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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tzarevitch" data-source="post: 1709289" data-attributes="member: 1792">The issue is not whether or not the PlHB is inspired by Planescape or has anything to do with Planescape. The issue is it wasn't a very good book. I run a Planescape game. I wasn't expecting a Planescape book, I was expecting a USEFUL book. The PlHB was simply a poor effort. 32 pages of Planar Touchstone junk plus reprinted information and lots of useless other bits just made me mad. I understand some people may like the touchstones, but from the point of view of a book that is for general appeal, devoting that much of it to a marginal idea is a poor idea. They should've given 2-3 examples of touchstones and rules on how to make them. That way if you like the idea you can make more, if you don't you can ignore it. At 32 pages you CAN'T ignore it. If you hate the touchstones you tend to hate the book. As if the touchstones weren't bad enough they then reprint the asimar, bariaur and tieflings; AGAIN! The feats are of questionable use even in a planar campaign and the spells tend to be of limited utility or reprints. The authors then waste even more space with junk such as details on the githyanki capital city with is about fun to advanture in as Stalin's USSR. The final nail in the coffin however was the prestige classes. The faction classes are interesting but they only made classes and gave information for SOME of them. What good is SOME of them? That is what pisses me off. Why did they bother with them at all if they only were going to print SOME of them? That is like expecting people to play a game in  Eberron but only giving them some of the rulebook. And the Astral Dancer? I won't even dignify that class with a discussion. One or two like the Elemental Warrior are pretty good but by then my impression of this book had hit bottom and even the wonderful planar substitution rules couldn't save it.  Honestly the book was lousy. It has nothing to do with Planescape nostalgia. I love Planescape, but I wasn't expecting this book to BE Planescape. I was however expecting it to be a decent book and worthy of my hard-earned cash. Not necessarily useful for me, but at least decent. I do not think that was an unreasonable expectation. Thankfully, Races of Stone has since restored my confidence in WoTC's products but PlHB was a very poor offering. Tzarevitch</blockquote>

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