A Review of the Role Playing Game Supplement The Genius Guide to Loot 4 Less Vol. 2: Pretty, Pretty, Rings

The Genius Guide to Loot 4 Less Vol. 2: Pretty, Pretty, Rings by Owen K.C. Stephens is a role playing game supplement published by Rogue Genius Games (originally as Super Genius Games) for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. As such, it is covered by the Open Game License and some parts are considered to be Open Game Content as a result. This is the second in a series of supplements introducing low-value, under 2,500 gp, magic items.

This is an 11 page PDF which is available from RPGNow at the regular price of $3.99 but which was purchased at the reduced price of $0.20 as part of a special bundle. Two thirds of a page are the front cover and one page is the Open Game License and Credits.

It starts with a brief introduction as to what the supplement contains – cheap, permanent magical items, no one-shots or charged items – and the reasons why this is useful; make low level gear and treasure more interesting, help build character wealth for low level PCs and give mid-level spellcasters more things to make. It also mentions that the reasoning is gone into in more detail in the first supplement, Loot 4 Less Vol. 1: Armor and Weapons. There are sidebars throughout the text that explains how the prices were come up with for items – the Pathfinder core rules are not the most thorough for this.

It then gets straight into the magic items, which are rings. Rings are useful items, being able to be used by all classes, rather famous in fantasy fiction (The One Ring…?), small, light and, for low level characters, generally far out of their price range. There are 40 rings in total. There is also a sidebar about wearing rings other than on a finger, as the core rules do not state this cannot be done. There are suggestions for moving the ring to other parts of the body, for cultures that tend to use them more as piercings than finger ornaments, swapping out other slots for rings – and why the GM should be careful about doing that.

The rings cover a wide range of different abilities. Some duplicate alchemical items, others give limited ability or skill bonuses, or have the abilities of more powerful rings – but with a very narrow focus. Such as only working on one type of animal. There are also such as minor healing abilities and low level skill bonuses.

The Genius Guide to Loot 4 Less Vol. 2: Pretty, Pretty, Rings in Review

The PDF lacks bookmarks and, even though it is a short one, these would have been useful given the number of different rings. With no table of contents, navigation is on the poor side.

The text is in Super Genius’ old, landscape, three column format – a format that is intended to be easier to read on tablets, which is true on larger ones but less so on smaller ones and also is less convenient for printing. There are a number of black and white images, of rings and piercings, all of which are in the same style. The images aren’t used to illustrate specific rings, but they all fit together and are appropriate. Presentation is therefore good.

Rings are a useful item for characters, and they are typically both expensive and powerful – so this definitely fills a niche. The number of rings means that there are many different uses and, even though they generally are useful, they aren’t overpowered. Individual GMs may disagree with the reasoning behind some of the calculated values, but with 40 rings it’s easy to pick and choose ones that are wanted. A magical ring is a useful item for a character, and these would be a welcome discovery for most low-level PCs.

Having an abundance of magic items might not work with a low magic setting, but these rings could always be substituted for higher level items. Characters can find magic, but not truly powerful magic; enough to give them a slight edge.

The Genius Guide to Loot 4 Less Vol. 2: Pretty, Pretty, Rings is a nice collection of magic rings and it can be found by clicking here.