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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Felon" data-source="post: 888252" data-attributes="member: 8158">I just got the book myself yesterday and spent most of the night reading it. Let me share my initial impressions.First thing I gotta say right off the bat: the artwork, overall, is not a redeeming quality IMO, as many of the pictures are just plain crude and sloppy. If nothing else, the illustrations for advanced classes should have had a somewhat consistent, uniform appearance. Instead, they vary wildly; the Arcane Arranger is a computer-colorized inked drawing, while the Archaic Weaponmaster looks like it was rendered with water colors. The Techno-mage has an extremely superdeformed appearance, while the glamorist looks anything but glamorous--in fact, she looks like a bloated hooker (and I'm not talking call-girl here either; strictly skanky street-corner material).Secondly, the approach to races pretty much flies in the face of the concept of ECL.  Races with more than one hit dice no longer have to use character levels to account for those hit dice. Rather, all that counts as levels is their Level Adjustment modifier, which ranges from +1 to +3. Right off the bat, I can tell you the bugbear is broken. But take a look for yourself:Ability Modifiers: +4 Str, +2 Con, +2 Dex, -ChaExtra Starting Hit Dice: 3d8Base Speed: 30ftNatural Armor Bonus +3+2 species attack bonusDarkvision 60ftScent+4 to Move Silently checksLevel Adjustment: +2OK, does anyone else notice this race only counts for 2 character levels, but receives 3 hit dice (with the benefit of a +2 Con bonus no less)? Add that to all the bonuses it receives, and the general lack of any real penalties, and it looks to me like this race gets way more than 2 levels in any class is going to give you (considering that most basic and advanced classes only grant one feat or one class Talent per level).Third impression: I knew going into the Incantations section that they took a lot of time and effort to cast, but I thought they'd use the traditional laws of sympathy and contagion (that D&D pretty much abandoned) to target a creature with a harmful effect. I mean, if Baleful Polymorph only has a range of touch, then how do you actually use it against an opponent? Hand him a magazine and ask him to to kindly sit and down and wait 70 minutes? Maybe I just missed something...</blockquote>

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