Review:
D&D 4th ed: The Plane Below

I had been waiting for the new source book covering the Elemental Chaos for some time now, and I have not been disappointed, this is a fantastic new source book.

The content is diverse and as detailed as it needs to be, no more, no less. The creative team has covered a number of legendary locations with just enough depth to give Dungeon Masters a very good idea of what the places are like, and with some well placed art work, a few notable individuals, some interesting magical items and a whole heap of hearsay, history, legend and lore, this book makes for a damn good read, as well as a very handy reference book.

Having read more than a few source books in my time, I appreciate what is not in this book.
You won't find many dry statistic blocks on Gods and Greater Demon Lords, because when it comes to the actual playing of the game, those things don't come up very often, if ever.
You will find a small array of high level individuals, such as Ygorl, the Lord of Entropy, a Slaad lord and thoroughly unpleasant fellow, also called the Bringer of Endings. While certainly powerful, he is still just a level 26 Elite monster, complete with his own little network of dread followers and their Acolyte stooges.
One of my rules of thumb is you can never have enough cultists, cave men and ninjas to cleave a battle axe through, and this book has plenty of cleave fodder.

More details on important races, such as the element infused Genasi, the chaotic Slaad, the capricious Djinn and the stoic Githzerai, as well as the Giants and Titans, all at home in the land of the Primordials is much appreciated.

Yes, this book has a bit of everything, yet it still weighs in at a lean 159 pages, and that is quite a feat. It also includes many gems that can be used anywhere at all, not limited to the Elemental Chaos, and this makes it a resource that makes it into my little stack of books kept on hand during play.