Midgard: Book of Drakes (PFRPG)

This full-color pdf is 62 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page (almost) logo-less front cover, 1 page editorial & ToC, 1 page SRD, 1 page advertisement and 1 page back cover, leaving 54 pages for the drakes. So...what are drakes?

Well, drakes are lesser draconic creatures and, as the introduction by Adam Daigle and Mike Welham discusses, there is a certain necessity for these critters that has as of yet been neglected. But wait, let me elaborate on the thesis: I am an adherent of the mindset that dragons should be the most iconic of antagonists and monsters and subsequently I hate the tendency that was prevalent in 3.5 for some time to make anything half-draconic and spam dragons without any context into a given adventure. However, I still sometimes am drawn into said adventures, probably thanks to said iconic quality and the fact that I can't escape the pull and the temptation to include them once in a while. Oh, there'S another dimension: I don't like too young dragons: They are not large enough to evoke the awe I feel is an integral part of a dragon-encounter and more often than not, are easily killed by the PCs, which again undermines what I consider a good dragon encounter. That's where drakes come in - have your cake and eat it, so to speak: Drakes are related to dragons, but are not true dragons, thus offering a nice way to use draconic themes without detracting from the iconic qualities of true dragon encounters.

After a page of introduction to the topic at hand, we get the first section of the book, an ecology of drakes prefaced by a short, yet aptly-written fluff-text, which is interspread throughout the whole discussion of the drakes, greatly enhancing your reading enjoyment. Three classes of drakes are introduced: Esoteric, Material and Geographic drakes. After a short discussion on these types, all of the different drakes and their roles in the Midgard-setting. The ecology also features 30 sample drake pieces of treasure as well as 10 short write-ups of sample drakes, each an adventure hook in its own right.

Chapter 2 focuses on the interaction between players and drakes, respectively the part going beyond encountering and potentially killing them. With a rich and rather interesting mentality as companions, we also get 10 new feats related to drakes, some of which enhance their combat capabilities, some rather exciting and one feat being the basis to get a drake as a semi-permanent companion that has to be appeased with items. Inquisitors don't like drakes though, and from the table I gather there's a reciprocity there - malice and whimsy don't mix well with harsh judgments. I had a problem with one feat: "Tooth and Claw Form" has very low requirements and enables the user to either deal piercing, slashing or bludgeoning damage with his unarmed attacks. Depending on the focus of your campaign, this feat could potentially impede the character's necessity to plan/bring the right weapons to a fight. In addition to the new feats, we of course get new alternate class features for all the classes (including APG, but not the Magus from UM): Alchemists get a cool draconic mutagen, barbarians get a rage-focused breath weapon, bards get a calming performance based on euphoria, the cavaliers get a new anti-tyrant/rather chaotic order, Clerics can take the Drake Subdomain, Druids become Drakeshape druids, fighters get 2 alternate abilities to better combat dragons and drakes, Inquisitors can get a new anti-dragon judgment, monks can get a better focus on their stun, oracles can be cursed with claws or scales, Paladins get the very iconic "Dragon Challenger"-archetype, Rangers can replace favored terrain, with favored nemesis, specializing on being even better to kill a subset of his foes. Rogues get two new rogue talents and in contrast to the other abilities, I've got problems with one: While one cool one lets the rogue use sneak against blindsense, the other is simply overpowered: Crush Windpipe lets a rogue force an enemy to make a fort-save when sneaked AGAINST THE DAMAGE OF THE SNEAK ATTACK. If the save fails, the creature CAN NO LONGER USE ITS BREATH WEAPON OR VOCALIZE UNTIL HEALED! This is broken beyond repair. Wow. This talent screams "Abuse the hell out of me!", practically making ANY caster with verbal components easy prey for rogues and, to add insult to injury, fails to mention how it works on foes with breath-weapon and no windpipes and potentially deprives dragons of their most iconic breath weapon. This talent screams power-creep and I don't get how it could stand among the other, balanced and cool class features. Ähem. *Endzeitgeist calms down from a fit of nerd rage* The sorceror gets the nice new drake bloodline. Summoners can exchange half of their bond sense ability rounds for a bonus feat. Witches get an excellent new hex to temporarily take away flight via a new hex and expand upon their blight with a major hex. Wizards get a new draconic focused arcane school.
Summoners are kind of the winners on the class-sides, as they get a fully stated 20-level alternate base-class, the so-called dragon tamer focusing on summoning and modifying drakes and working with them. There is also a new PrC, the Master of Drake Forms (d8, 2+Int skills, medium fort and ref-saves, moderate BAB) focuses on shape-changing, draconic abilities up to an apotheosis. While shape-changing is required to qualify, no spell-progression is offered by the class, which makes it an interesting pick: I'd be screaming "unbalanced" from the top of my lungs otherwise, but breath weapons, resistances and natural weapons make for nice replacements of the lost spells: Nice job! Additionally, if you want to play a drake PC, full racial modifiers and information on how to use them for both Pseudodragons and candle drakes are given. Next, we're into the obligatory spell-section: 16 new drake-centric spells are provided, from the self-explanatory drake form-spells to veiling companions and mislead presences. There are two spells in particular, though, don't fit well with me: One spell "Greater to lesser" transforms a dragon of 15+ HD to 1/3 of its HD, with all the accompanying ramifications. It's also permanent. Wait, what? Yes, there are plenty of tales that feature similar themes, but a) I never liked them and b) this is one fort-save deciding between a climatic encounter of epic proportions and a completely whipped minor draconic being. Did we really need to potentially pussyfy dragons? And while I like the fact that having a piece of the dragon's hatching-shell can provide a -8 penalty to said save, I don't think we need it here. If this was a temporary effect, I could possibly look over it. As written, I'll never, ever use it. I also hated the spell "Protection from lesser dragons", which is essentially a protection from evil-spell against all things draconic. Quite frankly, I think this particular spell wastes space that could have been put to better use and don't really get why dragons should have their own protection spell. Isn't evil/good/chaos/law enough already? "Wingspan", on the other hand is visually cool and increases, you guessed it, the creature's wingspan, thus improving its flight capabilities.

We also get 7 new magic items, 4 weapons to increase the damage potential of the natural weapons of drakes and 3 new pieces of adventuring gear to carry around and/or capture drakes. The companion replica can force companions temporarily into the replica, making for potentially interesting roleplaying opportunities between the free-spirited companions and their masters. Dimming Paste also makes for a cool item: It impedes blindsense and blindsight. I had no problem with any of the items.

Part II in the product discussion

Nothing quite as sweet as a miniature dragon, perhaps of a suitable size to hold in your arms like a pet... but drakes are not pets, but sentient beings in their own right, fascinating creatures to have around in your game. (I had to add 'in your game' lest I start to conjure fantasies of one coming in my back door...).

The Introduction talks about, despite - because of? - their iconic nature, how difficult it can be to actually have a DRAGON wandering around in your game. They're big, they're tough, and they tend to amass game-unbalancing amounts of treasure. Moreover, they're supposed to be the creatures of myth and legend, not someone you meet down the pub for an ale and a few hints about the next adventure. This is where creatures such as drakes come in: all the awesome features of real dragons without actually breaking the legend that dragons ought to be in your alternate reality.

Then on to The Ecology of the Drake. If you want to have them around, it's important to know a bit about how they live, what they eat (especially when adventurers are out of season), and so on. Whilst fitting in to the Open Design setting, Midgard, most is applicable to any game world, at most you'll need to change a few names and locations. It all started off with pseudodragons, which are the first of the class of critter now called 'drakes' to be recorded. Popular with wizards as familiars, and even around the house, some tried to call them 'common drakes' but it never caught on, they are too, well, uncommon! Yet, once they were established in the popular mind, other types were discovered and these were even less common. Most are tagged by some 'feature' that is associated with them - generally esoteric, geographical or material. So you get glass and ash ones, those which embody an idea, and those associated with an area or geographical feature. They are definitely related closely to dragons: reptilian, winged, and with a breath weapon. But there are differences too. For a start, you cannot tell just by a glance at the colour of one what its alignment might happen to be, and they do not have all of the magical abilities dragons have. They tend to get on better with ordinary people as well, building rather more sustainable links than those based on slavery or lunch. Drakes and dragons don't always get on, either. Some dragons don't like these pesky upstarts, others think they'd make neat pets.

Drakes do like to hoard, but rather than going for gold and gems, a common theme is the 'curiousity' - unusual items, maybe of historical interest - or ones based on the type of drake that they are. Even aside from the geographic drakes, many choose to live someplace that is appropriate to their type, like the colony of ash drakes that live amongst the smokestacks of the foundaries of Zobeck. One section runs through many of the known drake types and where they are to be found in Midgard. The chapter rounds off with a list of some ten famous individual drakes: drakes of renown, even if your characters never meet them, they might have heard of them.

Next, Chapter 2: Players and Drakes looks both at companion drakes, and at those who want to actually play a drake character. (Don't laugh, I have a pseudodragon PC in one of my games who is great fun, even if he did set an entire monastery church alight through incautious use of his breath weapon!) For those seeking a drake companion, remember that they are not good at following orders, and are certainly not the docile creature that some familiars appear to be. Even if you choose not to use the rules for Wilful Companions (which are a delight for the mischevious GM to contemplate), they ought to be played as distinct personalities in their own right, often a bit superior, convinced that they are by far the most important members of the party and probably counting 'I told you so!' as one of the first phrases they learn in Common! Several feats aimed at drakes are presented, including ones for those who become companions. Drakes can choose any character class as their companion (and yes, they tend to see it that way round!), but different types prefer different classes, and - a rather neat thing - confer slightly different mechanical benefits based on class. For example, Cavaliers can choose a new order, the Order of the Drake, and Monks can develop a style based on how drakes fight. Those who really, really like drakes can take a whole new class, the Drake Tamer; and a prestige class, the Master of Drake Forms, aimed at anyone who enjoys shapeshifting.

The second part of this chapter looks at actually playing a drake character. Beginning with the pseudodragon, and using this as a framework to construct the necessary game mechanics to create any of the drakes in this book, you'll find all that you need if you fancy playing one of these small but fascinating creatures. Advancement and the sort of roles a drake PC might occupy are also discussed. This is followed by some new drake-related spells and magic items made for or by drakes. Finally, mundane items that are of use to drakes, including such useful concepts as blades that can be attached to wing or tail.

Next is Chapter 4: Game Masters and Drakes. The meat of this chapter is a full run-down on no less than 20 drakes to be used as allies or enemies in your game. This is a bestiary rather than a collection of NPCs, you will have to add specifics relating to each individual as you need them. Alehouse drakes sound rather fun, whilst candle drakes are useful to have around despite the unusual diet (they not only produce light, they eat candles, you see!). Others, such as crimson drakes and deep drakes, are inimicable by nature and far more likely to serve as foe than friend. There are some fine illustrations of the different types, too, the sort you want to print or project so you can say "You see this!" to your players. This fine array is followed by a set of rules for creating additional drake types to your own design.

This tome is quite a gem, particularly notable for the flexibility of approach from a bestiary to everything you need to create your own drakes as monsters or characters... if it's drakes you want, you will find them here.

My first impression of this book when I saw a copy at PaizoCon was admittedly very high. The production, layout and art are fantastic, gorgeous and professional. Artists Kieran Yanner and Hugo Solis are fairly well known names for good reasons. Everyone knows the folks at Open Design have a good thing going and lots of talent from which to draw. So my expectations were very high. Does the content within stack up to those high expectations?

The first part is a discussion about drakes, what they are, how they are classified, and how they differ from dragons and so forth. I expected this. I didn’t expect but hoped for some in-character stories to go along with what could perhaps be dry textbook-like material. I was not disappointed. It went a long way towards showing the intelligence of drakes, that they are not some simple minded lizards, even the more brutal varieties. The antics of the Ash Dragon as it cleverly found a way inside the abode where the characters were discussing drakes and their ways was a nice touch. Along with this was a very clever drawing that looked like a scientific study of a drake’s claw and a random table (if you happen to have a d30) of interesting treasures a drake might possess. Accompanying this is a short note on drakes in Open Design’s Midgard Campaign Setting. This section ends with a brief description of 10 unique drakes and their abodes within Midgard. It is important to note for those who don’t run campaigns in Midgard, that it would be fairly easy to transplant most of these drakes by finding a similar locale in the GM’s setting of choice.

Player’s Section:
What follows next is a very useful tool for players and GM’s who wish to create characters that have drake familiars and includes feats for drake companions.

Here’s the list of drake feats:
• Cling Attack – Combat Maneuver to attach to an enemy
• Companion Aid – Extra bonuses when companion creature aids the PC
• Drake Dart – Acrobatics check to set opponent’s DC for AoE
• Ease of Form – Remain in shape-changed Drake form longer
• Foe Climb – Retain Dex bonus when using Cling Attack
• Shared Companion – Gain benefits from an ally’s companion
• Tooth and Claw Form – Unarmed attacks can deal piercing or slashing damage
For drake companion feats, there were three.
• Companion Friend - +4 to convince companion to do what you want
• Exceptional Relationship – No longer have to make diplomacy checks for your drake companion
• Willful Companion Drake – Gain a companion drake.
My favorite is the Willful Companion Drake; a drake that is no mere brainless follower run by the player, but must be appeased with something of real monetary value or it will pout and act out.

Also in this chapter are some alternate class abilities for PCs that pertain to drakes. Of these the most interesting one was the Paladin archetype, the Dragon Challenger. Wizards had some love too, with the alternate class called the Drake Tamer. Drake lovers will appreciate this one. Each class has a little something for it in this section, including Advanced Player’s Guide classes and special class features. For lovers of the Pathfinder RPG Advanced Player’s Guide, this will find much use. For lovers of prestige classes, there is also a spellcaster prestige class called the Master of Drake Forms.

What if your players want to do something really different, such as role play drakes? Well, there is a nice section on creating and playing Pseudodragon and Candle Drake characters. That sounds like fun! It would take a bit to modify most standard adventures to suit a party of drakes. But even so, it would be uproariously funny to have tiny drakes zipping around the city of Zobeck investigating things that mundane land-bound bipedal people miss.

A small selection of spells for different PC classes having to do with drakes follows. Plus there is a section on drake specific magical items and a useful table on drake weaponry, mundane and adventuring gear specifically for drake characters.

Game Master’s Section:
The bulk of this section is the Drake Bestiary, a collection of very different, strange and wondrous drakes, including stat blocks and everything a busy GM needs to toss them at his players, from the brutal Ash Drake to the cute and helpful Candle Drake and many others. (Time for girly squealing – the Candle Drake, the Dream Drake and the Song Drake are sooo cuuute!) The only thing I found strange was the collection of “material” drakes that were not treated as constructs. There resemble clockworks more so than constructs, though only the gear drakes are composed of traditional clockwork-type gears. They are sentient, or as sentient as a drake can be. In addition to the Gear Drake, other “material” drakes included the Glass Drake - looking like a glass sculpture, the Paper Drake – looking like a bit of origami, and the Steam Drake – which can turn gaseous as in the spell gaseous form. Not all the drakes are little things. The Crag Drake, Deep Drake, Plumed Drake, River Drake and Tor Drake are all large-sized creatures. There were a few strange and interesting drakes, such as the Prismatic Drake, Moon Drake, and Pact Drake which could be used for adventure fodder in atypical ways, possibly as a source of magical components or as individuals to be sought for quests and the like. The other drakes included are as follows: Alehouse, Crimson, Mist, and Sewer.

Okay now, here’s the part I wanted to see most after the section on types of drakes: Building Drakes. This is so useful for GMs who wish to construct campaign-specific or unique drakes. Brought to us by one of the master monster creators, Adam Daigle, it is without a doubt one of the most thorough treatises on specific monster creation I have read. There is even a Feature point table with all of the features one might attribute to a drake to help a GM customize his or her drake masterpiece. And for flavor there is a nice list of cosmetic features. What follows is an example on how to use this section to build a drake with a sample drake known as the Vine Drake included. There is even a cute illustration by Hugo Solis of the Vine Drake.

So did this book meet my expectations? And how, in fact it exceeded them significantly. This is the way to do a supplement and make it useful for both players and game masters. I rate this at 5 of 5 stars.

Do you ever feel like there aren't enough dragons in the game? I do. The Book of Drakes is a great way to increase their presence in your campaign without drowning your heroes in ROYGBV and various metals.

Playing on the whimsical, the authors of this book have created a rich enhancement to any game world. Don't think this book is just for those who play in Midgard. It has applications in many settings.

There are a couple of errors that popped up in the layout, but nothing unforgivable. The ones that are apparent are text alignment issues, but nothing so horrible as to change the way the rules work.

The artwork in this book is wonderful. Some pictures don't suit my personal tastes, but most of them convey the sense of whimsy, toughness, or wisdom that it's corresponding text is meant to convey. This makes the world of drakes come more to life.

The book is broken into three main parts. The first part of the book contains rules for how a character can get in on all that draconic action. There are alternate class abilities, spells, new feats, an alternate class, a prestige class, and new magical items that any player would find useful. Some things will jump out as silly, such as a fire breathing barbarian, but they're all useful.

The second section of the book is the meat and potatoes, what most people are going to buy the book for. That is the section that contains the stats for drakes. You won't find it until you're about half-way through the book, but once you do you'll be glad you did. There are creatures here to fill just about each of the niches you'd want dragons for. There are odd ones such as the candle drake, which is essentially a flying torch. Others are more dangerous, like the deep drake and prismatic drake.

The final section of the book are rules and templates for building your own drakes. This is quite useful for the budding GM to build a suitable draconic encounter for his heroes to defeat. The rules are similar to rules already available in d20 books, so there won't be anything too unfamiliar there.

All in all, a great one to pick up. I highly recommend that anyone add this to their gaming library if they get a chance.

chapter 1 Ecology of the Drake
good fluff give readers a good overvie of how drakrs a view with in the game word of midgard, my only complain isit didt reat exite me and i cant honestly tell you why.

Chapter 2 Players and Drakes
While the alternate sumoner class presented here (drake tamers) is neat and seems to be solid its the drake Companion rules and feats that come off as the bigest failseems alike it wast thrown in at the last minute. The Wilfull Companion is just poorly done the players isnt geting a compoinon with it but a mercinary and a mony pit with this feat. It has been done better in other forms
The Companion rule alsoe fail to tuch on familars other then a short nod drakes can be used as them.
the alterante class feature was and new spells was kind of hit and miss for me it seems like stuff was just being added fill up spass and other and some classed felt tike they there shorted out and had no clue what to give them Oricals and witches being two examples.
Spells seem ok angin seems like some classes got passed over becuse of not knowing waht to do with them.
The rule for drake plays though do seems to hold some promism come off as much more thought out then the Companions rule and alternate class featurs.
The rest of the book wast pretty was hit or miss
The offering new types of drakes is probly to gold mine of the book.The rules on creating your own for creaing drake of your own i cound cool at first but in the end disapointing. with out at way to recreat the baseline drake or even some ove the new drakes in the book It seemed incomepleate.
In summery good But far from the best resouce for GM's with some good tools to add to his or her games. For players (it kind of falls short bordering on trying to hard. Players with have to relie on a good GM to eather get feats to work,nerf current feats or use aternate rule, if your lookng to find your dranconic soulmate 8) Once ya get over the glitz of making your own drake or making a drake tamer It reats like a Alph print and needs work Not worth the 10$ sertanly not worth 20 and for a lover of all things dragons i could not find the love here.