Bane Ledger I is a 42 page monster pdf from Bloodstone press, and collects the monsters from their original Primal Codex after updating them to the new core rules revision. Bane Ledger I now forms part of Bloodstone Press' Primal Legends line, along with other titles such as Bane Ledger II. The pdf is all about monsters, and presents about 30 different monsters, although if you can all the sub-varieties in the dragons, mammoths and other monsters, there are more than 50 individual monsters that can be used in your campaigns. The layout and art is generally good, with some visually impressive art images, although unfortunately not all the creatures in this pdf get their own art and hence one must rely on the descriptions given. The cover art features one of the creatures in this pdf, the civatateo, an undead creature created when a creature of royal status dies while giving birth.
The monsters in this pdf are all mythical, legendary or extinct monsters taken from different cultures in our own world, such as American, African, Polynesian and Australian monsters. A handy table provides the particular region for each monster, and allows DMs to select monster from a specific region that best fits their own campaign world, although this is not required. A table is also provided to sort the monsters by challenge rating, and the CRs vary between 1/2 for a piranha, to a whopping 32 for the ya-o-gah. There's a good selection in between for every challenge rating, so most DMs will immediately find something useful in the pdf for their particular party.
Different types of monsters are also reasonably well represented, although there are no humanoids, constructs, giants, oozes or plants. Of the remaining types, dragons, aberrations and outsiders feature quite strongly, followed closely by undead, fey, animals and magical beasts. The mechanics for the most part is solid with very few errors barring the occasional size modifier that got left out of an attack bonus calculation or other minor errors one can pick up through casually scanning the stat blocks.
The concepts and ideas behind each of the monsters is thoughtful, interesting and generally good, although given the origins of most of these ideas that should be expected since these creatures have supposedly captured the imagination and dreams of people for hundreds of years. The concepts and ideas in turn translate well into the mechanics, although in some instances not in a terribly exciting or evocative fashion. Where the pdf is really lacking however, is in the descriptions and details of the various monsters. Information beyond the idea and one or two lines of description would've fleshed the concepts out a lot better, given the monsters life and coupled with some information on ecology enabled DMs to make the best logical use of these creatures.
Despite the lack of descriptions, this is a good pdf with an enjoyable selection of interesting creatures, including the ga gorib that enjoy playing games of stone throwing with passing travellers, the flesh-eating impundulu, the legendary piasa or 'storm bird', the wendigo that stalks and hunts evildoers, and the ya-o-gah, the creature that is the embodiment of winter and cold. Overall it's good to see these creatures of legend come to life in a d20 game, although it would've been much better to see more descriptive detail.<br><br>
<b>LIKED</b>: The variety, number of creatures and creature concepts behind the creatures provide for interesting and enjoyable creatures for DMs to use in any campaign. Given the selection of different challenge ratings, there's something here for all levels of play as well. <br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: The lack of descriptions and details on the creatures beyond the concept was disappointing. In addition, some of the different creature types are underrepresented and a wider variety of types could've been included in the pdf.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>
Rating: [4 of 5 Stars!] |