Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Messageboard Golem" data-source="post: 2008388" data-attributes="member: 18387">The very nature of this type of book makes it an easy target for simple dismissal by people with even a moderate amount of role playing experience.   In fact, the clerk at my local game store tried to talk me out of buying it when it first came out.  "That book is intended for people who haven't really played that much," I was told, "I doubt you'll get any value from it." After getting it home, I initially thought the clerk had been right.  Had I written this review a year ago, I wouldn't have had much positive to say.  For some reason, don't ask me why, I felt I should give this book a chance before joining the chorus of naysayers.   I am glad that I did.     Besides the three core books, the Hero's Builder's Guide is one of the most used 3E D&D books that I own.   Basically, the Hero Builder's Guide is a 64-page idea book that focuses on character building.  It spotlights six different subjects:  Ability Scores, Choosing Races and Classes, Alignment, Developing a History and Long Term Goals for your Character, and Character Names.  Doesn't sound like much does it?  Well, maybe to those who are gifted with an extremely active imagination, it isn't much, but to the rest of us (and I've been playing for 20 years), it is a small blessing in disguise.  Let's take a look at what is covered under each subject.The first section of the book takes a look at rolling and interpreting ability scores.  It discusses the bell curve and how using different stat rolling methods (3d6, 4d6, etc.) will affect odds of getting above average ability scores.  It then discusses how these ability scores can be "interpreted".  For example, it discusses how low scores can be used to help develop your character (using Raistlin from the Dragonlance novels as an example).   Are experienced players going to get a lot of this section?  No, probably not, but a little "review" never hurt anyone.  In the case of less experienced players, however, this information is very useful and enlightening -- and has been with two of my group's less experienced players.The next 29 pages deal with choosing races and classes.  It discusses the racial modifiers, providing a small, but nice, table describing the general effects of the various modifiers.  It then provides many excellent examples of advantages, disadvantages, and possible character motivations for the various race/class combinations.  Want to play a dwarven wizard, but having trouble envisioning something other than a battle-axe wielding fighter?  This section will provide you some character personality seeds.  This is probably one of the best sections of the book and is used often by my players and myself.  The next 10 pages focus on developing a history for your character.  In addition to brief discussions on how your character's history can be important to its personality and to your campaign, there are a series of 25 or so tables that you can use to randomly determine things such as your character's homeland, family, education, life events, and relationships.  Now, when my players first looked at this they said "Bah, who needs that?"  That was until one of them actually used them to determine their character's background.  He did such an excellent job tying all of the divergent pieces of information together (he rolled either very high or very low on each table) that everyone else thought it was cool and wanted to use them as well.  The 'history tables' are now the favorite part of the character creation process for my players ("Man... I hope I get a jilted lover..."  ).The next section deals with alignment.  If there was ever a subject that deserved in-depth focus and explanation, it is alignment.  Unfortunately, there isn't much discussion on the different alignments.  Most of the section is taken up with a 'questionnaire' that is intended to help you determine what alignment your character has.  Nice try, but no dice.  This section is the weakest section of the book, and the Hero Builder's Guide would have been stronger without it.  What would have been better was an in-depth look at how even with the same alignment; you could have very different personalities for your character (i.e., how a bureaucrat, and a monk could both be Lawful Neutral, but have very different personalities and motivations).The next seven pages looks at establishing long-term goals for your character.  This is also a very useful section.  After all, not all fighters, wizards, etc. are alike and the 3rd Edition D&D rules allow you to develop many types of characters.  Did you want your fighter to be an archer, or were you looking to be more of the swashbuckling pirate type?  This section provides you with information on what kinds of feats and skills to focus on to build your character into what you want them to be.  Many of my players were long time 2E players and they found this section to be particularly useful early on as they got use to the new rules.  New players were equally overwhelmed with the choices of feats and skills and found this section to be a godsend.  Even now, it is still a section that gets referred to quite often.Lastly, the final sections deals with characters names.  It discusses things you should do (borrowing names from other times and places), as well as things you shouldn't do (call your character Merlin, or Bob).  It also provides many example names -- both male and female -- for all of the various character races.  This section is literally a godsend for me as a DM and to most of my players.So, is the Hero Builder's Guide a good product?  My answer is yes.  I give it a grade of 4 (good).  Is this product for everyone?  No.  As an experienced player and DM, was there any information in this book that I didn't already "know".  No.  Do I recommend buying it?  Yes, because even the most experienced player might be surprised how often they find themselves turning to this book if they do decide to buy it.  I know I've gotten $15.00 of use out of it.</blockquote>

Verification