Robot Viking

I've been advised not to make humorous comments about umber hulks.

The new Primal Power handbook for D&D 4th Edition has exactly what you’d expect, namely a ton of new options for characters who use the primal power source. It also has some interesting material to help you tie your character concept to an aspect of nature, and some metaphysical explanation of what primal power actually is.

Primal Power is the last in the series of “power” books (the others being Martial, Arcane and Divine). Perhaps because it simply follows the pattern set by the other books in the series, it feels a bit underwhelming. No new ground is broken, and it doesn’t feel as though the classes are expanded in innovative ways the way some of the other powers books did (like the Ranger’s animal companion, for example). Still, there’s a lot here.

The book essentially doubles the options available for primal characters: barbarians, druids, wardens and shamans. Each class gets two new builds, a complete set of new powers, and a couple of feats. There’s also a bunch of new Paragon Paths — the specific number is, “way more than enough.” The sheer volume of Paragon Paths being published really bugs me, because I think they’re filler. They’re easy to make, they take up a whole page, and they look great in marketing blurbs. “40,362 new Paragon Paths!” But their benefit to the player is proportionally small. In an entire campaign, you’ll only ever pick one Paragon Path. How many campaigns are you really going play in the lifespan of this edition? While I’m ranting, I’d like to devote special attention to the marketing drone who decided the callout text on the back of the book should be, “Take a Walk on the Wild Side.” Nice work.

Ok, now that I got that off my chest…the book is really quite good. Utilitarian, perhaps, but that’s really what you want out of a book like this, isn’t it? Barbarians get a bunch of new rages (their two new builds are very forgettable), druids can turn into swarms of insects instead of just large predatory mammals, which is pretty cool, shamans can acquire a World Speaker spirit animal, which is something like Swamp Thing (or Man-Thing, if you swing that way), and wardens get a bunch of new ways to ward, but nothing that really stands out.  But with a full suite of powers from level 1 to 29, everyone should find something they can use in their primal character — the original primal builds are supported by the powers as well.

Along with extra feats, there are some new rituals aimed at primal characters with the ritual caster feat. There’s also an entire section of fluff that delves into the spiritual nature of primal powers, where they come from and how primal characters are connected to these spirits. Frankly, it slides into vague mumbo jumbo at times, but they include some useful info as well. There are examples of primal places of power (magic trees and the like) and an assortment of Great Spirits that primal characters might revere or serve. If you’re looking to develop your character’s backstory beyond the basics, you could glean some ideas from the new backgrounds offered here, which include geography, society, birth and occupation. The backgrounds don’t come with specific bonuses, but they’re tied to skills, and you can choose a +2 bonus to any skill tied to any background you pick (you can take more than one background, but only one bonus).

If you run or are planning to create a primal character, you’ll surely get some mileage out of Primal Power. It may not be as inspiring as some of the other books Wizards has been putting out lately, but if used as a tool for honing your primal character, it works very well. You can order Primal Power from TrollandToad.com (at a nice discount, I might add).

Related posts:

1. Enter: the Drow Barbarian
2. Divine Power Class Review: Invokers Are Now Malificent
3. Divine Power Review: More Options, More Powers
4. PHB2 Class Review: Barbarian Lets You Find Your Inner Conan
5. PHB2 Class Review: Druid Combines Control with Melee Strikes