PHR: Dragonborn Mini-Review

[Kez Darksun]

A couple things I noticed were at least one recycled art piece from the Ecology of the Dragonborn as well as all of the feats from that article. I'll have to see if any other material from that article was included as well.

Ok, I just looked at the intro that I had skipped when glancing over the book earlier and they do specifically state that the material in PHR: Dragonborn draws on and expands the material from the Ecology article.

 

[CasvalRemDeikun]

Besides the Avatar of Io, is there any rules information on making flying Dragonborn?

 

[Alisair Longreach]

Player's Handbook 2 has the Scion of Arkhosia paragon path that gives Dragonborn a fly speed.

 

[LightPhoenix]

Besides the Avatar of Io, is there any rules information on making flying Dragonborn?

The Storm Dragon Paragon Path gains overland flight. Aside from that, nope.

 

[Zaukrie]

I'd guess it's aimed at people who want fluff for the Dragonborn, since the DDI doesn't supply that.

Which is what I wanted. But, not even 1/3 of the book is fluff. It's mostly crunch, with a tiny bit of fluff in the crunch. If it was more fluff, as I said in my post, I'd want it. It wasn't aimed at people that want deep, rich fluff. I've read Dragon articles with more fluff. And, as pointed out above, some of us have already paid for this once. I vastly prefer the fluff from Goodman, as it is more than a couple of pages.

 

[LightPhoenix]

But, not even 1/3 of the book is fluff. It's mostly crunch, with a tiny bit of fluff in the crunch.

I'm sorry, but I can not even begin to agree with this. I counted the pages, and at least 50% of the book is fluff. I won't even be generous with this count: about 1/2 page for each PP, three pages of feats (taking into account the art on p.23 and 25, and the sidebar on p.22), 2 pages of items, and one page for the ED. That's eight pages of crunch. With eight pages of art, that leaves sixteen pages of fluff. And no, the backgrounds don't count as fluff, because there's a whole one line (out of ~48 lines per page) devoted to the mechanics.

You're talking out of your ass, plain and simple. If you want to debate the quality of the fluff, that's one thing. But you can't argue with fact. You don't like the book, and that's fine - everyone is entitled to their opinion. Give actual reasons for not liking it, instead of broad generalizations with no basis in fact.

 

[The Little Raven]

Which is what I wanted. But, not even 1/3 of the book is fluff. It's mostly crunch, with a tiny bit of fluff in the crunch. If it was more fluff, as I said in my post, I'd want it. It wasn't aimed at people that want deep, rich fluff. I've read Dragon articles with more fluff. And, as pointed out above, some of us have already paid for this once. I vastly prefer the fluff from Goodman, as it is more than a couple of pages.

I must have got a special version of the book, because my copy has well over 50% of the book dedicated to fluff. Every page has at least some small bit of fluff, and before you get to the feats, fluff comprises 50-100% of the page content.

 

[delericho]

This book is "aimed" at those who dig dragonborn and would jump at an inexpensive book all about the race (and, yes, $10 is "inexpensive" nowadays).

Aimed at being an impulse buy? Sounds like a good format of product to have in the line - enough to maintain interest without overly pushing budgets.

 

[DarthMouth]

Aimed at being an impulse buy? Sounds like a good format of product to have in the line - enough to maintain interest without overly pushing budgets.

I hate this.. i am aways hooked.

 

[Derulbaskul]

I rather like it.

Actually, there seems to be less white space than is usual for 4E books. I wonder if this would be 64 pages if the Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide layout was used?

Despite liking it, essentially it's just a large Dragon article. This is definitely, for me at least, the sort of book that would be better produced as a PDF rather than as a softcover.