Captain Hartchild's Guide to Oceanic Depths Review

I made some cool purchases at Origins and one of them was Captain Hartchild's Guide to Oceanic Depths. Much like the Pirate Bundle, if you are running Ghosts of Saltmarsh, Freeport, Genial Jack, or any nautical themed campaign this book is a must have! The book is a 110 page black and white tome that includes content for both players and DM's. 

Four players there are four new races:

• Ardro a humanoid goblin sharks that are both goblin and shark.
• Sharkfolk are humanoid sharks that often get mistaken for weresharks.
• Sirens are charming fey that can be tied to the sky or the sea.
• Undine are a humanoids tied to the elemental plane of water who make deep connections with others.

There are subclasses for all Player's Handbook classes and the Blood Hunter. 

• The Path of the Drowned Titan channel the power of long-forgotten Titans and trapped in the depths
• The College of Allure are masters of charm. The subclass was created with sirens in mind, but can be taken by others.
• The Order of the Hagspawn is a Bloodhunter child of a hag.
• The Tidal Domain allows clerics to tap into the power of the sea.
• The Circle of Evolution allow druids to combine characteristics of different animals when shapechanging.
• The Corsair allow fighters to fight dirty and go toe to toe with others on the sea.
• The Way of the Crashing Way is a monk fighting style that draws up the power and movements of the oceans.
• The Oath of the Guardians allow paladins to serve as gatekeepers of the free world.
• The Deep Sea Ranger patrol coastal waters and hone their abilities to fight there.
• The Contender rogue is a gladiator that focuses on looking good in the ring.
• The Soul Seeker seeks to harness the ability of the inborn magic to search for solidarity and the eternal soul. While designed with Undine in mind, it can be taken by others.
• The Wavemistress Patron has made a deal the queen of the sea for power.
• The School Astrology's magic is focused on the stars.

Players can choose several new backgrounds. They are castaway, coast guard, shipyard salvager, and whaler. Finally for players there are 27 new spells.

That ends the players section of the book. There are 13 new villains described. While the gods and things are generic, when I refer to them I'm going to use the iconic D&D names for them.

• Dom the Snapper is a tortle cleric that serves Tiamat 
• Joran Nu'rain is a human that made a deal with Jubilex to gain the power to keep his remaining family safe
• Zurgyl Troskwer is a newly turned wereshark that wants to become a lord of the seas
• Thys'tre is a mermaid that crafts powerful arcane music instruments
• Arnumnook is a kua-toa that serves Zuggtmoy
• Naakassis, the Bloody Baron is a powerful sahuagin pirate, his close ally is Duurzan, a sharkfolk wizard is also presented
• Dread Captain Scarfin is a wereshark pirate captain
• Aearnen are legendary fey that protect the coasts
• Lursivor is an aquatic beholder. Like all of its kind, it was born from dreams and nightmares
• Wavemistress Kyuril is an elvish shapechanger
• Cot'gool is a powerful ice-prawn wizard
• Unceggila Delta is a legendary and gargantuan eel
• The Black Admiral is a frightening lich that commands and undead dragon turtle/ship (featured in the cover art)

This section is followed by 34 minions. Several among them are sea serpents, which makes perfect sense, given the theme of the book. This is followed by 12 aquatic themed npcs. Finally there are 16 nautical magic items.