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

[MerricB]

I have Tome & Blood, but I bought Complete Arcane anyway. Frankly, it was probably not worth the money for me, because everything I can use I already had from the 3.0 splatbook.

However, if you don't already own Tome & Blood, and if you want some interesting prestige classes and new spells for magic users, then I'd say the book is a reasonable investment.

(Or if you're a D20 addict like me.)

Given that I'm not that impressed with the prestige class constructions in the 3e books, I think the adjustments in the 3.5e complete series are a great improvement. There are still improvements to be made, of course.

Cheers!

 

[MerricB]

The only three classes that do not significantly benefit from Complete Arcane are the Barbarian, the Monk and the Fighter.

And I'm not sure about those three not benefitting, either.

Cheers!

 

[ivocaliban]

The only three classes that do not significantly benefit from Complete Arcane are the Barbarian, the Monk and the Fighter.

And I'm not sure about those three not benefitting, either.

Cheers!

I pretty much agree regarding the Barbarian and the Fighter, but multi-classed Monks could do interesting things with PrCs like the Enlightened Fist and Green Star Adept...especially if combined with the Ascetic Mage feat from Complete Adventurer.

 

[Dragon Mage]

I liked the book in general. I have concerns about many of the spells that seem way over powered. The Orb spells for example. And the mass spells seems to be lower level than the standard level increase for mass spells.

 

[MerricB]

I liked the book in general. I have concerns about many of the spells that seem way over powered. The Orb spells for example. And the mass spells seems to be lower level than the standard level increase for mass spells.

I've not had a problem with the spell powers. The main criticism of the Orb spells may be that they're in the wrong school, but I think their level is commensurate with their power.

The mass spells - now, that's interesting. It well could be that the "standard" level increase is too high. (There isn't a "standard" in any case).

Cheers!

 

[Abstraction]

I'm curious why it doesn't fit....

Well, I don't have a problem with other people using it. It's just that one, it doesn't fit the style of my game and two, it's awfully complex class to have in for just one or two people in an entire country (which is again because they don't fit).

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The only three classes that do not significantly benefit from Complete Arcane are the Barbarian, the Monk and the Fighter.

And I'm not sure about those three not benefitting, either.

Cheers!

You could have a lot of 1e style fun with the barbarian and the mage slayer feat chain.

 

[Sir ThornCrest]

didnt notice any alignment restrictions just that they are mormally ch and/or evil

I only quickly scanned over the Warlock. I dont rememeber seeing any restriction on race nor aligment only they suggested usually humans and usually chaotic and/ or evil.

Complete Arcane, like Warrior and Divine before it, is an overall excellent book. While I didn't care for either the Warmage or the Wu Jen, I thought the Warlock was an excellent base class (though the alignment restriction doesn't make sense-- or mesh with the flavor text), and it has a nice selection of new spells, feats, and PrCs.

It's far better than Tome and Blood in my opinion, and well worth the $20 I spent on it.

 

[ivocaliban]

I only quickly scanned over the Warlock. I dont rememeber seeing any restriction on race nor aligment only they suggested usually humans and usually chaotic and/ or evil.

Warlock Alignment: Any evil or any chaotic.

 

[Romnipotent]

New? Fresh? man 45+ people never read older stuff... but its still a good book, I'm heading more and more away from D&D because the groups playing it around here are... well.... tedious