Diablo II -- D&D books

[Quasqueton]

I just looked through a copy of Diablo II: Diablerie in a local store. This looks like it could be interesting. I've played the Diablo PC games, and I always thought the magic item naming convention was pretty cool -- each prefix or suffix meant a different power, some minor, some major. This book listed them all out in D&D3 terms.

I've checked the reviews here at ENWorld, and most were negative.

$20 is probably a bit much for this book, but I'm really drawn to wanting to read more about these magic items.

And I saw Diablo II: To Hell and Back also. The maps looked useful for general gaming. But, again, $30 for this book is too much also.

Have any of you read/used these books in any way? Are the magic items as cool in actual play as they seem to me reading the concept in the book? Would either be worth looking for a cheap, maybe second-hand copy?

-- And please, no one take this as an opportunity to bash PC gaming in general, or Diablo in particular. I like both very much. If you don't, skip this thread.

Quasqueton

 

[Commonblade]

If you run it, make sure its what your players want, and that you shouldn't be just setting up a lan party and play on the PC. The magic item generation makes some wierd and sometimes extremly powerful equipment. I use it in my homebrew to represent the forces of Chaos (Warhammer) equipment and magic. Be extremly careful using the monsters from the Diablo II: To Hell and Back book as some have ablities like raise dead (no level loss) and PCs in game will get bogged down trying to get to the "boss" monster.

 

[trancejeremy]

I've gotten a fair amount of use from Diablerie - the critters and the magic item system. As mention, both can be somewhat overpowered for normal D&D, but not that bad.

 

[HellHound]

I've revised three of the Diablo II classes to be more... in line... with how they work in Diablo instead of the way they were presented in the book. As well as making them quite workable d20 classes with 20 levels instead of 30 (although it means that the "class 6" abilities are not available to the class, but have to be appended to the classes as Epic Abilities).

Back in the early days of d20, I used the Diablo II books a lot for the monsters (lots of monsters, good spread of CRs, but they almost all rely on direct physical attacks). I used the magic item system for a while, but ditched it.

I'll see if I can dig up the classes I converted and post them, if you are interested (I converted the Barbarian and Amazon without issues, although my Paladin conversion feels a little too powerful).

 

[hong]

Damn, and here I thought this was going to be a thread on "Diaglo II -- D&D books". Now that would make an interesting d20 franchise.

 

[Vanuslux]

I have Diablo II: Diablerie. I've mostly used it for the monsters. I'd say I've gotten my money's worth of use out of it.

 

[HellHound]

If you are buying it for the monsters, Diablo II: To Hell & Back is a much more complete collection of beasties.

 

[howandwhy99]

Damn, and here I thought this was going to be a thread on "Diaglo II -- D&D books". Now that would make an interesting d20 franchise.

<shhh> I think he can hear you.

Diaglo II - The ReRelease

Don't count on this being a D20 franchise. Maybe if they sold the rights back to Gary? hmmmm...

 

[Thanee]

I've only looked at them briefly, a friend of mine has bought them. They look pretty nice for a more action-oriented gaming style. And with some reason, they can probably be incorporated into a regular roleplaying campaign, too.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Chris Parker]

Diablo 2 and DnD? How does that work?

DM: Okay, you successfully hit, now roll damage.
PC: Here we go, 2d20+14.3 million... wait, can my +74 weapon bypass his damage reduction?

=p