[Kobold Press] Lorathorn reviews Deep Magic: Elven High Magic


5th Edition (And Beyond)

Sovereign Court

Disclosure: There is no need for disclosure this time!

Elven High Magic is a wonderful and short product that discusses the magic that elves weave to create amazing effects. The books is 11 pages, with 2 pages for the front and back cover, 1 page for OGL, 1 page for credits, and 7 pages for content. The book is conveniently bookmarked, but hardly needs it.

First off, this book is gorgeous, and the art is in harmony with the content of the book. Despite this, the spell section is sparse, but I know enough about publishing to know that it would be a pain to do even a few pictures for a spell section when the product is supposed to be small like this product is, so no worries there. Plus I imagine that an eventual spell compilation will have much more art.

As for the content, this book seems to be less a treatise of elven magic and more of a showcase of a specific wizard archetype. Although the spells within are interesting and balanced, they are really meant to be used by a wizard school to get the maximum benefit. While this is a great concept, it doesn’t feel like a robust entry into the Deep Magic product line. Most of the other products we have gotten come with things like feats and alternate methods of entry into a given subject, such as the Angelic Seals product.

That said, it only makes the scope of the product slightly more narrow than I would have liked. On its own, this is an amazing product, and I just happen to love Elven Wizards very specifically! Would I take this and use it in my games? Most assuredly! This Wizard school, for admittedly selfish reasons, is tied for first place on my list of wizard schools I’d like to try!

And as for the spells themselves, they are amazing. The mechanic that keeps them from being completely broken allows them to be even and reasonable, but I do have to question if they are TOO amazing when used with the included Wizard School. Some of the effects are simply amazing, and although I’d love to have access to them, the GM in me would be remiss to allow it. That said, I would probably personally tweak the spells in question to require specific an expensive material components in addition to their current requirements.

Ultimately, I love this product, and I can see how it fits in well towards the greater scope of Deep Magic. It inhabits a special space that can be tweaked and prodded by a cunning GM to create a number of amazing stories. The tools provided by this product are a wonderful resource that might fill a niche, but fill it quite well. Save for a few matters of preference, such as a feat that might let you access the special magic in this book, I heartily recommend Deep Magic: Elven Magic

4.5 stars, rounded up to 5.

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