new spells.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Chapter 5 - Equipment and Magic Items: 5 new weapons, 12 types of armor, 7 new types of adventuring equipment, 5 new poisons, 10 new magic weapon properties, 8 new magic weapons, 5 new magic armor properties, 3 new types of magic armor, 4 magic rings, 5 magic rods, 7 magic staffs, 21 new wondrous items, 6 minor artifacts, 2 major artifacts, and 4 illithid grafts.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Chapter 6 - Monsters: 16 new monsters and 5 new templates.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Chapter 7 - Exploring the Underdark: Details on underground geology and environments, types of rocks, illumination, air breathability, climate, ecology (including 9 new types of plants and fungi), animal life, hazards, spelunking, encounter tables, and the differences between the Upperdark, Middledark, and Lowerdark.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Chapter 8 - Geography: Alphabetical sites of interest in the Underdark of the Forgotten Realms.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Chapter 9 - Adventures in the Underdark: 11 "adventure seed" locations, plus 3 short adventures (each with 4 or 5 keyed locations).</li> </ul>The proofreading and editing jobs were for the most part pretty good - this is Wizards of the Coast, after all, who (besides monster stats) tends to be very good about such things - although I did note a couple of errors that made it past editor Penny Williams and managing editor Bill McQuillan: the Deep Imaskari sample names weren't alphabetized; a xorn movement spell is referenced that doesn't appear in the book (although it does show up in Manual of the Planes); the word "geothermal" should be split between two lines as "geo-thermal" (and not "geot-hermal"); there were a couple of places where there was a space missing between two words ("treecan" and "purloinedtreasure"); there's an extra tab in the fomorian entry of Table 7-10 that sends the last column over to the next line; "mephits" was spelled "mephitis" once; several sentences started out without their first word capitalized; "Teh'Kinrellz" should have been split between two lines after the apostrophe, not after the "K" (it's the name of a drow House); "kapoacinths" was misspelled once (they left out the "a"); "overkingdom" was split between two lines as "overk-ingdom" (it should have been "over-kingdom"); "svirfneblin" gained an extra "b" as "svirfbneblin" once; "Oaxapupta" (a city of the scorpion-men know as stingers or tlincalli) really threw the authors for a loop as it was spelled both as "Oaxaptupa" and "Oaxaptupta" once each; and the phrase "is and normally punishable" is missing a word after "is" (probably "forbidden").  Still and all, not too bad.There were, however, a couple of problems with the monster stats.  (Okay, more than a couple).  I suggest making the following changes: <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">p. 78, All-Consuming Hunger: No Level Adjustment is provided; presumably it's "-."  The DC 21 Fortitude save for its distraction special attack isn't Constitution-based, it's Charisma-based.  (Either that, or the DC should be 18).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">pp. 79-80, Annihilator: No Level Adjustment is provided; presumably it's "-."</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">p. 80, Arachnoid Mouther: No Level Adjustment is provided; presumably it's "-."</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">p. 83, Chameleon Bugbear: No Special Attacks line is provided; presumably it's "-."  Since the creature has no touch spells, his "tongue +3 ranged attack (see text)" is pointless, especially since there is no "text" that describes the attack in any case.  (A chameleon creature's tongue attack is used to make touch spells; it's surprising that they didn't pick a more appropriate base creature for the template example.)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">p. 84, Earth Glider: 20 feet does not equal 6 squares!  Its "Speed" entry should either read "20 ft. (4 squares)" or "30 ft. (6 squares)" - my guess is the former.  No Level Adjustment is provided; presumably it's "-."</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">pp. 84-85, Elder Brain: No Level Adjustment is provided; presumably it's "-."  Also, having brain golems just be flesh golems with a different appearance is quite a cop-out, it seems to me.  (Fortunately, an updated set of Elder Brain stats shows up in Lords of Madness, and the Brain Golem stats appear in the Fiend Folio).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">p. 87, Giant Cockroach: No touch or flat-footed AC values are given; they should be touch 14, flat-footed 16.  The "Advancement" line shows 8 HD being both a Medium and Large cockroach; the correct Advancement would be 5-8 HD (Medium); 9-12 HD (Large).  Despite gaining no skill points (as a vermin), its Skills line should still incorporate its racial skill bonus, so "Skills" should read "Climb +17, Hide +14, Move Silently +10."  No Level Adjustment is provided; presumably it's "-."</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">p. 88, Giant Maggot: No touch or flat-footed AC values are given; they should be touch 12, flat-footed 12.  No Level Adjustment is provided; presumably it's "-."</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">p. 89, Half-Illithid, Mindwitness: Flat-footed AC should be 25, not 24 (-1 size, +16 natural).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">p. 91, Ineffable Horror: No Level Adjustment is provided; presumably it's "-."</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">p. 92, Kuo-Toa Leviathan: No Space/Reach entry is provided; presumably it should be "15 ft./15 ft."  No Level Adjustment is provided; presumably it's "-."</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">p. 94, Lurker: No Level Adjustment is provided; presumably it's "-."</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">p. 95, Maur: When unfurled, AC should be 27, not 23 (-1 size, +9 natural, +5 stonemail, +4 morale); touch AC should be 13, not 12; flat-footed AC should be 27, not 23; Grapple attacks should be at +23, not +27 (+9 BAB, +4 size, +10 Str); and Huge warhammer attacks should be at +18 melee, not +17 (+9 BAB, -1 size, +10 Str) (and under Full Attack they should be at +18/+13 melee, not +17/+12).  Finally, while not a stat block error, the illustration has its knees on backwards!</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">p. 96, Mineral Warrior (Stony Devil): No Level Adjustment is provided; presumably it's "-."</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">p. 99, Stone Flyer: No Special Attacks line is provided; presumably it's "-."</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">p. 128, Pliil Seachild, Kuo-Toa Cleric 5/Sea Mother Whip 2 of Blibdoolpoolp: AC should be 26, not 24 (+6 natural, +10 from +2 feeler plate); ditto with flat-footed AC.  Speed should include "swim 35 ft." (normally 50 ft., but dropped down to 35 ft. due to the armor).  +2 pincer staff attacks should be at +11 melee, not +10 (+7 BAB, +2 Str, +2 magic weapon bonus).  Fort saves should be +10, not +11 (+0 as a kuo-toa, +4 as a Clr5, +3 as a SMW2, +3 Con).  Reflex saves should be +4, not +2 (+3 as a kuo-toa, +1 as a Clr5, +0 as a SMW3, +0 Dex).  Will saves should be +15, not +10 (+3 as a kuo-toa, +4 as a Clr5, +3 as a SMW2, +5 Wis).  With 9 HD, should have 4 feats, not just 3.  Spells Prepared should be "6/6+1/4+1/3+1/2+1," not "6/7/5/5/4" (to properly account for the Domain spells).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">p. 136, Tsurlanej, Illithilich Sorcerer 16:  Tentacle attacks should be at +16 melee, not +18 (+14 BAB, +2 Dex with Weapon Finesse).  Touch attacks should be at +16 melee touch, not +17 (+14 BAB, +2 Dex with Weapon Finesse).  Ranged spell attacks should be at +16 ranged, not +18 (and +16/+11 under Full Attack, not +17/+12, for those ranged spells where iterative attacks are appropriate).  Will saves should be +19, not +20 (+6 as a mind flayer, +9 as a Sor16, +4 Wis).  Mind blast Will save should be DC 23, not DC 19 (10 + 4 [4th-level spell equivalent] + 9 [Cha modifier]).  Psionics saves should be DC 19 + spell level, not DC 14 + spell level (+9 Cha).  With 24 HD, it should have 9 feats, not 11.  "Weapon Finesse (tentacle)" should be just "Weapon Finesse" - as of 3.5, you no longer have to specify what specific weapon your Weapon Finesse incorporates - it's universal.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">p. 137, Nurr'Korzhag, Mind Flayer Wizard 7:  Should have 8 feats (6 for 15 HD and 2 bonus feats as a Wiz7), not 10.  The "Improved Grab" write-up calls him "Tsurlanej" instead of "Nurr'Korzhag" - obviously a "copy-and-paste" error that didn't get caught.  (So does the "Mind Blast" write-up, by the way.)  Mind Blast Will save should be DC 17, not DC 19 (10 + 4 + 3).  Psionics saves should be DC 13 + spell level, not DC 14 + spell level (+3 Cha).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">p. 147, Dun-Durgg, Male Galeb Duhr Ranger 6: No BAB or Grapple stats are provided; should be BAB +12, Grapple +14.  With 14 HD, he should have 5 feats, not just 4.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">p. 187, Advanced Clay Golem: Grapple attacks should be at +23, not +22 (+11 BAB, +4 size, +8 Str).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">p. 189, Gdaur:  Since it's an aberration (and formerly a plant), Hit Dice should be 16d8+112, not 16d10+112.  As such, average hit points work out to be 184, not 200.  "Base +12" should be "Base Atk +12."  The Special Qualities should be alphabetized.</li> </ul>As always, I don't guarantee that those are the only stat block errors in Underdark, merely the ones I caught during one read through.  Not very impressive, but about average for a Wizards of the Coast book at that point in time.However, getting past the stat block errors, Underdark does have some pretty neat material in it.  New PC races are always interesting, and besides the humanoid "monsters" we've already seen in previous books (kuo-toas, duergar, drow, etc.) there's also the gloaming, a kind of shadow-fey, and the slyth, a humanoid shapechanger whose true form is an amorphous puddle (think of Odo from Star Trek: Deep Space 9).  Both are welcome additions, and somewhat more interesting than some of the new races that have shown up in similar books.  The prestige classes are pretty well done, and if I don't have anything glowing to say about them it's because it takes a lot to impress me with prestige classes nowadays.  These are serviceable for those interested in such things, although I think some of them might have been "forced" to spread over a full 10 levels.  (The Sea Mother Whip's "Punish the Infidels" class ability confuses me a little, though: is that supposed to be a continuous effect, or can the sea mother whip only use it a certain number of times per day?  Does she have to consciously activate it, or is it automatic?  It doesn't say.)  I did enjoy many of the spells, although truthfully I've seen a bunch of them elsewhere, either in other 3.0/3.5 D&D books or in previous editions of the game (viscid glob, for instance - I remember that one from back in the AD&D 2nd Edition days).The new monsters chapter - usually my favorite in books like these - seemed a bit bland to me, however.  Part of it seemed to be a bit of too much of the same old stuff: since the baphitaur are tiefling minotaurs, why couldn't they have picked a different creature for the faerzress-infused template besides another minotaur?  Likewise, the lith is a sort of psionic gargoyle, the stony devil looks rather gargoylelike (another poor choice for a templated creature), and the stone flyer is basically a "winged wolf" gargoyle.  A little more variety would have been nice.  Still, it was nice to see the return of some old favorites, like the lurker (formerly known as the "lurker above") and the gloura (originally from a Wolfgang Baur article in Dragon #227).There is some pretty cool stuff in Underdark.  I really like the Tome of Books, a minor artifact that allows a wizard to store up to 150 books in a single tome (rather handy when trekking across the Underdark).  I also really liked the concept of "clear black rock' - basically, a type of stone that is completely invisible, but only to darkvision.  That opens up all kinds of adventure possibilities, particularly in the area of "villain headquarters construction."  (However, the next page over the authors provide the concept of "quickstone" - a "solid rock" version of quicksand - that just makes me scratch my head and wonder "Who seriously thought that was a good idea?)Oddly enough, I rather enjoyed the "Forgotten Realms specific locations" information in Chapter 8 this time around.  Normally, those sections are a somewhat tedious read for me, as I don't run a Realms game and the information is thus of limited personal use.  I'm not sure whether it's because the locations were just more interesting this time around, or whether it's the fact that the entire "Forgotten Realms Underdark" is so much more portable to other campaign worlds than chunks of Toril's surface area are, but whatever the reason, I really enjoyed that section.  (Except for some of the names, though.  Generally, I prefer the Realms' naming conventions over Greyhawk's - I'll take "Shadowdale" and "Waterdeep" over "Nyr Dyv" and "Pomarj" any day - but so many of the Underdark names just make my head hurt.  Try on "Fraaszummdin," "Undrek'thoz," or "Ultoksamrin" on for size yourselves.)Then there's also the problem of the "dated material," specifically because somebody high up the decision ladder decided to tie in Underdark, which could reasonably have been expected to be a relatively "standalone" product, with the events in a series of Forgotten Realms novels.  In the novels, Lolth the spider-goddess (revered by the drow) goes suddenly incommunicado, and none of her priestesses receive their cleric spells.  Now Underdark is "frozen in time" at that particular moment, although I believe that the "silent Lolth" crisis has resolved itself over in the novels (I haven't read them myself), making a good chunk of Underdark already obsolete after a mere two years.  This doesn't have any effect upon me personally - I don't run a Realms campaign, and am planning on just stealing chunks of the book for my own campaign - but I can see it being rather disappointing to those who do game in the Forgotten Realms.The mini-adventures in the back seemed a bit on the bland side, also.  "Drowned Multum" seems like something any DM could whip together with very little thought; "Gdaur's Garden" is a bit more interesting, with all of the fungal monsters, but "Shape of Water" just seems like an excuse to throw something weird into a cavern (a hovering sphere of water with an aboleth in it) with little explanation.  Worse yet, all three mimi-adventures are clumped together in the same general Encounter Level grouping (with highest-ELs-in-the-adventure being 14, 14, and 15), making them of limited use for those whose PCs aren't in that narrow range.  Even restricting myself to Forgotten Realms books, I've seen much better.And that seems to be my overall impression of Underdark: it's okay as it is, but it seems like it really could have been much better.  Perhaps it's because I've always been fascinated by the concept of the Underdark, or maybe I was expecting a much better book seeing that Bruce R. Cordell was one of the authors (he's done some truly excellent work in the past), but I really can't muster enough enthusiasm for this book to give it more than a "3 (Average)."  A high "3," granted, but a "3" nonetheless.</blockquote>

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