Bats, cats, and rats, these are the familiars of lesser wizards, but for the necromancer only the undead will do. Carefully made from scraps of flesh and bits of bone, the graveling is the perfect servant for a master of the blackest of magics. Monster Focus: Gravelings gives the busy GM and necromantic player everything they need to add this skulking undead to their game, either as foul foe or unsettling friend!
Inside, you'll find a options for player characters seeking to animate gravelings of their own, such as the Graveling Familiar feat, which allows even a 1st level necromancer to create one of these minions. In addition, there are a number of new rules for the Game Master to use in their game, such as the graveling brood spell, which summons a small horde of the dead things to menace a necromancer’s foes. In total, this PDF contains:
2 New Feats
2 New Alchemical Items
2 New Spells
2 New Magic Items
The Graveling stat block
2 Adventure Hooks
And best of all, this PDF is FREE!
As a special thanks to all those who have supported Minotaur Games, this short PDF is being offered for free, showcasing all of the great material you will find in every Minotaur Games product. If you enjoyed Monster Focus: Gravelings, be sure to pick up the other PDFs in the Monster Focus line. Each one contains well over twice the content, including numerous variants, traps, hazards, feats, spells, magic items, and much, much, more!
Monster Focus is a series of short, easy to integrate PDFs, designed to make one classic monster the central theme for an adventure or even a small campaign. Each PDF in the series includes options for player characters and game masters, including new feats, spells, magic items, and more! Written by veteran game designer, Jason Bulmahn, you can be sure that these rules will fit seamlessly into your game.
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I’ve come to expect a certain amount of consistency in the games that I play, and Jason of Minotaur Games delivers. It’s no coincidence that all the rules elements of his little side project adhere to Paizo’s standard baseline. Whether you’re looking for an unexpected twist to integrate into a campaign you’re running, or new abilities and equipment to tweak your current character, there is something in each of his offerings for you. Try them, you won’t be disappointed.
So this is is a fine way to get a taste of the stuff that Minotaur Games is putting out in its Monster Focus line. Monster Focus: Gravelings is a 4 page pdf: Cover, two pages of what you came for, and the OGL page. It introduces a new minor undead, the graveling, and plenty of mechanics and flavor to introduce it into your Pathfinder game and make the graveling your necromancer's new best friend. Most of the contents of the pdf come in pairs, with the exception of the graveling itself.
First are two feats, one to allow your spellcaster to take a graveling as a familiar, the second to allow for a gaggle of the things! (The text of the pdf says "swarm" not to be confused with the type of swarm seen in the Bestiaries. Besides, I think "gaggle" is the correct word to use when referring to a group of gravelings.)
Then there are two alchemical items, the first able to enhance your graveling if used during its creation, the other to heal it. Two spells are provided, one to animate a graveling, the other for a whole gaggle. A pair of minor wondrous items facilitate greater ease of graveling use. Finally, after the graveling stat block, a pair of clever adventure ideas to introduce the graveling into an existing campaign. All in all, this is top-grade content any GM should be glad to have to enhance a game involving necromancy, or for a necromancer PC to add a little extra panache. Judging this piece on content alone, it would be a five-star product. Alas, the aesthetics won't allow for that.
The cover is the least offender. Yellow on blue provides a bold scheme (though I could do without the shadow effect behind the text). The pencil sketch of the graveling on the cover harkens back to the old 1st edition Monster Manual, and a little old-school is always fine with me. However, the text of the product itself is...well, muddy would be a way to describe it. It's like watching a reel to reel film that's nearly, but not quite, in focus. (Ironic, considering the title of the product line.) If this had any more than two pages of content, it would be maddening. I prefer paper over electronic product and enjoy pdfs best when they're short and easy to read on the screen; this one is the former but sadly not the latter. The penciled labyrinth border at the bottom of each page doesn't help either. Seems like an afterthought and does nothing to pretty up the page. So regretfully I have to give this one 4 stars, hopeful that the other products in the line have the same quality content, and hoping they were made with a cleaner production.
so the cover art shows the graveling with wings but the stat block only shows a land speed...are they supposed to have a fly speed or are the wings just aesthetic?
oops...i skipped all that stuff and went straight to the stat block...i guess i shouldn't be so hasty hehe...there's a necromancer wizard in my Way of the Wicked campaign that will love this...
