BoVD: Your opinions

[I'm A Banana]

Yeah, if there was butt around, the BoVD kicked it, for me.

Because I *like* my villains to be evil enough that they'll drain the lives from children to power their spells.

And the BoED hit me well too, because I *like* my heroes to be agents of divine goodness.

The BoVD is a DM's book, not a player's book. Because it's the DM's who have villains, wether the PC's are evil or not (heck, even Evil PC's can be struggling against Evil!). The BoED is, in contrast, mostly a player's book. Because it's the players who fight evil and are examples of virtue.

 

[Calico_Jack73]

Best... Book... Ever...

Okay, I really loved this book more because there is so much inspiration in it's pages. All I've got to do to get an idea for a really great BBEG is to flip through the pages a couple times until something catches my eye. In my opinion the balance of crunch to fluff is absolutely perfect in this book. It is the first 3.XE book to hit that balance.

 

[Tharen the Damned]

BoVD

As the DM I love the Book.

My Players have an arch enemy they chase since 1st level (now they are almost 7th).
He is a half-fiend Sorcerer (BoEM II style) who has malignant and greater malignant spell focus and uses lots of the nasty BoVD Spells (Drown against the party sorcerer, wither limb against the archer and curse of the putrid husk against the fighter).
He is my Precious even if my Players hate him with a passion.

 

[LoneWolf23]

Write me down as another one who loves this book. Some might argue that it's "In Bad Taste" or "Goes too far", but darnit, these are villains we're talking about. These are the guys who do those horrible, horrible things that shock and disgust us decent folk.

BoVD takes this feeling of disgust whenever we hear on the news about things like the Ethnic Cleansing back in Bosnia during the 90s, reports about the activities of captured serial rapists, and even the uncovered evidence of the brutalities of Saddam Hussein's regime, then applies it to the concept of a Fantasy Campaign world, pulling no punches in the process.

Nero once had christians put on stakes and set on fire to light a nighttime party he was hosting. Vlad the Impaler built a forest of impaled victims around his own castle to terrify the populace and his enemies. The Countess of Bathory had innocent virgins killed to bathe in their blood and preserve her beauty. And the Nazis organized the merciless slaughter of thousands upon thousands of innocent jews in deathcamps, then went home to kiss their loving families, convinced they weren't doing anything "wrong".

The Real World is full of things that make the Book of Vile Deeds' content tame in comparison. And that's what I use for inspiration in designing "Evil" content for my own campaign, in addition to the myriad possibilities of "Inhuman Supernatural Evil"

 

[Buttercup]

I bought it, but I haven't found a reason to use it yet. Somehow, I haven't yet needed or wanted to give my villains that extra umph. In my previous campaign I had an idea to use it for a particular NPC much later on in the campaign, but one player moved away and two more (married couple) couldn't play very often, so the group disbanded. Now I'm running Freeport, and I'm perfectly happy with snake people and pirates. I imagine that I'll use BoVD one day, but I don't know when. For me it was a marginal purchase.

 

[Mercule]

I do a fair amount of gray villains in my game, so I also try to use a lot of "unconditionally evil" villains (undead, fiends, and diabolists) to break things up. The BoVD adds a few extra crunchy bits to make the fiends and their minions feel more "right". Some of the rules (I'm thinking drugs and addictions) can add an 'edge' to certain gray areas, too -- or a challenge to the PCs that is neither foe nor trap ("Hmm... is the risk of addiction worth a couple points of strength for this battle?"). The spells add an extra level of mystery, too, since my players don't look through the book.

Finally, since my setting has existed since I was about 10 (so a bit over 20 years), it has a bit of adolescent and first edition baggage. Among those is the idea that greater fiends (specifically Demogorgon) might show up on the prime material to wage a bit of suffering -- especially if people carelessly speak their name. That makes the stats for these guys nice -- even if I don't use it as much as I used to.

 

[Will]

I like the stuff on possession... it's given me a lot of ideas for my campaign.

Stats on fiends... enh.

Some of the feats are interesting, but what really grabbed me was possession.

(Ba DUM dum)

 

[derelictjay]

BoVD, yep, I liked it. Though haven't gotten to use it, because, shortly after getting it, my gamers group broke up. But the ideas in the book gave me some nice baddies that I was intending to through at the group.

And yeah, It's a DM's book (I keep it on the section of my bookshelf reserved for DMs)

 

[DragonLancer]

Its an ok book IMO, although I think it could have been a lot better. As it is, its not something I use all that often and its off limits to the players (I don't allow evil characters in my games).

The whole vile thing, and the complaints about it, are really unfounded. Theres nothing in there that any of us couldn't have thought of ourselves, and I didn't find any of it disgusting or repulsive.

The one thing I didn't like with the books were the spells. They were either too good even with their requirements (the aforementioned 150 mile damage spell that eats an artifact) or just plain weird.

The BoVD and its counterpart, are two books that I'm glad I bought but neither get all that use.

 

[Estlor]

The BoVD is a mixed bag. If your campaign skews toward the higher end of fantasy where evil is just as large and earth-changing as good, it can really give them some added oomph to push them over the top. It's of less use for lower fantasy games, but you could probably salvage a few things to darken the tone of the game.

I really like the possession and drug use rules as they give legs to certain kinds of campaigns. Vile damage is also a neat addition as it can confound players that are prepared against negative energy and profane sources. The feats could really mess with PCs if used properly, and the spells (while a bit over the top) often work well to keep the BBEG a bit ahead of the curve.

Of course, it's not for everyone and every style of campaign. Not everything in there will find use. YMMV when it comes to it.