races of destiny --has D&D 3.5 jumped the shark?

[Psion]

Not that it really has any relevance to the actual point of your post or the thread, but that's unclear, and i'm curious what you meant:

You were planning on not converting, and then the D&D3E MM changed your mind.

or

You had decided to wait until you saw the D&D3E MM to decide whether or not to convert.

The former. I already had all the playtest materials in hand, and had adopted what I considered to be the best rules into my house rules for 2e, I was going to continue steaming ahead under those rules. But when I saw what was actually involved in the paradigm shift with monsters in 3e, I was convinced it would be more worthwhile to convert my game world to 3e than I previously anticipated.

 

[DungeonMaster]

I, for one, believe the quality of D&D books would improve if Andy Collins were reassigned to another department.

Oh god this is so true. I can't BELEIVE he's the "sage" now. I don't think there's a single book with his name on the cover that I respect even remotely.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Oh god this is so true. I can't BELEIVE he's the "sage" now. I don't think there's a single book with his name on the cover that I respect even remotely.

I can only assume you've never seen The Draconomicon, Libris Mortis, or Unearthed Arcana. They're three of the best books WotC has put out since the 3.5 revision.

 

[ivocaliban]

One pattern I do note is the new races. Races of Stone was a decent book, but a third of it was spent on Goliaths. I don't have any problem with throwing some new races out and seeing what people like. But to just jump in with a new race and give it just as much supporting material as dwarves receive is, IMO, a really stupid move. It appears we are getting the same treatment with Illumians. sigh.....
I'll assume that Races of the Wild we also be the same. So that is a big push for me to not buy that. Basically they will need to convince me that 2/3 of a book is worth buying the whole thing. That will be hard to do.

Couldn't agree more. It wasn't quite as noticeable with Races of Stone and the Goliaths, however, as it is with Races of Destiny and the Illumians. Considering there are so many races available thanks to Savage Species and other race-related volumes these fellows seem misplaced somehow. Extras who've inexplicably been given star status. Races of the Wild's fate remains up in the air. Skip Williams has some good material under his belt (The Rod of Seven Parts, 3.0 and 3.5 Core rule books and the Draconomicon) as well as one stinker (Deep Horizon adventure)...so it's just a matter of what he's done with the Elves and Halflings and now much room the bird-people take up.

 

[Brennin Magalus]

I can only assume you've never seen The Draconomicon, Libris Mortis, or Unearthed Arcana. They're three of the best books WotC has put out since the 3.5 revision.

I agree that Unearthed Arcana is a good book. I disagree that Draconomicon and the book of bad latin are anything special.

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

I agree that Unearthed Arcana is a good book. I disagree that Draconomicon and the book of bad latin are anything special.

If you don't think the Draconomicon is "anything special", then you don't know what good material is. Maybe you don't have a use for a dragon-centric book in your game, but that doesn't do anything to diminish the amazing quality of that book; probably the best WotC has put out in years.

As for Libris Mortis, it always amazes me how much people get caught up in the latin translation of the title. They won't even give the book a chance just b/c some latin-speaking sage says the translation of the title isn't accurate enough. Sigh.

 

[DungeonMaster]

I can only assume you've never seen The Draconomicon, Libris Mortis, or Unearthed Arcana. They're three of the best books WotC has put out since the 3.5 revision.

Oh lord yes I've seen them.
Metabreath weapons that all stack with each other? Maximized, empowered clinging quickened breath weapons then full attack?
Spells that reduce spell resistance to nothing, gestalts, level adjustment buy offs, etc...
Clr3/Necro3/TrueNecro10
Feats: Necromantic Presence, Necromantic Might, Practiced Spellcaster: Cleric, Corpsecrafter, Graveborn Expert (Dragon, mindless undead gain 1 feat), Spell Focus: Necromancy, Destruction Retribution, Nimble Bones, Mother Cyst. 11+4PracSpellcaster+3TrueNecroAbility+4K armaBead=22. With karma bead active that's control 220 HD of heavily beefed up undead.

No, these are prime examples of what I'm talking about. Those are just the "broken" aspects (of which there are many many more). What I hate even more is the "style" of this gunk.
The 3.5 PHB is the worst of the lot and Unearthed Arcana probably the best if taken with proper reserve, that much I'll agree to wholeheartedly though.

 

[Piratecat]

Okay. Deep breaths, everyone, and repeat after me: "I can have this discussion without being insulting to other peoples' opinions."

Thanks.

 

[Psion]

Draconomicon is possibly the best supplement put out by WotC. Especially for 3.5.

UA is good, but I must admit that some stuff there is not to cleverly designed (after playtesting the bloodline rules, I think they are mechanically bent.)

Libris Mortis is... okay, but not as inspiring as draconomicon. Still a decent book.

I do agree with the notion that for 3.5 WotC supplements, they are the best. All others are #4 or lower. (Name that reference!)

 

[BryonD]

Draconomicon was a vastly popular book.
Unearthed Arcana and LM were both successful and well received.

The success of these titles is good for the continued extension of the D&D line.

I have been clear in the past that I find Eberron distinctly uninspiring. However, Eberron is proving popular and that is good for D&D. Serving my personal opinion is almost meaningless to the success of D&D. Serving popular opinion is critical. For me to confuse the two would be foolish.

Despite the saying, you CAN argue with success. It just isn't a real smart idea.