Frog God Games and Kobold Press pdf's on Humble Bundle!

[Waterdeep Merch]

Two of my favorite third party publishers have a 5e bundle up right now filled to the brim with goodies! Best $17 I've spent all year!

Check it out! (https://www.humblebundle.com/books/dungeons-monsters-dragons-books)

Anyone run the Quests of Doom before? I'm really curious, I've got a group that'd be perfect for a series of one-offs.

[Vaz]

Can you detail the stuff inside. Not going to shell out on stuff like that without a review and spoiler of stuff.

[Waterdeep Merch]

Sure, I did the full purchase.

Starting with FGG, there's-

Adventures
Adventures in the Borderland Provinces
Bard's Gate- the Riot Act
Chuck's Dragons
Quests of Doom
Quests of Doom 2
Quests of Doom 3
Quests of Doom 4
Rogues in Remballo

Setting Material
Bard's Gate
Borderland Provinces
Borderland Provinces Player's Gazeteer
Borderland Provinces Player's Guide

Player Options
Book of Lost Spells

Monsters
Fifth Edition Foes

DM Tools
The Mother of All Encounter Tables

Maps
Akados Region Map
Sinnar Coast Region Map

From Kobold Press-

Adventures
Book of Lairs
Cat and Mouse
Last Gasp
Raven's Call
Sanctuary of Belches

Player Options
Beyond Damage Dice
Deep Magic: Angelic Seals and Wards
Deep Magic: Battle Magic
Deep Magic: Clockwork Magic
Deep Magic: Illumination Magic
Deep Magic: Rune Magic
Midgard Heroes
Southland Heroes

Monsters
Tome of Beasts

Maps
Book of Lairs Maps

FGG stuff is very throwback oriented, and focused more on adventures. The Book of Lost Spells is absolutely massive, containing 121 pages worth of spells from older editions made playable in 5e. The Borderland Provinces and the adventures that revolve around it are great for anyone looking for hyper lethal gaming with a loose narrative structure but a rather stunning level of detail. There's a complex sociopolitical atmosphere to the world that is almost certainly unnecessary for your average adventure, but interesting for any DM that wants to dive into it. You could probably use the Mother of All Encounter Tables to plan an entire campaign from start to finish if you're really drawing a blank on ideas.

Kobold Press is very professionally rendered, something that stands out almost immediately, with gorgeous art and high quality all around. They've got a lot more in terms of player options, and I'm particularly fond of the Beyond Damage Dice (gives almost all weapons unique actions) and Rune Magic (feat-based and more like mystic disciplines, doesn't require caster levels) options. The Tome of Beasts is well-known for the many, many interesting creatures in it, and are *mostly* well balanced. Their adventures look top-knotch, with a more modern appeal than FGG's stuff. There aren't as many of them by far, but they've got some great complex narratives and are fairly interesting.

[Ventruenox]

I've read through most of those inclusions. Worthwhile price point. Quests of Doom are handy to have on hand for those one shot nights.

Book of Lost Spells is fascinating for a wizard. Most of the spells do not merit the competition for spells known by classes other than wizard when compared to the PHB/SCAG/Xanathars options. If you ever wanted to make a wizard who has a ton of nautical travel spells, then it is a great resource. The Ferment cantrip is awesome. Transfom any drink to be alcoholic without changing the taste, color, or smell. That one is worth a Magic Initiate feat.

Kobold press options of Clockwork & Rune magic were well written. Would have been nice to include Blood & Doom with that set.

Fifth Edition Foes and Tome of Beasts? You will never be lacking for enemies again. I really like the Lovecraftian entries from ToB.

[Lonely Tylenol]

I actually picked up Tome of Beasts awhile back. Worthwhile pickup, if for no better reason than the sheer scale of options available. Went out rather early in 5e’s run, though, so a lot of it makes some less-than-perfect assumptions about game balance.

I wonder if their Humble Bundle inclusion has anything to do with Kobold Press starting up a new Kickstarter for a Tome of Beasts follow-up?

[othaero]

I mean if you only pay 17 USD you gain over 300 USD worth of PDFs. Which you can then use for at a minimum inspiration for future campaigns/characters. Probably would only recommend for someone who DMs though. And if it turns out terrible at least you can set it so all the money goes to charity...

[Vaz]

It's not 300 dollars worth of stuff, if I would never use that stuff, though.

What mechanical things are there in it? Feats, Archetypes (new classes, even) Magic Items, Spells, etc?

Tome of Beasts was reviewed with very rose tinted glasses, given my experience of playing and having read through it.

[Ventruenox]

The Kobold Press submissions will have most of the player mechanics.

Beyond Battle Dice: Steps on BattleMaster's toes slightly with weapon specific maneuvers available to everyone with no resource investment. A little bit of power creep there, but in a sensible way. For example - you can crack a Whip to scare beasts with INT 2 or less or disarm/restrain other opponents.

Deep Magic offerings will have lackluster Wizard schools but also a few fun spells. Clockwork also has a Cleric and a Warlock archetype. (Warlock one is broken. It has a pseudo-Action Surge at level 1) Rune Magic is excellent. It offers feats for Rune Magic access to other classes and power wise is on par with the UA publication. The Battle Magic publication has spellcaster feats that can lead to some interesting EK or Hexblade builds, but some of the spells are a bit overpowered (such as Instant Fortress: 5th level Wizard spell with 1 action casting time or as a ritual to create a permanent 10x10 stone fort for 250gp).

Midgard Heroes has a lot of entries that have either been UA or Volo's races, but also has some unique backgrounds with worthwhile features for any player. Other races such as Centaur and Darakhul Ghoul feel like they should be on dandwiki.

From Frog God/Necromancer games, the Book of Lost Spells has a few gems, but it was written early on in 5e and it shows. Hundreds of spells are included. If you were a huge fan of 1st and 2nd editions DnD, the nostalgia value is priceless.

If you are a DM, then this package is definitely worth your time and money. As a player, you might get your money's worth with a permissive DM.