Legendary items are those that are picked up by the untested adventurers who eventually become heroes of the ages. Unlike traditional magical items, legendary items grow with the wielder, becoming more advanced as new abilities are unlocked over time. In this installment of the Psionic Items of Legend series is the Helm of the Hydra, which grants the wielder the ability to coordinate with allies and even join forms.
Within this short book you will find the history of the Helm of the Hydra, the requirements to attune a character to it, and the abilities of it. In addition, the rules of legendary items are detailed.
Psionic Items of Legend is based upon the Legendary Treasures series of products by Purple Duck Games.
The second installment in the series is 5 pages long, 1 page front cover/introduction, 1 page SRD, leaving us with 3 pages of content, so let's check this out!
After an introduction to the concept of legendary items, we get the Helm(s) of the Hydra - created once by the dreaded cabal known as metabolic masters, these helms enhance the collective powers and get additional powers when linked to bigger collectives as well as the ability to meld with others into an effect duplicating the form of doom-power. The item has 5 power levels and the pdf also includes the rules for having a collective.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn't notice any glitches. Layout adheres to a 2-column standard with no frills and the pdf has no bookmarks, but a cool piece of original b/w-artwork. This item is mechanically much more interesting and cooler than the first item and the narrative is also more complex and has the superior hooks implemented in the background. However, the Hydra Helmet only has 5 levels of power progression compared to the disruptor's 10 levels, making the item slightly less versatile. This remains my only gripe, though, and thus I'll settle for a final verdict of 4 stars for this rather good installment of the series.
Weapons / Armor / Shields have 10 item levels, as set out by PDG's Legendary Weapons / Armor / etc
Wondrous Items (i.e. everything else) have 5 item levels, as set out by PDG's Legendary Items.
So that's the standard we decided to stick with and what you can expect for upcoming releases. Weapon/armor/shield - 10, everything else - 5.
Purple Duck Games absolutely agrees with the above statement. I have a freelancer working on Legendary Items II right now and we are planning on keeping 5 levels for wondrous items.
Well, I realize that that's the standard, but if I recall correctly many people would have preferred 10 levels for them - I know I did. And the Helm of the Hydra would have made for a great candidate for more levels.
