Cityscape

[John Cooper]

CITYSCAPE
By Ari Marmell and C. A. Suleiman
Wizards of the Coast product number 953867200
160-page hardcover, $29.95

Cityscape is the fourth in Wizards of the Coast's "Environment" series, following Frostburn, Sandstorm, and Stormwrack. It's kind of an odd duck, too, as it details adventures in an urban environment, and thus strays a bit from the format of the other books in the line, which were all about natural environments. It's also only 160 pages long, shorter by 44 pages than the others.

The cover artwork is a painting by Jeff Nentrup detailing a cityscape (rather appropriate, I thought) full of intricate cathedrals, and complete with bats and gargoyles. There's quite a bit of detail in the buildings, although they do seem quite a bit far apart from each other - the streets are significantly wider here than in most fantasy settings - or real life, for that matter.

The interior artwork consists of 5 monochromatic and 37 full-color illustrations by 11 different artists, and 6 color maps by cartographer Mike Schley. Overall, the artwork in this book is well above average, much better than in any recent Wizards of the Coast book in memory. Some of my favorites include Eva Widermann's picture of a young woman shopkeeper being assaulted and robbed by two kobolds on page 56 (excellent body proportions, shading, detail, and a decent action sequence); Howard Lyon's depiction of urban savant Freilya Stormwind on page 101 (excellent detail work in her clothing, and a very nice "fading into the background" effect in the buildings behind her - while still showing a lot of intricate detail); Michael Komarck's painting of a horse-drawn carriage procession on page 110 (very well done horses, and the overall quality of the painting is almost photo-realistic at first glance); the cult leader on page 116, also by Eva Widermann (featuring a very tastefully done diaphanous gown over a female nude in such a way that everything's still covered); Howard Lyon's painting of Jozan and Devis in the aftermath of a building fire ("Devis' Den of Delights," apparently) on page 142 (great shading, and a nice contrast between the drab colors of the background and the brighter colors of the adventurers' garb); his equally-evocative painting of a pair of adventurers confronting a group of rats on page 146 (the best part of this painting is the way he gets across the darkness of underground adventuring, considering the only light source in the scene is a single torch); and his painting of Lidda in court on page 157 (absolutely fantastic details on the woodwork in the courtroom, and I love Lidda's defiant stance despite the female judge's apparent violent outburst as she announces her verdict). On a more humorous note, I got a big kick out of Eva Widermann's depiction of Father Darius Balthazar on page 121, as he's a pretty close spitting image of the Burger King himself, sans his normal crown and regal garments, of course. Cityscape earns top ratings for its artwork. Mike Schley's maps are up to his normally high standards as well, with the only drawback being something completely out of his hands: whoever was responsible for the books' layout made sure that each of the 6 city maps were not directly across from the list of numbered buildings/city features. That was a bit of a drag, having to constantly flip back and forth to find the number on the city map and then read what feature that was.

Cityscape is laid out as follows:

• Prelude - Dead End: 2 pages of (very) short fiction, to set the mood, I guess; very well done, but perhaps not the best use of 2 pages in an "Environment" sourcebook that's already 44 pages shorter than its predecessors.
• Introduction: A 1-page synopsis of what all is in the rest of the book.
• Chapter 1 - The Scope of the City: Sections on a city's alignment and type (military city, trading hub, port city, slaver city, capital city, and evolved city, with a sample city for each type), details of cities by culture (dwarf, elf, gnome, halfling, orc/goblinoid, and planar) and location (coastal, cliff face, divided by a river or cliff, island cities, sky cities, and underground cities), features (lighting, roads and streets, sewers, defensive fortifications, and special features) and hazards (both natural and magical), and city districts (civic, elf neighborhood, embassy, fine shop, lord's keep, magic, noble estates, park, university, wealthy residential, average residential, coliseum/arena, dwarf neighborhood, garrison, gnome neighborhood, guildhall, halfling neighborhood, marketplace, temple, caravan, fishers' wharf/waterfront, goblinoid neighborhood, inn/tavern, necropolis, prison, red-light, shantytown, slave quarters, slum/tenement, tannery, theater, undercity, and warehouse).
• Chapter 2 - The Urban Adventurer: Sections on the races of the city, contacts, social class, 14 new feats, 8 new spells, and 3 new warlock invocations.
• Chapter 3 - Politics and Power: Political systems (autocratic, democratic, feudal, magocratic, theocratic, and tribal), political positions and bodies, city services, Houses (as in groupings of related people, not buildings) and House patronage, House types (mercantile, military, mystical, patron of the arts, political, and underworld), Guilds, (along with sections on Guild membership and Guild types - adventurers guilds, arcane guilds, criminal guilds, gladiatorial stables, government guilds, laborers guilds, mercantile guilds, mercenary guilds, performers guilds, psionic guilds, racial guilds, religious guilds, scholastic guilds, and slavers guilds), organizations (along with sections on membership and types - arcane, criminal, heroic, political, and religious), churches (with sections on membership and church types - dominant, independent, cult, and sect), and 3 new prestige classes (Ebonmar Infiltrator, Crimson Scourge, and Urban Savant).
• Chapter 4 - Events and Encounters: Planned events, disasters and unplanned events, useful (if error-ridden) NPC stats for the commonly-encountered people you'd expect to find in a city, NPC stats for 4 specific villains the DM might wish to add to his campaign, and stats for mobs of humans and a throng of children, followed by 6 new monsters (one of them a template).
• Chapter 5 - Running the City: Deciding the city's history, urban crawls, race relations, jobs, city locations, ideas for creating city-based adventures "beyond the dungeon," and a new "law" mechanic offering a quick way to decide the outcome of court cases and the like.

Let's get the stat blocks out of the way, shall we? Fortunately, there aren't a whole lot of them; unfortunately, of those there are, most of them are messed up one way or another (or in several different ways). Here is my "unofficial errata" for Cityscape:

• p. 83, Thobias Ebonmar, male human rogue 5/Ebonmar infiltrator 5: Flat-footed AC should be 18, not 14, due to uncanny dodge. Sneak attack damage should be +5d6, not +7d6 (+3d6 as a Rog5, +2d6 as an EbI5). The "SQ" line is missing trapfinding and trap sense +1. Skills should include Survival +1 (+3 following tracks) [0 ranks, +1 Wis, +2 synergy bonus from Search].
• p. 96, Geddrick the Whip, male human ranger 5/crimson scourge 4: Fort should be +11, not +9 (+4 as Rgr5, +4 as CrS4, +3 Con). Ref should be +10, not +8 (+4 as Rgr5, +4 as CrS4, +2 Dex). Will should be +5, not +6 (+1 as Rgr5, +1 as CrS4, +1 Wis, +2 Iron Will). Heavy crossbow damage should be 1d10/19-20, not 1d8/19-20. Skills should include Ride +4 (0 ranks, +2 Dex, +2 synergy bonus from Handle Animal). Wild empathy should be +7 (+3 magical beasts), not +5 (+1 magical beasts) [Rgr5 + 0 Cha + 2 synergy from Handle Animal = +7].
• p. 104, Freilya Stormwind, female half-elf bard 5/urban savant 6: Skills should include Survival +1 (+3 underground) [0 ranks, +1 Wis, +2 synergy bonus from Knowledge (dungeoneering)].
• p. 113, City Guard Rookie, male or female human warrior 1: They don't seem to be consistent with whether or not they give maximum hit points for the first level of an NPC class the way you would a PC class, but in any case, with HD 1d8+1 (due to a +1 Con bonus), average hit points should be 9 (if you give max hp at first level) or 5 (if you don't), not 6. Base Attack Bonus should be +1, not +2.
• pp. 113-114, City Guard Soldier, male or female human warrior 5: Average hp should be 31 (with max hp at 1st level) or 27 (with average hp throughout all levels), not 28.
• p. 114, City Guard Veteran, male or female human warrior 10: Hit points are fine at 55 if you don't grant maximum hp at 1st level; otherwise, it should be 58. Masterwork longsword attacks should be at +13 melee, not +8 (+10 BAB, +2 Str, +1 masterwork). It looks like only 38 of 39 skill points were spent. Finally, the correct terminology is "+2 halberd," not "halberd +2."
• p. 114, Apprentice Craftsmaker, male or female human expert 1: Fort should be +0, not +3 (+0 as Exp1, +0 Con). Average hp should be 3 (if you're not granting maximum hp at 1st level - otherwise, the hp are correct at 6).
• p. 114, Journeyman Craftsmaker, male or female human expert 5: Average hp should be 17 (if you're not granting maximum hp at 1st level - otherwise, the hp are correct at 20).
• pp. 114-115, Master Craftsmaker, male or female human expert 10: Average hp should be 35 (if you're not granting maximum hp at 1st level - otherwise, hp are correct at 37). "Appraise 17" should be "Appraise +17."
• p. 115, Elite Recruit, male or female human fighter 1: Spent 20 of 12 skill points; looks like they forgot about the -6 speed penalty to Jump, for one thing. Removing all skill points allocated to Jump will fix this up, however, leaving it at Jump -10 (0 ranks, +1 Str, -5 armor check penalty, -6 speed). Of course, that means that the nonhumans based on these stats will have to kill an extra skill point somewhere else besides Jump; I recommend making it Climb -3 for them.
• p. 115, Elite Soldier, male or female human fighter 5: Since this is 3.5 (and has been for how long now?), let's make the "small steel shield" a "light steel shield," shall we? There are only 5 feats listed, but there should be 6 (2 as a 5th-level character, +1 human bonus feat, +3 fighter bonus feats). Spent 30 of 24 skill points; I suggest making it Jump -4, not Jump +2 (4 ranks, +2 Str, -4 armor check penalty, -6 speed). Nonhuman elite soldiers should have Jump -6, not Jump +0, and they won't need to delete the Quick Draw feat, as they should have 5 feats.
• p. 115, Elite Veteran, male or female human fighter 10: +2 longsword attacks should be at +16/+11 melee, not +15/+10 (+10 BAB, +2 Str, +2 magic weapon, +1 Weapon Focus, +1 Greater Weapon Focus). Masterwork shortbow attacks should be at +12/+7 ranged, not +11/+6 (+10 BAB, +0 Dex, +1 masterwork, +1 Weapon Focus). "+1 small steel shield" should be "+1 light steel shield." Spent 45 of 39 skill points; dropping 6 from Jump leaves Jump -1 (6 ranks, +2 Str, -3 armor check penalty, -6 speed). Nonhuman elite veterans should be at Jump -4, not Jump +2.
• p. 115, Young Heir, male or female human aristocrat 1: 8 hp assumes maximum hp at 1st level; otherwise, it should be 4 hp. Grapple should be at -1, not +0 (+0 BAB, -1 Str). Rapier attacks should be at +0 melee, not +1 (+0 BAB, -1 Str, +1 Weapon Focus). Rapier damage should be 1d6-1/18-20, not 1d6/18-20 (-1 Str). Shortbow damage should be 1d6-1/×3, not 1d6/×3 (-1 Str). Nonhuman young heirs should have rapier attacks at -1 melee.
• pp. 115-116, City Politician, male or female aristocrat 5: 26 hp assumes maximum hp at 1st level; otherwise, it should be 22 hp. Grapple should be at +2, not +3 (+3 BAB, -1 Str). Rapier attacks should be at +3 melee, not +4 (+3 BAB, -1 Str, +1 Weapon Focus). Rapier damage should be 1d6-1/18-20, not 1d6/18-20 (-1 Str). Shortbow damage should be 1d6-1/×3, not 1d6/×3 (-1 Str). Gather Information should be +11, not +9 (6 ranks, +3 Cha, +2 synergy bonus from Knowledge (local)). Nonhuman city politicians should have rapier attacks at +2 melee, and Gather Information at +9, not +7.
• p. 116, Career Statesman, male or female human aristocrat 10: HD should be 10, not 5. Average hp should be 48 (if maximum hp at 1st level) or 45 (if average hp throughout), not 26. Grapple should be at +6, not +7 (+7 BAB, -1 Str). Rapier attacks should be at +7/+2 melee, not +8/+3 (+7 BAB, -1 Str, +1 Weapon Focus). Rapier damage should be 1d6-1/18-20, not 1d6/18-20 (-1 Str). Shortbow damage should be 1d6-1/×3, not 1d6/×3 (-1 Str). Spent 72 of 78 skill points. Nonhuman career statesmen should have rapier attacks at +6/+1 melee.
• p. 116, Cult Initiate, male or female human adept 1: "Init 0" should be "Init +0." Average hp should be 6 (if granting maximum hp at 1st level) or 3 (if not), not 4.
• pp. 116-117, Cult Member, male or female human adept 5: "Init 0" should be "Init +0." Average hp should be 20 (if you grant maximum hp at 1st level) or 17 (if you don't), not 18. Spent 27 of 24 skill points; I suggest deleting "Appraise +3" altogether. Touch of fatigue attacks should be at +2 melee touch, not +0 (+2 BAB, +0 Str). Nonhuman cult members should drop "Appraise +3" but also "Gather Information +2" (since they also are told to drop the "Knowledge (local) +6" which granted the +2 synergy bonus to Gather Information in the first place).
• p. 117, Cult Leader, male or female human adept 10: "Init 0" should be "Init +0." Average hp should be 37 (if you give maximum hp at 1st level). Scorching ray attacks should be at +5 ranged touch, not +2 (+5 BAB, +0 Dex). Touch of fatigue attacks should be at +5 melee touch, not +0 (+5 BAB, +0 Str). Spent 42 of 39 skill points; I recommend deleting "Appraise +3." Nonhuman cult leaders should also delete "Gather Information +2."
• pp. 117-118, Burglar, male or female human rogue 5: Flat-footed AC should be 15, not 12 (due to uncanny dodge). Grapple should be at +3, not +0 (+3 BAB, +0 Str).
• p. 118, Master Thief, male or female human rogue 10: Initiative should be +7, not +6 (+3 Dex, +4 Improved Initiative). Flat-footed AC should be 19, not 16 (due to uncanny dodge). Average hp should be 37, not 38 (since you round down half-points). Grapple should be at +7, not +0 (+7 BAB, +0 Str). Masterwork short sword attacks should be at +11/+6 melee, not +10/+5 (+7 BAB, +3 Dex with Weapon Finesse, +1 masterwork). Masterwork light crossbow attacks should be at +11 ranged, not +10 (+7 BAB, +3 Dex, +1 masterwork). Trap sense should be +3, not +2. Skills should include Disguise -1 (+1 acting) [0 ranks, -1 Cha, +2 synergy from Bluff] and Survival +0 (+2 following tracks) [0 ranks, +0 Wis, +2 synergy bonus from Search]. Also, Disable Device should be at +10, not +8 [7 ranks, +1 Int, +2 masterwork thieves tools].
• p. 119, Clyrrik the Halt, male dwarf expert 3/rogue 1/ranger (urban) 4: Unless there are some funky urban ranger class features that I'm not aware of (not having Unearthed Arcana), Fort should be +8 (+10 against poison), not +9 (+11 against poison) [+1 as Exp3, +0 as Rog1, +4 as Rgr4, +3 Con] and Will should be +6, not +4 [+3 as Exp3, +0 as Rog1, +1 as Rgr4, +2 Wis]. Caster Level should be 2nd, not 4th, for ranger spells (half of his ranger level). Wild empathy should be +2 (-2 magical beasts), not +0 (-4 magical beasts) [Rgr4 - 2 Cha = +2] - again, assuming the urban ranger rules follow the normal ranger class.
• p. 119, "Seer," dire rat animal companion: Initiative should be +3, not +2 (+3 Dex).
• p. 120, Doucral of the Web (raging), female half-orc barbarian 12: AC should be 15, not 16 (+6 armor, +1 natural, -2 rage). Touch AC should be 8, not 9. Flat-footed AC should be 15, not 16. Ref should be +4, not +5 (+4 as Bbn12, +0 Dex). Earth's Embrace is mentioned as coming from Complete Warrior, but no specifics are given, so if you don't have that book you'll have to swap it out for a different feat and just hope that it doesn't affect any of the stats. Since Appraise and Knowledge (local) are cross-class skills for a barbarian, she can't have 10 full ranks in them (which would cost her 20 skill points; as a 12th-level character, her maximum is 15 skill points in any one skill). When not raging, AC should be 17, not 18; touch AC should be 10; flat-footed AC should be 17; +1 flaming burst warhammer base damage should be 1d8+8/×3, not 1d8+7/×3 (1.5 times her +5 Str bonus for wielding her warhammer two-handed = +7, and then add on her +1 magic weapon bonus).
• pp. 121-122, Father Darius Balthazar, male human cleric 11/thaumaturgist 5: Fort should be +9, not +8 (+7 as Clr11, +1 as Thm5, +1 Con). Grapple should be at +9, not +10 (+10 BAB, -1 Str). Masterwork morningstar damage should be 1d8-1, not 1d8 (-1 Str). 0-level spells/day should be 6, not 5 (6 0-level spells as a Clr16, which is what Clr11 + Thm5 works out to be). Skills should include Disguise +2 (+4 acting) [0 ranks, +2 Cha, +2 synergy bonus from Bluff], Survival +7 (+9 other planes) [0 ranks, +7 Wis, +2 synergy bonus from Knowledge (the planes)]. If he's chaotic evil, why does he have an aura of law? (He secretly worships Fraz-Urb'luu, who is also chaotic evil.) That should be an aura of chaos, not law.
• p. 123, The Symbol, genderless unholy scion (augmented human) dread necromancer 17: AC should be 23, not 24 (+3 Dex, +5 armor, +5 deflection). Touch AC should be 18, not 19. Nine lives stealer (a +2 longsword) attacks should be at +13/+8 melee, not +10/+5 (+8 BAB, +3 Dex with Weapon Finesse, +2 magic weapon). The "Combat Gear" entry includes 221 HD of animated undead (which is accurate), but 51 human/orc skeletons = 51 HD, 50 human/orc zombies = 100 HD, and 7 ettin zombies = 140 HD; together, that's 291 HD, 70 HD over the limit. (It looks like they forgot that the zombie template doubles the base creature's HD, so a 10-HD ettin becomes a 20-HD ettin zombie.) Therefore, I recommend dropping down to 3 ettin zombies (60 HD), leaving 10 HD left over to convert to an extra 10 human/orc skeletons or 5 human/orc zombies - your choice. As a 17th-level dread necromancer, it should have added 4 spells to its spell list (via its advanced learning class feature), but only 3 such spells are annotated, and one of those - oath of blood - is already on the dread necromancer spell list! Therefore, you'll need to pick two new spells to add to the Symbol's spell list. Appraise should be +10 (+12 armor and weapons) due to +2 synergy bonuses from Craft (armorsmith) and Craft (weaponsmith). Skills should include Diplomacy +7 (0 ranks, +5 Cha, +2 synergy bonus from Sense Motive). Fortitude save against Enervating Touch attacks should be DC 23, not DC 21 (10 + 1/2 class level + Cha bonus = 10 + 8 + 5 = 23). Likewise, the Fear Aura Will save should be DC 23, not DC 21 (using the same formula). Ditto for the Will save against the Negative Energy Burst and the Fortitude save against the Scabrous Touch, which also use the exact same formula. Undead Mastery should specify 153 HD of undead created, not 119 HD, and it should be 9 HD per dread necromancer level, not 7 HD (4 + Cha bonus = 4 + 5 = 9). Similarly, it should be 119 HD of undead controlled, not 85 HD (7 HD per level, not 5 HD: 2 + Cha bonus = 2 + 5 = 7). Ironically, this is arguable the worst stat block in the entire book, and it uses a template (unholy scion) and a character class (dread necromancer) from Heroes of Horror, which was written in part by none other than Ari Marmell, who was the lead author of this one. I can only assume that Ari wasn't involved too much in this stat block at all.
• pp. 123-124, "Mother," ghostly visage familiar: AC should be 17, not 19 (+2 size, +2 Dex, +3 deflection). Touch AC should be 17, not 19. Flat-footed AC should be 15, not 17. SR should be 22, not 23 (master's level + 5 = 17 + 5 = 22). Will should be +11, not +12 (+10 as a dread necromancer 17, -1 Wis, +2 Iron Will). Incorporeal touch attacks should be at +12/+7 melee touch, not +8/+3 (+8 BAB, +2 size, +2 Dex). As a familiar, it has as many ranks as its master in each of its master's skills, so add the following to its list of skills: Appraise +6 (+8 armor/weapons), Concentration +10, Craft (armorsmith) +9, Craft (weaponsmith) +9, Decipher Script +10, Disguise +5, Forgery +5, Gather Information +7, Knowledge (local) +12, Spellcraft +12, and Sense Motive +8. Also, since it gets the higher of its master's ranks or its own ranks in skills that it already had in its pre-familiar days, the following skills should be "bumped up" to the higher level: Intimidate +8, Knowledge (arcana) +12, Knowledge (religion) +12, Listen +7, and Spot +7. Gaze of Terror Will saves should be DC 21, not DC 13 (10 + 1/2 HD + Cha bonus = 10 + 8 + 3 = 21)
• p. 125, Throng of Children: Flat-footed AC should be 8, not 9 (-2 size). With 17 HD and a -1 Con modifier, average hp should be 59, not 70. Fort should be +4, not +5 (+5 as a 17-HD humanoid, -1 Con). Ref should be +11, not +13 (+10 as a 17-HD humanoid, +1 Dex). Will should be +5, not +6 (+5 as a 17-HD humanoid, +0 Wis). BAB should be +12, not +15. Grapple should be +19, not +22 (+12 BAB, +8 size, -1 Str). Of course, if you bump HD up from 17 to 20, all but the flat-footed AC above gets magically fixed! The "Melee" line says 3d6 points of damage, yet the "Attack" description mentions 5d6; I'd go with the 3d6.
• p. 126, Siege Golem: Trample Reflex save should be DC 28, not DC 26 (10 + 1/2 HD + Str bonus = 10 + 8 + 10 = 28).
• p. 128, Ooze, Cesspit: Senses lists Listen +4, Spot +4, yet Skills lists Listen +6, Spot +6; Skills is correct. AC should be 4, not 5 (-1 size, -5 Dex). The same applies to touch AC and flat-footed AC values. In the Speed line, "ft. 20 ft." should just be "20 ft."
• p. 131, Ripper: Senses lists "Listen _5" - obviously, this is a typo and should be "Listen +5."
• p. 133, Sepulchral Thief, male undead human rogue 10: Initiative should be +9, not +6 (+5 Dex, +4 Improved Initiative). Flat-footed AC should be 26, not 21, due to uncanny dodge. Average hp should be 70, not 78. Trap sense should be +3, not +2. Skills should include Disguise +0 (+2 acting) [0 ranks, +0 Cha, +2 synergy bonus from Bluff] and Survival +0 (+2 following tracks) [0 ranks, +0 Wis, +2 synergy bonus from Search]. Also, Disable Device should be +11, not +9 [7 ranks, +2 Int, +2 masterwork thieves tools].
• pp. 136-137, Swarm, Pest: With 10 HD, a +1 Con bonus, and the Toughness feat, average hp should be 58, not 48. Ref should be +7 if it's a poor save (+3 as a 10-HD animal, +2 Dex, +2 Lightning Reflexes) or +11 if it's a good save (+7 as a 10-HD animal, +2 Dex, +2 Lightning Reflexes), not +9. Climb should be +13, not +8 (3 ranks, +2 Dex, +8 racial). Kind of odd that there's no Pest Swarm Lore Table showing what the PCs might know about pest swarms depending upon various Knowledge checks.

Other than the stat block errors, the proofreading and editing jobs weren't too bad. I only noticed a few such errors that made it past editors John Thompson, Jennifer Clark Wilkes, Rob Vaux, and Tony Lee, editorial assistant Daniel Nagler, and editing manager Kim Mohan; specifically, there were a few typos ("undr" instead of "under," "folowers" instead of "followers," "dustrict" instead of "district," and "Cyrrik's" instead of "Clyrrik's" [it's an NPC's name]), a sentence missing a period at the end, and a tabbing error in Table 2-4: New Feats on page 61. All in all, not too bad of a job there.

There were a few things that just didn't seem right with some of the gaming material, though. The City Magic metamagic feat just seems plain silly to me, as it allows half of the damage of an energy spell (acid, cold, electricity, fire, or sonic) to be converted to "city" damage, thus allowing more of the spell's damage to bypass energy resistance or immunity. But, c'mon guys, "city" damage? That's just plain goofy. (How is "city" damage any different from "schmoo" damage or "guffronkle" damage? No monster I throw spells at is going to have "schmoo resistance" or "guffronkle immunity" any more than it's going to be able to avoid "city damage.") I also kind of have a problem with the fact that the Invisible Spell metamagic feat makes all spell effects invisible, but doesn't increase the spell level of the spell it's applied to. So I, a 10th-level wizard, can cast an invisible fireball into a crowd from 800 feet away (where I'm not likely to be noticed, as the "pea-sized pellet" will be invisible as it flies from my hand) and cause 10d6 fire damage as normal, but nobody will see the fireball billow out from the point of contact; rather, a bunch of people within a 20-foot radius will suddenly just burst into flame, with no indicator as to what caused the effect. Likewise, I could create an invisible wall of iron in front of the guy my party is chasing through a corridor, and he'll run smack into the thing at full sprint unless he can see invisibility, detect magic, or has true seeing. Don't get me wrong, it's a fine idea, and opens up a whole new world of possibilities, but I think there should definitely be a cost to the metamagic feat in bumping up the spell slot by at least a level.

The three new prestige classes are all okay, but I'm curious as to why they weren't put immediately after one another, as has been the case in every single other Wizards of the Coast product I can recall. Here, we get details on Houses, then the Ebon Infiltrator prestige class (which is tied to House Ebonmar), then information on guilds, followed by the Crimson Scourge prestige class (with ties to a slavers guild), then details on organizations, followed by the Urban Savant prestige class (with ties to the League of Eyes secret society). I can see the logic they used to lay it out in that sequence, but it seems to me that a DM wanting details on one of the prestige classes would be better served if they were all in the same area (it's not like he's going to automatically recall whether Crimson Scourges are tied to a guild, an organization, or a House). Still, I guess the best counterargument there is that the information is all right there in the Table of Contents. (One small problem I noted to one of the prestige classes, while we're on the subject: the urban savant gets a +1 to the level of an existing arcane spellcasting class at each level except 10th, according to Table 3-4, although the write-up indicates that it's at each level, even 10th.)

Cityscape covers its material fairly well, but I think it was severely hampered by the cut in page count. It certainly doesn't "cover the bases" as well as Frostburn, Sandstorm, and Stormwrack each did with their specific environmental areas. Given its urban focus, there are also some sections in the previous books in the series that wouldn't have made sense here; it would be hard to justify adding 2 or 3 new races that only show up in cities, for example. I was also a bit let down by the scarcity of new spells, feats, and monsters, especially when compared to the correspondingly larger doses of such material we got in the previous books. I was particularly disappointed with the new monsters. Siege golems were okay, although not all that much different from a catapult with an animate object spell cast upon it. Cesspit oozes make some sort of sense when they're tied in with the concept of arcane pollution, so bonus points for that one, but rippers are just too bizarre for me to believe that they could ever pass for human (despite their abilities) - who's going to be fooled by a creature with double knees and elbows and no head? (The lousy artwork on page 132 doesn't help "sell" the ripper any, either.) Sepulchral thieves are okay, if a bit "by the numbers" - they're the rogue equivalent to liches, basically. Pest swarms get bonus points for tying into one of the new spells, but the concept's inherent flaws show through in the game mechanics - what are you going to do when only some of the creatures in your swarm can fly, and others can't, and they're not even all the same size or creature type? The designers do their best with what they have to work with, but the whole thing comes off as a "best fit" only. Finally, the zeitgeist is just silly, and I don't like the fact that some cities generate zeitgeists and others don't with no logical explanation given. That whole concept should have been scrapped and reworked from scratch, I think.

All in all, Cityscape is, in my mind at least, the poorest entry in the "Environment" series. I give it a rating of "3 (Average)" - but I'd be willing to bet that had the authors been given the extra 44 pages to work with, this book could have turned out much better. (And some extra help on the stat blocks wouldn't have been remiss, either!)