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Path of the Tarrasque
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Bryan H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/28/2019 09:34:13

Without actually playing the class all the way to 14, this is more of a "review in progress" but I really really liked this archetype. An icon legendary monster as inspiration for your barbarian, and with really nice production value in the pdf (nice cover, layout is easy to read, etc). Great product.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Path of the Tarrasque
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Creator Reply:
Thanks A LOT!!! Well, Middle Finger of Vecna gave me awesome advices and I finally updated it! Hope you like it! And please, tell me again what you think!
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Odyssey of the Dragonlords: Player's Guide
Publisher: Modiphius
by Bryan H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/27/2019 09:47:41

As a preview for their full product, I'm excited. The art, layout, and other production elements are all top notch and I like that it's greek inspired and not just greek myth with all the nouns remade. The epic destinies are particularly cool.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Odyssey of the Dragonlords: Player's Guide
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The Mega Index
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Bryan H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/25/2019 23:07:11

I've played many RPGs and since my preferred stance is to DM, all my favourites have great indexes. Something 5e doesn't do all that well is have a good index. This product right here fixes that problem soundly. Additionally, as a DMsGuild creator, this is a super helpful resource for finding where stuff is and in which book!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
The Mega Index
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The Fey Codex
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Bryan H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/21/2019 12:18:25

An excellent book of ideas, but the mechanical rules don't fall quite in line with 5e's design paradigm. The races aren't given enough oompf (+1 in two different stats, instead of the +1 and +2 that other races get). The feats are also a mixed bag, with some of them being weak or not following 5e design (particularly alternate vision).

The book isn't bad. The fluff/narrative bits are interesting, well written, and sure to inspire. But a lack of images, lots of white space, and rules that don't line up with the game in terms of wording or balance, all make me mark the product as just ok.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
The Fey Codex
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Creator Reply:
Thanks for purchasing the product and for taking the time to review it!
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Joy of Monster Cooking
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Bryan H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/21/2019 12:13:44

With a background, an expansion on how Chef's Tools work, and a handful of real world recipes (although some substitutions might need to be made, for example Bulette is hard to find at your local grocery store), it's a cool supplement. Not sure how useful it'll be at the table, but it was an amusing read.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Joy of Monster Cooking
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{WH} The Witch, a character class of natural arcana and the old ways of magic
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Bryan H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/21/2019 12:06:41

I've never been a fan of "full" classes. I think a strength of 5e is the archetype system, which allows us to customize classes with themes. There's no reason one couldn't make bards or warlocks with a witch archetype. Heck the upcoming Alchemist archetype would likely even be a good fit.

HOWEVER if you're gonna have a witch be a full class, this is a great one to have. Giving you a selection of Archetypes (here, Covens) Jinxes (think Invocations), and spells the Witch plays like a warlock but your power comes from a communal source in nature (tied to phases of the moon), instead of an otherworldly one.

I'm one of those DMs who loves crafting their own custom content when a player asks for it. But if I had a player ask to be a witch? I'd just hand them this. It functions similarly to a warlock, but is mechanically different enough that I wouldn't want to try and map it to one. Also all the narrative stuff, the fluff bits, are top notch.

As always, Walrock hits it out of the park.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
{WH} The Witch, a character class of natural arcana and the old ways of magic
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Children of the Fey
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Bryan H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/21/2019 11:53:42

My games aren't so Fey focused, so while this supplement is less useful for me, it's well put together. The races are all interesting, well balanced across the board and well written. The additional fey stat blocks in the beastiary cover a large swath of CR values. Overall, a great product.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Children of the Fey
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Simple Caster NPCs: Priests of Deception and Murder
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Bryan H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/21/2019 11:20:00

5/5 for a nice selection of low CR humanoids to add to the NPC section of the Monster Manual, but I would really have liked small bits of fluff describing them/how to use them (like in the Monster Manual). But overall, the low price makes it hard to ask for more when you are getting 2 followers of evil deities, across Bane, Mask, Umberlee and Bhaal.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Simple Caster NPCs: Priests of Deception and Murder
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The Emporium of Uncanny Magic — Lost Potions
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Bryan H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/21/2019 11:16:56

You get what it says on the tin: a series of potions, oils, and other consumable magic items. 27 of them to be precise, and all of them with different rarities: Common (4), Uncommon (10), Rare (7), Very Rare (3) and Legendary (3). The layout and graphics are beautiful, and far exceed what I expect from a 2 dollar supplement.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
The Emporium of Uncanny Magic — Lost Potions
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Go for the Eyes!
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Bryan H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/21/2019 11:13:11

While mechanically balanced (the DCs and thresholds required to do called shots are of the appropriate range for the CR values of these creatures), I think the system falters because of a failure spiral.

A monster like a Beholder is designed to be a challenge, and that's listed as a CR value. This tells us what the average damage, defenses, and hp of the monster are. By allowing players to disable/destroy components of the monster, which thus disables/destroys their ability to exist at that CR, it makes the monster an easier fight. That is, by succeeding in attacking these components, players become more successful against the creature. Some (but not all) of the monsters have drawbacks to destroying body parts that mitigate this.

That being said, if your players are CRAVING called shots, this is an excellent way to do it. Each monster is presented with a variety of options for called shots and that unique attention to detail makes each called shot shine. If I had to make one suggestion for the author: don't put multiple monsters on the same page. That way, while running an encounter, it's easier to focus on the relevant information for that monster. It's an organization thing, and not actually anything I'd bemoan.

I rate the product based on what it IS and not what it isn't, and so I give it 4/5 for providing called shots to monsters. It's a good supplement with a solid selection of monsters but I don't think this style of game is for every table. It has a good selection of monsters, although your players might not like when they come across monsters that aren't in here unless you can improv called shots well. It doesn't QUITE fit with 5e design sensibilities but it doesn't impede with them either, so you have nothing to lose in trying it out to see if it suits your table.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Go for the Eyes!
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The Molded: Humanoid Ooze Sourcebook
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Bryan H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/21/2019 10:35:34

About as good as you're gonna get if you wanna play an ooze. However some mechanical advantages concern me: Damage resistance to acid and all slashing, piercing, and bludgeoning weapons (it doesn't state non-magical, so I have to presume this applies to ALL weapons). Additionally, they're resistant to another type of damage (determined by subrace ) and immune to psychic. Each subrace is also vulnerable to a very common damage type but I don't think this is enough to balance out the resistance.

You also have a corrosive body, making it hard for anyone to hit you. You're an ooze, which grants you no need to sleep, eat and you basically trance like an elf. You have blindsight to 15 feet, so I guess that's a good balancing point (anything beyond 60, you have disadvantage on perception rolls). Those are all the commont raits, you get additional benefits from your subrace!

The feats are about as balanced as the race is. Which is to say, not overly.

So while someone might have fun at your table with this, I suggest the DM allowing it should read the whole book through. It's well made and well thought out, but mechanical design means the character will require a close eye. It's not as overpowered as the Yuan-Ti from Volo's, but it's about as tricky.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
The Molded: Humanoid Ooze Sourcebook
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Creator Reply:
Thank you for trying out the module and leaving feedback. The molded are certainly a very odd race. The way their traits are they are much more inclined to be tanks than anything else, which is on purpose. Their race was created to be "magical test dummies" which meant their hardiness was emphasized over all else. It is difficult to make a version that can dish out a lot of damage. The corrosive body shouldn't make it harder for others to hit you, it actually makes it more difficult for the molded to use weapons and armor themselves. I've had some players have quite a bit of fun taking them in other non-tank directions. I would certainly encourage anyone that wants to use this at a table to let the DM take a look and approve it. Thanks again for the response! I hope to release new adventuring modules starring the molded soon!
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Warlock Patron: The Hag
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Bryan H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/21/2019 10:22:42

An excellent patron, the Hag has your patron bestowing their gifts upon you. The abilities are all hag related, which works well in terms of balance. The only concern I have is the 10th level ability: it dramatically empowers a caster (but we're talking Warlock, so that's mitigated a bit) by increasing the DC of their spells but it requires the Warlock to dwell in a location for days. I would personally have changed it to something like this:

"Whenever your warlock completes a long rest, an area around their resting site is empowered. This ability extends a number of miles equal to half your warlock level and lasts until you complete your next long rest."

And then give it the benefit. If you want to up the spell DC, increase it by half your proficiency modifier so it scales GENTLY with the character. (+1 up to level 8, +2 to level 16, +3 from level 17 up). This means the DC would be 8 + stat + proficiency + 1/2 proficiency, which I think is more reasonable than a flat +1 to +5 based on days. It becomes an ability that's more usable for the character but not as powerful (saving your monsters a little). Personally I'd rather just give them an additional spell slot as long as they're within that area but that's me.

Overall, nice work.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Warlock Patron: The Hag
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Next-Level Skill Checks
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Bryan H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/21/2019 10:14:26

The information presented here is complete and well thought out. I want to make that clear, that the product is well created with good intentions. However I removed two stars for these reasons:

  1. The system doesn't fit well into the simplified 5e rules. The new edition of DND focuses on a more narrative driven experience and that's where this supplement shines: it provides additional narrative options for both PCs and DMs however it does so at the expense of simplicity which is a strength with 5e. Having to reference a skill to remind yourself what minor failures result in vs major ones... it slows down the table.

  2. Death/Success spiral: Extreme success and failure (that is, rolling a 1 or 20) results in extraordinary results. While narratively these seem fun, the players are losing/succeeding already, and the additional effect of MORE failure or success pushes momentum into future skill checks. An example, rolling Intimidation and rolling a 1 can result in an enemy getting advantage on initative. Your failure results in yet more failure. You already failed the Intimidate check, why punish the player further?

  3. The 5e skill system allows successes with low results and failures on high ones. The bounded accuracy ensures that DCs are static across nearly all tiers of play. Yet here, we have a 1 treated as a critical failure, but you can STILL SUCCEED with a 1. If a DC to intimidate is 10 and you have +9, you can roll a 1 and succeed but the results from this skill system has you taking damage for your success. Likewise, if you only have +1 on Intimidate, and the DC is 25 (say, against a dragon), your roll of 20 treats you as having succeeded but is infact a failure.

  4. Adventures (hardcover books as well as the type of adventures found here on the guild) are not designed with this system in mind. That means they might have skill checks that, when you fail them, come with additional detrimental effects (Rise of Tiamat is a good example of this, when dealing with the council). Now you're failing three times, once on the roll and again with the adventure results and a third time with this skill system.

So while I applaud the author for creating a narratively interesting product, I can't recommend it as it doesn't 'fit' with 5e. However, I DO recommend DMs who are interested take a look, because it's well thought out, well produced, and has a lot of interesting ideas.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
Next-Level Skill Checks
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Creator Reply:
Thanks for your review! I think you sum up well the consequences of using these rules at your table - they do slow things down, they do create a success/failure spiral, adventures don't account for this, etc. I just want to note in case it isn't clear to readers that these rules are all directly from the DMG (on page 242), including special results for 1 and 20 results. Thanks again, as I say, I think your review will help DMs decide if this supplement is for them.
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The Awakened Item
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Bryan H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/21/2019 10:03:42

From a layout perspective, loving that horizontal display. From a creativity standpoint, this supplement gets a 5/5 as it's probably the only way anyone gets to play a sentient item.

However from a mechanics and gameplay standpoint, I have to take a point off. There simply isn't any way that this works comfortably within the 5e system. Will it break your table? Never, the mechanics aren't over powered or unbalanced, but actually running a sentient item just didn't work (at least not across two of my tables we tried testing it at).

So while experience teaches me one thing, I do want to say that the supplement is fantastic and if you're interested in playing an item, TRY it. Maybe you'll like it or maybe you won't, but this is the best way to give it a shot.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
The Awakened Item
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Creator Reply:
Thanks so much for taking the time to review The Awakened Item! Reviews are quite rare and always super valuable, so I really appreciate it. Especially for focusing on the positives, too! If you feel you can spare a little more of your time, I would very much like to hear about the issues you had playing a sentient item at the table (perhaps via the discussions tab, or DM on twitter - find me @spilledale). There are potentially lessons there that I can use to improve the product, either in the form of play advice or rules changes to support the DM and players.
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Solve et Coagula: A Practical Guide to Alchemy
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Bryan H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/21/2019 09:59:47

While I wouldn't necessarily run this supplement with every table, if you have someone who wants to play an alchemist, I'd call this guide essential. From a balance perspective, everything seems to be in order and the Forgotten Realms fluff doesn't prevent you from using this in other settings.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Solve et Coagula: A Practical Guide to Alchemy
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