[One Bad Egg] Review round-up
Ultra-short reviews of One Bad Egg products. I edited all of these products except The Death-Mother and wrote some of Gods of the Shroud.
The Unbroken (One Bad Egg) -- I have two words for you guys. Must. Have. The Unbroken is a paladin paragon path simulating a paladin that has broken with his god, but wants to do things that must be done, be they good or evil. Thematically, it’s hardly breaking new ground, but it is IMO a very important option to have in your campaign. But the best thing about this short PDF is that it gives you a smart way to not only handle the paladin code introduced, but that you can easily use it with the normal paladins and their relationship with their god. Hell, it could fit for any character that wants some sort of code. At $1.49, it’s worth every penny several times over.
Rating: ******
He goes on to say (in the comments):
About the Unbroken, I do not see it as a fallen paladin per say, as I see it more as someone who has voluntarily broken with his god, instead of failed. Although I guess that some could argue that if you as a paladin break with your god, you have failed.
Either way, I will agree that it would be silly if all paladins who took the Unbroken somehow magically broke with their god when they hit 11th level. But even by RAW, there is no need for that. The paladins do not lose their powers anymore, even if they renounce their god (PHB p.91). So you can easily roleplay rejecting your god at whatever level you want, then when you hit 11th level, you can take the Unbroken Prestige Class. That is why I think it is a must have. The 4e rules have given us the possibility for our paladins to get pissed off and reject their god, something we never had before. That's a very special circumstance for such an otherwise devoted class, and should thus have a paragon path, to underline it.
The other thing that caused me to give it 6 stars, is the subsystem they introduce for rewarding following the code. It's smart, slick (IMO) and can be used for many other things, especially for other paladins and clerics. Via the acquisition of a feat called Personal Code you can acquire small xp bonuses and milestones (ie AP's) if you make the right choices in certain situations.
6 out of 6 stars ("If you haven’t bought it yet, you are a fool")! I like this class option, but I never seem to get out of the Heroic tier with my games, so it's not useful for me. Sadness.
The Half-Dead (One Bad Egg) -- It had to happen I guess. With The Apelord and The Unbroken One Bad Egg had raised my expectations to a unreasonably high level. Yet, there is something intriguing about the Half-Dead.The concept and flavor really appeals to me, but I am never going to use it as a full player race. I think that is the biggest hurdle of the Half-Dead. I do not see it as a race that many will use. I will however use it at some point, where one of my players die, as some plot device. We will have to see. Overall it's a well designed race, but I do have some concerns about the racial ability. +5 to all death saves is too much (I think, but haven't had time to do the math yet).
Rating: ****
"Only" 4/6 ("Good solid product"). I personally think this product is underrated. dikaiosunh started a new D&D campaign and we're incorporating the half-dead as a pretty important feature of the campaign. Our wilderness nomad races have witch doctors who talk to their ancestors. Becoming a witch doctor essentially requires someone to "cross over" to the world of the dead and return. It's a true psychopomp shaman thing. kimbyrle is playing a half-dead witch doctor (two OBE products). It'll be fun.
The Death-Mother (One Bad Egg) -- "A mockery of motherhood, the death-mother appears a rotting, clawed zombie with an enormous, bloated abdomen that splits open to reveal rows upon rows of sharp, needle-like teeth. A single long tentacle emerge from that maw on occasion; striking a foe, the death-mother exerts a momentary control over the victim’s mind and feeds its gestating get with leeched life-force" -- If that just sounds cool, nay awesome, it is because it is. Between producing undeads during combat and devouring more corpses during combat to produce even more undeads, this monster can be a truly horrifying experience for your players. Do not deprieve yourself of the pleasure of using this against them!
Rating: *****
I didn't work on this one at all, but the Death-Mother is bad-ass.
Gods of the Shroud (One Bad Egg) -- Let me start out by saying that if what you are looking for is a replacement pantheon for your high-magic campaign, this is probably not a product for you. It is however the perfect set of gods for a gritty, dark world on the edge of civilization or humanity. Baring running such a campaign, the Gods of the Shroud should be perfect as Ancient gods, still worshipped by barbarians, various humanoid tribes or really anyone living on the fringe of society. I must admit that I would have liked more fluff, but the fluff gotten was very evocative and sparked a lot of great ideas -- just as it should be. The Channel Divinity feats are mostly great, and quite fitting. Overall a product I will be using a lot.
Rating:*****
That's 5 stars out of 6 ("Great product, a must buy. You shouldn’t be playing 4e without"). Yay! And I must say that it took a little convincing to get Fred to leave in the fluff piece that I (and no one else) wrote for my two deities. Not much convincing, but a little.
I love that he says, "the fluff gotten was very evocative and sparked a lot of great ideas." That's one of the core tenets of OBE products: they should spark imagination. A hearty crunch with chocolatey goodness in every spoonful.
(As an aside: With no exaggeration, I cannot imagine a better "boss" in the publishing industry to work for than Fred Hicks. He solicits input from everyone on his team. He listens to ideas and gives them full consideration. He knows when to incorporate other peoples' ideas, and when to stick to his guns.)
Edited: Replaced xxx with Death-Mother. I didn't write it, so I can never remember its name!
The Unbroken (One Bad Egg) -- I have two words for you guys. Must. Have. The Unbroken is a paladin paragon path simulating a paladin that has broken with his god, but wants to do things that must be done, be they good or evil. Thematically, it’s hardly breaking new ground, but it is IMO a very important option to have in your campaign. But the best thing about this short PDF is that it gives you a smart way to not only handle the paladin code introduced, but that you can easily use it with the normal paladins and their relationship with their god. Hell, it could fit for any character that wants some sort of code. At $1.49, it’s worth every penny several times over.
Rating: ******
He goes on to say (in the comments):
About the Unbroken, I do not see it as a fallen paladin per say, as I see it more as someone who has voluntarily broken with his god, instead of failed. Although I guess that some could argue that if you as a paladin break with your god, you have failed.
Either way, I will agree that it would be silly if all paladins who took the Unbroken somehow magically broke with their god when they hit 11th level. But even by RAW, there is no need for that. The paladins do not lose their powers anymore, even if they renounce their god (PHB p.91). So you can easily roleplay rejecting your god at whatever level you want, then when you hit 11th level, you can take the Unbroken Prestige Class. That is why I think it is a must have. The 4e rules have given us the possibility for our paladins to get pissed off and reject their god, something we never had before. That's a very special circumstance for such an otherwise devoted class, and should thus have a paragon path, to underline it.
The other thing that caused me to give it 6 stars, is the subsystem they introduce for rewarding following the code. It's smart, slick (IMO) and can be used for many other things, especially for other paladins and clerics. Via the acquisition of a feat called Personal Code you can acquire small xp bonuses and milestones (ie AP's) if you make the right choices in certain situations.
6 out of 6 stars ("If you haven’t bought it yet, you are a fool")! I like this class option, but I never seem to get out of the Heroic tier with my games, so it's not useful for me. Sadness.
The Half-Dead (One Bad Egg) -- It had to happen I guess. With The Apelord and The Unbroken One Bad Egg had raised my expectations to a unreasonably high level. Yet, there is something intriguing about the Half-Dead.The concept and flavor really appeals to me, but I am never going to use it as a full player race. I think that is the biggest hurdle of the Half-Dead. I do not see it as a race that many will use. I will however use it at some point, where one of my players die, as some plot device. We will have to see. Overall it's a well designed race, but I do have some concerns about the racial ability. +5 to all death saves is too much (I think, but haven't had time to do the math yet).
Rating: ****
"Only" 4/6 ("Good solid product"). I personally think this product is underrated. dikaiosunh started a new D&D campaign and we're incorporating the half-dead as a pretty important feature of the campaign. Our wilderness nomad races have witch doctors who talk to their ancestors. Becoming a witch doctor essentially requires someone to "cross over" to the world of the dead and return. It's a true psychopomp shaman thing. kimbyrle is playing a half-dead witch doctor (two OBE products). It'll be fun.
The Death-Mother (One Bad Egg) -- "A mockery of motherhood, the death-mother appears a rotting, clawed zombie with an enormous, bloated abdomen that splits open to reveal rows upon rows of sharp, needle-like teeth. A single long tentacle emerge from that maw on occasion; striking a foe, the death-mother exerts a momentary control over the victim’s mind and feeds its gestating get with leeched life-force" -- If that just sounds cool, nay awesome, it is because it is. Between producing undeads during combat and devouring more corpses during combat to produce even more undeads, this monster can be a truly horrifying experience for your players. Do not deprieve yourself of the pleasure of using this against them!
Rating: *****
I didn't work on this one at all, but the Death-Mother is bad-ass.
Gods of the Shroud (One Bad Egg) -- Let me start out by saying that if what you are looking for is a replacement pantheon for your high-magic campaign, this is probably not a product for you. It is however the perfect set of gods for a gritty, dark world on the edge of civilization or humanity. Baring running such a campaign, the Gods of the Shroud should be perfect as Ancient gods, still worshipped by barbarians, various humanoid tribes or really anyone living on the fringe of society. I must admit that I would have liked more fluff, but the fluff gotten was very evocative and sparked a lot of great ideas -- just as it should be. The Channel Divinity feats are mostly great, and quite fitting. Overall a product I will be using a lot.
Rating:*****
That's 5 stars out of 6 ("Great product, a must buy. You shouldn’t be playing 4e without"). Yay! And I must say that it took a little convincing to get Fred to leave in the fluff piece that I (and no one else) wrote for my two deities. Not much convincing, but a little.
I love that he says, "the fluff gotten was very evocative and sparked a lot of great ideas." That's one of the core tenets of OBE products: they should spark imagination. A hearty crunch with chocolatey goodness in every spoonful.
(As an aside: With no exaggeration, I cannot imagine a better "boss" in the publishing industry to work for than Fred Hicks. He solicits input from everyone on his team. He listens to ideas and gives them full consideration. He knows when to incorporate other peoples' ideas, and when to stick to his guns.)
Edited: Replaced xxx with Death-Mother. I didn't write it, so I can never remember its name!