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The Complete Book of Eldritch Might is a 3.5 update of three books (The Complete Books Eldritch Might I, II and III) all nicely grouped together in one 220+ page hard cover. As I have never bought the original three books I am unable to recommend whether the update is needed for owners of the original three but to anyone new to the Eldritch Might series there is a lot of potential for good gaming in this book.
You get some serious bang for your $35.00 bucks. The first chapter deals with variants of the bard and sorcerer classes. While the sorcerer variant did not impress me that much (better HD, more known spells, more skills per level, etc.) the bard variant is amazing. This is what the bard should have become in 3.5. Essentially the bard is stripped of his bardic music and spell casting abilities and instead gains the capability to play spellsongs. Spellsongs are a mix and match of core bardic music abilities, some bard spells, and a few unique ideas all its own. The idea gives the bard a flavor much more in tune (pardon the pun – yikes!) with what is seen in a lot of fantasy literature.
Chapter two deals with feats. Almost every feat deals with magic in some form or another, but then this is a book that is essentially all about arcane magic. The big introduction here is the eldritch feat, which is a feat type like general or divine, etc. Eldritch feats essentially modify spells in some way but do not take up higher spell slots like metamagic feats. Rather eldritch feats are either less powerful than metamagic feats, but usable on most spells, or about equal to a metamagic feat with very stiff prerequisites.
Chapter three is all about prestige classes and there are some interesting concepts in here. Try playing a diplomancer. What’s a diplomancer you say? Think highly charismatic enchanter or seductress who knows how to get anything he/she wants, sorta like a politician who can cast magic (now there is a scary thought. Hey maybe that explains Florida.) Another interesting prestige class is the ember mage, who is essentially a pyromancer who worships fire magic so much that his own body starts to take on aspects of the energy he loves.
Chapter four is fairly short and deals with a concept called soul magic. From what I understand soul magic is essentially a sentient spell waiting to be cast. Some soul magic will force characters that see it to cast it, others are fluid enough to morph into what ever type of spell is needed. While an interesting concept, soul magic feels like an oddity a DM can throw into his game from time to time to liven things up. Where this to get into the hands of player characters it could become very unbalancing.
Chapter five is mostly for DM’s. It describes a number of magical locals complete with NPC’s, plot points and unique features. The pool of glenmasis for example is a fae glen where characters can come to trade/barter for magical items. They have to be careful though as the fae have a horrible sense of humor for practical jokes and trickery. Beware the boots of striding and springing that occasionally teleport you halfway across the continent or the charged wand of raise dead with only one charge (oops did you have three companions down? Sorry!) To complicate matters violence within the glen is impossible. Pay back is tough, and forces the characters to interact socially with the denizens of the glen.
Chapter six deals with spellsongs and their effects/descriptions. There are essentially three types of spellsongs; spellnotes, spellchords and spellmelodies. Each represents a more powerful level of spellsong magic. Spellnotes are quick and easy to cast, while spellmelodies are complicated and take time to enact. Included are favorites like inspire courage (spellnote) and heal wounds (spellchord) all the way to the new and unusual song of vitrification (spellmelody) that changes a creature to glass (look out shatter spell. That’s going to hurt.)
Chapter seven is spells, spells, spells. Primarily wizard and sorcerer based, there are a few spells for every spellcasting class in the core rules, including the prestige classes. While one damage dealing spell looks a lot like another, this chapter does have some interesting new ideas. Spells like dominate item which allows a spellcaster to control an intelligent item or animate necrosis that animates that dead tissue of a creature’s wound and forces it to attack, all have a unique flavor that make them great spells to customize a character or NPC enemy with. If you looking for better damage dealing spells than the good old fashioned fireball you probably won’t find it here. But if you want a spell to help you interbreed kobolds and orges or a force a creature to answer your questions, or to move a carriage without the use of horses, this is the place to look.
Chapter eight is a thousand and one magical items (okay maybe that’s a bit of an overstatement but there are a lot.) The nice aspect about his chapter is that the magic items generally feel more specialized as opposed to those found in the DMG which have a general everyday feel to them. A karmic great axe is an interesting weapon that rewards a character who succeeds in an attack with a larger enhancement bonus but can cause penalties for characters who fail to strike. Rings of blue conjurers make summoned creatures more powerful and make one ask, “What exactly is a Blue Conjurer anyways?” The chapter also has a small section on magical vehicles, magical poison (something every assassin should learn about before leaving the assassin academy), and an assortment of artifacts.
Chapter nine is all about monster, many of which find there homes in one of the magical locations found in chapter five. There are the Arcane Angels who have left the heavenly realms to serve pure magic as opposed to a godlike figure. Creatures of the Mist is a template that can be applied to almost any creature. Essentially the Creature of the Mist is a replica of a living creature made out of smoke and given life through the breath of a living creature. If you really want something new and interesting, try the Sohr, which is essentially a gargantuan flying humpback whale. Can you see the look on you player’s faces as you describe it? Almost worth the price just for that one moment.
The book ends with a ten page chapter dealing with converting the material in the book to the Arcana Unearthed system, which is great if you are interested in that system, but a waste of space if you’re scratching you head saying “Isn’t it Unearthed Arcana? First edition? Huh?”
For a little while now I have been slowly become impressed with the quality of products coming from Malhavoc Press. It began when I picked up the Mindscapes product and blossomed with Arcana Unearthed. The recent release of The Complete Book of Eldritch Might has cemented my opinion that Malhavoc is undeniably one of the best d20 producers out there. You want something different and unique for your campaign that should be easy to adapt into the core rules then this is the book for you. You’re bound to find something you can use, and probably three or four more on top of that.
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