100 Days of Halloween: The Complete Book of Necromancers

Yesterday I reviewed the Wizard's Complete Class book and last week I covered the Death Master in Dragon Magazine #76, I thought this would be a good one for today.

In AD&D 1 the example of the Illusionist gave birth to the specialty wizards of AD&D 2nd Ed.  One of those specialty wizards was the Necromancer. Though, unlike the Illusionist, the Transmuter, or even the Evoker, the Necromancer got its own book.  

The Complete Book of Necromancers was one of those books that everyone seemed to want.  I remember picking it up back when it was first published. I paid $15 for it.  Later the cover price jumped to $18 and soon it became very rare. No idea why.  The aftermarket price jumped considerably and I ended up selling mine on eBay back in 2000 for $81. Not a bad deal really. I ended up re-buying again recently at Half-Price Books for $9.

DMGR7 The Complete Book of Necromancers

PDF and softcover book. 128 pages. Black & white interior art. For this review, I am considering my softcover edition and the PDF from DriveThruRPG.

Let's be honest, few classes have had the spotlight quite like Necromancers have had. There have been many attempts before and since. But when comes down to it, the 2nd Ed Complete Book of Necromancers is the gold standard that all other books on Necromancy are compared to. This book is packed. Even the font size is smaller than the other Class books for AD&D 2nd Ed. 

Introduction

Our introduction informs us that this is a book for DMs to make memorable foes. Indeed throughout the book refers to the Necromancers as NPCs.  Even warnings are given about Necromancer PCs of higher than the 9th level. 

Chapter 1: Necromancers

Details "The Standard Necromancer" or even "The Masters of the Dark Art" with minimum ability scores and the rolling methods to gain them (with a table on page 10). Additionally, only humans can be necromancers. Role-playing wise I can see this. Elves would not be concerned with the spirits of the dead and if they wanted to speak to them then they have the books they wrote. Dwarves and Halflings are very much about the here and now. Mechanically though there is no reason to assume they can be, save that this is AD&D.

We get an extended Necromancer (Wizard) XP advancement table to level 30. There are also details about weapon and non-weapon proficiencies. New non-weapon proficiencies are also given.

There are also new Kits for the Necromancer. They are the Archetypal Necromancer, Anatomist, Deathslayer (killer of the undead), Philosopher, and Undead Master. Additionally, two kits from the Complete Book of Wizards and the Complete Sha'ir's Handbook are brought over for use here. They are the Witch and the Ghul Lord.

Chapter 2: Dark Gifts

Covers the powers of Necromancy. This starts with a discussion on Dual Classes characters (remember Human only) each combination is discussed such as Fighter/Necromancer, Thief/Necromancer, Cleric/Necromancer, and the Psionicist/Necromancer.  

Vile Pacts and Dark Gifts cover the powers Necromancers are likely to pick up as they gain the notice of dark powers. 

Despite all the recommendations above, up next is a section on Humanoid Necromancers like Drow and Githyanki. 

Chapter 3: The Price

Details the down-side of dealing with necromancy.  While the social stigma stuff might be a blessing to many necromancers, things like deformities and body afflictions are less welcome. 

Chapter 4: The Dark Art

This deals with the magic and the spells of Necromancy. A great section for any sort of AD&D 2nd ed DM really.  It discusses "Black" or "Criminal" Necromancy, "Gray" or Neutral Necromancy, and "Benign" or "White" Necromancy.

There are 25 new spells from levels 1 to 9 here. Many I note still live on in new editions. 

Chapter 5: Death Priests

Can't let wizards have all the fun. Besides, Necromancy is not just a school of arcane magic but a sphere of divine magic as well. Death Priests (Clerics) get the same treatment as did the Wizards above. Including an advancement table to level 30.  Here different gods/faiths are discussed that might be a home to a Death Priest. The obvious are the God of the Dead. But also the Goddess of Murder, God of Pestilence, God of Suffering, and the Lord of the Undead.

Chapter 6: The Priest Sphere

Cover the necromancy priest sphere and spells. Here we get 18 new priest spells of levels 1 to 7.

Chapter 7: Allies

Covers everything from Apprentices, Henchmen, Familiars (including Undead ones), and Undead minions. Undead minions get the most detail with various sorts of undead discussed. 

There is a great section on Secret Societies. I used this one quite a lot when I developed my Circle of Six Necromancer group.  A group of bad guys that I STILL use today (though only three are still active). 

Chapter 8: Tools of the Trade

Covers potions, poisons, various magical items (including some new), and necromantic lore. 

Chapter 9: The Campaign

Looking back I realize there is a lot in this chapter I *STILL* use. The first is Sahu the Island of the Necromancer Kings. Granted an Ilse of Necromancers is not 100% original and I could have easily got it from Clark Ashton Smith, but this one comes together nicely for AD&D 2nd and still works for me today. 

There are some adventure hooks connected to Sahu and some more connected to the various NPCS found at the end of this section.  That's is the other thing I still use. The NPCs here were quite memorable to me. 

Appendix 1: Common Spells for Necromancers: Lists of spells and their sources by Offensive and Defensive capability.

Appendix 2 and Appendix 3 Necromancy spells for Wizards (2) and Clerics (3).

Appendix 4 Index of Necromantic spells: Alphabetical listing.

There is so much here that would later find homes in the 3e Book of Vile Darkness and the 4e Heroes of Shadow.  And much that is still very useful today.  

I will come back to this one when I decide to work through more of my Isles of Avalon.

October Horror Movie Challenge: Night of the Werewolf (1980)

It would not be an October Horror Movie Challenge unless I did a Paul Naschy movie. And it wouldn't a proper October without an Elizabeth Bathory movie too. So about a double-shot movie? 

Night of the Werewolf (1980)

We start this one with the trial of Elizabeth Bathory. She is condemned to be buried alive. Her servants are burned at the stake and her main servant Waldemar Daninsky (Naschy) is condemned as a werewolf. A mask of shame is placed on him, and a silver cross is hammered into his heart.

Fast forward to the modern day and three college girls are working on their thesis on the occult and Bathory in particular. They are planning a trip to the Carpathian mountains to visit Bathory's tomb. One of the girls, Erika, though wants to go a step further and bring Bathory back to life. While this happening two grave robbers beat them to it and ending freeing Daninsky by pulling the silver cross out of his heart. The moon is full and he kills them both in werewolf form.

The girls get to the Carpathian but are attacked by a group of men.  From the woods, someone shoots the men with a crossbow and kills them.  The girls find Bathory's tome and Erika hear the Countess' voice convincing her to kill the others and drain their blood for her.  They discover a woman with her face half-burned. 

Next thing we know the girls are now the guests of Waldemar Daninsky in his castle. The woman with the burned face is his servant. 

Erika starts killing people and brings Bathory back to life. Daninsky turns into a werewolf and kills people. Everyone is dying.

Daninsky learns that Bathory is alive and he decides she must die. They fight, Vampire and Werewolf (ha take that White Wolf and Sony!). Bathory is killed by Daninsky, but then he tries to kill his lover while in werewolf form, but she kills him with the silver knife. 

Well, it's not great, but still fun. 

October Horror Movie Challenge 2022
Viewed: 38
First Time Views: 28

Larina for Witchblood

Today is October 25th, the day I traditionally observe as the "birthday" of my first real witch character Larina.  Since I rolled her up in 1986 she is now 36 years old! Not too bad really.  I thought she might be a perfect character to try out for Witchblood. I reviewed this game just this past Sunday to start my last full week of #100DaysOfHalloween. 

The Game: Witchblood

This is a new game from Rose Bailey, (author of the great "Die For You" RPG), Benjamin Baugh ("The Shadow of Golgotha" with Bailey), and Jacqueline Bryk (lots of Onyx Path titles). While reviewing it I knew I wanted to build some characters right away. The only downside for me is that character building for this game is best done with all the players in Session 0 so everyone knows what they are doing and how all the characters work together.

I don't have that luxury here and now, but at least using a character I know so well makes some choices easier. So I printed out my sheets and hit Chapter II: Wanderers and went through the extremely easy Character Creation process.

I knew some things up front. Larina was a Witchblood and a Wise One. But there were still things for me to discover about a character I have known for 36 years.

The Character: Larina Nix

In Witchblood you start with your name, your Birthright, and your Calling. You Birthrighe sets your points for the Identity pairs of Patience-Cunning (Mental Identities), Vigor-Grace (Active Identities), and Understanding-Persuasion Spiritual Identities).  

Your Calling sets your points for dual Quality pairs of Generosity-Selfishness and Demonstration-Observation, Courage-Wrath and Endurance-Defiance, and Trust-Faith and Honesty-Deceit.  These points can change in the course of the game. Sometimes rapidly and often. Always due to the nature of what is going on around them (these changes are called Slides).

For Larina here, these were easy choices for me. Her Birthright is Witchblood and her Calling is Wise One. For her Profile, I went back to her early incarnations as a lone solitary witch so the Stranger seemed like a good one.

Next, I added her bonus dots/points. I get to raise my Birthright or Calling by +1, I picked Calling since the earliest versions of Larina always had her hearing the "Call of the Goddess" at an early age.  I get +3 points for Identities but none can be raised over 3. All my pairs had one 3 in them, so that meant just adding to the ones with only one in them. I kept her Patience at 1 and moved Understanding to 3.  Lastly, for points, I get +5 points for Qualities. These were distributed across all six pairs. Finally I calculate my Violence Potential, which is a 9. This is mostly used in combat situations. 

What does this give me?  Well, I am actually rather pleased with it.

Larina y Diamynedd, art by me 

Larina Nix

"The Witch of the Wood," "y Diamynedd (The Impatient)"

Birthright 3
Calling 2
Profile: The Stranger

Patience 1 / Cunning 3

Generosity 3 / Selfishness 1

Demonstration 1 / Observation 2

Vigor 2 / Grace 3

Courage 2 / Wrath 2

Endurance 2 / Defiance 3

Understanding 3 / Persuasion 3

Trust 1 / Faith 2

Honesty 3 / Deceit 1

Violence Potential: 9

Traits

She knows,

• the speech of the higher animals, though they owe you no fealty.
• the best paths through the wilds your witch dwells in, such as the forests, glaciers, or deserts.
• appropriate gifts to attract the attention of most supernatural beings.

• the difference between illness, poison, and curses.
• how long a wounded or injured person has to live.
• herbal or other remedies for common illnesses, poisons, and curses.

Liar’s Magic
Awaken the Wilds
Fulfill Fate

Predict Weather
Treat Wounds
Ward Curse

Stranger Prompts

What do they call you?
  Larina y Diamynedd (The Impatient one)

What do you do?
  I travel to learn more about the nature of magic

Why do you stand out?
   People can tell there is something off about me. Even when they can't see my witchmark on my left wrist.

Why can’t you go home?
   My home burned. I have nothing and no one left.

What have you picked up on your travels?
   Knowledge of the world and friends. 

Why do you travel with companions?
   They are my found family. People who accept me for who and what I am.

Why are you dangerous to your companions?
   There is a darkness that follows me. Whatever gave me my magic is jealous of my attention.

Why do you interfere?
   Because I must. Not everyone in this world has my gifts and the world is not just.

--

OK! I like this. In fact, I like it so much these sheets might get stapled to my D&D version of her as a role-playing guide. 

Now to find a group to play with!

Oh. And Happy Birthday Larina. 36 looks good on you!

100 Days of Halloween: The Complete Wizard's Handbook (AD&D 2nd Edition)

This week is all about D&D. Since I have been doing spooky things in general and witchy things in particular, this one *might* stretch this notion a bit. But this book does give us our first-ever official Witch class, er... kit for AD&D. So for that reason alone I should consider it.  But there are other reasons for me to consider this.

The Complete Wizard's Handbook (AD&D 2nd Edition)

PDF and softcover editions. Black & White interior art. 128 Pages.

For this review, I am considering the PDF on DriveThruRPG and my softcover book from 1990.

So a bit of background first. AD&D 2nd Edition came out in later 1989 and introduced the concept of Kits. These were roles that could be taken by a class. They are similar in many respects to the sub-classes or archetypes of D&D 5. You took a kit at the first level and that gave some powers, abilities, and restrictions. They quickly got bloated and dare I say, game-breaking (looking at you The Complete Bard's Handbook) but the early ones like this gave the game some great flavor, and others, like The Complete Psionics Handbook, extended the rules in interesting ways.

The Complete Wizard's Handbook is all about wizards, magic-users, and magic.

Chapter 1: Schools of Magic

This is not a classroom-like school (though it can be) it discusses the 8 schools of magic codified by AD&D (that is still around today). In AD&D 2e you could have a "Specialist Mage" or someone dedicated to a particular school, they excel in casting spells from that school but can't cast spells from an opposing school.  The example in the Players Handbook is the Illusionist, a holdover from AD&D 1st Ed. Arguably the most popular would become the Necromancer. (more on that later).

Each school is detailed and the requirements for each are also given on top of the requirements for a Generalist Wizard. For example, a Conjurer must have some human blood (seems random) and Enchanters need a Charisma score of 16 or above (that makes sense).

Chapter 2: Creating New Schools

This covers the creation of new schools of magic that either augment or abandon the schools above. It is a great primer on how magic might work and how it could be learned. While the standard schools are not dropped here, they are reorganized. This chapter is also helpful for anyone wanting to rethink their wizards can do. If Original D&D gave us a magic-user that can do anything, this gives us multiple types of wizards that collectively can do it all and not always the same way.

Chapter 3: Wizard Kits

At only 20 some-odd pages this section feels larger. And it is also the focus of my attention today. There are 10 kits detailed here, each with requirements, preferred schools, barred schools and what they do. The kits are the Academician (scholar of magic), Amazon Sorcerers (what it says on the tin, but all the The Complete Class book had an Amazon kit), Anagakok (Wizards from primitive cultures), Militant Wizard (also what it sounds like), Mystic (in this case a sort of pacifist wizard), Patrician (a wizard of noble birth), Peasant Wizard (just the opposite), Savage Wizard (wizard from very remote areas), Witch (why we are here), and the Wu-Jen updated from the 1st Ed AD&D Oriental Adventures. 

I mentioned this was the first official witch in AD&D, this is true, but it is not the first official witch of D&D. That honor goes to the witch school for Magic-users in GAZ3 The Principalities of Glantri which predates this by 3 years.  The witch here is easily the most detailed of the all the kits along with the Wu-Jen.

The kit creation section was a well-used and abused feature of this book for me when working on other kits and subclasses.

Chapter 4: Role-Playing

This chapter covers all sort of role-playing advice and tips for wizard characters. Various personality types are covered here; the Altruist, the Brooder, the Mystery Man, the Showman., and more. There are also adventure ideas and plot hooks for wizard characters. 

Not the Scarlet Witch

Chapter 5: Combat and the Wizard

AD&D wizards at low levels are easy to kill, so combat tips are most welcome. This covers Defensive spells and Offensive spells and how to best use them. There is also a bit about the restricted weapons list of the wizard.

Chapter 6: Casting Spells in Unusual Conditions

Details what spells are effective where and more importantly which ones are not effective. This includes the mundane underwater and the more fantastic environments like the planes. Also various conditions on the spell caster like blindness, impaired hearing, and speech.

Chapter 7: Advanced Procedures

Covers level and spell advancement to 32nd level. Details on various spells and a bunch of materials on how illusions work in the game. Details on spell components, spell research, and magic item research and creation.

Chapter 8: New Spells

Pretty much what it says. 40 new spells for AD&D.

Chapter 9: Wizardly Lists

Various lists from 25 helpful familiars, to five unusual places for spell components, nine magic items that have not been invented yet, and more. There are maps, locations, and even 12 new magic items.

The utility of this book for AD&D 2nd can't be undersold. There is more here than just class information there is also information on the very lifeblood of most fantasy games; magic.  While the book is solid AD&D 2nd ed there is enough information here for players of any edition of D&D. 

I have mentioned in the past that the magic school and wizard training information makes a great complement to the magic school found in GAZ3 The Principalities of Glantri.  In fact most of my late 90s AD&D 2nd ed games revolved around this idea.  I even brought many of those ideas back to my short-lived D&D 4th Edition game.  And most recently have gone back to this book for my newest AD&D 2nd ed character Sinéad.

I am surprised about how much I can still get from this book.

And obviously, it was the model I followed when I did my very first witch book 23 years ago this week!

October Horror Movie Challenge: Witchcraft (1988)

Here is one that has been on my list forever it seems. I had dismissed it because the later entries into this series were barely more than soft-core.

Witchcraft (1988)

Grace (Anat Topol) is a new mother. During her delivery she has visions of two witches, a man and woman, getting burned at the stake.  Her baby, William is fine and to help her out her husband John (Gary Sloan) suggests they move in with his mother Elizabeth (the impossibly named Mary Shelley). Grace already suspects something strange about Elizabeth. She keeps having bad dreams and Elizabeth keeps pushing this tea onto her.

Grace asks her priest, who took care of her after her father killed her mother and himself when she was a child.  But when he gets to the home he sees visions of Hell. When we see him next his face is covered in boils. 

John is avoiding Grace, and spending more time with his mom. Grace finds a secret room with a weird mirror that shows her the same vision she saw before but now the man and woman are seen to be John and Elizabeth. 

She tries to leave but learns her home has burned down, she reaches out to her priest, but he hangs himself, and she gets her friend to come over to help her, but she gets beheaded.

We learn that John and Elizabeth are the reincarnations of the witches burned and her baby is the baby Elizabeth was pregnant with when she was burned.   Grace is about to sacrifice to Satan when their butler stabs John and Elizabeth kills the butler (with a great practical effect). Grace kills Elizabeth and leaves with her baby.

The movie is not great, but it has good points. Ok not a lot, but given what I know about the sequels it does put them in a better light.

October Horror Movie Challenge 2022
Viewed: 37
First Time Views: 27

Monstrous Mondays: Devils

Last week I concluded my This Old Dragon retrospective of the Devil and the Nine Hells as they appeared in Dragon Magazine. Today for Monstrous Monday I want to look at some books about devils and show how there is a direct line continuity from those Dragon articles in 1983 to the 3.5 Fiendish Codex II: Tyrants of the Nine Hells from 2006 and even the 4e The Plane  Above in 2010.

Fiendish Codex II: Tyrants of the Nine Hells (3.5)

PDF and Hardcover. 158 Pages. Color covers and interior art.

This book does for Devils what the Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss did for demons. Sadly there is no Fiendish Codex III. For this review I am considering my hardcover I bought back when it came out and the PDF on DriveThruRPG.

Preface: This might one of the more important bits of D&D fiction out there. Devils in D&D have always had a problem. No not from busy-body mothers and evangelicals looking to ban D&D because of devils and demons (they would find something else anyway), the issue is that the very nature of the devils in question tie them closely to the Abrahamic religions.  Asmodeus is a Jewish demon, Baalzebul comes to us from Beelzebub, another demon found in the Bible by way of Judaism. Mammon comes from the New Testament and Belial from the Old Testament.  Remove the Judeo-Christian origins who are these demons? This new(ish) preface gives us the new origins of these devils and how they fit into the D&D cosmology and the Blood War.

Introduction is just that, tells you what this book is about.

Chapter 1: All About Devils covers devils and hell. The only valuable things in Hell to the devils are souls.These are what they strive to collect, to barter, and bargain with.  Where demons are spit up from the nature of the Abyss itself, devils need souls to make more devils. This should imply there is a distinct dichotomy in the devilish hierarchy; devils that were raised up from souls to devils that fell. Speaking of hierarchy this chapter goes into that and how devils rise up from one form to the next. Also discussed are Demons and Devils and the Blood War. 

There is advice on running devilish encounters and how to deal with Faustian Pacts, devil worship and infernal alliances. Yeah, this in not 80s D&D.  Pretty much everything in this chapter can be used with any edition of D&D.

Chapter 2: The Hells. A detailed "guided tour" of Hell. We are going over some of the same ground back when Ed Greenwood took us here in 1983 in Dragon #75 and Dragon #76. There is more details here and some layers have changed a bit; Avernus comes to mind. Throughout the layers, we also get a listing of the various D&D Gods that live in the Hells. Something that I spent a lot of time covering in my series One Man's God.  There are updates not just from the AD&D 1st ed time of Ed Greenwood's article and the Blood War material of late 2nd Ed AD&D, but from 3.0 D&D as well. Phlegethos is now controlled by Fierna instead of jointly controlled by her and her father and Glasya in the newly anointed Lord of Malbolge having offed the Hag Countess. All great material and more than I'll ever use in a game.

Chapter 3: Game Rules. This cover the 3.5 D&D specific rules. There are Hellbred characters, new feats, and new Prestige Classes. Of special interest to me is the Hellfire Warlock. There are also plenty of new spells. 

Chapter 4: Devils are our new monster listings of devils. The Abishai are back, along with 16 other devils, some new and some updated.

Chapter 5: Lords of the Nine detail the Nine Archdukes. You can pretty much tell what version of D&D you are using by who the Archduke of Avernus is. In 3.5 it is Bel. Though I think he might have been it for late 2nd ed as well. All the Archdukes get a bit of a makeover from their 1st Ed days. Dispater has hair now, Mammon has a new cursed form, Levistus is the lord of Stygia, and Glasya gets the best upgrade and is now Lord of Sixth Layer Malbolge. Baalzebul still looks like a slug. Mephistopheles is still working on Hellfire. Only Asmodeus is constant. As he demands it. 

As its sister product, this is a great book on Devils and the Nine Hells for any edition of D&D.

The Plane Above: Secrets of the Astral Sea (4e)

PDF and Hardcover. 160 Pages. Color covers and interior art. I am considering both my hardcover (one of the last D&D books I ever bought at Borders I believe) and the PDF from DriveThruRPG.

4e reordered the Cosmos and that is fine for me really. In 3e they explained that how one perceives the outer planes is largely based on how they believe they should perceive them. So Hell in 4e is both a "Lower Plane" and an "Upper Plane." No contradiction really.

This book has the same relationship to The Plane Below as the Fiendish Codices have to each other. 

Chapter 1: Astral Adventures cover adventuring on the Astral Sea. Again it is easy to see why Wizards of the Coast moved their version of Spelljammer to the Astral. The seeds for that are all here. Indeed Spelljammers are mentioned on page 19 as a means of siling the Astral Sea.

Chapter 2: Divine Dominions deal with the homes of the gods and the afterlives of mortals. Different sorts of creatures are detailed here; gods, angels, the exalted, and Outsiders. A few divine domains are also detailed. Arvandor is the home of elves and eladrin. Celestia the Seven Heavens. Chernoggar is a plane/world that essentially has the Lawful Evil Gods of War Bane and Gruumsh fighting it out for all of eternity. 

The Nine Hells get their own special sections. This repeats some of the details (but not copy-paste) from 3e about the fall of Asmodeus and the creation of Hell. [Aside: D&D really needs its own Silmarillion, Kalevala, or Enūma Eliš] There some small adventure encounters here too. A few more domains are also detailed.

Chapter 3: The Deep Astral Sea is very far removed from the normal lives of mortals. Here various new races are discussed like the familiar Githyanki, and the less familiar Maruts and Quom. Here there are also forgotten and "shattered" domains like Carceri and Pandemonium. 

Chapter 4: Astral Denizens cover our "monsters." Here are 44 new monster stat blocks including six new devils. Among these, there is the return of Bahgtru, Luthic, and Other Side favorite Vaprak. 

This book would make for a great trilogy of books with "The Plane Below" and "Manual of the Planes." With the PDFs from DriveThruRPG it would not be too difficult to print them out and rearrange as needed.  It would be a 480-page book, but it would also be the ultimate source of the planes knowledge in D&D 4e.

100 Days of Halloween: The Dungeons & Dragons Tarot Deck

Here is something you never would have seen from TSR at the height of the Satanic Panic.  Over the summer Wizards of the Coast released a Dungeons & Dragons-themed Tarot desk.

The Dungeons & Dragons Tarot Deck

78 tarot cards. Illustrated full-color guidebook.

For me, Tarot has been a part of D&D ever since my High School DM got a Rider-Waite Tarot Deck at the best Occult Book Store the 80s had to offer, Waldenbooks.

Since then I have used them off and on over the years. I mostly used it in place of a Tarroka Deck when I run my Ravenloft games. And they are pretty much essential to the running of any sort of Blue Rose campaign, 1st (True20) or 2nd (AGE) Edition.

I have never bought into a divinatory sort of power to these cards; that is not my world view. BUT I have over the years noticed that people ascribe meaning to these images based on their own internal workings. In this case, it makes them a rather rough Thematic apperception test, with all inherent problems of that. (In grad school we may or may not have had a song called "T-A-T" sung like AC/DC's "T-N-T"). But also I can admire the art on these for art's sake.

So when an Offical Dungeons & Dragons Tarot Deck was released, well you know I have to grab that!

Major Arcana

The art is amazing really and worth the price ($24.99) of the deck. 

There is a guidebook as well where we learn the suits Wands (clubs), Swords (spades), Cups (hearts), and Pentacles (diamonds) have been replaced by Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma.  This is not that bad really. Any book on Tarot will reveal these associations are already there. WotC is just saying the quiet part out loud.

D&D Tarot, Strength

D&D Tarot, Intelligence

D&D Tarot, Wisdom

D&D Tarot, Charisma

The art is indeed gorgeous, but feel some of the symbolism of the Tarot is lacking here. True, this is supposed to be a game aid AND much of the symbolism comes from our world and our myths. So these might not apply to the multitudes of D&D worlds.

For comparison's sake, I'll look at a few Major Arcana cards from this deck and compare them to other decks I use.

My main decks are the Smith-Waite Deck, which is an alternative to the Rider-Waite Deck with the art by Pamela Colman Smith restored to its original colors, The Witches Tarot, and the Shadowscapes Tarot by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law.

The Fool

The Fool is the card of new beginnings. In the Hero's Journey, the Fool represents our hero in their starting phase. Young, brash, and lacking wisdom. In S-W deck this is a youth leaving home (the pack he or she carries), they look up to the sky but are oblivious to the danger in front of them. The dog at their heels is trying to warn them.  We get similar imagery in all four cards. The dog is absent in the Witches Tarot and looking away in the D&D Tarot. 

The Hanged Man

In our world this is Odin hanging on the Tree of Knowledge. It signifies a sacrice given up for great understanding. In the Hero's Journey this can be the loss of the mentor figure or other loss of innocence. The S-W deck and Witches Tarot this is obvious. The Witches Tarot goes one step more and has the man old and missing an eye. The D&D tarot keeps the man upside down.

Death

One of the most feared and most misunderstood cards in the Tarot deck. Death is not always about physical death, but change. In the S-W deck Death is a skeletal knight riding a white horse (an allusion to the Biblical Death riding a Pale Horse), he tramples or walks over people regardless of their station or class because death comes to all. This is also seen in the Witches Tarot. The Shadoscapes deck takes this notion one step further and show a phoenix.  The symbolism on the D&D Tarot is not quite as sophisticated. 

The Devil

Lastly we get the Devil. In S-W deck the Devil is presented as a demon-like figure. The people in the foreground are slaves, but as their loose chains show they are slaves to their own desires; Worldly comfort (the grapes) and power (the fire).  The Witches Tarot goes with the Horned God and he is still of Earthly pleasures and desires.  The D&D Tarot goes with the Prince of Hell, Asmodeus. Which in the context of the D&D worlds works.

So Yes a fantastic-looking deck, but lacking in some of the classical symbolism of other Tarot decks.

If you use Tarot in your D&D games then this one is system agnostic. You can use it with any edition.