The Genius Guide to Relics of the Godlings II by Owen K.C. Stephens is a role playing game supplement published by Rogue Genius Games (originally 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.
The supplement is available as a 17-page PDF from DriveThruRPG for $3.99 but was purchased at a reduced price as part of a special bundle. Around two thirds of a page is the cover illustration and one page is the Open Game License and credits.
The introduction explains that mythology is full of heroes that carried one or two items throughout their careers, with the first few paragraphs duplicating the content from Relics of the Godlings, then explains that the first supplement had two templates for creating your own, as well as the included eight, and a second supplement was therefore created, with six more relics and five more templates.
How to Use Relics in Your Campaign also contains material duplicated from the first supplement, though some details are not included. Also included in this section is duplicated material for feats and on using relics as templates and assumed treasure, again with some material not included. The section also references the first supplement for more ideas on handling relics.
Relic Rules covers using them and is duplicated from the first supplement.
Relics has six different relics, which appear to be based on various items from mythology. Each has a brief description, then a list of their powers. The power of a relic changes every level, with new abilities being gained or existing ones enhanced.
Creating Relics for Your Campaign starts with an overview of how to do this, again duplicated from the first supplement, then has templates, armour, divided into light, medium, heavy and shield, and rings, which break down what sort of abilities a relic would gain at each level.
The Genius Guide to Relics of the Godlings II in Review
The PDF lacks bookmarks and has enough different sections that these would have been useful. Navigation is poor. The text, which had a notable error with a missing heading, follows Super Genius’ old three column landscape layout that is designed to be easier to read on electronic devices. It is less convenient on small screens though and not really ideal for printing. There are a number of colour illustrations, which look like they are stock. Presentation is okay.
Like the first supplement, this continues with more interesting ideas for items that scale in power as a character does, meaning that they are more likely to be kept. It’s a bit odd that some material has been included and some not from the first supplement; it would seem to make sense to either include it all, or none of it, not a weird combination that still really requires the first supplement. The addition of the new templates is probably the best part, though it’s possible even more could have been done. Again, the relics are a bit on the bland side considering their mythological origin; there’s enough fluff to make them not generic enough that some will need tinkering to fit into a campaign setting, but not enough to really make them standout. The Genius Guide to Relics of the Godlings II is an interesting collection of items and ideas for scaling magic items and can be found by clicking here.
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