Behind the Spells: Compendium
After getting a taste of Behind the Spells from the free articles at Kobold Quarterly, I went ahead and acquired the PDF of the compendium. Behind the Spells: Compendium is a collection of the first 36 articles in the series. Each article examines one of the spells that have been in Dungeons and Dragons
An article is divided into two parts. The first part discusses the in-character history of the spell’s creation. The author explains the evolution of a spell from 1st edition to 3rd edition through the perspective of a dragon. Most of this lore is easily added to any fantasy setting, although at times it may directly contradict existing information. In particular he created a reason why the system reference document does not list the names of spell’s creators which are part of Wizard’s of the Coast’s trademarks. The spell histories he provides are entertaining to read. They also contain plenty of hooks and ideas a GM may wish to use in their game.
The second half of an article is a section on spell variants and tricks. Occasionally he gives a new monster or magic item, but most of the information is spell related. Spell tricks are ways to modify a spell at casting time. They usually require a spellcraft check to perform. Some people might think it gives too much power to spellcasters, but I believe it is the type of creative spellcasting that makes problem solving interesting. None of the tricks are particularly powerful; allowing a wizard to use cone of cold to create an ice bridge for example isn’t going to break your game. Also included are quite a few new spells which are creative variants of existing spells.
I usually like to write longer reviews, but each article is only 3-4 pages in length. The quality of articles is fairly consistent throughout. Each article packs a lot of data inside. I can’t classify this as a must have, but it is a very solid supplement. I recommend it to any GM or spellcaster who wants to spice up their use of spells. I certainly plan on picking up a hard copy next time I place a lulu order.
Apathy Rating: 3/5.