Arcana: Societies of Magic A D20 System supplement from Green Ronin Publishing Rating: (5 out of 5 hearts) by Jean Michel

This book describes six different groups and organisations. An average of ten pages is devoted to each group. The content of this book is very impressive. Most of the material can easily be incorporated in or adapted to most campaign worlds.

Here is a brief overview of each group:

The abbey of the Green Steel is a group of evil monks who strive to emulate devils in order to become immortal and attain perfection. They teach that by becoming powerful in life, they will be powerful in the afterlife. They possess a secret technique to craft magic weapons by trapping an outsider in it. A very powerful prestige class called the Green Steel Monk teaches characters how to use some offensive spells and how to deliver them simultaneously with unarmed blows as touch attacks. The tenth level of progression turns the Green Steel Monk into an outsider.

The Dragon Gang is a criminal organisation whose godfather is a green dragon. Four hundred years ago the ancient dragon decided that organised crime was the best way to accumulate vast amounts of riches and thus attract a mate. All the members of the Gang are his offspring half-dragons or their descendants. A section of this chapter includes a palette of new drugs and their effects, as well as some guidelines regarding the law's attitude towards the use of magic spells.

The Servants of Decay believe that the world is a fake. The real forces of reality, preternature, were usurped by the gods who reshaped the world. Preternature underlies all reality in a way similar to the ethereal plane. Preternature is the chaotic antithesis of civilisation and has only the most tenuous hold in big urban centres. The Servants of Decay seek to return the world to its previous state. Destroying cities and civilisation in general is an effective way of strengthening preternature's hold on reality.

The Temple of the Living God is a group trying to recruit new members in their once great religion. The god in question inhabits the body of the high priest in an effort to gain some more worshipers before his religion vanishes completely and he loses all his power. One of the remaining worshipers is using the secret knowledge provided by the god to create new spells in an attempt to make the religion interesting to arcane spellcasters.

The Tribunal of Arcane Law is a coalition of powerful spellcasters who intervene when magic is used in an overly destructive way. They try to prevent permanent gateways from hell to open into the world, try to prevent evil spellcasters from conquering the world, try to limit access to unbalancing artifacts, etc. The members of the Tribunal of Arcane Law prefer to use agents rather than put themselves directly in harm's way. Among those agents are the deadly Wizard Slayers who use their suppress spellcasting and smite spellcaster abilities to good effect.

The School Beyond the Veil is a school of fighting that serves as the cover for the Moon Wraith Sect. Students of the School Beyond the Veil learn some new fighting styles. If they become very good and prove their loyalty to the organisation, they can be initiated into the Sect and learn its secrets. Because it is so popular, the sect can use its students to gain powerful positions in society. The sect is led by a ghost who wants to restore his former empire to glory and dominate the world. When they reach a certain level in their training, Moon Wraith Adepts are able to use chill touch at will and gain the ability to drain levels from their opponents. At higher levels, they come back as a wraith and eventually a ghost if slain. At tenth level, they become a Moon Wraith, which is a new undead template.

Each description of a group includes numerous adventure hooks to introduce the group to a campaign. Each description also includes a few alternative possibilities, suggesting ways to modify each group and providing different motivations for them, different reasons for their existence, and customising them.

This book has enough different useful elements that almost everybody will find something interesting to include in their campaign or some element they will want to integrate.

Weaknesses: Providing a few of the new spells supposedly developed by the cult would have probably gone a long way to make the Temple of the Living God more interesting. As it is, while still interesting, it's the weakest element of this book.

New Prestige Classes: Green Steel Monk, Moon Wraith Adept, Sevant of Decay, Wizard Slayer

New Spells: Locate Owner, Mists of Undeath

New Feat: Draconic Bloodline, Improved Subdual Damage, Minor Combat Magic, Opportunity Knocks, Unarmed Sunder, Secret of Spellcraft

New Templates: Divine Avatar, Moon Wraith, Preternatural

New Domain: Secrets

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