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Most D&D sourcebooks on magic focus upon a single aspect of arcane knowledge, such as necromancy or illusions, but Occult Lore breaks from this by presenting an exploration of ten different magical traditions all ready to apply to a DM’s campaign. Published by Atlas Games through their Penumbra imprint, it joins what have been some of the more thoughtful d20 supplements and scenarios released to date, all written to appeal to the more mature D&D DM. Along with the ten new traditions, Occult Lore presents some ten new classes, some hundred spells, plus new herbs, feats, monsters, arcane orders and organisations, all rounded out with adventure seeds to accompany each tradition.
The book is a 240-page hardback, clearly laid out and organised. Each tradition receives a chapter of its own and is illustrated by a different artist. The material is backed up with a set of very thorough indexes to all its d20 material. The ten traditions are alchemy, astrology, elementalism, geomancy, Herbalism, magical imagination, oneiromancy, rational magic, spirit cultivation and sympathetic magic. The first of two appendices details a collection twenty herbs, both real and fictional, while the second contains the book’s grimoire of a hundred spells, all of which are related to the ten traditions.
The chapter on alchemy is not geared towards the creation of the Philosopher’s Stone, but instead towards its use as a method of healing, particularly of diseases, such as the detailed Black Death and Typhoid Fever. The Arcane Healer is an NPC class who employs these methods and even follows a form of the Hippocratic Oath. A cult, the Golden Cabal also seeks to extend their lives through purification and are all expert brewers of potions to this end.
The art or skill of the astrologer is presented as a method of foretelling the future without the use of Augury and other spells, allowing them to gain facts about a person or learn the best time to attempt an action. The new feat Spell Inception ignores the XP cost of spells by tapping into celestial energies, is the province of the Computer (Cosmographer) NPC class, while the Astrologer is a PC wizard class that employs astrological formulae to cast spells. Astrology variants are explored in the Solar Hierophant and the Lunar Mystagogue Prestige Classes, while star worshipping astrologer-priests are also discussed.
Elementalism is built around the Elementalist class, which specialises in one of the oddly named Auramancy, Terramancy, Ignamancy or Aquamancy. Although a member of each branch grows more like its elemental -- the Transformed Elementalist, and employs many spells from the book’s grimoire, this is probably Occult Lore’s least interesting chapter as other books have covered this. Geomancy concentrates upon places and the energy lines between them as a source of magic. Negative and Positive zones making casting harder or easier to cast, but the Geomancy and Dowsing feats make these zones easier to find and work.
The chapter on Herbalism is tied to the later appendix of new plants and herbs, as is the new Herbalism skill as an expansion upon or replacement of the Profession (Herbalist) skill. Medicinal and culinary uses of herbs are discussed as well as poisons. The associated Prestige classes come in male and female variants, the male expert brewer that is the Master Herbalist, and its feminine counterpart, the witch-like Wylderwitch.
More interesting is the tradition of Magical Imagination, which is the art of creating and controlling memory palaces, within which memories can be stored and accessed. Primarily learnt by a bardic Society of Heralds, they seek to retain memories of civilisations over written records. Members are often Heraldic Wanderers, a new prestige class, with both bardic and mnemonic skills. The society would make an interesting addition to any campaign.
Oneiromancy delves into the world and magic of dreams, suggesting also many methods of using dreams within a campaign, from providing visions of both the past and the future to acting as a distraction for the more combative type of game. It covers adventures within the dream realm itself and how a character can alter the environment around them using both dream points and the new Lucid Dreaming skill. The Prestige class Oneiromancer is designed to taken advantage of these new abilities. This is a chapter full of possibilities, especially for players who like to explore their characters in-depth.
At odds the rest of Occult Lore and magic itself is Rational Magic, which replaces a belief in the arcane with a belief in Logic. Exemplified by the Skeptic Prestige class, the rationalist totally disbelieves the existence of all magic to the point where by will alone, they can cause it to cease to exist. This tradition could have lasting repercussions upon a campaign, as magic is one of D&D’s major underpinnings
Spirit Cultivation presents an alternative to necromancy in which the spirits of the dead are collected rather than their cadavers. Followers of this elvish tradition harness the memories and emotions of person that are left as an imprint upon their body after death. In keeping with elvish botanical traditions, these imprints, known as Revenants, can be cultivated, stored and grown for use as familiars and as sentient magical items. This is the primary skill of the Gleaner class, which can be seen as a good or non-evil version of the Necromancer, or indeed a variant of the shaman.
The final tradition is Sympathetic Magic, which diverges from D&D3e to give a freeform point based method of casting. The province of the Sympathetic Mage class, this is actually quite a complex and thoughtful method of performing rituals to achieve an almost unlimited range of effects. These are actually more understated than is the norm in D&D and, as rituals do not lend themselves to instant results; the Sympathetic mage cannot suddenly conjure up a fireball or lightning bolt.
Although a DM will not want to use each and every one of the ten traditions in Occult Lore, there should be something in here to attract them, even if it is only the new spells. Each tradition is well presented and explored ready for inclusion in a campaign with DM given many adventure seeds built around them. Any of them could support or in some cases supplant the rules of D&D and in doing so would provide a campaign with a very different flavour. Players and DMs alike, looking for something other than the ‘Wham! Bam!’ of D&D magic, should be able to find it in what is another thoughtful and interesting supplement from Atlas Games.
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