Splatbooks

[Trevalon Moonleirion]

One of my players picked up Masters of the Wild not that long ago and from what I've gathered--and what he's asked me to use in the campaign--it seems like an awesome book. I'm not quite sure I picked up so many of the splatbooks, but MotW seems like the best of the best as far as what I've heard other people saw. Sword & Fist had one useful feat for my rogue character: dirty fighting. Sure it's only an extra 1d4 of damage...but any extra damage is nice!

 

[Mortaneus]

Here's a question:

What Prestige Classes from the splatbooks, and the core 3 for that matter, have you actually seen played?

I've seen:

Dwarven Defender
Loremaster
Duelist
Weapon Master
Mindbender
Spell Sword
Bladesinger (the errata'd one)
Hunter of the Dead
Ghostwalker
Tempest
Arcane Trickster
Templar
Holy Liberator
Contemplative


BTW, I'd like to see someone use a candle caster as an evil-midnight-bomber-what-bombs-at-midnight
sort of character. Try this one:

Use the double dip candle, the one that has two spells, one that goes off after the other one fades. Have the top be invisibility (cast on the candle). The bottom would be fireball/dbf/etc, again centered on the candle. Instant time bomb, and one that could be a pain in the butt to find.

 

[gariig]

The Splatbooks are good, just some are better than others. Song and Silence to me was the most disappointing of all, it was fairly bland throughout. Sword and Fist is good if you look beyond the editting errors, and there are only a few REALLY bad ones. Also, S&F has a few rule questions in it, but it's also WoTC first Splat so give them slack. Tome and Blood, Defends of the Faith, and Wasters of the Wild are AWESOME, there's very interesting prestige classes and rules clarifications. I would highly suggest those to anyone looking for more crunch with a little flavor.

Gariig

 

[Katerek]

I have all the splatbooks and they have seen quite a bit of use in my game.

My players have pulled PrC from each, or at very least discussed many of them as viable. Granted, we have to tweak every PrC but that is due to the nature of my campaign, not the books.

One think I have done though is place a few things on the official "banned" list. I have a rule, that no player can play with a feat or rule or class etc that comes from a book that I myself do not own. Further more everything is optional, except core books.

Monkey Grip and Drunken MAster both got placed on the banned list in my game. There was another PrC out of T&B that was some type of Johnny Teleport, but I cannot remember its name, it too is banned.

 

[Storm Raven]

Monkey Grip and Drunken MAster both got placed on the banned list in my game. There was another PrC out of T&B that was some type of Johnny Teleport, but I cannot remember its name, it too is banned.

I believe the PrC you are thinking of is the Wayfarer.

On Monkey Grip, did you ban it for perceived balance reasons or just because you didn't like the flavor? Because it is balanced pretty well, it is fairly comparable to a weapon specific limited version of Power Attack.

 

[ForceUser]

I bought Sword & Fist, excited and heady on 3E. Hm. Not as good as I expected, but decent.

I bought Defenders of the Faith with expectations slightly lower. I wasn't disappointed - it was about right where I expected to be in terms of creativity. Prestige classes were beginning to bring back disturbing images of 2E kits. The splatbooks were beginning to remind me of the Complete Crap Handbooks.

Weathering on, I had higher hopes for Tome & Blood and was NOT disappointed. This book is fantastic and easily the best of the lot. Still, a bit jaded, I stopped buying splatbooks. My friend picked up Song & Silence and I leafed through it - yawn. Someone else eagerly swiped Master of the Wild - I haven't bothered to do more than look at the art in this one (snooze).

Overall, they were disappointing.

 

[Wolfen Priest]

To me, MotW was in a different category than all the others. It's a very good book, the best of the splatz.

T&B was also very good IMO, and the most creative of the bunch.

I agree that S&F was a little underrated by the online community. It was full of good ideas and creativity.

DotF was about what I expected, but, aside from the feats (which are very, very good) I don't allow any of it. Spikes anyone?

S&S was garbage. I allow the feats (as I do for all splatbooks), but even they are pretty bad.

 

[Tiefling]

They're called splatbooks because using the stuff in them helps you make things go SPLAT.

 

[JohnClark]

Here's a question:

What Prestige Classes from the splatbooks, and the core 3 for that matter, have you actually seen played?

In the games I've played in I've seen:
Arcane Archer
Dragon Disciple (though the dm changed it to give you spell casting every other level)
Elemental Savant
Mind Bender
Divine Disciple
Holy Liberator (which I don't like much, gives you all the paladin stuff with none of the draw backs, just my opinion though)
Ninja of the crescent moon (love this, I played a drow monk and it rocked)
Order of the bow initiate
Dwarven Defender

 

[Tsyr]

They're called splatbooks because using the stuff in them helps you make things go SPLAT.

Actualy, it's a rather dumb story, but that's not the correct one Tief