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Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!
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Book of the Righteous, The
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<blockquote data-quote="MarauderX" data-source="post: 2076934" data-attributes="member: 9990"><p><strong><u>Summary</u></strong></p><p>This is the thickest book I have on my shelf. It is black and white, which leaves a tad to be desired for the internal attractiveness. I hope I can cover what I felt was not in some of the other reviews. </p><p>The consistancy of writing and depth of subject matter is worth the amount to bring into a campaign. The length of each backstory to the gods is a great bonus to have. Going beyond the motivations and history of each god, it explains the god with a more in-depth perspective that works for the more mature or sophisticated reader. </p><p>However, much is constrained by these in-depth backgrounds. Though the crunch leaves a little to desire, the mechanics of the elegant fluff makes it more than worthwhile to flesh out a new world.</p><p></p><p><u><strong>Versitility</strong></u></p><p>I found the plug-and-play aspect of the gods hard to accomplish. I would have liked a more open pantheon to rip and drop gods into a campaign as needed, but most of them couldn't stand on their own. The pantheon as read in the opening chapters is more of a replacement than an addition, as it includes creationist theory and is all inclusive of the beginnings of each god in the book. This makes it harder to 'tack-on' to any existing campaign setting with gods and their entwined relations already in place. There is one chapter at the end that has great advice for transplanting one or more gods across cosmologies, but doesn't mention how well rooted many of the gods in the book are to one another. Though much of the writing is done in a linear paragraph-by-paragraph fashion, there is often too much to ignore and still keep the detailed background. </p><p></p><p><u><strong>Gods</strong></u></p><p>This is where the ideas are. While the versitility of combining them with others may not be the smoothest, the quality and quantity of information behind each god is enough to inspire. As intertwined as they are, the gods are rich with motivation and desire toward future goals. The names of the gods are everywhere in the titles, as are the aspects they represent, making it easy for a non-linear reader to pick up where they left off. </p><p>An example is Anwyn, a God of the Womb from Chapter 6; her description at the beginning is The Goddess of Home, Hearth and Servants, The Hearths of Anwyn, the Homely, the Blessed, Goodlady, the Fire Keeper, the Plentiful, etc. The descriptors are up front, and following this is the myth behind the god, the secret history, associations, alignment, representations, purpose and servants. This is done in the same fashion for each god, and after the god's descriptors are the Church's description and Holy Orders, each in detail. </p><p>With the banishment of racial gods, the book tends to only highlight the various races in their aspect of adding to the human consensus. Again, it creates a slight void where racial favoritism has been ushered out. </p><p>As mentioned, having Asmodeus as a main evil deity is as though the writers wanted to keep that central core around the deity as was published in <em>Book of Vile Darkness</em> and other sources. Though this is nicely done within the <em>Book of the Righteous</em> itself, it makes Asmodeus more difficult to define if plucked from the book and mixed with another source. </p><p></p><p><u><strong>Holy Warrior & Prestige Classes</strong></u></p><p>The Holy Warrior is a new core class that is basically an alignment-expanded paladin. There are many options to the class that allow for customization, including domain-based abilities. Though this class could be used to replace the paladin class, the prestige class version, also provided in the book, works just as well for mechanics. </p><p></p><p>Though the Prestige Classes are unique, I don't see much player use for the niches they look to fill. Nonetheless, they are interesting for the motivations they bring into the bigger campaign picture as opposed to how effective they are in a fight. In general they are more one-trick ponies with special abilities that are not focused combat damage output. </p><p></p><p><u><strong>11 new Feats and the new Skill:Famous</strong></u></p><p>Some such as Famous (instant fame via a feat) would be nearly useless and other such as Ear of God (1% of getting essentially an unlimited wish spell) are a bit much. Devout, Attached Soul, Religious Scholar and Weapon Master are nice additions to round out details a player might want for a character. </p><p></p><p>Several others worth more mention:</p><p>Free Thinker allows a cleric to pray for spells at any time of day, but still adhering to the guidelines of how often. </p><p>Domain Specialization allows spontaneous casting of domain spells, essentially purging any need to choose between two domains in the first place. Combined with the number of new domains allows for a whole new set of combinations for a cleric. </p><p>The Heretic feat is worth more than a mention, as it allows access to worship gods with little concern for alignment restrictions. This aspect is an important factor in the book, as it allows corruption and those with misguided intentions within a religious heirarchy. The theme of corruption among good churches and misguided worship is a constant theme. </p><p>Profound Faith is useful for the Charisma-focused character to have access to higher level divine spells when advancing as a cleric. </p><p></p><p>The Famous skill is the only new skill or use of skill presented in the book. It seems to want to replace diplomacy but has no guidelines as to when boundries of NPC reactions may be crossed. A modified retry is allowed to sway NPCs, and the table of Famous DCs is nice and simple. </p><p></p><p><strong><u>9 new Domains</u></strong></p><p>This is pretty important for a book filled with a new pantheon with many new aspects. They stay true to their name, and pull only a limited number of spells from the druid and wizard's spell lists. Many of the domain spells are new spells found within the book, adding more spice to the domain's flavor. </p><p></p><p><strong><u>Items</u></strong></p><p>The items presented are derivitives of the gods contained within the book. Again, this is great consistency, and the abilities of the items are perfect for the gods they are associated with. If nothing else is easy to pluck and use out of the book, the items are.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="MarauderX, post: 2076934, member: 9990"] [B][U]Summary[/U][/B] This is the thickest book I have on my shelf. It is black and white, which leaves a tad to be desired for the internal attractiveness. I hope I can cover what I felt was not in some of the other reviews. The consistancy of writing and depth of subject matter is worth the amount to bring into a campaign. The length of each backstory to the gods is a great bonus to have. Going beyond the motivations and history of each god, it explains the god with a more in-depth perspective that works for the more mature or sophisticated reader. However, much is constrained by these in-depth backgrounds. Though the crunch leaves a little to desire, the mechanics of the elegant fluff makes it more than worthwhile to flesh out a new world. [U][B]Versitility[/B][/U] I found the plug-and-play aspect of the gods hard to accomplish. I would have liked a more open pantheon to rip and drop gods into a campaign as needed, but most of them couldn't stand on their own. The pantheon as read in the opening chapters is more of a replacement than an addition, as it includes creationist theory and is all inclusive of the beginnings of each god in the book. This makes it harder to 'tack-on' to any existing campaign setting with gods and their entwined relations already in place. There is one chapter at the end that has great advice for transplanting one or more gods across cosmologies, but doesn't mention how well rooted many of the gods in the book are to one another. Though much of the writing is done in a linear paragraph-by-paragraph fashion, there is often too much to ignore and still keep the detailed background. [U][B]Gods[/B][/U] This is where the ideas are. While the versitility of combining them with others may not be the smoothest, the quality and quantity of information behind each god is enough to inspire. As intertwined as they are, the gods are rich with motivation and desire toward future goals. The names of the gods are everywhere in the titles, as are the aspects they represent, making it easy for a non-linear reader to pick up where they left off. An example is Anwyn, a God of the Womb from Chapter 6; her description at the beginning is The Goddess of Home, Hearth and Servants, The Hearths of Anwyn, the Homely, the Blessed, Goodlady, the Fire Keeper, the Plentiful, etc. The descriptors are up front, and following this is the myth behind the god, the secret history, associations, alignment, representations, purpose and servants. This is done in the same fashion for each god, and after the god's descriptors are the Church's description and Holy Orders, each in detail. With the banishment of racial gods, the book tends to only highlight the various races in their aspect of adding to the human consensus. Again, it creates a slight void where racial favoritism has been ushered out. As mentioned, having Asmodeus as a main evil deity is as though the writers wanted to keep that central core around the deity as was published in [I]Book of Vile Darkness[/I] and other sources. Though this is nicely done within the [I]Book of the Righteous[/I] itself, it makes Asmodeus more difficult to define if plucked from the book and mixed with another source. [U][B]Holy Warrior & Prestige Classes[/B][/U] The Holy Warrior is a new core class that is basically an alignment-expanded paladin. There are many options to the class that allow for customization, including domain-based abilities. Though this class could be used to replace the paladin class, the prestige class version, also provided in the book, works just as well for mechanics. Though the Prestige Classes are unique, I don't see much player use for the niches they look to fill. Nonetheless, they are interesting for the motivations they bring into the bigger campaign picture as opposed to how effective they are in a fight. In general they are more one-trick ponies with special abilities that are not focused combat damage output. [U][B]11 new Feats and the new Skill:Famous[/B][/U] Some such as Famous (instant fame via a feat) would be nearly useless and other such as Ear of God (1% of getting essentially an unlimited wish spell) are a bit much. Devout, Attached Soul, Religious Scholar and Weapon Master are nice additions to round out details a player might want for a character. Several others worth more mention: Free Thinker allows a cleric to pray for spells at any time of day, but still adhering to the guidelines of how often. Domain Specialization allows spontaneous casting of domain spells, essentially purging any need to choose between two domains in the first place. Combined with the number of new domains allows for a whole new set of combinations for a cleric. The Heretic feat is worth more than a mention, as it allows access to worship gods with little concern for alignment restrictions. This aspect is an important factor in the book, as it allows corruption and those with misguided intentions within a religious heirarchy. The theme of corruption among good churches and misguided worship is a constant theme. Profound Faith is useful for the Charisma-focused character to have access to higher level divine spells when advancing as a cleric. The Famous skill is the only new skill or use of skill presented in the book. It seems to want to replace diplomacy but has no guidelines as to when boundries of NPC reactions may be crossed. A modified retry is allowed to sway NPCs, and the table of Famous DCs is nice and simple. [B][U]9 new Domains[/U][/B] This is pretty important for a book filled with a new pantheon with many new aspects. They stay true to their name, and pull only a limited number of spells from the druid and wizard's spell lists. Many of the domain spells are new spells found within the book, adding more spice to the domain's flavor. [B][U]Items[/U][/B] The items presented are derivitives of the gods contained within the book. Again, this is great consistency, and the abilities of the items are perfect for the gods they are associated with. If nothing else is easy to pluck and use out of the book, the items are. [/QUOTE]
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