| Mystic Warriors |
| Format: Full Color Cover, B&W Interior, softcover Page Count: 128 Genre: sourcebook Campaign Setting: The Hunt: Rise of Evil Developer: Mystic Eye Games Publisher: Mystic Eye Games Authors: DougHerring, AndrewThompson, KennyLewis, JohnKubisz Product Code: MYG0004 |
| Overall rating: 3/5 (4/5 for Gothos setting) |
| Mystic Warriors, a sourcebook for Mystic Eye Games' Hunt: Rise of Evil campaign setting, offers almost two dozen unique prestige classes for warriors looking to melt a little of the supernatural into the power of their blades. As part of the pre-existing world of Gothos, this sourcebook provides a wealth of information on understanding the different mystic warrior sects and their relationship to the rest of the world. Unfortunately, as a general sourcebook for fighters, the powers granted to Mystic Warriors may be too unbalancing for most games. I have give the book two ratings, one for its generic value and one for it's value to its Campaign setting. I felt it the only fair way to rate this book. |
| All Mystic warriors develop their special abilities through participation in various secret sects and orders that have learned how to harness "vitus". Vitus represents the warrior's own internal discipline, energy, and sheer force of will. By harnessing the power of vitus, warriors can access supernatural abilities that allow them to heal, generate natural armor, glide through the air, or even speak with the dead. |
| To become a mystic warrior, one must first find a mentor to demonstrate how to harness vitus. Once this skill has been learned, then the potential warrior must join one of the sects. Before raising in levels, the warrior must seek additional training and guidance from his order, usually meaning returning home to the learn from his masters. The author's suggest that this restriction helps balance these prestige classes. In reality, the requirement will either be ignored by gamemasters trying to move along a story or slow the game down as the warrior has to travel home every X number of sessions before gaining new levels. It can also lead to the mystic warrior becoming the center of the party, which can make other players feel shorted. |
| The book offers five levels of "techniques" Mystic Warriors can learn depending on their vitus, level, or sect. Techniques can grant the ability to do things such as Cellular Evolution, allowing the warrior to literally change her molecular structure to become increasingly resistant to certain types of damage. Or with the ability Cheat Death, the warrior can actually convert any damage that would normally drop him below zero hit points into valuable vitus. A nice trick in a tough battle. |
| Vitus can also be used to empower non-magical weapons and turn them into Named Weapons. The book provides a nice section on the process of creating a Named Weapon, which develops to fit the personality of its owner and gains in power as its owner gains in levels. There are also a variety of new feats and skills presented designed exclusively for mystic warriors. |
| Vitus is very much like psionics. For an experienced gamemaster with a mature party, these rules could add excitement and uniqueness to a campaign. Inexperienced gamemasters should avoid using this book in a non-Gothos campaign, however. Using mystic warriors in a regular game is the equivalent of allowing a psionist into a party without any other psions or psionic monsters to counter him. The situation can quickly get out of hand as you try to adjust or amend rules to deal with the power. |
| The book has a nice presentation. Simple black and white illustrations set the mood for each order of warriors described. Each prestige class includes a well-written explanation of how the class fits into the rest of the world. And the appendix offers various NPCs as examples of how the classes can be effectively used. |
| While the authors repeatedly claim these prestige classes can be incorporated into any campaign, it may be too much work to adjust these rules to justify it. If you are running a Gothos campaign, Mystic Warriors should definitely be in your arsenal. If not, think long and hard before allowing a Mystic Warrior into your party. |
| Originally reviewed for Gaming Frontiers Magazine |