Dungeons & Dragons Player’s Option: Heroes of the Elemental Chaos
Heroes of the Elemental Chaos is the latest Player’s Option supplement for Dungeons & Dragons written by Richard Baker and Robert J. Schwalb and published by Wizards of the Coast.
By Aaron T. Huss
Heroes of the Elemental Chaos is the latest Player’s Option addition to Dungeons & Dragons, detailing the elemental chaos and how players can fully bring it into their campaigns and become fully immersed with the elements of the setting. The elemental chaos can be summed up in a simple statement: the elemental chaos came first. Without the elemental chaos, the worlds would never have been formed, according to the fluff. The primordials were kings of the elemental chaos and shaped and molded the elements as they pleased; forming and destroying worlds at ease. The chaotic primordials have been chained and bound to keep the world as it is; allowing the gods and goddesses to take over.
Within the pages of Heroes of the Elemental Chaos, you learn how to tap into the elemental power that runs rampant across the elemental chaos, bleeding from the primordials still bound within or their various creatures that wander free. Within the core rulebooks, it’s obvious that the elements influence almost every type of magic in some sort of manner, but those means are not explained. By learning more about the elemental chaos, characters learn how to enhance their powers by harnessing that which bleeds from the vast number of elemental beings. So what does it all mean? It means that characters can gain great powers that allow them to further their manipulation of the elements.
THE ELEMENTAL CHAOS
Heroes of the Elemental Chaos is essentially broken into two pieces: the setting and the mechanics. The setting section is a 30-page delve deep into what and who defines the elemental chaos. Let me start by saying this is a great read. It gives purpose to world creation and provides a means of explaining what makes elemental magic possible. The setting details the humanoid races that survive within the elemental chaos along with how elemental magic can be harnessed. To move to the who section of the setting, you learn all about the primordials of ages old, lots of primordials, which is a two-fold description. First, it gives DMs new things to throw at their players from a deity-like aspect while creating adventure hooks at the same time. Second, it gives characters who focus more on the elements someone to “worship”. How do you acquire your elemental powers? By tapping into what bleeds off of the primordial Imix.
CHARACTER OPTIONS
The mechanics of the elemental chaos all come in the form of character options to fit with the purpose of the supplement. As with previous Player’s Option books, Heroes of the Elemental Chaos expands upon the character themes mechanics. Character themes add flavor and focus to your character without costing them a lot of the bonuses provided by their character class. Themes provide alternate mechanics to take during character advancement which embrace that character theme. Moving on from there are five new character class variations covering the druid, monk, sorcerer, warlock, and wizard classes. As with all character classes, these are fully described and include the full array of powers across the gambit of levels. To cover the class variations are new paragon paths and a couple epic destinies capped off with feats and elemental companions. There is a small selection of elemental magical items finishing the supplement, more or less allowing one to retain the flavor of their character by fully immersing themselves in the elements; powers, armor, and weapons.
OVERALL
Heroes of the Elemental Chaos has a very specific purpose, such is the style of the Player’s Option line of supplements. If you have no interest in bringing additional elemental flavor into your game or characters, then you may not find much here. DMs will find lots of valuable information regarding the elemental chaos should they want to incorporate it into their campaign and players will find a wealth of excellent new options should they decide to follow the elemental path.
RATINGS
Publication Quality: 10 out of 10
Heroes of the Elemental Chaos follows the standard publication features of all other standard Dungeons & Dragons books, with one exception: Wizards of the Coast is doing an increasingly better job from publication to publication filling the white space. In regards to layout and formatting, this book is top-notch and almost perfect. There are lots of great looking illustrations, although I would like to see more images that show what the elemental chaos looks like.
Mechanics: 8 out of 10
There are no new races in Heroes of the Elemental Chaos. The mechanics focus on flavoring and altering existing character classes with new themes and variant classes for those that are closer to the elements. These mechanics are very standard for the Player’s Option line of supplements and I thoroughly enjoy the new options they provide, especially when coupled with the new feats and paragon paths. However, in opposition to the previous supplements, it’s really missing that complete connection to the described setting in the form of new races that hail from the elemental chaos. Yes the setting describes how the existing races can be found here, especially the githzerai and genasi, but a couple new races would really complete the mechanics. If not a completely new race then at least a sub-race that encompasses more than just character themes.
Value Add: 9 out of 10
Heroes of the Elemental Chaos adds some very interesting options for character creation and advancement. I like how the character theme packages allow for players to flavor their characters in different ways to make them more unique compared to characters of the same class. Adding new class variations, of course, adds even more uniqueness. For those looking to tap their full potential in regards to elemental powers will find loads of valuable options within this book. Character themes open character backgrounds to interesting directions that can be used as great adventure hooks for a lengthy campaign. However, one of the most valuable pieces of this book is what is provided for DMs in regards to the setting and NPCs that can be created.
Overall: 9 out of 10
I am a fan of the Player’s Option books as they hone in on a particular aspect of Dungeons & Dragons and really expand upon it. You get a vast description of the setting, major locations, and important beings. They provide a number of new options for character creation and advancement while harboring a single theme that players and DMs can take full advantage of. While I would liked to have seen new elemental-focused races, there are lots of options presenting for flavoring the current races in manner of background or designing your own sub-race.
You can support Roleplayers Chronicle by using the following links to purchase this book:
Amazon: Player’s Option: Heroes of the Elemental Chaos: A 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons Rulebook
Barnes & Noble: Player’s Option: Heroes of the Elemental Chaos: A 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons Rulebook
