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Weird Wastelands - 3rd Party Review
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<blockquote data-quote="Sparky McDibben" data-source="post: 9078632" data-attributes="member: 7041430"><p>Take the time you need, man. Your reviews always encourage me to start a new one on my end!</p><p></p><p>Alright folks, this time we're going to delve into the final chapter of <em>Weird Wastelands</em>: Friends & Foes! This chapter on monsters is 22 pages long, and only has about 11 statblocks. If you think that's light, well, you're not wrong. However, we're going to see a reason for that here pretty quick.</p><p></p><p>First up, WebDM introduces two monster templates: the arcanavore, and the spell-warped. The arcanavore is a kind of creature that's been twisted to feed on magical energy. It gains nearly a full page of abilities and other changes, including two extra Hit Dice, some utility spells, and the ability to eat spells (net impact to CR is +2). This ability comes in two flavors (see what I did there?) that are basically <em>dispel magic </em>and <em>counterspell</em>. And if you're thinking, "Why not just give it those spells?" the reason (as far as I can tell) is range. You can try to <em>fireball </em>an arcanavore from 120 feet away, and as long as it can see you, it can try to eat your spell.</p><p></p><p>These things are nasty. Also, I can't wait to drop them on my players!</p><p></p><p>We also get an arcanavore stirge, which is a great example of putting your own advice into action!</p><p></p><p>After that, we get a spell-warped template, which makes the creature a lot beefier, but also gives it a couple unique-ish abilities drawn from two random tables, like a troll's regeneration, or cockroach legs that give it a climbing speed, or the ability to give out diseases when it hits with a melee attack. OOF.</p><p></p><p>The example given is a spell-warped ettin that is covered in bulbous acid-filled pustules - every time it gets hit, the hitter takes 12 acid damage. It also has a blinding spit attack as a bonus action, so it's significantly more dangerous than a regular ettin. </p><p></p><p>The actual monsters include some real doozies:</p><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Feast Beast, an encounter that's intended for non-combat purposes, but functionally serves as a massive walking buffet</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Guardian Gate, the actual gate sealing off the Wastes from the divine realms beyond at the Gates of the Afterlife (see the locations, above) - this thing is two whole pages of straight statblock, CR 23, and has at will <em>chain lightning, power word stun, disintegrate</em>, and others.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Magicore, an arcanavore manticore (CR 4) with legendary actions, spell-munching reactions, and a roar that can turn off magic items</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Mechaboleth, an outright nuts monster that's basically an aboleth in a crustacean-mech suit (CR 12 and bonkers)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Shadow Chameleon, a CR 13 monstrosity that can switch between forms and whose statblock flows onto two pages</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Squamous Magnedon, a CR 16 flightless dragon with a host of fun abilities, like a lightning aura (30 foot range) that hits metal-armor wearers harder, and the ability to magnetize someone's armor. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Thool, a CR 3 psionic ghoul that fashions its' weapons and armor from the living flesh of its victims</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Tremble, a CR 1/4 elemental that's a living whetstone who feeds on metal; of course, if you overfeed it (they reproduce when fed), you create the Tremble Swarm, a CR 6 catastrophe that's an unholy combination of gelatinous cube, rust monster, and can also cast a souped-up <em>thunderwave</em>. </li> </ul><p>The Trembles, as I'm sure you noticed, are not inspired by any Star Trek episodes. <em>At all.</em> </p><p></p><p>And that's the end of the monsters! The reason for why the density of statblocks is so low is because so many of the statblocks are massive. There are several that flow onto multiple pages, or have to be run as a two-page spread, plus a couple of two-page spreads for art. They're quite massive, and they're great for ideas, but it leaves the pure "value per-page" folks feeling a bit underwhelmed. </p><p></p><p>So now onto the big question: should you buy it?</p><p></p><p>Well, that depends on perspective. If you're a player and thought any of those subclasses sounded interesting, it might be worth a shot. If you're a DM and want some interesting survival and navigation mechanics, these have you covered. If you're a DM and want fun and interesting locations to drop in your world's magical wasteland (or any of the various magical planes like Avernus, Gehenna, etc), then this book has you covered as well.</p><p></p><p>Primarily, I'd recommend this book for DMs who are looking to jumpstart the exploration pillar in their games. This is a great book for anyone looking for new and interesting ways to make "exploring a dangerous location" <em>meaningful</em> in terms of gameplay. That's not easy to do in 5E, but I figure the authors have come as close as anyone to cracking that code. </p><p></p><p>The PDF should be available on 2CGaming's web store shortly, once physical items have been distributed to backers. </p><p></p><p>And now, if anyone's still reading...what would you be interested in seeing me review next?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Sparky McDibben, post: 9078632, member: 7041430"] Take the time you need, man. Your reviews always encourage me to start a new one on my end! Alright folks, this time we're going to delve into the final chapter of [I]Weird Wastelands[/I]: Friends & Foes! This chapter on monsters is 22 pages long, and only has about 11 statblocks. If you think that's light, well, you're not wrong. However, we're going to see a reason for that here pretty quick. First up, WebDM introduces two monster templates: the arcanavore, and the spell-warped. The arcanavore is a kind of creature that's been twisted to feed on magical energy. It gains nearly a full page of abilities and other changes, including two extra Hit Dice, some utility spells, and the ability to eat spells (net impact to CR is +2). This ability comes in two flavors (see what I did there?) that are basically [I]dispel magic [/I]and [I]counterspell[/I]. And if you're thinking, "Why not just give it those spells?" the reason (as far as I can tell) is range. You can try to [I]fireball [/I]an arcanavore from 120 feet away, and as long as it can see you, it can try to eat your spell. These things are nasty. Also, I can't wait to drop them on my players! We also get an arcanavore stirge, which is a great example of putting your own advice into action! After that, we get a spell-warped template, which makes the creature a lot beefier, but also gives it a couple unique-ish abilities drawn from two random tables, like a troll's regeneration, or cockroach legs that give it a climbing speed, or the ability to give out diseases when it hits with a melee attack. OOF. The example given is a spell-warped ettin that is covered in bulbous acid-filled pustules - every time it gets hit, the hitter takes 12 acid damage. It also has a blinding spit attack as a bonus action, so it's significantly more dangerous than a regular ettin. The actual monsters include some real doozies: [LIST] [*]The Feast Beast, an encounter that's intended for non-combat purposes, but functionally serves as a massive walking buffet [*]The Guardian Gate, the actual gate sealing off the Wastes from the divine realms beyond at the Gates of the Afterlife (see the locations, above) - this thing is two whole pages of straight statblock, CR 23, and has at will [I]chain lightning, power word stun, disintegrate[/I], and others. [*]The Magicore, an arcanavore manticore (CR 4) with legendary actions, spell-munching reactions, and a roar that can turn off magic items [*]The Mechaboleth, an outright nuts monster that's basically an aboleth in a crustacean-mech suit (CR 12 and bonkers) [*]The Shadow Chameleon, a CR 13 monstrosity that can switch between forms and whose statblock flows onto two pages [*]The Squamous Magnedon, a CR 16 flightless dragon with a host of fun abilities, like a lightning aura (30 foot range) that hits metal-armor wearers harder, and the ability to magnetize someone's armor. [*]The Thool, a CR 3 psionic ghoul that fashions its' weapons and armor from the living flesh of its victims [*]The Tremble, a CR 1/4 elemental that's a living whetstone who feeds on metal; of course, if you overfeed it (they reproduce when fed), you create the Tremble Swarm, a CR 6 catastrophe that's an unholy combination of gelatinous cube, rust monster, and can also cast a souped-up [I]thunderwave[/I]. [/LIST] The Trembles, as I'm sure you noticed, are not inspired by any Star Trek episodes. [I]At all.[/I] And that's the end of the monsters! The reason for why the density of statblocks is so low is because so many of the statblocks are massive. There are several that flow onto multiple pages, or have to be run as a two-page spread, plus a couple of two-page spreads for art. They're quite massive, and they're great for ideas, but it leaves the pure "value per-page" folks feeling a bit underwhelmed. So now onto the big question: should you buy it? Well, that depends on perspective. If you're a player and thought any of those subclasses sounded interesting, it might be worth a shot. If you're a DM and want some interesting survival and navigation mechanics, these have you covered. If you're a DM and want fun and interesting locations to drop in your world's magical wasteland (or any of the various magical planes like Avernus, Gehenna, etc), then this book has you covered as well. Primarily, I'd recommend this book for DMs who are looking to jumpstart the exploration pillar in their games. This is a great book for anyone looking for new and interesting ways to make "exploring a dangerous location" [I]meaningful[/I] in terms of gameplay. That's not easy to do in 5E, but I figure the authors have come as close as anyone to cracking that code. The PDF should be available on 2CGaming's web store shortly, once physical items have been distributed to backers. And now, if anyone's still reading...what would you be interested in seeing me review next? [/QUOTE]
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