Reviews

[John Cooper]

I may have to follow your lead and start posting to RPG.net, Joe. I've got at least 5 reviews done since the EN World d20 Reviews site went down.

 

[MerricB]

True enough.

Heck, I'm still late on reviewing Red Hand of Doom and Complete Psion.

Talk about opposites! Loved the first one, found the second one, on a subject i love, very medicore.

I probably enjoyed Complete Psion more than you, Joe, because I don't love Psionics, and so the few bits that worked really interested me. (Powers - yawn! More Mindblade stuff - cool! New Racial levels - very cool!)

Still, it's definitely not a great book. Or possibly even a good one.

Cheers!

 

[JoeGKushner]

I probably enjoyed Complete Psion more than you, Joe, because I don't love Psionics, and so the few bits that worked really interested me. (Powers - yawn! More Mindblade stuff - cool! New Racial levels - very cool!)

Still, it's definitely not a great book. Or possibly even a good one.

Cheers!

That saddens me coming from the official optimist.

 

[JoeGKushner]

I may have to follow your lead and start posting to RPG.net, Joe. I've got at least 5 reviews done since the EN World d20 Reviews site went down.

Trust me, lot of people will be looking forward to the keen eye you bring to game mechanics. Might expose you to a new crowd (I'm not quite old hat over there but have been over there for a while too.)

 

[Psion]

I probably enjoyed Complete Psion more than you, Joe, because I don't love Psionics, and so the few bits that worked really interested me. (Powers - yawn! More Mindblade stuff - cool! New Racial levels - very cool!)

Still, it's definitely not a great book. Or possibly even a good one.

I was pretty down on the book at first. But oddly, it's growing on me.

I still think they dropped the ball in a number of ways. The divine mind still gives me heartburn, and I find the racial levels a waste of space (after you have reached your ECL in levels, do you really need to rattle off class levels to me) and they really butchered Kenson's Talaron stuff. But the ardent is growing on me, and the more subtle stuff you don't usually read deeply on first read like powers are rather nice.

And they finally nerfed most of the powers that really were begging for it. (I don't think hostile empathic transfer needed it, but the others... yeah. It's really sort of pathetic that the longtime posters at the WotC's psionics board are so invested in their "psionics can do no wrong" mantra that they don't see that these changes were a long time coming.)

 

[MerricB]

I find the racial levels a waste of space (after you have reached your ECL in levels, do you really need to rattle off class levels to me)

What happens before then is fascinating, though.

Consider the Githyanki. LA +2. Progression 1st-NA, 2nd-NA, 3rd-racial abilities+1st class, 4th-2nd class, etc?

Not how Complete Psionic handles it, at all.

1st - base traits, 1st class level
2nd - more traits
3rd - more traits, 2nd class level
4th - more traits
5th-11th - more traits each level, +1 class level.

It makes the race (a 0 racial hit die, LA race) playable from 1st level. If only they'd do that for drow. Very, very impressive. It's the next innovation after Savage Species and then the undead racial classes (templates).

Cheers!

 

[John Cooper]

Well, I just submitted 5 reviews to RPG.net. I wasn't aware that they take up to two weeks to actually post them, though. Odd - but I guess that's their way of weeding out phony reviews.

In any case, here are the ratings I came up with:

Tome of Magic: 3 (Average)
The Broken Isles: 4 (Good)
Fields of Ruin: 3 (Average)
Voyage of the Golden Dragon: 3 (Average)
Critical Locations: 4 (Good)

I'm reading through Hordes of the Abyss right now; I suppose it's only appropriate that the stat blocks thus far are fairly "abysmal."

 

[Jdvn1]

Heck, I'm still late on reviewing Red Hand of Doom and Complete Psion.

Talk about opposites! Loved the first one, found the second one, on a subject i love, very medicore.

Yeah, I felt the same way. Still, for a Psionics fan, it's almost a must-have just because there's relatively much less Psionic material.

 

[Jdvn1]

In any case, here are the ratings I came up with:

Tome of Magic: 3 (Average)

I wasn't a huge fan of this, but it does get more use than I expected.

 

[MerricB]

That saddens me coming from the official optimist.

Do you remember my review for Map Folio II?

OTOH, I love Fantastic Locations: Fields of Ruin. The King's Road map is being used again and again and again in my campaign.

Cheers!