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The Book of the Righteous, my review
Dec. 15th, 2017 11:47 amThis is going to be a review/rant, so buckle your seatbelts.
Several months ago I backed a project on Kickstarter for "The Book of the Righteous" for 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons. A few weeks ago, the book arrived. And I can say that I am very, very pleased with the final result.
An updating of the 3rd edition supplement of the same name, The Book of the Righteous addresses something that has been largely lacking in fantasy role-playing games since the beginning: a cohesive examination not just of gods, but of religion. In a world where there are multiple beings of great power able to grant divine power to their followers, the nature of faith needs to be defined. The relationship between the gods is of vital importance. Because the influence of a powerful church can drive a campaign.
One of the things many fantasy settings gets wrong is the nature of polytheism. In a world with many gods, most people will pray to many of them as needed and according to the god's area of interest. A farmer would ask Demeter to bless his crops, whisper a prayer to Diana when hunting, and make an offering to Zeus for the protection of the kingdom. They believed in all the gods, even if only one or two got the prayers and offerings.
This is where The Book of the Righteous shines. The first half of the book is a complete pantheon, from the creation of the universe, the tales of how the gods were made, where the various races came from, everything. There's the Great Church, a theocratic state unto itself that worships the good and lawful gods with enough detail that you could build an entire campaign around the Church.
Then comes the gods themselves. There are 22 deities to be found here, and each one of them fully developed. You get a block of text about the god, a legend from their history, what the goals of the god and the faith are, and several holy orders laid out for each church. The best thing, there is not a block of statistics or a line of rules anywhere to be found in these write-ups. It's all there to bring the reader into the world of the Gods of the Tree and the fallen Lord of Fire.
The gods are very Greek in that they have failings and desires. Cosmic laws prevent them from directly intervening in the material world, but they scheme and plot and find ways to influence the world of mortals. The story of the ages of creation gives each god a place and a story so that a cleric of that god starts with motivations and goals. A Shield of Maal is going to be dedicated to rooting out injustices, for example. This is a great tool for the player looking to play a cleric as a cleric, not just a moderately good fighter and healing engine.
Past the list of gods and the small section of heretical cults, there's a section on the divine campaign. This is incredibly good advice on alignment, creating new religions, how religions work, integrating the pantheon given here into existing settings, all sorts of great stuff. These sections deserve a close read and several re-readings. They really are great tools for world building.
Finally, on page 182, we get rules. Starting with new options for existing classes. One of the things I love about 5th edition D&D is the branch options you get at 3rd level. This allows customization without the flood of feats seen in earlier editions of the game. For example, a fighter reaching the third level can become a Battle Master (learning special maneuvers that add to his ability to hit and damage foes), or become a Champion or Mystic Knight. You can add to those options without breaking the game because each is a path, and a Dungeon Master can simply exclude paths he doesn't like.
The Book of the Righteous gives new paths to every class but clerics, who get several new spell Domains. Again, more player options in a controlled form is a good thing. We get a few new backgrounds (another feature that helps with defining your character) and feats, the obligatory list of new spells and creatures. Some really fun magic items for the holy man in your campaign round out the book. Two appendixes with excellent "in character" essays about the topics covered in the book are worthy of release on their own.
This book fills an important role in fantasy settings, and the pantheon given is one of the best I've seen in a long time. Everyone can benefit from this book, because in a world where the gods basically show up and say "here I am!" each character's relationship with the divine can drive several plots.
The Grim Lord Douglas, Hand of the Courts of Maal, gives this book five penguins out of five.
Several months ago I backed a project on Kickstarter for "The Book of the Righteous" for 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons. A few weeks ago, the book arrived. And I can say that I am very, very pleased with the final result.
An updating of the 3rd edition supplement of the same name, The Book of the Righteous addresses something that has been largely lacking in fantasy role-playing games since the beginning: a cohesive examination not just of gods, but of religion. In a world where there are multiple beings of great power able to grant divine power to their followers, the nature of faith needs to be defined. The relationship between the gods is of vital importance. Because the influence of a powerful church can drive a campaign.
One of the things many fantasy settings gets wrong is the nature of polytheism. In a world with many gods, most people will pray to many of them as needed and according to the god's area of interest. A farmer would ask Demeter to bless his crops, whisper a prayer to Diana when hunting, and make an offering to Zeus for the protection of the kingdom. They believed in all the gods, even if only one or two got the prayers and offerings.
This is where The Book of the Righteous shines. The first half of the book is a complete pantheon, from the creation of the universe, the tales of how the gods were made, where the various races came from, everything. There's the Great Church, a theocratic state unto itself that worships the good and lawful gods with enough detail that you could build an entire campaign around the Church.
Then comes the gods themselves. There are 22 deities to be found here, and each one of them fully developed. You get a block of text about the god, a legend from their history, what the goals of the god and the faith are, and several holy orders laid out for each church. The best thing, there is not a block of statistics or a line of rules anywhere to be found in these write-ups. It's all there to bring the reader into the world of the Gods of the Tree and the fallen Lord of Fire.
The gods are very Greek in that they have failings and desires. Cosmic laws prevent them from directly intervening in the material world, but they scheme and plot and find ways to influence the world of mortals. The story of the ages of creation gives each god a place and a story so that a cleric of that god starts with motivations and goals. A Shield of Maal is going to be dedicated to rooting out injustices, for example. This is a great tool for the player looking to play a cleric as a cleric, not just a moderately good fighter and healing engine.
Past the list of gods and the small section of heretical cults, there's a section on the divine campaign. This is incredibly good advice on alignment, creating new religions, how religions work, integrating the pantheon given here into existing settings, all sorts of great stuff. These sections deserve a close read and several re-readings. They really are great tools for world building.
Finally, on page 182, we get rules. Starting with new options for existing classes. One of the things I love about 5th edition D&D is the branch options you get at 3rd level. This allows customization without the flood of feats seen in earlier editions of the game. For example, a fighter reaching the third level can become a Battle Master (learning special maneuvers that add to his ability to hit and damage foes), or become a Champion or Mystic Knight. You can add to those options without breaking the game because each is a path, and a Dungeon Master can simply exclude paths he doesn't like.
The Book of the Righteous gives new paths to every class but clerics, who get several new spell Domains. Again, more player options in a controlled form is a good thing. We get a few new backgrounds (another feature that helps with defining your character) and feats, the obligatory list of new spells and creatures. Some really fun magic items for the holy man in your campaign round out the book. Two appendixes with excellent "in character" essays about the topics covered in the book are worthy of release on their own.
This book fills an important role in fantasy settings, and the pantheon given is one of the best I've seen in a long time. Everyone can benefit from this book, because in a world where the gods basically show up and say "here I am!" each character's relationship with the divine can drive several plots.
The Grim Lord Douglas, Hand of the Courts of Maal, gives this book five penguins out of five.
