Relics & Rituals

Of all the official and third-party expansions that have come out since the release of 3e, I have to rate this as my #1 favorite as both an indespensible reference and a fun read.Although written for the very-specific "Scarred Lands" world, most of what can be used directly or adapted easily to your own world. In fact, it is much more adaptable than most other works I've found for 3E or other systems. Like any expansion, you will need to consider the impact of items and spells to your campaign, as some of what is presented is quite powerful.The highlight of the book is the descriptions of spells and items. The level of detail, the thought behind the entries, and the insight it gives you into the Scarred Lands is just fun reading, whether you ever use the item or not.The book has the added bonus of being inexpensive for a hardcover game supplement, and especially compared to Wizards' official expansions.The only annoyance of the work is the magic items. There is no "cost to create" numbers associated with any work, and while you can rederive this using the standard 3e tables, it's exclusion deprives you of the ability to spot-check the power of an item, relative to other items in the book....

I can literally say I was surprised when Sword & Sorcery sent me the confirmation letter saying Some of My spells had been accepted for publication, it was cool. then the book came out and wow it is exciting. besides my humble spells, a great thing is the paladin spells (notoriously unrated spell casters and always overlooked), and of course the prestige classes...very cool... I am currently running a necromancer who is using the Crypt Lord Prestige class, very powerful and best of all when he hits tenth level... LICHDOM!!!!! I would recommend this book to all DM's out there who would like to have some new spells to throw at the party, cause we know they have seen it all... but not anymore!!! Enjoy!!

I was a bit skeptical about this book, especially since I was not impressed with the Creature Collection (by this same publisher). I mostly bought it to check out the tattoo magic rules and new spells. Once I started reading this book I read halfway though it before my wife finally pried it away from me so I could do some chores! While I found the prestige classes and artifacts interesting to read, none of them will see play in my campaigns. The classes are too specialized for any of my players, and the artifacts are unbalancing (like all artifacts...) But the SPELLS!!! They were great! And the rules for ritual magic and tatoos will be put into play immediately! I liked the little Scarred Lands specific blurbs about the items and spells, because they triggered tons of great adventure ideas. Some DMs prefer generic stuff, but I say bring on the neat historical details! I can edit them for my world if they stink, and I can be inspired by them if they are good (and most of the Scarred Lands descriptive stuff here seems very good, unlike with the Creature Collection). Some great feats were here as well. And ritual magic makes metamagic feats finally useful to my players! None of them would waste the higher level spell slots to use them before, so nobody took the feats. Thank you, Relics and Rituals!

The best of the Open Gaming Licence, by far. This book details 7 new prestege classes (Most of which are very campaign specific), 220 new spells (Most of which are not grossly over or under powered), new magic rules for ritual magic (The best of the book), and a huge list of new magic items (Without costs sadly). It is my wish in reviews, no matter how much I like a book, to talk about the bad points of the book. Because me blabbering on about how "cool" something is, really doesn't tell you anything. But this book was GREAT. The only problem I have had with it is this. The new prestege classes are very much tied to White Wolf's "Scarred Lands" campaign setting. For my personal campaign I could only use two. Also the magic items do not list the costs to buy them under the standard 3rd Edition pricing system. This is because the "Scarred Lands" are going to use a different pricing system, or so White Wolf says. But beyond that, this book is GREAT. If you are playing any form of spellcaster in the new system, and you cannot wait for "Tome & Blood." I would suggest picking up this book. For [the money] it is a steal.

Relics and Rituals holds an amazing wealth of ideas for any campaign, not just one set in SSS's Scarred Lands setting. The spells and magic items are very good, and over 2/3rds can be used without modification. The rest only take a little tinkering to fit in your game world. Being based on 3E fan contributions after the Official Rules have come out, they are all consistent with the d20 System, and are well balanced. Also, there are a number of prestige classes (fun ideas, probably the weakest area of the book, and they still have potential), rules on Ritual Magic (great plot devices), rules on Tattoo magic (that blend in very nicely with the official rules), and some interesting Artifacts. All in all, I'd have to say that I highly recommend this book to any active gaming group, and hope that SSS continues to release quality products like this one!