A veritable tome of over 350 spells, magical items, archetypes and lore, brought together to heighten your enjoyment for all kinds of spell casters, in 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons.
My review is based upon the newly updated version as of the 28th December 2017. For a full list of disclaimers please scroll down to the very bottom of this review post before you continue. But if the thought of all that arse covering bores you... then please keep on reading!
If you've not been here to my blog site before, then you will be relieved to know that I traditionally begin my reviews with a few simple thoughts. I discuss why I picked up the product, and whether or not you should consider buying it.
Elminster's Guide to Magic has been an impossible to ignore title since its release in October of 2017. Stuck to the number one spot for most of its residence in the DMs Guild; this compendium of spells (and more besides) has been well received, and represents a real step change in the quality of community driven, home-brewed content. For this and many other reasons, I have decided to review it for your pleasure. However, should you buy it? The price of this title is currently set at $14.95. This is a lot of money for an unofficial Wizards of the Coast PDF - and for that very reason I hope you will continue to read and enjoy my thoughts on it, before you decide to buy it.
For this monster sized review I will be breaking my thoughts down into the following topics of discussion: Cost (value for your dollar), Appeal (Aesthetics. Is it a pretty or professional looking product?), Usability (ease of use for a DM & Players), and Originality (how exciting, clever or creative is it?).
This book looks gorgeous. The authors of EGtM must have spent hours and hours commissioning artwork and scouring the DMs Guild for free stock art to use. The layout mimics the 5th Edition styling we have all come to know and love ;and is clearly laid out with a professional feel to it. There is very little to mark this product down with regard to it's appeal and artwork, however a few minor niggles remain. Should this product have been priced a little lower, then perhaps I would have given it full marks here, but I found several images to be low resolution, and one in particular (on page 28) to be blurry. All in all the art work doesn't feel consistent, mostly due to the the number of artists enlisted, and stock art chosen to illustrate it's pages. Which brings me onto the final oddity - placement of images. Firstly, There will be no more apologies for comparing this excellent product with official books or works published by professional and well loved companies such as Kobold Press. EGtM is a standout product which mounts an assault on the professional market. A feat to be commended. Amongst the professional or official products which I own, the art work matches the page contents incredibly well - in some instances the artwork appears to have been commissioned solely for the purposes of that single page. With EGtM, in the most part, the positioning of the artwork feels more like filler, other than inspiration for an incredible spell effect.
The budget for professional works is far greater than most, if not all community content in the DMs Guild, and for this reason I give it a well earned and very handsome ★★★★☆ (4/5 stars). A beautiful product, weldone.
Ease of use is a very important topic of discussion when it comes to products which will be pored over many times in a single session, like this one. The authors of EGtM possess lots of experience and have published an extraordinary number of products both individually and in collectives.
Layout, contents, index, bookmarking* and print friendly pages are key areas when you publish in the DMs Guild, since almost all of the community content is PDF only. As a product's size grow, then bookmarking becomes even more important, some might say essential. The way EGtM is set out is very satisfying, a small introduction followed by the 'meat', which are the hundreds of spells. After this we have the flavoursome magical items, trinkets, and additional roleplaying aides like spell tome names, wizard tower names and verbal spell components! Really, really enjoyed reading those. Finally this product is finished off with a large slice of Forgotten Realms law, re-written to help us to appreciate the world of magic casters PLUS some new and interesting player character options. I will not be delving head first into the mechanics of any of the spells, items or the new faction-based archetypes. As a DM, I will look them over and decide on a individual basis as to whether I wish to let them into my campaigns. I suggest you do the same. My belief here is that play testing is a time consuming affair. Product creators should be allowed to choose the amount of time they wish to spend play testing, after considering the complexity of their offerings, the level of experience they personally have with the game, and finally - how much development time they have allowed for themselves.
So where does EGtM fall down on usability? Bookmarking. Why or why did they not chose to do this? I do not think we need to bookmark every single spell, however I know at least one producer who might have 'pushed the boat out' and done this for us. But why didn't we get bookmarks on the main contents page? This is a glaring error which I hope future updates will rectify. Do not forget this is a huge amount of information. DMs and Players alike will be constantly flitting between pages on their laptops and tablets during session time. Help us out a little, would yah?
Print friendly pages. When I say this I don't mean the whole book. No. Perhaps just the spells organised as a mini spell book in black and white, so we can print them off and hand them out as we need them. It's a little thing I know, but this is a fantastic resource book and very big. As for indexing, I think we can over look that, as many new products seem to forego an index in lieu of clever layout design. ★★★☆☆. Great attempt, but lacked foresight as to how we might use it at our tables.
We have already discussed books which have been published in the past and of course the great many spell conversions which are already for sale in the DMs Guild. There's no disputing that it takes energy, enthusiasm for D&D and a LOT of hard work to produce such an exceptional product. But how creative was it? Did it leave us breathless in wonder as to how anyone could have married together content in this manner? No. Well not for me. We did very much enjoy the names and verbal spell components, however this is an original title for a number of other reasons. Let me explain.
Firstly, this authors of this product have designed some new spells, and converted a veritable heap of older spells for our pleasure. The sheer number of new spells here is crazy and quite frankly supersedes all other 5th Edition community content which converts and packages them. They have chosen to broaden their selection of spells to appeal to as many customers as possible. This is not a bold move, it is safe and secure, and I think we are all very thankful that they did it. This products producers have clearly researched their audience, and most of it's success can be attributed to nailing a largely unfulfilled area of the market. A one-stop magical tome. It's what a lot of you have been waiting for apparently. This manner of approach is focussed, driven and delivers what it intended. In my books, that's exciting.
Secondly, on the road to creating such a polished product - the authors mindfully stumbled into 'professional territory'. I can't help but compare and contrast the content here with high budget offerings from the likes of Kobold Press or even official content. This is to be applauded. There are of course many other DMs Guild products which try to do this too, however they didn't quite convince me as well as EGtM. With its 4 writers, EGtM raised the bar even higher, setting a brand new precedent for community content on the Guild. In my opinion.
The way in which EGtM themes it's content around the premise of it being the works of Elminster himself, is of course not an original one. Elminster has been in cahoots wth Volo for a great many years now, sharing knowledge and writing treatises for past and current editions of Dungeons & Dragons. There are also similar thematic community products on the DMs Guild too. All in all I feel I can only offer ★★★★☆ (3.5 stars). The creativeness in this product mostly resides in it's delivery and marketing.
Elminster's Guide to Magic supposedly fills an obvious gap in 5th Edition. This is the perceived shortage of spells, in comparison to past editions. Of course you may not have noticed the 'lack' of magical options, in which case, the price of $14.95 may well put you off. EGtM also offers a great many new experiences for magic users though. The spells, the lore, the player character options, and OMG the items, names and trinkets. The list goes on! If you enjoy playing spell casters, or simply wish to bring more excitement to you game in that regard, then please do buy it. You will not be disappointed.
As mentioned many times, the authors of EGtM have strayed into the professional arena with this offering. Yet they failed to offer a bibliography or even mention where they have drawn inspiration from. As a writer and hobbyist, I find this worrying. For example, if you take a similar product Emirikol's Guide to Devils, the author Sean McGovern happily lists off the books and authors which have inspired his gorgeous works. In truth, almost all the official books I have bought, go out of their way to pay respect to authors past and present. It's another simple little thing, missed of the list.
Play testing. Yes, that old chestnut. There's no doubt that play testing your ideas will lead onto better choices with regard to 'balance'. However 5th Edition heavily promotes roleplaying like no other edition before it. Sure there will players who cannot help themselves by using any trick they can find to power game themselves into early godhood, but they won't find that kind of imbalance in this product. In my experience though, it never hurts to 'show your working' as a publisher. Especially if you are entering into new 'professional' territory. So with hindsight, perhaps a mention of how EGtM was tested or a list of resources would have been an excellent addition. Something to think about.
I will end this review by thanking all those who chose to embark upon the creation of such a large tome of spells for our enjoyment. In my books, if spells are what you need, then the number of spell conversions here alone is worth its price. I rate this product 4 out of 5 stars ★★★★☆.
Please click on the links and image below to view Elminster's Guide to Magic or another one of the authors best selling works - the Players Companion. Let me know what else you'd like me to review and see you all next time.
Disclaimer:
My review is based upon the newly updated version as of the 28th December 2017. For a full list of disclaimers please scroll down to the very bottom of this review post before you continue. But if the thought of all that arse covering bores you... then please keep on reading!If you've not been here to my blog site before, then you will be relieved to know that I traditionally begin my reviews with a few simple thoughts. I discuss why I picked up the product, and whether or not you should consider buying it.
Elminster's Guide to Magic has been an impossible to ignore title since its release in October of 2017. Stuck to the number one spot for most of its residence in the DMs Guild; this compendium of spells (and more besides) has been well received, and represents a real step change in the quality of community driven, home-brewed content. For this and many other reasons, I have decided to review it for your pleasure. However, should you buy it? The price of this title is currently set at $14.95. This is a lot of money for an unofficial Wizards of the Coast PDF - and for that very reason I hope you will continue to read and enjoy my thoughts on it, before you decide to buy it.
For this monster sized review I will be breaking my thoughts down into the following topics of discussion: Cost (value for your dollar), Appeal (Aesthetics. Is it a pretty or professional looking product?), Usability (ease of use for a DM & Players), and Originality (how exciting, clever or creative is it?).
Cost
I picked up a copy of 'Elminster's Guide to Magic' for $14.95. The amount of time which has been painstakingly poured into the creation of this product must be taken into account. EGtM benefits from four writers work, and most of this content (I have been reliably informed) is spell conversions from previous editions of Dungeons & Dragons. Therefore, a comparison between similar works from the past, plus other DMs Guild spell conversions would seem appropriate. If we look at the other 5th Edition spell conversions which have appeared in the Guild since its launch in January 2016, not counting the 'Pay What You Want' products, then EGtM represents high value for money. Over 350 spells, all converted and ready for your use. As a counter point though, if you wish to review some new spells in their original form, in official books - then you can't go wrong with buying 3.5 Spell Compendium with over 1,000 spell ideas at $9.99 or even try Volo's Guide to All Things Magical. It costs $9.99 and is an official 2nd Edition book written by Ed Greenwood himself. VGtATM contains so much magical lore and paraphernalia that it is quite ridiculous. There is no getting away from the fact that EGtM demands a high price, however if we compare it to say the Tome of Beasts ($24.99), twice the size, with over 400 pages of monsters... then we're getting close to the value. Taking into account that many man hours went into the play-testing and artwork for ToB then it seems unfair to give EGtM full marks for value. ★★★★☆ (4/5 stars). Excellent value.Appeal
The budget for professional works is far greater than most, if not all community content in the DMs Guild, and for this reason I give it a well earned and very handsome ★★★★☆ (4/5 stars). A beautiful product, weldone.
Usability
Ease of use is a very important topic of discussion when it comes to products which will be pored over many times in a single session, like this one. The authors of EGtM possess lots of experience and have published an extraordinary number of products both individually and in collectives.Layout, contents, index, bookmarking* and print friendly pages are key areas when you publish in the DMs Guild, since almost all of the community content is PDF only. As a product's size grow, then bookmarking becomes even more important, some might say essential. The way EGtM is set out is very satisfying, a small introduction followed by the 'meat', which are the hundreds of spells. After this we have the flavoursome magical items, trinkets, and additional roleplaying aides like spell tome names, wizard tower names and verbal spell components! Really, really enjoyed reading those. Finally this product is finished off with a large slice of Forgotten Realms law, re-written to help us to appreciate the world of magic casters PLUS some new and interesting player character options. I will not be delving head first into the mechanics of any of the spells, items or the new faction-based archetypes. As a DM, I will look them over and decide on a individual basis as to whether I wish to let them into my campaigns. I suggest you do the same. My belief here is that play testing is a time consuming affair. Product creators should be allowed to choose the amount of time they wish to spend play testing, after considering the complexity of their offerings, the level of experience they personally have with the game, and finally - how much development time they have allowed for themselves.
So where does EGtM fall down on usability? Bookmarking. Why or why did they not chose to do this? I do not think we need to bookmark every single spell, however I know at least one producer who might have 'pushed the boat out' and done this for us. But why didn't we get bookmarks on the main contents page? This is a glaring error which I hope future updates will rectify. Do not forget this is a huge amount of information. DMs and Players alike will be constantly flitting between pages on their laptops and tablets during session time. Help us out a little, would yah?
Print friendly pages. When I say this I don't mean the whole book. No. Perhaps just the spells organised as a mini spell book in black and white, so we can print them off and hand them out as we need them. It's a little thing I know, but this is a fantastic resource book and very big. As for indexing, I think we can over look that, as many new products seem to forego an index in lieu of clever layout design. ★★★☆☆. Great attempt, but lacked foresight as to how we might use it at our tables.
Originality
Firstly, this authors of this product have designed some new spells, and converted a veritable heap of older spells for our pleasure. The sheer number of new spells here is crazy and quite frankly supersedes all other 5th Edition community content which converts and packages them. They have chosen to broaden their selection of spells to appeal to as many customers as possible. This is not a bold move, it is safe and secure, and I think we are all very thankful that they did it. This products producers have clearly researched their audience, and most of it's success can be attributed to nailing a largely unfulfilled area of the market. A one-stop magical tome. It's what a lot of you have been waiting for apparently. This manner of approach is focussed, driven and delivers what it intended. In my books, that's exciting.
Secondly, on the road to creating such a polished product - the authors mindfully stumbled into 'professional territory'. I can't help but compare and contrast the content here with high budget offerings from the likes of Kobold Press or even official content. This is to be applauded. There are of course many other DMs Guild products which try to do this too, however they didn't quite convince me as well as EGtM. With its 4 writers, EGtM raised the bar even higher, setting a brand new precedent for community content on the Guild. In my opinion.
The way in which EGtM themes it's content around the premise of it being the works of Elminster himself, is of course not an original one. Elminster has been in cahoots wth Volo for a great many years now, sharing knowledge and writing treatises for past and current editions of Dungeons & Dragons. There are also similar thematic community products on the DMs Guild too. All in all I feel I can only offer ★★★★☆ (3.5 stars). The creativeness in this product mostly resides in it's delivery and marketing.
In Conclusion
Elminster's Guide to Magic supposedly fills an obvious gap in 5th Edition. This is the perceived shortage of spells, in comparison to past editions. Of course you may not have noticed the 'lack' of magical options, in which case, the price of $14.95 may well put you off. EGtM also offers a great many new experiences for magic users though. The spells, the lore, the player character options, and OMG the items, names and trinkets. The list goes on! If you enjoy playing spell casters, or simply wish to bring more excitement to you game in that regard, then please do buy it. You will not be disappointed.As mentioned many times, the authors of EGtM have strayed into the professional arena with this offering. Yet they failed to offer a bibliography or even mention where they have drawn inspiration from. As a writer and hobbyist, I find this worrying. For example, if you take a similar product Emirikol's Guide to Devils, the author Sean McGovern happily lists off the books and authors which have inspired his gorgeous works. In truth, almost all the official books I have bought, go out of their way to pay respect to authors past and present. It's another simple little thing, missed of the list.
Play testing. Yes, that old chestnut. There's no doubt that play testing your ideas will lead onto better choices with regard to 'balance'. However 5th Edition heavily promotes roleplaying like no other edition before it. Sure there will players who cannot help themselves by using any trick they can find to power game themselves into early godhood, but they won't find that kind of imbalance in this product. In my experience though, it never hurts to 'show your working' as a publisher. Especially if you are entering into new 'professional' territory. So with hindsight, perhaps a mention of how EGtM was tested or a list of resources would have been an excellent addition. Something to think about.
I will end this review by thanking all those who chose to embark upon the creation of such a large tome of spells for our enjoyment. In my books, if spells are what you need, then the number of spell conversions here alone is worth its price. I rate this product 4 out of 5 stars ★★★★☆.
Please click on the links and image below to view Elminster's Guide to Magic or another one of the authors best selling works - the Players Companion. Let me know what else you'd like me to review and see you all next time.
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| ★★★★☆ |
Disclaimer:
We love D&D. We adore creativity and focus on the language of surprise and awe. Sometimes we may seem overly critical of some writers work. It's not because 'we be hating', so please give us some credit. Pushing writers to grow and consider both the DMs and players perspective is what we live for. Yeah, we can be mean, it's easy to be critical. However we see the beauty in all of your work and will continue to bring that to the surface too. Finally, all our links presented here on this page to the DMs Guild are spiked with our affiliate membership code. If you click though to the DMs Guild site from this blog, we own you forever. No! I mean we may see a few cents thrown our way for recommending a title or 2. Show us social media love. Don't troll.
Please also note: for the purposes of this review we have extracted images from the product page of the DMs Guild. We own no copyright to these images whatsoever.
Please also note: for the purposes of this review we have extracted images from the product page of the DMs Guild. We own no copyright to these images whatsoever.
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