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In The Company of Fey (5E) $5.99
Average Rating:1.3 / 5
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In The Company of Fey (5E)
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In The Company of Fey (5E)
Publisher: Rite Publishing
by Christopher K. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 05/05/2018 10:50:56

Great Concept, Poor Execution

For all that this says that it is a 5th Edition product, its really not a very good one as far as the mechanics are concerned. The mechanics were originally written for Pathfinder, but they were poorly ported to 5th, and it shows. The book makes several references to mechanics that simply don't exist in 5th. There are multiple references to Pathfinder class features, damage types, conditions, and mechanics that only exist in Pathfinder. It's as if the author simply assumed that they existed in 5th without actually double checking them first. The book also doesn't use a consistent formula for DCs and none of them ever use the 5th Edition DC formula for saving throw DCs. For instance, one of the racial features of the First Folk is Primal Healing, which grants and extra 2 hit points per die rolled from magical healing and doubles natural healing. There is no natural healing in 5E. It's possible the mechanic refers to rolling hit dice in a short rest, but that would be extremely high powered, and I don't think that was the intent. The inability to heal damage from cold iron naturally is tricky because the lack of natural healing in 5th, and I'm at a loss as to the right fix. Sadly, the mechanical issues just continue to compound from there. I really wanted this book to be a good one, and one of my players really wanted to play one. Considering how good I found In the Company of Dragons, I felt that maybe I could put in some quick fixes to the errors. However, as I started on this project, the list of issues began to get very large. After three handwritten pages, it was clear that this was turning into a virtual rewrite of the book. It would take too long and too much space in this review to show off every single error in it. If you want this to work for your 5th Edition game, you will have a lot of work ahead of you to make this race and the racial paragon class work for you. You will need to make decisions about the ability adjustements given that 5th doesn't use the Pathfinder formula. You are likely better off building subraces around the alternate racial traits. It appears the author was using the Advanced Race Guide for creating alternate options rather than using subraces. I'm not sure that subsitution mechanics are the right fit over subraces, but that decision is up to you. You will need to find substitute options for the mechanics that simply don't exist, either by picking a different class feature, adapating the Pathfinder one referenced, or possibly eliminting it altogether. For example, Wild Empathy, a druid ability in Pathfinder and 3.5 simply doesn't exist in 5th. It could be replaced with the gnome ability to speak to small animals keeping the spirit of the ability. Considering 5th generally doesn't use bonuses to skill checks, and the Nature skill can be used for many of the functions of Wild Empathy, providing Proficiency or Expertise to Nature is also a potentially good fit. DCs for race or class features of the Paragon class are a simple fix: start at 8 rather than 10, add in Proficiency bonus as normal, and eliminate any class level references. Remove any references to Ex, Su, and Sp since they simply don't exist. Damage type errors are usually easily corrected (Lightning for Electrial for example), but there is no non-lethal damage option to use. Conditions can be tricky in places. For example, 5th doesn't have a Shaken condition, but Frightened is the closest match. I would personally remove any bonus feats from the paragon class, given that feats in 5th are significantly more powerful than their Pathfinder equivalent. There is no damage resistance in 5th, but there are several references to using it. As you can see, there are a lot of issues with the mechanics, and that only covers the first half of the book. The concepts of the race and paragon class are sound. If the mechanical issues didn't exist, I'd happily give it four stars. However, the gross mechanical errors that litter the book, and the work it would require to fix them, remove at least two. I don't feel right giving this just one star. I cannot, in good conscience, recommend this book to anyone who isn't willing to spend the hours needed making the corrections required to make this a fully functional 5th Edition race and Paragon Class.



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[2 of 5 Stars!]
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