Has the wave crested? (Bo9S)

[EyeontheMountain]

I got the book from Amazon JP because I was interested in it and it was dirt cheap, even compared to normal Amazon Japan pricing.

And I both like and dislike it.

I like it because it does give options to characters, and it makes melee fighters more powerful.

And I dislike it because it is just too easy for a warblade especially to abuse a single overpowered power. Over and over and over again. Every other round. With some of he abilities, that is too much.

 

[Nifft]

I'm beginning to see copies of B09S show up at Half Price books. Who's jumped ship and why?

Why do you think the existence of an overstock implies lack of popularity?

Personally, I'm not a big fan of its approach to D&D, so it's heartening to see the love fest isn't going to run continuously.

Really? It seems like more and more stuff is balanced per-encounter. It seems like the philosophy behind ToB:Bo9S is taking over D&D.

And I like it.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Prince of Happiness]

I've noticed other stacks of books that would/should be popular such as the various Complete, or the Lords of... series that have ended up at Half-Price. It's just overstock. Don't mean nuthin'.

 

[Ambrus]

Bo9S single-classed characters may be balanced by themselves but I suspect that it's a serious can of worms when allowed for multi-classing characters. I haven't tried using it with typical character builds, but when my gold dragon PC (dragon magazine 320) finally reached 12th level and was able to multi-class freely I compared the advantages of over a half-dozen classes (paladin, fighter, cleric, sorcerer, dragon shaman, duskblade, etc) along with continuing to advance in my dragon class. All in all the advantages and disadvantages between the classes were comparable (+1 BAB vs better saves, a feat vs a first level spell or two, better saves vs more skill points, etc).

Then I compared them all to taking a level of Swordsage. Wow! No contest. My hit dice allowed me to take up to third level manoeuvres, but I didn't even need to go that high; the first and second level manoeuvres were awesome. The class offered good saves, good skill points wrapped up with a nice assortment of four manoeuvres and a stance. Next game I manged to increase my dragon's single-round-damage-output by over a 100%; far better than any fighter feat I could have gained instead. My DM agrees that the book is somewhat broken. He's allowing me to keep the class levels since the campaign will be wrapping up soon. When I started running my new campaign recently, Bo9S was the only book I outright forbid the use of.

 

[Mouseferatu]

I'm beginning to see copies of B09S show up at Half Price books. Who's jumped ship and why?

Personally, I'm not a big fan of its approach to D&D, so it's heartening to see the love fest isn't going to run continuously.

By this logic, my own local Half-Price Books indicates that people are no longer reading Stephen King, Michael Moorcock, Spiderman comics, or the Bible.

 

[Psion]

By this logic, my own local Half-Price Books indicates that people are no longer reading Stephen King, Michael Moorcock, Spiderman comics, or the Bible.

While I'm not so optimistic to hope that people are abandoning Bo9S in droves, I don't think that logic follows. You only need to read a Stephen King novel once. If you are using a gaming book, you pretty much need to keep it around.

 

[Banshee16]

I scanned it briefly but didn't buy it.

I like the concept of giving advanced moves to melee characters to keep them balanced against high level casters, but the fact that so many of the effects were mostly spells-but-we-won't-call-them-that drove me away.

I'd like more mundane options for non-casters rather than just making non-casters more caster like (if that makes any sense).

I understand what you mean, and tend to agree with you. However, if you read it, there are many abilities which are less "caster-like" that it appears on first glance. You just have to ignore some of the schools, like the Desert Wind one. The ones like Iron Heart and Diamond Mind, as well as, I think the one that's all about grappling etc. are all more "physical", and less spellcaster-like.

Banshee

 

[Nepenthe]

I scanned it briefly but didn't buy it.

I like the concept of giving advanced moves to melee characters to keep them balanced against high level casters, but the fact that so many of the effects were mostly spells-but-we-won't-call-them-that drove me away.

I think that is a somewhat false impression most people who just scan the book get - mostly because Desert Wind, one of the two more "magical" schools. You actually have to look at the book pretty closely to realise that most of the magic stuff is just for the swordsage, a monky character class. The abilities of Warblades and Crusaders are quite a bit more grounded (with a slight divine magic touch for Crusaders).

I quite like the book, it gives exclusive abilities to fighters (as opposed to feat chains that everybody can follow to a certain degree). The maneuvers are designed (intentionally, I believe) to appear quite flashy, but I don't think they are really that out of whack, they just seem over the top at initially.

/N

 

[Razz]

I love the book and I love the way it's executed. I love the anime-style it brings, but I have to say I am rather disappointed in a few things.

1) No ranged-type martial discipline

2) Should've been as thick as Tome of Magic and added a ton more of maneuvers and stances, the book is really thin on that.

3) No energy type attacks other than fire. What happened to electricity, acid, sonic, and cold?

Here's to hoping WotC provides us more material for Bo9S with their Digital Initiative!

 

[Kesh]

While I'm not so optimistic to hope that people are abandoning Bo9S in droves, I don't think that logic follows. You only need to read a Stephen King novel once.

HERESY!