Iron_Chef said:
However, you can pick up all the Quint. PrCs and more in ULTIMATE PRESTIGE CLASSES; you can get all the Quint. feats and many more in ULTIMATE FEATS, and all the Quint. equipment and more in ULTIMATE EQUIPMENT GUIDE... all from Mongoose.
I like Ultimate Prestige Classes, despite the fact that I tend to dislike most of Mongoose's PrCs (partly because there are usually more 5-level classes, which I don't like). But even if I wouldn't myself create a character with most of these PrCs, they're good for NPCs, or character concepts, and out of the many classes in the book, there are a few gems, which is the most important thing.
I'm not even going to touch Ultimate Feats, though. From what I've read on these boards, there are at least a few unbalanced feats in there, which makes me question the utility of it. My feat list from other D20 sources is quite extensive enough, and despite its claims, the Ultimate books don't collect "the best" d20 stuff that's out there.
That said, you'd lose out on one of the better books by going this route. Quintessential Monk has some great stuff in it that most likely won't be covered by any of the Ultimate books. There are variant fighting styles, which basically means swapping out certain powers at certain levels for more appropriate ones. And there are some really interesting new uses for skills, that actually give Monks a reason to take ranks in Concentration, Knowledge: Arcana, and so on.
The Monk book is my favorite. Wizard, Samurai, and Elf are okay. I like the Fighting Styles in the Fighter book, with the adjustment made in the Elf book for styles (you need Wis 10 + level to master a style, so you can master any with a Wis 15, instead of a Wis 20 as originally required). I guess the Dwarf book is also fine, but I haven't looked at it much. I haven't seen any of the others.
) books?
Quint. Rogue, IMO, retains more of its usefulness than others, what with its guild construction chapter and all.
