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I went out and bought it... and as much as I'd like to really sing its praises... I'm having a much more mixed reaction than I thought I would.

I think it all comes down to numbers.
48 artifacts should not take 316 pages.

Let's compare then numbers.

For comparison.
Original DMG... 29 artifacts (All of which are legend now)
Total page count:9 pages (pages 156-164)

Tome of artifacts
48 artifacts
Total page count 316

Saddly, I have to say it.

This book has just got way way WAY too much fluff in it.
What was needed here was less talking, less explicitness, and more vagueness and more items.

This book should have had 150 artifacts in it... minimum (three times what it actually has)

The author should have stuck to each artifact having no more than two pages of content. (meaning the front and back of one page)

Even Zeb's Book of artifacts was only 156 pages and it summed up 46 artifacts in less than 100 actual pages (basically the same number of artifacts as the Tome in 1/3 the pages) And Zeb's book had headers from hell chewing up 1/9th of every page.

For 316 pages, we should have 16-20 pages of appendices, 1-2 pages for intro 3-5 pages for TOC and such, and the rest should be page after page after page of artifacts that run from exceedingly specialized and near useless (except for specific plot purposes) to mind rendingly powerful items with drawbacks and sideeffects that make the PCs shudder in dread at even thinking of using them.

Simply put, the number of artifacts presented, and the diversity of them is lacking, at least in my opinion.

Now, I'm all for the sentiment of giving artifacts and relics their due and romanticizing them up. They should be arcane objects whose names are held in awe and reverence and whose powers can shape the fate of the campaign. But there comes a time when you have spelled out TOO much for these mysterious items.

Myself, I think that part of the joy of artifacts is the unknown nature of them to the players. Leaving the GM with the task of actually assigning powers and legends to the items make the items truly more unique to the game they're used in.

Besides, these are supposed to be items whose origins are lost to time, and as such I think the explicitness of the descriptions actually hurts the content.

You know that players will buy this book too, and as such this is why I think you should leave most of the powers and effects up to the GM to assign (a list of nifty effects like in the original DMG would be good for this)

So, as a recap.

If Necro does a The tome of Artifacts II, you should go for quantity as well as quality and set a limit to page usage.

Would I still purchase it?

Yes, because it helps support Necro, who I love.

But, at the same time, would I buy a second book if it doesn't have the quantity of selection of items I want?

Nope.

All in all it's a good piece of work... but not a great piece of work the way a 300+ page book on artifacts should be.

I liked those as well the pepper grinder is cool... it's a unique and interesting item. I also liked the obsidian skeleton and its companion item (forgot what it is since I'm at work and don't have the book)

It's a bit predictable... but it's still interesting.

The petrified god was cool as well, but too much fluff in it IMO. Do we really need to know that the god married an elf and that they had kids and that said kids were deliberately prevented from having divine powers? Ummm... no.


The one set I really dislike was the regelia one, the armor, sword, shield and such. It just felt... blah.
Holy warrior goes nuts after bringing down the bad rulers... but shows that he is just like them because he becomes a tyrant.

BLAH... such a horrible stereotype that Paladins and their like don't make good rulers. That they become power mad tyrants.