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The idea of using keys as magic items is a good one, and this product makes the concept work. This is a short supplement - only seven pages (two pages are devoted to the product's title and another is devoted only to the Open Game License) - but the variety of ideas presented in Josh Benton?s supplement carries a great deal of weight.
There are nine magical keys here, and the stand-outs include: the extra-dimensional key, which turns any lockable container into a extra-dimensional container, not unlike a portable hole (the fact that the key is made of the solidified blood of an outsider is a nice touch); the locking key, which affects a touched door or portal as if the spell 'arcane lock' was cast upon it; and the teleportal, which can be used to link up to five doors (anyway in your game world) as teleportation portals (although no mention is made as to whether or not this key would link doors on different planes).
Requirements for creating these keys are provided, and they seem quite balanced. Most of these keys are presented as magic items that continue their use indefinitely, but some use charges every time their magical properties are activated (like the house key, which, by expending a charge, casts 'secure shelter' manned by an 'unseen servant' and guarded by 'alarm'). Writer Benton has included a variety of different magic items; some only cost 100 gp (the key to understanding), whereas others (the skeleton key) cost 510,000 gp.
Images of keys (drawn by Anthony Cournoyer) are scattered throughout the supplement, and while none of them are explicitly identified as any of the Keys of Magic, they do represent what magical keys in a fantasy setting might resemble.
LIKED: This is a quick read; the material is easy to understand and can instantly inserted into your D&D game. Skortched Urf' Studios has also made sure this is a printer-friendly document; it won't tax your ink cartridge.
DISLIKED: As mentioned above, there is little information given regarding how these keys may work on or interact with planes other than the Material. It's hard to state that this detracts for the overall value or quality of this product, however.
QUALITY: Excellent
VALUE: Very Satisfied
[THIS REVIEW WAS EDITED]
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