Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #201061 in Books
• Published on: 2009-01-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 224 pages

Customer Reviews

Neat supplement
I was fully expecting not to pick up any supplements for D&D's fourth edition rules, but as a DM in an undead-heavy campaign this tickled my interest. In brief, it's a very robust source book for a dungeon master looking for more tools with corpse-y flavour and of no real use to a player.

More specifically, the (sadly short) section on Skill Challenge examples has a lot of good ideas and the monster selection ranges from relatively dull but sound (this-old-monster-but-dead) up to oddball concepts (brain in a jar). Pleasantly surprised at the quality of support this edition of D&D is receiving.

Just...wow
When I picked this up from amazon, I must admit I was expecting this to be another two-bit supplement from wizards, reminiscent of the days of 3.5. I am glad to say I was dissapointed on that front.

Quite frankly, if you plan to have any undead in your campaign, you MUST pick up this book. It's a heavyweight book, coming in at over 200 pages, about the same size as the players guide 2. The first hundred or so pages are pakced full of background info, providing lots of material that I plan to use for plot hooks and sources of intrigue, and just general fleshing out.

The rules section, as has been mentioned in other reviews, contains some seriously strange monsters, but all of them are pulled off very tastefully in the book. It contains legions of skeletons to the animated skin of a flayed human, to the unliving angels of the demonic gods.

Overall, an awesome book for dungeon masters. However, it does have a lot less to offer players in terms of rules.

Content: 4.5/5
Presentation: 5/5
Value for Money: 5/5

Total: 5/5

Useful background, poor adventures
I agree in general with the earlier review, there's plenty of material here. For me, the most useful section was the one on the biology of the undead. It's useful to have an explanation of exactly how undead 'work' in a particular game setting, especially if you're going to use one as a PC, or an NPC that's not just sword-fodder. Talking of things that are just there to be killed, the weakest section are the adventures. I've noticed that encounters/adventures in 4E have very high production values, with clear maps, handy stat blocks for all monsters, and sections on their tactics. This often seems to be trying to hide the fact that the adventure is merely a set of linked rooms with monsters waiting in them, as is the case with most of these. The monsters in these encounters aren't always as bright as they should be either. Having defeated an immortal lich, the party will discover that it's hidden its phylactery....under the bed! Did I give the game away there? No, any sane DM will move it anyway. Perhaps to the top of the wardrobe...
Recommended book, with reservations.