?Template Troves ? Volume III: Diseases, Parasites, & Symbiotes? is a 44 page pdf from Silverthrone Games. This product is a creature template book that focuses on the effects of diseases, parasites and symbiotes have on the creatures they come in contact with.

The book begins with a 3 page introduction that details how to apply templates to creatures and the open game content declaration. Templates are seen as daunting to some and this two and one half page of explanation does a good job of detail how these templates where developed as well as providing insight to help you design your own. This book defines its open game content as, ?With regard to these designations of Product Identity and Closed Content, all prose and game-related terminology and mechanics in this product are designated as Open Game Content under the terms and conditions of the Open Game License v1.0a.?, meaning that this product is loaded with content that hopefully make it into the adventures of other publishers.

Each template and introduction explaining its origin, changes to the appearance of the creature, the template itself and at least one sample creatures.

The 1st major chapter of the book spans 14 pages and covers the disease related templates. Six new diseases are introduced that link to six of the seven new diseases related templates. One of the stark differences between this product and many other template books is that some of the templates are quite detrimental that weaken the character as much as it grants benefit or that will even lead to a creature?s death. In this first chapter we have a carrier template (gains strength from sickness as other?s fall victim), distorted template (a disease that mutates the victim with each failed save), enraged (see 28 Days Later), foetid (a wasting disease that cause the victim to reek and have caustic blood), plague zombies (see Dawn of the Dead (remake)), pox spirit (a template that infects the spirit of a creature and causes them to infect others), and withered (victims of a wasting disease who become more and more frail). I enjoyed most of the templates in this section as several allow for movie zombie behavior to migrate to me DND game and others like the withered could be used as a template for a famine cursed people or the distorted to add some creepiness.

The 2nd and more disturbing chapter of the book spans 10 pages is the templates on parasites. I?m not normally a squeamish player, I have my Book of Vile Darkness next to the Book of Erotic Fantasy on my bookshelf, but I just found some of these templates unsettling. Templates include the fetal imposter (a parasitic lifeform that grows by consuming the fetus of another creature and its mother before it is born. Once born the fetal imposter matures and has sex with more pregnant women repeating the process), heartless (a parasite that consumes and replaces a creature?s heart, with its increased metabolism it grants many benefits to the creature before it dies in 3d4 months), Hivedriven (a parasitic infection in which the creature becomes a mobile swarm carrier ? until the consume him from the inside), meningean (a parasitic worm that buries into the brain of the victim and grants him psionic abilities [Note: not true psionics like in the Expanded Psionics Handbook but the Monster Manual type psionics], overseen (a template to make a creature an obedient slave), ravenous (infection by supertapeworm makes the creature voracious), and soul eater (a parasitic entities allows you to consume the life essences (read as energy drain) of others to feed itself.). These templates are not for the average game but definitely focused toward a more mature audience. This section also contains 3 new monsters ? the meningeal worm, the overseer tick, and the soul lamprey. Each is written up in the in detail and the mechanics look solid, except for the overseer tick which doesn?t qualify for the Weapon Finesse feat (I?d just make it a bonus feat and give him Stealthy), but this is minor and really won?t make a difference in the long run.

The 3rd chapter of this book spans about 9 pages and details symbiotic relationships that can exist with a host and another species for mutual benefit. Templates include the absolved (a celestial leech that grants celestial abilities to chosen recipients), the grafted (a being that when grafted to a creature grants increased strength, size and general robustness), the inheritor (an ancestral spirit that can provide benefits to the character), the lucid (a crystalline creature that melds with the creature, think ? crystal elemental template and you would be close enough), the sanguineous (a living blood that makes general survival easier in a number of ways (no breathing, no wounding, et cetera)), the spectator (eyeball creatures that grant enhanced vision to blind creatures), and toxic (a slug like creature that makes you mildly poisonous and grant you bonuses from being exposed to poisons). There are a number of new monsters in this section as well including the celestial leech (which although has perfect flight took the Hover feat?, has a deflection bonus but is not incorporeal, and has symbiosis listed in its creature description but not in its special qualities) and the ocular ally (whose picture doesn?t really match the template description unless the pupil and iris change upon implementation).

The book closes with two pages of tables that organize the content alphabetically, by CR adjustment, templates by LA, and sample creature CRs.

<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: Many unique templates (some familiar from movies) but not any that I can say I saw one like X in Book B by another publisher. Templates look well balanced (though the toxic feels to me it could be +2, or carrying cheap poison could replace potions for this character). <br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: A few more mechanic errors in the ?new monsters? than I would have expected from this publisher. Limited scope of creatures to template (21/21 can be applied to humanoids, 18/21 to monstrous humanoids, then next highest is 5/21 to animals; no templates for undead, dragons, plants.) - It feels like it should have been called "Diseases, Parasites, and Symbiotes for Humanoids and Monstrous Humanoids". I think a number of these templates are disturbing and should carry some kind of warning on the product description. <br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br><BR>[THIS REVIEW WAS EDITED]<BR>

An interesting look at making the results of diseases and symbiotes (including parasites) as templates. Some of the more interesting ones are the celestial leech that sucks evil out of beings, the disease that mutates its victim at a serious cost, the heart parasite that strengthens and then kills its host, memories of people long dead (and not undead), earth elemental symbiotes and the kidney dwelling slugs that give poison powers to their host. There is also the standard plague zombie for those who like diseased based zombies.

The only issue I have is the same with TT2- the cover art is much larger than the rest of the file so it makes quick scanning a little more difficult.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

Temple Troves ? Volume III: Diseases, Parasites and Symbiotes is a 44-page PDF that delivers twenty-one templates for new ? wait for it ? diseases, parasites and symbiotes. The PDF has a color cover and mostly black and white interior (the tables are tinted green).

Layout is quite professional and ink sucking borders are thoughtfully kept to a minimum. In addition to the nice layout, I was also impressed by the quality of the interior art. I was not familiar with Cara J. Mitten, but her line art here is really nice. I especially liked the picture of the plague zombie. The PDF is bookmarked and an appendix lists templates alphabetically, by level adjustment and by challenge rating. The sample monsters included that were created from the templates are also listed by challenge rating. Huzzahs to Silverthorne Games for this nice addition.

About a page and a half is devoted to each of the twenty-one templates included. In addition to the rules for creating a creature with the template, each template also has a section that describes any appearance changes to the creature after the template is applied, as well as a section that gives some details about the characters that are typically affected by the template. Five templates also have an entry for a new monster associated with that template. Approximately half of the templates have an associated illustration. The author, Gary Astleford?s writing is clear and concise and I came across no egregious typos during my review. I am no d20 expert, but I also did not find that any of the templates screamed ?broken? or seemed overly powerful to me either.

As the back cover of Temple Troves Volume III proclaims, templates are indeed a great addition to the d20 system. The author even thoughtfully includes stat blocks for two sample monsters created with each template, complete with flavor text. This is just one example of ?added value? that makes this PDF appealing to me. Another is the fact that the challenge ratings for the example monsters span a range from one to twelve, with the majority centered around the mid levels of four to six (where the majority of games presumably occur). This is just plain old thoughtful design and not something that I see in the average PDF.

I have few complaints with Temple Troves Volume III. I couldn?t find any rules for removing Parasites and Symbiotes from a host. Can they be removed with a simple Cure Disease? Also, I know I have seen rules somewhere for making d20 diseases a little ?tougher? and harder to cure. It would have been nice to see those rules repeated here (if they were OGC) or barring that, something similar. All in all though, Treasure Troves III is an outstanding product from a publisher that was relatively unknown to me. The $6.00 price tag makes it that much more appealing. If you want to add drama and danger to your encounters, as well as get some great ideas, make sure to pick this one up.

As a postscript, if you want to try before you buy, make sure you download the Demo PDF with the plague zombie template. It should add a little 28 Days Later flavor to your next D&D game.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: The writing and interior art are both excellent. Sample monsters created with the templates, lists of templates by challenge rating, etc. add plenty of value to the product.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Very little. I would have liked to see some rules for making diseases harder to cure.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>