Product Catalog Updated!

[Kanegrundar]

I'm interested in Magic of Incarnum, the Underdark Booster Set, and D20 Cyberspace (since it focuses more on cyborgs and not on Matrix like stuff). Those three are the only must haves on the list. However, I will at least look at Spell Compendium, Champions of Valor, and Heroes of Horror.

Looks promising overall, but I doubt I spend nearly as much this year on game books as I did last year.

Kane (who's hoping the pdf market keeps churning out good D20 Modern material)

 

[Snapdragyn]

Both MoI & HoH mention new base classes; I'll be interested to see what these are. I think having new classes in HoH really points to a minor shotfall in HoB: that it did not include the Marshall (though they'd have taken flak for yet another MiniHB reprint, I'm sure).

 

[Wraith Form]

Magic of Incarnum

** SNIP **

This book also features new classes, prestige classes, feats, and other options for characters wishing to explore the secrets of incarnum

Oh joy.

MORE PrCs, classes, skills and feats. Just what we need.

*yawn*

 

[Li Shenron]

MORE PrCs, classes, skills and feats. Just what we need.

Unfortunately, that's quite the same with the other books as well... When I have the chance to take a look at a new book, nowadays I don't even read the classes and the spells at all (tho I still read the feats!).

 

[Echohawk]

I loved the AD&D 2e Spell Compendiums, because they were proud to be every spell ever produced for the system, dating back to ancient issues of Dragon and obscure settings almost nobody had ever heard of, all updated and revised. They were the complete archive of every official spell for AD&D ever made, be it from core book, suppliment, Dragon magazine or module. Of course, they made them at the twilight of 2e, I think that the last volume of the Priest's Spell Compendium was the last 2e book made actually.

I'm also a big fan of the 2nd Edition Spell Compendiums (and of the Encyclopedia Magica), but the pedant in me feels obliged to point out that volume 3 of the Priest's Spell Compendium wasn't the last 2nd Edition book. That was released in February of 2000, and several other books followed it, including: The Apocalypse Stone, Slavers, Volume Three of Van Richten's Monster Hunter's Compendium, Diablo II: The Awakening (ick!), Dungeon of Death, Reverse Dungeon, Cloak & Dagger and Die Vecna Die!

I think that Volo's Guide to Baldur's Gate II was probably the last 2nd Edition product released, hitting the shelves in July 2000, the month before the core 3rd Edition books.

 

[DMH]

Magic of Incarnum
D&D Supplement
James Wyatt, Frank Brunner, Stephen Schubert

and even their own bodies, granting them special attacks, defenses, and other abilities (much as magic items and spells do).

That sounds like prestige races. It should be interesting to see how they are going to differenciate them (other than making incarnum based changes weaker).

As for using souls as a power source, there are already several books that use the idea, though none with that many pages devoted.

 

[Buttercup]

Spell Compendium
D&D Supplement
Matthew Sernett, Jeff Grubb, Mike McArtor

Item Code 885987200
Release Date December 2005
Format Trade Hardcover
Page Count 288
ISBN 0-7869-3702-5
Price $39.95; C$53.95

Spell Compendium provides players and Dungeon Masters with quick access to the D&D spells they need most. Drawing from a treasure trove of sources, Spell Compendium is the one place to find spells that are referenced time and again: the best, most iconic, most popular, and most frequently used. This convenient reference introduces a new spell format that includes descriptive text.

Hmm. Thanks to the wonders of the SRD and Open Gaming License, there are already half a dozen compilations of arcane magic out there. I own two of them. So I'm wondering why I should buy this one. Oh wait I know! This one will include all of the non-open content spells WotC has previously published. With a new format.

Thanks, I'll pass.

 

[philreed]

Unfortunately, that's quite the same with the other books as well... When I have the chance to take a look at a new book, nowadays I don't even read the classes and the spells at all (tho I still read the feats!).

The only reason that's the type of book being published is because books with races, feats, prestige classes, etc. sell well. Still. No matter how many people complain about the format these elements will remain UNTIL those books stop selling so well.

 

[Steel_Wind]

Also, if Charles Ryan has been saying we're nowhere near the end of 3e, isn't it a little early to be producing a big master spellbook? Or are we just going to get an Expanded Spell Compendium in a few more years that's bigger, more expensive and outdates our existing one?

The other product capsules for this book have called it Spell Compendium Vol 1.

So no - not a new revised volume after this - simply another one.

 

[Pants]

For those interested, Andy Collins and James Wyatt have discussed some of Magic of Incarnum's contents here.

Andy's comment is on page 1, James' is on page 2.

For those too lazy to follow the link, I've quoted the pertinent comments here:

Posted by WotC_Andy on the WotC Boards

I feel pretty confident in saying that D&D has never seen a system quite like the one presented in Magic of Incarnum.

Honestly, I've never seen a system quite like this one anywhere, though I fully admit that I've not read every game or supplement ever produced.

If you're looking for a form of magic that feels like neither traditional spellcasting nor psionics, you should give the book a try.

(And note that the product page doesn't say "use souls as fuel." That'd be a mischaracterization of what's going on here...but I'll not reveal more.)
__________________
Andy Collins
RPG Developer
Wizards of the Coast R&D

Posted by WotC_James on the WotC Boards

This book is pretty much my baby, and I am more proud of it than of anything else I've done in my career so far. For a couple of years, whenever we'd talk about what products we should do, I'd always pipe up with, "We should do something totally new, something that's never been done before." I mean, I think we needed 3E versions of the stuff that's been around in D&D forever—psionics, planes, Oriental Adventures, and so on—but I really wanted us to innovate beyond the things that have always been a part of the game.

So I finally put my money where my mouth was and came up with the idea for this book—and then I got to write it, with a lot of help from some brilliant designers and developers. In a nutshell, this is the same kind of book as the Expanded Psionics Handbook: A new system of magic-like stuff. But that description is where the resemblance to psionics ends.

The magic of incarnum is a form of magic that combines persistent effects with round-by-round resource management. It's a flexible system that you can use to create a lot of different effects. There are three standard classes that use this system, and then a bunch of prestige classes that let them (and characters from other backgrounds) use it in new and interesting ways.

We also tried very hard to provide ways to integrate the system into an ongoing game. There are feats and spells that allow existing characters to learn some techniques that use incarnum. There's a chapter on campaigns that includes three different adventure arcs that you can use to introduce incarnum into your game, whether you prefer to say that these techniques have always been around and kept hidden, or they've just been discovered.

Frank Brunner and Stephen Schubert (before we hired him as a developer) were the freelance designers on the book, and both of them brought an incredible amount of creativity to it. Andy Collins led a very rigorous development process that burned off the dross and produced a refined masterpiece, with a lot of additional design from Rich Baker. It's an awesome book, in my not-at-all-humble opinion, and I'm pretty sure that when it comes out, you will be as excited about it as I am.
__________________
James Wyatt, game designer
Wizards of the Coast