The Book of Exalted Deeds - It's Here! (merged - full ToC posted)

[Ruvion]

Uh oh...I sense wicked flames of righteous fury directed at thee.

On an unrelated note, I seriously tire of the female-female pairings seen in so many RPG products nowadays. It is blatant pandering, and does not really fit within the framework of most fantasy worlds.

 

[BOZ]

The archons, guardinals, and eladrins have their rulers, leaders, and exemplars on the celestial planes where good holds sway. These celestial paragons share much in common with each other and also bear certain similarities to their archfiend counterparts on the Lower Planes.

hmm... when this book comes out, i might just have to start up my celestial lords threads again.

 

[Joshua Randall]

BoED Table of Contents

My last gift to y'all before I have to go...


Introduction
Chapter 1: The Nature of Good
Exalted Deeds
The Straight and Narrow
Law, Chaos, and Good
Playing a Hero
Exalted Characters
Sin and Atonement
Exalted Adventures
Chapter 2: Variant Rules
Channeling
Exalted Cohorts
Exalted Gods
Exorcism
Heroes of the Heavens
Heroic Sacrific
Mercy, Prisoners, and Redemption
Sainthood
Tithes and Offerings
Voluntary Poverty
Waging Peace
Words of Creation [extremely cool]
Chapter 3: Exalted Equipment
Sanctified Weapons
Nonlethal Damage
Ravages and Afflictions [exalted poisons!]
Relics
Optional Material Components
Special Materials
Chapter 4: Feats
Chapter 5: Prestige Classes
[see list previous in thread]
Chapter 6: Magic
Good Spells
Spell Lists
Cleric Domains
Spell Descriptions
Magic Items
Redeeming Evil Magic Items [also extremely cool]
Irredeemable Evil Items
Chapter 7: Celestial Paragons
Celestial Paragons in Your Game
Celestial Paragons and Clerics
The Upper Planes
Law and Chaos in the Heavens
The Celestial Hebdomad
Talisid and the Five Companions
The Court of Stars
Celestial Planar Allies
Chapter 8: Monsters
[see list previous in thread]
Appendix: Index of Celestials


Enjoy.

 

[Darrin Drader]

No questions for one of the authors of the book now that I am free to talk about it? I guess I'll go do something else.

 

[Simplicity]

The book looks quite nice to me so far. There's a lot of
stuff about redeeming evil characters and evil magic items.
What does a paladin do with an evil magic item that they find?
They can't use it... They can't sell it unless they want some other
evil creature to put their hands on it. Interesting stuff.

The book also deals with holy vows. Vows of poverty, of non-violence,
of abstinence, etc. They actually look to make new ideas for characters
viable concepts. Yes, you could actually play a paladin who refuses
any equipment, and gives away EVERYTHING. And I don't think you'd
do so badly in the game.

In the paladin meets the two succubi example, I thought it was
dumb at first too. But then I thought about it. The real question
is: if such creatures were evil incarnate, could they truly experience
love? If their love was real, then that would indicate that they
might not be as evil as they seem. Perhaps, if they could feel true
love for each other, they might be redeemed. If an angel can fall,
who's to say a devil can't rise.

As for whether the picture is "pandering", the fact that the paladin is
a rather unattractive female half-orc makes that argument a little
more difficult to make.

 

[Gez]

Can you describe a bit all that Joshua has dubbed [extremely cool] ?

Also, what's the rational between "exalted" poisons and diseases?

What animal is the Musteval based on?

Are those solar exalted or lunar exalteds?

 

[Creamsteak]

I must have this friggen book.

 

[BOZ]

you missed the agathion and light angels, as well as the noviere guardinal and tome archons.

also, i noticed that the guardinal paragons were altered a bit... (can't remember the original names at the moment)

 

[Darrin Drader]

Can you describe a bit all that Joshua has dubbed [extremely cool] ?

If you're referring to the bit on redeeming evil, he did a pretty good defining it. It is different than the spell sanctify the wicked since even the text on redeeming evil says that creatures described as always evil are best slain when given the chance. sanctify the wicked is there specifically so that you can set up situations where either evil is not clear based on species, or on complex redemption issues.

One of my reasons for puting this in was that every oncein a while in my campaigns I'll have a creature that is supposed to be truly wicked help the party. In one case it was a barbed devil, in another case a lich with a number of undead followers. The explanation was always that the creature was evil and helping the party to further its own purposes. But then I started wondering how it might be possible for such creatures to convert to good. Even more interesting, what would a creature that has converted to good be like? How would a converted devil behave?

The answer that I came up with is that (1) These would probably be extremely rare because its much easier to fall into wickedness than it is to climb to righteousness, (2) The creatures would likely be hunted by their former compatriots. Do you really think Asmodeus is just going to let a wayward devil out of service because of a change of heart? Probably not. (3) Such creatures, in order to make an effort to fit in with good aligned societies would likely change their appearance and use anti-scrying spells or magic items to keep from being detected by those hunting them.

Also, what's the rational between "exalted" poisons and diseases?

The main idea is that it gives good creatures some options to use substances against their foes. It also gives the Slayer of Domiel some tools to use since the prestige class is essentially a good-aligned assassin class. The catch, of course, is that you can't use these indescriminently like evil creatures can with poisons. You can only use them against evil. What's nice about this is that it opens up the possibility of playing an assassin-type character to players or groups who don't feel comfortable alowing an evil character. When I was working on my part of the book, I was actually kind of bummed that James had already done this since I wanted to design something exactly along these lines myself.

What animal is the Musteval based on?

I didn't design it, but I'm fairly certain its based on the ferret.

Are those solar exalted or lunar exalteds?

Huh? :shakes head confusedly:

Another point that I'm very happy with is that this book doesn't just apply to paladins and clerics. Every character class an most prestige classes can become exalted characters. An exalted wizard puts a completely different spin on a well-known archtype.

 

[Gez]

So, words of creation is the good twin of dark speech ? And it can be used to help redeem evil ?

It's funny you mention the "evil helper" situation, since I have that IMC, sorta. They had to ask something to a lich (who itself is more amoral than immoral, being concerned only in arcane studies, and not wanting to give them up because of something so trivial as death), in exchange for a favor (to find and slay his shadow, that has left him, and is using his power to wreak havoc somewhere).


PS: Solar and lunar exalted was, of course, a reference to White Wolf's Exalted Game