Let's have fun with Kalamar!

[JaronK]

So, it was recently claimed that Kingdoms of Kalamar is a super powerful setting, so let's raid it for optimization material!  Personally, I couldn't find much, but maybe other folks can.  Here's what I've found so far:

Holy/Unholy Defense:  1st level spell, lasts hour/CL, grants a deflection bonus to AC (4 + 2/3CL, max 10).  Also gives a penalty to hide checks and concealment.  Awesome.

A Moment Ago:  A 1st level spell, but it has the [Scalable] tag, which means you can cast it at any level you want.  Duplicates any one spell just cast last round as long as that spell is a level or more lower than A Moment Ago.  It's awesome for ignoring material components and exp costs on the second casting.

Mule's Enlightenment:  Well, here's the whole spell:
Divination
Level: Cleric 5
Components: V, F
Casting Time: 10 minutes
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: 1 hour / level
    Mule's enlightenment has one of the three following effects, determined at the time of casting.
    * The caster gains the use of any single feat, provided he has the prerequisites, for the duration of the spell. Because this feat is not permanent, any such use of the spell cannot be used to satisfy the prerequisites for a prestige class or other feat.
    * The caster gains a +20 insight bonus to a single skill for the duration of the spell.
    * The caster gains a +6 insight bonus to all Will saves for the duration of the spell.
    The enlightenment bestowed by this spell can be dispelled, or removed with a limited wish, miracle or wish spell.

Note this is 3.0, hence the massive skill boost (which should probably be reduced for 3.5).  But the feat that lasts for hours is amazing for things like item crafting... and for an Archivist you can use this with Extra Spell to gain more spells.  Neat.

Pike:  It's a 15' reach martial weapon pole arm.  Nothing else fancy about it, but if you're army building it's appropriate to have exists.  Only costs 11gp, so it's solid for building your phallanxes.

Potion of Blood:  Count as any one other race, permanently, for purposes of magic items only.  Making yourself count as a horse can be really handy in conjunction with one specific magic item from Arms and Equipment Guide... and this only costs 750gp. 

Anyone got anything else?

JaronK

[SorO_Lost]

Turns out Google can pull 2 year old topics.

That'd be why. Most of the 2nd party stuff isn't well referenced. Dragon Mag makes a horrible name for it, and Dragonlance I can't say helps, only they DL's most powerful stuff rolls out of the WotC's book (the campaign setting, reserves of strength/dragonspawn/etc).

KoK on the other hand. I never made it past the first book. Class wise nothing to major to be found, Spellsinger is a Sorcerer with Eschew Material Components and ignores Somatic Components but adds verbal to everything meaning it ignores Arcane Spell Failure chance. So I was already set to expect this book to hand out stuff far beyond what ever D&D Splat gives. But like anything, it's not the Classes or PrCs that take my first interest, but items, Feats, and Spells, in that order.

Items
KoK has lots of Alchemical stuff and herbs, woot. Nothing too powerful form what I recall, just shark repellent and save-less instant coma in a bottle. Oh boy, I hope the magical side has cool stuff. Just gotta read past the slave section and these arrows that always remove Dex-to-AC...

There is an armor that instantly cures you when you drop below 0HP but don't die. Unlimited use and I recall thinking it's pretty cheap for low level use. There is also a cheap casts Greater Dispel Magic each time you hit weapon. Then a +2 unnamed to Dex potion, some +1 Save DCs rings, that +! Comp Ioun Stone in 2k ring form, a spiffy +2 all Knowledge Skills ring, and Pelor knows what else.

Feats
There is a chain in there I make into jpegs. Eyes of Fury, once-per-round Free Action Gaze attack that shakens opponents. Fearsome Appearance requires it and adds a Will Save or any opponent cannot take an AoO against you. Commanding Presence tops this chain off with a none-Fear based infinite Free Action and Saving doesn't render you immune makes people Flee unless they have no other option. DCs are 10+ChaMod but who cares, you can make a Paladin crap his pants.

Oh, KoK is the source of Irresistible Spell, which is a +4 Metamagic that denies your chance to Save, I think it got updated to +10 Save DCs. But more importantly you can pick up a Feat to trade Turn Undead uses into ungodly effects. Like Saveless Confusion, Cone of Saveless Shaken, Cone of Web, deal WisMod Negative Levels to a target, and who knows what else.

Spells
I skipped it. I'm sure it's loaded with some overpowered content ripe for picking. KoK, like Dragon, was out to make a bad name for 2nd party material.

"Recall Ice Assassin? 9th level, 5,000xp, 20,000 gold, body parts from your opponent, and like a day to cast all so the duplicated target is still around to tick you off. KoK offers a 5th level standard action alternative that only costs 1,000 gold but also kicks the duplicated target to an unspecific made up plane, all that in exchange for a Fort Save." ~Me, just now.

Best things I use from that book are feats like...
Irresistible spell (+4 LA) - Basically makes your spell require no save. Combine this with dweomerkeeper's ability and you can apply no save and no SR to any spell (assuming you are something like a wizard and have some incantrix levels, or some other method for lowering the LA of metamagic).
"I seem to remember it was errata'd into giving +10 to the DC of the spell when the 3.5 Players Handbook came out (Players Guide to the Sovreign Lands or something like that)"~Bard

Miser with Magic - Really good if you are a wizard...particularly with those 9th level spells.
"It's been altered so you get around one spell of your highest level with the feat per day, which is pretty fair."~TML

Child of the Earth - If your optimizing your saves who wouldn't want to add con bonus to all saves.

Unerring Strike - Basically the opposite of power attack. Also allows you to combine it with power attack and a two handed weapon to get your level as a bonus to damage on all attacks. I like playing a frenzied berzerker with this and (at 20th level) getting +80 damage on all attacks!
"The unerring strike feat (Kingdoms of Kalamar) lets you subtract a number from your damage and add it to your attack roll.  It's limited by your base attack bonus and only works with light and one-handed weapons. Power attack gives 2 to 1 returns not just with two-handed weapons, but also with one-handed weapons wielded in two hands." ~Maat Mons

Channel Positive Energy - This is absolutely ridiculous, you can immobilize one or multiple creatures, send them to extradimensional spaces, put them to sleep, give them a ton of negative levels, etc....all with NO SAVE allowed.
"See the update.  Saves/turning checks were added to virtually all of them.  And note that you only get one of those." ~TML

The "anti-feats" (I think they're called) were a precursor to flaws, and pretty much need to go die in a fire.

More fun with Kalamar!

First off, Salt and Sea Dogs has the pike... 11gp for a 15' reach pole arm that does 1d10 damage.  Really it should be 1d8, but that's third party for you.  The main thing is it's Martial, which is appropriate.

Second, Kingdoms of Kalamar has options to make poisons better.  Increasing the DC to make the poison by 2 increases the resist DC by one, and increases the cost by 10%.  Combined with Minor or Major Creation and you can get truly lethal poisons that are effective even into the late game (except against poison immunes of course).  Just make sure you can hit the craft DC...which shouldn't be impossible.  Combine with the Assassination weapon enchantment and various save reducers and you should land poison consistently.  DC 35 Black Lotus Poison (DC 30 poison delivered from a +5 Assassination weapon) is pretty darn brutal.  You can also make inhaled Black Lotus poison (raises the DC to make it by 4).

I was looking for that blood stuff that changes your type, but I couldn't find it.
"I recall a lot of mentioned abuse using the blood stuff, was that Fun Finds 5? Only checked 3 & 4." ~Me.

Kingdoms of Kalamar Player's Guide page 89 has the feat called Movement Check.  If a foe provokes an AoO from moving through your melee threat range and you hit, you deal normal damage and the foe immediately stops moving.   Take that, Stand Still!

Though it's been mentioned elsewhere, Kingdoms of Kalamar 88 has the +0 Metamagic feat Miser with Magic.  (Its only prereq is "Spellcaster level 7th," which probably means the ability to cast spells at caster level 7+.)  Before* casting a Miser with Magic spell, make a Spellcraft check of 10 + twice the spell's level.  If you succeed, you don't lose the spell prep/spell slot.  If you fail by 5 or more (highly unlikely, considering who I'm talking to here) you can't cast the spell and instead lose the spell slot.  Miser with Magic only works with spell levels of no more than your primary casting modifier (CHA for Bards, INT for Wizards), but again, this should not be a problem!

*The book says you make this check after casting, but the penalty only makes sense if you make the check before casting!  And if you aren't in combat, you can take 10!  Ta da!  (It's reasons like this that the Incantatrix's Metamagic Effect has a Spellcraft DC of 18 + 3x the modified spell slot's level.)

KoK:VDH page 76, "Spell Swap [Metamagic Feat]": this feat lets a wizard, for an easily beaten spellcraft DC, spontaneously cast at-will. Further, though RAI is clear enough (i.e. clear enough that it can, in fact, be considered intended), the RAW leaves open a few critical issues: must the spell swapped in be from your spell list? must you know the spell to be swapped in? The text explicitly states it must be of the same level. It says nothing of spell source (arcane or divine), of spell list, of class, of being known. If you squint a little bit, wizards can now cast any spell of any level to which they have access (and have prepared spells).

To anticipate people citing the parenthetical remark about clerics, "much like clerics" is not grounds for claiming RAW as simile is not a useful logical determinant, nor should the parenthetical remark be considered at all as an assertion of rules since such remarks are semantically unnecessary, used for clarification, not for crucial elements, which rules certainly are in a game, as games are rules-based.

[JaronK]

So which is this 5th level spell that's like an Ice Assassin spell but worse?  I'm not seeing it but I'm working off a very large spell list.

From the other stuff, some's good (Irresistable Spell is fun, but it's competing with Twin Spell at the same price which I'd prefer as an all around metamagic, while Spell Swap is one heck of a Wizard feat), and some's just okay (the poison boosters are nice, but poison's already so weak that they're only good if you're generating endless poison via spells or something, and those items don't sound that great).

Btw:

Commanding Presence:
Benefit: You frighten enemies who fail a Will save at DC 10+ your Charisma bonus. An opponent that is frightened immediately flees (using any means in its possession, even magic), if able. If unable to flee, the opponent may stay and fight, though it suffers a –2 penalty on all attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks and ability checks. This feat has a range of the character’s natural reach plus five feet and a duration of one round + Charisma modifier. This ability is a gaze attack that you can use on each opponent in range once per round as a free action.

It's once per round.  Looks like you're using the unerrata'd version.  Once per round, save negates, very close range.  Not nearly so good.

Miser with Magic was errata'd to be fine (gain an extra spell of your highest level per day, with a chance to lose that spell if you somehow fail the check).  Worth it for the most part, but since when have Wizards had such trouble at higher levels with running out of spell slots?  Child of Earth is a solid choice for reducing the power of magic... sounds like a good feat choice, especially for those "mage slayer melee" builds a lot of people come up with.  Unerring strike looks fun and glitchy with Power Attack, but doesn't work with two handed weapons which mostly kills off reach (but it would still be really cool with Shock Trooper... yay a nice thing for melee!).

Honestly, it looks like a lot of this stuff was broken originally and then repaired by errata to be far more reasonable.  So why is this so much worse than Eberron or Faerun or Rokugan?  Looks like it's just a few broken things in an entire setting... kinda like every setting ever (except Dark Sun, but that was an intentionally weak setting other than the races).  And not a single broken (or even powerful) class!  The items seem pretty unimpressive too (unless that save-less instant coma in a bottle thing is cheap and easy to hit people with... and are the arrows that remove dex to AC cheap enough to use?  Because that would be something archer Rogues could really use, and that class needs help).

JaronK

[SorO_Lost]

So why is this so much worse than Eberron or Faerun or Rokugan?

I thought as much but was willing to give the benefit of a doubt. But nope, this thread exists for one reason, and it's not to optimize KoK or a KoK focused Fun Find thread. It's JK's personal thread dedicated to defending KoK. Every single time someone posts something, JK will pop in and tell you are pathetic it is or how the unoffical splatbooks contain farfetched unheard of errata.

Peachy. 

[JaronK]

No, I was trying to verify your claim (and see if there was something I was missing, as well as cool options).  If your claim was true, there should be some good stuff that I'd want to know about.  Instead it looks like KoK's actually pretty weak, and shockingly well errata'd (something WotC isn't known for).  And most of the amazingly powerful stuff seems to not do what was being claimed, so I wanted to know if it was just me who wasn't seeing anything.  But from the amount of time you're spending quoting other people and mentioning not reading, it sounds like you don't actually know the setting.  Maybe someone else does and has the goods.

By the way, a lot of your information was outright wrong.  I listed Commanding Presence (you claim it can be done infinite times, it's actually 1/round), and here's another:

Unerring Strike [General]:
You sacrifice a powerful attack for one that is almost sure to hit.
Prerequisite: Dex 13+.
Benefit: On your action, before making attack rolls for a round, you may choose to subtract a number from all damage rolls and add half of that number to all melee attack rolls (round down). This number may not exceed your base attack bonus. The bonus on attacks and penalty on damage apply until your next turn.
Special: You can only use this feat with light weapons and one-handed weapons. A fighter may select Unerring Strike as one of his fighter bonus feats.

It's half, not full.  So combining it with Power Attack as your information said doesn't work nearly as well as claimed.  A 10BAB character using both on a one handed weapon in both hands would get -5 to hit and +10 to damage... which is exactly what normal Power Attack would do.  There's no benefit.  It's really not that great, except maybe for a poisoner or something.  It could work on a Frenzied Berserker to help hit, but losing reach wouldn't be worth it (and there are very few one handed reach weapons to use).

By the way, the unofficial splatbook you reference is the official 3.5 update.  It's right here:  http://www.kenzerco.com/Orpg/kalamar/KPG5_feats.pdf

Seriously, where's the awesome power?  Where's this super Ice Assassin spell (or is it nerfed too?).  Is this saveless coma in a bottle thing real?  If KoK is so powerful, this should be trivially easy.  Maybe someone other than SorO can do it, since SorO hasn't read enough to know about this.  So far, here's a run down of the actually good stuff:

Miser with Magic:  Lets you make spellcraft checks to recall up to your casting stat mod in spell levels each day.  Definitely a useful feat.

Spell Swap:  Make a spellcraft check to swap a spell for another one spontaneously.  Amazing for Wizards.

Child of the Earth:  +Con to saves as a luck bonus, must be taken at 1st level, specific regional feat.  Could be very useful for many builds.

Irresistible Spell:  +4 Metamagic that gives +10 to spell saves DCs.  Solid, a good competitor to Twin Spell.

Movement Check:  If you AoO and hit a running or charging opponent, they stop and can't move further.  Useful feat, but note that it doesn't apply to regular movement or withdrawl actions, so Stand Still is probably better.

Mule's Enlightenment and Holy/Unholy Defense:  Listed above.

That seems to be it for actually strong options.  Is there actually anything else?  All I'm seeing is a few nice feats and one awesome Wizard feat.  Plus the two spells.  There's got to be more if it's true that "KoK, like Dragon, was out to make a bad name for 2nd party material."

JaronK

[Amechra]

If I remember correctly, the ?Summon Fey? spell chain (which, predictably, summoned Fey creatures), included as one of the low level choices the ability to summon Leprechauns.

The Leprechaun has Polymorph Any Object (targeting objects only) as an SLA.

[JaronK]

For reference:

Summon Fey [Player's Guide to the Sovereign Lands (pg 243)]
Conjuration (Summoning)
Level: Druid 1, Shaman (Kalamar) 1
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 round
Range: Close (25 ft + 5 ft / level)
Effect: One summoned creature
Duration: 1 minute / level
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No
    A golden flare of energy echoes upon the field, fading quickly to reveal the graceful form of the fey.
    You summon a fey creature with Hit Dice equal to or less than summon fey's level.
    Material Component: A pat of butter.

I'm assuming it's a scalable spell (that tag is missing from my current reference document), but if so that means you cast it as a 4th level spell to summon 4th level or below Fey.  Not familiar with Leprechauns though.

JaronK

[Amechra]

It was in the Kalamar creature book. Can't remember the name (this is something I saw a few years ago, since I don't have any KoK books at hand.)

[TuggyNE]

Holy/Unholy Defense:  1st level spell, lasts hour/CL, grants a deflection bonus to AC (4 + 2/3CL, max 10).  Also gives a penalty to hide checks and concealment.  Awesome.

That may or may not be broken, but compared to shield of faith it's astonishingly tacky. Flat-out twice as good or better unless you really love your hide checks.

[SorO_Lost]

No, I was trying to verify your claim (and see if there was something I was missing, as well as cool options).  If your claim was true, there should be some good stuff that I'd want to know about.  Instead it looks like KoK's actually pretty weak, and shockingly well errata'd (something WotC isn't known for).

You're coming across like your defending it. For instance, you undercut Commanding Presence. It is infinite uses. 16 Charisma means Round 1 you use it, round 2 you attack, round 3 you use the Feat again, and if they Save against it you have round 4 to try again. All while they helpless run away from you. And if you need a round, use the Free-Action Eyes. You can build an entire tactic around this, and it's just three Feats. Then you claim *I* said Unerring Strike was OP, no *I* linked someone's comments on how to use it to obtain Leap Attack + Power Attack numbers, without needing to charge someone. Then you find five amazing things, Wizard gets Spontaneous Spells and more Spells Per Day, but claim it's good but not powerful. I'm sorry, when did more Spells Per Day in a Wizard's hand become weak?

And recall my comment on a save-less instant coma in a bottle?

Orchidia: Orchidia grows in the Lopoliri Mountains. Early apothecaries thought they had found a deadly poison, because drinking its concentrated syrup appeared to cause instant death. Drinking the milky white orchidia sends the drinker into a severe, death-like coma. It takes a Heal check (DC 20) to recognize that the affected character still lives. The character returns to a normal condition after one hour or after another character revives him. Reviving a character under the effects of orchidia requires a Heal check (DC 25).

Table 7-3 is Crafting DCs. The rest of the Herbal mixtures outright list their Save DCs. Orchidia doesn't. It's a Save-less method to far more than murder your enemies. Works great out of combat as well as in combat against anything with Swallow Whole. Convince you're DM to load into into an Alchemical Sprayer and it's ten times more lethal than Aboth Mucus.

Some of the other stuff I don't have time to track down, but I can say the healing armor is in fact 1/day. But it is cheap, +1 value. I did find the +1 to Save DC bracelets (not rings) for 2,000gp, there is a +8 Enhancement to Charisma Cloak with some very poor wording and the Exliar of Blood lets you use a Hag's Heartstone for super cheap low-level Ethereal Travel. But those are not my largest interest, mine has always been the Ice Assassin like Spell. I already mentioned it's 5th level, and in the KoK main book. The fact you missed it means you deliberately excluded it from your post, see also the accusations of defending KoK.

Off the mirror creates a duplicate of a creature and places the target creature in another plane. This other plane overlaps the creature’s place on this plane and is large enough to hold the creature. Creatures familiar with the original might recognize the duplicate with a successful Spot check opposed by your caster level check +10. (The DM may adjust this bonus for creatures very familiar with the original.) While the duplicate has all of the original’s knowledge and abilities, the duplicate is opposite-handed from the original and scars and other identifying features are on the wrong side. The duplicate is under your complete control.
Material Component: Silver mirror worth 1,000 gp.

Flavor text dubs the plane is the Ethereal Plane. But it's a Standard Action to cast and costs pennies on the dollar so to speak.

Use it on an opponent as a psudo-Dominate, bypassing Mind Blank and Protection from X. Use it on your self to defensively buff your self with all the fun traits of being on the Ethereal Plane (invisibility, 50% miss chance, flight, walk through walls, no wonder the real ethereal jaunt spell is 7th level, not 5th plus benefits!) while letting your duplicated self risk death in combat while using your greatest offensive combos. Or just plain use it while visiting a deity for some quick Divine Ranks for a little earlier Pun-Pun ascension. Beat their Fort Save for an epic win by all accounts.

And this is the Core Book, which as noted had plenty of time and everyone in the D&D community remarking how broken Core was. Did they fix it? Nope. They added a Spellsinger (again notably missing from your comments) and AntiFeats (also missing).

[JaronK]

You're coming across like your defending it. For instance, you undercut Commanding Presence. It is infinite uses. 16 Charisma means Round 1 you use it, round 2 you attack, round 3 you use the Feat again, and if they Save against it you have round 4 to try again. All while they helpless run away from you. And if you need a round, use the Free-Action Eyes. You can build an entire tactic around this, and it's just three Feats.

The save DC is low (10+Cha mod, as opposed to most abilities which would be 10+1/2 level+Cha mod) and it requires you to be close ranged (5' + natural reach).  As a gaze attack, enemies can also avoid your gaze or other gaze attack counters.  Unless you're a heavily Charisma based melee, it's very unlikely that scenario would occur most of the time as far too many enemies would just shrug it off.   It's cool and a nice way for melees to attack something other than AC, but it's hardly a game breaker.  The save DC is way lower than the normal way of doing this, namely Zhentarium Fighter + Imperious Command, usually with Never Outnumbered, and that combo doesn't allow for gaze negation either.  Note that the Frightened condition is automatically a fear attack (see SRD entry on Frightened) so fear immunity does make you immune to this as well.  So... the thing is, it's not nearly as good as advertised.  Just decent in a fear melee build that pumps Charisma through the roof and maybe has some save reducers (Paladin of Tyranny 3/Hexblade 4, perhaps).

Then you claim *I* said Unerring Strike was OP, no *I* linked someone's comments on how to use it to obtain Leap Attack + Power Attack numbers, without needing to charge someone.

Hey, you quoted it as though it was the answer to the question.  That means you agree with it on some level.  It certainly doesn't get you Leap Attack Charge numbers without charging... a Frenzied Berserker 10 with 20 total BAB gets at most -10 to hit for -60 damage.  By comparison a normal Frenzied Berserker in the same situation but charging with Leap Attack (and the near prerequisite Shock Trooper) gets -20 to AC for +80 damage.  Factor in the fact that FBs likely have Valorous Weapon and feats like Headlong Rush (together that would get you +240 damage) and just isn't performing as advertised.  Certainly the quote about +80 damage isn't correct.  That's what FBs get without Unerring strike... with it they lose 20 damage.  So... not as good as advertised.  Certainly your quote failed to mention it was nerfed to half the normal returns.  With that said, it's certainly worth it for a Frenzied Berserkers in general (whether they can charge or not, they often do enough damage that it's more important to hit than anything else) and maybe also Lance chargers.

Then you find five amazing things, Wizard gets Spontaneous Spells and more Spells Per Day, but claim it's good but not powerful. I'm sorry, when did more Spells Per Day in a Wizard's hand become weak?

Not weak.  Those are good.  Spontaneous spells for Wizards is incredible.  Extra spells per day is pretty good, but I find most days I don't run out of spells at the levels where that feat comes online (you need to be at least level 7 to take it, so usually level 9 to get the feat).  But when you claim this setting is so overpowered that it's lazy to use it for optimization and that it convinced people third party was broken, I expect some seriously broken stuff... not things that Mage of the Arcane Order can compete with or that Sovereign Archetypes blow away, you know?  Elven Generalist Wizard grants about the same bonus spells as Miser with Magic (of course, you could combine the two) and we don't claim Races of the Wild is so broken it's lazy to use... just that it's got a few strong options.

And recall my comment on a save-less instant coma in a bottle?

Orchidia: Orchidia grows in the Lopoliri Mountains. Early apothecaries thought they had found a deadly poison, because drinking its concentrated syrup appeared to cause instant death. Drinking the milky white orchidia sends the drinker into a severe, death-like coma. It takes a Heal check (DC 20) to recognize that the affected character still lives. The character returns to a normal condition after one hour or after another character revives him. Reviving a character under the effects of orchidia requires a Heal check (DC 25).

Table 7-3 is Crafting DCs. The rest of the Herbal mixtures outright list their Save DCs. Orchidia doesn't. It's a Save-less method to far more than murder your enemies. Works great out of combat as well as in combat against anything with Swallow Whole. Convince you're DM to load into into an Alchemical Sprayer and it's ten times more lethal than Aboth Mucus.

They have to drink it to use it.  I figured from your first description it was something you could stab people with or otherwise attack them with.  If you can get someone to drink something, I'm pretty sure there are a thousand ways to kill them with that (shrink item on something and hide it in their food!).

Some of the other stuff I don't have time to track down, but I can say the healing armor is in fact 1/day. But it is cheap, +1 value.

That still requires at least +2 armor.  It's only going to matter if they end up between -1 and -9.  I find at the levels where I'm buying armor that expensive, I'm usually at positive hit points or dead.  From your description though I'm guessing it combos awesomely with Frenzied Berserker... does it heal you to full even if you go super negative?  If so, that would be pretty sweet and definitely worth remembering.  Seems like there's a lot of good Frenzied Berserker stuff.

I did find the +1 to Save DC bracelets (not rings) for 2,000gp, there is a +8 Enhancement to Charisma Cloak with some very poor wording and the Exliar of Blood lets you use a Hag's Heartstone for super cheap low-level Ethereal Travel.

+1 save DC items are certainly neat for casters at that price.  I don't know what the deal is with the Cloak... is it just cheaper than normal Charisma boost items?  Or is it just that the bonus is really high?  And yeah, the Elixer of Blood has some potential... I think I mentioned that one earlier.  I like counting as a horse and then getting those horseshoes from Arms and Equipment Guide.  It takes up two slots (hands and boots) but it's hilarious and a great stat boost.  Of course, AaEG is notorious for its overpowered items already.

But those are not my largest interest, mine has always been the Ice Assassin like Spell. I already mentioned it's 5th level, and in the KoK main book. The fact you missed it means you deliberately excluded it from your post, see also the accusations of defending KoK.

No, it means I was using the all spells list to scan for spells, and it's hard to search for two terms at once (5th level and Sovereign Lands).  I was trying to get a name from you so I could look at it.  Was it really be so hard for you to just say the name?  This is why I was asking... I don't have access to all the books atm, hence me searching for each thing (and thus spotting the erratas that are online).

Off the mirror creates a duplicate of a creature and places the target creature in another plane. This other plane overlaps the creature’s place on this plane and is large enough to hold the creature. Creatures familiar with the original might recognize the duplicate with a successful Spot check opposed by your caster level check +10. (The DM may adjust this bonus for creatures very familiar with the original.) While the duplicate has all of the original’s knowledge and abilities, the duplicate is opposite-handed from the original and scars and other identifying features are on the wrong side. The duplicate is under your complete control.
Material Component: Silver mirror worth 1,000 gp.

Dude, the duration is 1 round per level, fort negates, and you spend 1kgp just to cast it.  Ice Assassin gives a permanent minion, this is effectively just a fort negates short term Control Monster where you can't kill the monster while it's taken over that ignores Mind Blank but costs you a ton per casting.  Using it on yourself just makes this an overpriced dimensional door or perhaps a clever variant of Timestop... sort of.  I could see it being used very effectively, but this is NOT a cheap Ice Assassin at all.  It's good, but for 1kgp per casting it had better be!  And if you can avoid that cost somehow (Runesmith?), then Animate Dread Warrior is just so much better.

Here, for everyone else:
   Off the Mirror [Player's Guide to the Sovereign Lands (pg 236)]
Transmutation
Level: Anagakok 5, Beholder Mage 5, Deathwalker 5, Fleshcrafter 5, Sha'ir 5, Sorcerer 5, Soul Reaper 5, Sublime Chord 5, Suel Arcanamach 5, Wizard 5
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Close (25 ft + 5 ft / level)
Target: One creature
Duration: 1 round / level
Saving Throw: Fortitude negates
Spell Resistance: Yes
    Your spell creates a duplicate of the target creature, similar to the true form in all aspects save that its image and handedness are as if you accidentally copied the creature's mirror image. Simultaneously, the true creature is whisked onto the Ethereal Plane in a swarm of flickering lights.
    Off the mirror creates a duplicate of a creature and places the target creature in another plane. This other plane overlaps the creature's place on this plane and is large enough to hold the creature. Creatures familiar with the original might recognize the duplicate with a successful Spot check opposed by your caster level check +10. (The DM may adjust this bonus for creatures very familiar with the original.) While the duplicate has all of the original's knowledge and abilities, the duplicate is opposite-handed from the original and scars and other identifying features are on the wrong side. The duplicate is under your complete control.
    Material Component: Silver mirror worth 1,000 gp.

And this is the Core Book, which as noted had plenty of time and everyone in the D&D community remarking how broken Core was. Did they fix it? Nope. They added a Spellsinger (again notably missing from your comments) and AntiFeats (also missing).

Spellsinger doesn't seem like anything crazy, it's just another Sorcerer (with a funny Bard flavor).  I don't have the source on Antifeats, so I haven't said anything about that.  Also, note that the first book was 3.0... I'd say their 3.5 books were better balanced than 3.5 core!

I mean, there's some good stuff here (Spell Swap is probably the best of the bunch, and the Frenzied Berserker options are certainly good to know about... plus Potions of Blood are just asking for hilarity).  But this doesn't seem any crazier than any other setting.  Certainly I wanted to see some more awesome spells from the way you were talking them up!

JaronK

[zook1shoe]

The biggest problem with Kalamar is the inconsistency in the power levels. Its either too powerful or blows a donkey dick.

Symbol of Lycanthropy turns up 36 characters into lycanthropes.

with Elongation, you can have your arm grow +1ft /round, lasts 1rnd/CL

Good Luck gives the creature a free reroll for EVERYTHING during the 1rnd / CL. Did I mention this was a 2nd lvl spell?

the PrCs they have BLOW! They are tier ~ -3 on the PrC list.

Loyalty's Reward allows you to make your own CUSTOM feat and gives you and ANYONE else you want to have the feat.
-Did someone say all your followers get a custom Leadership that gives you the buddies and they are dominated with no save?
-What about a feat that gives you 100 divine ranks?
-A feat that allows you to destroy a Plane of Existence with a thought?

Blind Shot allows you to TARGET any creature any creature within range that is not behind a wall or on another plane.
-What about creatures using a giant rock as total cover? Yup
-What about a creature a mile away and your ballista shots that far? Yup
-What about the guy you don't know is there? Yup

Rod of Brilliance (4k as in four-thousand gold pieces)
- +2 turn/rebuke level and maximum HD affected.

Bracers of Attunement (2k) +1 save DC on your divine spells.
Bracelets of Secrets (2k) +1 save DC on your arcane spells.
Cloak of Worship (54k) +8 enhancement to Cha. Doesn't work against monsters?
Fey Robe (1140gp) +4 circumstance to Hide/MS in woods, 1/day locate creature and speak with plants.
Helmet of Heroism (6k) +1 competence to attacks, saves, ability and skill checks.
Potion ff Absolution (900gp) acts as atonement.

*yeah, I accidentally repeated a couple items

[JaronK]

The biggest problem with Kalamar is the inconsistency in the power levels. Its either too powerful or blows a donkey dick.

Symbol of Lycanthropy turns up 36 characters into lycanthropes.

Nasty, but it's an 8th level spell after all.

with Elongation, you can have your arm grow +1ft /round, lasts 1rnd/CL

And +1 AC against bludgeoning attacks if not in heavy armor... that's a really strange spell.  I barely know what to make of it.

Good Luck gives the creature a free reroll for EVERYTHING during the 1rnd / CL. Did I mention this was a 2nd lvl spell?

From what I'm reading, it gives one reroll during that time period.  Here's the wording:

Good Luck [Villain Design Handbook (pg 106)]
Evocation
Level: Bard 2, Basiran Dancer 2, Divine Bard 2, Vigilante 2
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Target: Creature touched
Duration: 1 round / level
Saving Throw: Will negates (harmless)
Spell Resistance: No (harmless)
    This spell allows the target creature to roll twice for any action that requires a die roll and take the best result. The recipient determines the action that the spell is applied to (within the spell duration). The reverse of the spell forces the target creature to roll twice for an action requiring a die roll and take the worst result. In this case, the caster determines which action within the spell duration will be affected, but the target may make a Will saving throw to negate the effect.

Nice, but it's not everything you roll in that time, just one thing in that time period.  Also, I'm not sure what this thing about reverses of spells is.  Is that a separate spell, or does one spell do two things kinda like a Truenamer?  If the later, why is it Will negates (harmless)?

the PrCs they have BLOW! They are tier ~ -3 on the PrC list.

I've yet to see anything about interesting PrCs in the entire expansion.

Loyalty's Reward allows you to make your own CUSTOM feat and gives you and ANYONE else you want to have the feat.
-Did someone say all your followers get a custom Leadership that gives you the buddies and they are dominated with no save?
-What about a feat that gives you 100 divine ranks?
-A feat that allows you to destroy a Plane of Existence with a thought?

The sample feats they give in that feat, however, are really terrible.  I think the custom feat thing is supposed to be worked out between you and your DM, so this one's kinda like item creation rules... they'd be broken except for the built in DM fiat.  Here's their examples given with that feat:

Snowbound: You gain a +2 resistance bonus to saving throws against cold spells. The druidic circle of the Voldorwoods and the Slennish can gain this feat.
Serpent’s Swiftness: You can move an additional 10 feet on a charge action and gain an additional +2 bonus on your attack roll. Some barbarians of the Obakasek Jungle (the Kelen tribe) have this feat.
Victims of Injustice: Due to combating constant oppression, you gain a +2 bonus to your Sense Motive checks made to oppose Bluff checks. The DC for someone to Intimidate you is 4 points higher than standard. Certain fanatical dwarves of Karasta take this feat.

Nothing in the feat implies the player just gets to make up any feat they want.  Just this vague "custom feat" thing.  Horribly worded and too vague, but if the examples are anything to go on, it's nearly useless.

Blind Shot allows you to TARGET any creature any creature within range that is not behind a wall or on another plane.
-What about creatures using a giant rock as total cover? Yup
-What about a creature a mile away and your ballista shots that far? Yup
-What about the guy you don't know is there? Yup

Pretty sure the giant rock counts as a wall for this purpose.   All it seems to do is let you target anything you know about that's not completely blocked from you, whether you can see them or not.  I think you still have to know the person is there to target them, though you clearly don't have to know the exact square (the feat does say your amazing senses let you sense them, so maybe you just know there's someone you can shoot?).  Also, you get a 50% miss chance to hit your target, which really hurts.  It's okay, but I'm not seeing the problem here (other than the fact that you can take it really early, this seems like it should be a high level archery feat).  Honestly, this is the sort of thing I'd expect high level mundanes to be able to do... odd that it has no level requirement.  Totally worth it for an archer who has already spent their feats elsewhere though.

Rod of Brilliance (4k as in four-thousand gold pieces)
- +2 turn/rebuke level and maximum HD affected.

Nice.  But I think I'd prefer the Rod of Defiance (-4 turn resistance does a LOT more than +2 T/R level).  Wouldn't mind both items though!  Still, the RoD is a lot better, as it's roughly 8 times more effective (more so in some circumstances).

Bracers of Attunement (2k) +1 save DC on your divine spells.
Bracelets of Secrets (2k) +1 save DC on your arcane spells.

Those are definitely quite good.

Cloak of Worship (54k) +8 enhancement to Cha. Doesn't work against monsters?

...What?  So, does that mean a Sorcerer's save DCs aren't boosted by the cloak or something?

Fey Robe (1140gp) +4 circumstance to Hide/MS in woods, 1/day locate creature and speak with plants.

Note:  3.0, so we expect the skill bonuses to be too high.  I'd imagine for a 3.5 game you'd want to call that a +2 bonus.  But that's awfully cheap for Locate Creature.

Helmet of Heroism (6k) +1 competence to attacks, saves, ability and skill checks.

Now that's a gem!

Potion ff Absolution (900gp) acts as atonement.

Huh.  Shockingly cheap.

JaronK

[zook1shoe]

i was on my phone looking at this all from the Player's Guide (and some spells from VDH in a pm for High Arcana)

@Good Luck... yeah i see that now

@Loyalty's Reward... those are just examples in the 3.0 PG
but it does say that you choose from an organization's benefits.

@Blind Shot... there are a couple abilities that reduce the miss chance, which helps

[SorO_Lost]

Helmet of Heroism (6k) +1 competence to attacks, saves, ability and skill checks.

Now that's a gem!

By the time I got done flipping through KoK, that like the bracelets, became a ring to comment on.

And also, exactly as I said. Ethereal Jaunt is a 7th level Spell and performs one task. Sending you to the Ethereal Plane. Off the Mirror does this as a 5th level Spell, whilst duplicating you. Even Fission, a 7th level Psionic Power, imposes a dual negative level penalty on you and the clone and you share HP/Status/Manifesting so everything you're clone consumes costs you. Off the Mirror? 1,000gp gives both of these four levels sooner, at once. And your duplicate can freely expend anything and you're so caught up with defending KoK you have no damn idea what this means.

Like you complain about the 1,000gp figure, by intent the duplication has your items and you consider an Artificer some sort of Tier -238,497 or some bullshit like that. Spend 1,000gp on the Spell and your duplication uses Metamagic Wand Grip + Metamagic Spelltrigger to cast a Twinned Repeated Scorching Ray off a Wand or heaven forbid an Arty simply uses a Scroll. And even if you claim the guy is naked or the items are none-magical, your duplication makes up this pathetic 1,000gp cost for you by casting Wish until you have a +5 Inherent Bonus in all Ability Scores, a 774,300gp value. Permanency, True Creation, even Limited Wish (250xp=1,500gp) all come to mind as well. Then of course you down play the ring that gives a Wizard more Spells per day. Of course you would if a single 5th level Spell granted you another six 9th level Spells. And this is *just* resources gained for that 1,000gp investment you seem so hung up on. Which just baffles the hell out of me seeing how you swear by the one Class that does nothing but throw gold at Encounters. But then I see your name.

And it makes perfect sense.

Rest of your post, I ignored. I wanted to see if your sit there whining about how Off The Mirror is underpowered. You did. /thread.

[zook1shoe]

be nice

he never said it was underpowered, he just said that it wasn't nearly as powerful as the other person had thought it was, due to some downsides. which in no way means its not powerful at all.

[JaronK]

I didn't whine about it being underpowered... Soro claimed it was like Ice Assassin.  Repeatedly.  He even accused me of being disingenuous for not recognizing it given nothing more than it being a 5th level version of Ice Assassin.  But Ice Assassin is a spell that gives you a permanent minion (the permanency is the whole thing that makes it so powerful!), and Off the Mirror lasts one round per level.  It's a solid spell, certainly, and it's abusable, but it's nothing like Ice Assassin!  If you said "the 5th level spell that acts like a very short term expensive Dominate Monster or a lower level Ethereal Jaunt as needed" or similar, you'd hear fewer objections.

A person can't be so shocked and hurt when they make false claims and then someone shows those claims aren't true.  Honestly, I'm getting the feeling SorO hasn't read any of the books at all and is just reading other people's reviews online... since I did find one other person referring to that spell as being (wrongly) like Ice Assassin, and it's the link you get when you search for "Overpowered Kingdom of Kalamar Spells" in google.  But had someone actually read the spell when it was first being talked about, there's no way they'd say that. 

So, SorO drop the righteous indignation act, okay?  At least other people in this thread seem to be reading the books before passing judgements and suggesting options!

JaronK

[zook1shoe]

With Loyalty's Reward, you can have a aptitude warbringer's rod, part of a War Domain Organization, and create a that organization's capstone.

this gives you 'aptitude' x4. How would that work?

[JaronK]

Not having that book to work with... I don't know?

JaronK

[Nunkuruji]

Child of the Earth:  +Con to saves as a luck bonus, must be taken at 1st level, specific regional feat.  Could be very useful for many builds.

And more specifically, human. Perhaps lose some con maximization on that in terms of race/template, fantastic on a MoMF or other shapechanging build.