What makes a good splatbook?

[TerraDave]

The Complete Priest's Handbook helped explain one of the best parts of 2e: Priests of different faiths. Lots of neato ways to customize the character in thematic ways! But there were no guidelines to make a good balanced class this way. So the DM was stuck trying to tweak and balance and check and redo and everything with very little support.

SNIP

How would you feel about a splatbook that discussed how to make a culture or a religion for a campaign world? How to balance the powers right?

Ah, but that is really a DMs book...

...its also the book that Complete Priest should have been, and Deities and Demigods should have had a lot more of (versus the very tepid material like this it did contain). Oh, as for culture, the Races books should have been.

So I would feel good about it.

 

[InVinoVeritas]

Ah, but that is really a DMs book...

...its also the book that Complete Priest should have been, and Deities and Demigods should have had a lot more of (versus the very tepid material like this it did contain). Oh, as for culture, the Races books should have been.

So I would feel good about it.

Excellent note.

If it's about a group, cabal, secret society, etc., then typically a player can make up some of the particulars, hand them to the DM, and the DM can figure out a way to make it work in the world, no problem. However, that's much harder to do with a culture or public religion. That responsibility in many cases is best given to the DM and only the DM, without the influence of the players. "How to build a religion" is good for a splatbook, but it's quite squarely a DM tool, not a players' tool. Splatbooks are typically considered players' tools, so it muddies the role of the game.

The more I think about it, the more I think that a book dedicated to how to build religions and pantheons would be of interest. If anyone wants to see a book tenuously titled "Pantheons for Your Campaign: How to Build a World of Religions" let me know... and find me a publisher.

 

[kinem]

A good splatbook should not require you to buy 3 other splatbooks just to maintain balance (in terms of options and power) between classes in a campaign. So ... I'm not a fan of class splatbooks. I never bought one, because I'd have to buy the rest if I did whether I liked them or not.

 

[InVinoVeritas]

A good splatbook should not require you to buy 3 other splatbooks just to maintain balance (in terms of options and power) between classes in a campaign. So ... I'm not a fan of class splatbooks. I never bought one, because I'd have to buy the rest if I did whether I liked them or not.

Another excellent point.

Many players like splatbooks because they add to the base splat's power. Oddly, it's also why many folks I've met didn't like the Complete Thief's Handbook, especially as the later books came out: the thief didn't really get extra powers as a result of the book. None of the kits were "worth taking."

If a splatbook talked about splats in a way that added depth, but did not add any new mechanical benefits, would you be interested? What is the best balance between "adding power" and "remaining balanced"?

 

[Greg K]

A good splatbook should not require you to buy 3 other splatbooks just to maintain balance (in terms of options and power) between classes in a campaign. So ... I'm not a fan of class splatbooks. I never bought one, because I'd have to buy the rest if I did whether I liked them or not.

I don't see the need to buy any other books just because you bought one. For 3.5, I would allow very little from Complete Divine and even less from Complete Adventurer despite allowing allowing a good portion of Complete Warrior and many of the spells from Complete Arcane. It should be allowing what you, as the DM, consider to be adding what you consider to be quality material that fits your campaign.

 

[Khuxan]

I've only glimpsed through Hammer and Helm, but what impressed me there was the opening chapter which gave an array of different archetypes and roles dwarves could fill. That's very useful, because any one of those can inspire the direction I take dwarves in my campaign.

 

[prosfilaes]

Races of Stone annoyed me because instead of presenting what had been done before in D&D for dwarves and gnomes, it offered basically the stereotypes and then out of the blue Chaos Gnomes and Dream Dwarves. I understand they wanted to get rid of all the old settings, but it would have been so much more useful to offer the variations on gnomes and dwarves that were found in various older materials. If you're going to go original, at least make it good.

Races of the Wild annoyed me for tacking on a secret deity to the halfling pantheon. The exalted druid found the chaotic character masquerading as a priest of a lawful god in the first hour she showed up as an NPC.

 

[kinem]

If a splatbook talked about splats in a way that added depth, but did not add any new mechanical benefits, would you be interested? What is the best balance between "adding power" and "remaining balanced"?

I think it would be difficult to do. A splatbook has to be useful in-game as well as a good read.

Instead of class splatbooks, I'd prefer ones that focus on particular areas or themes - like the environment books, or a book that adds new spells and feats, etc.

Although I could certainly see the need for a book focusing on sneaky techniques, which would be more like "how to run a shadowrun adventure in D&D" than just "here are some feats that add damage to rogues' sneak attacks".

 

[ephemeron]

I'm about half convinced that a good splatbook is one that makes the splat more interesting without adding new rules -- problem is, I can't think of a splatbook that doesn't add new rules, so I suspect that all I've concluded is that I personally dislike splatbooks.

 

[Evilhalfling]

I liked the 2nd ed thief, priest and bard books, mostly for the world generation concepts,
like the detailed thief guilds, the priestly duties (marriage, crusade or education) for each diety - sorted by domain and interests not name. and the Bardic reputation that established bardic groupies, all the way to imitators.
Yes the specialty priests were underpowered compared to the base, while the bard kits could be overpowered. Fighters added the weapon styles - where sword and board ruled.

The 2ed wizards handbook was a big heap of meh. It added little to my world or my characters.