(Reposted from Game Knight Reviews)
Up to now, I’ve somehow managed to miss any of the RPG supplements from Louis Porter Jr. Design (LPJ Design). This past week I was given the opportunity to review one of the LPJ Design books for the Pathfinder RPG – Monsters of NeoExodus: Necrostruct – and I decided to take advantage of that fact.
Overall I liked what I saw. Necrostructs basically boil down to evil undead magical constructs. Based on the creature displayed on the front cover, I have to say it reminds me a bit of the Warforged from Eberron or a flesh golem, but with an evil undead twist.
The recipe is simple… Take one recently deceased body, put it into a specially constructed armor, and add negative energy to bake until angry. Generally they aren’t very intelligent on their own but will fight back if attacked and have the urge to find and destroy magic. When you add an intelligence to the mix, these undead critters become much more dangerous – similar to how golems under wizard or cleric control can use strategy and tactics to cause more trouble than they do on their own.
You get three variations on the Necrostruct. A Lesser Necrostruct (CR 7), a mid-level Necrostruct (CR 10), and a Greater Necrostruct (CR 13). Each level above lesser adds more destructive power to the mix. And if a Greater Necrostruct is involved, you’re probably going to want to call in the cavalry.
I was impressed by the vibrant, full-color artwork by Yama Orce and the writing. The Necrostruct descriptions were concise and clear from writers Marc Radle and Louis Porter Jr. himself. In addition to the monster statistics, you also get a page each of combat counters, initiative cards, monster cards, and a combat & initiative tracker. All of these things are great and make it easy for a GM to just drop a Necrostruct or two into a combat encounter without much trouble.
But I was left wondering how these creatures might have come to be originally and had many more questions than answers by the end. Perhaps if the short PDF included a brief adventure or additional details regarding the “crazed mystic theurge” who created the first Necrostructs? Or a bit of a guide suggesting how an evil wizard might have gained the ability to create them? Or where a party of adventurers might go to discover more of the history and possible weaknesses of these creatures?
That said, I would not want to run into any of these constructs as a PC. Golems are bad enough in most instances, but the sheer number of HP and damage done by a Necrostruct would make even one of them downright deadly in the right circumstances. Add a Greater Necrostruct to the mix and you have additional troubles with better control of these evil things. Not the kind of thing I’d want to run into in a dark alley (or dungeon).
You can find the Monsters of NeoExodus: Necrostruct at RPGNow and DriveThruRPG. And for less than a cup of coffee at Starbucks, you can give your players a bit of heartburn with a creature they’re not likely to have seen yet!
NOTE: Star Rating approximate based on review text
