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Spellbound: The Channeler (Revised)
 
$6.00
Average Rating:4.2 / 5
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Spellbound: The Channeler (Revised)
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Spellbound: The Channeler (Revised)
Publisher: Crafty Games
by max l. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/22/2009 08:44:55

The revised edition of "The Channeler" will be fully compatible with the upcoming FantasyCraft, which uses the new Mastercraft engine, a streamlined version of the fabulous Spycraft 2.0. It contains everything you need to play a Channeler and it's simply the best d20 magic system i have ever seen. easy to use but very effective and complex in its results. You will find classic spells an new ones. You can use it for modern or fantasy setting and it's worth every penny!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Spellbound: The Channeler (Revised)
Publisher: Crafty Games
by Chris G. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 05/01/2007 00:00:00

Spellbound the Channeler

Spycraft is a modern game of espionage and well spies. It usually assumes a very near modern world that everyone is familiar with. But now they are starting to branch out of that and enter a more fantastic realm. This Spycraft PDF introduces magic and the first magic welding class. I trust it will not be for everyone and since it is a sourcebook that only is useful for magic it will be easy to ignore. But for those people wanting something a little more magical in their game they should be very pleased with this. Spellbound Volume one: the Channeler is the first in this new series of PDFs for Spycraft. Crafty Games once again releases a book with a lay out and tone almost exactly like the Spycraft core book. It is written by Scott Gearin. The book is well book marked and comes in a full color on screen as a well as a black and white easy to print out versions. The writer has chosen to just reorganize the classic D&D spell list and spells. They did a great job in doing this. They have eight very tightly organized schools of magic and each new class will be able to cast from one of those schools. The channeler gets access to the channeling school spells. The casting of a spell is done through the roll of the die. A caster always will risk failure but only one die will ever be needed to be rolled. The casters will be able to try to cast as many zero level spells as they want and they do not have to prepare spells in advance. Save DCs are based on the caster not the spell level and each feat one takes that involves casting spells can improve that. Spells are based off of many attributes though there is no minimum needed to cast spells. Know spells is based off of a profession skill so even if the character multi classes as long as they improve that skill they can learn more spells. As one can see there are many changes but they are good one that are well thought out and make a lot of sense. They really can make playing a spell caster a lot easier. The class is a typical twenty level Spycraft class. It has a good many abilities and many of them are variable. It will be easy to make Channelers that do not seem to be the same or even look mechanically alike. There are some new feats in here but the majority of the book is dedicated to the spells. Overall they did a nice job of trimming down the spells lists of the d20 game and adding in new spells to fill out the many gaps. Many of the spells have nice improvements like Mage Hand goes up to Mage Hand V a powerful ninth level spells. Over all this is one of the better versions of completely re doing the spell lists I have seen. I think that even some fantasy D&D players might like using this instead of the current system. The first Volume of Spellbound is an exciting and creative take on the standard arcane class. It easily makes it into something that can fit into the Spycraft world and makes it seem very different then just placing a wizard in there. The Channleler has its own feel and spells that really make it something special.

<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Great alteration to the spells lists and defining how magic works<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Spellbound: The Channeler (Revised)
Publisher: Crafty Games
by Megan R. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 02/12/2007 10:47:22

An RPG Resource Review:

The book opens by explaining what it is attempting to do. This is, to introduce classical 'fantasy' magic into the contemporary or future setting by presenting the D20 SRD (system reference document, the 'open source' reference to the D20 system) spells in a suitable manner. In the effort to explain how magic operates within Spycraft 2.0 a little less sales pitch and a bit more coherence about how it is all intended to hang together would have helped - the introduction to magic reads more like a product 'blurb' encouraging you to buy it than an explanation of how to use it in your game.

Basically, the intention is to provide a means for having magic and spells in a contemporary game. This is to be done by creating a series of magic-using classes, each based on a particular category of spells. So no generic wizards: you are an Enchanter or a Sage or - in this case - a Channeller, and you specialise in the chosen category of spellcasting.

Mechanically, there are differences to spellcasting as you may be used to it - summed up by regarding magical power as being personal. The spells you know are skill-based - Profession: Channeller - and so you can continue to learn more even if you take levels in a non-magical class. Probably the most significant change is that you are limited by your personal power, rather than an arbitrary list of spell numbers and levels, when casting spells; and there is no need to choose in advance what you intend to do - if you know how to cast a given spell and you have sufficient power, you can work your magic without need for further study or preparation. Likewise, the roll to actually cast a spell, and the save (if relevant) depend on the caster himself rather than on what he is trying to do.

This explained, it's on to the Channeller character class itself. Channelling is defined as the manipulation of force, energy or weather - you can specialise in one area if you so wish. As normal with any base class, as you rise in level there are various class abilities you can add in which enhance your casting abilities. There are also a series of High Magic feats, which are applicable to any magic user, rather than being Channeller-specific. A note on 'spell kits' - which you are expected to acquire via the standard gadget picks - is a bit confusing. While the contents serve the role filled by material components in standard fantasy magic use, they appear as window-dressing rather than serving a practical purpose... and not having one does not appear to make any difference to your spells.

The next few pages cover the basics of spells themselves - very general material about spell features such as casting time, duration, areas of effect, descriptors used and so on. This leads one to wonder if later volumes in the series are going to be extremely repetitive or if owning all of them (or at least this first one along with any other spell school you are interested in) will be essential to understanding the system.

Finally, we reach the Channelling spells themselves. They are well-constructed and allow plenty of scope for the caster to tailor the spell to do precisely what he wants - provided he takes the time to understand the full ramifications of the game mechanics. This isn't a casual spell-using system, to use it at all (never mind effectively) you will need to take the trouble to understand how it works mechanically within the rule system. That said, once you do grasp them you will be creating some epic effects!

Overall, it is a powerful and well-constructed set of rules for magic use. It is overly mechanical, you will have to add the 'magic' to the rules for yourself. Bring your own poetry to the party, but here you have a sound collection of rules for turning it into breathtaking magical effects. It will be interesting to see how the remainder of the series matches up.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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