Please sell me on S&S's "Player's Guide to.." series

[Wraith Form]

Why do I need Sword & Sorcery's Players Guide to Wizards, Bards and Sorcerers / Fighters and Barbarians / Clerics and Druids?

Are they NON-Scarred Lands specific?

Are they any better or worse than WotC's class books (Tome & Blood, Masters of the Wild, etc)?? Please explain if you feel they are.

Thanks--I see them on EBay occasionally and I wonder if I could use them.

 

[Phaedyme]

They are Scarred Lands-aligned, which means that they're aimed at use in the Scarred Lands. That said, they're not specific to the Scarred Lands. The general discussion on each class is applicable to just about any D&D setting, and the prestige classes are certainly portable. Some may not be as easy to port elsewhere as others, but it's more a matter of reliance upon mechanics in Scarred Lands materials (such as cabalism). That is, if you own the supplements with the mechanics, there should be no difficulty.

As far as better or worse? I think they're better. For one thing, Wizards, Bards and Sorcerers has three bardic prestige classes.

 

[MrFilthyIke]

As far as better or worse? I think they're better. For one thing, Wizards, Bards and Sorcerers has three bardic prestige classes.

Are they CRUNCH or FLAVOR heavy?

 

[Adlon]

As one who uses the SLCS, I can tell you that the campaign specific flavor is at a minimum, easily ported into other CS's.

As one who ran the FRCS for years, I can see where they would easily fit into that CS as well, and no doubt, they'd fit into others.

I'd fathom to guess that about 20 minutes TOPS would be needed to port these into your NON-SLCS game.

They are way better than the 'splat' books, in regards to quality and quantity of content.

If it's in your budget, grab one of them, you'll NOT hurt your collection by any means, and you can decide for yourself.

I personally recommend them most highly.

 

[Nightfall]

Thanks Ad and Pha for filling for me.

While I could say more I think they did a nice job. However if you do need more reasons here's a few:

Actual songs/stories/etc that can be ported over for your bards to use in any campaign setting (Well mostly. ) A list of non-magical tomes useful in spell research. Ideas for making sorcerous pacts, especially when you want your sorcerers to have a little more uhmph. (All that from Wizards, Bards and Sorcerers) Plus ways to make your spell books last longer and have a few neat little tricks too. I also like the ideas for increasing and decreasing book size along with arcane motifs. (Instead of spending Spell Thematic feat, you can just have a little touches to your spells and character.) Plus a list of new familiars that can be used in any campaign setting, as well as new musical instruments.

Ways to devise schools of fighting, along with designing your own merc companies. For Barbarians, idealogies, cultures and even just a few clans that can be used besides just typical "uncouthed" stuff.

The crunch factors are in there, but I feel unlike WotC's books, there's a lot more for players AND Dms to play around with.

 

[Nightfall]

Just figured it deserved a BUMP!

 

[Brother Shatterstone]

Just figured it deserved a BUMP!

Nightfall, how about filling me in on the Fighter/Barbarian book. (if you don’t have it consider this a free bump.)

 

[The Cardinal]

my favorite PrCs in the F/B book are the "white flame" guys (finally a PrC for a quarterstaff wielding fighter/wizard badass), and the Archer of the Steppe (horse riding barbarians with bows: a badly needed archetype for lots of fantasy campaigns) - as well as those other PrCs with the "signature weapon" feature (with tons more flavor than any plain-vanilla "weaponmaster" PrC)

 

[Wraith Form]

my favorite PrCs in the F/B book are the "white flame" guys (finally a PrC for a quarterstaff wielding fighter/wizard badass), and the Archer of the Steppe (horse riding barbarians with bows: a badly needed archetype for lots of fantasy campaigns) - as well as those other PrCs with the "signature weapon" feature (with tons more flavor than any plain-vanilla "weaponmaster" PrC)

Beautiful! Thanks for all the replies! A mounted archer is/was certainly needed--!

I'm glad I was able to find both the Wizards/Sorc/Bard *and* Fighter/Barb books on EBay for "cheep"!!!!!

(Admittedly it didn't take much to twist my arm into buying them. I hope my wife still loves me after all the dust settles....)

 

[Nightfall]

Nightfall, how about filling me in on the Fighter/Barbarian book. (if you don’t have it consider this a free bump.)

Well BS, while some of people here HAVE mentioned the Pr-classes, that for me is a SMALL factor into the book. What I like is how to design say Fighters and their feats/equipment etc, from various parts of Ghelspad and Termana. Similiarly the war colleges, their costs, feats and training is pretty sweet. But if you want CRUNCH, for the barbarians, Totem feats are pretty sweet. Sure they don't do much if you're uncharismatic, BUT take that and Initiate of the Spirts, you get some rather unique abilities for just barbarians. (Fighters don't need em. ) Cloth Dancing and Military Formation is pretty nice IF you running a large scale combat and have a couple fighters in the group. I think of my favorite with "signature" weapons, Nine Stings is a good choice, along with Chain Legionarre, and Master of the Iron Winds. (Though White fire one and Rage witch are pretty sweet.) (Oh yeah, Improvised Weaponry feat IS killer IMHO.)

Btw PG: Fighters/Barbarians has a great selection of new magical enchantments for armor and weapons, as well as some pretty neat ones like enchanting ranged weapons to do paralysis/flesh to stone effects. Plus they have nice collection of new exotic and martial weapons along with non-magical but special materials besides mirthril, adamantine and other 3.5 materials.