Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="JoeGKushner" data-source="post: 2114668" data-attributes="member: 1129">A solid update of an old favoriteArms & Armor 3.5 is an update of an old favorite of mine from Bastion Press. The book weighs in at 176 black and white pages and runs for $29.95. A fair price for the page size.Looking at it though immediately puts it in a bad light in comparission to the previous version. See, the previous version, while almost as expensive at 96 pages for $24.95, was full color with glossy paper. Looking through this book, the paper is on fairly light stock and non-glossy. Some people didn’t like the art from the previous edition and well, a lot of that art came through and in black and white, it looks considerably worse than it did previously.What’s stranger to me at least, is that some of the new art used to replace older illustrations, and is actually worse than the previous edition. For example, the golem armor on page 167 looks very out of place. This isn’t always true though. For example, the illustration of the Armor of Valor by James Byrd on page 119 is a solid piece. Other little things cropped up in my reading that I didn’t like. For example, advertising. I’m of the opinion that if it must be done that it should go to the back of the book and should not be in the book. This book breaks that rule twice but on the positive side, unlike some Scarred Lands books, doesn’t devote pages and pages to the ads.Another little bit that’s annoying is the wasted space with quotes for some of the items. I don’t need the padding to push the page count up.  It would be one thing if the quotes were small and off to the side, like a third column or something like GURPS sometimes uses, but their huge, taking up about a fourth of the page.Lastly, and this is a personal “Why did they do that.”, is their use of Legendary Weapons. See, the Game Mechanics has been doing weapons that grow in strength only if the user enters a PrC called a scion. As the user goes up in levels of that PrC, the weapon gains abilities.I have no problem with Bastion including this concept here as it’s a good idea. What I found odd thought is that they took the material from Unearthed Arcana and repeated the items from the book instead of making all new. Why does it strike me as odd? Well, if you’re going to repeat something, perhaps coming straight from the source is the best way to do it? If I’m a typical gamer and we’re talking ownership, chances are I’ve got Unearthed Arcana long before I have one of the Game Mechanics books. That means I’ve got the same material twice now with some title changes and as it’s not the original guys doing the material, it might not be what the Game Mechanics would’ve went with. It would’ve been better to get some original Legendary Items instead of copying almost word for word the items from Unearthed Arcana.Now that’s a lot of petty complaints and issues but they did impact my enjoyment of the book. Outside of that, the book makes a very strong case of providing almost any type of weapon or armor you’ll need for your 3.5 game.Looking for mundane weapons and armor? You’re covered. They’ve included material in a 3.5 version, so you get light, one-handed, two-handed and ranged weapons, broken up by simple, martial and exotic. They’ve included base weapons like daggers and handaxes and added numerous new items like elephant axes and double chained axes. Some of the weapons probably aren’t appropriate for play, like the Executioner’s sword, an exotic weapon that incurs a –4 penalty if used in combat in addition to it’s exotic penalty unless you’ve got a strength score of 14 or more. Out of place in most campaigns as only the rare magic items require a strength score stat and some other investment. Most fit right into the campaign though and can be used to add a touch of the exotic to almost any campaign.For weapon enhancements, we have num Why does it strike me as odd? Well, if you’re going to repeat something, perhaps coming straight from the source is the best way to do it? If I’m a typical gamer and we’re talking ownership, chances are I’ve got Unearthed Arcana long before I have one of the Game Mechanics books. That means I’ve got the same material twice now with some title changes and as it’s not the original guys doing the material, it might not be what the Game Mechanics would’ve went with. It would’ve been better to get some original Legendary Items instead of copying almost word for word the items from Unearthed Arcana.Now that’s a lot of petty complaints and issues but they did impact my enjoyment of the book. Outside of that, the book makes a very strong case of providing almost any type of weapon or armor you’ll need for your 3.5 game.Looking for mundane weapons and armor? You’re covered. They’ve included material in a 3.5 version, so you get light, one-handed, two-handed and ranged weapons, broken up by simple, martial and exotic. They’ve included base weapons like daggers and handaxes and added numerous new items like elephant axes and double chained axes. Some of the weapons probably aren’t appropriate for play, like the Executioner’s sword, an exotic weapon that incurs a –4 penalty if used in combat in addition to it’s exotic penalty unless you’ve got a strength score of 14 or more. Out of place in most campaigns as only the rare magic items require a strength score stat and some other investment. Most fit right into the campaign though and can be used to add a touch of the exotic to almost any campaign.Armors are split up by type, so we have light, medium and heavy, with cost, armor bonus, dex bonus, check penalty, spell failure, new movement and weight listed. Some of the new types of armor included the heaviest, double plate, to the old favorites like bone plate. Unlike the weapons, armors have several extras that can be added. Thing’s like armor spikes for bone armor or even a variant exoskeleton armor for steampunk campaigns.  For those who want it, rules for having armor act as DR are included as well as shield parry rules. For weapon enhancements, we have numerous additions like bane and returning, to acid burst and aquatic, where the wielder doesn’t suffer any attack or damage penalties for using the weapon in water.  Some of the weapons special abilities reference other Bastion books, like Blood-Linked, where it allows you to use half the damage you’ve dealt as a reservoir for the Blood Power feat from Spells and Magic.For armor qualities, we have things like arrow catching shields where arrows target the owner instead of other nearby targets or Deathwarding, where the user is immune to all death magic effects. Some of the more interesting items in the book, include the various class and race oriented bits. For example, we have things like Hammer of the Sun, a hammer perfect for those paladins who hate undead. See, it’s a +4 disrupting Warhammer that’s not only weightless, but sheds daylight as the spell and can cast the spell sunburst. That’s a good deal and perfect for a paladin from the city of Mitrhil from the Scarred Lands setting.Some of the weapons might bear watching. For example, even though the Unholy Despoiler only has it’s true powers in the hands of a blackguard, I’d never allow a player to have a +7 weapon, much less one that has other powers to it, so that weapon goes to the wayside or has to be reworked for my game.For races, the racial masks give standard and Bastion press races, something to strive for. Want to make your Asherake in Oathbound even more fierce? Give him an Asherake Mask, granting the creature a +6 bonus on it’s intimidation checks and the ability to cast fear twice a day.The book brings a lot of different materials together in one place. I think that the art could’ve used another upgrade and that the rules for legendary weapons could’ve used some original material or at least material from the original source and that other little things here and there ding the final overall appeal of the book for me, but it is a book that most GMs will get a lot of use out of either by using the new rules for binding creatures into items or adding that special cursed item to your least favored player.</blockquote>

Verification