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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JoeGKushner" data-source="post: 2010598" data-attributes="member: 1129">Character Customization allows the players and GMs to play with the rules that build up the classes. Not quite a GURPS or Hero point system, the book allows certain features to be swapped out in exchange for others. The book is broken up into six parts with three appendices; Core Classes, Skills, Feats, Prestige Classes, Monster Classes, Templates, Author's Notes, Tables, and Licensing Information. This break down is a good thing as it allows the reader to use this book in the way it's written, as a reference document.Part one, Core Classes, goes over each of the Player's Handbook classes and tries to pick them apart. It doesn't use a point based system, but a path based system. For example, the barbarian, one of the classes with the most skills and abilities, gets mobility, rage, and rugged. You can however, look at templates to change abilities, as well as other tracks. In this case, we've got material like Tropical Track, where you get Disable Device, Disease Resistance, Trap Affinity and other abilities.The challenge comes into play when the class doesn't have such broad tracks to handle like the bard. The bard can lessen his number of spells and this allows him to take a track from another class. Bards can either go limited spells or spell less for example for one or two tracks from another class. The most useful factor of these classes is the work already done for you via the sample variants. The Order of the Hearth for instance, is a sample paladin variant with less hit dice and a lower base attack bonus, but more abilities like clerical domains.While Everquest doesn't come up too much in conversation about d20 games, one of the things they did was provide the characters with Training Points. These points could be used to buy abilities, ranks or extra feats. What Joe does with the Skills isn't quite the same, but similar. He allows skill points to be spent on things outside of skills.For example, for four skill points, you can buy Iron Skin which increases a barbarians damage reduction by 1/-. Want something like better AC for your Monk? For the low cost of 10 skill points, you've got a Great AC Bonus equal to your Wisdom and Class Base plus 1.Outside of this intriguing idea which will require a lot of paperwork on the players and GMs part, the skills are broken down with many notes, sub-abilities and information on what DC's are needed for various tasks. For example, if you have 5 or more ranks in a craft skill and are trying to appraise an item you can make, you get the synergy bonus. In addition, there are several Skill based feats to augment your characters abilities. Expert Rider allows you to ride any type of creature without the -2 to -5 penalty while Quick Feint allows you to make a Feint as a move equivalent action with a penalty.Those looking for more detail when multiple skills are needed will enjoy reading through how Joe handles Haggle using Bluff, Diplomacy and Sense Motive or Shadowing using Hide and Move Silently. It provides good ideas to insure that you can use a wide mix of skills to get the job done.Part Three goes into Feats. There are Feat Templates, Creature Turning and Spell-like Ability, that allow you to customize what they do. For example, the former allows you to specify what type of creature you turn while the spell like ability gives you a spell level, minimum character level, and columns on additional uses per day. More specific feats are broken down into different areas of effectiveness. Combat Action Feats includes broad categories like Activating Magic Items or Attack with specifics like Improved Activate Magic Item and Improved Expertise under them. Part of the problem is that there are so many feats on the market now, it's hard to see true originality. Improved Expertise for example, has seen print in other forms while Blow Through, a cleave attack with a ranged weapon, has also seen use in several forms.Now to me, game balance has always been a gremlin of the mind. It's something that'll be different for almost every player and GM. Having said that, I wonder how balanced all of the material is here. For example, Rapid Strike is Flurry of Blows but works with a weapon. I can completely understand the logic behind it as Rapid Shot basically does the same thing for missile weapons but for the most part, Rapid Shot is restricted in damage and you don't have to worry about someone using a greatsword doing damage that a monk won't be able to get up to for many levels.Now for those who feel that the original DMG does a poor job of explaining how Prestige Classes are put together, Part Four has come to your rescue. It provides a list of different factors to help you balance things out. Ideas on what strength things like hit die type, spell progression and other core abilities should take.It builds on this with four template or general purpose prestige classes, bodyguard, champion, elemental mage and ranged thaumaturge, and then builds those into more rounded PrCs. I believe that some may already recognize the last one as the arcane archer while the bodyguard has seen use in several products, this one is customized as the King's Protector with no real change while the Fire Mage gains a new skill, Intimidate. It's an interesting way to look at things but the real meat for many is the how to section, laying down a lot of food for though.Let me bring up Everquest again for a second. Unlike every other d20 game on the market, Everquest didn't go with ECL's for their races, instead, they went with an experience point penalty. This book almost takes that whole idea and some of the elements of Savage Species and runs with it. It provides 'Shadow Classes' that monsters can take when they are 'evolving' into character style races as well as monster levels similar to Savage Species. The experience point penalties come into play any time a monster takes a level in its monster class.It opens up with several classless humanoids, good old standards like aquatic and grey elves, as well as goblins and hobgoblins. Nothing too fancy. It then moves onto other races like drow, derro, hags, minotaurs and ogres. Each class has it's racial class information listed as well as when the class hits its maturity rate, the point at which it can just move onto a regular class and not take any more of its monster classes, although there are some great potential benefits from doing so.Chapter Six, Templates, provides experience point costs for templates. This allows the GM to add templates to characters without effecting them at that moment as they have to now pay off the experience debt they've earned. Probably of more interest are the reverse monster templates where various abilities are given an experience point cost and a CR adjustment. Take Regenerating, that's hit points x 2,000 with a CR adjustment of +1 per 4 points with a maximum of +3 CR (so 12 points.).The appendices were ranged from interesting to read, in the author's notes for example, he explains why psions and psychic warriors aren't covered in more depth, to listings of feats, and tables.There are some things that could be done to make this an easier book to use. For example, I don't mind it too much if the author treats me like I'm stupid. The Forgotten Realms did this in their experience points tables by showing when a ECL character who wasn't level one got experience points and how it went up in levels. Do the same for me here, give me the separate tables with the experience point penalties added to the experience points, do the math for me. Make the book as easy as possible to use, avoid the GURPS and Hero issues altogether. In addition, while there are some examples throughout the course of the text, because of the nature of the beast here, customization, I would like to see an example of someone breaking the system so that I have a better idea of what to look for. While it's mentioned several times that this system can be abused, show me some examples of how you've seen it abused so I can quickly go, “Nah dude, we're not going to do that today.”The art in the book is good but sparse leaving you with a lot of text, tightly planted. This is great for those who don't want to kill trees in the printing process but a little larger text would've gave it more readability.GMs must take an active roll with this material though and not let players just walk all over the abilities or their doomed. If you're not happy with the standard classes, Character Customization can offer a lot to the table. It allows the player to focus on his character in ways just not currently possible in the core system without access to dozens of supplements that still might not hit his soft spot for a non-raging barbarian.This book is worth a look for anyone whose ever looked at his paladin or rogue and said, “Is this what I want?” Character Customization could be the new Nike for d20. “Is it in you?”AUTHOR'S NOTE: The website for Throwing Dice Games makes special note that this is a 3.0 sourcebook and a 3.5 one is coming down the pipeline and will be free to those who buy it now. Those who buy it in the future will get both products. Now that's customer focus.</blockquote>

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