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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MonkeyBoy" data-source="post: 408368" data-attributes="member: 1229">slaineAfternoon <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />I feel a bit smug now.. having had this book for 2 weeks <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />Its certainly the best looking d20 book I've got, followed closely by the 3 core books and the ravenloft special edition (interior only for core books, exterior only for ravenloft)Its an interesting piece of D20, in that you realy only just need the PHB, just for the initial character generation and the XP table (the rest is SRDable), and it really does rewrite the d20 system to be very different from dnd3e - all very well done IMO.Some of the subject matter is quite dark; lots of human sacrifice, and a feat to improve your magical power through torture will not be to everyone's taste - something to be aware of if buying the book when you haven't read slaine...I bought this book with the intention of using bits of it while creating my new setting, so i've not looked into it as a "whole system", nevertheless, some thoughts on the subjects raised...Art;Sexy; best art i've ever seen in an rpg book, but then being a fan of the art of the slaine strips, thats a biased opinion. Nevertheless, the full-page art does an excellent job of giving the reader a view of the subject matter, and also making the book look like a high-value purchase.Honour System;Its an honour system, from my first read it looks as good as any other I've read, and suffers from all the problems of any other I've read - like the "full on" bardic reputation system from the old complete handbook. Its fine, and very detailed, but soooo much book keeping, and the ratings are open to "differences of interpretation". Horses for courses, I reckon. It did seem quite well balanced for the setting in mind though.Warp Spasm;Hrmm. Well I wasn't so sure why you needed earth power (i.e. "magic points") to go into spasm, or why it dealt damage if you were short. The rules for getting warped are somewhat complex; but then a warp is a big thing in the game, so slowing things down to allow for the full rules, and juicy descriptions, is about right. The higher end of the effects go a fair bit beyond what I recall from slaine's spasms, but there you go. Size increase, heat given off; again I don't recall these specifically from slaine, but they _are_ all in keeping with the wider celtic warrior-rage myths (cuchulain particularly). It all seemed good to me. (good mechanic of warping being out of reach of most, yet enabling a player to decide to play a warped character, btw, via a race for those without the book)Magic System;Yessss.Well, lets just say I won't be using that system (though I am using a magic point system, including the aspects of tapping earth power) I like to keep the ritual sacrifices for the villains IMC, and some of the spells are... less than tasteful <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> (pick your course and choose the horse again, really)I didn't see anything wrong with the magic from a setting or balance aspect; remembering that this is a setting where there are essentially ONLY druids casting magic...Core Classes (and Races);Again; in keeping with the setting. Seem fairly balanced against each other (obviously comparing to the _real_ core classes is nonsensical). The rogue seemed to lose a tiny bit of power, but then some of their skills became exclusive. Bard as a prestige class fits excellently in the whole "wider celtic setting" thing. The thing thats likely to stick in the "standard 3e" player's craw is the no multiclassing rule. But then rule 0 can apply here as much as to anything else... (again; this rule fits the setting, and has a good rationale behind it, but you'd not erode that much flavour by allowing MCing, though late entry to druid sticks out as a no-no to me, but thats a whole cletic-purity conceit - ignore at will!)To sum up; possibly the most pleasing RPG purchase I've made, though I agree, its a 4, not quite a 5.</blockquote>

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