Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Review of Premium Spell Compendium v3.5 by Wizards of the Coast
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Neuroglyph" data-source="post: 7650507" data-attributes="member: 85633"><p><span style="font-size: 12px">I recall always being frustrated by one aspect of <strong>Dungeons & Dragons</strong>, regardless of whether I was running <strong><em>1st Edition</em></strong>, <strong><em>AD&D</em></strong>, or <strong><em>3.5</em></strong>: <em>There are just too many gosh darned spells!</em> No matter which edition you name, there has always been a serious case of “spell creep”, with more and more new arcane, divine, and druidical magic finding their way into <em>Dragon Magazine</em> articles, modules, supplemental class books, and even a few Third Party Products.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">For the first two editions I played – <strong><em>AD&D</em></strong> and <strong><em>2nd Edition</em></strong> – sorting through new spells outside the <strong><em>Player’s Handbooks</em></strong> was such a pain: everyone coming to a game session, lugging along extra books, magazines, and photocopied pages, so that my magic-using players looked more like mad accountants at the table rather than all powerful sorcerers. [align=right]http://www.neuroglyphgames.com/rpgblogs/home/neurogly/public_html/rpgblogs/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/premium-spell-compendium-cover-final.jpg[/align]Even for my own part, there always seemed to be a few new “cool” spells that were perfect for a villain that I just had to use during a play session - so I’d be just as surrounded by piles of apocryphal pages stacked behind the screen - and on the floor, spare chairs, and any other level surface within arm’s reach!</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">Thankfully, the developers of <strong><em>D&D 3.5</em></strong> realized that “spell creep” was a serious and pervasive issue from edition to edition. In late 2005, <strong>Wizards of the Coast</strong> released the first <strong><em>Spell Compendium</em></strong>, gathering into one tome more than a thousand spells from more than a dozen sourcebooks and supplements and around two score articles from <em>Dragon Magazine</em>. I remember that book first appearing at my gaming table in the hands of two players shortly after New Year’s, and it truly made a difference by speeding up combats and resolving rules “discussions” with one irrefutable spell source.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">And now, in keeping with <strong>WotC</strong>’s project to make older edition products available to current D&D players, a <em>Premium Edition</em> of the <strong><em>D&D 3.5 Spell Compendium</em></strong> was released only a few weeks ago, offering a new version of this book to aid 3.5 gamers with more spells than they will (probably?) ever use!</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong><u></u></strong></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong><u>Premium Spell Compendium v3.5</u></strong></span></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>Designer</strong>: Matthew Sernett, Jeff Grub, Mike McArtor</span></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>Illustrations</strong>: Mat “czarofhappiness” Smith (Cover); Steven Belledin, Mitch Cotie, Chris Dien, Wayne England, Jason Engle, Carl Frank, Brian Hagan, Fred Hooper, Ralph Horsley, Jeremy Jarvis, David Martin, Jim Nelson, William O’Connor, Lucio Parrillo, Michael Phillippi, Eric Polak, Wayne Reynolds, Ron Spears, Joel Thomas, Franz Vohwinkel (Interior)</span></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>Publisher</strong>: Wizards of the Coast</span></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>Year</strong>: 2013</span></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>Media</strong>: Hardbound (288 pages)</span></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>Price</strong>: $49.99 ($35.01 from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Premium-Edition-Dungeons-Compendium-Accessory/dp/0786964480?&linkCode=waf&tag=neurogames-20" target="_blank"><strong>Amazon.com</strong></a>)</span></li> </ul><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">The <strong><em>Premium Spell Compendium v3.5</em></strong> is a new reprinting of the spell sourcebook released in 2005 for <strong><em>D&D 3.5</em></strong>. The book contains more than 1000 spells used in 3.5, collected from the <strong><em>Player’s Handbook</em></strong> and many more articles and supplements published during the <em>3rd Edition</em> era of <strong>Dungeons & Dragons</strong>. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p> <span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong><u>Production Quality</u></strong></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">The <em>production quality</em> of the <strong><em>Premium Spell Compendium 3.5</em></strong> is quite exceptional. The Premium version of this book has a new cover design, still evocative of the “tome” style covers prevalent throughout the <strong><em>D&D 3.5</em></strong> product line. To this reviewer, the new cover design is considerably nicer looking than the first release, and feels more sturdy and robust. The cover is further enhanced by the decorative patterns and stylized rampant dragons (sort of a tribal style) which are actually impressed into the front and back cover, giving a pleasing tactile feel to the glossy surface.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">The papers are the same high quality glossy type found in the previous supplement, and all the fantastic original artwork was used once again in this reprinting.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">The spells are laid out in alphabetical order, for easy reference, and there are spell lists by class as well as domain information and spell sets found toward the end of the supplement. There is also a short bibliography at the end of the <strong><em>Spell Compendium</em></strong> detailing the various sources for the spells listed.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p> <span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong><u>It’s not New… But it is <em>Improved</em></u></strong></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">As mentioned previously, the <strong><em>Premium Spell Compendium 3.5</em></strong> still features over 1000 spells and still contains the original and very stunning artwork depicting a wide range of spells ruining the nefarious plans of various D&D monsters. In fact, this new printing of the <strong><em>Spell Compendium</em></strong> is EXACTLY like the old version, page for page, illustration for illustration. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">(Yes, I checked. I do these tedious things so that you don’t have to do it.)</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">I have to mention one of the things I failed to realize when I bought my copy of the first release: there is a ton of art in this book! As I was going through the <strong><em>Premium Spell Compendium 3.5</em></strong>, I became suddenly aware of the fact that the illustration to page count for this book stands fairly close to 1:2. That’s a massive amount of great art for a single tome, and even though some of the images are small, it really makes leafing through a book of D&D spells a lot more enjoyable.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">However, I must also point out that it is not an entirely faithful reprinting of the original text. When the <strong><em>Premium Spell Compendium 3.5</em></strong> was released, WotC editors made sure to add in all the errata that came out after the release of the first version back in 2005. So now the information is completely accurate and up-to-date (well, as up to date as a previous edition supplement can be), and keeping a pesky errata sheet is not required. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">Overall Score: <strong>4.25</strong> <em>out of</em> <strong>5.0</strong></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong><u></u></strong></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong><u></u></strong></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong><u>Final Conclusions</u></strong></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">It’s next to impossible to find much fault with the <strong><em>Premium Spell Compendium 3.5</em></strong>, being a “faithful” reproduction of the original with all the errata added in, and bearing an awesome looking cover. If you play <strong><em>D&D 3.5</em></strong> or <strong><em>d20</em></strong> variant thereof, I can honestly say this is one of those “must-have” products to keep at the gaming table just to help the session run smoother by having at the ready, a complete and easily referenced compendium of all types of spells.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">So the real question comes down to cost: is it worth it to buy this Premium Edition when there are so many copies of the first printing out there for sale? I checked the prices at both <em>Amazon.com</em> and <em>Ebay</em>, finding the original version of the <strong><em>Spell Compendium</em></strong> (used) for $29.00 and $25.00 respectively. Of course, there is shipping involved in both cases. So if you don’t own the original sourcebook, the new <strong><em>Premium Spell Compendium 3.5</em></strong> is a comparable buy (at least it is from Amazon.com after the discount). But even if you already own a <strong><em>Spell Compendium</em></strong>, the new <strong><em>Premium</em></strong> version is still worth a look – it’s a gorgeous book and very handy to have around when spells start flying around.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><em></em></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><em>So until next Review… I wish you Happy Gaming!</em></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong></strong></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>Author’s Note</strong>: This Reviewer received a complimentary copy of the product from which the review was written.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong><u></u></strong></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong><u>Grade Card (Ratings 1 to 5)</u></strong></span></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>Presentation</strong>: 4.75</span></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><span style="font-size: 12px">- <strong>Design</strong>: 4.5</span></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><span style="font-size: 12px">- <strong>Illustrations</strong>: 5</span></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>Content</strong>: 4.5</span></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><span style="font-size: 12px">- <strong>Crunch</strong>: 5</span></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><span style="font-size: 12px">- <strong>Fluff</strong>: 4</span></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>Value</strong>: 3.5</span></li> </ul><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong><u>Special Announcement</u></strong>: </span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong></strong></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>BlackStar Studios</strong> is in the final hours of their <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/shadowlands/the-shadowlands-campaign-setting-guidebook-for-pat?ref=card" target="_blank"><strong>Kickstarter for <em>The Shadowlands</em></strong></a> – a new <strong>Pathfinder RPG</strong> Campaign Setting! They are already fully funded, but are still trying to reach even more Stretch Goals, so check it out and donate. By the way, this setting sounds amazing, and I will be doing a review of <em><strong>The Shadowlands</strong></em> as soon possible! You can find out more about the setting on the <a href="http://www.saemyyr.com/" target="_blank"><strong>Official Site</strong></a>. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Neuroglyph, post: 7650507, member: 85633"] [SIZE=3]I recall always being frustrated by one aspect of [B]Dungeons & Dragons[/B], regardless of whether I was running [B][I]1st Edition[/I][/B], [B][I]AD&D[/I][/B], or [B][I]3.5[/I][/B]: [I]There are just too many gosh darned spells![/I] No matter which edition you name, there has always been a serious case of “spell creep”, with more and more new arcane, divine, and druidical magic finding their way into [I]Dragon Magazine[/I] articles, modules, supplemental class books, and even a few Third Party Products. For the first two editions I played – [B][I]AD&D[/I][/B] and [B][I]2nd Edition[/I][/B] – sorting through new spells outside the [B][I]Player’s Handbooks[/I][/B] was such a pain: everyone coming to a game session, lugging along extra books, magazines, and photocopied pages, so that my magic-using players looked more like mad accountants at the table rather than all powerful sorcerers. [align=right]http://www.neuroglyphgames.com/rpgblogs/home/neurogly/public_html/rpgblogs/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/premium-spell-compendium-cover-final.jpg[/align]Even for my own part, there always seemed to be a few new “cool” spells that were perfect for a villain that I just had to use during a play session - so I’d be just as surrounded by piles of apocryphal pages stacked behind the screen - and on the floor, spare chairs, and any other level surface within arm’s reach! Thankfully, the developers of [B][I]D&D 3.5[/I][/B] realized that “spell creep” was a serious and pervasive issue from edition to edition. In late 2005, [B]Wizards of the Coast[/B] released the first [B][I]Spell Compendium[/I][/B], gathering into one tome more than a thousand spells from more than a dozen sourcebooks and supplements and around two score articles from [I]Dragon Magazine[/I]. I remember that book first appearing at my gaming table in the hands of two players shortly after New Year’s, and it truly made a difference by speeding up combats and resolving rules “discussions” with one irrefutable spell source. And now, in keeping with [B]WotC[/B]’s project to make older edition products available to current D&D players, a [I]Premium Edition[/I] of the [B][I]D&D 3.5 Spell Compendium[/I][/B] was released only a few weeks ago, offering a new version of this book to aid 3.5 gamers with more spells than they will (probably?) ever use! [B][U] Premium Spell Compendium v3.5[/U][/B][/SIZE] [LIST] [*][SIZE=3][B]Designer[/B]: Matthew Sernett, Jeff Grub, Mike McArtor[/SIZE] [*][SIZE=3][B]Illustrations[/B]: Mat “czarofhappiness” Smith (Cover); Steven Belledin, Mitch Cotie, Chris Dien, Wayne England, Jason Engle, Carl Frank, Brian Hagan, Fred Hooper, Ralph Horsley, Jeremy Jarvis, David Martin, Jim Nelson, William O’Connor, Lucio Parrillo, Michael Phillippi, Eric Polak, Wayne Reynolds, Ron Spears, Joel Thomas, Franz Vohwinkel (Interior)[/SIZE] [*][SIZE=3][B]Publisher[/B]: Wizards of the Coast[/SIZE] [*][SIZE=3][B]Year[/B]: 2013[/SIZE] [*][SIZE=3][B]Media[/B]: Hardbound (288 pages)[/SIZE] [*][SIZE=3][B]Price[/B]: $49.99 ($35.01 from [URL="http://www.amazon.com/Premium-Edition-Dungeons-Compendium-Accessory/dp/0786964480?&linkCode=waf&tag=neurogames-20"][B]Amazon.com[/B][/URL])[/SIZE] [/LIST] [SIZE=3] The [B][I]Premium Spell Compendium v3.5[/I][/B] is a new reprinting of the spell sourcebook released in 2005 for [B][I]D&D 3.5[/I][/B]. The book contains more than 1000 spells used in 3.5, collected from the [B][I]Player’s Handbook[/I][/B] and many more articles and supplements published during the [I]3rd Edition[/I] era of [B]Dungeons & Dragons[/B]. [B][U]Production Quality[/U][/B] The [I]production quality[/I] of the [B][I]Premium Spell Compendium 3.5[/I][/B] is quite exceptional. The Premium version of this book has a new cover design, still evocative of the “tome” style covers prevalent throughout the [B][I]D&D 3.5[/I][/B] product line. To this reviewer, the new cover design is considerably nicer looking than the first release, and feels more sturdy and robust. The cover is further enhanced by the decorative patterns and stylized rampant dragons (sort of a tribal style) which are actually impressed into the front and back cover, giving a pleasing tactile feel to the glossy surface. The papers are the same high quality glossy type found in the previous supplement, and all the fantastic original artwork was used once again in this reprinting. The spells are laid out in alphabetical order, for easy reference, and there are spell lists by class as well as domain information and spell sets found toward the end of the supplement. There is also a short bibliography at the end of the [B][I]Spell Compendium[/I][/B] detailing the various sources for the spells listed. [B][U]It’s not New… But it is [I]Improved[/I][/U][/B] As mentioned previously, the [B][I]Premium Spell Compendium 3.5[/I][/B] still features over 1000 spells and still contains the original and very stunning artwork depicting a wide range of spells ruining the nefarious plans of various D&D monsters. In fact, this new printing of the [B][I]Spell Compendium[/I][/B] is EXACTLY like the old version, page for page, illustration for illustration. (Yes, I checked. I do these tedious things so that you don’t have to do it.) I have to mention one of the things I failed to realize when I bought my copy of the first release: there is a ton of art in this book! As I was going through the [B][I]Premium Spell Compendium 3.5[/I][/B], I became suddenly aware of the fact that the illustration to page count for this book stands fairly close to 1:2. That’s a massive amount of great art for a single tome, and even though some of the images are small, it really makes leafing through a book of D&D spells a lot more enjoyable. However, I must also point out that it is not an entirely faithful reprinting of the original text. When the [B][I]Premium Spell Compendium 3.5[/I][/B] was released, WotC editors made sure to add in all the errata that came out after the release of the first version back in 2005. So now the information is completely accurate and up-to-date (well, as up to date as a previous edition supplement can be), and keeping a pesky errata sheet is not required. Overall Score: [B]4.25[/B] [I]out of[/I] [B]5.0[/B] [B][U] Final Conclusions[/U][/B] It’s next to impossible to find much fault with the [B][I]Premium Spell Compendium 3.5[/I][/B], being a “faithful” reproduction of the original with all the errata added in, and bearing an awesome looking cover. If you play [B][I]D&D 3.5[/I][/B] or [B][I]d20[/I][/B] variant thereof, I can honestly say this is one of those “must-have” products to keep at the gaming table just to help the session run smoother by having at the ready, a complete and easily referenced compendium of all types of spells. So the real question comes down to cost: is it worth it to buy this Premium Edition when there are so many copies of the first printing out there for sale? I checked the prices at both [I]Amazon.com[/I] and [I]Ebay[/I], finding the original version of the [B][I]Spell Compendium[/I][/B] (used) for $29.00 and $25.00 respectively. Of course, there is shipping involved in both cases. So if you don’t own the original sourcebook, the new [B][I]Premium Spell Compendium 3.5[/I][/B] is a comparable buy (at least it is from Amazon.com after the discount). But even if you already own a [B][I]Spell Compendium[/I][/B], the new [B][I]Premium[/I][/B] version is still worth a look – it’s a gorgeous book and very handy to have around when spells start flying around. [I] So until next Review… I wish you Happy Gaming![/I] [B] Author’s Note[/B]: This Reviewer received a complimentary copy of the product from which the review was written. [B][U] Grade Card (Ratings 1 to 5)[/U][/B][/SIZE] [LIST] [*][SIZE=3][B]Presentation[/B]: 4.75[/SIZE] [*][SIZE=3]- [B]Design[/B]: 4.5[/SIZE] [*][SIZE=3]- [B]Illustrations[/B]: 5[/SIZE] [*][SIZE=3][B]Content[/B]: 4.5[/SIZE] [*][SIZE=3]- [B]Crunch[/B]: 5[/SIZE] [*][SIZE=3]- [B]Fluff[/B]: 4[/SIZE] [*][SIZE=3][B]Value[/B]: 3.5[/SIZE] [/LIST] [SIZE=3] [B][U]Special Announcement[/U][/B]: [B] BlackStar Studios[/B] is in the final hours of their [URL="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/shadowlands/the-shadowlands-campaign-setting-guidebook-for-pat?ref=card"][B]Kickstarter for [I]The Shadowlands[/I][/B][/URL] – a new [B]Pathfinder RPG[/B] Campaign Setting! They are already fully funded, but are still trying to reach even more Stretch Goals, so check it out and donate. By the way, this setting sounds amazing, and I will be doing a review of [I][B]The Shadowlands[/B][/I] as soon possible! You can find out more about the setting on the [URL="http://www.saemyyr.com/"][B]Official Site[/B][/URL]. [/SIZE] [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Review of Premium Spell Compendium v3.5 by Wizards of the Coast
Top