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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Messageboard Golem" data-source="post: 2008409" data-attributes="member: 18387">I have to join the praises of this book.Even though I have never been a big fan of the planes I find this book to be one of the most useful and well written of all WotC 3ed products. As others have already spoken on book's content I will just note why I think it deserves highest mark.The strong points are:Modularity - you can use any part of the book independently of the others and yet when you use any number of them they blend seamlessly together into a logical whole. Even further, book encourages us to play with the module and assemble them in a variety of ways different from the main one expounded in the book, it even gives examples of various combinations that do not boil to the more of the same. Good Prose - I find this very important as reading a bland text even if the rules behind it are useful is not a pleasant experience. Manual of the Planes is a good read, conveying its atmosphere and inspiring for the DM.Balanced and Useful Rules - prestige classes are way more balanced then the ones from the WotC classbooks fulfilling original mandate of prestige classes to be specialists in a narrow field at the expanse of breath. They are also original and (in a context of planar campaign) needed. Spells are well done for their purpose and monsters are actually very interesting and useful in non planar campaigns as well. Particularly nice touch is a non-psionic version of Gith as it confirms WotC dedication to the doctrine that any book beyond the PHB, DMG and MM is supposed to stand on its own and not require any other book. Wealth of Good Ideas - Above and beyond the actual "official" cosmology, this book gives a variety of ideas for alternatives not only in assembling presented stuff in different ways but also for making fresh cosmologies from scratch. Contrary to most "DM advice" one can find in sourcebooks, that usually feels like filler, this stuff is incredibly creative and most of it is stuff that I *could not* think of for myself. One ends up wishing for more. Also, innovative suggestions are given as to how to use some of planar stuff in non planar campaigns or even (prime material) world building. Al of it useful, to the point and novel.    Art - Above standard even for the hardcover WotC books. Each illustration is of exceptional quality in the best of 3rd ed. style.Value for Money - At $41 Canadian for over 200 pages Hardcover it is there with "Relics and Rituals" and "Traps and Treachery" in value for money department and way ahead of the class books that are soft covers of less then half the pages for more then three quarters of a price.The weak points are practically non existent if you are intending on playing a planar campaign. Even for me who is not intending to send my group planes hopping anything like near future it is exceptionally useful. I guess the only gripe one can have after reading a book like this is - why can WotC not keep this quality on all their products ?</blockquote>

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