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

[Pants]

* By law, all WotC products must contain at least one twinky elf PrC or subrace.

rofl

Slayer of Domiel - exalted assassin (!)

w00t!
I must have this book. Damn my being poor!

 

[Gallo22]

Because the situation described is so utterly ridiculous and hackneyed as to be irrelevant. Two beings of utter evil incarnate stand before the Paladin, no doubt guilty of endless depravity and wickedness throughout their existences. But they "love" each other, so it constitutes a moral crisis as to the proper course of action? Please.

Evil BBEG: Behold, I shall soon massacre the entire village below with my amazingly painful spell of doom.

Paladin: Nay, you shall not do so. Today you face the justice of the righteous, evil one.

Evil BBEG: Ha! You cannot harm me! I am in love with that Succubus over there! It will no doubt take you days of prayer and contemplation to come to a decision as to what your course of action should be, and by that time, it will be too late! BAHAHAHAHAAHAHA!

Paladin: NOOOOOOO.

A perfect example is Gollum from LoTR! Think about it! If he would have been killed just because he was evil and had evil intent, the whole ending of the story would have been different. It was goodness that knew he had a bigger part to plan...no?

I know this has nothing to do with the love issue, but it still have the same idea of what the book is trying to say. Atleast from my stand put.

Gallo22

 

[jasamcarl]

Ah, so no equivilants to the Fiend Lords/Dukes/whatever? Interesting. Not a big loss, but it might have been cool to have a high-level party face off against an anti-villian with some name-recognition...

 

[Gallo22]

I'd be interested to know how many of the pro, Book of Vile Darkness, fans are nay-saying this book? Interesting thought? Its funny how when the BoVD came out all the supporters it had, now a book that supports strong morals comes out and people are turning a nose up to it. Another interesting thought?

Gallo22

 

[Shadeus]

I'm not sure I like Resounding Blow.

If a Paladin is running around with a Keen Scimitar, he'll get people to make a save with 30% of his hits. The same Paladin with a Keen Pick would only force a save with 10% of his hits.

Those two weapons do equivalent average damage per hit and are supposed to be the same in virtually all ways - the Pick at the very least should force three saves or make people cower for three rounds on a failed save or something.

-Frank

I wouldn't worry too much about paladins. A pure paladin needs to be level 11 before he can get 7 ranks. But your argument still holds. I hope there is another requirement or you are going to have barbarians running around with falchions all over the place.

 

[LuYangShih]

I appreciate the idea of Mercy Vs. Justice. That is a valid moral quandary, requiring both temperance and wisdom to be dealt with appropiately. It is also an issue that will vary from encounter to encounter. What I would have liked to see are examples of such quandaries, and an explanation of how the D&D alignment system works in such situations. Is it Good to forgive a serial killer who has changed his ways, or is it Good to bring him to justice for those crimes? But instead of addressing said questions, this book apparenty does nothing but add more difficult situations for DMs and players to argue over. Which holds no interest for me.

 

[MeepoTheMighty]

I'd be interested to know how many of the pro, Book of Vile Darkness, fans are nay-saying this book? Interesting thought? Its funny how when the BoVD came out all the supporters it had, now a book that supports strong morals comes out and people are turning a nose up to it. Another interesting thought?

Gallo22

I've seen exactly one person turn up his nose to this book so far. I loved the BoVD, and it looks like this book will be quite good too.

 

[LuYangShih]

The BoVD was a superior product, written by perhaps the most well known and well respected author amongst the D&D community. The BoED does not share that distinction, so it is only natural people view it with more skepticism.

 

[Isida Kep'Tukari]

In regards to defining good: As the Book of Vile Darkness explained how various acts are evil, so the Book of Exalted Deeds describes how certain acts are good.

 

[Gallo22]

I've seen exactly one person turn up his nose to this book so far. I loved the BoVD, and it looks like this book will be quite good too.

I'm just playing the devil's advocate Meepo, that's all!

Gallo22