Review: Book of Heroic Races Advanced: Merfolk

Honestly I've only had merfolk in my campaign once but they have a lot of appeal. Like a number of races merfolk only get one page of material in the Advanced Race Guide and no entries in the Player Companion line so Jon Brazer Enterprises is taking a stab in another Book of Heroic Races book. The last full book had some bumps I didn't like but was still very good so I expect the same amount of quality this time around.

After some fluff text and some reiteration of the merfolk racial traits and alternate racial traits this product brings up groups of alternate racial traits with additions to form new sets of racial traits for racial subtypes. There are two new subtypes, Anglerfish Merfolk and Octopi Merfolk. Sadly there are no cool pictures of these subtypes.  One thing that's notable is the alternate racial trait to be able to gain a human form and a gain a land speed.

Like the Changeling BoHRA, there is a discussion of how merfolk fit in a world and their relationship with other creatures and classes which leads up to some class options specific to merfolk. The options are mostly solid but some abilities from the Sorcerer bloodline that will leave your players asking questions that the book does not seem to answer. The racial feats and items are all good enough to take or buy making them worthwhile additions to the game. This also includes interesting mundane armor made of underwater material like shark skin and coral.

There is one new deity and some new merfolk spells. Surprisingly there is also a new psionic power, for those of you who are into that, which allows merfolk to adapt to land much like the Advanced Race Guide spell that does the same. There are also new magic items including an artifact level trident (of course).

The book ends with a bit of advice on using merfolk in your campaign and seven merfolk NPCs.

Compared to the Changeling BoHR, this one feels a bit lighter on the crunch and fluff, plus the class options aren't as exciting as I would have liked, but a lot of quality is maintained and like having NPCs, thematic items a the racial subtypes is a delightful addition. I also love the extra consideration of giving a land adaption psionic power. But overall it suffers from me reviewing Changelings first. Its not bad by any means but it's sister product brings a lot more to the table. Despite this There is plenty to use and a lot of little considerations that make merfolk more playable in a game. The items, both magical and mundane evoke a lot of imagination although the mundane items are definitely more exciting and interesting to see. In the end I will rate it 4 stars out of 5.

You can find this over on Paizo.com here.