Andy Collins speaks - Spell Compendium

[Andre]

Spells, like feats, are something that most D&D books have a few of. As a result, there are many, many sources for them. A compilation of these scattered spells into one book reduces the number of reference books I actually need to travel with.

Which is exactly why I wish WOTC would put out a Feat Compendium. Having one extra book for all (most) of the non-PH WOTC feats would be a huge timesaver - for me, at least. No searching through several books for the one feat I need.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Which is exactly why I wish WOTC would put out a Feat Compendium. Having one extra book for all (most) of the non-PH WOTC feats would be a huge timesaver - for me, at least. No searching through several books for the one feat I need.

Definitely. In fact, I think a Feat Compendium would be MORE useful than this Spell Compendium.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Andy said "a wide range"...I think that constitutes more than three books.

Sure. I assume they'll have the half dozen or so spells from each of the race books, too.

But still, the point remains: These are brand new books that just came out, not out of print or hard to find materials. People buying a book at one end of 2005 are also the same people, much of the time, buying a book at the other end of 2005. A large percentage of the book -- and we can quibble on percentages, since we don't know, and because every customer will be different -- seems likely to be material the people already have in brand new books.

In contrast, "Eldritch Sorcery" is reprinting spells 5, 10, 20, 25 years old. Many readers will never have seen the original books, much less have converted them forward from Carter Administration era D&D and AD&D to 3.5.

books like Ghostwalk, Savage Species and others have plenty of non-3.5 versions to offer. I wouldn't buy a book like the many Realms books...I don't use that setting and have little interest...but if Silver Coast has a bunch of new spells, then that's great.

Most of those don't. Three spells from here, four from there. (And once you take out the Ghostwalk-specific ghost type spells from "Ghostwalk," we're left with a VERY small amount of portable spells.) It just doesn't seem likely that most of the spells will be from these smaller assortments. Given the size of the book, it's going to HAVE to draw on "Complete Arcane" and "Complete Divine" in large part, which the people who are most interested in spells have gotten, since they're only a year or so old.

I'm not saying it's a fantastic value, but I disagree that it's totally without worth.

I'm sure it's of worth to a few people. I just think it'd be worth a lot more if it came out two years from now, when the big books of spells were further in the past and more books with a few spells had come out.

I hope it's not mostly CA/CD spells. If it turns out not to be, I'm a pretty good candidate to pick it up. But I seriously doubt it can be anything else.

 

[MerricB]

But it's not new. People who want new spells probably have "Complete Arcane" and are likely to have "Complete Divine" and "Magic of Faerun." How many new-to-them spells will be in this book, then? A dozen? At most?

Unless spells from "Dragon" magazine make up a much larger percentage of this book than has been officially suggested, this is a book that's either a total waste of time or simply several years too early. "Tome of Magic" this ain't.

You make a good point here; however, it's one that might only apply to a small portion of the possible audience.

I don't have any of the Forgotten Realms books save the 3e FRCS, so any spell from a FR source is going to be new (or updated to 3.5e).

There are also spells from minor sources (Deities & Demigods, Miniatures Handbook) and out of print sources (Sword & Fist, etc.) that can be reprinted.

The more completist you are, the less useful this book is going to be to you.

However, don't underestimate how many people are not completist!

Cheers!

 

[green slime]

Definitely. In fact, I think a Feat Compendium would be MORE useful than this Spell Compendium.

So do I. Which is why I have my own Feat Compendium. My own Spell Compendium tends to fall by the wayside though, as entering all that data gets tedious.... Still, it is resonably up to date.

 

[green slime]

nevertheless, I'll be getting WotC's Spell Compendium....

 

[Echohawk]

Perhaps a look at the actual numbers of spells in each source might be useful?

These figures are based on the fantastic index over at http://www.juicymango.co.uk/dndindex. I've included only those books published by WoTC, plus Dragon and Dungeon Magazine. There are, of course, plenty of duplicates between the sources, as many spells have been revised in later books, but I think the numbers are still interesting.

Players Handbook (3.5): 644 spells
Dragon Magazine (3.x): 332 spells
Magic of Faerûn (3.0): 237 spells
Complete Arcane (3.5): 165 spells
Complete Divine (3.5): 142 spells
Book of Vile Darkness (3.0): 141 spells
Oriental Adventures (3.0): 130 spells
Book of Exalted Deeds (3.5): 125 spells
Frostburn (3.5): 112 spells
Players Guide to Faerûn (3.5): 97 spells
Miniatures Handbook (3.5): 87 spells
Planar Handbook (3.5): 78 spells
Sandstorm (3.5): 72 spells
Complete Adventurer (3.5): 70 spells
Masters of the Wild (3.0): 67 spells
Tome and Blood (3.0): 65 spells
Draconomicon (3.5): 64 spells
Savage Species (3.0): 62 spells
Eberron Campaign Setting (3.5): 60 spells
Libris Mortis: The Book of Undead (3.5): 60 spells
Defenders of the Faith (3.0): 54 spells
Underdark (3.5): 52 spells
Epic Level Handbook (3.0): 48 spells
Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (3.0): 40 spells
Races of Eberron (3.5): 38 spells
Shining South (3.5): 35 spells
Manual of the Planes (3.0): 31 spells
Races of Destiny (3.5): 28 spells
Dragonlance Campaign Setting (3.5): 26 spells
Lost Empires of Faerûn (3.5): 24 spells
Unapproachable East (3.5): 23 spells
Lords of Madness (3.5): 22 spells
Lords of Darkness (3.0): 17 spells
Races of Faerûn (3.5): 14 spells
Serpent Kingdoms (3.5): 14 spells
Deities and Demigods (3.0): 13 spells
Dungeon Magazine (3.x): 13 spells
Complete Warrior (3.5): 9 spells
Races of the Wild (3.5): 9 spells
Expanded Psionics Handbook (3.5): 8 spells
Races of Stone (3.5): 8 spells
Into the Dragon's Lair (3.0): 6 spells
Return To The Temple Of Elemental Evil (3.0): 5 spells
Lord of the Iron Fortress (3.0): 3 spells
Monsters of Faerûn (3.0): 3 spells
Sharn: City of Towers (3.5): 3 spells
Stronghold Builders Guide (3.0): 3 spells
Faiths and Pantheons (3.0): 2 spells
Shadows of the Last War (3.5): 1 spell
The Standing Stone (3.0): 1 spell

 

[mhacdebhandia]

I imagine that this will be popular with players as opposed to DMs.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Definitely. In fact, I think a Feat Compendium would be MORE useful than this Spell Compendium.

At the Tuesdaay game I was in, we were just discussing this. a lot of the utility would depend on a few things.

1. Organization. Regional feats from the various settings (Rogukan, Grey Hawk, Forgotten Realms)

2. Updating and modifying. There shouldn't be a feat that gives you a +1 bonus once a day when you call on a deity and another feat that just gives you a +1 bonus. Things like that need to be stramlinned.

3. Common Sense: Too many GMs take requirements and other bits too seriously. If Feat from book X wasn't out when PrC Y was written, but it fills the type of void, like some of the PrCs in the Book of Exalted Deeds, then the GM should be able to acknolwedge that it's the same type of feat.

4. An appendix with chains preselected.