Underdark
- Thread starter IronWolf
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Selvarin
Explorer
Underdark is the latest game book in the Forgotten Realms line. It's a 192-page hardcover with the
trademark FR 'parchment' page look within and a suitably creepy cover image on the outside by Sam Wood (three out-of-luck adventurers find them being surrounded by minions of an aboleth, who stays comfortably safe within a waterfall-fed lake where an eerie light akin to moonlight filters in from somewhere beyond). As with the Book of Exalted Deeds, several share writing/design credit, in this instance Bruce Cordell, Gwendolyn F.M. Kestrel, and Jeff Quick. How does this shape up against expectations, not to mention previous works (such as Drizzt's Guide to the Underdark, which is listed as one of several resources)? You're about to find out.
There are nine chapter in Underdark. Starting with the introduction, it provides a basic layout of what's to follow as well as a primer on what you needs to play and a list of recommended monsters from sources beyond the Monster Manual. Short and sweet, No problem. Chapter 1 deals with races and runs for 16 pages. Besides the usual sorts we've come to expect (the drow, duergar, and svirfneblin), a number of others are introduced as character option. There's the chitine and grimlock, both of whom you may be more used to being harried by in darkend tunnels, but three new options have been added. the first are the deep imaskari, basically humans who fled into the Underdark to escape persecution when their empire crumbled. It's rather strange to find another group of ancient humans who've managed to survive (I thought the Shadovari were enough), but there's room for a few more I guess. Next is the gloaming, and quite honestly I don't know if they're an updated creature from a previous TSR/WotC product or not. They're planetouched beings whose otherworldly heritage comes from the Plane of Shadow. Interestingly enough they have wings, and have an affinity for shadow-based spells but they aren't prone to evil as a race. And then there are the slyths, humanoid shapechangers who see themselves as custodians of the Underdark. As with gloamings they have a +2 level Adjustment. Thus, a slyth who's a 1st-level druid
has an ECL (Effective Character Level) of 3. The ECLs of other possible races are also provided, such as derro (ECL 4) and tanarukks (ECL 8). Frankly I wonder what the value is of playing a character with such a high ECL, especially when a given race or template doesn't necessarily have the hit dice to back it up. But hey, it's an art and not a science, and beyond the scope of this book.
Chapter 2, Regions & Feats, is thankfully short. I say 'thankfully' because too often multiple feats are little more than variations of the same feat (such as the varies "+2 to x and y' feats) and it does nothing but take up space. There are 6 new region/race feats, one each for the chitine, deep imaskar, gloaming, grimlock, kuo-toa, and slyth. Not bad, although I wonder if they'll be in line with what the upcoming Player's Guide to the Forgotten Realms has planned.
There are 25 character feats, some of which are also found in Races of Faerun (Highborn Drow, Improved Levitation). The Elfhunter feat is a retread of the Foehunter feat found in the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting. Is it necessary? Not really, could've just expanded the choices for the Foehunter feat here according to race. Several are retreads of previously published feats. One new feat of note include Graft Illithid Flesh (woohoo!), which allows you--if you're an illithid with a sufficient Heal rank, to create illithid
grafts and put them on you or other beings. Nice. In addition there are several feats concerning 'node spellcasting', which relates to node magic. Without looking too far ahead in the book I can say that some of the spells relating to node magic are reminiscent of certain magic which was utilized by the rockseer elves (without being elaborated upon) in the "ight Below mega-adventure by Carl Sargent. Don't recall it? It's 2nd Edition AD&D, and while and while that product uses the term 'magical flux point' it feels like node magic is an elaboration upon that idea. I'm surprised the Night Below boxed set wasn't mentioned
among the resources as it was (and still is) a fantastic adventure with some interesting ideas relating to the Underdark.
In chapter 3 we're given twelve new prestige classes. The first, the arachnemancer, made its debut a while back in a Dungeon adventure called "The Harrowing" (#84 by monte Cook). It's a pretty good PRC, although I just noticed it's been slightly augmented (the arachnemancer's poison touch is more powerful at 6th and 10th level). Another welcome change is that the arachnemancer's spellcasting ablity increases at 1st/3rd/4th/6th/7th/9th/10th level, whereas in the Dungeons #84 version one was restricted
to gaining extra spells from a spider magic list. They still have access to 'spider magic' per se, but instead one gains access to them as part of their normal spell acquisition. Thus, if you attain 7th level sellcasting ability you can tack on Giant Vermin, Repel Vermin, and Summon Huge Monstrous Spider. This is much, much better. Beyond that there's the Cavelord, a type of Underdark protector that should appeal to druids, rangers, and barbarians more than anyone else. the deep diviner specifically deals with node magic. It's a very attractive prestige class that gives setting 'flavor' to an Underdark-based campaign. other prestige classes found here are geared towards specifc races, such as the drow inquisitor (unholy warrior of Selvetarm in service to Lolth) or Inquisitor of the Drowning Queen. The Shadowcrafter makes illusions of shadow that are more powerful than usual, the Vermin Keeper is a different take on the Vermin Lord PRC found in the Book of Vile Darkness, a bit less disgusting and not requiring that one be of evil disposition.
The Prime Underdark Guide is, so far as I can tell, the only class suitable for surface dwellers to take initially. Those taking it gain bonus languages, a bonus to Underdark lore, and other nice perks.
In chapter 4, Magic & Spells, we finally get a good glimpse at what node magic is. Essentially, node magic taps into natural pools and streams of power that collect and run below the earth (straight from the book, folks). This apparently has some relation to the idea of ley lines, of which I've heard of but know nothing about. Earth nodes can be detected when coming within x number of feet of it, the Difficulty Class determined by the distance. A number of bonuses can be accrued from being within the range of an earth node, from a bonus to one's effective caster level to granted spells. It's pretty involved, something that I definitely want to make use of in my own campaign. Faerzress is also mentioned in this section, and its attendant effect upon divination and teleportation spells. Portals are also given further mention.
Past that are several new domains, one of which (Portal) is merely a nice alternative to the one provided in the FRCS. Since it's an improvement over the earlier version, it's worth taking. There are 45 spells, and again some of these look familiar whie others are most definitely original. One thing I'm noticing is that in addition to an emphasis on node and earth-based magic spells there are also a few which relate
to the concept of neutrality, such as Word of Balance, which affects all LG, LE, CG, and CE creatures in range. (Wouldn't you hate to be part of an elf-band within grasp of annhilating some drow and a slyth decides to lay this on the whole lot for disturbing the sanctity of the cavern?) Overall I liked the selection of spells.
Equipment and magic items are handled in chapter 5. The adventuring gear is ho-hum, but then again I've never been as psyched about new weapons as I am about magic itself. The butterfly knife meets the Forgotten Realms, in a manner of speaking, in the form of the flutter blade. Granted, it's larger than a butterfly knife but you get the picture. Several kuo-toan items, such as the pincer staff and steel fin, are included, while exotic armor made of spidersilk managed to catch my eye (it's as good as studded leather but lighter and more flexible, just what I'd like if I were a rogue or someone with a low strength score). Some additional adventuring items are also detailed, such as paint that's visible only to those with darkvision, plus a few new poisons. I'd hate to have my character get struck by any of it, not surprisingly. In the magic item section we find several new weapon properties/special abilities, such as Bloodthirsty (grants the wielder a morale bonus on attack rolls as long as the weapon's used to kill a creature of 4HD or higher every 24 hours). Not all provide a +1 to +4 market price modifier, some just add to the price. 'Drowcraft' can be added to both magic weapons and armor, so if you liked the 1E-2E era wherein drow items corroded or turned to dust when exposed to sunlight you're in luck. It isn't automatic (there is a DC 8 Fort save but if you leave a drowcraft item out exposed to the sun it'll eventually dissolve. Moving further along there are a few new (and updated) rings, rods, and so forth. The expected assortment, but nonetheless highly useful. There's even a rod which negates the effects of faerzress, how cool is that? Yet another good way to add flavor to your Underdark campaign. A few more artifacts and wondrous items round out the rest of the chapter. I find nothing in particular lacking here.
Chapter 6 deals with monsters, which is okay. My picks are the elder brain, the faerzness-infusd template, and mindwitness (a beholder that has the half-illithid template behind---very nasty!). If you think the encounter tables would be found here, guess again. They're found in Chapter 7: Exploring the Underdark. Here it goes into the geology and the like, giving a good overview of what to expect, plus the amusing little hazards we've come to expect from crawling through lightless tunnels and caverns. You'll find tidbits on the general ecology, Underdark diseases, and the penalties one suffers when fighting in constricted tunnel spaces (the latter of which is highly useful and will make your players think twice about what to have handy should they get accosted in a tight squeeze). Encounter tables for the Underdark, from the upper portions to the lowerdark, round out the rest of chapter 7, something that I've come to expect in Forgotten Realms regional sourcebooks. What saves me time and effort is a good thing.
Where the previous chapters were generic enough to be useful to non-FR gamers, chapter 8: Geography is more Realms specific. It goes for 62 pages, touching upon a number of places written about by Eric Boyd in Drizzt's Guide tothe Underdark, albeit in a tighter format. I wouldn't say that it makes the latter obsolete or less useful, however it's still an informative read for those of us who want to know more about what lies a few miles below your heroes' home town. Instead of a huge pull-out map as in the 'good old days', two maps are provided which accomplish the same thing in regard to general placement, with the surface geography drawn in black or a negative image of itself. It works, and I like it. There are some new places written about or expanded upon, but I do have a bone to pick with the writers concerning Llurth Dreir--What did you do to it?! Eric Boyd wrote about Llurth Dreir in Polyhedron some time ago and in that version the drow were ruled from the shadows by aboleth servants of Ghaunadaur. It was a good explanation for why the city's drow population was several hundred thousand strong. Llurth Dreier, as detailed in this chapter, is rather boring in comparison. In addition its martial strength has been severely reduced. For what reason? I know that previous material shouldn't become a straightjacket for other writers but this is ludicrous. The newer interpretation just doesn't cut it. Those who don't have access to "Llurth Dreier: City of Ooze" (Polyhedron 140) won't really care about this, nonetheless I felt I should bring it up. And lastly, chapter 9 deals with adventures in the Underdark. Pretty straightforward, has a list of dungeons within the Underdark as well as three fleshinging-out bits on Drowned Multim, Gduar's Garden, and 'The Shape of Water'. They are adventure pieces, complete with some stats, but they're pretty short. I have no idea whether due to lack of space or the notion that gamers weren't happy the last time an adventure hogged too many pages in a FR sourcebook.
Conclusion and last thoughts...
'Underdark' is a fairly well-written book with artwork I can appreciate and enough material for me to use and abuse in future campaigns set in its lightless depths. Those who don't care for the Forgotten Realms should still give it a try because most of it can be yanked for use in non-FR campaigns, although it provides more utility for FR gamers (1/3 of the book is devoted to FR Underdark geography, after all). My irritation over Llurth Dreier's treatment is only minor, as the book as a whole does what it's supposed to and gives me a lot to work with. Thus, it deserves a 4. Not an overly enthusiastic 4 but a 4 nonetheless.
Now if only this and the Book of Exalted Deeds were to get 'etooled' early next year, that would make things even better.
Postscript regarding Llurth Dreier: While in an IRC chat that included Richard Baker and Gwendolyn Kestrel, I got my question answered. Basically they found out about the article late in the process, and when comparing the two it was decided that the new material worked better (I'm paraphrasing this). There isn't much more to be said about it. I respectfully disagree with the assessment (Eric Boyd's article had better adventure hooks as a result of his take on Llurth Dreier), but them's the breaks. C'est la vie.
trademark FR 'parchment' page look within and a suitably creepy cover image on the outside by Sam Wood (three out-of-luck adventurers find them being surrounded by minions of an aboleth, who stays comfortably safe within a waterfall-fed lake where an eerie light akin to moonlight filters in from somewhere beyond). As with the Book of Exalted Deeds, several share writing/design credit, in this instance Bruce Cordell, Gwendolyn F.M. Kestrel, and Jeff Quick. How does this shape up against expectations, not to mention previous works (such as Drizzt's Guide to the Underdark, which is listed as one of several resources)? You're about to find out.
There are nine chapter in Underdark. Starting with the introduction, it provides a basic layout of what's to follow as well as a primer on what you needs to play and a list of recommended monsters from sources beyond the Monster Manual. Short and sweet, No problem. Chapter 1 deals with races and runs for 16 pages. Besides the usual sorts we've come to expect (the drow, duergar, and svirfneblin), a number of others are introduced as character option. There's the chitine and grimlock, both of whom you may be more used to being harried by in darkend tunnels, but three new options have been added. the first are the deep imaskari, basically humans who fled into the Underdark to escape persecution when their empire crumbled. It's rather strange to find another group of ancient humans who've managed to survive (I thought the Shadovari were enough), but there's room for a few more I guess. Next is the gloaming, and quite honestly I don't know if they're an updated creature from a previous TSR/WotC product or not. They're planetouched beings whose otherworldly heritage comes from the Plane of Shadow. Interestingly enough they have wings, and have an affinity for shadow-based spells but they aren't prone to evil as a race. And then there are the slyths, humanoid shapechangers who see themselves as custodians of the Underdark. As with gloamings they have a +2 level Adjustment. Thus, a slyth who's a 1st-level druid
has an ECL (Effective Character Level) of 3. The ECLs of other possible races are also provided, such as derro (ECL 4) and tanarukks (ECL 8). Frankly I wonder what the value is of playing a character with such a high ECL, especially when a given race or template doesn't necessarily have the hit dice to back it up. But hey, it's an art and not a science, and beyond the scope of this book.
Chapter 2, Regions & Feats, is thankfully short. I say 'thankfully' because too often multiple feats are little more than variations of the same feat (such as the varies "+2 to x and y' feats) and it does nothing but take up space. There are 6 new region/race feats, one each for the chitine, deep imaskar, gloaming, grimlock, kuo-toa, and slyth. Not bad, although I wonder if they'll be in line with what the upcoming Player's Guide to the Forgotten Realms has planned.
There are 25 character feats, some of which are also found in Races of Faerun (Highborn Drow, Improved Levitation). The Elfhunter feat is a retread of the Foehunter feat found in the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting. Is it necessary? Not really, could've just expanded the choices for the Foehunter feat here according to race. Several are retreads of previously published feats. One new feat of note include Graft Illithid Flesh (woohoo!), which allows you--if you're an illithid with a sufficient Heal rank, to create illithid
grafts and put them on you or other beings. Nice. In addition there are several feats concerning 'node spellcasting', which relates to node magic. Without looking too far ahead in the book I can say that some of the spells relating to node magic are reminiscent of certain magic which was utilized by the rockseer elves (without being elaborated upon) in the "ight Below mega-adventure by Carl Sargent. Don't recall it? It's 2nd Edition AD&D, and while and while that product uses the term 'magical flux point' it feels like node magic is an elaboration upon that idea. I'm surprised the Night Below boxed set wasn't mentioned
among the resources as it was (and still is) a fantastic adventure with some interesting ideas relating to the Underdark.
In chapter 3 we're given twelve new prestige classes. The first, the arachnemancer, made its debut a while back in a Dungeon adventure called "The Harrowing" (#84 by monte Cook). It's a pretty good PRC, although I just noticed it's been slightly augmented (the arachnemancer's poison touch is more powerful at 6th and 10th level). Another welcome change is that the arachnemancer's spellcasting ablity increases at 1st/3rd/4th/6th/7th/9th/10th level, whereas in the Dungeons #84 version one was restricted
to gaining extra spells from a spider magic list. They still have access to 'spider magic' per se, but instead one gains access to them as part of their normal spell acquisition. Thus, if you attain 7th level sellcasting ability you can tack on Giant Vermin, Repel Vermin, and Summon Huge Monstrous Spider. This is much, much better. Beyond that there's the Cavelord, a type of Underdark protector that should appeal to druids, rangers, and barbarians more than anyone else. the deep diviner specifically deals with node magic. It's a very attractive prestige class that gives setting 'flavor' to an Underdark-based campaign. other prestige classes found here are geared towards specifc races, such as the drow inquisitor (unholy warrior of Selvetarm in service to Lolth) or Inquisitor of the Drowning Queen. The Shadowcrafter makes illusions of shadow that are more powerful than usual, the Vermin Keeper is a different take on the Vermin Lord PRC found in the Book of Vile Darkness, a bit less disgusting and not requiring that one be of evil disposition.
The Prime Underdark Guide is, so far as I can tell, the only class suitable for surface dwellers to take initially. Those taking it gain bonus languages, a bonus to Underdark lore, and other nice perks.
In chapter 4, Magic & Spells, we finally get a good glimpse at what node magic is. Essentially, node magic taps into natural pools and streams of power that collect and run below the earth (straight from the book, folks). This apparently has some relation to the idea of ley lines, of which I've heard of but know nothing about. Earth nodes can be detected when coming within x number of feet of it, the Difficulty Class determined by the distance. A number of bonuses can be accrued from being within the range of an earth node, from a bonus to one's effective caster level to granted spells. It's pretty involved, something that I definitely want to make use of in my own campaign. Faerzress is also mentioned in this section, and its attendant effect upon divination and teleportation spells. Portals are also given further mention.
Past that are several new domains, one of which (Portal) is merely a nice alternative to the one provided in the FRCS. Since it's an improvement over the earlier version, it's worth taking. There are 45 spells, and again some of these look familiar whie others are most definitely original. One thing I'm noticing is that in addition to an emphasis on node and earth-based magic spells there are also a few which relate
to the concept of neutrality, such as Word of Balance, which affects all LG, LE, CG, and CE creatures in range. (Wouldn't you hate to be part of an elf-band within grasp of annhilating some drow and a slyth decides to lay this on the whole lot for disturbing the sanctity of the cavern?) Overall I liked the selection of spells.
Equipment and magic items are handled in chapter 5. The adventuring gear is ho-hum, but then again I've never been as psyched about new weapons as I am about magic itself. The butterfly knife meets the Forgotten Realms, in a manner of speaking, in the form of the flutter blade. Granted, it's larger than a butterfly knife but you get the picture. Several kuo-toan items, such as the pincer staff and steel fin, are included, while exotic armor made of spidersilk managed to catch my eye (it's as good as studded leather but lighter and more flexible, just what I'd like if I were a rogue or someone with a low strength score). Some additional adventuring items are also detailed, such as paint that's visible only to those with darkvision, plus a few new poisons. I'd hate to have my character get struck by any of it, not surprisingly. In the magic item section we find several new weapon properties/special abilities, such as Bloodthirsty (grants the wielder a morale bonus on attack rolls as long as the weapon's used to kill a creature of 4HD or higher every 24 hours). Not all provide a +1 to +4 market price modifier, some just add to the price. 'Drowcraft' can be added to both magic weapons and armor, so if you liked the 1E-2E era wherein drow items corroded or turned to dust when exposed to sunlight you're in luck. It isn't automatic (there is a DC 8 Fort save but if you leave a drowcraft item out exposed to the sun it'll eventually dissolve. Moving further along there are a few new (and updated) rings, rods, and so forth. The expected assortment, but nonetheless highly useful. There's even a rod which negates the effects of faerzress, how cool is that? Yet another good way to add flavor to your Underdark campaign. A few more artifacts and wondrous items round out the rest of the chapter. I find nothing in particular lacking here.
Chapter 6 deals with monsters, which is okay. My picks are the elder brain, the faerzness-infusd template, and mindwitness (a beholder that has the half-illithid template behind---very nasty!). If you think the encounter tables would be found here, guess again. They're found in Chapter 7: Exploring the Underdark. Here it goes into the geology and the like, giving a good overview of what to expect, plus the amusing little hazards we've come to expect from crawling through lightless tunnels and caverns. You'll find tidbits on the general ecology, Underdark diseases, and the penalties one suffers when fighting in constricted tunnel spaces (the latter of which is highly useful and will make your players think twice about what to have handy should they get accosted in a tight squeeze). Encounter tables for the Underdark, from the upper portions to the lowerdark, round out the rest of chapter 7, something that I've come to expect in Forgotten Realms regional sourcebooks. What saves me time and effort is a good thing.
Where the previous chapters were generic enough to be useful to non-FR gamers, chapter 8: Geography is more Realms specific. It goes for 62 pages, touching upon a number of places written about by Eric Boyd in Drizzt's Guide tothe Underdark, albeit in a tighter format. I wouldn't say that it makes the latter obsolete or less useful, however it's still an informative read for those of us who want to know more about what lies a few miles below your heroes' home town. Instead of a huge pull-out map as in the 'good old days', two maps are provided which accomplish the same thing in regard to general placement, with the surface geography drawn in black or a negative image of itself. It works, and I like it. There are some new places written about or expanded upon, but I do have a bone to pick with the writers concerning Llurth Dreir--What did you do to it?! Eric Boyd wrote about Llurth Dreir in Polyhedron some time ago and in that version the drow were ruled from the shadows by aboleth servants of Ghaunadaur. It was a good explanation for why the city's drow population was several hundred thousand strong. Llurth Dreier, as detailed in this chapter, is rather boring in comparison. In addition its martial strength has been severely reduced. For what reason? I know that previous material shouldn't become a straightjacket for other writers but this is ludicrous. The newer interpretation just doesn't cut it. Those who don't have access to "Llurth Dreier: City of Ooze" (Polyhedron 140) won't really care about this, nonetheless I felt I should bring it up. And lastly, chapter 9 deals with adventures in the Underdark. Pretty straightforward, has a list of dungeons within the Underdark as well as three fleshinging-out bits on Drowned Multim, Gduar's Garden, and 'The Shape of Water'. They are adventure pieces, complete with some stats, but they're pretty short. I have no idea whether due to lack of space or the notion that gamers weren't happy the last time an adventure hogged too many pages in a FR sourcebook.
Conclusion and last thoughts...
'Underdark' is a fairly well-written book with artwork I can appreciate and enough material for me to use and abuse in future campaigns set in its lightless depths. Those who don't care for the Forgotten Realms should still give it a try because most of it can be yanked for use in non-FR campaigns, although it provides more utility for FR gamers (1/3 of the book is devoted to FR Underdark geography, after all). My irritation over Llurth Dreier's treatment is only minor, as the book as a whole does what it's supposed to and gives me a lot to work with. Thus, it deserves a 4. Not an overly enthusiastic 4 but a 4 nonetheless.
Now if only this and the Book of Exalted Deeds were to get 'etooled' early next year, that would make things even better.
Postscript regarding Llurth Dreier: While in an IRC chat that included Richard Baker and Gwendolyn Kestrel, I got my question answered. Basically they found out about the article late in the process, and when comparing the two it was decided that the new material worked better (I'm paraphrasing this). There isn't much more to be said about it. I respectfully disagree with the assessment (Eric Boyd's article had better adventure hooks as a result of his take on Llurth Dreier), but them's the breaks. C'est la vie.
Messageboard Golem
First Post
By John Grigsby, Staff Reviewer d20 Magazine Rack
Initiative Round
Underdark is a Dungeons & Dragons Forgotten Realms supplement from Wizards of the Coast. The 192-page full-color hardcover is authored by Bruce R. Cordell, Gwendolyn F. M. Kestrel, and Jeff Quick and sports cover art by Sam Wood depicting a trio of our favorite iconics in a spot of trouble on the front and an aboleth commanding its kuo-toa army on the reverse. Interior art is by Kalman Andrasofszky, Matt Cavotta, Mike Dubisch, Wayne England, Matt Faulkner, Vance Kovacs, Vince Locke, Raven Mimura, Jim Pavalec, Vinod Rams, Richard Sardinha, Stephen Tappin, and Joel Thomas. Underdark retails for $32.95.
Dungeon exploration; some live for it, others hate it, but rare indeed is the seasoned adventurer who has never set foot into an underground realm. It is, after all, the very heart of the Dungeons & Dragons game! You doubt me? Just look at the title! Whether you like it or not, the dungeon is an essential part of what gives D&D its flavor.
For those who enjoy rooting about below ground, certainly there is no greater place of elation, a Mecca for the delver, if you will, than the Underdark. It stretches for thousands of miles beneath Faerûn, countless tunnels reaching through the gloom. It is a world unto itself, a hidden world where dark things plot and plan. Among the surface dwellers, it is a place of mystery and terrifying nightmares, but to those who live below, it is home.
After a brief primer on the realms below, Underdark jumps right in with both feet, starting off with some “new” PC races. I know that someone reading this has been dying to play a grimlock, so now you can do so, along with chitines, deep Imaskari, drow, duergar, gloamings, kuo-toa, slyths, and svirfneblin. Because some of you may not be familiar with a few of these, here’s a quick rundown: chitines are spider-like humanoids created by the drow, deep Imaskari are the descendents of the Imaskari empire (destroyed by the slaves they had captured from other worlds), duergar (gray dwarves) are deep-dwelling dwarves with inborn magical abilities, gloamings are the result of breeding between humans and denizens of the Plane of Shadow, grimlocks are blinded by millennia spent in darkness (but no less capable), kuo-toa are theocratic fishfolk who dwell in the deep seas and lakes of the Underdark, slyths are humanoid shapechangers with ties to the Elemental Plane of Water, and svirfneblin (deep gnomes) are suspicious and serious miners of the deep realms. If you don’t know who or what the drow are, I can only assume that you’ve been under a rock for the past decade or so or that you are new to the game. In any case, pick up almost any R. A. Salvatore novel.
There are other races available for use as player characters, but these are not given the detailed treatment of the nine mentioned previously. Instead, they are relegated to a table, providing starting hit dice, level adjustment, and favored class. Following this is a one-paragraph overview of the race. These options include derro, mind flayers, orogs, minotaurs, quaggoths, tanarukks, and troglodytes.
New character options mean new regions and feats. An established “region” is given for each of the six new races (chitine, deep Imaskar, gloaming, grimlock, kuo-toa, and slyth; the others have already been covered in the FORGOTTEN REALMS Campaign Setting book. Twenty-five new feats are also introduced in Underdark, with about half of them being limited to certain races. Most are general feats, with one new metamagic feat, one new item creation feat, and one wild feat (Extra Wild Shape, reprinted from Masters of the Wild) rounding out the selection.
A dozen new prestige classes add some flavor to the setting, with the balance slightly more evenly distributed between the races. Arachnomancers are arcanists specializing in spider magic, and the class is open to any evil character (though it’s rather obvious where the focus lies). Cave lords are self-proclaimed protectors of the Realms Below, while deep diviners are intimate of the earth and all that it hides. The drow judicator is (obviously) limited to drow only, and is a dark elf knight, a mortal imbued with fiendish cruelty. Illithid body tamers believe that military might is the key to rulership, while the Imaskari vengeance takers are a secret society dedicated to righting wrongs. Kuo-toan inquisitors of the Drowning Goddess are tasked with protecting the kuo-toan community from inside threats, the prime Underdark guide knows the twists, turns, nooks, and crannies of the countless passages and corridors of the Underdark, and the kuo-toan Sea Mother whips seek closer communion with their goddess. Shadowcrafters are masters of illusion, vermin keepers practice mastery over insects, while chitine Yathchol webriders move along the hidden lines of the complex network they call the Overweb.
The Underdark is full of unique elements. Strange radiations, a new form of magic, and portals to other planes and places abound in these endless chambers. Node magic taps the natural pools and streams of power that collect and run below the earth. By tapping the power of these nodes, a spellcaster skilled in the ways of mode magic can gain spells to fill empty slots, gain a bonus to effective caster level, or store items so that they are not readily visible. In addition to these elements, Underdark introduces three new domains; Balance, an alternate Portal domain, and the Watery Death prestige domain. Prestige domains can be taken only by characters with access to a prestige class that grants them. There are also 34 new spells described here.
Underdark presents five brand new weapons, along with a new feature for armor and shields, razors. Several new armor types are offered, along with a fair assortment of poisons and alchemical items unique to the deep realms. Twelve new armor and/or weapon special abilities are introduced, including drowcraft, which grants a bonus under certain circumstances, but makes the weapon extremely vulnerable to sunlight (this can also be applied to armor). With the change to 3E, drow weapons lost their vulnerability to sunlight, and I’m glad to see it restored, if only for certain items. Readers will also find eight specific weapons, three specific armors, four rings, five rods, seven staves, and 24 wondrous items (including the very useful daylight pellet). There are also six minor artifacts, two major artifacts, and a new type of magical item, the illithid graft.
The Underdark has earned its reputation as a place fraught with danger, and contributing to that reputation are less well-organized denizens that dwell below. Underdark presents almost two dozen of those denizens, ranging from CR ½ to CR 23. Among these new monsters are five new templates; the arachnoid creature, the chameleon creature, the faerzress-infused creature, the half-illithid, and the mineral warrior. I was also glad to see the return of the lurker above to the D&D game (though it’s now known simply as the lurker, and it’s changed slightly in appearance). These monsters have been responsible for many a character death over the years in my campaign, and I’d all but forgotten them with the advent of 3E.
Delvers who routinely explore the depths of the earth will want to check out the chapter entitled “Exploring the Underdark.” It’s full of good information on the topography of the Realms Below, including the different features that may be encountered, the types of rocks that a traveler may find, and dangers that lurk in the darkness (like gas pockets). For the DM, this section is also good reading, as it details three new diseases and four hazards unique to the environment. Spelunking, tight squeezes, and encounter tables are all collected here, making this chapter an invaluable resource, regardless of where your campaign is set. The Underdark primer introduces the three layers of the Underdark, and the races that are most likely to be encountered therein. If you thought that the drow were the greatest threat beneath the surface of the world, take a walk through the Lowerdark and meet some of the things that call that realm home.
The last half or so of the book is devoted to the geography of the Underdark, and opens with a beautiful full-color map in a two-page spread that depicts the major locations. All of the landmarks of the Underdark are described here, divided by domain (there are nine major domains: the Buried Realms, the Darklands, the Deep Wastes, the Earthroot, the Glimmersea, Great Bhaeryden, the Northdark, and Old Shanatar). Sites of interest, NPCs of note, magic items, maps, traps, and role-playing notes abound in this section. Better still, it’s as much an entertaining read as it is a reference.
UNderdark finishes up with a handful of adventure hooks, and three adventure sites (mini-adventures). In “Drowned Multum,” characters enter an underground reservoir that was once a thriving city, coming in through the former armory, where danger awaits. “Gduar’s Garden” is an underground forest of fungi, the home of a most odd being that doesn’t particularly care for visitors. Finally, in “Shape of Water,” adventurers stumble upon an aboleth fortress in the recesses of the Lowerdark.
Critical Hit
It’s been a long time since we’ve seen a good Underdark sourcebook (and don’t go citing Drizzt Do’Urden’s Guide to the Underdark from 2nd edition, either; that was a load of crap!), and Underdark makes the wait worthwhile! Though aimed at the Forgotten Realms, this book will be of value to most any DM that has an underground realm that stretches beneath the campaign world. There’s a lot of good stuff in here, and it shouldn’t be overlooked just because of the FR logo on the cover.
Specific “critical hits,” in my eyes, would certainly include the map. I can’t rave enough over it, but I only wish it had been included as a poster map matching the one in the FRCS! The new races are exciting, though I think that the drow (already described in the FRCS [and a few thousand other sources]) could have been dropped in favor of the mind flayers. The illithids really needed more press than they received. The new monsters were also a blessing. I can’t wait to see the looks on the faces of my players when a stone flyer rises out of the rock in front of them!
The new equipment and magical items present some welcome additions. Readers of Salvatore’s “Drow” series will remember the battlerager that had the razored armor, and I was disgusted that such wasn’t described in the 3E rules (when spiked armor was included). Finally, it has made it! I was also very happy to see the drowcraft enhancement that brings back the flavor of those drow weapons and armor that disintegrate in sunlight. One thing that was missing, however! Where is the wand of viscid globs? You got the spell, but you didn’t put the wand in there!
John’s Hot Pick
Ooh, gotta be the Familiar Spell feat. With this feat, you can “store” a spell that you have mastered through Spell Mastery in the mind of your familiar, giving you an extra spell slot per day. You can then cast it normally if your familiar is within 5 feet. Now how cool is that?!
Critical Fumble
I can understand putting derro, minotaurs, and the others with the “secondary” races, but I wonder why the illithids weren’t given the full treatment. I should think that, in campaigns that permit them as PCs, illithids would be a very attractive character option. I just feel that they are deserving of a lot more exposure than a single paragraph, and I hope that this is rectified in a web expansion.
The division of the “racial” feats is a little off, and it’s just enough to be annoying. Of the 24 feats described in Underdark, three are exclusive to drow (and a fourth requires levitate as a spell-like ability), two are exclusive to kuo-toa, one is exclusive to illithids, one is exclusive to grimlocks, one is shared between grimlocks and chitine, one is shared between deep Imasklar and gloaming, and one is shared between deep Imaskar and sylth. At the very least, I would like to have seen each race get at least two exclusive feats to which no other race had access. As it stands here, the drow (once again) inherit the lion’s share, while the chitines, gloamings, and sylths are left in the dark. This same racism can be observed in the prestige classes, though not quite so prevalently. Once again, I’d like to have seen at least one prestige class unique to each of the major Underdark races.
I think someone dropped the ball on the map. While the two-page spread was absolutely beautiful, I would love to have it in a poster map like the one that was included in the FORGOTTEN REALMS Campaign Setting! I’d love to have both of these maps framed and place on my wall, one above the other. In fact, such a map would have justified a small increase in the price of the book. Such a shame that this opportunity was missed.
Coup de Grace
If you DM the Forgotten Realms, put Underdark onto your Christmas wish list, because you’ll want to get your copy of this book. Even if the Realms aren’t your thing, you might want to consider taking a look at this product. Though the details are setting specific, a lot of it can be adapted (with a little effort) to suit almost any campaign setting, and there is a lot of good stuff here that isn’t setting-specific (such as the chapter on exploration). Don’t let a dislike of the Realms blind you to the possibilities, Underdark is a good primer for any DM who seeks to develop a vast underground realm for their campaign.
The book lacks an index, but the table of contents is comprehensive enough that an index really isn’t necessary, so this isn’t a major fault. Being an official WotC product, of course, there is no Open Game Content here. The artwork is, by and large, very well-done, with several pieces that stand out, such as the illithid body tamer on page 36. In all, an excellent book that should grace any Realms-fan’s shelf.
To see the graded evaluation of this product and to leave comments that the reviewer will respond to, go to The Critic's Corner at www.d20zines.com. The reviewer will not answer comments left here.
Initiative Round
Underdark is a Dungeons & Dragons Forgotten Realms supplement from Wizards of the Coast. The 192-page full-color hardcover is authored by Bruce R. Cordell, Gwendolyn F. M. Kestrel, and Jeff Quick and sports cover art by Sam Wood depicting a trio of our favorite iconics in a spot of trouble on the front and an aboleth commanding its kuo-toa army on the reverse. Interior art is by Kalman Andrasofszky, Matt Cavotta, Mike Dubisch, Wayne England, Matt Faulkner, Vance Kovacs, Vince Locke, Raven Mimura, Jim Pavalec, Vinod Rams, Richard Sardinha, Stephen Tappin, and Joel Thomas. Underdark retails for $32.95.
Dungeon exploration; some live for it, others hate it, but rare indeed is the seasoned adventurer who has never set foot into an underground realm. It is, after all, the very heart of the Dungeons & Dragons game! You doubt me? Just look at the title! Whether you like it or not, the dungeon is an essential part of what gives D&D its flavor.
For those who enjoy rooting about below ground, certainly there is no greater place of elation, a Mecca for the delver, if you will, than the Underdark. It stretches for thousands of miles beneath Faerûn, countless tunnels reaching through the gloom. It is a world unto itself, a hidden world where dark things plot and plan. Among the surface dwellers, it is a place of mystery and terrifying nightmares, but to those who live below, it is home.
After a brief primer on the realms below, Underdark jumps right in with both feet, starting off with some “new” PC races. I know that someone reading this has been dying to play a grimlock, so now you can do so, along with chitines, deep Imaskari, drow, duergar, gloamings, kuo-toa, slyths, and svirfneblin. Because some of you may not be familiar with a few of these, here’s a quick rundown: chitines are spider-like humanoids created by the drow, deep Imaskari are the descendents of the Imaskari empire (destroyed by the slaves they had captured from other worlds), duergar (gray dwarves) are deep-dwelling dwarves with inborn magical abilities, gloamings are the result of breeding between humans and denizens of the Plane of Shadow, grimlocks are blinded by millennia spent in darkness (but no less capable), kuo-toa are theocratic fishfolk who dwell in the deep seas and lakes of the Underdark, slyths are humanoid shapechangers with ties to the Elemental Plane of Water, and svirfneblin (deep gnomes) are suspicious and serious miners of the deep realms. If you don’t know who or what the drow are, I can only assume that you’ve been under a rock for the past decade or so or that you are new to the game. In any case, pick up almost any R. A. Salvatore novel.
There are other races available for use as player characters, but these are not given the detailed treatment of the nine mentioned previously. Instead, they are relegated to a table, providing starting hit dice, level adjustment, and favored class. Following this is a one-paragraph overview of the race. These options include derro, mind flayers, orogs, minotaurs, quaggoths, tanarukks, and troglodytes.
New character options mean new regions and feats. An established “region” is given for each of the six new races (chitine, deep Imaskar, gloaming, grimlock, kuo-toa, and slyth; the others have already been covered in the FORGOTTEN REALMS Campaign Setting book. Twenty-five new feats are also introduced in Underdark, with about half of them being limited to certain races. Most are general feats, with one new metamagic feat, one new item creation feat, and one wild feat (Extra Wild Shape, reprinted from Masters of the Wild) rounding out the selection.
A dozen new prestige classes add some flavor to the setting, with the balance slightly more evenly distributed between the races. Arachnomancers are arcanists specializing in spider magic, and the class is open to any evil character (though it’s rather obvious where the focus lies). Cave lords are self-proclaimed protectors of the Realms Below, while deep diviners are intimate of the earth and all that it hides. The drow judicator is (obviously) limited to drow only, and is a dark elf knight, a mortal imbued with fiendish cruelty. Illithid body tamers believe that military might is the key to rulership, while the Imaskari vengeance takers are a secret society dedicated to righting wrongs. Kuo-toan inquisitors of the Drowning Goddess are tasked with protecting the kuo-toan community from inside threats, the prime Underdark guide knows the twists, turns, nooks, and crannies of the countless passages and corridors of the Underdark, and the kuo-toan Sea Mother whips seek closer communion with their goddess. Shadowcrafters are masters of illusion, vermin keepers practice mastery over insects, while chitine Yathchol webriders move along the hidden lines of the complex network they call the Overweb.
The Underdark is full of unique elements. Strange radiations, a new form of magic, and portals to other planes and places abound in these endless chambers. Node magic taps the natural pools and streams of power that collect and run below the earth. By tapping the power of these nodes, a spellcaster skilled in the ways of mode magic can gain spells to fill empty slots, gain a bonus to effective caster level, or store items so that they are not readily visible. In addition to these elements, Underdark introduces three new domains; Balance, an alternate Portal domain, and the Watery Death prestige domain. Prestige domains can be taken only by characters with access to a prestige class that grants them. There are also 34 new spells described here.
Underdark presents five brand new weapons, along with a new feature for armor and shields, razors. Several new armor types are offered, along with a fair assortment of poisons and alchemical items unique to the deep realms. Twelve new armor and/or weapon special abilities are introduced, including drowcraft, which grants a bonus under certain circumstances, but makes the weapon extremely vulnerable to sunlight (this can also be applied to armor). With the change to 3E, drow weapons lost their vulnerability to sunlight, and I’m glad to see it restored, if only for certain items. Readers will also find eight specific weapons, three specific armors, four rings, five rods, seven staves, and 24 wondrous items (including the very useful daylight pellet). There are also six minor artifacts, two major artifacts, and a new type of magical item, the illithid graft.
The Underdark has earned its reputation as a place fraught with danger, and contributing to that reputation are less well-organized denizens that dwell below. Underdark presents almost two dozen of those denizens, ranging from CR ½ to CR 23. Among these new monsters are five new templates; the arachnoid creature, the chameleon creature, the faerzress-infused creature, the half-illithid, and the mineral warrior. I was also glad to see the return of the lurker above to the D&D game (though it’s now known simply as the lurker, and it’s changed slightly in appearance). These monsters have been responsible for many a character death over the years in my campaign, and I’d all but forgotten them with the advent of 3E.
Delvers who routinely explore the depths of the earth will want to check out the chapter entitled “Exploring the Underdark.” It’s full of good information on the topography of the Realms Below, including the different features that may be encountered, the types of rocks that a traveler may find, and dangers that lurk in the darkness (like gas pockets). For the DM, this section is also good reading, as it details three new diseases and four hazards unique to the environment. Spelunking, tight squeezes, and encounter tables are all collected here, making this chapter an invaluable resource, regardless of where your campaign is set. The Underdark primer introduces the three layers of the Underdark, and the races that are most likely to be encountered therein. If you thought that the drow were the greatest threat beneath the surface of the world, take a walk through the Lowerdark and meet some of the things that call that realm home.
The last half or so of the book is devoted to the geography of the Underdark, and opens with a beautiful full-color map in a two-page spread that depicts the major locations. All of the landmarks of the Underdark are described here, divided by domain (there are nine major domains: the Buried Realms, the Darklands, the Deep Wastes, the Earthroot, the Glimmersea, Great Bhaeryden, the Northdark, and Old Shanatar). Sites of interest, NPCs of note, magic items, maps, traps, and role-playing notes abound in this section. Better still, it’s as much an entertaining read as it is a reference.
UNderdark finishes up with a handful of adventure hooks, and three adventure sites (mini-adventures). In “Drowned Multum,” characters enter an underground reservoir that was once a thriving city, coming in through the former armory, where danger awaits. “Gduar’s Garden” is an underground forest of fungi, the home of a most odd being that doesn’t particularly care for visitors. Finally, in “Shape of Water,” adventurers stumble upon an aboleth fortress in the recesses of the Lowerdark.
Critical Hit
It’s been a long time since we’ve seen a good Underdark sourcebook (and don’t go citing Drizzt Do’Urden’s Guide to the Underdark from 2nd edition, either; that was a load of crap!), and Underdark makes the wait worthwhile! Though aimed at the Forgotten Realms, this book will be of value to most any DM that has an underground realm that stretches beneath the campaign world. There’s a lot of good stuff in here, and it shouldn’t be overlooked just because of the FR logo on the cover.
Specific “critical hits,” in my eyes, would certainly include the map. I can’t rave enough over it, but I only wish it had been included as a poster map matching the one in the FRCS! The new races are exciting, though I think that the drow (already described in the FRCS [and a few thousand other sources]) could have been dropped in favor of the mind flayers. The illithids really needed more press than they received. The new monsters were also a blessing. I can’t wait to see the looks on the faces of my players when a stone flyer rises out of the rock in front of them!
The new equipment and magical items present some welcome additions. Readers of Salvatore’s “Drow” series will remember the battlerager that had the razored armor, and I was disgusted that such wasn’t described in the 3E rules (when spiked armor was included). Finally, it has made it! I was also very happy to see the drowcraft enhancement that brings back the flavor of those drow weapons and armor that disintegrate in sunlight. One thing that was missing, however! Where is the wand of viscid globs? You got the spell, but you didn’t put the wand in there!
John’s Hot Pick
Ooh, gotta be the Familiar Spell feat. With this feat, you can “store” a spell that you have mastered through Spell Mastery in the mind of your familiar, giving you an extra spell slot per day. You can then cast it normally if your familiar is within 5 feet. Now how cool is that?!
Critical Fumble
I can understand putting derro, minotaurs, and the others with the “secondary” races, but I wonder why the illithids weren’t given the full treatment. I should think that, in campaigns that permit them as PCs, illithids would be a very attractive character option. I just feel that they are deserving of a lot more exposure than a single paragraph, and I hope that this is rectified in a web expansion.
The division of the “racial” feats is a little off, and it’s just enough to be annoying. Of the 24 feats described in Underdark, three are exclusive to drow (and a fourth requires levitate as a spell-like ability), two are exclusive to kuo-toa, one is exclusive to illithids, one is exclusive to grimlocks, one is shared between grimlocks and chitine, one is shared between deep Imasklar and gloaming, and one is shared between deep Imaskar and sylth. At the very least, I would like to have seen each race get at least two exclusive feats to which no other race had access. As it stands here, the drow (once again) inherit the lion’s share, while the chitines, gloamings, and sylths are left in the dark. This same racism can be observed in the prestige classes, though not quite so prevalently. Once again, I’d like to have seen at least one prestige class unique to each of the major Underdark races.
I think someone dropped the ball on the map. While the two-page spread was absolutely beautiful, I would love to have it in a poster map like the one that was included in the FORGOTTEN REALMS Campaign Setting! I’d love to have both of these maps framed and place on my wall, one above the other. In fact, such a map would have justified a small increase in the price of the book. Such a shame that this opportunity was missed.
Coup de Grace
If you DM the Forgotten Realms, put Underdark onto your Christmas wish list, because you’ll want to get your copy of this book. Even if the Realms aren’t your thing, you might want to consider taking a look at this product. Though the details are setting specific, a lot of it can be adapted (with a little effort) to suit almost any campaign setting, and there is a lot of good stuff here that isn’t setting-specific (such as the chapter on exploration). Don’t let a dislike of the Realms blind you to the possibilities, Underdark is a good primer for any DM who seeks to develop a vast underground realm for their campaign.
The book lacks an index, but the table of contents is comprehensive enough that an index really isn’t necessary, so this isn’t a major fault. Being an official WotC product, of course, there is no Open Game Content here. The artwork is, by and large, very well-done, with several pieces that stand out, such as the illithid body tamer on page 36. In all, an excellent book that should grace any Realms-fan’s shelf.
To see the graded evaluation of this product and to leave comments that the reviewer will respond to, go to The Critic's Corner at www.d20zines.com. The reviewer will not answer comments left here.
JoeGKushner
Adventurer
Wizard's of the Coast latest Forgotten Realms book, Underdark, provides a lot of crunch for any campaign while providing information on the setting at the same time. Unfortunately, it's also tied up into the commercial machine of Forgotten Realms so events in the novels which aren't resolved yet are still taking place in this book.
Looking at the back, it notes that there are 16 character races here. Well, depending on how you define that, the statement may not be true. For racial traits, there are only nine races detailed and of those nine, some of them have racial traits in the 3.5 Monster Manual. Why do I need for example, drow stats? “To use this accessory, you also need the... Monster Manual.”Okay, so now I have the Monster Manual and a bunch of stats listed out twice.
And what's worse about these stats is that they provide no information on Challenge Rating. It's okay to aim material at the players, but don't forget the GM. What is the challenge rating for a Mind Flayer with levels? Not listed here so I have to flip back to my Monster Manual to get a base CR. What's with the inconsistencies of using one thing for levels? Level Adjustment is nice but really, worthless. Get rid of it and use the Effective Character Level. Why do I have to look in two places, Hit Dice and Level Adjustment, for something that Wizards of the Coast should standardize and make simple for me? I also wonder at the wisdom of having a level adjustment and a hit die adjustment for a final adjustment. The Kuo-Toa, even at 2 hit die with some useful abilities, does not look like an ECL 5 to me.
Well, outside of my rant on how races should be standardized, the racial material is good. The Chitine, Deep Imaskari, Drow, Duergar, Gloaming, Grimlock, Kuo-toa, Slyth and Svirfneblin are all fully provided details in background, culture, and racial terms . This includes starting ages, aging effects, height, weight. Now the Derro, Mind Flayers, Minotaurs, Orog, Quaggoth, Tanarukk and Troglodytes on the other hand, get a brief table with Race, Starting Hit Dice, Level Adjustment and Favored Class, followed by a paragraph or so on each race. No information on the stats like age, height and weight. I guess that white paragraph or two or space at the bottom of page 21 would've been too crowded with those details.
Now the back also notes 24 new feats. These range from some that are useful for anyone,but limited, like the racial Axeshield for the Grimlock where they gain a bonus to Armor Class while using a full attack action with a battle axe, to Bowslinger, a general feat that provides a bonus to attacking flat-footed opponents when throwing or firing a ranged weapon.
Others are more Underdark based ranging from Highborn Drow to regain some of the lost abilities in 3rd edition like detect good, detect magic and levitate, as well as Caver, with the dreaded +2 bonus to two skills (Heal and Survival). The bad thing about Caver though is that it's use is limited to the Underdark so most player should just find another +2 to two skills feat without the location limit, or the GM should increase the bonus. Overall these feats provide a nice range of options for characters native to the Underdark and even some useful material that can be used by any character like Extra Wild Shape.
Now no WotC book would be complete without Prestige Classes, and here they really customize an Underdark Campaign. These range from the spellcasting arachnomancer and their spider based abilities to the vermin keeper, a master of insects that gains a vermin companion as well as numerous abilities relating to vermin. One thing I liked was that some of the PrCs can be taken by surface dwellers to get to the Underdark like the Cavelord and the Prime Underdark Guide. This provides the link a GM can use to get parties from the surface to the Underdark in the first place.
Now the Underdark in the Forgotten Realms has always had a high dose of magic to it. That's supposed to be why the drow are so much more inherently powerful than surface elves. Node Magic is detailed and it actually includes information on using them not only with spells, but with psionics. Portals also get a quick detailing.
The real meat of this section is in the domains and spells. Balance, Portal (alternative version), and Watery Death, a Prestige Domain, join new spells for all of the core classes, and even core prestige classes like the assassin and blackguard. Several spells are concerned with nodes either finding them, prevent others from finding them, or teleporting between them. Other spells are old favorites like Viscid Glob, a ranged glue attack. Many other spells provide options not used before like Walls of Dispel Magic where anyone who walks through a transparent wall you summon, are subject to a greater dispel magic.
Okay, so we've gone through races, feats, prestige classes, the Realms specific stuff has to be next right? Nope. In an effort to perhaps make this the only Underdark book you'll ever need, there are also chapters on equipment and magic items, monsters, and exploring the Underdark. Now that last one is important as it sounds like it's FR specific, but instead, it covers ideas about what you could find in such an environment.
The equipment details weapons and armor, as well as poisons and other equipment. This includes new methods of firing darts via the dart thruster as well as the pincer staff used by the Kuo-toa. The magic items on the other hand, provide both GM and players with lots of toys. Mind Flayers can now use the Cepalometer to dominate their opponents while drow can call upon their Spider Staffs even as players seek out such tomes as the Book of Perfect Balance (perhaps another mature title next year) or the Gauntlet of Disintegration.
The monsters include a nice little tribute to Dagon in the form of the Kuo-Toa Leviathan, as well as creatures strong enough to battle those near epic heroes like the annihilators, creatures that look like rust monsters but instead of rust, disintegrate. One of the nice things about the monster section is that it includes a ranking by CR, although with no page listing.
So after all of the advice on going into the Underdark, after the encounter tables, after the breakdown of the different levels of the Underdark, we're on page 122, and we finally get to the Forgotten Realms locations. It provides a quick breakdown of the different types of regions, ranging from the Buried Realms and the Glimmersea, to the Deep Wastes and the Northdark. Now one of the cool things here is a two page spread of the Forgotten Realms, but seen from the Underdark perspective. This is a great map and allows a GM currently playing, see how he could get his players involved with the Underdark, and what region they'd be in when they do so.
After that, the sites of interest start. Most of these are short with location and important notes with a few maps through in. For example, while Araumycos, in the Upper Northdark has no map, perhaps because it's a single fungal creature. The Blessed Seahaven, a small town however, does. Others, like the Boneyard, have information on location and history, even a section on denizens, but no map. That's too bad as one of my fondest memorizes of the old 2nd edition hardcover, Forgotten Realms Adventures, was the city maps that accompanies a page or so of text. The well known places get more than a few paragraphs though, as Menzoberranzan gets almost four pages of information.
To close things off, Adventures in the Underdark, provides some ideas on what to actually do in these locals. The nice thing about this section is the adventure sites, small maps with full stats for encounters. These can be put into almost any setting with a little tweaking. These include the Drowned Multum, Gduar's Garden, and Shape of Water,
Part of my problem with the book's setting is that it takes place during a major novel event. I know I'm not the only person who wishes that the Forgotten Realms wasn't so tied into the marketing machine and that things could occasionally go without such problem issues. While the book notes you can ignore the material, there are several references to the novels. For instance, Menzoberranzan is under siege. Okay, so now I'm ignoring the novels, the notes, and the siege? It snowballs a little but with some careful reading to remove all such references, isn't too much of a problem.
Art and layout are standard Forgotten Realms mode. This means that the pages have a faded yellow look to them with orange background objects, and great art from some of the industries finest. Layout is solid with no pictures cropping into the text. Editing is fair with clarification rarely needed. Column use ranges from two to three, such as when dealing with spells.
The book presents a very strong entry for the Underdark as an adventuring local for 3rd edition. The introduction of the races here left a bad taste in my mouth and the tie ins to the novels helped make that taste go from bad to worse but those are issues others may not have. Players without access to the Monster Manual will get a lot out of the book, and GM's who are interested in starting an all Underdark campaign will find this an invaluable aid.
Looking at the back, it notes that there are 16 character races here. Well, depending on how you define that, the statement may not be true. For racial traits, there are only nine races detailed and of those nine, some of them have racial traits in the 3.5 Monster Manual. Why do I need for example, drow stats? “To use this accessory, you also need the... Monster Manual.”Okay, so now I have the Monster Manual and a bunch of stats listed out twice.
And what's worse about these stats is that they provide no information on Challenge Rating. It's okay to aim material at the players, but don't forget the GM. What is the challenge rating for a Mind Flayer with levels? Not listed here so I have to flip back to my Monster Manual to get a base CR. What's with the inconsistencies of using one thing for levels? Level Adjustment is nice but really, worthless. Get rid of it and use the Effective Character Level. Why do I have to look in two places, Hit Dice and Level Adjustment, for something that Wizards of the Coast should standardize and make simple for me? I also wonder at the wisdom of having a level adjustment and a hit die adjustment for a final adjustment. The Kuo-Toa, even at 2 hit die with some useful abilities, does not look like an ECL 5 to me.
Well, outside of my rant on how races should be standardized, the racial material is good. The Chitine, Deep Imaskari, Drow, Duergar, Gloaming, Grimlock, Kuo-toa, Slyth and Svirfneblin are all fully provided details in background, culture, and racial terms . This includes starting ages, aging effects, height, weight. Now the Derro, Mind Flayers, Minotaurs, Orog, Quaggoth, Tanarukk and Troglodytes on the other hand, get a brief table with Race, Starting Hit Dice, Level Adjustment and Favored Class, followed by a paragraph or so on each race. No information on the stats like age, height and weight. I guess that white paragraph or two or space at the bottom of page 21 would've been too crowded with those details.
Now the back also notes 24 new feats. These range from some that are useful for anyone,but limited, like the racial Axeshield for the Grimlock where they gain a bonus to Armor Class while using a full attack action with a battle axe, to Bowslinger, a general feat that provides a bonus to attacking flat-footed opponents when throwing or firing a ranged weapon.
Others are more Underdark based ranging from Highborn Drow to regain some of the lost abilities in 3rd edition like detect good, detect magic and levitate, as well as Caver, with the dreaded +2 bonus to two skills (Heal and Survival). The bad thing about Caver though is that it's use is limited to the Underdark so most player should just find another +2 to two skills feat without the location limit, or the GM should increase the bonus. Overall these feats provide a nice range of options for characters native to the Underdark and even some useful material that can be used by any character like Extra Wild Shape.
Now no WotC book would be complete without Prestige Classes, and here they really customize an Underdark Campaign. These range from the spellcasting arachnomancer and their spider based abilities to the vermin keeper, a master of insects that gains a vermin companion as well as numerous abilities relating to vermin. One thing I liked was that some of the PrCs can be taken by surface dwellers to get to the Underdark like the Cavelord and the Prime Underdark Guide. This provides the link a GM can use to get parties from the surface to the Underdark in the first place.
Now the Underdark in the Forgotten Realms has always had a high dose of magic to it. That's supposed to be why the drow are so much more inherently powerful than surface elves. Node Magic is detailed and it actually includes information on using them not only with spells, but with psionics. Portals also get a quick detailing.
The real meat of this section is in the domains and spells. Balance, Portal (alternative version), and Watery Death, a Prestige Domain, join new spells for all of the core classes, and even core prestige classes like the assassin and blackguard. Several spells are concerned with nodes either finding them, prevent others from finding them, or teleporting between them. Other spells are old favorites like Viscid Glob, a ranged glue attack. Many other spells provide options not used before like Walls of Dispel Magic where anyone who walks through a transparent wall you summon, are subject to a greater dispel magic.
Okay, so we've gone through races, feats, prestige classes, the Realms specific stuff has to be next right? Nope. In an effort to perhaps make this the only Underdark book you'll ever need, there are also chapters on equipment and magic items, monsters, and exploring the Underdark. Now that last one is important as it sounds like it's FR specific, but instead, it covers ideas about what you could find in such an environment.
The equipment details weapons and armor, as well as poisons and other equipment. This includes new methods of firing darts via the dart thruster as well as the pincer staff used by the Kuo-toa. The magic items on the other hand, provide both GM and players with lots of toys. Mind Flayers can now use the Cepalometer to dominate their opponents while drow can call upon their Spider Staffs even as players seek out such tomes as the Book of Perfect Balance (perhaps another mature title next year) or the Gauntlet of Disintegration.
The monsters include a nice little tribute to Dagon in the form of the Kuo-Toa Leviathan, as well as creatures strong enough to battle those near epic heroes like the annihilators, creatures that look like rust monsters but instead of rust, disintegrate. One of the nice things about the monster section is that it includes a ranking by CR, although with no page listing.
So after all of the advice on going into the Underdark, after the encounter tables, after the breakdown of the different levels of the Underdark, we're on page 122, and we finally get to the Forgotten Realms locations. It provides a quick breakdown of the different types of regions, ranging from the Buried Realms and the Glimmersea, to the Deep Wastes and the Northdark. Now one of the cool things here is a two page spread of the Forgotten Realms, but seen from the Underdark perspective. This is a great map and allows a GM currently playing, see how he could get his players involved with the Underdark, and what region they'd be in when they do so.
After that, the sites of interest start. Most of these are short with location and important notes with a few maps through in. For example, while Araumycos, in the Upper Northdark has no map, perhaps because it's a single fungal creature. The Blessed Seahaven, a small town however, does. Others, like the Boneyard, have information on location and history, even a section on denizens, but no map. That's too bad as one of my fondest memorizes of the old 2nd edition hardcover, Forgotten Realms Adventures, was the city maps that accompanies a page or so of text. The well known places get more than a few paragraphs though, as Menzoberranzan gets almost four pages of information.
To close things off, Adventures in the Underdark, provides some ideas on what to actually do in these locals. The nice thing about this section is the adventure sites, small maps with full stats for encounters. These can be put into almost any setting with a little tweaking. These include the Drowned Multum, Gduar's Garden, and Shape of Water,
Part of my problem with the book's setting is that it takes place during a major novel event. I know I'm not the only person who wishes that the Forgotten Realms wasn't so tied into the marketing machine and that things could occasionally go without such problem issues. While the book notes you can ignore the material, there are several references to the novels. For instance, Menzoberranzan is under siege. Okay, so now I'm ignoring the novels, the notes, and the siege? It snowballs a little but with some careful reading to remove all such references, isn't too much of a problem.
Art and layout are standard Forgotten Realms mode. This means that the pages have a faded yellow look to them with orange background objects, and great art from some of the industries finest. Layout is solid with no pictures cropping into the text. Editing is fair with clarification rarely needed. Column use ranges from two to three, such as when dealing with spells.
The book presents a very strong entry for the Underdark as an adventuring local for 3rd edition. The introduction of the races here left a bad taste in my mouth and the tie ins to the novels helped make that taste go from bad to worse but those are issues others may not have. Players without access to the Monster Manual will get a lot out of the book, and GM's who are interested in starting an all Underdark campaign will find this an invaluable aid.
John Cooper
Explorer
UNDERDARK
By Bruce R. Cordell, Gwendolyn F. M. Kestrel, and Jeff Quick
Wizards of the Coast product number 885810000
192 pages, $32.95
Underdark is a Forgotten Realms product that has been sitting on my shelf for some time (it was published in 2003). As is often the case, I picked it up when it came out because I was interested in the subject matter, but then it got pushed to the side due to one thing or another. I recently found myself without anything else to review and decided that now would be the perfect time to finally get around to reading (and reviewing) it.
The cover artwork is by Sam Wood, and depicts a band of three adventurers surrounded by skum. The piece is very dark, with the only source of illumination being a sunrod held by the middlemost adventurer, a barefoot, human woman. (She's apparently been through some rough times: if you look closely, not only has she lost her boots, but she's got parallel scars across her right eye - a very nice detail that adds some personality to an otherwise "generic" adventurer.) Her companions seem to be a heavily-armored (and beardless!) dwarf and a rather stupid-looking elf (not that he was rendered poorly, just that, from his facial expression alone, it looks like he used Intelligence as his "dump stat"). Sam did a pretty good job of getting in some nice detail despite the lack of illumination (which I can't complain about too much, as this scene is supposed to take place in the lightless realms of the Underdark). The back cover continues the scene, only now everything is illuminated by an eerie, bluish glow (no doubt coming from that ever-present, phosphorescent fungi that has a tendency to helpfully light up what would otherwise be completely pitch black): an aboleth rises up from a subterranean pool, sending forth its skum minions to aid the others surrounding the adventurers on the front. Yep, there's little doubt about it: those adventurers are screwed!
The interior artwork consists of 57 full-color illustrations, 9 full-color maps (one of which spans two full pages!), and 9 monochromatic rune emblems at the chapter headings, all provided by a team of 13 different artists. As always when the "artist pool" is so large, the quality of the artwork tends to span a considerable range, with some truly excellent pieces (the kuo-toa leviathan on page 92, the gray dwarf under the effects of a camouflage spell on page 57) and some lesser works (the "little more than a watercolor sketch" earth node wizard on page 51, the rather cartoonish maur on page 95, the "there's no way my leg could really bend in this way" slave with drow slavemaster on page 182). Taken as a whole, it's pretty good, but at the same time it isn't quite as good (on the whole) as some of the other Wizards of the Coast books that have come out in recent years.
The book is broken down as follows:
There were, however, a couple of problems with the monster stats. (Okay, more than a couple). I suggest making the following changes:
However, getting past the stat block errors, Underdark does have some pretty neat material in it. New PC races are always interesting, and besides the humanoid "monsters" we've already seen in previous books (kuo-toas, duergar, drow, etc.) there's also the gloaming, a kind of shadow-fey, and the slyth, a humanoid shapechanger whose true form is an amorphous puddle (think of Odo from Star Trek: Deep Space 9). Both are welcome additions, and somewhat more interesting than some of the new races that have shown up in similar books. The prestige classes are pretty well done, and if I don't have anything glowing to say about them it's because it takes a lot to impress me with prestige classes nowadays. These are serviceable for those interested in such things, although I think some of them might have been "forced" to spread over a full 10 levels. (The Sea Mother Whip's "Punish the Infidels" class ability confuses me a little, though: is that supposed to be a continuous effect, or can the sea mother whip only use it a certain number of times per day? Does she have to consciously activate it, or is it automatic? It doesn't say.) I did enjoy many of the spells, although truthfully I've seen a bunch of them elsewhere, either in other 3.0/3.5 D&D books or in previous editions of the game (viscid glob, for instance - I remember that one from back in the AD&D 2nd Edition days).
The new monsters chapter - usually my favorite in books like these - seemed a bit bland to me, however. Part of it seemed to be a bit of too much of the same old stuff: since the baphitaur are tiefling minotaurs, why couldn't they have picked a different creature for the faerzress-infused template besides another minotaur? Likewise, the lith is a sort of psionic gargoyle, the stony devil looks rather gargoylelike (another poor choice for a templated creature), and the stone flyer is basically a "winged wolf" gargoyle. A little more variety would have been nice. Still, it was nice to see the return of some old favorites, like the lurker (formerly known as the "lurker above") and the gloura (originally from a Wolfgang Baur article in Dragon #227).
There is some pretty cool stuff in Underdark. I really like the Tome of Books, a minor artifact that allows a wizard to store up to 150 books in a single tome (rather handy when trekking across the Underdark). I also really liked the concept of "clear black rock' - basically, a type of stone that is completely invisible, but only to darkvision. That opens up all kinds of adventure possibilities, particularly in the area of "villain headquarters construction." (However, the next page over the authors provide the concept of "quickstone" - a "solid rock" version of quicksand - that just makes me scratch my head and wonder "Who seriously thought that was a good idea?)
Oddly enough, I rather enjoyed the "Forgotten Realms specific locations" information in Chapter 8 this time around. Normally, those sections are a somewhat tedious read for me, as I don't run a Realms game and the information is thus of limited personal use. I'm not sure whether it's because the locations were just more interesting this time around, or whether it's the fact that the entire "Forgotten Realms Underdark" is so much more portable to other campaign worlds than chunks of Toril's surface area are, but whatever the reason, I really enjoyed that section. (Except for some of the names, though. Generally, I prefer the Realms' naming conventions over Greyhawk's - I'll take "Shadowdale" and "Waterdeep" over "Nyr Dyv" and "Pomarj" any day - but so many of the Underdark names just make my head hurt. Try on "Fraaszummdin," "Undrek'thoz," or "Ultoksamrin" on for size yourselves.)
Then there's also the problem of the "dated material," specifically because somebody high up the decision ladder decided to tie in Underdark, which could reasonably have been expected to be a relatively "standalone" product, with the events in a series of Forgotten Realms novels. In the novels, Lolth the spider-goddess (revered by the drow) goes suddenly incommunicado, and none of her priestesses receive their cleric spells. Now Underdark is "frozen in time" at that particular moment, although I believe that the "silent Lolth" crisis has resolved itself over in the novels (I haven't read them myself), making a good chunk of Underdark already obsolete after a mere two years. This doesn't have any effect upon me personally - I don't run a Realms campaign, and am planning on just stealing chunks of the book for my own campaign - but I can see it being rather disappointing to those who do game in the Forgotten Realms.
The mini-adventures in the back seemed a bit on the bland side, also. "Drowned Multum" seems like something any DM could whip together with very little thought; "Gdaur's Garden" is a bit more interesting, with all of the fungal monsters, but "Shape of Water" just seems like an excuse to throw something weird into a cavern (a hovering sphere of water with an aboleth in it) with little explanation. Worse yet, all three mimi-adventures are clumped together in the same general Encounter Level grouping (with highest-ELs-in-the-adventure being 14, 14, and 15), making them of limited use for those whose PCs aren't in that narrow range. Even restricting myself to Forgotten Realms books, I've seen much better.
And that seems to be my overall impression of Underdark: it's okay as it is, but it seems like it really could have been much better. Perhaps it's because I've always been fascinated by the concept of the Underdark, or maybe I was expecting a much better book seeing that Bruce R. Cordell was one of the authors (he's done some truly excellent work in the past), but I really can't muster enough enthusiasm for this book to give it more than a "3 (Average)." A high "3," granted, but a "3" nonetheless.
By Bruce R. Cordell, Gwendolyn F. M. Kestrel, and Jeff Quick
Wizards of the Coast product number 885810000
192 pages, $32.95
Underdark is a Forgotten Realms product that has been sitting on my shelf for some time (it was published in 2003). As is often the case, I picked it up when it came out because I was interested in the subject matter, but then it got pushed to the side due to one thing or another. I recently found myself without anything else to review and decided that now would be the perfect time to finally get around to reading (and reviewing) it.
The cover artwork is by Sam Wood, and depicts a band of three adventurers surrounded by skum. The piece is very dark, with the only source of illumination being a sunrod held by the middlemost adventurer, a barefoot, human woman. (She's apparently been through some rough times: if you look closely, not only has she lost her boots, but she's got parallel scars across her right eye - a very nice detail that adds some personality to an otherwise "generic" adventurer.) Her companions seem to be a heavily-armored (and beardless!) dwarf and a rather stupid-looking elf (not that he was rendered poorly, just that, from his facial expression alone, it looks like he used Intelligence as his "dump stat"). Sam did a pretty good job of getting in some nice detail despite the lack of illumination (which I can't complain about too much, as this scene is supposed to take place in the lightless realms of the Underdark). The back cover continues the scene, only now everything is illuminated by an eerie, bluish glow (no doubt coming from that ever-present, phosphorescent fungi that has a tendency to helpfully light up what would otherwise be completely pitch black): an aboleth rises up from a subterranean pool, sending forth its skum minions to aid the others surrounding the adventurers on the front. Yep, there's little doubt about it: those adventurers are screwed!
The interior artwork consists of 57 full-color illustrations, 9 full-color maps (one of which spans two full pages!), and 9 monochromatic rune emblems at the chapter headings, all provided by a team of 13 different artists. As always when the "artist pool" is so large, the quality of the artwork tends to span a considerable range, with some truly excellent pieces (the kuo-toa leviathan on page 92, the gray dwarf under the effects of a camouflage spell on page 57) and some lesser works (the "little more than a watercolor sketch" earth node wizard on page 51, the rather cartoonish maur on page 95, the "there's no way my leg could really bend in this way" slave with drow slavemaster on page 182). Taken as a whole, it's pretty good, but at the same time it isn't quite as good (on the whole) as some of the other Wizards of the Coast books that have come out in recent years.
The book is broken down as follows:
- Introduction: How to use this book in your campaign, plus a list of monsters from other books (Monsters of Faerûn, Monster Manual II, Psionics Handbook (the original one, as the Expanded Psionics Handbook hadn't been released yet) that would be appropriate to an Underdark campaign (and substitutions from the Monster Manual for those without those books).
- Chapter 1 - Races: Information on chitines, deep Imaskari, drow, duergar, gloamings, grimlocks, kuo-toas, slyths, and svirfneblin as Player Characters, each complete with personality, physical descriptions, relations with other races, alignment, religion, language, sample names, adventurer types, and regions from the Forgotten Realms where they're most often found. There's also a little information on playing derro, mind flayer, minotaur, orog, quaggoth, tanarukk, and troglodyte PCs.
- Chapter 2 - Regions and Feats: Regions of the Underdark from which a PC might come, each with information on the preferred classes, automatic/bonus languages, regional feats, and bonus equipment for PCs from that region, followed by 24 feats appropriate to the Underdark.
- Chapter 3 - Prestige Classes: The arachnomancer, cavelord, deep diviner, drow judicator, illithid body tamer, Imaskari vengeance taker, inquisitor of the drowning goddess, prime Underdark guide, sea mother whip, shadowcrafter, vermin keeper, and yathchol webrider, all but two of them of 10 levels each. (The two specifically intended for kuo-toas are both 5-level prestige classes; I wonder why they got the short end of the stick?)
- Chapter 4 - Magic and Spells: Faerzress (magical radiance that messes up divination and teleportation magic), node magic (tapping into magical pools of energy that amass underground), portals, 3 new clerical domains (Balance, Portal, and Watery Death), and 45 new spells.
- Chapter 5 - Equipment and Magic Items: 5 new weapons, 12 types of armor, 7 new types of adventuring equipment, 5 new poisons, 10 new magic weapon properties, 8 new magic weapons, 5 new magic armor properties, 3 new types of magic armor, 4 magic rings, 5 magic rods, 7 magic staffs, 21 new wondrous items, 6 minor artifacts, 2 major artifacts, and 4 illithid grafts.
- Chapter 6 - Monsters: 16 new monsters and 5 new templates.
- Chapter 7 - Exploring the Underdark: Details on underground geology and environments, types of rocks, illumination, air breathability, climate, ecology (including 9 new types of plants and fungi), animal life, hazards, spelunking, encounter tables, and the differences between the Upperdark, Middledark, and Lowerdark.
- Chapter 8 - Geography: Alphabetical sites of interest in the Underdark of the Forgotten Realms.
- Chapter 9 - Adventures in the Underdark: 11 "adventure seed" locations, plus 3 short adventures (each with 4 or 5 keyed locations).
There were, however, a couple of problems with the monster stats. (Okay, more than a couple). I suggest making the following changes:
- p. 78, All-Consuming Hunger: No Level Adjustment is provided; presumably it's "-." The DC 21 Fortitude save for its distraction special attack isn't Constitution-based, it's Charisma-based. (Either that, or the DC should be 18).
- pp. 79-80, Annihilator: No Level Adjustment is provided; presumably it's "-."
- p. 80, Arachnoid Mouther: No Level Adjustment is provided; presumably it's "-."
- p. 83, Chameleon Bugbear: No Special Attacks line is provided; presumably it's "-." Since the creature has no touch spells, his "tongue +3 ranged attack (see text)" is pointless, especially since there is no "text" that describes the attack in any case. (A chameleon creature's tongue attack is used to make touch spells; it's surprising that they didn't pick a more appropriate base creature for the template example.)
- p. 84, Earth Glider: 20 feet does not equal 6 squares! Its "Speed" entry should either read "20 ft. (4 squares)" or "30 ft. (6 squares)" - my guess is the former. No Level Adjustment is provided; presumably it's "-."
- pp. 84-85, Elder Brain: No Level Adjustment is provided; presumably it's "-." Also, having brain golems just be flesh golems with a different appearance is quite a cop-out, it seems to me. (Fortunately, an updated set of Elder Brain stats shows up in Lords of Madness, and the Brain Golem stats appear in the Fiend Folio).
- p. 87, Giant Cockroach: No touch or flat-footed AC values are given; they should be touch 14, flat-footed 16. The "Advancement" line shows 8 HD being both a Medium and Large cockroach; the correct Advancement would be 5-8 HD (Medium); 9-12 HD (Large). Despite gaining no skill points (as a vermin), its Skills line should still incorporate its racial skill bonus, so "Skills" should read "Climb +17, Hide +14, Move Silently +10." No Level Adjustment is provided; presumably it's "-."
- p. 88, Giant Maggot: No touch or flat-footed AC values are given; they should be touch 12, flat-footed 12. No Level Adjustment is provided; presumably it's "-."
- p. 89, Half-Illithid, Mindwitness: Flat-footed AC should be 25, not 24 (-1 size, +16 natural).
- p. 91, Ineffable Horror: No Level Adjustment is provided; presumably it's "-."
- p. 92, Kuo-Toa Leviathan: No Space/Reach entry is provided; presumably it should be "15 ft./15 ft." No Level Adjustment is provided; presumably it's "-."
- p. 94, Lurker: No Level Adjustment is provided; presumably it's "-."
- p. 95, Maur: When unfurled, AC should be 27, not 23 (-1 size, +9 natural, +5 stonemail, +4 morale); touch AC should be 13, not 12; flat-footed AC should be 27, not 23; Grapple attacks should be at +23, not +27 (+9 BAB, +4 size, +10 Str); and Huge warhammer attacks should be at +18 melee, not +17 (+9 BAB, -1 size, +10 Str) (and under Full Attack they should be at +18/+13 melee, not +17/+12). Finally, while not a stat block error, the illustration has its knees on backwards!
- p. 96, Mineral Warrior (Stony Devil): No Level Adjustment is provided; presumably it's "-."
- p. 99, Stone Flyer: No Special Attacks line is provided; presumably it's "-."
- p. 128, Pliil Seachild, Kuo-Toa Cleric 5/Sea Mother Whip 2 of Blibdoolpoolp: AC should be 26, not 24 (+6 natural, +10 from +2 feeler plate); ditto with flat-footed AC. Speed should include "swim 35 ft." (normally 50 ft., but dropped down to 35 ft. due to the armor). +2 pincer staff attacks should be at +11 melee, not +10 (+7 BAB, +2 Str, +2 magic weapon bonus). Fort saves should be +10, not +11 (+0 as a kuo-toa, +4 as a Clr5, +3 as a SMW2, +3 Con). Reflex saves should be +4, not +2 (+3 as a kuo-toa, +1 as a Clr5, +0 as a SMW3, +0 Dex). Will saves should be +15, not +10 (+3 as a kuo-toa, +4 as a Clr5, +3 as a SMW2, +5 Wis). With 9 HD, should have 4 feats, not just 3. Spells Prepared should be "6/6+1/4+1/3+1/2+1," not "6/7/5/5/4" (to properly account for the Domain spells).
- p. 136, Tsurlanej, Illithilich Sorcerer 16: Tentacle attacks should be at +16 melee, not +18 (+14 BAB, +2 Dex with Weapon Finesse). Touch attacks should be at +16 melee touch, not +17 (+14 BAB, +2 Dex with Weapon Finesse). Ranged spell attacks should be at +16 ranged, not +18 (and +16/+11 under Full Attack, not +17/+12, for those ranged spells where iterative attacks are appropriate). Will saves should be +19, not +20 (+6 as a mind flayer, +9 as a Sor16, +4 Wis). Mind blast Will save should be DC 23, not DC 19 (10 + 4 [4th-level spell equivalent] + 9 [Cha modifier]). Psionics saves should be DC 19 + spell level, not DC 14 + spell level (+9 Cha). With 24 HD, it should have 9 feats, not 11. "Weapon Finesse (tentacle)" should be just "Weapon Finesse" - as of 3.5, you no longer have to specify what specific weapon your Weapon Finesse incorporates - it's universal.
- p. 137, Nurr'Korzhag, Mind Flayer Wizard 7: Should have 8 feats (6 for 15 HD and 2 bonus feats as a Wiz7), not 10. The "Improved Grab" write-up calls him "Tsurlanej" instead of "Nurr'Korzhag" - obviously a "copy-and-paste" error that didn't get caught. (So does the "Mind Blast" write-up, by the way.) Mind Blast Will save should be DC 17, not DC 19 (10 + 4 + 3). Psionics saves should be DC 13 + spell level, not DC 14 + spell level (+3 Cha).
- p. 147, Dun-Durgg, Male Galeb Duhr Ranger 6: No BAB or Grapple stats are provided; should be BAB +12, Grapple +14. With 14 HD, he should have 5 feats, not just 4.
- p. 187, Advanced Clay Golem: Grapple attacks should be at +23, not +22 (+11 BAB, +4 size, +8 Str).
- p. 189, Gdaur: Since it's an aberration (and formerly a plant), Hit Dice should be 16d8+112, not 16d10+112. As such, average hit points work out to be 184, not 200. "Base +12" should be "Base Atk +12." The Special Qualities should be alphabetized.
However, getting past the stat block errors, Underdark does have some pretty neat material in it. New PC races are always interesting, and besides the humanoid "monsters" we've already seen in previous books (kuo-toas, duergar, drow, etc.) there's also the gloaming, a kind of shadow-fey, and the slyth, a humanoid shapechanger whose true form is an amorphous puddle (think of Odo from Star Trek: Deep Space 9). Both are welcome additions, and somewhat more interesting than some of the new races that have shown up in similar books. The prestige classes are pretty well done, and if I don't have anything glowing to say about them it's because it takes a lot to impress me with prestige classes nowadays. These are serviceable for those interested in such things, although I think some of them might have been "forced" to spread over a full 10 levels. (The Sea Mother Whip's "Punish the Infidels" class ability confuses me a little, though: is that supposed to be a continuous effect, or can the sea mother whip only use it a certain number of times per day? Does she have to consciously activate it, or is it automatic? It doesn't say.) I did enjoy many of the spells, although truthfully I've seen a bunch of them elsewhere, either in other 3.0/3.5 D&D books or in previous editions of the game (viscid glob, for instance - I remember that one from back in the AD&D 2nd Edition days).
The new monsters chapter - usually my favorite in books like these - seemed a bit bland to me, however. Part of it seemed to be a bit of too much of the same old stuff: since the baphitaur are tiefling minotaurs, why couldn't they have picked a different creature for the faerzress-infused template besides another minotaur? Likewise, the lith is a sort of psionic gargoyle, the stony devil looks rather gargoylelike (another poor choice for a templated creature), and the stone flyer is basically a "winged wolf" gargoyle. A little more variety would have been nice. Still, it was nice to see the return of some old favorites, like the lurker (formerly known as the "lurker above") and the gloura (originally from a Wolfgang Baur article in Dragon #227).
There is some pretty cool stuff in Underdark. I really like the Tome of Books, a minor artifact that allows a wizard to store up to 150 books in a single tome (rather handy when trekking across the Underdark). I also really liked the concept of "clear black rock' - basically, a type of stone that is completely invisible, but only to darkvision. That opens up all kinds of adventure possibilities, particularly in the area of "villain headquarters construction." (However, the next page over the authors provide the concept of "quickstone" - a "solid rock" version of quicksand - that just makes me scratch my head and wonder "Who seriously thought that was a good idea?)
Oddly enough, I rather enjoyed the "Forgotten Realms specific locations" information in Chapter 8 this time around. Normally, those sections are a somewhat tedious read for me, as I don't run a Realms game and the information is thus of limited personal use. I'm not sure whether it's because the locations were just more interesting this time around, or whether it's the fact that the entire "Forgotten Realms Underdark" is so much more portable to other campaign worlds than chunks of Toril's surface area are, but whatever the reason, I really enjoyed that section. (Except for some of the names, though. Generally, I prefer the Realms' naming conventions over Greyhawk's - I'll take "Shadowdale" and "Waterdeep" over "Nyr Dyv" and "Pomarj" any day - but so many of the Underdark names just make my head hurt. Try on "Fraaszummdin," "Undrek'thoz," or "Ultoksamrin" on for size yourselves.)
Then there's also the problem of the "dated material," specifically because somebody high up the decision ladder decided to tie in Underdark, which could reasonably have been expected to be a relatively "standalone" product, with the events in a series of Forgotten Realms novels. In the novels, Lolth the spider-goddess (revered by the drow) goes suddenly incommunicado, and none of her priestesses receive their cleric spells. Now Underdark is "frozen in time" at that particular moment, although I believe that the "silent Lolth" crisis has resolved itself over in the novels (I haven't read them myself), making a good chunk of Underdark already obsolete after a mere two years. This doesn't have any effect upon me personally - I don't run a Realms campaign, and am planning on just stealing chunks of the book for my own campaign - but I can see it being rather disappointing to those who do game in the Forgotten Realms.
The mini-adventures in the back seemed a bit on the bland side, also. "Drowned Multum" seems like something any DM could whip together with very little thought; "Gdaur's Garden" is a bit more interesting, with all of the fungal monsters, but "Shape of Water" just seems like an excuse to throw something weird into a cavern (a hovering sphere of water with an aboleth in it) with little explanation. Worse yet, all three mimi-adventures are clumped together in the same general Encounter Level grouping (with highest-ELs-in-the-adventure being 14, 14, and 15), making them of limited use for those whose PCs aren't in that narrow range. Even restricting myself to Forgotten Realms books, I've seen much better.
And that seems to be my overall impression of Underdark: it's okay as it is, but it seems like it really could have been much better. Perhaps it's because I've always been fascinated by the concept of the Underdark, or maybe I was expecting a much better book seeing that Bruce R. Cordell was one of the authors (he's done some truly excellent work in the past), but I really can't muster enough enthusiasm for this book to give it more than a "3 (Average)." A high "3," granted, but a "3" nonetheless.
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