Happy Holidays Everyone! Welcome to The Critic's Corner. This week's I am reviewing Bandits!, a pdf format module written by Rhys Hess and available for $5.99 from Bastion Press. My thanks to Jim Butler, CEO of Bastion Press, for providing a copy for review. Bandits! is the first of four winning adventures in a contest sponsored by Bastion Press earlier this year. This 45-page adventure is ideal for a drop-in story between campaigns (or as a side trek when you are short a player) complete with three possible adventure hooks.

Bandits! is designed for characters of 2nd up to 6th level with a sidebar provided that shows you how to scale the adventure to the appropriate level. A balanced selection of character classes is definitely recommended for this module. The story is divided into two parts with part one dealing with the location and defeat of gnoll raiders who have been preying on merchant caravans. Part two, on the other hand, contends with the denizens that reside below the gnoll fortress. This adventure has many "classic" elements reminiscent from first edition rules. The story revolves around the hamlet of Thornbury and the usual cast of "shady" characters that are capable of providing valuable information including business owners, the commander of the local garrison, and a wererat looking to avoid discovery and capture.

The monster encounters are fairly well designed and weighted with the exception of a possible encounter with a destrachan and an ogre mage. The final battle is properly scaled to severely test the party's combat abilities but still be winnable. The traps present are placed intelligently and serve a useful purpose other than just waiting to maim or kill the unaware. At the end of the module is a new monster template that is a reminder of an element from the "Shadow War" saga on the popular television series Babylon 5 (diehard fans will recognize the reference).

Overall, while not the cream of the crop in stories, Bandits! still fills a low to mid-level niche that can be a lot of fun to spend an evening playing or be incorporated into a larger campaign picture with a little work. For the price of $5.99, it is a worthy investment.

The Critic's Rating: (maximum 5 pts for each category)

• Amount of Open Content: 5
• Playability: 4
• Originality: 3.5
• d20 Compliance: 4.5
• Value for the Dollar: 4 ($5.99 pdf format)

Overall Rating: 4.20

Defenders of the Faith

This week our sourcebook review covers Defenders of the Faith by Rich Redman and James Wyatt. This is the second in a series of "class" books published by Wizards of the Coast. Defenders of the Faith focuses on the cleric and paladin classes.

The book starts off with a good explanation (and some suggestions) on what clerics and paladins do best. There is some solid role-playing advice concerning both classes, but with more emphasis on the paladin. Like it's predecessor, Sword and Fist, this book comes with its share of new skills, feats, prestige classes, magic items, new spells, and new domains.

The skills section is very brief but also presents some new uses for already existing skills. The new feats are almost exclusive to clerics and paladins. There are only one or two feats that are of use to any other class. The new magic items are primarily geared towards classes of divine faith but there are several that may be utilized by other classes. There are 14 new prestige classes listed, all of which have a divine slant. Of the fourteen, I have to say that I find the "Hunter of the Dead" prestige class to be the most interesting. The new spells and domains aren't bad, although there are many old second edition spells that have been retooled for third edition here.

Probably, the most interesting section of Defenders of the Faith is the chapter devoted to churches and organizations. There is a brief part that outlines the costs involved in running a church. How alignments determine the general attitudes and behaviors of churches is also examined fairly well. The strong point to this chapter, however, is the different special organizations that a divine follower may align himself with. The Justice Blades and the Laughing Knives are my personal favorite choices.

Overall, this is one of the better books put out by Wizards of the Coast. If you are planning to play a cleric or paladin, then it is worth the retail price of $19.95 for the book. If you are a DM, then rest assured that this would be a worthwhile addition to your resource collection.

The Critic's Rating: (maximum 5 pts for each category)

• Amount of Open Content: 0
• Playability: 3.5 (Primarily designed for clerics and paladins.)
• Originality: 4
• d20 Compliance: 5
• Value for the Dollar: 4.5

Overall Rating: 3.40

Coming Next Week: Mythic Races (sourcebook) by Fantasy Flight Games and The Standing Stone (module) by Wizards of the Coast.