new books being shipped! what's inside?

[big teej]

greetings playgrounders, I just spent some of my birthday money, and I've got 3 new sourcebooks on the way to my house.

Races of the Wild

Dungeonscape

Complete Arcane


now, my question is:

"what are the highlights/big ticket items" from these books? :smallbiggrin:

I'm litterally bouncing with joy :thog: mwuahahah


does anything beat that kid-ina-candystore feel?
wait... I mean does anything beat that "nerd-in-a-hobby-shop" feel?

NO :smalltongue:


anyways. what are the majorly awesome things I should look forward to getting my hands on?

[Morph Bark]

RotW: Raptorans, Arcane Hierophant.

Dungeonscape: Factotum, Dungeoncrasher Fighter, dungeon options for DMs.

CAr: Warlock, Warmage, Wu Jen, Sublime Chord.

[NNescio]

Dungeonscape: Factotum, Dungeoncrasher Fighter, dungeon options for DMs.

Also the rubber bouncing ball and the acid-breathing shark with freaking laser beams, for OoTS fans.

[SaintRidley]

Races of the Wild has some nice substitution levels for elves, including a pretty good one for elven wizards.

Arcane Hierophant is in there for Druid/Arcane mixes. Ruathar lets everybody get in on the elfy flavor. Raptorans are pretty cool, and they even included a catgirl race so your DM can literally kill a catgirl in universe every time your party is horrible.

Complete Arcane gives a bunch of cool spells, including Summon Elemental Monolith (which is just kind of really cool). There are a good number of big spells in there that I can't remember off the top of my head, but definitely look at the orb spells. They're conjuration, so they fly into anti-magic okay and put the final nail in the coffin of ever thinking you need to be an evoker for direct damage arcane.

Warlocks are pretty nifty and provide a whole different mechanic. Warmages are cool. Not as good as Beguilers and Dread Necromancers, sadly, but they provide the template for the spontaneous specialist classes and don't do half bad at the direct damage setup.

As for feats, a bunch of cool metamagic feats crop up, along with some more generally useful feats.

Keep an eye on Mage of the Arcane Order (solid), Initiate of the Seven Fold Veil (cheese), Wild Mage (flavorful), Geometer (nice for spellbook management), and Mindbender (if you have Lords of Madness, this can be an amazing 1 level dip)

Avoid Green Star Adept and Acolyte of the Skin. And Elemental Savant and maybe a couple others too.

[Morph Bark]

Also the rubber bouncing ball and the acid-breathing shark with freaking laser beams, for OoTS fans.

Ooh! And let's not forget: dungeon in-bred Tarrasques.

Fine-sized fun!

[big teej]

RotW: Raptorans, Arcane Hierophant.

Dungeonscape: Factotum, Dungeoncrasher Fighter, dungeon options for DMs.

CAr: Warlock, Warmage, Wu Jen, Sublime Chord.

mkay....

but what makes these things awesome?

I've heard stories of things like the dungeon crasher (which I'm really looking forward too)

but..... what makes the other stuff awesome?

as it stands, raptorans are just an excuse to play foghorn leghorn.


Also the rubber bouncing ball and the acid-breathing shark with freaking laser beams, for OoTS fans.

surely you jest....

a bouncy ball!?!?!

:nale: :belkar: :xykon:


EDIT: freaking ninja's.....

[Morph Bark]

but..... what makes the other stuff awesome?

Factotum has every skill on his class skill list, only needs Int and can use inspiration points to get his Int as a bonus to everything ever.

Warmage for BIG THING GOES BOOM. It's not super powerful or versatile, but it's good at what it does.

Warlock is awesome because invocations are awesome, but sadly it does not get enough of them.

Wu Jen is awesome because the Wu Jen is awesome.

Sublime Chord is a Bard who becomes a Sorcerer, but better.

Arcane Hierophant turns a druid/arcanist into a super druid/arcanist with a fused familiar/animal companion. Just the fluff is already awesome.

[Flickerdart]

Warmage for BIG THING GOES BOOM. It's not super powerful or versatile, but it's good at what it does.
It's really not. Everyone with damage spells on their list does a better job of it than the Warmage. The only thing Warmage is good for is the Warsnake build.

[Krazzman]

My favourite: the Warlock.

It's a pretty damn neat class in my eyes. Played one in a solo campaign and could even fight against the odds through true sight from level 1 on for 24 hours a day, and other invocations. Furthermore your eldritch blast is pretty awesome.

But I better give an example: Your normal level 1 Warlock could spend his whole day destroying a town with the shatter invocation. Later he gets a spam-able dimension door with build in image (minor i think), can fly, disolve into a swarm and has the best vision + since he ain't a caster a damn good boost to UMD.

I loved my warlocks nearly everytime. At least for me I want them in Pathfinder too.

Otherway: Complete Arcane has some...pittraps. There are PrC that just aren't worth taking but it introduced a really cool ability that made casters even more powerfull: Weaponlike spells. and a 20x2 ain't that bad.

Races of wild is great for the fluffy-fluffyness, the Halfling stories are great.

Hope that helps :D

[Curmudgeon]

The generic answer to questions like this is to consult the Wizards of the Coast D&D Product Spotlight Archive (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/arch/ps).

Here are the entries for Dungeonscape (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ps/20070305a) and Races of the Wild (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ps/20050204a), for instance.

[hex0]

Dungeonscape has Trapsmith too. :smallwink:

[Coidzor]

Complete Arcane has rules for mastering someone else's spellbook, so that wizards can take on the spellbooks of defeated enemies as backups rather than just as vendor trash.

[Morph Bark]

Everyone with damage spells on their list does a better job of it than the Warmage.

Got any examples/reasons?

[Eldan]

Got any examples/reasons?

The problem is that, technically, the Warmage has all the worst damage spells. All the good ones are Conjuration.

[Keld Denar]

Don't forget, Dungeonscape has Wand Chambers as well, so you can hold your sword and your wand at the same time. Great for Gishes, anyone with UMD, and martially inclined divine casters.

CArcane has Initiate of the Sevenfold NO!!!!s, the most defensive caster PrC ever printed. 7 levels, full caster, and you get some cool prismatic wall themed abilities, including the ability to say NO! to things that make you uncomfortable.

Also, Fatespinner, Mindbender, the Arcane Mastery and Extraordinary Spell Aim feats, and some other candy.

[Runestar]

Well, these 3 books don't really rank high on my Optimisation checklist, so for most part, there aren't really an "WOW!" materials that catch your eye and make you stand up.

Races of the wild is great on fluff. I like the catfolk as a PC race.

Dungeonscape: Tons of cool ideas to fill out your dungeon with. Some nice ACFs, dungeonbred template. Overall, made for great reading, but I don't think I used it that much either.

[Allanimal]

I really like the flavor of the Whisperknife PrC from Races of the Wild. Haven't played one yet, but hope to some day.

[Aemoh87]

All three books are decent. Not saying you spent your BDay money wrong but your just building towards an Elf Generalist Wizard with some sort of Complete Arcane PrC who likes dungeons. Or an Arcane Heirophant, that which dungeons run away from.

But you coulda bought the Ultimates from PF!

Also for some optimization fun, build an Arcane Heirophant focusing on the fact that your familiar and companion are the same...

Wait, now that I think about it, Races of the Wild might be one of my favorite splat books as I have actually read the fluff more than once. And all my Elf characters have names created from the tables in it. Oh and Champion of C.L. is a really fun class too.

[Dusk Eclipse]

The problem is that, technically, the Warmage has all the worst damage spells. All the good ones are Conjuration.

They do have the Orbs spells (which incidentally were introduced in CArc) and IMO they make for most fun base for a Rainbow Servant build (they have the best name too Rainbow WARsnake is far more badass than BeguSnake and the Dreadsnake

[Psyren]

Got any examples/reasons?

Sorcerer, Wizard, Druid, Wu Jen, Archivist, Shugenja, Psion, Wilder.

Reasons (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=5293.0)

[Basket Burner]

Warmages do not have Wings of Flurry. I don't think that they have Maw of Chaos either.

[Dusk Eclipse]

Bothof them can be gained through expanded and Eccletic Learning respectively.

To be clear I am not saying they are a GOOD class; but they are good enough for mosts games.

[Piggy Knowles]

Eh. Warmages are not actually that bad. They're actually pretty solid at low levels. The best way I've heard them described is archers with a better special effects budget. Their main problem is that, as a blaster, a sorcerer is better in almost every way once you start approaching the mid levels.

Back to the original topic...

Complete Arcane also has Obtain Familiar, one of my favorite feats. I find myself trying to fit it into any arcane casting build that doesn't already get a familiar somehow.

[sreservoir]

Eh. Warmages are not actually that bad. They're actually pretty solid at low levels. The best way I've heard them described is archers with a better special effects budget. Their main problem is that, as a blaster, a sorcerer is better in almost every way once you start approaching the mid levels.

Back to the original topic...

Complete Arcane also has Obtain Familiar, one of my favorite feats. I find myself trying to fit it into any arcane casting build that doesn't already get a familiar somehow.

lightning warrior, then?

[Eldan]

Eh. Warmages are not actually that bad. They're actually pretty solid at low levels. The best way I've heard them described is archers with a better special effects budget. Their main problem is that, as a blaster, a sorcerer is better in almost every way once you start approaching the mid levels.


I wouldn't call Warmages bad at blasting. Limited by spell selection, yes, and not exactly better than others, either, but not bad at blasting.

The problem is that blasting in general is bad in D&D.

[faceroll]

It's really not. Everyone with damage spells on their list does a better job of it than the Warmage. The only thing Warmage is good for is the Warsnake build.

And getting access to prismatic spells 5 to 10 levels before anyone else does. If you use dirty tricks.

[big teej]

All three books are decent. Not saying you spent your BDay money wrong but your just building towards an Elf Generalist Wizard with some sort of Complete Arcane PrC who likes dungeons. Or an Arcane Heirophant, that which dungeons run away from.

But you coulda bought the Ultimates from PF!

Also for some optimization fun, build an Arcane Heirophant focusing on the fact that your familiar and companion are the same...

Wait, now that I think about it, Races of the Wild might be one of my favorite splat books as I have actually read the fluff more than once. And all my Elf characters have names created from the tables in it. Oh and Champion of C.L. is a really fun class too.

given that I"m trying to purchas every 3.0 and 3.5 book published.
it's impossible to make a "bad" purchase

I can make purchases that are less useful to me in the moment, but there are no bad ones.


furthermore,I play extremely low optimization, (i.e. my group's paladin would likely be voted MVP)

so optimization tools arn't that "wow" to me :smalltongue:

and given that I've DM'd every week for the past 6 months, fluff and DM tools actually help me more than player tools.


.... I need to play more often :smallsigh:

[Coidzor]

I wouldn't call Warmages bad at blasting. Limited by spell selection, yes, and not exactly better than others, either, but not bad at blasting.

The problem is that blasting in general is bad in D&D.

Then again, if you're specializing in a bad discipline and you don't even have a real edge over the competition in said discipline, that's kinda really bad.

[Morph Bark]

Sorcerer, Wizard, Druid, Wu Jen, Archivist, Shugenja, Psion, Wilder.

Reasons (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=5293.0)

So basically nothing new and still the only non-Tier1/2 option for blasters out there. Gotcha.


I wouldn't call Warmages bad at blasting. Limited by spell selection, yes, and not exactly better than others, either, but not bad at blasting.

The problem is that blasting in general is bad in D&D.

Exactly.


With those three books I'm wondering what would be the most awesome possible build using only races and classes from those books.

[Piggy Knowles]

Then again, if you're specializing in a bad discipline and you don't even have a real edge over the competition in said discipline, that's kinda really bad.

You have some edge over the competition. Warmages are pretty decent at the low levels. They get a decent number of spells per day, and Warmage's Edge is actually a pretty nice damage boost in the low levels. With a solid Int, you can toss around cantrips that hit for touch attacks and deal considerably more damage than arrows. Like I said before, archer with a bigger special effects budget, that's your schtick. The higher hit die and ability to wear armor helps as well.

Sure, once you hit the mid-levels, you'll be outclassed. Other spellcasters get more useful spells, while martial characters get iterative attacks and exponential returns from Power Attack, meaning they start to consistently outdamage you. (And as a blaster, isn't dealing damage supposed to be your specialty?) But warmages still get some OK blasting spells, and there are enough gems on the Evocation spell list to pick up some decent versatility with Advanced Learning. You won't be great, but you can shuffle along.

[Psyren]

So basically nothing new and still the only non-Tier1/2 option for blasters out there. Gotcha.

If it's nothing new to you, why waste time asking?

Also, being a lower tier than X and being worse at something than X tend to go hand in hand.

[Essence_of_War]

To the OP,

I have an unreasonable love for the Suel Arcanamach. It's my fave prestige class out of the Complete Arcane. It gets independent casting, and when combined with the Abjurant Champion can be really good at dispelling and really good at NOT having its spells dispelled.

Also, I think the Champion of Corellon and the Elven Courtblade are both in RotW. These are great options to have for dex-centric characters.

[GoblinArchmage]

My favourite: the Warlock.

It's a pretty damn neat class in my eyes. Played one in a solo campaign and could even fight against the odds through true sight from level 1 on for 24 hours a day, and other invocations. Furthermore your eldritch blast is pretty awesome.

But I better give an example: Your normal level 1 Warlock could spend his whole day destroying a town with the shatter invocation. Later he gets a spam-able dimension door with build in image (minor i think), can fly, disolve into a swarm and has the best vision + since he ain't a caster a damn good boost to UMD.

I loved my warlocks nearly everytime. At least for me I want them in Pathfinder too.

It might also be worth noting that all of the Warlock's invocations, as well as the Eldritch Blast, are at will spell like abilities, so you never really have to worry about running out of magic.

Also in Complete Arcane:

The Alienist: A full caster prestige class specializing in using the Summon Monster spells to conjure Lovecraftian entities. It does limit the Summon list for the spells, but I have seen people on this board suggest that adding a few Abberations to the Alienist's Summon options would fix that. Also, Alienist levels stack with Sorcerer/Wizard levels for the purpose of determining Familiar abilities. The Familiar also eventually gets the Pseudonatural template.

The Spellstitched Undead Template: This would be kind of neat for a Lich. Basically, it allows a spellcaster with Craft Wondrous Item to grant an undead creature (if the caster is undead, then [pronoun] may apply this to [pronoun]self) the ability to cast certain spells a number of times per day.

Craft Contingent Spell (Feat): Specialist Wizards who ban Evocation can know use Contingency.

Split Ray (Feat): Cast Ray of Enfeeblement twice in the same round. I think this is also in Complete Divine, though, so you may already have access to it.

[Runestar]

Note that ray of enfeeblement doesn't stack with itself. Though it is nice for catching two foes simultaneously. :smallbiggrin:

Personally, I like sculpt spell, if only for all the fun tales involving sculpted glitterdusts.

[Morph Bark]

If it's nothing new to you, why waste time asking?

I usually learn something new about the system by asking others. I figured in this case you knew something I didn't and could provide new insight, like a different Tier 3 or lower class being better at blasting for a variety of reasons. I was sad to learn this was not the case.


Also, if you have Complete Adventurer, a Spellthief will love to have a Warlock in the party. :smallamused: