The Myth of the Bo9S's Popularity

[The Little Raven]

The popularity claim rang hollow with me when I first read it. Going only by my personal experience, I've seen the book only once in a bookstore while I've seen most of the other WotC books multiple times (presumably because they were purchased and restocked). I don't know any D&D gamers who actually own it.

So, you say one book isn't selling because you don't see it on the shelves, and another is selling better because you always see it on the shelves? That's funny. That's like saying the PlayStation3 is outselling the Wii because you can't find the Wii anywhere, but can find PlayStation3 all over the place.

 

[Brother MacLaren]

True, but misleading -- since IMNSHO the melee classes weren't balanced against spellcasters in the first place, and the Martial Adepts are.

Depends, of course, on which splatbooks you allow. For my campaign, I allowed all of the feats from CAdv and CWar; I was much more restrictive on the spells and feats from CArc and CDiv. The balance would, I think, have been about right if the players had been powergaming to an equal extent (as it turned out, the Brb/Ftr was by far the most dominant offense through the end of the campaign at level 11).

 

[Nifft]

(as it turned out, the Brb/Ftr was by far the most dominant offense through the end of the campaign at level 11).

I do make special mention of Barbarians in the post you quoted.

Cheers, -- N

 

[BryonD]

True, but misleading -- since IMNSHO the melee classes weren't balanced against spellcasters in the first place, and the Martial Adepts are.

Except the part where fighters hold up quite well with spell casters and Martial Adepts run circles around spellcasters. Other than that I agree.

 

[BryonD]

So, you say one book isn't selling because you don't see it on the shelves, and another is selling better because you always see it on the shelves? That's funny. That's like saying the PlayStation3 is outselling the Wii because you can't find the Wii anywhere, but can find PlayStation3 all over the place.

Unlike the Wii, I'm pretty certain no one was standing in line to buy out shipments of Bo9S as quick as they came in. Not a valid comparison at all.

 

[The Little Raven]

Unlike the Wii, I'm pretty certain no one was standing in line to buy out shipments of Bo9S as quick as they came in. Not a valid comparison at all.

Completely valid.

Saying "Hey, this book isn't on the shelves at my FLGS means that it isn't selling." completely ignores the fact that it might not stay on the shelves because it's selling out every copy.

Saying "Hey, this book is on the shelves at my FLGS every time I go in, that means it's selling." completely ignores the fact that it might be staying on the shelves because it's not selling, so he's seeing the same copies every time he goes.

 

[Henry]

Anecdotal Evidence: Book of 9 Swords is pretty popular in my gaming group, particularly among three of the gamers. Several characters in the past four or five campaigns have either been classes from the book, or at the very least used feats from the book, in particular the "Martial Study" feat, which gives Maneuvers to the peons.

I finally gave in to wickedness a few months ago, and started a Crusader of Bane. I'll admit, I enjoy playing him, in particular smashing the HELL out of something with Mountain Hammer or Divine Surge, but I also note I'm picking the same 5 maneuvers over, and over, and over again, because they work so well, and leave conventional warriors like Barbarians and Paladins in the dust...

 

[The Little Raven]

Anecdotal Evidence: Book of 9 Swords is pretty popular in my gaming group, particularly among three of the gamers.

Another piece of anecdotal evidence... My group consist of 6 people, and among us, we have 3 PHBs, 2 MMs, 2 DMGs, and 6 copies of Bo9S.

 

[Nifft]

Except the part where fighters hold up quite well with spell casters and Martial Adepts run circles around spellcasters. Other than that I agree.

I suspect we've seen different people playing spellcasters -- I'll concede that it's possible to play a spellcaster who's as ineffective as a Fighter, but that's not the only way to play one.

Cheers, -- N

 

[JohnSnow]

I suspect we'll see the more flashy Swordsage powers show up when they finally gets around to giving us the promised Swordmage class.

For an arcane defender, those powers seem pretty reasonable.

For "martial" characters? Yeah, some of them (Shadowhand, Desert Wind) are a little over-the-top.