Song and Silence
- Thread starter IronWolf
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KDLadage
Explorer
entered on 06-MAY-03
I seem to recall reviewing this book before. I cannot recall seeing a notice that it would be removed, but I have to admit that some of my early reviews were lacking in details and so I can only assume that the masters of the review section of ENWorld took it down for good reason. Consider this update a new review.
As I said in my Masters of the Wild review: ...all of the Class Books ... for the most part ... I figure much of the book is written to the newbie who might not think of some of the things that the book presents (while a good many of us old timers will have already thought of it, it might not be something we thought to tell the newbie)... so on that mode of thinking, even such things as the Hero Builder's Guidebook are of value -- real, measurable value... This was my view then, this is my view now.
The volume opens up with a page of Introduction, What this book is, and is not, and How to use this book -- basically a brief synopsis (and the same stuff from the other volumes) to illustrate the goal in writing the book. Not bad, material.
Chapter I dives right into the Prestige Classes. Ten Prestige Classes are presented... of note are the Thief-Acrobat (bringing back memories of the old Unearthed Arcana days) and the Dungeon Delver (which seemed rather redundant in this game...). Most seem at least somewhat interesting and usable, without beeing to bad.
Chapter II is the Skills and Feats chapter. This chapter gives us a look at poisons and traps traps (which seem odly placed in this chapter) and then dive into the new uses for old skills section. The new Feats are interesting and rather utilitarian, although a few have some flavor to them, such as the Green Ear.
Chapter III covers equipment. The instruments section was the most intersting to me. The weapons and thieving tools were useful, but not as well written (in my opinion). However, this book also includes some interesting magical equipment as well.
Chapter IV covers organizations. The idea of the thieve;s guild is given ten worked examples from the neighborhood gang and the smuggler's cartel, to the all-too-common in D&D: the Assassin's Guild. Bardic colleges are also covered, and are handled in a way many may not have thought of before (I found my eyes opening a couple of times reading through it).
Chapter V goes into how BArds and Rogues fit into the world around them -- as well as some rather intersting combat tactics they can use to their advantage.
Chapter VI is new spells, which is to be expected in a book with a spell-casting class. The spells are nicely written and balanced. Some even felt as though they should have been in the core book ('Choir' for example).
THE CONCLUSION
The book is useful for beginners and teaching beginners the flexibility of the system. Additionally, it has some nice spells, and some good ideas on how to use Bards in your game that even an experienced cuss like me can use. I rate it as about average (close to above average; if this were a 10 point scale, I would give it +1 bump, but it does not rate that in a 5 points scale).
I seem to recall reviewing this book before. I cannot recall seeing a notice that it would be removed, but I have to admit that some of my early reviews were lacking in details and so I can only assume that the masters of the review section of ENWorld took it down for good reason. Consider this update a new review.
As I said in my Masters of the Wild review: ...all of the Class Books ... for the most part ... I figure much of the book is written to the newbie who might not think of some of the things that the book presents (while a good many of us old timers will have already thought of it, it might not be something we thought to tell the newbie)... so on that mode of thinking, even such things as the Hero Builder's Guidebook are of value -- real, measurable value... This was my view then, this is my view now.
The volume opens up with a page of Introduction, What this book is, and is not, and How to use this book -- basically a brief synopsis (and the same stuff from the other volumes) to illustrate the goal in writing the book. Not bad, material.
Chapter I dives right into the Prestige Classes. Ten Prestige Classes are presented... of note are the Thief-Acrobat (bringing back memories of the old Unearthed Arcana days) and the Dungeon Delver (which seemed rather redundant in this game...). Most seem at least somewhat interesting and usable, without beeing to bad.
Chapter II is the Skills and Feats chapter. This chapter gives us a look at poisons and traps traps (which seem odly placed in this chapter) and then dive into the new uses for old skills section. The new Feats are interesting and rather utilitarian, although a few have some flavor to them, such as the Green Ear.
Chapter III covers equipment. The instruments section was the most intersting to me. The weapons and thieving tools were useful, but not as well written (in my opinion). However, this book also includes some interesting magical equipment as well.
Chapter IV covers organizations. The idea of the thieve;s guild is given ten worked examples from the neighborhood gang and the smuggler's cartel, to the all-too-common in D&D: the Assassin's Guild. Bardic colleges are also covered, and are handled in a way many may not have thought of before (I found my eyes opening a couple of times reading through it).
Chapter V goes into how BArds and Rogues fit into the world around them -- as well as some rather intersting combat tactics they can use to their advantage.
Chapter VI is new spells, which is to be expected in a book with a spell-casting class. The spells are nicely written and balanced. Some even felt as though they should have been in the core book ('Choir' for example).
THE CONCLUSION
The book is useful for beginners and teaching beginners the flexibility of the system. Additionally, it has some nice spells, and some good ideas on how to use Bards in your game that even an experienced cuss like me can use. I rate it as about average (close to above average; if this were a 10 point scale, I would give it +1 bump, but it does not rate that in a 5 points scale).
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Song and Silence Review
Song and Silence is Wizard’s book for Rogues and Bards. While the book has some decent parts, I was most disappointed with this out of all of Wizards classbooks. However, there are some good parts to this book, so it will be useful to people. Just don’t expect it to overwhelm.
Chapter one is called Prestige Classes. Overall I some of the ideas are okay, however there is only one Bard prestige class. None of the classes jumped out and demanded to be played. After rereading them a few times, some started to look interesting. The Fang of Lolth is in my opinion the worst in the book. Basically, the character finds a magic item, tries to use it with use magical device, and then gets cursed and is forced to take this class. While the idea is at least creative, I can’t imagine doing this to a PC. The thief acrobat is a great class in theory, but the class turned out to be rather boring. The abilities read more like a list of feats then anything else. The last one is the Virtuoso, the only Bard prestige class in the book. This is the class if one wants his bard to become a great performer. He gets new bardic musical abilities (called Virtuoso performances) almost every level. Some of these can be quite helpful and powerful.
Chapter two is called Skills and Feats. It starts off with some descent poison crafting rules. Then it goes into some good crafting traps rules for a few pages and then offers even more traps. After is a small section on using skills in new ways. Other publishers have done this type of thing much better. I’d prefer Wizards either greatly improve this, or just leave it out. The variant tumble rules are great, though. It really helps reduce the power of a high tumble skill. The feats aren’t bad. Many are the +2 to two skills and they are really getting old. However, feats like Pyro and Disguise Spell make up for that.
Chapter Three is called Bards and Rogue Equipment. This is by far the best section of the book. The descriptions of the instruments and allowing them to alter the Bardic Music abilities are great. The sidebar on Undead Bards is really good and it’s covers something that few people think of. The new weapons are okay, and might be just what a rogue is looking for. The new thief gear is well done. The new magical items are well done and nice simple utility items are always welcomed in my game.
Chapter Four is called Organizations for Bards and Rogues. This section talks about thieves’ guilds and Bardic Colleges. For the most part this section is well written and easily usable. At the very least this section is a good read for helping DMs create their own organizations.
Chapter 5 is called You and the World around You. It starts with talking about playing rogues and bards. It deals with topics that new gamers and players new to these classes or just looking for a little extra inspiration will find interesting. This chapter also deals special combat options. This is a useful, section for dealing with flanking and sneak attacks. Even and experienced DM should read this section at least once as these things can easily be run wrong.
Chapter 6 is called Spells. The best thing about this section is it adds spells to the Assassin’s spell list (Assassin Prestige Class from the DMG). I was actually happy with the spells in this book. I found many of the bard spells very creative and useful.
Overall I think this is the most hit and miss of the class books. Rogues and Bards have a lot of potential and I think this book for the most part failed to have them live up to that. However, there are many useful sections and it is a handy book for filling in some of the details for these characters.
Song and Silence is Wizard’s book for Rogues and Bards. While the book has some decent parts, I was most disappointed with this out of all of Wizards classbooks. However, there are some good parts to this book, so it will be useful to people. Just don’t expect it to overwhelm.
Chapter one is called Prestige Classes. Overall I some of the ideas are okay, however there is only one Bard prestige class. None of the classes jumped out and demanded to be played. After rereading them a few times, some started to look interesting. The Fang of Lolth is in my opinion the worst in the book. Basically, the character finds a magic item, tries to use it with use magical device, and then gets cursed and is forced to take this class. While the idea is at least creative, I can’t imagine doing this to a PC. The thief acrobat is a great class in theory, but the class turned out to be rather boring. The abilities read more like a list of feats then anything else. The last one is the Virtuoso, the only Bard prestige class in the book. This is the class if one wants his bard to become a great performer. He gets new bardic musical abilities (called Virtuoso performances) almost every level. Some of these can be quite helpful and powerful.
Chapter two is called Skills and Feats. It starts off with some descent poison crafting rules. Then it goes into some good crafting traps rules for a few pages and then offers even more traps. After is a small section on using skills in new ways. Other publishers have done this type of thing much better. I’d prefer Wizards either greatly improve this, or just leave it out. The variant tumble rules are great, though. It really helps reduce the power of a high tumble skill. The feats aren’t bad. Many are the +2 to two skills and they are really getting old. However, feats like Pyro and Disguise Spell make up for that.
Chapter Three is called Bards and Rogue Equipment. This is by far the best section of the book. The descriptions of the instruments and allowing them to alter the Bardic Music abilities are great. The sidebar on Undead Bards is really good and it’s covers something that few people think of. The new weapons are okay, and might be just what a rogue is looking for. The new thief gear is well done. The new magical items are well done and nice simple utility items are always welcomed in my game.
Chapter Four is called Organizations for Bards and Rogues. This section talks about thieves’ guilds and Bardic Colleges. For the most part this section is well written and easily usable. At the very least this section is a good read for helping DMs create their own organizations.
Chapter 5 is called You and the World around You. It starts with talking about playing rogues and bards. It deals with topics that new gamers and players new to these classes or just looking for a little extra inspiration will find interesting. This chapter also deals special combat options. This is a useful, section for dealing with flanking and sneak attacks. Even and experienced DM should read this section at least once as these things can easily be run wrong.
Chapter 6 is called Spells. The best thing about this section is it adds spells to the Assassin’s spell list (Assassin Prestige Class from the DMG). I was actually happy with the spells in this book. I found many of the bard spells very creative and useful.
Overall I think this is the most hit and miss of the class books. Rogues and Bards have a lot of potential and I think this book for the most part failed to have them live up to that. However, there are many useful sections and it is a handy book for filling in some of the details for these characters.
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