I've got it. It's pretty much what they advertise- a large assortment of talent trees that you can add into the game. Like any other crunch collection, there's going to be stuff some like and stuff others don't.
The Strong talents are about what you'd expect: bonuses to grappling, throwing things, etc. A couple of standouts are "Like a Rock", which adds a natural armor bonus to the character, and "Mighty", which allows them to add a morale bonus to a saving throw once/day. It's good to see stuff that isn't directly related to damage for the Strong tree, but I'm not sure how well either of these fits.
The Fast Hero gets a couple of skill bonus trees for things such as stealth or driving. I like these- skills are a big part of D20 Mod, so there should be more of them in the talent trees. The Finesse tree is the one to watch out for- it starts with Weapon Finesse, then moves to Masterful Finesse (use Dex instead of Str to calculate damage on light melee weapons), then Rapid Precision, which essentially combines the two (add Str and Dex into damage). This is the most likely to cause problems with people- I've gotten into the melee dam based on Dex discussion before, and people seem to like it or hate it. The final tree allows the Fast Hero to get some concealment bonuses (a la Blur) through moving fast. This may be too cinematic for some games, but it does require an action point each time, so it's not something that will get used too much.
Tough heros can get spell resistance equal to class level + 8, and going up from there. It strikes me as pretty powerful, especially since most spellcasters are only adding their caster level (from 1-10) into the roll to overcome it. Also, they don't say whether the SR is constant or whether it goes up every level due to the equation. They also get "toxin resistance" which grants a +4 bonus to saves vs poisons, disease, etc. It's much more balanced and makes a lot of sense for a Tough hero to have.
For Smart heros, Fast Learner starts out good (extra skill points) but then allows things like increasing the max skill ranks, which of course could open up advanced or prestige classess too early. Quick thinking is better, which adds the Int bonus into initiative, certain skills or saves. The tactical tree allows the Smart hero to observe an opponent for a time and then get various attack or defense bonuses against them.
The Dedicated Hero talents are another mixed bag. I dislike the Animal Friendship tree, which eventually allows them to get animal companions similar to druids. This seems really overly-specific to me, there's not many dedicated heros who would go for it (at least RP-wise; I'm sure plenty of players would take it without reason). Also, the tree is something like seven talents long, which is really ridiculous- the description of the tree is like three pages. This is really something an advanced class should be built around.
The Oracle talent gives some abilities that mimic low-level divinations; again, not too useful in non-FX games. It might be good for a low-FX game, though, if you want someone who can read the cards or whatnot to go along with the Occultist. Selfless (adding bonuses to other PCs at a penalty to oneself) is a good idea, but only the first level really works- the second uses the wealth system (take it or leave it), the third uses the transplant rules (see below). I'd have preferred something along the lines of the Pointman from Spycraft- this is similar to what the Virtuous tree does (granting bonuses to encourage allies), but it has more of a divine faith kind of feel.
Finally, Charismantic: the Efficacious tree adds bonuses to manipulating people and seems to mirror the basic Charm tree pretty closely. The facetious tree gives taunt abilities useful for distraction or angering enemies. I like the Intimidating talent tree the best- it's not something people normally associate with Charismatic heros. Finally we have the Pulchritudinous tree- definately not a phrase you see every day. It also duplicates some of the charm talent tree, and ends with a character that can stun others with their mere presence/appearance- again, much more of a cinematic FX type ability.
As mentioned above, theres the extra transplant rules, which make no sense to me. It basically allows the surgeon (using Treat Injury) transfer hps from a donor to a wounded patient. It also allows for the use of recently dead "donors", which I find both unbalanced and counterintuitive. They also have some rejection rules. All told, this is my least favorite thing in the book- HPs do not map directly to blood or tissue IMO, and this is way too meta-game for me.
All told, I'd say the book was average. I'd use about half of it if running an FX game, or a third in any game. Some of the talents are good ideas but need work, and many of them seems to be far too complicated for what a talent is meant to do. I'll get some use out of this, but I'm glad I bought it while it was on sale.
