Customer Reviews:
great buy.......2007-08-14
This book is pretty good. It is unreasonable to expect that every person is going to use every bit of this book. No one has that much time, or that many characters. Unless of course your characters are suicidal and you roll up a new one every session. To me, if you can pick up a supplement book, pluck out a few classes, feats, and some other good information out of it, chances are its a good buy. Especially considering you can bring that to your gaming group and someone else there might like something that you didn't have a use for. The prestige classes are pretty interesting in terms of class abilities, but I wasn't crazy about them. The enrichment material at the front of the book is excellent though, just like the stuff in PHB2. Solid gold for helping you role-play or just concept a character. The feats and skill tricks presented in this book are also good. In my current campaign I play a Scout (from Complete Adventurer) and I like the character a lot. The problem was, I wasn't getting the full statistical output that my character's personality supports. With the feats in this book, I was able to customize my character by multiclassing in some things without losing some of the Scout class ability progression, which let me make the character into who I felt he should be. The book also has many other feats that make it a lot more appealing to multiclass with levels in a Scoundrel-type class. The skill tricks also add a lot of flavor to your character as well as giving them some cool abilities like some feats give, but with the limitation that they can be used once per day. The book isn't all for the Rogue type, though. It has a fair amount of prestige classes and feats and skill tricks for various casters. To name a few, this book contains the Grey Guard prestige class, sort of like a Paladin with less remorse and more freedom of action. It also has a skill trick that lets anyone with 5 ranks in the Heal skill heal some damage when they stabilize. All in all, I won't use everything in this book, but I will use a good amount of it and it is likely that some of my other players will, too.
Who *isn't* a scoundrel?.......2007-07-24
I was very excited about pre-ordering this book, as it sounded like just the thing for giving sneaky, underhanded spells/feats to sneaky, underhanded characters.
However, being a scoundrel has nothing to do with being sneaky or underhanded. Or clever. Or...well, anything at all. EVERYONE's a scoundrel, as illustrated by the book's "What is a scoundrel?" section. Darth Vader and Mario (yes, that Mario) are cited as examples.
This book is full of very similar feats (more often than not, they're just "Choose to re-roll" affairs).
I would not recommend it.
I loved this book.......2007-07-19
I really found this book helpful, as the skill tricks can be used for different classes and I tend to play a more tactical based character anyway. I've had an enjoyable time experimenting with many classes using the recommendations from this book and the luck feats are rather entertaining at times.
A 5 star, if you're more devious, than "Conan" ;).......2007-06-27
More a sort of explanation and thought provoking book to stir your adventures and characters, than just hard "crunch", it's a good one for those who play more devious, roguish characters or settings, than a "hack n' slash" one.
So, 5 star if you like that, but 3 or 4 star if not into such things.
It's less practical than "Complete Adventurer", but if you play a more roleplay focused, or gritty/personality type of campaign, it can be just the thing.
:)
I'd rather be lucky than good........2007-06-15
This book is an excellent addition to your D and D library, especially if you like to play a character who uses their wits in place of brawn.
If you are familiar with "The Complete X" line of books from WotC than the layout of this book is no surprise. Prestige classes, new feats, new equipment, etc... Either you need more feats to choose from or you don't, same with Prestige classes. However, please read on.
What is new in this book is what really makes this book stand out, in my opinion. Skill Tricks. These tricks are almost like mini feats. They are extremely useful and come in several varieties. Basically they add a bit more flavor to your already useful skill ranks to get a bit more milage out of a skill check. They aid in combat, movement, awareness checks and other sundry uses.
Face it, if you are attracted to this kind of character to begin with you are going to have a on of skill points, skill points gives you more options and uses for spending them.
Book Description
Complete Mage™
A Player’s Guide to All Things Arcane
Skip Williams Penny Williams
Ari Marmell Kolja Raven Liquette
Arcane Power at Your Fingertips
Every sentient creature is born with some potential to work magic. However, true mastery of arcane magic requires skill, practice, and power beyond the reach of common folk–specifically, the power to harness raw magic and shape it into a desired effect. You are among those gifted few who have learned to channel arcane magic, shaping it to serve your creative or destructive whims.
This D&D® supplement is intended for players and Dungeon Masters. In addition to providing the definitive treatise on arcane magic, it expands the character options available to users of arcane magic, including bards, sorcerers, wizards, assassins, warlocks, and wu jen. Herein you’ll find never-before-seen prestige classes, spells and invocations, magic items, alchemical items, heritage feats, and reserve feats (a new type of feat that grants special abilities to those who remain charged with magical power). Alternative class features give other character classes–from the barbarian to the rogue–a little taste of what it’s like to be an arcanist without sacrificing their core identities.
For use with these Dungeons & Dragons® core books
Player’s Handbook™ Dungeon Master’s Guide™ Monster Manual™
Customer Reviews:
Great product.......2007-09-06
This book really enhances the D & D system. It gives the various arcane classes alternatives on how they came into their abilities
Generally ok, with a few very nice additions.......2007-05-13
Reading the first chapter, I was pleasantly surprised to see how the fundamentals are laid down; a quick overview of the differences between arcane magic, divine and innate magic. Then some slightly more in depth than Player's Guide articles on the various spellschools and finally very nice to read the various archetypes. I especially liked the miniguides that accompanied the archetypes, which explain why you should or shouldn't select certain spells or feats. Very nice for me anyway, because I'm not too experienced and the thought processes described really helped me think for myself.
An intriguing chapter 2 'Character Options' has a section 'Alternative Class Features' which describes how you can modify and augment some specific class. For example there's an alternative class feature called 'Spell Sense' for barbarians or rogues that allows you to swap the trap sense class features for an extra dodge bonus to your AC against spells. It adds some more options for you as player.
Then there's a section about a new type of feat: the Reserve Feat. Ofcourse the other types are still described - like heritage and tactical feats - and added feats for, but reserve feats are feats that provide secondary effects for spells you carry. For example "Acidic Splatter" allows you to cast a lower level orb of acid as long as you have an 2nd+ level acidic spell available to cast. There are various kinds of secondary effects for different feats way (including traveling plains at will). In addition to this secondary effect, most reserve feats add an extra competence bonus for castingtype-related spells. The general idea behind reserve feats is to be able to use your innate magical potential in more encounters without using your spell slots with every cast. It's like there suddenly many shades of gray between the extremes 'cast a spell' and 'don't cast a spell'. Also, they can't be countered, fail, ignore spell resistance and don't need any components.
Then there are ofcourse a handful of prestiege classes and a basket full of new spells as well as some items. I won't go into those; you can probably find those reviews anywhere on the Internet already. Plus, I'm not the guy for that anyway.
Finally there's the chapter for DM's that contains a list of hundred arcane based adventure ideas, and describes various arcane related game facets such as magic item shops, mercenary spellcasters, crafting, creature born of magic experiments and whatnot. In addition, there are the 'magical locations' as treasure, which basically states a magical location somehow made available to the player characters that in itself is the treasure because of the specialness and rewards that come from it. There are a number of predescribed magical locations ready for you to use accompanied by some maps.
Conclusion:
All in all, not everything is new and half of the book is the usual fluff. But combined with the various new features and options it makes for a nice book to join your collection. No unusual well writing or rich background history and characterization (though the archetype section does provide some), just straight up information... mostly.
Complete Mage: Ok but not great.......2007-03-23
Some new spells and feats but a lot is just fluff.
Worth it.......2007-03-22
Sincerely I hoped not too much for this book. There was a Complete Arcane already, and much more about wizards/sorcerers in other books. But it suprised me with some new concept, mostly in the feats section. The reserve feats are good for wizards to add them more "long-term usability" in adventures, and tactical feats have their - albeit more special - uses as well. Some prestige classes are good extensions too (master specialist for example), so all in all its a much better book than I anticipated, maybe better than Complete Arcane was.
Good Book.......2007-02-18
I have to admit I am a bit weary of all the splatbooks that WOTC keeps pumping out. But I perused this one in the bookstore first then bought it online. It's not as good as the complete arcane was, but its got interesting feats, prestige classes and spells for the players. A good buy overall if you are currently playing a mage or want to play on in the future.
Book Description
A new sourcebook outlining the use of arcane magic by any D&D character.
Complete Arcane provides Dungeons & Dragons© players with an in-depth look at how to access traditional arcane magic and use that power to a character's advantage. It explains how magic affects life and gameplay in the D&D world, adding dimension to one of the most unique and popular aspects of roleplaying. Complete Arcane also contains a wealth of material for traditionally non-magical characters, so the tips and data provided will assist all class types. In addition to new feats, spells, prestige classes, and magic items, this title adds new and revised core classes to a player's character choices. There are also new arcane-related monsters and information on how to fight, join, or summon each one.
Customer Reviews:
Yep, totally broken.......2007-04-03
This book is crazy overpowered. The Warlock class slowly makes itself invincible level by level. They've got too many hp's, too many save bonuses, too much armor, and they can imbue items w/o the item creation feats???????? WHAT???
Warlocks make clerics look like sissies, and they're not nearly as broken as the prestige classes. This book is great for Players whose DM's have an annoying habit of killing or screwing over their players, but it's a headache for the DM since you have to plan every dungeon and battle around super overpowered casters with no weaknesses.
Dual wand weild--a bard wand user can cast cure critical wounds and fireball every round...
Eh, it's not bad.......2007-03-09
Not too much in this book impressed me. I really like the Warlock class, anda lot of the new spells are brilliant (and compliment Complete Mage well, too), but all the spells were reprinted in Spell Compendium. The feats are pretty lackluster, the monsters are mostly by-products of the prestige classes, and the prestige classes aren't so special in their own right. So really, it's just the warlock then. Whatever, I got it with Christmas money.
People of the arcane flavor will enjoy this... others, not so much........2006-12-27
Ok, the book is good, but it's certainly not great. Most of what the book has to offer is more for giving your character flavor, and it really won't suit a min-max'er or a power gamer. But, if you're still interested (because you love the arcane classes as much as I do) then read on.
The Book offers several new core classes, each of which have a very unique feel to them. The Warlock is chaotic and/or evil, relying on a limitless supply of "Eldrich Blasts" that serve as her main offensive ability. She manipulates these blasts with invocations, and she gets very few of them. The next is a Wu Jen, which is basically a Wizard with a very oriental feel to it. The spells are more based around elements (Asian, not European) than schools, so it offers a different perspective on magic. The third is the Warmage, which, as the name implies, is a battle ready caster who is great at raining down destruction... and little else. The class offers little in the way of utility, so you could basically consider it to be the arcane equivalent of the barbarian and/or fighter.
The Prestige classes aren't fantastic, but then again, many casters loathe the idea of giving up spell progression for a few neat tricks. Luckily, the Complete Arcane offers a decent set of classes to choose from, a few of which actually let you maintain near-complete progression. Some might not see the tabletop and feel a bit like filler, but then again, it's rare to see an arcane geared prestige class. Over all, I really like the classes the book had to offer.
The feats the book has are, well, pretty damn awesome. I think this is the real shining point of the book. There are many many new metamagics (like the ability to convert any elemental damage into your chosen type, for a sort of arcane signature move), and half a dozen feats that allow non-casters the ability to use a few minor spells as spell like abilities. This section also has some very interesting sorcerer-based feats, most notably being an evolution of their draconic heritage.
Lastly, the book hold a plethora of new spells, most of which I found to be very useful. Many of the combat based spells created for the Warmage made their way to other caster's spell lists, so you can at least consider your mage to be better armed in a fight.
All in all, I really enjoyed this book. Yes, it wasn't fantastic, but jeez... Tome and Blood did an awful job of spicing up the caster classes, and I think this book really made amends to that. Being a Wizard and only being able to choose from Metamagic Feats or Spell Focus got really dull, so I was thrilled to get ahold of this book. If you like the arcane casters, and you'd like to add a bit of individuality to your mage, I definately recommend picking up this book. If you're new to the caster classes, or don't often play then, I'd say pass it on by.
I find this book miserable........2006-09-21
I know many will disagree with me, but this is simply my reaction as a player.
I loved Complete Warrior, but as I am more likely to play a mage type character, I picked this book up. I am quite dissapointed. There isn't a single Prestigue Class or Feat I find useful for my characters. I understand that each player has his or her own style of play, but it seems my style isn't suited for Complete Arcane. Also I find the art abominable. Yes, the artists are much more talented than I, but I simply don't enjoy the art they produce. Really, this book was a disapointment, because when I shell out over $20 on a new splat book, I feel like I should be getting my money's worth.
average.......2006-08-31
the book is average containing only one interesting class and an interesting campain for arcane users but the mosters abd the spells are disapointing
Book Description
The essential sourcebook for any D&D character looking to build adventuring skills.
Complete Adventurer™ serves primarily as a player resource focused on adventuring skills for characters of any class. As adventuring is the foundation for the entire D&D experience, nearly every aspect of the D&D game benefits from the material in this product. Characters have access to new combat options, spells, equipment, classes, and prestige classes, as well as exciting new character classes such as ninja and scout. Complete Adventurer also provides new information on several organizations and guilds, and Dungeon Masters will find material for creating or optimizing single creatures or even entire campaign worlds.
Customer Reviews:
One of the best D&D books out there.......2007-09-15
Aplicable to all classes to one degree or another. Very fun content and totaly worth the price.
One of the best "splat" books.......2007-06-27
As an ardent D&D DM, I collect all the generic source books when I can. Some are so-so, but this is one of my faves. Lots of general stuff for players and NPCs, and less "weird/nutty/overpowered or dumb" Prestige classes.
-The prestige classes in the book are pretty good, more for folk who preffer "quest/Roleplaying" than "hack n' slash". The vigilante, dread pirate and street fighter fit in well with "rough and ready", city campaigns and the like.
-Most of the feats are pretty good (though I don't like the one that lets you use a weapon in off hand as light, uh, no, too much potential for abuse)
Over all, pretty good if you're more "adventure/rp" and less "munchkin with dice", but the things in it are good "crunch" as well as "fluff"...it's nice though to see more believeable stereotypes brought to life in the PrCs, and be useful, such as the streetfighter and bloodhound.
-It also adds the "Ninja" as a full class, and the Scout. I dislike the scout's "skirmish" ability as it makes no sense (more damage while firing on the move, eh? Sorry, not believable), but many will like the Ninja, which is different enough from the rogue for them not to overlap too much, and still be cool to play.
:)
Great book for Gamers.......2006-07-05
I find this book very helpful in my D&D games. With the new prestige classes introduce, I have completed my characters and so have my fellow gamers. I would recommend that any serious gamer aquire this book for their collection. It could be a life saver.
Helpfull material.......2006-02-20
This book, besides new classes, and prestige classes, contain a lot of information about new spells for all classes and feats that may lead your new adventures. I rate it OK. a must have book.
D&D Rocks!.......2006-01-15
Been a player for almost three decades. Always seem to be a Dungeon Master and this book is helpful, though lately I tend to just sort of make up rules as I go along.
For those role players who like to read, try The Unsuspecting Mage by Brian S. Pratt. This book is about a teen who role plays, goes to another world and uses the skills learned through roleplaying to help him survive. It's an action packed book that's hard to put down. Role Players rejoice!
Book Description
Complete Champion focuses on the divine champion and provides new rules options for characters who enjoy battling for a cause, defeating foes with divine magic, and going on quests that mean more than simply defeating the bad guy and grabbing the treasure. Complete Champion also helps Dungeon Masters run quest-themed campaigns and adventures.
In addition to providing various archetypes for characters, Complete Champion includes new feats and prestige classes. This book features dozens of deity- and belief-themed organizations, turning religion and holy (or unholy) power into something characters of all classes can use.
Customer Reviews:
Good for "core pantheon" campaigns.......2007-09-16
All in all this isn't a bad book, it just lacks a certain level of applicability to any campaign not using the "core" deities as detailed in the PHB. More or less all of the fluff and a good deal of the crunch in this book seems to take that as a given. All in all I have been impressed with the Completes series - I was dubious of the "second round" but after Mage and Scoundrel I was generally impressed. This one seemed a far cry in utility compared to the others in the series. It has a handful of useful rules items, but all in all this isn't a great book.
Quite Useful For 3.0/3.5e Greyhawk Campaigns..........2007-09-13
Complete Champion works best if you're campaign is set in Greyhawk and/or prominently features the core 3.0/3.5e D&D gods. It's also the most DM-centered of the "Complete" books, which are generally thought of as extensions of the Player's Handbook (PHB). While there are new feats, prestige classes (11 of them, actually) and spells, the rules for creating church affiliations and holy sites take up quite a bit of the book. While players might join one of these organizations, it's the DM who'll get the most out of this information.
Affiliations were introduced in the Player's Handbook II (PHBII) as a way of providing rules and benefits for characters belonging to various organizations. You don't need the PHBII, however, as rules for building your own church affiliations are provided in the Complete Champion. Affiliations are useful because they provide criterion for characters to rise up in the ranks of a given organization (in this case, a church) and provide increasingly valuable benefits for doing so. While all the churches presented in the book are of non-evil Core/Greyhawk deities, there are brief descriptions for the evil Core/Greyhawk deities, as well. Furthermore, rules are given to allow you to create a church affiliation for nearly any deity you choose based on their prominent domains.
Among the usual selection of feats are a new type called Domain Feats. These feats, which can be taken by any character, are each based on one of the core domains from the PHB such as Air, Destruction and Travel. These Domain Feats provides an ability, often only usable once per day, based on the powers associated with the specific domain. This provides a fun, if not always balanced, way to provide non-divine classes with the blessing of a deity, which I like, but there's certainly nothing to keep a divine class from taking these feats as well.
Many of the prestige classes are based on the Core/Greyhawk deities, as well. Pelor has the Shadowstriker and the Shadowspy which are both tied to a Pelorian church affiliation called Pelor's Shadow Guard. While this might sound counterintuitive for a sun god, the description of the affiliation does a great job at explaining how these prestige classes came to be. There's also a prestige class for Hextor (Ordained Champion) and another (The Sancctified One) which can be taken by Ehlonna, Kord, Olidammara or Wee Jas, providing differing abilities for each.
The new spells favor the cleric, but there's quite a few new things for paladins, druids and blackguards as well. There's even a few new spells for Adepts (the NPC class), which is something I haven't seen in a while. On average, the spells are 2nd-4th level spells, but clerics receive a few 5th-7th level spells, too.
Of the new items presented I particularly enjoyed the special holy symbols. These are masterwork holy symbols that each have special powers relating to the Core/Greyhawk deity they represent. There's quite a bit of variety here and these items are relatively inexpensive having more value in terms of status than monetary worth.
The final chapter covers divine quests and holy sites. Again, this is probably more befitting a DM than a player. While players who worship a certain deity will certainly want to visit the holy site and gain the favor of their gods, this material is better served in the DMs hands. Still, these can add a fun touch to any Greyhawk campaign.
Overall, I think this is a great book and I intend on using the church affiliation rules to build my own churches and expand those of the other deities in my Greyhawk campaign. If you're running a 3.0/3.5e Greyhawk campaign or favor the Core deities, this book can definitely help mesh the rules and rewards of belonging to a church to the concepts and flavor of serving a deity. If you don't have any use for the Core/Greyhawk gods, then this book will be of significantly less value to you and I suspect that may be why it's received such low ratings overall. I'm sure I'd like it a lot less if it featured Forgotten Realms or Eberron deities, for example.
So, if you like the Core/Greyhawk deities and want to find ways to make them more interesting to their followers, pick up Complete Champion right away. Otherwise, you'll probably be disappointed. But me? I think it's quite good.
It's not too bad, but not as good as most........2007-08-23
I was a little disappointed that this book wasn't more like the Complete Scoundrel. I thought it would be the Scoundrel's complete opposite, much like the Book of Vile Darkness and the Book of Exalted Deeds.
It is ok.......2007-07-19
While I really enjoy the concept of the domain devotion feats, there just did not seem to be very much to this book. They have interesting variants, but I wish they had more prestige classes in it.
Shadowstrikers!.......2007-06-30
I quite like Complete Champion, which offers more depth on the major D&D religions, some cool feats and alternative class features, spells, and magic items. I didn't think too much of the prestige classes, but I rarely find prestige classes very compelling. Then again, I thought the "Shadowstrikers" have a very cool flavor: sort of a military alliance between the churches of Pelor and Heironious out to save the world. The Summon Holy Symbol and Metal Fang were a couple of handy spells that, upon reflection, should've come out years ago. The new feats include Domain Feats, each one associated with a particular domain that the cleric has to have to take it. The new reserve feat associated with healing (Touch of Healing) could revolutionize how some parties approach healing between battles: so long as you keep a 2nd level or higher cure spell in reserve, you can slowly heal your buddies up to half their total hp without casting a spell or expending a charge off a wand. (The feat is particularly useful for druids and bards.) The Holy Warrior feat is a personal favorite (constant boost to damage, but you need access to the War domain). An earlier review suggested that the book is only helpful for paladins: I couldn't disagree more. There is a divine-style alternative class feature for every class: the ones for ranger I thought were cool, and there are options for fighter and monk that enable them to align their weapons/unarmed attacks without needing a cleric to cast Align Weapon. Most of the magic items work for anybody, although some are only for druids, clerics, or paladins. The rules for joining church organizations, whether or not you're a cleric or paladin, have some neat little benefits: I thought the 1st rank benefits for followers of Moradin (+5 movement for only 500 gp and some easy criteria) is a good example of something any dwarf would appreciate. All in all, I really liked it.
Book Description
The most detailed resource ever released on accessing divine power and divine favor in the D&D world.
Complete Divine provides Dungeons & Dragons® players with an in-depth look at how to gain the favor of the gods and use that power to a character's advantage. There is a rundown of new gods in the D&D pantheon, in addition to new feats, spells, prestige classes, and magic items. In addition, this title adds new and revised base classes to a player's character choices, and clerics in particular are provided with many new and updated spell domains and spells.
This title also contains a wealth of material for non-cleric characters, so the tips and data provided will assist all class types, including those classes not typically associated with garnering divine power.
Customer Reviews:
Great Add for Divine Spellcasters........2007-05-14
Me, the guy who always plays the Cleric or Druid, could'nt resist picking this up, and it was worth every penny. Lets start with the beginning:
Chapter 1: The Favored Soul, Shunenja, and Spirit Shaman are all nice classes, though I have to say I'll probably only use the first two.
Chapter 2: The best part in my opinion. Every type of Divine spellcaster, and even some arcane spellcasters, has a class here. My favorites are the Pious Templar, Warpriest, and Divine Oracle (all of whitch I hope to become in the near future.)
Chapter 3: The feats of the book where pretty good, but I'll probably only use the Wild Feats, whitch are mostly variations of other feats but with lower prequisites. Some of the divine feats are nice, like Spontanous Healer/Inflict/summoner if your not the apropriate class. It also touched on Epic Divine spellcasters, but all the feats are in Epic Level Handbook, but its good if you dont have it.
Chapter 4: The Relics where a nice touch to the book, and although its exclusive to the core Greyhawk Dieties, It gave me some ideas on artifacts for my campiagn, as well as that of my freind's.
Chapter 5: This chapter gives a synopsis of the rites, worship, temples, and practices of the core dieties as well as others, such as Bahamut and Lolth. It also touches on other minor Greyhawk deities.
Chapter 6: The descriptions of what happens after death in these chapters has silenced many arguements at the table, such as intricacy's in resurrection and how the soul reacts to its new home (Or old one if its devoted to Fharlangh or Vecna. It also decribes Religous groups, though I knew all this stuff already.
Chapter 7: 5 pages of new domains. If thats not enough, alot of new Cleric and Druid spells (As well as Blackguard, Ranger, And Paladin, though not nearly as many of them.) Though most are useful to me, some I'll never even think of agian. But there are always those spells that seem as if they were put there to address something that almost never comes up.
I really like this book, and it ranks with my top 5 most used/useful supplements at #4. I use this book whenever I'm making a Cleric, Paladin, Blackguard, or Druid. If your Pcs don't play these (Why?) then consider other books, but otherwise, read this and I believe you'll find something to make you Diviner's the best they can be.
Great Useful Book.......2007-05-14
This book is great for anyone playing a divine spell caster. Providing good feats and prestige classes.
Back and forth with this one.......2007-03-13
So I've been back and forth over this book a few times, especially once I first got it. After running through it a few times, I've come to the conclusion that it is pretty useful for bits and pieces of using Divine casters in a game.
Like most recent Wizards releases, there's lots of extra material I as a player and DM never use and don't intend on. Too many Prestige Classes. Lots of them take hits on caster level for a special ability, or some other small bonus. It can be hard enough to run a caster at its full casting level without having taking an extra hit.
Most of the magic items or artifacts presented aren't necessarily worth putting into a game without a specific use. Some of the regular magic items I wouldn't want to put in as part of a hoard or random treasure. They seem to be either overpowering or underwhelming, no happy medium.
Feats were hit or miss, either you can use them in a multitude of places and on many types of characters or they were built for one class only. However some of the one class only feats, such as the Wild feats are helpful if you run a Druid to some of the middle and higher levels. Augment Healing was a nice one, a little help with healing every time doesn't hurt, until you get Heal and works good after run out of Heals too.
When it came to classes, I've only be able to get into the Favored Soul. It's a pretty straight forward Divine casting sorcerer. It's got a d8 hit die, weapon focus as a bonus feat and 3 energy resistances through its level progression. Spell casting is a little slow compared to the Cleric, but you can do pretty well with bonus spells per day and a good Charisma score. Plus, you don't prepare spells, you spontaneous cast, which comes in handy when you need to act fast as both the healer and small tank. Wings in the late levels seem more as add on flavor text than as an actual perk of the class.
It's not a bad book overall, I'd suggest snagging a copy if Divine casters are your thing, or borrowing one to make you next cleric, druid or other divine caster.
A decent book at best.......2007-01-04
The complete divine is a decent book, but by no means anything great. Roleplaying is gone over very briefly, and is mostly common sense stuff. There are decent classes that might be fun to roleplay, but don't bring much to the table in terms of originallity. Also, the new spells that are introduced aren't worth too much.
Every Party Needs One.......2006-12-05
The Cleric (or Druid for the very brave) is the literal life-house of the adventuring party...that fact alone warrants the purchase of "Complete Divine".
The classes presented are small (only 3) and only one of those, the Favored Soul (A Divine magic version of a Sorcerer) is likely to see much use outside of a Far-East campaign setting.
Prestige classes make up for the lackluster base classes with 24 prestige classes of various roletypes. These roles range from the battle ready Warpriest (supernatural abilities to cure allies in a radius and other combat-centric buffs) to the combat-prevention Evangelist (perfect for the Bard with a spiritual side). Many of these prestige classes are not so one sided that only clerics gain benefits. In fact nearly every single class has some choice for a prestigious taste of divine magic (including special cases for Monks and Paladins that allow them to continue gaining Monk or Paladin levels after taking the prestige class)
The feats included in this book are likewise useful, especially the ones that follow the form "Exchange one turn undead attempt in order to..." This gives one of the often overlooked abilities of the cleric a chance to shine once again, especially in campaigns with few undead.
The "Relics" section contains items specific for followers of each major Deity in the basic cosmology of the Player's Handbook, but they are best used more as quest items than potential equipment, as many players who aren't clerics or paladins don't bother with choosing a deity, making the number of (fully) usuable items very slim for most parties.
The next 2 chapters cover different aspects of the gods of D
Book Description
Volume 1 of the Official Encyclopedia features more than 2,000 cards from Antiquities to Legends, including discontinued cards, promotional cards, and misprints. The history and significance of each expansion complement each set.
Customer Reviews:
This book belongs on your coffee table........2002-05-01
I've had this book for years. I took it off the shelf and brought it over to an RPG game at a friends house. Just so I could do some causal reading. Everyone wanted to see the book. Even people who don't play Magic the Gathering (MTG).
If you collect magic cards, or play - these books are an excellent resource. If you want to see what the older cards look like, they are in this book.
Good even for casual collectors........2001-02-11
Volume 1 covers 4th Edition, Chronicles, Ice Age, Alliances, Arabian Nights, Antiquities, Legends, The Dark, Fallen Empires, and Homelands. There's also a section devoted to discontinued cards (leading off with, of course, Black Lotus and the original Mox cards). Cards that were removed but reintroduced before this book was published are not listed as discontinued. A page near the end of the book displays 6 of the most significant promotional cards that weren't just previews of upcoming releases.
Each set of cards covered is provided with an introduction, describing any new twists added for that set (including new types of decks that came about as a result), and any famous (or infamous) cards in that set. (A blowup of the artwork of Mirror Universe figures prominently for Legends, along with "The entire R&D team would have to be hit by a bus before we'd reprint Mana Drain.") The introductions are generally pretty entertaining and provide an informative overview (including descriptions of storylines that were added or updated by the release being described).
The individual cards for each set are listed in alphabetical order; they're shown at about 3/4 actual size. The versions of Magic that included those cards (at the time of printing) are specified, as well as any errata. The card lists' images are enough to hold the attention of even a casual collector, since the flavor text is legible and the artwork is printed well.
After covering the individual sets, the book presents "Misprints and Oddities", such as the Wyvern cards. (Errors in text are covered either with short errata for the individual cards, or in "Overlong errata" for text errors that were to big to include where the card was described.) The book concludes with a "Deckbuilders Indexes" section, as in the later volumes of the Magic encyclopedia.
For collectors.......2000-08-09
Very nice book if you're curious about older cards. I liked getting a chance to see all the old cards together, to see some some cards I'd never seen before because they're too rare.
Book Description
Magic: the Gathering has sold billions of cards all over the world in English and dozens of translations. The huge number of Magic cards makes these encyclopedias must-haves for any serious player. They are invaluable reference guides, collecting all the cards in the latest expansions and including information crucial for collectors as well as history, rules, strategies, and techniques for playing the hottest fantasy game of the 90's--and of the new century. With a how-to-use guide, collector's history, and a visual guide incorporating the latest releases, Volume 6 of the popular card game will also feature an in-depth look at the newest set of Magic cards, full card listings for decks and sideboards, and fully updated deckbuilders' indexes. This volume includes a fully updated chapter on all the cards released since the last Encyclopedia as well as which cards are valuable and why.
Customer Reviews:
They're learning!.......2002-11-30
Volume 6 covers Invasion, Planeshift, Seventh Edition, and Apocalypse. As usual, this volume only deals with expansions released since the previous volume of the encyclopedia. If you've *never* collected previous volumes, you might want to look into _The Complete Encyclopedia of Magic: The Gathering_ instead (which is no longer complete, what with the expansions released after the summer of 2001).
Before launching into the expansion chapters, the usual introductory material includes 'how to use this guide' and a Collector's History - a few paragraphs of introduction plus the usual Magic timeline, including the 'for beginners' decks (e.g. Portal), the basic sets, and the expansions. The introduction to the Collector's History gives the roll call and price list for the Power Nine - the most notorious and expensive cards of them all: Black Lotus, the 5 original Mox cards, Time Walk, Timetwister, and Ancestral Recall.
Each set of cards covered in Volume 6, as usual, is provided with an introduction, the style of which has been updated to make it more useful. Each introduction begins with 'At a Glance': Release Date, Size (number of cards), Featured Mechanics, and The One-Sentence Story. For example, Featured Mechanics for Invasion lists 8 features: multicolored spells, kickers, Dragon Legends, dual lands, Kavu, and 'divvy' cards. After 'At a Glance', each introduction continues with the kind of material provided in previous volumes, still broken into segments but now given a framework and consistency by conforming to At a Glance. The framework begins with the story segment (a few paragraphs fleshing out the one-sentence version), the development segment (design history), individual segments for each of the entries in the Featured Mechanics list, concluding with Standout Cards. All the segments are interspersed with images of the relevant cards. After the Standout Cards discussion, of course, we come to the main body of the chapter for a given set: the cards.
The individual cards for each set are listed in alphabetical order; they're shown at about 3/4 actual size. The versions of Magic that included those cards (at the time of printing) are specified, as well as any errata. The card lists' images are enough to hold the attention of even a casual collector, since the flavor text is legible and the artwork is printed well.
The introduction for the 7th edition chapter adds a new item: a table listing Cards Removed from the Basic Set (compared with 6th edition): 31 each for white and blue, 35 for black, 26 for red, 24 for green, 24 artifacts, and 6 lands. (On the bright side, Serra Angel has been brought back - I thought it was gone for good.)
After covering the individual sets, the book gives an overview of 2000 World Championship decks, this time including photographs of the World Champion and the other 3 quarterfinalists. The book concludes with a "Deckbuilders Indexes" section, as in the earlier volumes of the Magic encyclopedia.
Customer Reviews:
magic the gathering volume 2.......2001-08-16
though i dont have this book my friends say its an excellent book and I've seen it for my self and it is definatly a must buy
One from the master himself.......2000-06-25
Richard Garfield is the creator of Magic The Gathering card game. This book gives the reader an in-depth look into the game and shows the beautiful illustration that each card contains. This is a must have for all players and collectors of the card game.
Not as good as the first one but still good!.......2000-06-13
If you are a mtg collector, you definitely need this book. Although it is much "thinner" than Volume 1 but it's still a must for any serious mtg collector
I Love this book!.......1999-06-07
I collect the cards and I don't know how I would have known if they were rare or common cards if I hadn't found this book. It's the best!
This Book is so Good, It makes magic much funner.......1999-06-06
It so good it has tempted me to buy alot of Magic cards
Average customer rating:
- A short Review of GURPS Horror
- The last resort for the Horror gamemaster
- The best GURPS source book
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GURPS Horror: The Complete Guide to Horrific Roleplaying
J. M. Caparula , and
Scott D. Haring
Manufacturer: Steve Jackson Games
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Customer Reviews:
A short Review of GURPS Horror.......2002-09-23
More than anything, I thought I'd give an opinion since I am between the two extremes of the two existing reviews. This edition of GURPS Horror (there is a new edition I have not yet looked at) is a good reference on the genre, but does lack something. I agree that having three example campaign backgrounds is more than enough, if only because there simply isn't enough detail given in each to make them really informative of how to set up and run campaigns in each - you simply must find other material if you're going to seriously run a "Horror" campaign.
I found it most useful as an extra reference for my campaign. I was running a "realistic" campaign and wanted to throw in horror aspects, and for this it was helpful. It gave me ideas on how to add just enough to keep my player's guessing, and allowed me to keep the campaign from drifting into high fantasy as I've seen/heard other campaigns do when adding in occult overtones. As such, I would have been much happier if it skipped on monster descriptions and focused more on setting tone and atmosphere - I mean, how many different books do I need describing the stats of a vampire or werewolf?
Ultimately, it's biggest problem is the shotgun approach SJG is taking to the genre - there seems to be a plethora of books aimed at the occult and paranormal, such as this book, the recently published Spirits, Voodoo, Authentic Thaumaturgy, and others, with no attempt to unify them.
I can recomend it, as a extra but not primary reference.
The last resort for the Horror gamemaster.......1998-10-12
The very first sentence in the introduction to GURPS Horror sums up the problem with the book. "Horror roleplaying, or, more accurately, supernatural roleplaying..." The book spends little of its time on horror, and fails to live up to its name. Substituting for useful advice on generating an atmosphere of horror in a role-playing game, we find the "Random Monster Characteristics Table," and the equally-random "Things Man Was Not Meant to Know Description Table." Of the 128-page book, 36 pages are devoted to monsters, but unfortunately the descriptions generally do not evoke horror or excite the imagination. The low point is the inclusion of the Australian folk animal, the bunyip, described as a "very shy" creature, with apparently a bit of an environmentalist bent. Spooky! Try to ignore the reference to Orcs here.
Fully a third of the book is devoted to campaign settings, with chapters on Victorian England, the "Roaring 20's," and the modern day, plus capsule descriptions of other times and places. The book would have been better with a single sample setting, with more space actually devoted to horror and not backdrop.
On the whole, the gamemaster wishing to run a horror campaign in GURPS is far better served by GURPS Creatures of the Night, Blood Types, Cthulhupunk, Illuminati, or even Atomic Horror or Warehouse 23, than this lightweight treatment of the topic. Its one redeeming quality is an excellent annotated bibliography and filmography in the appendix, but that's hardly enough to save the book. GURPS deserves a first-rate general sourcebook for horror roleplaying, but this is sadly not it.
The best GURPS source book.......1997-11-04
This is the GURPS source book no GM should be without. This well researched companion is an unending source of inspiriration for any kind of campaign.
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