Rating: 
Summary: OK... I guess....
Review: 'Relics & Rituals" has some good stuff contained within its covers, but most of it is mediocre at best. I thought the majority of the spells were rather uninteresting (including the flavor text) and could use a little bit more work on them; also, it seems like a great many of the spells are for both arcane and divine spellcasters (personally, I prefer that each type of casters have a somewhat unique spell list). Enough about the spells, let's talk about the prestige classes... then again, let's not (somewhat interesting, but grossly over powered). Magic items? (see comment about prestige classes) The most interesting part of this book is ritual and tattoo magic; I'm actually implement this part into my campaign world. All in all, "Relics & Rituals" is an ok source book. If you want more magic, you should definitely buy this book; if not, you can safely pass on this one.
Rating: 
Summary: An excellent addition to you 3ed. games
Review: A great collection of new spells for all types of spellcasters, new spellcaster prestige classes, ritual magic, and magic items.The book introduces some of the most powerful prestige classes for spell casters, including the Blood Mage and the Crypt Lord. While many DMs will not want to allow their player's to use the new prestige classes, they will definitely spice up you game. The new spells for the spellcasters are inventive and add a lot to the game, but many new DMs and Role Playing groups may find it just too difficult to handle all of the new spells if they haven't learned all of the spells from the Player's Handbook yet. The new spells are for all spellcaster classes, including cleric, druid, and paladin. This book introduces ritual magic for clerics, druids, and wizards, which may not have a practical use in all games, but will always allow for storyline creation and completion in diverse manners. The book also introduces us to tattoo magic. While it does explain the basics of it, many of the tattoos that are provided are a little advanced for any player use at early levels, but can easily be molded into any of your games. The magical items are eye-candy that can easily be used in your games and also allow you to think outside of the box, as the Sword & Sorcery team did with this book. If you are serious about RP in the Sword & Sorcery Realm, I would strongly suggest getting this book to enliven all of your games and to offer the unique spells to your players.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Bad, Kinda Moody
Review: First, if you didn't know this, Sword and Sorcery Studio is an offshoot of White Wolf...or so I've heard. Second, the Scarred Lands setting is their grim'n'gritty campaign setting, which is actually kind of interesting. Third, this is a fun and useful book, thought not a must-buy. It can be divided up into several parts. You have your prestige classes, all of which are magic-based. Then there are a whole bunch of spells, followed by rituals and tattoo magic. Rituals are cooperative spells, done by several (N)PCs, and all have an XP cost. Tattoos are spell effects that are, well, tattooed onto the wearer, and usable under certain conditions. Then you get your magic items and then artifacts, both minor and major. What's good? Well, it's chock full of information. You can pick and choose at your leisure from the multiplicity of choices they give you. The flavor text is nice, and gives a decent idea of what the Scarred Lands are like. The layout and art are also pretty good, as well; it's very easy to read? What's bad? I didn't like the prestige classes one bit. Granted, that's due mostly to personal bias rather than quality, but I thought the Vigilant prestige class was kind of overpowered. Some the spells are kind of overpowered, too. Heck, that's pretty much what this book is: Overpowered. Granted, that isn't necessarily a bad thing, but to some people, it's not going to be what they're looking for. All in all, it's a good book that can be really useful, but it's not essential.
Rating:
Summary: In the Eighties this cover would have got us Hanged. *Grin*
Review: For those that are NOT familiar with the idea, WOTC has offered an 'Open Game License' to any publisher that would like to contribute to the further growth of the d20 system that has been implemented with D&D3Ed. Sword and Sorcery Studios is one of the leaders in the race to see who will dominate the d20 market (outside of WOTC). With White Wolf Games as Publisher/Printer of their materials they stand a good chance. Relics and Rituals is quite a valiant effort in the area of expanding spells, prestige classes and items for D&D3Ed. As an overview, R&R presents several well designed new Presitge classes included the Crypt-Lord, a necromancer who has taken things just a TAD too far... and aims to become a PC Lich... Next comes a gaggle of new spells... Tattoo magic is particularly nice... and then *screeching halt* some grossly overpowered magic items... All in all though, R&R is an excellent addition to the market and to th d20 system in general. Despite a few flaws it should make playing a caster in your campaign something to be excited about... and may... just may... change the way you look at magic in your game. Finally, SSS has stated their manifesto to be "3rd Edition D&D with a 1st Edition feel"... with that goal in mind... I'd say they are succeeding.
Rating:
Summary: If you ever wanted more spells and magic items buy this book
Review: I can literally say I was surprised when Sword & Sorcery sent me the confirmation letter saying Some of My spells had been accepted for publication, it was cool. then the book came out and wow it is exciting. besides my humble spells, a great thing is the paladin spells (notoriously unrated spell casters and always overlooked), and of course the prestige classes...very cool... I am currently running a necromancer who is using the Crypt Lord Prestige class, very powerful and best of all when he hits tenth level... LICHDOM!!!!! I would recommend this book to all DM's out there who would like to have some new spells to throw at the party, cause we know they have seen it all... but not anymore!!! Enjoy!!
Rating:
Summary: A little biased
Review: I must admit that I am a litle biased because I wrote the spell "Seal of Hedrada", but I realy like this book. The spellls fill in some holes in lef by the core book. Buy it for the spells, plus the added bonus of the classes, items and tattoo magic.
Rating:
Summary: A good solid book, but be wary of overpowerful items...
Review: I must admit that the Sword and Sorcery supplements are very good supplements to the D&D lineup and prove that the open gaming liscense is in fact a great idea. As long as the quality retains the high values of the Sword and Sorcery books I can see no downfall to the liscense. That having been said the newest book by the studio, Relics and Rituals, is a great book. Most people by now are probably wondering why I only gave it three stars if I think this book is great. Firstly, let me add a qualifier and say this is a great book if you don't let the contents get out of hand. The spells and magic items may be of limited use to some who do not use the gods of the Scarred Lands setting and the book over all is very powerful. Many of the magic items are more powerful than the basic ones in the DMG but actually have a lower level listed for creation. All of the spells in here can be altered to fit an existing realm or personally created one just by switching names, but that takes a lot of time. The flavor text in this book is wonderful and makes the book worth reading if nothing else than to get ideas for your own setting. While a great source of spells and magic items, it fails to add anything to the game itself except ritual magic, which isn't all that great. Overall the book is useful if you either need new spells to entertain the players or just want to spice up your games, but otherwise will end up sitting around collecting dust like the previous wizard compendiums for 2nd edition. Moreover it has the same problems that those compendiums have, over powered spells and magic items that if not carefully used can easily make your life as a DM a living hell.
Rating:
Summary: A good solid book, but be wary of overpowerful items...
Review: I must admit that the Sword and Sorcery supplements are very good supplements to the D&D lineup and prove that the open gaming liscense is in fact a great idea. As long as the quality retains the high values of the Sword and Sorcery books I can see no downfall to the liscense. That having been said the newest book by the studio, Relics and Rituals, is a great book. Most people by now are probably wondering why I only gave it three stars if I think this book is great. Firstly, let me add a qualifier and say this is a great book if you don't let the contents get out of hand. The spells and magic items may be of limited use to some who do not use the gods of the Scarred Lands setting and the book over all is very powerful. Many of the magic items are more powerful than the basic ones in the DMG but actually have a lower level listed for creation. All of the spells in here can be altered to fit an existing realm or personally created one just by switching names, but that takes a lot of time. The flavor text in this book is wonderful and makes the book worth reading if nothing else than to get ideas for your own setting. While a great source of spells and magic items, it fails to add anything to the game itself except ritual magic, which isn't all that great. Overall the book is useful if you either need new spells to entertain the players or just want to spice up your games, but otherwise will end up sitting around collecting dust like the previous wizard compendiums for 2nd edition. Moreover it has the same problems that those compendiums have, over powered spells and magic items that if not carefully used can easily make your life as a DM a living hell.
Rating:
Summary: Finally a good 3rd party D20 product!
Review: I was a bit skeptical about this book, especially since I was not impressed with the Creature Collection (by this same publisher). I mostly bought it to check out the tattoo magic rules and new spells. Once I started reading this book I read halfway though it before my wife finally pried it away from me so I could do some chores! While I found the prestige classes and artifacts interesting to read, none of them will see play in my campaigns. The classes are too specialized for any of my players, and the artifacts are unbalancing (like all artifacts...) But the SPELLS!!! They were great! And the rules for ritual magic and tatoos will be put into play immediately! I liked the little Scarred Lands specific blurbs about the items and spells, because they triggered tons of great adventure ideas. Some DMs prefer generic stuff, but I say bring on the neat historical details! I can edit them for my world if they stink, and I can be inspired by them if they are good (and most of the Scarred Lands descriptive stuff here seems very good, unlike with the Creature Collection). Some great feats were here as well. And ritual magic makes metamagic feats finally useful to my players! None of them would waste the higher level spell slots to use them before, so nobody took the feats. Thank you, Relics and Rituals!
Rating:
Summary: OK... I guess....
Review: �Relics & Rituals" has some good stuff contained within its covers, but most of it is mediocre at best. I thought the majority of the spells were rather uninteresting (including the flavor text) and could use a little bit more work on them; also, it seems like a great many of the spells are for both arcane and divine spellcasters (personally, I prefer that each type of casters have a somewhat unique spell list). Enough about the spells, let's talk about the prestige classes... then again, let's not (somewhat interesting, but grossly over powered). Magic items? (see comment about prestige classes) The most interesting part of this book is ritual and tattoo magic; I'm actually implement this part into my campaign world. All in all, "Relics & Rituals" is an ok source book. If you want more magic, you should definitely buy this book; if not, you can safely pass on this one.
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