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Title: Book of Exalted Deeds (Dungeons & Dragons Supplement) by James Wyatt, Darrin Drader, Christopher Perkins ISBN: 0-7869-3136-1 Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Pub. Date: 29 October, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $32.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.3 (20 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Wonderfully written, with a few balance issues
Comment: I was delighted when I first heard about this book. I'd been peeved for some time by the focus on evil presented by the Book of Vile Darkness as being somewhat unequilateral. This book is, in essence, a guide to playing good characters. Not just run-of-the-mill good characters, but for those who really want to get INTO playing a truly good character, right along with all of its consequences and dilemmas. It's hardly easy or simple, but definitely interesting, and this book provides some great food for thought on such characters, as well as a handful of really nifty and fairly original prestige classes. However, apparently, there are some balance issues, as a few of the new classes and feats are rather disproportinately powerful (though a careful DM can balance these out with the alignment requirements and making sure that these prestige classes in particular are stricter about the characters being good). This book does Dungeons & Dragons the deep service of demonstrating that goodness is neither laughable, trivial, feeble, or misguided. It is a powerful force unto itself that is as every bit as real, potent, and meaningful as any other sort of power. This is the type of heroism that I feel this game was really made for, and the classes and feats herein are perfectly suited for characters who have reached epic levels of both moral development and power.
In a nutshell: Nice guys only finish last because it takes them a little bit longer to wind up to deal the deathblow.
Rating: 5
Summary: Glorious!
Comment: Plato once said that we should never trust anyone who advocates that we should avoid anything but evil and pursue anything but goodness. And Plato was right.
This book is fantastic and definitely worth buying for several reasons:
1. It is a worthwhile counterpart to the Book of Vile Darkness. For a game which prides itself on being fair and balanced in all things, it would naturally be blatantly unbalanced in favor of evil if there were not such counterpart.
2. The new feats and prestige classes are definitely worthy of those of us who prefer to play with good-aligned parties and characters. I'll expand on that below.
3. There are those idealistic, old-fashioned fools like me still in existence who believe that for a game like D&D, which is based on Lord of the Rings, it is not only more appropriate but also more fun to play with a view to some sort of noble goal to destroy evil. Such naive souls like myself have always believed that it is far more fun and exciting to kill the dragon and save the damsel than the other way around.
I'm not terribly big on prestige classes. However, the ones described in this book are terrific - very balanced and eminently playable. Although I haven't actually played a campaign with this text (yet), I can see how it would be supremely fun to do. The prestige classes are very powerful: Vassal of Bahamut (a de facto dragon-slaying class), the Sword of Righteousness (a prestige class for those who, like me, don't want to deviate from their regular character class for many levels but would like some bonus feats), and, my personal favorite, the Fist of Raziel for Paladins who wish to eschew their undead turning and special mount privileges for bonuses to their smiting ability. Ever hear of a lawful good assassin? There's now a special order of ex-rogues and assassins who have converted and have now formed a lawful good society of spies and stealthy killers of evil. Harpers, eat your heart out. There are more, of course; this is only a sample. But for those of us who live to play good-aligned Paladins and Clerics, this book is a ray of hope in an often evil-glorifying game.
But don't think for a moment that only Paladins and Clerics can benefit from this text. On the contrary, there are classes designed specifically for good-aligned Druids, Fighters, Rangers, Sorcerers and Bards. There is a prestige class only for Elves & Half-Elves. There's even a class only for female characters. But the main requirement for any of these classes is that the character be of good alignment. Not non-evil. Good.
If I have any complaint at all it's that there isn't much in the book for Barbarians and Wizards. But even so, Barbarians may wish to join one of the nature-oriented prestige classes designed primarily for Rangers or Druids. And Wizards will enjoy the new spells and metamagic feats available to them. So there truly is something for everyone.
I myself have played Paladins for years. And I'm in love with the 3.5E Paladin. But throughout many of the campaigns I've played and players I've encountered, I've often seen Paladins, good-aligned Clerics, and even the concept of goodness and law scoffed at and ridiculed. The overall feeling of many gamers is that Paladins are nothing but arrogant do-gooders whose very moral alignment is opposed to having any fun, obtaining any amount of treasure, or getting any experience points. (And that's odd since no one seems to be going around calling Obi-Wan Kenobi or Aragorn from LotR arrogant do-gooders or whimps.) Such players prefer to power-game a chaotic neutral dual-classed half-orc barbarian-fighter or something which will enhance their freedom and advancement. And that may very well work. But, again, this game was based on LotR, and I prefer to see it in those terms. And I play it in those terms. I don't think that rescuing a red dragon and slashing the throat of the damsel as enhancing the advancement of my character, no matter how much money or experience points are involved.
So for those of us who prefer to capture the original vision of the game, this book goes a very long way. Lawful good is now something to be revered - and even feared. Law and goodness are vindicated in this tome. Paladins, and the many Paladin orders listed in this book, are not whimps - they're superlative hunters and destroyers - every bit as powerful and fun as any Fighter or Barbarian, and far more so if battling evil-aligned creatures. Clerics are not just healers - they can be other-worldly mystics who are immune to virtually everything or who are fearsome warriors like their Paladin counterparts. This is almost redemptive in a game which has become, sadly, dominated by the "evil is freedom" mentality of many of the game-makers and players over the past 20+ years.
So, yes, law and goodness are now not just in keeping with the original idea of the game, but are also fun and extremely powerful. And all of us who love playing Paladins, Clerics or any other good-aligned character but who felt inferior and who were the brunt of many a joke over the past several years, will now be the ones who are accepted and sought after. And this is a welcome change for a game whose original purpose is to do good and avoid evil.
Rating: 2
Summary: Interesting but of little use
Comment: I bought and read some of, skimmed some of, this book. So take this with a grain of salt, but I thought it such a poor value that I retured it immediately.
The book has a lot of new classes, most of which seem best adapted to NPCs. It has a lot of new "monsters" - angels of the heavens which seem usable only in very narrow, particular campaigns with high level good characters (or evil I suppose). And everything else was pretty lame. The descriptions of what was good and what wasn't; and the ideas surround the Chaotic Good versus Lawful Good is, as D&D is always, simplistic and relativistic; but also useless in a supplement as it is so subjective. The feats were dumb, the items and relic stuff felt like filler, and there wasn't enough focus on how good combats evil and how good campaigns are run or story ideas.
In short, I felt like it was an interesting book that would have made a great paperback for $11, but certainly not this full hardback $30 book.
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Title: The Draconomicon (Dungeons & Dragons) by Andy Collins, James Wyatt, Skip Williams ISBN: 0786928840 Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Pub. Date: 14 November, 2003 List Price(USD): $39.95 |
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Title: Complete Warrior (Dungeons & Dragons Accessory) by Andy Collins, David Noonan, Ed Stark ISBN: 0786928808 Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Pub. Date: 03 December, 2003 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
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Title: Underdark by Bruce R. Cordell, Gwendolyn F. M. Kestrel, Jeff Quick ISBN: 0786930535 Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Pub. Date: 29 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $32.95 |
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Title: Unearthed Arcana (Dungeons & Dragons) by Andy Collins, Jesse Decker, David Noonan, Rich Redman ISBN: 0786931310 Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Pub. Date: 25 February, 2004 List Price(USD): $34.95 |
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Title: Book of Vile Darkness (Dungeons & Dragons Supplement) by Monte Cook ISBN: 0786926503 Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Pub. Date: 09 November, 2002 List Price(USD): $32.95 |
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