Kicking ass, saving the world!

In most D&D campaigns the player characters are heroes and they roam the world, gain powers, and eventually save the world. Elder Evils is a supplement that helps DM include an unspeakable horror that threatens humanity (and elfinity, dwarfinity, etc.)

All ratings are on a scale (no pun intended) of 1 to 5 red dragons. 5 red dragons is the best rating possible.

Fun factor - 4.5 red dragons

The book is well written, with a little fluff and a no-nonsense approach that allowed me to scan the book and read the parts that I thought would fit in my campaign. It is a well designed tool for DMs.

Ease of use - 5 red dragons

I liked the way the encounters were broken down in 2-pages sections. It makes the DM’s work easy.

Appeal to the masses - 1.5 red dragons

This is a book for high level parties. You can still include elements of the book but you’ll have to tweak encounters that you take from the book. Not sure if your party is powerful enough to face the challenges of this book? Do you bat an eyelash when you read: “A reflex save DC 53 halves the damage”?

Inspiration factor - 3.5 red dragons

You can ignore the EL of this book and still get an amazing amount of ideas from it. Unspeakable horrors get my creative juices going.

Usefulness after 4th edition is released - 3 red dragons

Saving the world will always come up at some point during a long-running D&D campaign so Elder Evils will come in handy at some point.

Useless mechanics award

I enjoyed one chart very much: you have to roll a knowledge check DC 15 to spot an overwhelming sign of apocalypse! “Geez, this meteor rain ruined our picnic. I hope it doesn’t happen again. It was annoying. What’s that? The world’s coming to an end? Not before next Sunday, is it?”

Best disease award

This is especially great if you have a bard in the party! Living rot - the name says it all!

The verdict - 3.8 red dragons

If you buy it, you won’t regret it and you’ll end up using material from this book for sure.