Customer Reviews

Player's Guide - Rulebook IV (Dungeons & Dragons: Kingdoms of Kalamar)

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Kingdoms of Kalamar is a campaign setting from Kenzer & Co, the makers of the Knights of the Dinner Table. This book however, although aimed for the KoK player, is most useful for a regular D&D player. Why?
- a lot (I mean a lot) of new feats anybody can use
- several variant core classes like the Gladiator or the Infiltrator that can easily be used in other campaigns
- new prestige classes (like the Golem Master)
- canons (holy books) for Kalamarian faiths. They are written up very generically, so they can easily be used in FR/GH or wherever
- new equipment: poisons, alchemical items etc
- a lot of spells
- how to make rulers more powerful
- gaming rules for clerical hierarchy

The book suffers from some errors, mostly editing and playtesting. The art is sometimes irritating and some 'crunchy' bits have already appeared in other books. I, however have found this book to be of excellent value.

Another in the line of excellent books from Kenzer, this book has a lot to offer. It gives you more background on playing characters in Kalamar, including some more information on playing various demi-humans. For those who want still more rules, they have some new classes (we have a very effective Brigand in a current campaign) as well as some new spells, a comprehensive list of clerical domains and a whole lot more. I highly recommend this book.

This is a great book with tons of information that you can put into any D&D setting. It is geared toward Kalamar, but is written so generically that you can insert the information contained in this tome into any D&D campaign.

Classes: This book takes the Dungeon Master's Guide's advice and takes the initiative to create variant classes. These range from more specific versions of a class with cool abilities (like the Gladiator and Shaman) to classes that combine existing ones into exciting new classes that are much different than the old ones (like the infiltraitor). These classes are as flexible as the old ones and are fairly well balanced. Also are new prestige classes that cover specific jobs (Mariner, Muse) and a few of the many orginizations on Tellene (Sentinels of Providence, Alliance Merchant).

Feats: Absolutely tons of new feats in this monster. New types of feats like the Enhanced Familiar feats (which give your familiar better abilities like a higher intellegence or the ability to speak) and regional or race-based feats which you can only take at first level help shape your character to exactly what you want and brings the game back to roleplaying.

Religion: This book details the canons of each church. Although these are specifically related to Kalamar gods, they can be adapted to fit any setting. In addition, this book gives ideas on how clerics can advance through the church and very basic game rules like time spent and how to advance to the next level and what you get at each level.

Other rule stuff: The equipment section isn't too terribly exciting but it does give a shot at pushing the edge. Included are (some) new weapons and rules for slaves. The most exciting part is the new alchemical mixtures that will get you thinking of your own and are all interesting in their own way. Their is repeat in the domain section, but not a large amount. The new spells are kinda cool, but what is really nice is the scalable spells. These are kind of like Wheel of Time spells where you choose the level it is cast at.

At the end: The white pages. If you are thinking telephone book when I say that you are on the right tracks. In these are a comprehensive list of all feats and spells (divided up by class) in all official D&D products and where they can be found. These can then be copied to use as a spell sheets. Also back here is a gigantic Place of Origin table. Only useful if you are playing Kalamar but it is non-obtrusive and only takes 7 pages.

To close, this is a great book for all D&D players and DMs alike. If you don't have it yet, I recommend you pick one up.

Previously I've had the pleasure of reviewing the Kingdoms of Kalamar Campaign setting and Atlas and now comes the third fantastic book the Kingdoms of Kalamar Player's Guide. This latest supplement for Dungeons & Dragons or D20 is designed with the players in mind and features everything you need to know to create a PC for play in the rich and lively world of Kalamar.

You begin your character creation by selecting your race, of course but also selecting your race from numerous human types as well, all which come with their unique traits and characteristics including languages, physical make-up, etc. Even within the demi-humans there are other variants such as Hill, Mountain, and Stone Dwarves, Rock and Forest Gnomes, Half-Hobgoblins, etc.

From race we move to class selection and all of the various standard classes are presented along with variants such as the bard variant the Basiran Dancer, Brigands, Gladiators, Infiltrators, Shamans, and Spellsingers. Of course you can't have a D&D supplement today without new Prestige classes and the Kalamar Player's Guide doesn't disappoint with eleven new prestige classes including: Bounty Hunter, Golem Master, Muse, Mariner, Restorer, and Warlord. In addition there are neat little fighting schools that come with packages of skills and feats your character can obtain through level progression.

Speaking of feats and skills there are dozens of new ones to choose from and the back has an appendix listing all skills and feats from this book as well as the other D&D sources. New feats include such interesting and useful abilities as elemental adept, fast healer, sense danger, and spell dodge.

There's lots of new spells to choose from for all the spell-casting classes as well as new magic items and even some new artifacts as well. As with all the other Kalamar books, the Players guide is well-written and illustrated in a nicely bound, very heavy and durable hardcover book. Kalamar is a well-constructed, rich world. The writers and editors present the information in straight-forward format with lots of appendices to help the DM and player out. The final part to a great campaign setting.

Reviewed by Tim Janson

Excellent addition to the game and their setting. Some of the new classes I wasn't impressed with but the rest of the book is excellent.

This player's guide is great and has uses even if you don't play in a Kalamar campaign. The main reason I bought it was for the list of alternate uses for skills as well as the list and description of various Crafts, Knowledges, and Professions. The variant core and prestige classes can be inserted into most campaigns. There is a lot of reprint material in the Feats and Spells section, but I think the new material out weighs the material I've seen before.