Book of Experimental Might?

[Greenfaun]

So, Monte cook released the pdf version of his new book, and it was only $9 so I bought it.

Has anyone gotten this yet?

I've been reading it, and while overall my impression is positive, it seems rather a mixed bag. Everything I like, I have to put a "but" afterwards.

I like the 20 levels of spells, but the bookkeeping for counting spell slots over 20 levels seems a little heinous. Why not go all the way and use a XPH or UA style version of Magic points? The spell level is how much it costs to cast it, bang, you're done. Sure, it kills sorcerers, but that many prepared spell slots is excel spreadsheet territory, not fun tabletop gaming. Just my opinion, of course.

I like the "One feat per level" rule a whole lot, but it just means Fighters (and to a lesser extent monks) get even more screwed than before. Monte seems not to care. He even mentions giving fighters EVEN MORE feats as a fix, but I'm not convinced.

I like Disciplines a lot, I think I'll come up with some of my own, but they're definitely better than feats, which just screws the non-casting classes over a little bit more. Even so, I'm already designing my own Artificer Disciplines just for giggles, and I'm seriously considering making a homebrew monk class with "Ki disciplines" replacing their supernatural class abilities, and allowing for more variety in monk builds. Ooh, and what about Psionic Disciplines... Hmmm...

Special note: The Familiar discipline is Teh Rawk. Even if you don't use the system, these familiar rules might be worth swiping.

I mostly either like or don't care about the new spells, but seriously dude, what's with all the cleric spells that are Angelic/Fiendish versions of Wizard spells? I mean, power creep through new spells for clerics is hardly a new problem, but still. Hrmph.

I like the Runeblade class a great deal, but balance seems like a factor. Especially with 1 feat/level, it makes me wonder why anyone would play a fighter at all. Looks like a fun class to play, don't get me wrong, but fighter fans have one more reason to weep.

So, anybody else have this?

[Greenfaun]

One bump to provide the link:

http://www.malhavocpress.com/cgi-bin...gi?mpress_BOXM

If everybody still doesn't care, I'll let the thread die, but I thought it might be interesting to others.

[Kizara]

Seems like a new and excessive excercise in powercreep. I couldn't be interested less, nor have I heard of it before now.

Thanks for posting though, now I have some basis for an opinion if I run into this garbage.

[Matthew]

I'm actually quite interested, as I noticed this on RPGNow a few days ago.

Over the years, I have taken a look at Anger of Angels, The Book of Eldritch Might I-III, The Book of Hallowed Might, Cry Havok, Chaositech, Mindscapes: A Psions Guide, Requiem for a God, and When the Sky Falls, amongst other Mahavoc Press products. In my opinion, they were usually a mixed bag and almost always involved some sort of power creep.

Some of the things you mention sound like the sorts of modifications I already make to D20, and other stuff not so much. My real question, though, is did Monte Cook actually write this new book? I was under the impression that he had left the RPG business. Is this not a 'Monte Cook presents' supplement?

[Greenfaun]

Yeah, according to the website it's really Monte. He took a break from writing fiction to compile his favorite house rules from his home game and the result was this.