Dragons are a part of most fantasy settings, or at least, most of my fantasy settings! I love dragons and have played a Dragon Disciple more than once, they are just damn awesome. So when I saw this book I knew that I just had to buy it, if for nothing else then to learn something new about dragons and their children.
So, did I learn anything? Was there anything within these pages that I could actually use?
The simple answer is... yes, but it was not what I expecting. I had hoped that this would be a book useful for players, but since all the templates within increases a creature's CR (from +3 to +1), they wont really be useable for players starting a campaign at 1st level. Sure, you could easily use these if starting a higher level campaign, but I tend to start games at 1st level. I was also hoping to learn a bit more about life as a wyrm child, but the book actually has very little of this type of information and is mostly focused around the four different draconic legacy templates (legacy half-dragon, quarter-dragon, greater draconic legacy and lesser draconic legacy). Don't get me wrong, these templates are all varied and useful, especially to GMs and you could certainly build a campaign around these, imagine if all the PCs start as one of these?
Aside from the templates, you'll also find a couple of NPCs that use the templates (CR 7-13), a few new feats (logical, but nothing spectacular), 3 new magic items (solid and useful), and some optional rules for draconic sorcerers.
I liked the last part of the book the best, which describes the problems of carrying a wyrm child to term. It's just as dangerous as it sounds, especially if you are a halfling! This is the type of information I was hoping to get more of.
All in all, a nice book with spectacular artwork and probably the most beautiful layout that I've seen in any 3PP book (not counting most Open Design books). However, I would have loved more information about how society view these children, how their presence could form a setting or maybe just a campaign, and overall, how to introduce them into the game. Had the designers presented a playable race for players wanting to introduce one of these into a 1st level party, that would have been perfect.
For the price, I actually don't think you get all that much information, so I am going to settle on a 3.5 star verdict, rounded down to 3. A nice book, but more beautiful than it is insightful.
Rating: [3 of 5 Stars!] |