General - Books - Page 6 - Magic Bean Dip

Page 6 of 63 - Go to page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 17

Underdark (Dungeons & Dragons d20 Fantasy Roleplaying, Forgotten Realms Accessory)

Bruce R. Cordell, Gwendolyn F. M. Kestrel, Jeff Quick

Amazon Price: $21.75
List Price: ~~$32.95~~
In stock soon. Order now to get in line. First come, first served.
By: Wizards of the Coast
Amazon Marketplace: 14 new & used starting at $8.44

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Puzzles & Games -> Role Playing & Fantasy -> General
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Puzzles & Games -> Role Playing & Fantasy -> General AAS
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Puzzles & Games -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Underdark provides a wealth of highly detailed information about one of the most popular regions in the Forgotten Realms world, the world beneath the ground.

Underdark includes details on the most popular Underdark race, the drow, plus 16 other below-ground character races. In addition to 25 new regional feats as well as new prestige classes, spells, monsters, and magic items, there is also background content on 60 cities and sites of interest, including extensive story content gathered from a multitude of Forgotten Realms products and articles.

To help both players and dungeon masters use the book without players stumbling onto things they shouldn't, additional material for running a campaign is isolated in a single section of the book and includes adventure hooks.

To use this accessory, you also need the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, the Player’s Handbook, the Dungeon Master’s Guide, and the Monster Manual.

Dungeon Master's Guide: Core Rulebook II (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.0 Fantasy Roleplaying)

Monte Cook

List Price: ~~$29.95~~
By: Wizards of the Coast
Amazon Marketplace: 104 new & used starting at $3.47

Buy at Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 69 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

So much less than it seems... 2 out of 5 stars.
10 of 17 people found this review helpful.

The Third Edition DMG is not the book it should have been. It is a disjointed collection of rules that really don't fit together very well.
The most important flaw is the experience and rewards systems. It's designed to rocket the characters to 20th level without ever placing them in any real danger. Please, since when is one lone 4th level NPC a challenge for four 4th level characters? Any why are 1st and 3rd level characters treated the same on the experience chart? A 3rd level party is going to have more than triple the resources that a 1st level party has available. Combined with a reward chart that puts a truckloads of magical items into the characters hands, this book puts Third Edition D&D solidly into the munchkin world (For the RPG terminology impaired, that's like a Monty Haul campaign but without any danger of loosing).
Other irregularities include the fact that there are rules on drowning and being crushed to death by water pressure (deep under the sea), but no rules for actually moving in water or fighting under water.
There are rules for generating towns and cities. Those rules do not function in a reasonable manner, unless the DM manually saturates the cities with specifically placed characters. Even something as simple as using the tables to determine what the levels of the high priests of the religions present in a city breaks down unless there are less than four seperate religions present in the city.
The section on magic items is poorly laid our and difficult to use for anything other than random magic item rolls. Some of the magic items are undervalued, overly powerful, or both.
A lot of space is devoted to incomplete tutorials on how to be a game master. Ironically, that's not matieral that should actually be in the Dungeon Master's Guide. This is supposed to be a reference book for running a campaign, not "The Dummies Guide to Dungeon Masterery".
The rules for gunpowder weapons and lasers are useless filler that takes up space that could have been devoted to environments that average game master would actually like to see his characters in, like say astral combat rules and underwater combat rules. Who cares how much damage a laser might do if it were in the hands of a barbarian. Anyone who actually wants to use laser weapons is just going to use a d20 modern or futuristic sourcebook anyways.
The D&D economy is so disfunctional that no wizard or sorceror who can create any magic items (including scrolls) should ever be allowed to die. It's always worth a cleric's while to bring the chump back from the dead and make him work off the investment. Also it becomes blatantly clear that NPCs are supposed to give special respect to the PCs simply because they are PCs, otherwise how can you explain the fact that a character can earn a wage of 15 gps a week as a stablehand but only needs to pay his stablehands 1 gp per week.
The section on special abilities is redundant because most of it is repeated in the Monster Manual and the encounter tables are useless without the Monster Manual. Since they were also rendered useless by the first expansion printed for the Monster Manual, it is very obvious that they should have been printed in the Monster Manual itself.
Half of an entire chapter is dedicated to charts of stats for average characters of each of the classes at each level. This space is completely wasted.
Overall, the DMG is first book produced for Third Edition that was simply bad. No attempt was made to turn a collection of notes and rules into a good refence book for Third Edition D&D. Instead it seems to have been thrown together with a nice binding and cover and some artwork and rushed out the door. Not all of the material is bad, but all you have to do is try to use the book to realize how useless it really is.
I would only recommend this book to someone who is being forced to run Third Edition D&D.

Editorial Review:

The Third Edition Dungeon Master's Guide is an essential rulebook for the D&D game and is a must-have for every Dungeon Master. A Dungeon Master runs the Dungeons & Dragons(r) game-part storyteller, part actor, part referee. The Dungeon Master's Guide features 224 pages of beautifully rendered, intuitively presented rules and material designed to get a Third Edition D&D campaign up and running.

Unearthed Arcana (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying)

Andy Collins, Jesse Decker, David Noonan, Rich Redman

Amazon Price: $23.07
List Price: ~~$34.95~~
In stock soon. Order now to get in line. First come, first served.
By: Wizards of the Coast
Amazon Marketplace: 22 new & used starting at $11.00

Buy at Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 23 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Prepare to Drink From the Fire Hose 5 out of 5 stars.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.

Unearthed Arcana opens with these words and no phrase has ever been more appropriate. This is not a standard core rule book, where the DM can just say yay or nay on whether or not they're using the material. Unearthed Arcana is not even trying to be that kind of book. Unearthed Arcana is a collection of dozens (hundreds, if you count like a marketer) optional rules, many of which conflict with one another. This book has something for everybody and everything for nobody.

If you buy this book thinking your getting another normal core rule book, you're probably not going to like it. If you buy this book hoping to find individual rules to liven your campaign, you'll probably like it very much.

Chapter 1 contains racial rules. These rules are the most niche oriented of the book. For instance, the first section involves environmental racial variants (like desert elves). Honestly, I don't think I'll ever use these unless I do an extremely theme oriented campaign (like a home grown Dark Sun). This is followed by elemental variants, which are even more niche-like (air elves). Then come bloodlines, which are fairly interesting, if you allow this sort of thing. Bloodlines allow you to introduce racial traits without saying a character is half something. If great great grandmama had strange thing for minotaurs or demons, these rules can help your character reflect that (and give the family something not to talk about). Finally, this chapter finishes with what most will think is its most useful section, the racial paragons. These are three-level prestige classes which grant bonuses that emulate the most stereotypical traits of a race (Stonecutting and constitution for dwarves, for example).

Chapter 2 is all about the classes. This starts with variant classes, which are your base classes, tweaked somewhat. For instance, the cloistered cleric is a variant class that drops some of the cleric abilities (it lowers the hit die, for instance) to grant such abilities as Lore and the Knowledge domain. These are actually quite interesting. This is followed by an extensive section on variant specialist wizards and then rules for spontaneous divine casters then variant rules for various class abilities, such as turning undead and the barbarian's rage. Next is the prestige class section, but in this section, they take three base classes (Bard, Paladin and Ranger) and they present them as prestige classes. This will be particularly handy for games where, for instance, a person must petition to a holy order to become a paladin. Next come Gestalt characters, which are essentially characters that have two classes at once (as opposed to multi-classing) for games where there aren't enough players to cover all the class bases (are you starting to see why no one can use all these rules at once?). Finally come the generic classes, which are a way to step away from all the class complexity and get down to four very basic choices.

Wow. Seems like a lot doesn't it. We just finished page 78.

Chapter 3 is building characters, and no, this doesn't have the old Unearthed Arcana's stat rolling system. It starts with alterative skill systems and rules for complex skill checks. Then it moves onto character traits (which are like advantages in other games). Next comes . . . you guessed it . . . character flaws. Next come spelltouched feats for those characters that have had a lot of exposure to certain spells. This is followed by rules for grouping weapons by type for the sake of weapon group proficiencies. Next comes a set of alternate rules for crafting items (magical or otherwise) during campaign down time. Finally comes background rules, for representing skills a character had before becoming an adventurer.

Is your head spinning yet? Mine is.

Next comes Chapter 4: Adventuring. This is where things really start contradicting themselves. It starts with class defense bonuses, like in Star Wars, and moves into armor Damage Reduction. Then it moves into rules for having armor convert damage instead of stopping it outright. Then it moves into an injury system that negates the use of hit points completely. But wait. Then it bring hit points back in the form of vitality and wound damage (like in Star Wars again). Next it goes back to the original hit point system, but allows for a character to have "reserve points" which essentially allow them to heal very quickly. Then it moves on to alternate rules for massive damage while throwing out a rule for dodging when it isn't your turn (a page layout nonsequitur). Next come new death or dying rules (which look a lot like the rules for dying in the vitality points section, but we're back to hit points, now, remember?) Then we move on to action points, which characters can spend during a game to help save their proverbial bacon. Next comes combat facing rules (which I've been waiting for forever) with some extremely ineffective luck rules thrown in a sidebar. But wait! Maybe you're an old GURPS player. We better throw in hex rules as well. Speaking of GURPS, who cares if this is D20. Let's take out the d20 from the game and have the player's roll 3d6s instead. Speaking of that, lets have the players roll all the dice, taking the load off the DM. And, and, and . . .

Oh. I guess that chapter ends there.

On to Chapter 5, because we've barely even touched . . . Magic. Lets start with rules that give a character a magic ratting, based on all their multiclassing, instead of a straight spellcaster level. Hey, rogues pick up stuff about magic too. Then lets introduce the concept of themed summoning lists, because it's always embarrassing the summon an amphibian on the lip of an active volcano. While we're at it, let's let characters throw money at the problem of metamagicked spells instead of increasing the spell slots (and drop in a rule about metamagic and sorcerers while we're at it). Wait! That reminds us. We have all these new possible spontaneous casters now. Lets put in metamagic rules for them and a second optional rules for sorcerers, to boot. Speaking of spontaneous casting. How about spell points? A lot of people play Rolemaster, don't they? Speaking of that, lets have characters recharge between spells, eliminating the hard cap on spells per day entirely. You know, I've stopped mentioning the side bars completely now. Still, I have momentum, so lets move on to legendary weapons, which increase in power with the character (new prestige classes in here). You know, that sounds kinda like a familiar, so lets throw in familiars that are items. Now let's shift gears and throw in rules for ritual magic (we'll call them incantations). Since we've now brought magic into the hands of even nonspellcasters, lets finish up with . . .

. . . .Chapter 6: Campaigns.
In case we hadn't, you know, done enough to shake up your game.
Let's start with new rules for contacts, but contacts need to have opinions of the characters, so we'll move onto reputation rules. Hey, didn't reputation first come from Oriental Adventures? Yeah, let's throw in honor too. You know with honor comes the opposite, so we should have taint rules as well and if we're going to have tainted characters we'll need, you guessed it, tainted prestige classes. Wow. I'm starting to lose it here. I think we need rules for sanity! That was a little much, so we'll change tracks again, this time attacking the concept of prerequisites. How do you know if a character has the toughness feat? Let's base prerequisites on tests instead. While we're breaking free of molds, how about XP awards that aren't based on level? That sounds good so lets turn the page to . . .

. . . the afterword? Are we done already? I'm barely even started.
I don't know if you became as exhausted reading this as I did writing it, but now you should have some idea what's in store in Unearthed Arcana. Some of these rules are very good. Some of them are stupid. I doubt anyone will completely agree on which are which, and I think that was their attention. The biggest thing to keep in mind is to watch how these rules interact. For instance, if you use vitality points or the death and dying rules, character death is based on fortitude saves, so you best make sure your rules keep those from getting out of control. If you have one gestalt character you better have everyone play gestalt characters. Also, don't try to integrate rules which oppose one another too greatly, like the injury rules and vitality points, unless you want to play with real world insanity as well.

The biggest drawback of this book is you're going to waste money. No one can use more than half of these rules at a time without verging on the ridiculous, so unless you have an extremely high turnover on campaigns, it will take years to use the whole book. Meanwhile, you're paying for development, paper and color ink that you're not using. But If that doesn't bother you, this is the book for you.

Races of Destiny (Dungeon & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying)

David Noonan, Eric Cagle, Aaron Rosenberg

List Price: ~~$29.95~~
By: Wizards of the Coast
Amazon Marketplace: 40 new & used starting at $4.00

Buy at Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

A few gems, but not worth the money 2 out of 5 stars.
18 of 21 people found this review helpful.

Were there some gems? Certainly. Were those gems worth what I paid? NO. (And, I bought it here with a significant discount). Far too much 'fluff", and hardly any crunch. Tons of fluff on humans and half-races; which is non-campaign specific, and thus nigh worthless to many.

One new race which is complex, came out of nowhere, and is nigh incomrehensible. Why?

I do love the human destiny feats. These were a long time due, IMHO. Some PrC's of interest, a couple spells, and another feat or two. Hmm, that's maybe a chapter.

But, oh WotC, WotC- ye fooled me once now. No longer will I buy without a careful lookie-loo. You need to remember you have a core of loyal customers that will often pre-order and buy any core material you come out with. You can't abuse that trust. I think you did so with this book.

Should you buy it? Well, the gems are there. If you have one guy in your group with deep pockets, and he takes advantage of the deep discount here- then sure, your group should have one to share. But it is hardly a "must buy".

Editorial Review:

A new sourcebook detailing humans, half-breeds, and exotic almost-human races for the D&D game.

Races of Destiny provides Dungeons & Dragons players with an in-depth look at humans, half-orcs, half-elves, and other "almost human" exotic races that populate the D&D world. Often more strange or bizarre than completely distinct races, these half-races showcase the unusual combinations of abilities and cultures possible in a fantasy setting. This sourcebook includes brand new races, new rules, feats, spells, and magic

items attuned to each race. The book contains material for players and DMs alike, including new prestige classes, rules for interaction between races, and a wealth of cultural information.

Monstrous Manual (AD&D 2nd Ed Fantasy Roleplaying Accessory, 2140)

List Price: ~~$29.95~~
By: TSR Inc.
Amazon Marketplace: 36 new & used starting at $9.78

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Puzzles & Games -> Role Playing & Fantasy -> General AAS
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Puzzles & Games -> General
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Puzzles & Games -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 52 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Ahhhh the good ole' days! 4 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

After having played the newer 3rd Edition of Dungeons and Dragons for quite some time, I thought I'd take a little trek down memory lane and order an artifact from the past - the old AD&D Monstrous Manual. My, how things have changed in just over a decade! Every official D&D product coming out now is made by Wizards of the Coast , a company owned by Hasbro, maker of such childish wonders as Barbie and Ken. It goes without saying that due to it's parent company, Wizards only produces glitzy, "best foot forward" material that is much more family friendly and lot less "nude woman" oriented than what we enjoyed in times of old. Reading through this nigh on ancient volume reminds me both of how insanely cool Advanced Dungeons and Dragons was, and of how incredibly nerdy we must have all seemed.

The art throughout the book ranges the gamut from really great (See the "Gnoll" creature, which looks suspiciously like a DiTerlizzi work, the guy famous for doing all the Planescape artwork), to laughably cartoonish (see the "Bullywug" creature), to the outright bad (see the "Goblin" illustration. I get the feeling an artist was running too close to the deadline for publication, and had his pre-teen kid do a sketch, which he then submitted as his own). While some of the artwork has become considerably higher quality with the transition to 3rd Edition, most notably with the dragon illustrations, a lot of it actually took a step back. The Dryad, Elementals, and Hobgoblin all look a lot better here than in the newer editions. The whole book has an extremely nostalgic feel. Anyone who was fortunate enough to have played AD&D will be going through a minor rapture perusing the various pages. And fear not fans of the old school art, for large chested women with very little clothes on abound throughout!

A rather wide range of creatures exist in the Monstrous Manual, as this book was TSR's response to players demands for all the various monster books to be condensed into one tome which could be transported more easily. All the standard D&D creatures are here, along with various monsters from the Forgotten Realms, Al-Quadim, Planescape, and Dark Sun campaign settings. It certainly isn't entirely comprehensive, but it's pretty darn close. The format of the monster entries is far more readable in this book than in the 3rd Edition monster manuals. All the basic info you would need to use the creature in a campaign is listed at the top of the page. There is just enough information present to make the creature easily useable, but not enough so that you have to search for anything. I've noticed however that there are no "common" monsters. All creatures in this manual get a "Frequency" stat, describing how often they are found in their normal climate or terrain. Every monster is either uncommon, rare, or (most often) very rare. This doesn't make a whole lot of sense, considering how monster infested any D&D campaign world is. Even the races that players can use as characters, such as the dwarves and elves, are listed as "uncommon".

With how cheap this book is going for these days, any old school fan, or even someone who just wants to understand what we were all so obsessed about, should definitely pick this up.

Editorial Review:

New illustrations and corrected material highlight this revision of the standard monstrous compendiums collected together in one volume. This will be the perfect, easy-to-use replacement for the bulkier compendiums of the past. Illustrations, some in color.

Monster Manual: Core Rulebook III (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.0 Fantasy Roleplaying)

Monte Cook, Jonathan Tweet, Skip Williams

List Price: ~~$29.95~~
By: Wizards of the Coast
Amazon Marketplace: 85 new & used starting at $2.32

Buy at Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 91 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

How to make a better Monster Manual 1 out of 5 stars.
4 of 10 people found this review helpful.

A: Include all monsters from the previous edition's manual
B: Introduce a few new and interesting monsters (10-40 would suffice)
C: Make the layout flip-friendly for rushing GMs
D: Make sure the monsters go beyond combat statistics (as in their habitats are listed, form of society, mating and etc. Like a National Geographic Mag.)
I think if at least one of these is followed, it's worth the same as the original. If all are followed, it's a goldmine. I have the great annoyance to tell you that none of these were followed.
There are 1/3 the number monsters in the new manual as the old one (I hear that if you add this manual, 2, and the Monsters of Faerun books together you get almost as many as the old 2nd edition MM.) I believe that the creators argued "The original MM only had 40 monsters in it!" My answer to this is simple: the first edition didn't have 25+ years of books and two editions in front of it to help.
The new monsters (which ended up drowning out old favorites) are way too underpowered or overpowered, lack depth, and generally seem a little too sci-fi (remember, this is a fantasy game)
The layout definately sucks, it took me an hour to find anything. One monster a page is definately a better road to travel.
Last but not least, the monsters BARELY go beyond the numbers. I suggest you either buy all three of the above mentioned "Monster Manuals" (have fun shuffling books!) or just play 2nd edition AD&D.

Editorial Review:

Over 200 creeps, critters, and creatures to keep players on their toes. From Aboleths to Zombies, the Third Edition Monster Manual holds a diverse cast of enemies and allies essential for any Dungeons & Dragons campaign. There are hundreds of monsters ready for action, including many new creatures never seen before. Plus, all monster entries include character stats so for the first time players can play as the monsters. Dungeon Masters and players alike will find the new Monster Manual an indispensable aid in populating their Third Edition campaigns.

Libris Mortis: The Book of the Undead (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying)

Andy Collins, Bruce R. Cordell

List Price: ~~$29.95~~
By: Wizards of the Coast
Amazon Marketplace: 15 new & used starting at $19.96

Buy at Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 23 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Lovely little book of Undeath 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

Where to begin? I suppose I should begin by saying that if you can't stand the sight of cysts, and disembodied heads being swarmed and eaten by rats, then you shouldn't get this book. Also, if you can't stand the thought of children perishing then being brought back and being used by an evil Necromancer to sow chaos, then you might steer clear of this book. But if the aforementioned doesn't bother you, or already has your mind filled with a million and a half ideas for your campaigns, then let's talk.

Firstly, let's talk about... oh, I don't know... say, the monsters. There's fluff and there's crunch, first of all, or if you don't know what that means, things that are overall useless and things that have you saying, 'bout time. Brain In A Jar? Who needs that? Grave-Dirt Golem? I know what you're thinking, 'Oh, No! Not another Construct!' but bear with me, while it's not necessarily necessary, it is fun to have a Golem made of dirt, with bones of people who perished and were unlucky enough to have their graves used for the Golem. Besides, it fits a Necromancer, or any class, really, who builds Constructs for whatever reason who likes to hang around graveyards. So yeah, like I said, fluff and crunch. Also, there's fluffy, crunchy creatures including the Slaughter Wight, the Wheep, and the Spectral Lyrist. I'll leave it to you to decide what's fluff and crunch among those, and every other new monster in the book.

Secondly, let's talk about the prestige classes, there's classes like the Death's Chosen, the True Necromancer, and the Pale Master. Now, those aren't the only classes in this book, there's also the Dirge Singer and the Master of Radiance. I'll talk about those. The Dirge Singer, as you've probably guessed, is a prestige class for the Bard who specializes in songs that fill their enemies with sorrow and dread and, by my gathering, I haven't read in detail yet, can control some undead. The Master of Radiance is a prestige class for a druid, but you also have to have some levels as a cleric, at any rate, the Master of Radiance can use spells that channel sunlight and destroy undead who are destroyed by sunlight (blasted vampires). And on the subject of Clerics, I know, they're lame, let's not kid around here, about all they can do is heal and turn undead. But in this book, they can also summon undead. Yes, Clerics of Nerull, rejoice. You can summon undead to do your dirty work, while you use your Inflict spells to keep them at full strength (Instead of doing damage, Inflict Grievous Wounds recovers a lot of damage for that Huge Skeleton you summoned).

Thirdly, and the last I'm going to write about, is the nuts and bolts of campaign planning included in this book. The people who made this book were generous in giving several sample undead to use as minor villains, or use as the big baddie for your newbie players if your a DM. They also included a few scenarios to use if you're running an undead-centered campaign, including World of Shadows in which undead and the living coincide in day to day life, and Undying Rulers where powerful undead like a lich or a vampire rules the land. Needless to say, if you're the DM, you can change things about these and the other campaign over-views presented as you see fit. Do the undead and the living live in harmony and work together in World of Shadows? Did that lich just recently come into power after a very long line of undead in Undying Rulers? It's up to you. Of course, they're not stand alone. You can use these campaing overviews in conjunction with others described not only in this book, but others, as well, but you'd have to be pretty crafty to interweave a whole bunch of them.

It's ultimately up to you whether you want this book or not, I'm just trying to point you in the right direction if you want an undead-centric campaign or at least to incorporate undead into your campaign. Also, it's a pretty good read as is.

Editorial Review:

An art-filled sourcebook about undead in the D&D world.
This title takes a comprehensive look at undead creatures and characters in the D&D world. It includes information on playing undead characters and how to run or battle undead in a fight. There is new information on traditional undead creatures (liches, zombies, and so on), as well as new monsters and information on customizing monsters to any adventure. There are new rules, feats, spells, and prestige classes, as well as ready-to-run undead characters for instant play. Extensive story and campaign elements and flavor information add interest and dimension to playing or fighting undead. The book itself will be designed in prestige format, with heavy use of art throughout, a full-painted cover, and construction from premium materials.

Power of Faerun (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying, Forgotten Realms Supplement)

Ed Greenwood, Eric L. Boyd

Amazon Price: $19.77
List Price: ~~$29.95~~
In stock soon. Order now to get in line. First come, first served.
By: Wizards of the Coast
Amazon Marketplace: 28 new & used starting at $3.70

Buy at Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 2.5 of 5

Power delivers on many areas for role playing but... 4 out of 5 stars.
7 of 10 people found this review helpful.

Power of Faerun
Written by Ed Greenwood and Eric L. Boyd
Published by Wizards of the Coast
www.wizards.com/forgottenrealms
160 full color pages
Hardback
ISBN 10: 0-7869-3910-9
$29.95

Power of Faerun is devoted to bringing the game outside the dungeon and to the courts, churches and wilderness by focusing on areas of character growth that while involving power, often involve power of a sort not traditionally associated with Dungeons and Dragons characters.

Ed Greenwood and Eric L. Boyd are two of the best scribes of Forgotten Realms material and while the game mechanics fall flat more often than not, thankfully the majority of the book is in the form of non-game mechanics with background details.

Interior artists include Lucio Parrillo, who also handles the cover, as well as fan favorite William O'Connon along with others like Eric Deschamps, Francis Tsai and others. Kyle Hunter handles the cartography this time around and provides maps that are generally easy to read and easy to use.

The graphic design, like most of the Forgotten Realms books, is top notch. The yellowed parchment pages still look great even years latter. Use of sidebars with darker yellow easily catch the eyes. Chapter titles are at the top of the page centered while on the bottom are page numbers. Layout is standard two-column format and makes good use of white space despite the page within a page design of the book.

In terms of coverage, the book provides little bites on numerous areas. It starts off with wielding power in the courts and moves to the battlefield. From the battlefield to the churches. From the churches to the market. From the market to the wild frontier. From the frontier to patrolling the roads.

Each section provides use of the Leadership feat as well as how to `play' that type of game. For example, when looking at Keep the Faith, information on what religious leaders do, as well as methods of daily worship, are provided. One nice resource is the listing of Faith Specific Prestige Classes in one spot.

Notes on moving up the different ranks are included. Looking at the frontier section for example, provides information on being a vassal state or a fiefdom, how to hold a territory and how to fight off the various threats ranging from bandits and brigands to diseases and monsters.

Each section has it's own maps and NPCs to help the GM use the material right away. If you wanted some sample frontier strongholds, you have Wolfwatch Manor and Stormhawk Keep, each mapped out with an overview and numbered with details. Stormhawk for example has fifteen different locations from the Foreyard to the Feasting Hall.

The section on Play the Market provides Dabron Sashenstar, a high powered merchant prince and his unique mount as well as details on his challenge to the Iron Throne's hold on weapons trade in the Heartlands. A place where clever players can start with Dabron as a patron and perhaps move into their own efforts.

My favorite part is probably the section on the market. When reading one of Raymond Feist's books, there was a whole section with the characters working the market and effecting change on the setting not through swords, but through trade. It's an area that despite six years of an open game license, has rarely, if ever, been detailed. The only weakness is that the section relies on the user have the Dungeon Master's Guide II as it uses the rules for running a business.

From there it moves on to discussing challenges for high level characters. Some of these are obvious like working for or against deities. Regardless of character level, deities are often able to provide challenges. After deities the older dragons are another great adversary. The most interesting option for high level characters though, are other high level characters.

This involves the most work on the GM's part while providing the most dangerous options. For some GM's, it's almost too easy to customize a villain to counter a player, especially a player whose ultra-specialized in one field. Have a fantastic ability to deal death with a greatsword but a terrible fortitude save? Have awesome abilities with fire magic but no enchantment? Still, the advice on using rivals is a good place to get ideas.

Sometimes though, it's not the strength of an individual enemy, but rather, that enemy's horde that you have to worry about. Wizards of the Coast recently put their money where their mouth was with this idea and their adventure, The Red Hand of Doom, deals with adventurers fighting against humanoids and their masters, the dragons.

In addition to details on different character options, details on the Border Kingdoms are included. The Border kingdoms fill a useful role in being a place that the GM can manipulate for his own use, much in the way a similar named kingdom in the Warhammer setting can be used. A place where characters should be able to make long term changes.

Details are included for numerous parts of the land including Bedron, The Land of Two Princes, Owlhold and the Realm of the Ready Sword. Each section gets it's own brief details but is more or less there to provide the GM a place to put his own marker, much like say the Wilderlands of the old Judges Guild.

The book closes off a bit weak with a section on how to rule. This includes expanded Leadership scores and rules for bringing in, and losing cohorts and followers. It's a solid chapter but could be used for any campaign as opposed to just a Forgotten Realms game. Included with the expanded chart for Epic Leadership, are feats to augment leadership such as, yes, Epic Leadership and Born Leaders, a feat that provides a bonus to your leadership score and a bonus to your Influence modifier.

Power of Faerun is a solid book for any D&D campaign. While the specifics are Forgotten Realms, they can serve as examples for someone running a Greyhawk or Eberron game. The rules and methods of working for the church or fighting in the courts are often overlooked in the game and this book provides background information on ideas of what type of conflicts and rewards await those whose dungeon is a castle or cathedral.

Editorial Review:

Rule the Realms

You’ve survived countless deathtraps, slain hordes of monsters, and overthrown your fair share of petty warlords and would-be tyrants. Ever wonder what it would be like to hold sway as an influential member of the royal court, a mighty general, a powerful religious figure, or a successful merchant prince? Power of Faerûn shows players and Dungeon Masters how to play high-level characters and run high-level campaigns in the Realms. It presents worthy challenges and opportunities for heroes who have had their fill of crawling through caverns and plundering forsaken tombs.

For use with these Dungeons & Dragons® products
Player’s Handbook™ Dungeon Master’s Guide™ Monster Manual™
Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting

Races of the Wild (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying Supplement)

Skip Williams

List Price: ~~$29.95~~
By: Wizards of the Coast
Amazon Marketplace: 21 new & used starting at $7.44

Buy at Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Useful and pretty cool. 4 out of 5 stars.
3 of 4 people found this review helpful.

I've used the weapons and culture discriptions in both a game I'm DMing and a game I'm playing, though I have yet to use the new bird-race yet. The flying thing is a little complicated, and their culture makes it harder to use them accordingly as a PC. I may put them in a game some day though.

Good if your DM let you use it... 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I agree that this book is good for beginners and just another book for veterans, but you can find some interesting things inside that you can certanly use for your character.
Particularly a feat called Woodland Archer.

Editorial Review:

A new D&D sourcebook detailing various races that dwell in wilderness.

Races of the Wild provides Dungeons & Dragons® players with an in-depth look at races that live in the wildest areas of the D&D world. There is extensive information on the classic races of elves and halflings, including new rules, information for interaction, new spells, and new magic items attuned to each race. In addition to information on the two major races, a new race is introduced. There is expanded information on sub-races, along with a wealth of cultural information and new prestige classes, feats, equipment, spells, and magic items.

Tome of Magic: Pact, Shadow, and TrueName Magic (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying Supplement)

Matthew Sernett, Dave Noonan, Ari Marmell, Robert J. Schwalb

Amazon Price: $26.37
List Price: ~~$39.95~~
In stock soon. Order now to get in line. First come, first served.
By: Wizards of the Coast
Amazon Marketplace: 29 new & used starting at $10.63

Buy at Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 14 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Unlock the Magical Power of
Vestiges, Shadows, and Syllables

Tome of Magic presents three new kinds of magic that you can integrate easily into any Dungeons & Dragons® campaign. These magic “subsystems” function alongside the existing D&D® magic system and offer new game mechanics, character options, and adventure possibilities. Within this tome you’ll find three new standard classes–one for each new kind of magic–as well as new spells, feats, prestige classes, monsters, and magic items tied thematically to each.

Pact Magic

Powerful entities known as vestiges exist beyond the boundaries of life, death, and undeath. The binder uses pact magic–a combination of symbols and secret rituals–to summon these entities, strike bargains with them, and gain their formidable and sometimes bizarre supernatural powers.

Shadow Magic

The Plane of Shadow is a dark, twisted reflection of the real world. The shadowcaster, by understanding the fundamental properties of the plane and unlocking its magical mysteries, learns to harness and channel its umbral gloom, shaping the darkness to serve her whim.

Truename Magic

Every creature has a truename–the word of its creation. The truenamer knows the primal language of the universe–the language of Truespeech–and learns the truenames of creatures and objects to gain control over them, transform them, or destroy them.

For use with these Dungeons & Dragons® core books
Player’s Handbook™ Dungeon Master’s Guide™ Monster Manual™

Page 6 of 63 - Go to page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 17

General Books - Page 6

Bruce R. Cordell, Gwendolyn F. M. Kestrel, Jeff Quick

Monte Cook

Andy Collins, Jesse Decker, David Noonan, Rich Redman

David Noonan, Eric Cagle, Aaron Rosenberg

Monte Cook, Jonathan Tweet, Skip Williams

Andy Collins, Bruce R. Cordell

Ed Greenwood, Eric L. Boyd

Skip Williams

Matthew Sernett, Dave Noonan, Ari Marmell, Robert J. Schwalb