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Review: Basic Classes: The Apprentice |  |
This week I review 93 Game Studios’ Basic Classes: The Apprentice.
I’m a big fan of d20 Modern; I waited eagerly for it to come out, I read the SRD while I was waiting for Amazon to deliver the book, and I read the book again when I got it. Big fan. As such, when I get to review something for d20 Modern, I get kind of excited. Enter Basic Classes: Apprentice, by 93 Game Studios. The idea behind this product (or line of products, I suppose) is that d20 Modern needs more magic, and magic needs to be available from first level (rather than circa fourth level, as the vanilla product is designed). Apprentice introduces a new basic class—the Apprentice—that represents a low-level caster, apprenticed, as it were, to a higher level caster. The Apprentice can be either arcane or divine—or, indeed, both—and gains some rather rudimentary spellcasting ability while advancing up its ten-level progression.
I’ll start with what I liked about this product. The class, itself, seems well-balanced with the other basic classes, and I didn’t really notice any blatant balance issues with it. It gains a few spells by taking specific Talents, and can also gain some magical resistance and crafting ability. The Apprentice is a very skill-heavy class (as I’ve always thought spellcasting classes should be), evidenced by the fact that it gains eight skill points per level, has an a full Talent tree devoted to skill improvement, and almost all of its bonus feats (with the exception of two) are skill-boosting feats.
As for the not-so-good, let me start with what struck me immediately: the writing isn’t very good. The author is prone to spelling mistakes, grammar and syntax errors, muddled language, and somewhat trite prose. It may not matter to some, but I found that it detracted from my overall enjoyment of the product quite a lot. The class, itself, suffers from a specific problem, too. Though this problem is not mechanical in nature (as I’ve said, it seems to be well balanced), it does make the class somewhat less attractive. Simply put, the class doesn’t have much flavor. If you take levels in the Apprentice class, you’re going to get a few spells, or some numerical bonuses. Period, nothing else. I certainly would have liked something a little more interesting from a ‘magical’ class. Now, granted, this may not be a problem for everyone; the main reason that it bugged me was that, aside from getting a few spells, I couldn’t think of a single compelling reason to take levels in the Apprentice class. And really, if I wanted spells, I’d wait a few levels and go for the superior spellcasting ability of the Mage.
What I Liked: Good balance, and a skill-focused magic-user.
What I Didn’t Like: Sloppy presentation and an overall lack of compelling flavor.
