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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Alzrius" data-source="post: 8514033" data-attributes="member: 8461">"The fourth Core Rulebook" is D&D's version of being called "the fifth Beatle." While it's not something you hear thrown around often these days, I distinctly recall the term (albeit infrequently) being at least a little more popular back during the 2E era, and used it myself on occasion.When I did, it was always with regard to the <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17391/Tome-of-Magic-2e?affiliate_id=820" target="_blank">Tome of Magic</a>.Now, in AD&D 1E the fourth Core Rulebook could justifiably have been called <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/110198/Deities--Demigods-1e?affiliate_id=820" target="_blank">Deities & Demigods</a>, if for no other reason than Gary Gygax himself, in the book's foreword, said that it wasn't a supplement. Far be it from me to argue with the godfather of gaming, but I simply can't bring myself to consider that to be the case for that book's AD&D 2nd Edition successor. There's a reason why I didn't mention that when I covered Legends & Lore in my previous post. Even with the greater emphasis on PC-friendly information via specialty priests (among other player-facing game material), the Tome of Magic is hands-down the more important book.Or at least, that's what the AD&D 2nd Edition ecosystem of products seemed to think. I kid you not, this book seemed like it was mentioned everywhere. Looking at the list of spell changes in the <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/28838/Ravenloft-Campaign-Setting-Revised-Boxed-Set-2e?affiliate_id=820" target="_blank">Ravenloft Campaign Setting</a>? The ToM gets mentioned. Did some of the deities in <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/16895/DMGR4-Monster-Mythology-2e?affiliate_id=820" target="_blank">DMGR4 Monster Mythology</a> mention granting access to spheres like Numbers, Thought, and War? They're from the ToM. Seen a reference to a "wild mage" somewhere? That class came from this book, baby! The stuff introduced in this book was referenced again and again throughout the life of this edition. This, to me, is what it's like when a book isn't a supplement.And really, that's what made this book so indispensible, perhaps more so than its contents warranted. Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of wild mages, for instance, but how many NPCs with levels in that class can you name (who aren't from the Baldur's Gate CRPGs, I mean)? Even Hornung, who has numerous wild magic spells named after him in this book, never got game statistics (unless you count that one super-rare card from the 1993 set of TSR trading cards). As much as I love this book, its contents seemed to be referenced more often than they were actually used.Now, I'll give props where it's due, the ideas on display here are evocative in the extreme. Elementalist mages are character options that should have been available long before this; this is literally their debut in the AD&D game! Likewise, "cooperative magic" and "faith magic" always seemed like cool new options for clerics, they didn't get much use beyond a few specific spells, though that wasn't nearly as much of a waste of potential as quest spells. Does anyone else remember quest spells? The super-powerful divine magic that your god would only grant to you under extreme circumstances, typically as a result of some sort of adventure or pilgrimage or, you know...quest? I loved the idea of these, but I can't recall ever seeing them put to use. In fact, the only times I even remember them being mentioned after this are when several new, deity-specific ones were presented in Birthright's <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/133455/Birthright-Book-of-Priestcraft-2e?affiliate_id=820" target="_blank">Book of Priestcraft</a>, along with the notation that they were granted as typical "just pray for them" spells to divine spellcasters of level 40 or so in <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17546/Netheril-Empire-of-Magic-2e?affiliate_id=820" target="_blank">Netheril: Empire of Magic</a>.Oh, and they were also curtailed in Ravenloft, just like almost everything else. Which reminds me, did you know that several of the new spells in the aforementioned Ravenloft Campaign Setting were deliberately patterned off of spells from this book? Specifically, spells designed by Strahd von Zarovich. Like, strahd's frightful joining is the reverse of this book's bloodstone's frightful joining, while strahd's baneful attractor is the reverse of this book's hornung's baneful deflector. The latter Strahd spell even notes that he named it after himself rather than the "upstart" Hornung...which suggests a Ravenloft connection to the most notable wild mage that I don't think anyone has ever played up.Also, special note that metamagic debuted here as well, though only in the form of particular spells that affected other spells. These tended to have names that were notable for how prosaic they were, being called things like far reaching II and squaring the circle. It wouldn't be until D&D 3rd Edition that metamagic would become a system of feats to affect spells, rather than spells itself.I feel like I should also mention that there were a bunch of new magic items at the end of this book, but they always felt perfunctory to me. Did anyone ever get much use out of a wand of corridors or a crystal parrot?Overall, this was a book that loomed large over the edition it was released for. It couldn't not be mentioned when it came time to talk about magic, it seemed, and that made this book appear to be ubiquitous. Whether it actually deserved that presentation is another matter.Please note my use of affiliate links in this post.</blockquote>

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