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Guide to the Shadowplane
Publisher: Aegis Studios
by Alain G. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 09/15/2022 06:15:20

A great supplement for the Plane of Shadows in 5E, with cool player options, cool monsters, and even a ready-made delve so that you can jump right in the action!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Guide to the Shadowplane
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Down in the Hole: An Adventure in the Crossroads Continent
Publisher: Onyx Path Publishing
by Alain G. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 06/10/2022 08:12:56

A very nice dungeon crawl adventure for 5th edition. I particularly enjoy the fact that some of the significant encounters can be resolved by other means that direct combat, and that there are several roleplay opportunities throughout. The book looks really nice, wand the design notes in the introduction are a nice addition too. While this adventure is set in the Crossroads Continent, it can be easily dropped in any setting with an ancient strange civilization (such as the slarecians in the Scarred Lands).



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Down in the Hole: An Adventure in the Crossroads Continent
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Vigil Watch Collected Volume (5e OGL)
Publisher: Onyx Path Publishing
by Alain G. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/17/2022 01:50:58

This book describes six different regions for the Scarred Lands setting. As such, it is intended more for DMs rather than players. It seems particularly great for new fans of the Scarred Lands, as it explores areas that weren't covered in full details in earlier editions, and doesn't require an extensive knowlegde of the setting to digest.

Out of these four areas, six can be understood as "home bases" for adventures and campaigns (the cities of Mansk, Leoni, the Iron Court, and Lokil), and two are more for exploration (the Toe Islands and the Festering Fields). Each chapter is around 10 pages long and describes some key locations, potential encounters (including three short adventures), new monsters (and a couple of magic items), a few NPCs, etc. All these elements are evocative and can be easily used in an adventure.

On a side note, an index listing the creatures by CR with the page at which they can be found could have made this book a bit easier to use, in particular for the PoD edition.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Vigil Watch Collected Volume (5e OGL)
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Scarred Lands: People of the Snow
Publisher: Onyx Path Publishing
by Alain G. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/30/2021 02:07:06

A nice collection of peoples and subclasses, with a couple of spells. Most of them have a very "Fenrilik" feel, but could be used in other parts of the setting (for examples, asaatthi are described in the old lore as having mastered the art of weather magic, so here is that).



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Scarred Lands: People of the Snow
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Class Collection
Publisher: Onyx Path Publishing
by Alain G. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/24/2021 03:13:26

This book provides new classes and a few warlock patrons for the Scarred Lands.

These new classes offer a nice distinctive feel, and do a great job at filling gap between existing core classes. For example, the Tomb Raider is somewhere between the rogue and the ranger, with a focus on exploration, without the surnatural elements of the ranger class or the sneak attack of the rogue (which in my opinion makes the rogue more of a combat class than an exploration class). The Warrior is somewhere between the fighter and the barbarian, someone who has learned to fight and survive "on the fly" rather than through long hours of practice or by being angry all the time.

The subclasses are well-thought and provide distinctive flavors to each class. They aren't tied to any organization or tradition in the Scarred Lands setting, which allows players to take them freely, without much constraint on their backgrounds. In addition, there are a few warlock subclasses, inspired by iconic monsters of the Scarred Lands.

There is just one thing that seems missing in that supplement, and which I believe would have made it near-perfect, is that I would have loved to know more about how these classes are integrated in the setting. The official core classes in the Scarred Lands are very strongly tied to one element or another of the setting (for example, the fact that druids extract their powers from the Earth Mother, the last remaining titan), and I believe the authors could have expanded a bit more on that front, for example by providing some suggestions on which cultures, nations, or organizations favor these classes (but still keeping it open-ended enough to not shoe-horn the player in one very specific cult or another). Several ideas sprung to my mind while reading it, but then I have a rather strong knowledge of the setting, maybe such addition would be helpful for people that are not as familiar with the Scarred Lands.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Class Collection
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100 Books to Find in Ghelspad
Publisher: Onyx Path Publishing
by Alain G. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 10/11/2021 10:02:34

Great ressource for the Scarred Lands, full of nice ideas for a random book in any Scarred Lands game. Bonus point, it also doubles as a random NPC name generator if you only take the names of the authors of these books, so it's really nice.

Minor caveat, the use of "Dunanhae" (from 3.X edition) instead of the 5E "Chardunhae", and I'd like to have seen the languages in which these books are written, even though most of the time it can be quickly deduced from the contents ;)



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
100 Books to Find in Ghelspad
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Creator Reply:
Thanks! Yes, I used Scarred Lands: Ghelspad as the primary reference, because, well, I liked it better than the updated versions. So, there may be some errors to fix, both here and in other supplements. Languages, yes, in some cases they could be quickly determined. In other cases, though, the books' origins are up to the GM. So, perhaps, the languages might be one of several.
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Troubadors & Tenders of the Grove, Pugilists & Pact Makers
Publisher: Onyx Path Publishing
by Alain G. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/16/2021 13:58:36

This product is good, but it misses just a few marks to become great. My main concern is that the wording could be much improved to better match 5e conventions. Most of these ideas are interesting and fit really well in the Scarred Lands (a druid that can summon a herd of street cats, yes!) but an editing pass is much needed. Balance is also sometimes questionable as well. As for the previous book by the same authors, the layout switches back and forth between one and two columns, which feels rather odd.

Some common editing mistakes I found are :

  • use of "CON", "CHA", etc instead of "Constitution", "Charisma", etc; HP instead of hit points, etc
  • lot of words starting with Capital letters when they shouldn't (Advantage, Disadvantage, Attack of Opportunity),
  • words sometimes missing in a sentence,
  • some features not mentioning at which level they are gained,
  • spell names not in italic
  • some effects missing (notably, the base effect of the defensive state for the Call of the Stray)
  • inconsistent interline (makes reading really awkward, I know that you want everything to fit on a single page but still...)
  • the DC for the Pounce ability is not 5e-like
  • some effects don't specify what type of actions are required to activate them
  • some translation issues ? "reflexive action" instead of "reaction"
  • some abilities using "time per day" instead of using a long rest mechanics
  • some copy-paste errors ("mother of dragons" instead of "the Null")
  • use of "the player" instead of "you"
  • use of "Reflex" saving throw from 3.X era
  • a list of spells would have been useful

By the way, the defensive state for the Call of the Stray effect is perhaps the most overpowered (it can grant a +12 bonus to AC, which is way tooooo much) and I would definitively nerf it at my table. (That's not the only balance issue I found tbh)

Also, it is not clear whether the Forgotten Necrotic King refer to Ahrmuzda Airat (which should be known by any historian familiar with Hollowfaut history) or if the authors imply another entity?

Again, there are lot of good and great ideas in this book, and it would be a 5-star product for me if it were a bit more polished.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Troubadors & Tenders of the Grove, Pugilists & Pact Makers
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Pages of the Demigods
Publisher: Onyx Path Publishing
by Alain G. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/06/2021 04:37:31

This is a really neat product if you want to develop the demigods in your Scarred Lands game, including some of the most obscure demigods from Asherak for good measure (that's one of the strongest point for me, to understand how these gods plan to expand their base of worship to Ghelspad, it's reall cool). You get a bunch of NPCs with nice backstories and purposes, which can make really colorful encounters (some could be encountered during Dead Man's Rust, or on a Fenrilik campaign), plus the stats of a demigods avatar if you want to go kill a god (NB: that could be training for the finale of a certain SV campaign XD)



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Pages of the Demigods
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Vigil Watch: Dromyas
Publisher: Onyx Path Publishing
by Alain G. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 12/21/2020 12:50:33

This is hands down one of my favorite Slarecian Vault product until now! It takes one minor element of the setting (the new Minotaur playable race introduced in the Yugman's Guide to Ghelspad) and builds upon it lore-wise, creating a very interesting location to visit in a campaign. It has lore, history, culture, some tension (and a nice Baba-Yaga-like villain), as well as a couple of spells and monsters to top it off (really like the spontaneous golem, but I have a soft spot for spontaneous golems), all of which being well-connected and helping bringing this city alive. Special mention to the cartography, which manages to capture the look and feel of Scarred Lands maps from the old Campaign Setting. Strongly recommend!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Vigil Watch: Dromyas
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10 Fenrilik Monsters
Publisher: Onyx Path Publishing
by Alain G. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/30/2020 09:15:26

There are some really cool ideas in this book (my favorite being probably the corpse lotus, which is really neat in my opinion, the bow that disappears and leave frostbite on the fingers is really cool too), definitively worth checking out. The primary concern for me is that it could use a little bit of polish (notably in the wording of 5E-related mechanics, which often use an abbreviated tone instead of a more standardized version). The passage from 1 to 2 columns in the middle of the book feels weird as well. There are two points of lore that I feel don't insert well in the Scarred Lands campaign setting, but it is the kind of thing that can be easily adapted by the GM at his/her table.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
10 Fenrilik Monsters
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Frostlands of Fenrilik: Yenie's Journal
Publisher: Onyx Path Publishing
by Alain G. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/27/2020 17:38:24

This product expends on Yenie's Journal from the Frostlands of Fenrilik book, and provides a lot of insight on how life on Fenrilik in general works, and how it differs from Ghelspad. It has description and stats for a couple of NPCs, plus new spells and rituals (including create coffee which allows you to open your own local coffee shop). One thing that I was a little bit surprised is that there seems to be no reactions from the people of Fenrilik when they encounter an elf (given the fact that there are no elves on that continent), while I would have expected some surprise or at least curiosity. That's nitpicking, I know :P



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Frostlands of Fenrilik: Yenie's Journal
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Frostlands of Fenrilik
Publisher: Onyx Path Publishing
by Alain G. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/04/2020 14:25:29

This product establishes a new campaign location for the Scarred Lands (the continent of Fenrilik), expanding from old material and connecting some of the dots from this material. It is aimed at two different targets: a) Game Masters (and players), so that they can jump right into the setting for their own games and b) community content creators so that they can write their own product set on that continent for the Slarecian Vault. This dual nature (and the limited page count) has lead to some decisions from the writers to lean on one side or the other depending on the section of the book.

Chapter 1 is a kind of gazeeter, presenting some elements of day-to-day life in Fenrilik (notably environmental hazards and the major settlements on the continent). It opens with in-game description of an explorer who comes to Fenrilik for the first time, which is quite relatable as I imagine most Scarred Lands games never set foot on that continent. NB: the font for the sidebars has been changed (for the best) from the other Scarred Lands products, which is a good idea since it was difficult to read in other books... I'm looking at you, Yugman's Guide to Ghelspad!

  • Some informations I feel is missing from this chapter: a) a list of geographical landmarks could have been nice, for example the names of forests, montains, plains, etc. "The forest west of the Tobor gorge" doesn't have the same ring to it as "The Forest Of The Coolest Name Ever" On one hand it provides community content creators (and GMs) room to name these whichever way they want, on the other this may run the risk of having the same location named dfferently by different authors, which could be confusing for readers. b) there is no indication of how many people live among the nomadic tribes. No examples of nomadic tribes are given (a nice way to invite GMs and community content creators to create their own stuff), which may be disappointing for GMs who may need one or two right away for their games.

Chapter 2 and 3 cover the city of Kovokimru and the Tobor Gorge next to it as read-to-play locations for GMs to start their games. There are descriptions of main buildings, characters, local holidays, story hooks (includes a dragon for those who really want to use a dragon). This section is really useful, though maybe the description of one of the accomodations could have been cut short to allow for more space in Chapter 1.

Chapter 4 is aimed at players and presents 3 new character races + 4 new subclasses, which are all enticing to play. Two of the races are new and provide a very nice dynamic to the setting, which is very well highlighted by the authors throughout the book. It hints as a cultural schock (if not war) between two populations who don't know anything about the other, which sparks some great campaign ideas. The subclasses are really evocative and fit very well into the setting (some of them could even be present in other parts of the Scarred Lands). The races and subclasses are great. There are new spells as well, which are conversion from their 3E counterpart, and I feel that the book did not need some of them. Empathy of the faceless one seems overpowered (no damage cap and no concentration required, and should probably deal psychic damage), iceshard description seems incomplete (when can the player use the ranged attack) and seems underwhelming when cast at 2nd level but really grows in power at higher level), rupture sounds like it should have been an option for higher level casting of fracture instead. The feat seems dangerously powerful given that heat metal is a rather powerful 2nd level spell in itself... A table of languages from Fenrilik and the other Scarred Lands languages they relate to could have been useful. This information is somewhat disseminated throughout the book but the reader needs to search for it... I guess it was left over for lack of space.

Chapter 5 presents new monsters including some indication on how to adjust existing monsters to "reskin" them for Fenrilik (which I found very nice). The skerrai seem nasty (though tbh there seems to be some weird things going on in their stat blocks, like the +7 to hit for the immature skerrai, which is incredibly high for a CR1 creature), notably due to their ability to stun PCs for extended period of time, without the possibility to make new saving throws after a failed save (which seems weird). Also, it seems like the authors tried to adjust these monsters so that their CR matches the original CRs, which makes for really high challenge monsters. The 5E mosnters (from the Monster Manual) generally have lower CRs from their 3.X counterpart, so I think it would have made sense to have lowered the CRs here a tiny bit as well. The section ends with two NPC stat blocks which is really useful!

Chapter 6 is an introductory adventure and leverages the cultural divide between the surface of Fenrilik and the underground. It seems to assume that the PCs have good intentions toward the people below, but this adventure may take a very different turn if the players are not as well behaved. It ties up nicely the different elements presented in this book and makes a perfect introduction to the setting.

Overall

  • Interesting new setting for the Scarred Lands, ready to play for GMs and ready to develop for community content creator
  • Very cool races and subclasses which fit very well into the setting (I want to play them!)
  • Consistent setting with the different sections working well with one another
  • Maybe some of the spells, feats and monsters could use some attention

NB: The PoD version is nice and seems to hold well at first glance, no complaints about the printer here



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Frostlands of Fenrilik
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Creator Reply:
Thank you so much for the detailed and thoughtful review! I think a book of nomadic tribes would be awesome!
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Yugman's Guide to Ghelspad Part One (5e OGL)
Publisher: Onyx Path Publishing
by Alain G. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/05/2020 04:42:29

This supplement updates some material from the 3.X era, as well as a little bit of new content. Most of it is centered on the Hornsaw Forest and those who inhabit it, with a couple of exceptions.

Overall, I found the quality really good. I liked the small comments from in-game characters such as Zarra or Yugman, it adds a little bit of spice. The paragraph on self-harm and mental health at the table was a really nice touch too. However, I could not rate this a 5 star review as I wanted to because of what I perceived as a few flaws in the design (either balance issues, or confusion wording in some places)

Arachnid Apotheosis => this feature is really underwhelming for a 17th level feature. It seems more or less as powerful as a cantrip, but it requires a) to make a melee attack (while the subclass doesn't have anything that supports melee attacks) and b) make a saving throw, and then the good effects only comes at c) when the monster reaches 0 hit points. For comparison, the venomous barb abilty of the Pact of the Serpent is more powerful... EDIT : and now that I think about it, I would have preferred to see a Vengeance domain for Sethris rather than a Venom domain.

Tanil's Blessing => nothing really important, but there is a "per day" that slipped under the radar, and that is not really 5e-like (NB: I really like this subclass)

Ophidian Spirit => now that feature is confusing. It is not clear whether you have the benefit of all 3 abilities, or if you need to choose one. In addition, the duration of 1 hour/warlock level is kinda weird. Can you cumulate multiple use? Like use it once to get +3 to AC, then do a short rest, then use it a second time to get another +3 to AC? (Insert here a minor comment about the "per short/long rest" wording). It seems like this feature was shorten so that the subclass would fit the page, and I think some clarification are required ;)

Spells => some spells are never mentionned elsewhere, and there is no spell list per class, so it is not clear how one can access these spells. Maybe the combined book will have a spell list?

Bite of the mamba => I am not fond of ability score loss in 5E, I believe that the original designers avoided to use this tool for a reason, and therefore that it is better to avoid it. It is my personal opinion ;)

Sethris Potency => increasing a DC by 1d4 + proficiency bonus seems really powerful, even for a 3rd-level spell. DC in 5E are less spread out than in 3.X so I am a little bit cautious about that one. An alternative (the one I was thinking about when I drafted a conversion for that spell) is that you replace the poison DC with your own spell save DC. This globally provides the same increase for low-level poisons, but doesn't increase too much poisons with very high DC.

Entrance the beast => it is not clear if the first sentence is an actual ability or not (my bet is not, but if it is, there is a ton of information that is missing.

Entrance the beast / Snake eyes => these two are missing information about how often these can be used.

NB: these are mostly details, and again, overall the book is great ;)



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Yugman's Guide to Ghelspad Part One (5e OGL)
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Game Master Companion and Adventures
Publisher: Onyx Path Publishing
by Alain G. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 12/05/2018 13:46:06

This book contains valuable ressources for any Scarred Lands game and provides 40-ish pages of awesomeness.

Chapter 1 presents new races. The half-elf and half-orc both return, which is a nice throw-back to the previous edition of the Scarred Lands. The gem of this chapter (and the whole book) is the tiefling race, with 18 (if I counted correctly) subraces, each tied to the different planes of existence of the Scarred Lands. This is a great addition to the setting and fits perfectly well in the mythos (in fact, the existence of tieflings are hinted at in several books in the previous edition, so here we are). Each subrace has unique abilities that fit well for their plane of origin. Also, some of the art used here is superb.

Chapter 2 provides reference table to complement the DMs screen. Includes a very useful list of magic items from the Player's Guide and The Wise and The Wicked. Small bemol here, the table of the titans is far away from the table of the gods, and the list of nations doesn't include city-states. But having the list of nations with the list of languages spoken there is terribly useful for quick reference.

Chapter 3 provides conversion for two 3E adventures. This means new DC and skills for skill checks, new stat blocks for NPCs and monsters (around 10 NPCs and 10 monsters, including some converted from Creature Collections). The converted monsters seem well-defined and use very well the 5E monster framework, and some are among iconic Scarred Lands monsters (yes, I'm looking at you, spider-eye goblins!)

Chapter 4 provides 17 spells converted from Relics & Rituals, mostly to be used by the NPCs described in the previous chapter, as well as one true ritual. Iconic Scarred Lands spells (and favorites of mine) make their return, including the bloosdtorm, corpse armor, among others. Too bad there is no information about which class can cast these spells, but that can be easily infered by comparing with the old R&R or the 5E spell lists.

Overall, a great product that can be useful in many different ways! Highly recommended.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Game Master Companion and Adventures
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Master of the Scaled
Publisher: Onyx Path Publishing
by Alain G. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 10/31/2018 07:30:40

This new rogue archetype is a straight-up adapatation of the Master of the Scaled prestige class from the previous edition.

Mechanically, it is a variant of the Arcane Trickster subclass from the PHB. In particular, it gains spells much faster than the Arcane Trickster (as fast as a paladin or ranger), thus reproducing the spell progression from the 3.5 prestige class. This seems slightly unbalanced, and perhaps a slower sneak attack progression (as in the original prestige class) would compensate. The Fast Talker class feature seems also very powerful in a social context, and I would limit it more (either recharging in a long rest or by forcing the expenditure of spell slots to activate it).

Otherwise, it works pretty well and fits the Scarred Lands mythos perfectly.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Master of the Scaled
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Creator Reply:
Alain, Thank you very much for the thoughtful review. With regard to the spell progression, the Arcane Trickster is not Open Game Content, so when designing the subclass class I had to start from scratch. I looked at relative power levels compared with other sources within Scarred Lands, as well as within the SRD. The design philosophy here, when compared to other classes, was to make the Master of the Scaled comparable to the Wizard in the same fashion that the Paladin is comparable to the Cleric. I think that is most suitable to the lore. While the Master of the Scaled DOES gain access to spell levels a bit faster than PHB designed 1/3rd casters (which are not Open Game Content and cannot be used as direct design templates) I believe you will find the number of spells known to be comparable. This causes the player to have to be more tactical about spell choice as they are spreading less spells across more available slots. I think this as well as the truncated list of available spells for the subclass enforce a potent, but balanced mechanic. In terms of reducing the Sneak Attack die, I hadn't considered it. My gut reaction would be to leave it alone as altering the base class mechanic in such a way introduces a level of complexity that generally goes outside of the scope of subclass design. Both of these points I am willing to further examine based on "in the field" play feedback, and would encourage you and any other players or GMs using the class to start a thread on this topic in the product's discussion panel. With regard to the Fast Talker feature recharging on a short or long rest, I think you hit the nail on the head. I like the idea of spending spell slots for a little extra oomph, so I have altered the mechanic as follows: "Once you have used this feature you may not do so until you finish a long rest. You may expend a spell slot of 2nd level or higher to gain one additional use of this feature before completing a long rest, and may not do so again until you have completed a long rest." Thank you very much for your review and your feedback. It is INCREDIBLY valuable. Travis
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