NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Trousers" data-source="post: 2009050" data-attributes="member: 4474">ST Cooley's first publication is targeted directly for players who wish to improve the mechanics for the 3E bard class as presented in the PHB (particularly bardic music).  If you don't play a bard or don't care about bards, don't bother reading this review and don't buy this book.For those of you who have lived under a rock, I will summarize the bard controversy as quickly as I can.  With the lid being taken off multiclass limitations in 3E, bards were left with the jack-of-all-trades abilities while a multiclass character seemed to be able to do most of the same things... and arguably better.  One of the only unique differentiators that set a bard apart from other classes was bardic music (the others being legend lore, arcane healing spells, and access to skills).  However, bardic music virtually ceases at ninth level.S T Cooley's The Enchiridion of Mystic Music was clearly designed to address the bardic music limitation by presenting over 70 bardic music abilities (dubbed "mystic music").  These abilities stay true to the spirit of the 3E bard and a little more, without making them a wizard or sorceror equivalent. Music is inspirational, can summon creatures, improves bonuses, and (shock horror) one can even cast some sonic damage.Quick rant: it will always be a very large source of bewilderment to me that in 3E, more monsters crop up who are able to do deal out scads of sonic damage while the class who is the sonic expert might be able to take Sound Burst and Shout... and that's about it...Anyway, there is a small XP cost to learning the mystic music: a rule that I think will sell mystic music to even the most conservative, guard-dog DM.  Furthermore, the guide for mentoring gives an option to this rules that can satisfy the more generous DMs (and whiny bard-players).There are one or two few mystic musics that seem misranked.  The Death Chant requires Perform at 13 ranks -- I am hoping this was a misprint.  That aside, I think the mystic music section is overall very well-balanced.  With 70 entries, I'd say that makes this book quite an acheivement and well worth it.Other sections:  There is a handy rule on Listening ranges. The feats matched the new music rules well.  The prestige classes were okay, but personally I'd like to playtest before giving an opinion.  The mystic composition section (scrolls for mystic music) was brief but useful.  The rest of the book is minor, but neat.Surpirisingly, the book completely avoids the 4 skill points vs. 6 skill points controversy (even so far as to not list the skill points in a summary of the class!), but I guess the author decided we could come to our own conclusions on the EN or WotC messageboards ;-)The negative?  What hit me hardest about the book was it's mostly hard-core rules but little in terms of flavor.  What colleges could be based around the new mystic music, how  they interact with each other, a few sample mentors, how prestige classes might be viewed on other planes...  even just seeing stats for the iconic bard mentioned in the book, are missing.  Personally, I enjoy this kind of detail, but I am finding that many d20 consumers find this extraneous.  Still, the improved building blocks are here for those things to be created on your own, and integrated how your campaign needs it.A few other minor things: Yes, there are almost no graphics (except the cover and the borders), but this is stated on the website that it's not there, so there are no false expectations.  Also with over 70 new mystic songs, a chart listing them in order of ranks requirement would have been nice, but I’m nitpicking here.So why pick up this book when you can grab the Monte Cook variant on bard?  For the record, I think Monte's bard kicks some serious butt.  It is excellent for those characters wishing to play a traditional bard with a lute or harp.  But those wanting to play an instrument that cannot play chords (drummer, pennywhistle, etc.) seemed to get cut out of some of the higher level spells.Conclusion:  if you're looking to play a bard or improve the bardic music abilites for the 3E bard, look no further.  This book makes the bard an actual class again and not a lame hybrid.  If you play a bard, I highly recommend picking it up.  It's $5 off RPGNow, and really... for five lousy bucks, why keep your bard stuck as a fool?</blockquote>

Verification