Octavirate Presents, Volume3: Simple Tricks and Nonsense by Octavirate Entertainment is a product detailing the best way to use magic, especially minor magics, to your advantage primarily for D&D and provides tools to adapt the rules to other D20 games. It is 39-pages (36 after cover, credits and OGL) with a clean layout, the art is mostly cartoony and appropriate to the light-hearted nature of this product.

The product opens with a short discussion on the usefulness of magic, especially low-level magic (0-level cantrips and orisons), and how one can use magic to make a (semi-)honest living. A nicely thought out and entertaining piece.

Then the actual game material begins, starting with seven feats mostly 0-level spell related, many of which give access to casting a limited number of 0-level spells to non-spellcasters. Several interesting ideas are included to expand the role of low level magics in a game.

Next is the meat of this product, new spells, lots of them and almost all of them 0-level. A few are new attacks, covering the various element not included in the basic spell list but mostly they are just fun effects like Dowse (detect water), Produce Animal (?watch me pull a rabbit out of a hat.?), Spell Signature (impose a visual theme on your magic) and Storm of Humiliation (a small rain cloud drizzles on the victim). A few give fairly high skill bonuses or penalty (+/- 5) which might be a bit high and some have relative long durations for a 0-level spell, but each campaign can decide on that. Combined they have a lot of potential for fun and inventive play.

Two new monsters are presented, the Cantrimp, which distorts and twists magic, and the Origami Animal (created by the Occult Origami cantrip). A new NPC class, the Hedge Mage, who are dabblers in magic but can make magic items easily, however they are unreliable . . . An example hedge mage and several adventure ideas for use with him are included.

Lastly, there are optional rules: Bonus 0-level spells, a skill-based system for casting spells (with the chance of magic mishaps), 0-level spells for other spell casting classes (like Paladins), and expanded spell lists for d20 Modern.

If you like interesting uses of magic, cantrips or both, this is the product for you. It is a little silly at times (hey, it has nonsense in the title!) but fun.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>