DitheringFool's page

Behind the Spells: Compendium offers three great ways to add some pizazz to your game.

First, each spell includes details behind where the spell came from. Everyone has heard of Tensor, but who recalls Nephar Poratis? Would you ever guess that prestidigitation was the precursor for "a catastrophic orgy of destruction"? These tidbits are great fluff to add depth to any campaign world.

Each spell also comes with some spell secrets. Spell secrets introduce a way for spellcasters to tweak castings (by beating a Spellcraft DC) to achieve different effects. Some of these are kind of cheesy but most of them are pretty cool. Spell secrets add a new dimension to the game without being overpowering or making other aspects obsolete.

Finally, there are variant spells and magic items that round out the book's features. Some of these are pretty useful - any party without a cleric must learn stall and I really like the blastbow.

This huge book is quite amazing. The material covers the full depth and breadth of using pact magic in any campaign world. There are classes, skills, feats, prestige classes, magic items, locations, organizations, DM tips and epic stuff too. Plus it's not just for Soul Binders either! There are interesting ways to let just about any class give over some of their control to be possessed by a slew of interesting spirits for a day.

Edit: I am bumping this up to 5 stars from 4 since the new version of the PDF is bookmarked! There is so much information it would be impossible to quickly find anything without them - thanks Dario.

PS - I love the subtle Dune nuances :)

Although there are some really funny bits I must say that Xykon is a very disturbing Evil villain.

Beneath all the witty jabs, sarcasm, humor, and theology, there is a very well crafted narrative delineating one soul's journey into darkness...but it may not be who you think.

Oh, and Keith gets what he deserves...