Arkhandus said:
I've been thinking of picking it up, but I haven't had a chance to look through the books and see how well they're done. Could anyone give me info on if it'd be a good buy or not? Do the books use the d20 rules well, or is it a shoddy job? Conversely, how close does it come to feeling like Norrath?
I own the three core Everquest books. Let me sum up the Everquest PHB for you:
Races: This book allows for the generation of heroes for Barbarians, Dark Elves, Dwarves, Erudites, Gnomes, Half Elves, Halflings, High Elves, Humans, Iksar, Ogres, Trolls, Vah Shir and Wood Elves. The description done on the races is fantastic. Descriptions inlude two new sections. One, called demeanor, describes how a typical memeber of a species usually behaves. The other, called Quests, describes how the typical member of the species sees it outlook on life and adventuring.
Classes: Completely new. If you want cross-compatability, look elsewhere. The classes have a base of 30 levels each. Also the spellcasting classes have mana, which is expended in order to cast their spells.
Skills: About the same as DnD 3.0. There are many new skills to reflect the flavor of the game, and is done quite well I might add.
Feats: Again, about the same as DnD 3.0. There are many new feats. Some are integrated into the character classes. The that don't have them integrated must meet some serious prereqs in order to qualify for them.
Alignments: A brand new take. There is Neutral, Discordant Neutral, Orderly Neutral, Neutral Good, Neutral Evil, Orderly Evil, Discordant Evil, Orderly Good and Discordant Good. Basically Discordant is the equivalent of Chaos and Orderly is the equivalent of Law. As you can directly see, Everquest is more neutral balanced, than any other d20 rpg.
Deities: Presented in the same format as the DnD Core Rulebook I.
Equipment: More than you can shake a stick at.
The other half of the book deals directly with spellcasting, the mechanics of such, spell descriptions, and mana.
Arkhandus said:
Will I have just as much fun playing my gnome enchanter in EQ d20 as in EQ itself? Is the material good for running a campaign in Norrath? Is there good info in the books on the various regions of Norrath, the cities, the cultures? What books are out so far, and how good are they, what's in 'em?
I can't tell you for sure, whether you will like the D20 rpg over the MMORPG. You can only decide for yourself after you've played both. You know what they say, if you want to go swimming,
you have to get both feet wet. The material is awesome and it just keeps coming! There are the three base books, but it doesn't stop there, Sword & Sorcery is coming out with more Everquest books by the month (I don't mean this literally, but figuratively.) Check out their product list for Everquest
here.
Arkhandus said:
Is there support for high-level play in the books, as in the MMORPG? Are the monsters well-done? The equipment? The magic system/spells?
Like I said before, all classes go to 30th level. That means it will take about 15 - 30 sessions of gameplay to get that far, depending on the power level of the group. The monsters are done quite well, and work great as far as cross-compatability. The equipment section of the Everquest PHB, is alittle more intensive than the DnD PHB, but its worth it to try and figure it out. The magic system is easy to understand once you've got the hang of it. Also, like I said before, about half of the Everquest PHB is spell descriptions.
I hope this helps!
