In my continuing attempt to bring some of the best stuff in the back catalog forward, it is only natural that I would end up talking about Malhavoc Press' 3e material. This material was uniformly well-produced, thorough and interesting, and the second volume of the Bonds of Magic series is no exception.

This is a collection of characters: NPCs who can provide aid to or oppose the player characters. There are 25, and they are all divine spellcasters of varying sorts.

Each character entry is solid, and provides what I feel are the gold standard for Pathfinder/3e D&D character entries in many ways. Each of the one-page summaries includes a full stat block that includes equipment and magic items, a brief history, a brief sketch of the personality and appearance, and most importantly, a description of how the DM may use this character in a campaign and what tactics the character is most likely to use.

These last two elements are key, since with just a personality and history there's always a sense of "so what"? Why should the characters ever interact with or invest in knowledge about this character? By describing many very specific uses for the characters, the material helps ground them in a campaign world.

Interestingly, while the characters' alignments are not defined (except for the paladins), this nod towards being a generic supplement falls apart a little when looking at the divine sponsors of these characters. The gods are given names, and not really names that come from D&D3. It's a simple thing to substitute "divine entity of your choice", but it also separates the character concept from the core of what makes a divine spellcaster unique. This is the only area that I could improve with the book.

Finally, an appendix with some new feats, magic items and spells are included, though these are really not necessary and neither add nor detract from the experience. What the characters gain in new capabilities, the supplement as a whole loses in simplicity of use.

There is a bookmark index, though since it's organized by name of NPC in alphabetical order, it's not that helpful.

All in all, this series was a tremendous boon, the gold standard of NPC books that some are still not catching up with. I highly recommend it, especially at today's bargain-basement D&D3-supplement prices.