The Consort: A Fey Companion Class by Jackson Lewis Format : PDF Acquired 10 June 2020 ; part of NAACP Legal Defense Fund [BUNDLE] $9.99 [Full price is $4.95] Product released 12 January 2020/last updated 13 January 2020 Read 28 June 2020

Number of stars : 5

This is a full-blown class offering with four subclasses as offered. The consort is "chosen by a specific [Fey] sovereign, for the purposes of companionship and diplomacy to the material world (3). Love, in one of its many forms, good or bad, is assumed to be present between the character and their fey sovereign [For more on this see the reviews mentioned below].

Basically, this is halfcaster fighter. All four of the subclasses strengthen both the strange fey magic and the fighter aspects of the class in interesting ways. Tributes begin at third level and go from 3 known to 9 known at 18th level. There are twenty in total, with some restricted by level and/or sovereign. Seven have no restriction, two more are available at 5th, one at 9th, three each at 11th and 15th, and one at 18th for each of the four sovereigns.

The contents include the base class information, four Fey Presence Choices [subclassses], Tributes [see more below], Consort spell list and five new spells, and eight magic weapons.

There are other considerations that are important and I suggest that both Catherine E. and Tiffany M.'s reviews are highly worth reading. They both make excellent points which do not need to be repeated here.

Preview : The full-size preview gives all front matter, the entirety of the base class, and the first two Fey Presence Choices [subclasses].

Attribution : Yes: creator, editor, layout, layout template, and artwork.

TOC : Present and hotlinked. Thank you!

Formatting : Font is the normal small for DMsG products. Layout is otherwise nice.

Art : Nice amount, applicable, aesthetically pleasing.

Style : Mostly follows WotC D&D House Style. There is some inconsistentcy in capitalization.

Editing : Prety good but really could have used a proofreader; someone not closely involved. I see this in quite a few products at DMsG.

Number and type of files included : One PDF.

Value : This is a fairly niche but well-thought out class if your campaign is fey-focused. There are other table considerations, though, and you should see the two above mentioned reviews for more on that. I am definitely glad that it came in the bundle. I doubt I would have paid $4.95 for it but that does not imply lack of value or interest, as it is more of "As interested as I am in the concept, it is unlikely I or my table will have need of it." Still, I like the idea and its execution.

I was provided with a free copy of The Consort in exchange for an honest and unbiased review

This is a story about love.

A Consort is a character who has drawn the attention of a powerful Fey Sovereign (an archfey). The fey becomes that character’s patron, muse, or similar, granting them abilities in return for their service. Their fey patron loves them, to whatever value of ‘love’ this strange, fey, creature understands. Mutual or otherwise, romantic, platonic, healthy or exploitative, at the heart of every Consort is a love story. And, to my mind, D&D is lacking in love stories, so this core concept is a bold and original move.

How you interpret the relationship at the heart of the class is entirely down to the player and DM, and your respective comfort levels: you might have a hero in love with their patron, or a poor creature tormented by their loss of freedom or the magical world they’ve barely glimpsed. In terms of flavour and story potential, The Consort is superb, though you’ll need a fairly mature group to negotiate the necessary conversations about consent, reciprocity and other concepts that sneak in when you start to talk about love across a power gap.

A Consort character is mechanically versatile, too. It’s both a half-caster and a fighter, with room for the player to customise how far their character leans in either of those directions.

There are only two points against the Consort, but they’re both fairly important.

For a class that’s fully based on an interpersonal relationship, it’s disappointing that there are only four sovereigns to pick from. A player and DM will probably have to at least reskin one of the existing four, or more likely make a new one, for every new Consort created.

Secondly, and related… there are a lot of conceptual similarities with a warlock dedicated to an Archfey patron. The mechanical package is different – a Consort will play differently from a Warlock – but you could, and may already have, tried out this character concept with an existing class.

Buy it if: you’ve always wanted more strong relationships in your D&D games (and goodness knows, that’s a good reason); you’re unsatisfied with the abilities and powers of a warlock.

Don’t buy it if: you’re opposed to re-flavouring/re-skinning, and working closely with your DM to build a character; warlocks are your comfort zone.