dungeondweller
First Post
This weapons accessory adds a large amount of detail to the "Weapons" category of the Artifacts book. It also includes some additional sample items.
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Tome of the Ancients - Accessory 1a: Weapons
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Messageboard Golem
First Post
If you create magic weapons, you should get this book.
The page count is a little low for my standard "10 pages per $1" guideline for PDF's, but with this product it doesn't matter. When they say they give you 35 new magic properties, they're being completely honest; That doesn't count the dynamic properties such as "Enchantment" where a missile weapon enchants it ammunition at one of three levels.
I'm not particularly keen on the new weapons they added, but that's only because I feel that 3rd Edition D&D already provides all the weapons you'll need. I could see where a lot of gamers would like to add weapons to their characters (or NPC's) like the dragon claw, scorpion tail, or artificial claws and fangs... But these things won't be of particular use to me personally.
I like the Grand Masterwork designation the book introduces. It's basically a level above Masterwork for those ultra-special items the DM wants to draw attention to. They're expensive and, from a meta-gaming perspective, aren't worth the price to manufacture, but the rule adds an aspect to the game that I didn't realize was missing until now.
The random weapon generation charts are high on my coolness scale too. Instead of three levels of "significance" like the DMG offers, this book is based on five levels of significance: Trivial, Minor, Moderate, Major, and Monumental. I like this layer of detail. It allows me more freedom and versatility. Not to mention the detail of the charts. They left out some of the exotic weapons, but mostly just the racial ones. The Orc double axe does appear, though.
Overall, the level of detail and usability in this book makes it worth more than I paid. If I'd paid $5, it would receive 4/5 stars, because that's approximately what it's worth. But given the killer price, it gets 5/5 from me.
The page count is a little low for my standard "10 pages per $1" guideline for PDF's, but with this product it doesn't matter. When they say they give you 35 new magic properties, they're being completely honest; That doesn't count the dynamic properties such as "Enchantment" where a missile weapon enchants it ammunition at one of three levels.
I'm not particularly keen on the new weapons they added, but that's only because I feel that 3rd Edition D&D already provides all the weapons you'll need. I could see where a lot of gamers would like to add weapons to their characters (or NPC's) like the dragon claw, scorpion tail, or artificial claws and fangs... But these things won't be of particular use to me personally.
I like the Grand Masterwork designation the book introduces. It's basically a level above Masterwork for those ultra-special items the DM wants to draw attention to. They're expensive and, from a meta-gaming perspective, aren't worth the price to manufacture, but the rule adds an aspect to the game that I didn't realize was missing until now.
The random weapon generation charts are high on my coolness scale too. Instead of three levels of "significance" like the DMG offers, this book is based on five levels of significance: Trivial, Minor, Moderate, Major, and Monumental. I like this layer of detail. It allows me more freedom and versatility. Not to mention the detail of the charts. They left out some of the exotic weapons, but mostly just the racial ones. The Orc double axe does appear, though.
Overall, the level of detail and usability in this book makes it worth more than I paid. If I'd paid $5, it would receive 4/5 stars, because that's approximately what it's worth. But given the killer price, it gets 5/5 from me.
Crothian
First Post
TotA: Accessory 1a Weapons
Weapons are the backbone of many campaigns. All characters have them no matter if it’s just a run of the mill blade they picked off a goblin of the family sword passed down from father to son for twenty generations. Tome of the Ancients: Accessory 1a Weapons is a long title but a book filled with new magical properties for weapons as well as some new specific weapons. This is a book for 3.0 and not the revised. There are a few items in here that will do fine in a revised game, but others that do not.
Weapons, as I will refer to it from here on out, is a pdf by Dungeon Dwellers. It is written by John C Walborn and Theodore Zion. The pdf is twenty five pages in length and one gets it in a zip file a bit under two megs in size. The pdf when unzipped is a bit larger but still under two megs. The pdf is only three dollars and that is cheap.
The layout is nicely done. It is an easy product to read from the computer screen and when printed. There is a green border around all the pages that can eat up ink when printed though. The art is light but done well. I would have liked to seen more of the weapons depicted but it is not a necessity. The pdf also contains no bookmarks, but the items are not to difficult to find as the pdf is not very big.
The book starts with grand masterwork items. These are items superior to masterwork and very expensive to make. They are a bit better then masterwork items, but more expensive then even the cheapest magical weapons. They are difficult to make but are required for some of the best enchantments. I really like the idea of powerful enchantments need a better quality weapon. It makes a nice balance for some of the upper end magical enhancements.
There are some new tables for random weapons. The tables are a fine alternative to the ones in the Dungeon Master’s Guide. However as they serve the same purpose and neither is much better then the other it seems like they are not really needed. There are a few new weapons presented here like a bone club and claymore. For the most part the weapons make a good addition and there is nothing here unbalancing. At the same time there is nothing here that I found particular interesting. There are some odd items like a Scorpion’s Tail and bladed staff.
Next the book goes into new magical properties. There are some table for randomly determine the items. The tables are okay and done in a different way then the DMG. There is nothing wrong with the new approach to the tables but I really do not see a need for a change. The magical properties though are the real meat of the product. There are properties like Readiness that basically give the quick draw feat and Deadly Strike that increase the critical multiplier of a weapon. Those are pretty basic and simple to use. There are others that are a bit more complicated. There is one called Enchantment for bows and crossbows that gives a bonus to the missile it fires. Then there is Favored of the God which allows a weapon to get up to a +6 bonus instead of just a +5. Overall the properties are well defined and easy to follow.
Lastly the book has some sample weapons using the properties in the book. The weapons are well described and not just a list of powers. Each has a bit of a history with it as well good physical description.
This Tome of the Ancients is a good addition for anyone looking for a few new types of magical properties to add to their weapons in their campaign.
Weapons are the backbone of many campaigns. All characters have them no matter if it’s just a run of the mill blade they picked off a goblin of the family sword passed down from father to son for twenty generations. Tome of the Ancients: Accessory 1a Weapons is a long title but a book filled with new magical properties for weapons as well as some new specific weapons. This is a book for 3.0 and not the revised. There are a few items in here that will do fine in a revised game, but others that do not.
Weapons, as I will refer to it from here on out, is a pdf by Dungeon Dwellers. It is written by John C Walborn and Theodore Zion. The pdf is twenty five pages in length and one gets it in a zip file a bit under two megs in size. The pdf when unzipped is a bit larger but still under two megs. The pdf is only three dollars and that is cheap.
The layout is nicely done. It is an easy product to read from the computer screen and when printed. There is a green border around all the pages that can eat up ink when printed though. The art is light but done well. I would have liked to seen more of the weapons depicted but it is not a necessity. The pdf also contains no bookmarks, but the items are not to difficult to find as the pdf is not very big.
The book starts with grand masterwork items. These are items superior to masterwork and very expensive to make. They are a bit better then masterwork items, but more expensive then even the cheapest magical weapons. They are difficult to make but are required for some of the best enchantments. I really like the idea of powerful enchantments need a better quality weapon. It makes a nice balance for some of the upper end magical enhancements.
There are some new tables for random weapons. The tables are a fine alternative to the ones in the Dungeon Master’s Guide. However as they serve the same purpose and neither is much better then the other it seems like they are not really needed. There are a few new weapons presented here like a bone club and claymore. For the most part the weapons make a good addition and there is nothing here unbalancing. At the same time there is nothing here that I found particular interesting. There are some odd items like a Scorpion’s Tail and bladed staff.
Next the book goes into new magical properties. There are some table for randomly determine the items. The tables are okay and done in a different way then the DMG. There is nothing wrong with the new approach to the tables but I really do not see a need for a change. The magical properties though are the real meat of the product. There are properties like Readiness that basically give the quick draw feat and Deadly Strike that increase the critical multiplier of a weapon. Those are pretty basic and simple to use. There are others that are a bit more complicated. There is one called Enchantment for bows and crossbows that gives a bonus to the missile it fires. Then there is Favored of the God which allows a weapon to get up to a +6 bonus instead of just a +5. Overall the properties are well defined and easy to follow.
Lastly the book has some sample weapons using the properties in the book. The weapons are well described and not just a list of powers. Each has a bit of a history with it as well good physical description.
This Tome of the Ancients is a good addition for anyone looking for a few new types of magical properties to add to their weapons in their campaign.
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