What’s Good About Solasta: Crown of the Magister
I only recently got into Tabletop RPGs primarily because the internet makes it easier than ever to join in on them and…well… *Gestures Broadly at the State of the World*. I’ve even tried a few video games based on these such as Pathfinder Kingmaker and the Early Access builds of Baldur’s Gate 3 or games inspired by them like Pillars Of Eternity. The most recent of these is the subject of today’s entry: Solasta Crown of The Magister. It’s one of the best recent examples of familiarity with a system that can be used to great effect knowing when to deviate from the said formula can be a benefit.
The game looks to have several campaigns being released later down the line, with the base game being the level 1–10 adventure, the titular Crown of the Magister. The basic setup is that you and your party are a group of newly minted deputies for the Legacy Council; an independent organization that oversees the use of magic and magical artifacts in Solasta. Your first job has you going to an outpost that’s gone quiet near the Badlands. Things escalate from there. The basic story wasn’t grabbing me, but I still stick with it if only because of the way character creation works. Solasta gives you the option to create characters for a full party, each with personality flags that determine and even change their dialogue in-game. It’s a rad feature because you don’t know what your group will say and it keeps things interesting.
The RPG system is for the most part, based on the version 5.1 System Reference Document for Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition that Wizards of the Coast releases as part of the Open Gaming License and has done so whenever they release a new edition of D&D since 2000. So depending on how you get on with 5e’s mechanics, you may or may not like it. I don’t know you, reader. I happen to like the system because while it uses the 5.1 SRD as a foundation, it spins off from it in some interesting ways. There are six classes to choose from, on top of multiple ancestries and backgrounds that augment your personality tags in conversations. Some classes have things straight up from the SRD and 5e like the Fighter’s Champion and Paladin’s Oath of Devotion subclasses, but then you get more unique and interesting stuff, chief among them being the Green Mage Arcane Tradition for the Wizard, which essentially turns you into a more magically focused Ranger (you gain proficiency with light armor, the archery fighting style and the Ranger’s Natural Explorer feature in forests.) It feels paired down at first, but they all feel great once you get intimately familiar with the classes.
The main thing I like about Solasta is the combat aspects of the game. You do all of the things you normally would in a game of D&D, but the play space is what makes it interesting. There are multiple levels of elevation in areas that make traversal more of a process, but are used beautifully in combat; taking into account the various heights and how you and the enemy use them to make for a lot of harrowing combat scenarios. My favorite example is when fighting Soraks, the not-quite lizardfolk of the game as they can cling to walls and attack you from said various heights and vantage points. These, combined with potential party compositions, make this the best straight-up adaptation of D&D in video game format for me (Baldur’s Gate 3 is more a video game adaptation of the actual Fifth Edition system, which is fine). If there’s one nitpick I have, is that if you don’t have torches, you might as well just accept that you’ll be at a disadvantage when rolling. But that’s more of a 5e problem than anything.
Solasta isn’t a game that’s going to change your life, but it’s a rollicking good time if your looking for a good RPG to play, and this is just the Crown of the Magister Campaign. The create-a-campaign and dungeon maker (both of which are still in beta) is going to give this game a long life aside from the campaigns that Tactical Adventures decides to put in. Also, you have fully customizable dice that you can change the appearance of. This pleases my inner Dice Goblin.
