Complete arcane, good new info-worth while? or beating dead horse,worthless?

[Sir ThornCrest]

I have not yet purchased or even read thru the complete arcane. What is the popular opinion
of this book? I posted this same question a few days ago but it never was posted-cpu problems I guess. Anyways Im interested to read your comments of this book. Good prestige classes, feats new spells? or are they all lame? ie beating dead horse.

Sir ThornCrest

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Well, there is a lot of familiar stuff from Tome and Blood.

But I liked Complete Arcane. I liked the Warlock, Warmage, and Wu-Jen core classes. I like the PrCs as much as I like any other grouping of PrCs (which is to say "eh"), although the Fatespinner got a much needed tweak. A couple new feats, a couple new magic items that I deemed interesting. I could live without the effigies (clockwork template) but I've seen enough stuff on various message boards to realize that enough other people like them to warrant thier inclusion.

If you're happy enough with Tome and Blood I wouldn't get it. I wanted a 3.5 version of Tome and Blood and this book fit the bill.

 

[Ryltar]

If you're looking for a new T&B, that is "just a classbook, updated for 3.5", you'll be fine with CArc. If you're looking for new ideas and takes on magic ... better spend your money elsewhere .

 

[Crothian]

Also, the book fails at what it says it is supposed to do. THe book says Players Guide to Arcane Powers for All Classes. It isn't though. Its the same way Complete Divine failed.

 

[Plane Sailing]

I have seen people complain that when the oriental Wu Jen was introduced they made about a third of the new spells into Wu-Jen only, thus potentially reducing the value of the book.

(although I guess anyone could just move them onto the sorcerer list if they wanted)

 

[Abstraction]

I quite like it. The warlock kicks butt, I'm using it to replace the sorceror for core classes. The warmage is interesting and balanced. The one thing I did not like was the Wu Jen. It has no place in my campaign, so I felt the book devoted entirely too many pages to it. The prestige classes are all pretty good. I don't have Tome & Blood, so they are all new to me. Feats seemed fine. Nice for sorcerors to get the Draconic feats. Spells seem overall balanced, but there are a couple stinkers to watch out for. Out of CD, CW and CArc, I think this is the best.

 

[HellHound]

It certainly has SOME new ideas for a D&D supplement - primarily the Warlock core class which is what a lot of people wanted Sorcerers to be. It is definitely a different spellcaster than I expected to find within the pages of a classbook.

 

[Pants]

Also, the book fails at what it says it is supposed to do. THe book says Players Guide to Arcane Powers for All Classes. It isn't though. Its the same way Complete Divine failed.

Actually, CD 'failed' in that it also was poorly edited with some unbalanced content along with the not being a complete guide to divine magic for all classes.

Yes, Complete Arcane isn't really a complete guide to all classes, but the stuff in there is pretty grand. Lots of old T&B stuff got reworked into usefulness (Acolyte of the Skin) and there are some pretty cool new PrC's and feats in there as well.

Also, the Warlock is awesome.

So, if you really don't mind it not being a 'Complete' guide, it's still very good for what it is.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I think CA has quite a good mix of arcaney goodness for all classes, including turning the Mage Slayer feat from the Miniatures Handbook into a more balanced feat and then turning it into a chain that will make every spellcaster subjected to it very, very unhappy. There are also a host of new good feats -- and that's excluding the awesome Sudden metamagic feats as old material -- for all classes.

I thought it did a good job of dropping the worst of the T&B prestige classes, added several good new ones (the Green Star Adept is the first prestige class that will make me import its core background directly into my game), including two that really beef up the bard in nice ways that give bard players real choice about what sort of bard they want to play.

I thought the spells, for the most part, are quite good, including some I never would have thought of that are now going to be commonly used in my games.

While I'm not as dazzled by the warlock as some, I applaud the way WotC broke out of its own mold with this one -- it gives me a lot of hope for how much future core classes will stray from the baseline. No more "divine sorcerers" and other equally unimaginative stuff, please.

I do wish there had been a page or two of new familiars with stats and bonuses, reprinted maps for Mathmaghma and maybe a few more spells dedicated to things that wizards and sorcerers do all the time that aren't strongly supported in the rules, like research, having a base of operations, building and maintaining constructs, and so forth. I would've also liked to have seen the Magewright imported from Eberron and Mordekainen's Buzzing Bee from the Miniatures Handbook. Some new arcanist gods (like the ones in CW) would have also been appreciated.

 

[Crothian]

Actually, CD 'failed' in that it also was poorly edited with some unbalanced content along with the not being a complete guide to divine magic for all classes.

Yes, Complete Arcane isn't really a complete guide to all classes, but the stuff in there is pretty grand. Lots of old T&B stuff got reworked into usefulness (Acolyte of the Skin) and there are some pretty cool new PrC's and feats in there as well.

Also, the Warlock is awesome.

So, if you really don't mind it not being a 'Complete' guide, it's still very good for what it is.

It is a good book, but it doesn't do what it says it does. As a book for arcane caster, it is really cool with some great feats and ideas. But it fails on the basic level of being complete.