Darrin Drader
Explorer
I went ahead and picked it up. I've just scratched the surface so far, but I'm not disappointed.
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NOW LIVE! Into the Woods--new character species, eerie monsters, and haunting villains to populate the woodlands of your D&D games.
The Book of Experimental Might: Now in Print!
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I picked it up. While a bunch of it is stuff I won't personally use (I don't play spellcasters...), a lot of it opens some doors that we've tried to houserule in games I've played in (feat swapping, taking a breather, 1st level hit points, etc). So, I'm happy with my purchase. 
It's nothing ground-breaking, just nice to have it in rules.
The feat-swapping is basically the same as PHB2 feat retraining.
1st level hit points are max hit die + Con score, rather than Con mod.
Taking a breather is a lot like the "Second Wind" concept, but a few more options: heal, refocus your attacks, try to shake off an on-going effect, etc, but can only be used once per encounter, and take an action to do.
I've been chatting with my normal DM about it... I'm hoping to use some of these rules in our next game
The feat-swapping is basically the same as PHB2 feat retraining.
1st level hit points are max hit die + Con score, rather than Con mod.
Taking a breather is a lot like the "Second Wind" concept, but a few more options: heal, refocus your attacks, try to shake off an on-going effect, etc, but can only be used once per encounter, and take an action to do.
I've been chatting with my normal DM about it... I'm hoping to use some of these rules in our next game
Darrin Drader
Explorer
I've read through most of the meat of the book now and I think the rules are very well done. I wouldn't mind seeing an alternate PHB with these rules incorporated so that you could just bring copies of this book rather than a whole book of what would function essentially like errata. It really is the "3.75" that would make the game more enjoyable in a lot of ways. In many ways, it mirrors a lot of what WotC appears to be doing to make 4E more playable.
Specifically, I like the 20 levels of spells, which is really a core concept to the book. It really simplifies the magic system. I'd imagine that this is similar to how 4E is going to work the spell slot system, and seeing how Monte implemented it, I can only imagine that the 4E version of the same will be very player friendly. I also like how healing, death and dying, and the magic using classes were reworked.
The only things that I feel should be addressed that isn't is attacks of opportunity balancing every special combat move, and simplifying grappling.
I also feel that Monte could have really competed with 4E with this product if he would have toyed with class progressions in a way that would extend the sweet spot out further. Of course extending out the sweet spot is already written into the core rules in the optional rule that would have you to double the XP threshold to gain each level.
Finally, I also like the conversational tone throughout this book. Not only does he present the new rules, but he does so in a manner that's just one gamer to another, and then he often explains his thoughts behind the design decisions.
All in all, I give this a 4.5 out 5 stars.
As an aside, I found it ironic how Monte alluded to the notion that he had planned on stepping out of RPGs altogether, but couldn't resist coming back in to keep tinkering with it. I can completely identify with this as I considered myself out of the design game just a couple months ago, but after about three or four months of having nothing on my plate, I've gotten back into it myself. I've taken on a project of great personal interest for a small publisher that has done some kickass stuff in the past, and I'm having a great time doing it again. No further comment than that, other than that I think once the game design bug has bit, the infection never really goes away. It will go into remission from time to time, but when it comes back, it hits with an all consuming fever, driving you to obsess over it until the project sees completion.... or something like that.
Specifically, I like the 20 levels of spells, which is really a core concept to the book. It really simplifies the magic system. I'd imagine that this is similar to how 4E is going to work the spell slot system, and seeing how Monte implemented it, I can only imagine that the 4E version of the same will be very player friendly. I also like how healing, death and dying, and the magic using classes were reworked.
The only things that I feel should be addressed that isn't is attacks of opportunity balancing every special combat move, and simplifying grappling.
I also feel that Monte could have really competed with 4E with this product if he would have toyed with class progressions in a way that would extend the sweet spot out further. Of course extending out the sweet spot is already written into the core rules in the optional rule that would have you to double the XP threshold to gain each level.
Finally, I also like the conversational tone throughout this book. Not only does he present the new rules, but he does so in a manner that's just one gamer to another, and then he often explains his thoughts behind the design decisions.
All in all, I give this a 4.5 out 5 stars.
As an aside, I found it ironic how Monte alluded to the notion that he had planned on stepping out of RPGs altogether, but couldn't resist coming back in to keep tinkering with it. I can completely identify with this as I considered myself out of the design game just a couple months ago, but after about three or four months of having nothing on my plate, I've gotten back into it myself. I've taken on a project of great personal interest for a small publisher that has done some kickass stuff in the past, and I'm having a great time doing it again. No further comment than that, other than that I think once the game design bug has bit, the infection never really goes away. It will go into remission from time to time, but when it comes back, it hits with an all consuming fever, driving you to obsess over it until the project sees completion.... or something like that.
Darrin Drader
Explorer
joela said:
This is one of those changes that I find appealing as a designer/DM - as in I wish I could design spellcasters for adventures using this system. Rather than having to stop and think, "OK, I need to check the spell progression of the character class to see how many of each level spells they have at 14th level, then factor in Int/Cha bonus," I could instead use this very uniform intuitive system, which would speed up the process of NPC spell selection.
The nine levels of spells were split up, but it was done according to the power of the spell. That means that you no longer get fireball at 5th level, but you do get lightning bolt, and then you can take fireball at 6th.
Disciplines
From MC's blog:
The other concept the changes center upon is to allow characters to go longer without needing to rest. To that end, recovering hit points is a bit easier, and spellcasters have so-called "disciplines" that grant them minor powers that are not expended the way prepared spells or spell slots are. In other words, once the wizard casts all his spells, he's still got a few things to do. As an interesting added effect, this also means that a cleric need give up none of their spellcasting resources in order to heal his friends.
Anyone had a chance to read up on disciplines? Are they similar to those "Reserve Feats" from Complete Mage(?) which allows sorcerer/wizards to use a minor spell-like ability as long as they hold a related spell in memory (e.g., cast a sorta "firebolt" as long as have a 3rd level or higher fire spell available)?
Or are disciplines similar to the upcoming 4e "per" paradigm? Or are they something completely different?
From MC's blog:
The other concept the changes center upon is to allow characters to go longer without needing to rest. To that end, recovering hit points is a bit easier, and spellcasters have so-called "disciplines" that grant them minor powers that are not expended the way prepared spells or spell slots are. In other words, once the wizard casts all his spells, he's still got a few things to do. As an interesting added effect, this also means that a cleric need give up none of their spellcasting resources in order to heal his friends.
Anyone had a chance to read up on disciplines? Are they similar to those "Reserve Feats" from Complete Mage(?) which allows sorcerer/wizards to use a minor spell-like ability as long as they hold a related spell in memory (e.g., cast a sorta "firebolt" as long as have a 3rd level or higher fire spell available)?
Or are disciplines similar to the upcoming 4e "per" paradigm? Or are they something completely different?
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