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

[Stone Dog]

Wait a minute... you didn't like "Spock's Brain?!"

 

[Boddha]

(Or the PHB, with the gnomes.)

Couldn't agree more, all gnomes should be wiped out.

Quote:
Originally Posted by MythosaAkira
Don't forget the gelatinous cube

Didn't Conan once encounter a similar creature, while stuck to a magnetic rock by his armour?

 

[Fester]

in film, when a tv series should have ended a few seasons ago but just degenerates into lameness it is said to have 'jumped the shark'. Has 3E/3.5 done so?

I bought the Races of Stone and was seriously disappointed with it, so maybe it's just a Races of... thing. Writing about races when the market has been flooded with such books means they've really got to be exceptional, IMO. And the Races of Stone just wasn't. At this time, buying Races of Destiny is not a priority.

I also happened to get the Planar Handbook at the same time, which I was also disappointed with, and at that time had similar thoughts about WotC and their creative juices. However, Libris Mortis and Complete Arcane have been released since then and are fine books (I don't have Frostburn, so can't comment) and show that there is plenty of creative energy left.

 

[Gez]

You don't even have to retain the idea of "word made flesh"

This is my problem with illumians. When I started to read the thing, I thought "cool, words/sigils/glyphs made flesh, that's a great idea, one that I can use" and then I read that, in fact, they were just humans who transformed themselves with a ritual. Lame. How many "transformed humans" races do we need? What about transformed dwarves for a change? Is that a sort of ploy to make countless human subraces?

If they were actually words made flesh, a phenomenon akin to the living spells, but much more advanced, then they are cool. If the creature is actually the glowing sigils, not the human body, then they are cool.

 

[Frostmarrow]

Without making a big deal about it: I don't like the illumians. I don't want to play one. I don't want one in my camapign and I won't want a friend playing one in a group in which I'm a member. I'm not interested in reading about them.

 

[Klaus]

Y'know what illumians remind me of?

The runes and rune-words in Diablo II.

I wonder if the runes take up the "ioun" slot for the illumians...

 

[JoeGKushner]

Maybe I'm too much a fanboy, but I'm getting use out of the book.

The new race has a lot of background and details to them. If the GM wants, someone like Psion, running a planar campaign, or myself for that matter, can keep them off the prime entirely and use their city that's located in the Plane of Shadows.

The new PrCs are heavily focused around details and allow a GM to insert them into a campaign with a minimum of fuss.

And hey, they brought the half-ogre back as a 2 ECL creature. That alone is worth some nods.

Is the book perfect? No. I think that the work they did on half-elves and half-orcs was sketchy at best. The former try to fit into both sides while the latter perfer to stand alone from both sides (in essence.)

Has it jumped the shark?

Nope.

They continue the excellent use of a little psionic support. Unlike some, I still enjoy the racial substitution levels. Really gives you an added feel for the character and I think does reinforce the steorotypes about your race, which can be a good thing, much like regional feats.

 

[shilsen]

I don't care for what I've seen of Races of Stone, so I'm not buying it. But I don't assume the books sucks because it doesn't work for me. I don't plan to use illumians IMC, but I don't assume that someone else won't. I appreciate it when WotC puts out books I can and do use. And if they put out one or a few or lots that I don't, I hope other people will get good use out of them, and don't whine because WotC is amazingly enough not writing for just my game.

We all indulge in an activity which takes at least a modicum of imagination. Is it really that hard to stretch that imagination and understand that everybody is not playing the same game and that it's fine if some things don't suit yours?

 

[Zweischneid]

I think the shark was jumped with Complete Warrior.

odd, I'd say that is probly the best class book wizards has ever put out

odd, I'd say I strongy agree with both of you.

 

[Desdichado]

Thank you Necromancer Games for Tome of Horrors for covering some of the game's extensive losses in this department.

See, to me that seems odd that you complain about bad concept monsters, and then get all gushy about the "dropped" monsters that Necromancer picked up. In my opinion, most of them were dropped for a reason -- they're even worse concepts.