Kingdoms of Kalamar: Which Supplements Are Best?

[Palanan]

Every now and then I wonder if the Kalamar setting is worth diving into. It’s very detailed, and a fair amount of thought was put into the world-building; but based on what I’ve seen, most of the mechanical options are either not great or so closely tied to the setting that it’s not easy to use them elsewhere.

For those with more experience in Kalamar, is this broadly the case? And are there any supplements which would be worthwhile to check out, both on their own merits and for their adaptability to other settings?

[PoeticallyPsyco]

Salt & Sea Dogs has a lot of cool shipbuilding stuff, if you're interested in a naval campaign. When my group was using it, we were able to integrate the book with all the first party stuff with no problems at all (in fact, we didn't even realize it wasn't first party for awhile).

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Poetically Psyco
Salt & Sea Dogs has a lot of cool shipbuilding stuff, if you're interested in a naval campaign.

Thanks, I’ll look into that one.

Any thoughts on any of the other supplements or modules? Stealth and Style is mentioned occasionally because of the Basiran Dancer, but it’s really hard to find reviews on individual supplements.

[Bullet06320]

monsters of telenne gets some use, you can never have enough monsters to play with

i think its the campaign guide that has the feat miser with magic, lets you get a few extra spell slots to play with
and the summon fae I-IX spells, druid spell that lets you summon a 1hd, 2hd, 3hd etc depending on spell level. its kinda broken when a first level pc can summon a 1hd pixie to shut down a boss, 10% of pixies have Irresistible Dance, lol

the books fall in a weird catagory, they are 3rd party, but get to use the logo, so are officially endorsed 3rd party, but got the use of the logo due to a dispute over IP between wotc and kenner. so use at own risk, but there is good stuff sprinkled all throughout

[Dalmosh]

The poisoncrafting rules in the KoK: Player's Guide are pretty good, this lets you alter the craft DC in Craft: Poisonmaking checks to modify the delivery method, potency, detectability and damage output.

Ed. Fury in the Wasteland is one of the best resources for Orcs published in 3.5, has some pretty good feats and useful lore-friendly equipment. The Prestige Classes look pretty on point, but I've never used them.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Dalmosh
Fury in the Wasteland is one of the best resources for Orcs published in 3.5, has some pretty good feats and useful lore-friendly equipment. The Prestige Classes look pretty on point, but I've never used them.

Interesting, thanks. Any particular PrCs that stood out to you?

[Dalmosh]

They are fairly underpowered and probably of more interest to a DM statting out an orc warband or tribe.
Perhaps the best one is an Orc Torturer prestige class called Expert Tormenter. That said, it requires torture rules I haven't looked at in the Villain Design Handbook, so I can't speak to what it actually adds.

You also have "Fast agile Orc", "underground survival orc" and "infiltrate Dwarf hold by surviving traps" orc

The barbarian and leader orcs are probably better represented by options in Races in Faerun.