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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ristamar" data-source="post: 260693" data-attributes="member: 1207">Well, here's my brief opinion of the book.  Take it for what it's worth...I think the ELH mostly accomplishes what it sets out to do.  Some of the criticisms raised against hold some merit, although, in my opinion, it receives more flak than it deserves.The new feats seem to be pretty solid, allow a breadth of diversity among high level characters (which is of primary importance, IMO) and adequately demonstrate what epic feats are capable of providing.  There isn't anything extremely creative about many of them, for the most part, but I think they easily fit well within any epic campaign.  The approach may be generic, but it also leaves the door wide open, inviting DM creativity and customization with new feats.The magic items are arguably bland.  On the other hand, they are no more bland than those found in the DMG.  Consider many of the <a href="http://www.opengamingfoundation.org/srd/srdmagicitemsartifacts.html" target="_blank">artifacts in the DMG</a>, such as the Staff of the Magi, St. Cuthbert's Mace, and the Shadowstaff.  Essentially, these items are nothing more than standard magic items that break the standard magic item creation limits, with a few containing some minor quirks.  What makes artifacts and epic items special is their history and background, of course, and this will always be the case.  If you hand them out freely, and/or every high level PC/NPC has one, they'll lose their sparkle.  At face value the epic weapon powers and abilities may appear to be uninsipired.  However, I think they're also necessary for balance and structure.  Looking at the chapter as a shopping catalog for powerful characters certainly puts it in a bad light.  It's a solid starting point for designing epic magic items.  Most WotC products containing new 'rules' for Magic Items seem to lack flavor (or 'soul') on a certain level, and the ELH is no exception.  However, if you're satisified with the approach WotC uses in books like the DMG or Magic of Faerun, you'll probably be content with Epic Magic Items.The Epic level spells/spell seeds is hands down the best part of the book.  Cool spells, open ended customization, limitless options.  Great stuff.The chapter on epic monsters manages to come close to rivaling the chapter on epic spellcasting in terms of usefulness and potential.  Yes, it does contain some templates that basically amount to "slap this on a monster to make it totally badass!" and oversized versions of older creatures (though this is not necessarily a bad thing), but there are plenty of creatures within it that are interesting enough to easily be the focus of entire campaign.I'm still undecided on the city of Union, as I haven't had the chance to look over most of the information in that section, and the organizations are hit and miss.  None seem to really stand out as being superb, but they do offer a few ideas on how high powered organizations may come together and operate.The alleged lack of soul in the product didn't bother me as much as the deficient advice provided on creating, balancing, and  running epic encounters and adventures.  The beginnings of the information is there, but it feels as if they should have added a bit more.  Overall, I'd give it a 4/5.  While it's not as inspiring and visionary as something like Manual of The Planes, it is a solid and logical extension of the Core Rules.  If you have any desire to run games with PC's reaching beyond 20th level, you should definitely own this book.</blockquote>

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