Is it just I that have some problems with the "power level" and compatibility of Book of Beasts compared to already published materials?
Like for 5 silver, you can buy an Elixir of Life, and you will not age for a year.
This makes Zygofer's struggle with age seem pointless, like why turn into Zytera? He doesn't seem that poor or stupid?
Are you supposed to meet many hundred years old human merchants and so on?
Previously magic felt a bit rare, but this Alchemy stuff feels clearly magical in nature and is for a relatively low cost very potent.
Like every village would want to invest 3xp (and a Wits roll, but can retry every QD, so will not take too long) to gain a village Alchemist.
Having this as their local village healer, far outperforms other options.
Also if any one in the village finds a book, they can pass it around, and 66% of the inhabitants will now have a free perk? (1d6 xp, they need 3)
My players are going to pass around a lot of books among their Stronghold hirelings I guess? This is like school on steroids.
Also if the existence of a single random book in a village would be, lets say rare? Like 1/6 chance of them having one book per village.. that would be low.. but still.. if it is.. My Peddler would spend their 2 WP, turning it to a guaranteed find and traversing though all villages, to gain A LOT of books and free xp.. and I guess he would just sell the books after having everyone use them.
Then we have the amphibians armed with weapons made from fish or whale bones. They are handled like normal weapons, but with one extra point in damage.
So now we go from iron age to fish bone age. Fishing villages are set to become the top of the line arms makers of the world I guess.
Then we have the Dread Raptor, nothing in their lore speaks of these being magical in any way, but apparently a feather from them grants an extra +2 bonus, then another +1d8 and on top of that +1 damage. So your regular arrows somehow becomes "heat tracking" arrows of death? Far outshining any bow and arrow fired from what a grandmaster Bowyer (fletcher) could ever make.
Like I agree, having bonuses are nice, but if these feathers are exceptionally good at making arrows, I would suspect no more than "you can make 4 stacks of arrows from a terror bird, these grants a +1 bonus" or something like that... it would be enough in a gritty environment like the Forbidden Lands. As is, these would probably be hunted by well organized groups of Aslene, laying traps for them or some other tactics will be made up (since the birds are so stupid, I mean we humans even managed to extinct mammoths and they were probably brighter than these), then saving the arrows for when needed, obliterating their foes. I mean they would probably eat the birds too, probably tastes like chicken?
Then the text "A sorcerer who rolls one or several 'mishap-skulls' when casting a spell automatically attracts D3 imps." Like always? On top of regular mishaps? So there is an easy way to farm imps at least? Like +1 permanent Power Level without drawbacks is kind of awesome.. like for balance reasons I would at least have an Imp add an extra Willpower to all spells, instead of a Power Level... that way there would at least be a drawback (an extra magic die at all times that could turn into a mishap)..
Then some are plain strange. Like a Possessor is blood mist that if inhaled, then you suffer a "Possessing attack" (combat entry 6, also see "VULNERABLE THROUGH HOST" on the page before), but if you voluntarily inhale the same blood mist (the resources entry).. you gain some demonic insight.. and the Possessor is no more.. or? I don't think I could explain that to my players...
Weather table, suddenly no connection to if it is summer or winter? Like perhaps at least a +1/-1 modifier depending on season?