Game: Encyclopaedia Arcane: Crossbreeding
Publisher: Mongoose Publishing
Series: d20
Reviewer: Wyrdmaster
Review Dated: 1st, April 2003
Reviewer’s Rating: 7/10 [ Good ]
Total Score: 18
Average Score: 6.00
Crossbreeding: Flesh and Blood starts to move the emphasis from the “arcane” to the “encyclopaedia” in Mongoose’s Encyclopaedia Arcane series. The last half of the book is a bestiary, an encyclopaedia if you will, of crossbred creatures.
We also seem to have moved to the American spelling of the word, tossing out the British ‘a’ like so many unwanted ‘u’s.
Crossbreeding differs from its compatriots in other ways too; there are no new lists of spells in this book, there’s no attempt to create a new way of casting magic (Chaos Magic, Battle Magic, etc) and neither are there any notes on Guilds, feats nor story text running through the book.
There’s an interesting start to Crossbreeding. The book begins with a look at how crossbreeding is different from a simple (or not so simple) polymorph spell and why, at times, crossbreeding is better.
In effect, the book justifies the need for the arcane science and in doing justifies itself. Crossbreeding also pays heed to the Chaos Magic rules – even if it’s just to say that Chaos Mages can’t use their magic for this sort of crossbreeding.
That’s not a problem; it makes sense. There could be a problem for crossbreeding classes though. A wizard locked away in a laboratory and researching for months does not make for a convenient PC – although it does sound like a tempting NPC.
Crossbreeding makes a point of saying that not all wizards who investigate magical crossbreeding spend their life doing it, slowly but surely the idea of crossbreeding a particular creature for one particular task or even for commission makes more sense.
A foray into magical crossbreeding can be a one-off experiment for a wizard. There’s no crossbreeding alternative core class and neither are there any crossbreeding inspired prestige classes.
I didn’t even notice this until I sat down to give the book a second pre-review read though and that’s a good sign. This form of crossbreeding is arcane – not divine.
Whether druids engage, approve or try and stop the practise isn’t really addressed. That’s fine with me too; that’s a GM call for any given campaign world.
As far as I’m concerned the key success of Crossbreeding is the Transformation Ritual chapter. You can find it sandwiched in between the Design and Creation rules. Crossbreeding, in this book, is nothing to do with animal husbandry and everything to do with powerful rituals. Unlike many fantasy magic supplements, the actual ritual process isn’t lost under the weight of game mechanics.
In fact, there are several different magical rituals. Each arcane option is described with flavour text and dice advantages, disadvantages and requirements. Crossbreeders will need to discover these options and then pick one.
One of the reasons why I think crossbreeding works well as an Encyclopaedia Arcane is because it straddles the in-game and out-of-game worlds so well.
The player of a crossbreeding wizard will look for a strong base animal in the same way as his character will, he’ll consider the ritual options in a similar way to his character and he’ll juggle the pros and cons of the ambitious addition of special abilities.
Designing a magical crossbreed means picking two creatures and finding a middle point between them. The D&D habit of putting everything that moves into a monster category really helps here. It’s a heck of a lot harder to merge an ooze into an elemental than it is to blend a beast with an animal.
There’s also the question of just what sort of creature (a magical beast, an aberration, etc) that the crossbred counts as.
In fact, there’s little need to break up the Designing a crossbred and Creating a crossbred creature into two different chapters from a games mechanics point of view; the first is working out what you want and the second is working out the DC values for what you want.
The system works; it’s detailed enough to get into the nitty-gritty and yet simple enough not to annoy anti-dice fiends (such as myself) and that’s not bad going.
The Advanced Procedures chapter is just a few pages long but does what’s required of it. Advanced Procedures might involve crossbreeding crossbreds or starting off with a base stock of more than two-parent animals.
The rest of the book, over twenty pages, is a bestiary of crossbred creatures. I don’t think this is killer material but I don’t think its filler either. Crossbred samples are as on-topic in an EA: Crossbreeding as new battle magic spells are on-topic for EA: Battle Magic.
Furthermore, the crossbred samples benefit from some really top-notch artwork, just turn to page 56 and check out the Psionaga (a crossbred Mind Flayer and a water naga) if you want something that looks really scary.
There’s so many of these crossbred horrors that the lack of an index is notable.
Space is at a premium in Flesh and Blood, other Encyclopaedia Arcane often have great full-colour illustrations on the inside front and back covers but we’ve got summary tables here.
These monsters are a little bit more than just a bestiary since each entry points out the original progenitors, the final DC of the transformation ritual and the material costs for it. This also helps nudge the section of the book more firmly into the on-core-topic label.
The monsters in the back of the book combined with the extra crossbreeding information serve quite well as “black box” playtesting.
You don’t work through the mechanics yourself but you can examine the end results and see if they make sense to you. It does seem to be the case that the rules pan out – the scarier crossbred creatures are harder to make.
The Arachnomoph (Aranea + Drider) has a CR of 6 and a ritual DC of 36. Of course, it’s more than just the progenitors that affect the final DC but the insistence on getting the best rather than the average attribute value, the right size and special abilities.
The Magma Worm (Purple Worm + Thoqqua elemental (earth, fire)) has CR 14 and a final DC of 46. The Vorpa (giant wasp + monstrous scorpion) has a CR of 3 and a DC of 23.
It’s a rare crunch prone product that actually inspires me to juggle the numbers and roll the dice just for the sake of it. Crossbreeding inspired me to go make my own creature.
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