The impressive Book of Arcane Magic sneaks up on you.

It pretends to be just another book of spells, However, presented in its pages, in addition to dozens of flavorful new spells, are some potent, and balanced options for your Pathfinder game.

Published by 4 winds Fantasy Gaming and written by Connie J. Thomson and Robert W. Thomson, The Book of Arcane Might: A Sourcebook for Bards, Sorcerers & Wizards is a 70-page trove of cool things for your arcane magic users. It begins by presenting the over 100 spells in the book, and for once, it offers something different. Where most spell books just go for more powerful versions of current spells or spells that are designed to break or near break the game, Arcane Might goes a different route. Instead, a good many of their spells are designed to add flavor to a character. Many of the spell names are simple, descriptive and jovial. The spells alone would be worth the price of admission. Heck, most companies would have probably just divided the spells and rest of the book into two supplements for the same price.

The Colleges of Magic section introduced eight colleges of magic that a PC can be from. Again, fluff takes center stage here. New Sorcerer blood lines come into play in Chapter 3 that offer a different perspective on the types of blood that power a sorcerer than the perspective in the core book. Some appear close in name to those bloodlines but the flavor and abilities are fairly distinct. Chapter 4s Familiars emphasizes the books mission of flavor over powergaming with familiar classes that move beyond the generic “dog” or “cat” but utilizing exotic breeds that offer similar level but different skills than traditional familiars. The final section lists magic items that are again useful and detailed.

For the Player Players can do so much with some of these bloodlines. My favorite is the Lycanthropic bloodline. Also, the bardic spells and schools introduced make the Pathfinder Bard even more fun to play.

For the DM You can really stamp evil on a new NPC by giving them the Nightmarish or Scaly bloodline and limiting it in your game. You can build an entire campaign around the Nevermore and Forever More memory altering spells.

The Iron Word The Book of Arcane Might is a fantastic thesis on how spells can be both useful and packed with inspiring description. Its packed with spells and useful tools for casters that can further define a character or a campaign.