Disclosure: As a featured reviewer for RPGNow/DriveThroughRPG, I received my copy of these products for free from the publisher for the purpose of these reviews.

A great collection of ioun stones for Pathfinder - one of my favorite magic items from the early editions of D&D. This collection includes stones that deflect spells, grant the user tremorsense or darkvision, permit teleportation, improve perception and knowledge checks and a lot more. A short section on the lore of the stones is included, making this a nice little expansion to the selection of PF/D&D 3.5 magic items.

This review was written by Thilo Graf and first published in GMS Magazine

This pdf is 11 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 2 pages of advertisements and 1 page SRD, leaving 6 pages of content for the new ioun stones, so let's check them out!

Ioun stones are interesting items - they don't use slots, circle adventurers and thus are quite obvious presences. Mechanically, these stones are challenging to design due to not taking up slots and reviewing them is subsequently not too easy. Oh yeah, then there are my prejudices against the item class: I consider them boring tools for min-maxers who have already used up all of their slots. I don't like the concept. I think ioun stones are rather bland. So, that out of the way, let's take a look what we get, shall we? The ioun stones range from a modest 5000 GP to 220500 GP and offer bonuses from modest +1s to CMB/CMD to dealing 6d6 force damages, incorporeal forms and similar bonuses. There are also abilities that grant new feats to their owners and some of the ioun stones improve abilities from the APG-classes, which is nice. I also like that one of the stones looks like an eyeball - creepy! Some of the abilities are downright cool and iconic, offering us e.g. the option to teleport and releasing electrical bursts from their point of origin to even separating the shadow from the body. Each stone comes with full information on aura, price and construction requirements.

Finally, legacy item lovers like yours truly get an intelligent ion stone called the master's finch, complete with lore section and means of destruction.

Conclusion: Editing and formatting are good, while I noticed 2 minor glitches, none impeded my understanding of the content. The pdf comes with bookmarks and layout adheres to the new 2-column-RiP-standard. I'm not the biggest fan of ioun stones apart from their usage by archmages like Karzoug and subsequently was a bit skeptical whether I'd enjoy this installment of RiP's #30 series, but author Robert N. Emerson did a great job of providing ioun stones that go beyond boring bonus-stacking. While not all offer truly unique and imaginative abilities, most of them actually do and the APG-support is greatly appreciated. The legacy item is a nice cherry on top for me and should provide for entertaining roleplaying -an illusion-casting ioun stones with the personality of a trained finch makes for a neat companion/item to have. Please keep in mind that I'm not the biggest fan of ioun stones and that I consider the standard ones to be boring as hell when I'm saying that some of them felt a bit like filler. I would have loved to e.g. see Witch-ioun stones look like fetishes and have more that don't look like sparkling gems - after all, the item-class could easily encompass other cosmetic looks. However, this pdf somewhat remedied my prejudices against this class of item and I can actually see myself using several of these stones, resulting in a final verdict of 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5 for the purpose of this platform.

Endzeitgeist out.

30 Ioun Stones by Rite Publishing

This product is 11 pages long. It starts with a cover and credits. (2 pages)

Ioun Stones (6 pages) Here is the 30 new ioun stones, there is 29 regular ones and one unique one, which has a lore section and interesting history. They range from 5000 GP to 220500 GP other than the legendary one which is priceless. There is a wide range of powers they grant. From bonuses to things like hex DC's, class ability, feat, powers usable x/day, to things like tremorsense.

It ends with a OGL and ads. (3 pages)

Closing thoughts. The artwork is appears to be color photo's of real gems. Editing and layout are good I didn't notice any errors. Now before I go further I feel I need to point out, I honestly strongly dislike Ioun stones. I think they are at best boring to down right silly personally. These stones are a lot more interesting than the default ones which is a huge plus. But they still use the same mechanic of orbiting around your head, but that's to be understandable. With that said these are well done and almost, almost make me like them. Enough anyways I might figure out my own way to use some of them. I do wish not all of them looked like gems more or less though to give a little more variety. So what's my rating? Well if you are a fan of ioun stones then I think you will really like this book, so I am going to give it a 4.5 star review.

Trust me, I'm a Succubus.

The cover illustration shows a mage who is either a bit baffled or trying to keep a straight face whilst a bunch of small rocks orbit his head... or maybe he's wondering if he had one ale too many? It makes an excellent introduction to that most bizarre of magic items: the ioun stone.

Stemming from ideas in Jack Vance fantasy novels, they are quite a difficult concept to get your head around. This work opens with a delightfully in-character discourse on the sheer lack of information about where they come from or what they are before launching into descriptions of some thirty of these doo-dads. Apparently Questhaven, the default setting for much of Rite Publishing's work, is a hot-bed of ioun stone manufacture, with craftsmen and mages combining to produce ever more exotic items for the discerning practioner. The assumption is made, however, that you know what they are. Now, true, they've been in fantasy gaming, especially Dungeons & Dragons, for a long time... certainly AD&D 2e if not before, and basically are magic items which operate when within 3 feet of their owner and, yes, they do fly round his head - the advantage of this being that they don't occupy an item slot. Over the years various rationales have been given for their origins, Vance himself wrote that they were acquired from the heart of a dead star, whilst the Postive Material Plane has also been cited as their source. From D&D 3e on, they can be created in the same way as other magic items. Each one confers a specific benefit based on shape and colour, the effect being automatic as long as they are orbiting their owner's head, and even when expended they can give a psionist a single point of power.

Enough of the background for anyone unfamiliar with them, on to the contents of this book. There's a whole range of intriguing effects available from the different stones detailed, plenty to whet the appetite if you are looking to acquire a few, or want to learn how to make them... or if, as a GM, you want to scatter a few around as treasure. Try a Powder Blue Sphere Ioun Stone, for example: once per day you can use it to send a message of up to 140 words to someone, then on to someone else, or even back with a reply. A magic text message or tweet... or if you have a Translucent Ellipsoid Ioun Stone, you can transform yourself into an amorpheous liquid form once a day. Others confer combat bonuses, or enhance skill check rolls, each quite specific, so choose wisely when you go shopping.

There also is an unique one, called The Master's Finch. Said to be imbued with the spirit of a druid's familiar (who was a finch), as its owner rises in level new powers manifest. Indeed, it appears to be able to learn, for it is told that each new owner finds at least one power that has not been associated with it before.

Ending with a handy reference table, this is a nice collection of stones to add to your game in various ways, a fun little catalogue well-presented and explained. Just don't give one to someone who's drunk, they will never believe that they are not seeing things as it whirls around their head!