Duergar of the Obsidian Citadel
Duergar of the Obsidian Citadel is an epic fantasy supplement from the Tribes series of supplements for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game written by John Bennett and published by Raging Swan Press.
By Jan Sebestyen
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Deep below a smoke‐wreathed volcano dwells a black‐hearted clan of duergar. From the vastness of the lightless halls of their Obsidian Citadel, they forge malevolent armour, weapons and items for any with the gold and bravery to deal with them. Such is their boundless greed and hatred of the surface dwellers, though, that the fruit of their labours often hold lurking, pernicious curses that strike down their wielder months or even years later. So dour and obsessed with perfecting their craft are they, that the arts of beauty – music, poetry, painting and so on – are lost to them. Yet beauty they still crave. Thus they ride forth from their noxious smoke‐wreathing mountain home atop wondrous silver steeds in search of fair maidens and talented artist to drag down to wilt away forever in the darkness deep below the earth.
Duergar of the Obsidian Citadel is a well-crafted product that presents the duergar’s society, environs, favored professions, lairs, and battle tactics, as well as new feats, new spells, new class features, and NPC archetypes in an easy-to-read, well formatted design. The product does a great job of putting together an in-depth yet broad look at the race of the duergar. Although there are several pages of information detailing the duergar and the Obsidian Citadel, the product still leaves the GM with room to incorporate it into any home game.
CONTENT
Duergar of the Obsidian Citadel covers the tribal duergar in a comprehensive manner. One area is the description of the society, environs, lairs, and general information about the tribal nature of the duergar. The information gives the players enough basic background information to lay the ground work for building characters who are evil at heart. The product also describes the lair known as the Obsidian Citadel and all of its nuances.
Duergar of the Obsidian Citadel gives players alternate class features, new feats, new wizard spells, and new magic items including cursed ones to build a truly lethal character. The product also gives GMs new monster templates, encounters, and personas to meet adventuring PCs head on in a deadly combat that isn’t always based on strength.
At the beginning of Duergar of the Obsidian Citadel is a series of tables that summarize all of the pertinent information and make it very easy to look up and create either characters or enemies quickly.
OVERALL
Wonderful product for both players and GMs! It is well organized and well crafted. The graphics are very well placed and pertinent to the material. The descriptive writing is superb. The Pathfinder system rules adhered to and explained in relation to the duergar’s special features. The new class features are clearly written and incorporate a set of racially designed rules – the Sunder specialist for the fighter, the minor talents for rogues, and the two new focused arcane schools for the wizard.
RATINGS
Publication Quality: 10 out of 10
The artwork is appropriate, the editing is well done, the layout is easy to read, and the product is generally very cleanly designed and written. The product is well organized which allows the content to flow from topic to topic.
Mechanics: 10 out of 10
Duergar of the Obsidian Citadel is balanced – nothing is overpowered or underpowered, has great depth yet easily incorporated into any game, is multi-purposed usable by both players and GMs and is cohesive in its use of the rules.
Value Add: 10 out of 10
This product is one of the best of its types. It gives gamers everything they need to incorporate its usage in any game with having to tweak any of it, yet it also gives gamers enough latitude that they can tweak it if they want to.
Overall: 10 out of 10
Great product in its publication quality, adherence to and use of the Pathfinder mechanic, and the worth of the product to gamers. If all of Raging Swan Press’s Tribes products are like this, I would not hesitate to pick up more.
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