an attempt to discuss the actual *content* of the BoEF

[Hand of Evil]

Posted enough there TB.

 

[Christian]

I think any post with a picture of that booth babe is entitled to a half-dozen multiposts.

 

[Teflon Billy]

maybe the mods could tidy my mulit-muti-multi posts up? The boards are way too slow for me to do it myself at the moment.

 

[Thanee]

I have seen the preview flyer and the part I liked the best was the section about alignments - good examples of how the different alignments see relationships and sexuality. The feats looked more silly than anything else, especially the one, that grants huge bonuses to stats for having sex for a certain amount of time.

But, it's just the preview. I suppose, that the information part of the book will be pretty good mostly, while the rules part will be rather bad, from what I've seen.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Wombat]

Okay, I have only seen what has been reproduced in the pre-reviews.

And I, too, can only say, "Why?"

Sex, courtship, family matters and the like are roleplaying issues that need very little in the way of mechanics, in fact the fewer the better. I would not want to add rules of any kind to these endeavours.

So we have some rules, some flavour text, some illustrations, none of which would be of any real use to me, any more so than The Book of Vile Darkness or its Good equivalent.

These are pure roleplay matters, not rules matters. I can concieve of absolutely no use for the book in my games.

For those of you who want it, I hope it fulfills all your expectations!

 

[MeepoTheMighty]

As I said, what I have SEEN of the book suggests thing that only a teen would giggle over. It could have material that is mature, but none that I have SEEN.

The thread asked to evaluate the book based on the content that has been released. I gave my opinion of that content.

I certainly would not allow my players to play a Dominant and Submissive PrC etc. However, I would allow the Companion PrC from Traps and Treachery.

One is tasteful and the other is not.

Enough said.

Plot & Poison from Green Ronin had Dominant and Submissive PrC's a year ago, and nobody raised a fuss.

 

[Henry]

I can't believe I'm saying it, but...


Ladies and Gentlemen, one moderator has already spoken on this - I'm the second.

This thread is about CONTENT only, please. There have been (and will continue to be) other threads about impressions, etc. of the topic. This one is about content only, and because of the preview release, and ArthurQ's promise to comment on further material if he can do so, there is plenty to discuss in this thread besides opinion on the subject focus.

With that, I also want to thank those who have posted on content for keeping it within grandma-specific guidelines.

 

[fusangite]

Ghostwind says,

The section on alignments supplements the existing rules in that it shows how each alignment approaches relationships (and not sex) in general. While not every alignment has an example, the ones that do are well written and succeed in making you understand the thinking behind that alignment.

I see real problems here. Being lawful, neutral or chaotic indicates the relationship of a character to the standards of their society, not their relationship to some set of absolute universal standards. One's attitudes to polygamy, concubinage, fornication and adultery are going to be determined primarily by the social and religious values of your culture; all alignment determines is how flexibly such values are treated.

There is a very brief section on new uses for existing skills, four new feats and a variant rule adding Appearance as a seventh ability score (reminiscient of the 2nd ed. Comeliness).

Is this ability independent of Charisma or is there a synergy between the attributes? I would have great difficulty if the two were independent variables.

The deities may not be everyone's cup of tea but are interesting...

Again, I can barely understand why anyone would purchase something with ready-made deities. Making deities is my #1 source of fun as a DM.

Magic and Spells gives us three new domains that fit with the overall theme of the book and several new spells. Most of the spells in the preview are sex-driven but have interesting effects.

I guess another reason I don't support this book is the fact that, from what is stated here, it appears that characters can be more powerful if they do something in a sexual way that is normally done in a non-sexual way (e.g. Kiss of Life).

The idea of reverse gender as a spell available to first level clerics is a mind-boggling. The idea of a contraception spell is just silly -- who, in the normal course of game play, would use up a spell slot for that? The only times one might want such a spell are when one is not adventuring and whatever the character does in his or her regular life is going on, off screen, so to speak.

Anyway, thanks Ghostwind for giving us a precis of the book. Certainly, your summary did nothing to make me revisit my belief that the book should not be published and that WOTC should modify its license to prevent similar publications in future.

 

[Teflon Billy]

...I guess another reason I don't support this book is the fact that, from what is stated here, it appears that characters can be more powerful if they do something in a sexual way that is normally done in a non-sexual way...

This is pretty much the foundation of Tantric Magic isn't it? (and it might not be, the beginning, middle and end of my knowledge of Tantrism is from Fortunato in the Wild Cards books)

 

[Green Knight]

Is this ability independent of Charisma or is there a synergy between the attributes? I would have great difficulty if the two were independent variables.

I disagree. I think it very much mirrors reality. For instance, back in my school days I knew a girl who was incredibly attractive. She was utter perfection from head to toe. She looked fantastic.

And then she opened her mouth.

Holy CRAP! The word "shrew" doesn't even BEGIN to describe her! She made the shrew from Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew" look like a kind and gentle woman. What a vindictive, spiteful individual. She was mean to EVERYBODY. Even her boyfriends got a lot of crap shovelled their way. I don't know how any of them could stand to be around her without having their manhoods shrivelling up into a ball of nothingness. I know mine beat a hasty retreat every time I heard her shrill voice.

So in D&D terms, while her appearance stat would be something like 18, her Charisma would be somewhere around the area of 6.