Crothian
First Post
Adventurer’s Vault 2
Adventurer’s Vault 2 is the second in this line of books all about magical items. It has hundreds of them in here of many different types and power levels. There are items in here for many different characters and races. There are new categories of magical items and unlike Adventurer’s Vault 1 there are no mundane items in here. The book is sixty pages smaller (160 verse 220) but still at the same price. I rarely mention price in a review but this was very noticeable when I saw the two next to each other and was curious on the cost.
Adventurer’s Vault 2 is written by Rob Heinsoo, Eytan Bernstein, Logan Bonner and Peter Schaefer. It is published by Wizards of the Coast for 4e D&D. One thing I noticed more in this book is the large amounts of sidebars. The magical weapon stat blocks do not give much of a description. So, some items get sidebars that talk about the items and how it can be used in a setting. While In really like the idea of the sidebars and want to see more some of them read like the item would be a unique thing instead of just a magical item that has different power levels.
There are a lot of items in here. Some I find a little too specific usable only by one class that takes a certain feature. I like handing out an item that more then one player character can easily make use of and they have to decide or fight over who gets it. But many items now are so specific that if one just places in random treasure there is a decent chance no one will be able to use it. That’s just the way the game is now for better or worse. Power wise I did not notice many troubled items. I am not one that is going to crunch the numbers and find ways to abuse things using a half dozen different books. Granted, with the DDI and Character builder that is a lot easier to do now but it still more time then I feel is worth it.
There are some new kinds of items in here that I really like. The Lair Items are designed to enhance the PC’s home base. Obviously for these to be useful they need a home base and anything that encourages that is good in my book. Some of the items I could see the PCs loading in a wagon to ship from where they find it like the Laboratory and Workshop. Others like the magical Glade I have no idea how one would move that but maybe that’s not an issue that the game cares about.
The magical Tattoos are basically a new item slot. This is the most obvious form of power creep in the book though given the tattoos so far it does not seem so bad. Magical Tattoos have been in different game including earlier additions of D&D though rarely have I seen this amount of choice with them.
Immurements are a different kind of magical item. They are a consumable in that they are a one use item. They contain terrain and when used change what the land did look like into something new. It is a little tough to use them as it could be a hassle to have to redraw a carefully laid out battle map. But a party could really strategize for them and catch a bad guy by surprise. It is defiantly an item that a DM needs to think twice on before allowing one in his game.
The last bit and perhaps most interesting new type of item are the Item Sets. These are groups of magical items that have a connected history and theme. The more items from a set a character has additional powers are revealed. I like item sets as anything that has a theme and history and is useful in an RPG is a positive in my book. They have items for each of the three tiers of play and group items. A group items is an item set that is meant for one item tio be warn by a different member of the party. That is a really cool idea and supports team play and party theme.
While there is a lot of good things about the book it has one negative. There really does not seem to be anything in it that will not be on DDI or in the character builder. I like having a book in front of me but I know the ease of getting the raw items on line included with everything else is going to keep some people away from purchasing this.
Adventurer’s Vault 2 is a nice collection of magical items. Over all I did not find it to be as good as Adventurer Vault 1 but it still will find use at my table. It is not a supplement that one needs to get immediately for one’s game but one that could be useful down the road.
Adventurer’s Vault 2 is the second in this line of books all about magical items. It has hundreds of them in here of many different types and power levels. There are items in here for many different characters and races. There are new categories of magical items and unlike Adventurer’s Vault 1 there are no mundane items in here. The book is sixty pages smaller (160 verse 220) but still at the same price. I rarely mention price in a review but this was very noticeable when I saw the two next to each other and was curious on the cost.
Adventurer’s Vault 2 is written by Rob Heinsoo, Eytan Bernstein, Logan Bonner and Peter Schaefer. It is published by Wizards of the Coast for 4e D&D. One thing I noticed more in this book is the large amounts of sidebars. The magical weapon stat blocks do not give much of a description. So, some items get sidebars that talk about the items and how it can be used in a setting. While In really like the idea of the sidebars and want to see more some of them read like the item would be a unique thing instead of just a magical item that has different power levels.
There are a lot of items in here. Some I find a little too specific usable only by one class that takes a certain feature. I like handing out an item that more then one player character can easily make use of and they have to decide or fight over who gets it. But many items now are so specific that if one just places in random treasure there is a decent chance no one will be able to use it. That’s just the way the game is now for better or worse. Power wise I did not notice many troubled items. I am not one that is going to crunch the numbers and find ways to abuse things using a half dozen different books. Granted, with the DDI and Character builder that is a lot easier to do now but it still more time then I feel is worth it.
There are some new kinds of items in here that I really like. The Lair Items are designed to enhance the PC’s home base. Obviously for these to be useful they need a home base and anything that encourages that is good in my book. Some of the items I could see the PCs loading in a wagon to ship from where they find it like the Laboratory and Workshop. Others like the magical Glade I have no idea how one would move that but maybe that’s not an issue that the game cares about.
The magical Tattoos are basically a new item slot. This is the most obvious form of power creep in the book though given the tattoos so far it does not seem so bad. Magical Tattoos have been in different game including earlier additions of D&D though rarely have I seen this amount of choice with them.
Immurements are a different kind of magical item. They are a consumable in that they are a one use item. They contain terrain and when used change what the land did look like into something new. It is a little tough to use them as it could be a hassle to have to redraw a carefully laid out battle map. But a party could really strategize for them and catch a bad guy by surprise. It is defiantly an item that a DM needs to think twice on before allowing one in his game.
The last bit and perhaps most interesting new type of item are the Item Sets. These are groups of magical items that have a connected history and theme. The more items from a set a character has additional powers are revealed. I like item sets as anything that has a theme and history and is useful in an RPG is a positive in my book. They have items for each of the three tiers of play and group items. A group items is an item set that is meant for one item tio be warn by a different member of the party. That is a really cool idea and supports team play and party theme.
While there is a lot of good things about the book it has one negative. There really does not seem to be anything in it that will not be on DDI or in the character builder. I like having a book in front of me but I know the ease of getting the raw items on line included with everything else is going to keep some people away from purchasing this.
Adventurer’s Vault 2 is a nice collection of magical items. Over all I did not find it to be as good as Adventurer Vault 1 but it still will find use at my table. It is not a supplement that one needs to get immediately for one’s game but one that could be useful down the road.
