The Myth of the Bo9S's Popularity

[Dausuul]

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

What do these spellcasters do, throw direct-damage spells at everything? My experience is that a well-played caster can run circles around martial adepts, starting around level 11-12. Before that point, they're pretty even.

 

[Scribble]

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.

Over the top how?

In a world full of people that can cast all kinds of different spells... why can't people who use sword combos do the same.

 

[Brother MacLaren]

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.

Yes, it's possible to play an evoker, but it's not the only school you can specialize in. No, I take that back. An evoker is much less effective than a fighter against powerful foes (though better against mooks).

 

[JohnSnow]

Over the top how?

In a world full of people that can cast all kinds of different spells... why can't people who use sword combos do the same.

Because according to everything we've been told about the "martial" power source, it's supposed to represent more down-to-earth heroics.

Arcane blows stuff up with fire. Divine heals with positive energy.

Martial? They use their muscles to accomplish extraordinary feats. And running really fast just doesn't leave a fire trail. The flavor is wrong.

If "martial" characters could call up flames and step through shadows, they'd just be arcane by another name. And since we already have "arcane," that'd be silly.

That's not to say that "people" can't cast spells using sword combos. It's to say that characters that rely on the "martial" power source just don't do things like summoning fire from mid-air. That sounds to me like something that's perfect for an "arcane" character, though, like the promised Swordmage class.

 

[Mercule]

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is Anime now?

No, but it's an Eastern "animal name" and including it in the list amused me. Deal.

 

[Will]

Regarding fighters and 'I swing a lot.'

The only good exception I know of is a really well-built spiked chain specialist, who trips everything, constantly. They are very scary.

Generally, though, shields, simple weapons (spears, sigh), thrown weapons, and generalized fighters all pale next to the greatsword wielder with power attack.

Which is a real shame, but there you go.

 

[Henry]

If "martial" characters could call up flames and step through shadows, they'd just be arcane by another name. And since we already have "arcane," that'd be silly.

That's the way I've always felt about it, myself, usually garnered from most of the swords & sorcery I saw as a kid -- from Conan, to Ladyhawke, to Dragonslayer, to Excalibur. If someone who was a martial artist started walking on air, my first thought is, "where's the magic coming from?" "Training his body and mind" really wasn't sufficient for me. I'll accept a little reality-bending, like running up a wall for a few feet to make a jump, or slapping arrows out of the air, or making a 20-foot leap, but not a lot more before I have to get "magic" as an answer, and have it follow the rules for magic and anti-magic, etc.

 

[KarinsDad]

So there's no reason to call the book anything but popular. It follows the adage: When In Doubt, Declare Success!

Well, not exactly. The evidence we have to date is that the Bo9S is one of the better sellers at Amazon. It seems that WotC is declaring success due to success.

People should check out Amazon's Category Rankings: Entertainment / Puzzles & Games / Role Playing & Fantasy / Dungeons & Dragons

What Sales Rank Means

As an added service for customers, authors, publishers, artists, labels, and studios, we show how items in our catalog are selling. The lower the number, the higher the sales for that particular item. The calculation is based on Amazon.com sales and is updated each hour to reflect recent and historical sales of every item sold on Amazon.com. We hope you find the Amazon.com Sales Rank interesting!

What Category Sales Ranks Mean

While Amazon.com Sales Rank is a good indicator of how well a product is selling overall, it doesn't always indicate how popular an item is among other similar items. Our category sales ranks were created to highlight those categories where an item really stands out.

Bo9S is ranked 20 on that list.

#2 Rules Compendium Oct 2007
#4 Players Handbook Jul 2003
#5 Core Rulebook Set Sep 2003
#8 Magic Item Comp Mar 2007
#9 Dungeon Master's Guide Jul 2003
#10 Monster Manual Jul 2003
#11 Complete Scoundrel Jan 2007
#12 Player's Handbook II May 2006
#13 Complete Adventurer Jan 2005
#14 Complete Warrior Dec 2003
#15 Complete Arcane Nov 2004
#16 Monster Manual IV Jul 2006
#17 Dungeon Master's Guide II Jun 2005
#20 Book of Nine Swords Aug 2006

20 out of 790 results (many of which are paperback novels)

Realizing that recently released books will have better rankings than older books, it is still amazing that Bo9S beat out the entire Eberron hardbounds, the entire Forgotten Realms hardbounds, a few of the Complete Series (Complete Divine, Complete Psionics), the Races books, Unearthed Arcana, etc. WotC has put out more than a hundred hardbound books and Bo9S has beat most of them.

The Sales Rankings are misleading compared to the Category Rankings (which are still skewed somewhat by recent releases). In 6 months, Bo9S might be higher than Rules Compendium, Magic Item Compendium, and Complete Scoundrel due to how Amazon ranks these. Considering that it has been on the list for 1 1/2 years, it's pretty high up.


And statistically, Amazon is big enough that the rankings here are probably very close to WotC's rankings (except for the recent sales aspect).

All in all, the good sales of Bo9S does not appear to be a myth after all.

 

[Warbringer]

Setting Sun..Eh, definitely not anime derived. I'm not sure what style of combat one can say tripping/throwing is most like though.

Jujitsu, judo, akido ... definitely not anime derived, no conmnection whatsoever

 

[Warbringer]

It's certainly better drawn than Western cartoons.

Cheers, -- N

You dare draw comparisons to Scoobt Do???? Blasphemy