By John Grigsby, Staff Reviewer

Available at FRP Games

Medieval Players Manual (d20)
Retail $22.95 Sale $18.36

Initiative Round
The Medieval Player's Manual is a Dungeons & Dragons supplement from Green Ronin Publishing. This is a 128-page black-and-white softcover by David Chart is a part of the Mythic Vistas collection from Green Ronin. The cover art by David Leri depicts a medieval knight facing off against that most awe-inspiring of foes, a dragon. Richard Decker, Lisa Wood, Kevin Crossley, Mike Vilardi, and Caleb Cleveland add their talents to the interior art. The Medieval Player's Manual retails for $22.95.

Are you ready to get medieval on your players? With the Medieval Player's Manual you can do just that, carrying your campaign back into the Dark Ages. This isn't the medieval period of Hollywood; this is history. Even so, let's clear the floor. The Medieval Player's Manual is not, nor is it intended to be, a history text. Concessions have been made to make it enjoyable and capture the feel of the era, but still remain imminently playable.

The book is divided into six chapters, each covering a particular facet of life in the Middle Ages; an introduction to the period, magic, the nature and power of God, the arts and intellectualism, royalty, and finally, culture and society. We'll take a look at each of the chapters, beginning with Welcome to the Middle Ages. This chapter sets the precedents for all that is to come.

The bulk of the opening chapter is devoted to issues such as religion and historical accuracy. Magic exists and is pretty familiar in the way it works. Women are limited in the roles they can take (at least, openly) and racism (more specifically, anti-Semitism) is downplayed. You also won't find any barbarians, rangers, monks, or druids in this time period.

Chapter Two delves into medieval magic. Magic works differently in the Middle Ages, and there are no wizards or sorcerers. Instead, magic is divided into three distinct groups. Alchemy, Astrology, and Astral Magic are scholarly and draw on the natural powers of the world, whereas Folk Charms draw mainly on natural powers, but are handed from one person to another without the need for formal training. Theurgy is a scholarly form of magic that draws on the power of spirits. It is unique among the forms in that it is sinful in and of itself.

Alchemy and Astrology are very different from the typical magic of D&D. Instead of spells, alchemists utilize feats that enable them to draw out the best traits of natural substances to render superior forms. Though anyone can learn alchemy, mastery of it requires devotion. A skilled alchemist can create gems, make stone more durable, create glass, create bright and long-lasting dyes (unlike the muddy and easily faded dyes that most people work with), purify water, create gold, strengthen metal, lighten metal, and enhance metal. These talents are very costly, however. Astrologers can predict natural events and can determine a day that is good for a particular activity. With practice (i.e., feats), they can even learn to determine someone's personality and talents, determine the mood and actions of people in a given area, and even divine the future in a limited fashion.

Astral magic works through charms, small objects made of significant materials and inscribed with symbols related to the stars (astral in this instance having nothing to do with the astral plane, but referring to astra, Latin for stars). In game terms, invoking the powers of a charm duplicates the effect of an arcane spell (the exact effects are determined by the individual who creates the charm). Astral magic, and the crafting of astral charms, are the province of the natural magician core class, introduced in this volume. Anyone can learn to make astral charms, but the natural magician excels at it and gains several free charms at each level (astral charms normally require a feat for each charm learned).

Like astral charms, folk charms are learned through feats; one feat entitles the character to learn one folk charm. Crafting a folk charm is relatively simple, but does entail a small cost of experience points (between 5 and 20 XP). Once crafted, a charm can be used by anyone (unlike astral charms, which must be invoked by the one who created the charm) and these are often crafted by request. The cunning man core class is the quintessential craft of folk charms (though anyone can learn) and they gain a number of free folk charm feats as they rise in level, along with a few other abilities.

Theurgy has three stages. First, the magician must find and learn a ritual that can summon and bind the spirits necessary to achieve the desired result. Second, the ritual must be performed (often requiring exotic and expensive components and to be done at a particular place and time), and third, the magician must spend a little time considering the symbols and magic circles involved and then recite the names of the spirits. Once a ritual has been completed, the spirits may then be invoked at will to cause a particular magical effect (such as fireball or suggestion). In the same manner as charms, anyone can learn and use a ritual. In fact, because it is the actions of the ritual and not the power of the individual that provides the effects, someone who simply reads off a ritual as a prank may be surprised by the result! Also like charm magic, there is a new class designed to take full advantage of theurgy; the theurge. Theurges receive a number of free rituals at no cost each level and can learn to invoke spirits faster than other folk.

This chapter also introduces two new prestige classes; the necromancer, a dread and feared theurge who draws power from the lives of others, and the theophanist, a theurge who begins to wonder about summoning the greatest spirit of all, God. There are also certain spells that cannot be duplicated by certain types of magic, and these are outlines in this chapter as well. It is in this chapter that the magical monsters that populate the deserted countryside of the Middle Ages are discussed. Most are suggestions from the SRD, and only one new creature is described, a template called the Being of Unknown Form. A BoUF is anything that is clearly not human or animal, but is also neither angel nor devil. Finally, things of magic like omens, comets, bleeding walls, and magical places are covered.

Chapter Three is all about the Power of God. It begins with a dissertation on the nature of the divine and the sacraments of the church, including holy festivals. Following this, the priest core class is introduced. In many ways, the priest is much like a standard D&D cleric. They gain and prepare divine spells each day, but they cannot spontaneously heal, nor can they turn undead. They do have other, more worldly powers, however.

Strangely, this does not preclude the existence of standard clerics and paladins, both of which fit very nicely into the role of the Knights Templar and the Knights Hospitaller. In fact, the crusader and knights templar prestige classes represent holy men with a mission. Clerics and paladins may also be ordained as priests, and many are. There is also another new core class, the saint. Saints do not go on adventures as such, but instead devote themselves to the service of God (which may land them in an adventure on occasion). The hermit and the mystic are divine prestige classes.

The saint gives rise to a new type of feat, available to any Christian, Jewish, or Muslim character, but especially common to those who devote themselves wholly to God; the Charism. A Charism is a gift from God that goes beyond the norm. Charisma may permit an individual to ignore the effects of hunger and thirst, or sleeplessness, or even to multiply food to feed the hungry. The catch is, only those who are pure (without sin) may use Charisms. In this chapter may also be found resources on holy relics, miracles, and angels and demons.

Chapter Four covers both the cultural side of society and the Church in great detail. New classes here include the canonist core class (a church leader), the scholar core class (students of the nature of the world, the mysteries of theology, and the nuances of the law), the artist core class (dedicating their lives to producing works of art), and the prelate prestige class (a high-ranking official in the church). In between these, you will find game rules for philosophy. In turn, this leads to rules for disputation, or philosophical contests. Books (the study of a single volume is a feat) and theories (which may be composed at cost of experience points) grant bonuses to disputation.

The Arts, both literary and visual, are discussed at length as well. Two types of art can be produced; simple copies and works similar to existing works, and genuine works of art. The chapter has rules for both types, as well as two new feats for those with an artistic bent. Almost by necessity (given that the character types described herein typically do not adventure), this chapter also discusses a few varying campaign styles that concentrate on abbeys and courtly adventuring.

Royalty is the subject matter of Chapter Five, and is divided into two parts. The first is a narrative history of the period, peppered with "What Ifs," sidebars that offer a different outcome if events had taken another path. The second half of the chapter describes a number of important characters from the period, including Geoffrey de Mandeville, Henry Plantagenet, and William Rufus. Of the seven individuals described, only two are given stat blocks (because the remainder are not likely to be encountered in a combat situation), but all have a section entitled "Possibilities," which examines how they might interact in campaign play.

Finally, the book takes a look at medieval culture in general, as it applied to peasants and royalty. The importance of towns is examined, the economics of the period (including money) are detailed, and rules for the application of medieval law are given. This is because medieval courts rely relatively little on evidence and more on trials of faith, in which God is said to determine innocence or guilt. The chapter rounds out with backgrounds and stat blocks for some prominent figures of the period, ala the rules presented here.

Critical Hit
First, I'd like to applaud Green Ronin's solution to the sticky religion problem. They simply took the moral high ground. It turns out that medieval Christians were right. They were following the dictums of God. The Muslims and Jews are also right. They were every bit as "good" as the Christians. Paladins exist on both sides of the Crusades, and clerics of either belief can perform miracles and cures. It is an elegant solution to a tricky subject.

Critical Fumble
Aside from a couple of minor nitpicks, which I'll get to in a moment, I found one thing that I feel could have been done better. What the Medieval Player's Manual really needs is a bestiary. I'm not talking about the few paragraphs regarding what types of monsters fit in best with the setting, I'm talking about a d20 version of the Medieval Bestiary!! The medieval world believed in some very odd creatures (including some that differ greatly from their D&D namesakes), and it seems almost shameful that a sampling of such wasn't included.

Now, on to my nitpicking. When you're dealing with historical subject matter, you sometimes find yourself in a Catch-22. Green Ronin has tried very hard not to offend anyone. I think they've done a fair job, but I come away with the sense that they tried too hard. The text is almost weepy in its apologetic tone at points. I say, if people aren't mature enough to handle a simple, "this is the way we've chosen to do it," without a dozen paragraphs of explanation and apology, they probably aren't mature enough to be playing D&D.

The other thing is the layout of the book. Okay, it's a minor gripe, but I'm used to having all of the new classes in one place, prestige classes together, etc. While the design of the Medieval Player's manual works fine, it's just not something that you're used to, so it tends to throw you the first few times through the book. I'd rather have seen it organized in the more traditional fashion.

Coup de Grace
The Medieval Player's Manual is a strong resource and an excellent reference for anyone who wishes to run a medieval campaign, whether you with to be historically accurate (just ignore the rules for magic) or add in elements of fantasy. It can also be fit into an existing campaign with some effort on the part of the DM. A full index and a good table of contents make it fairly easy to reference what you need, and all of the mechanics and a fair portion of the text have been designated as Open Game Content.

Review Scores

Overall Total (Does not include OGL Rating): 112 (89%)
Final Grade: A-