Your least-favorite pre-3e D&D/AD&D books

[reiella]

CBoE, and the Player's Options Books.

The first for the reasons said, it depicted elves as pretty much 'The Best.' Player's Options was just a bit too broken for my tastes and just not in what I thought was the 'feel' of D&D.

 

[Norfleet]

CBoE, and the Player's Options Books.

The first for the reasons said, it depicted elves as pretty much 'The Best.' Player's Options was just a bit too broken for my tastes and just not in what I thought was the 'feel' of D&D.

Elves *ARE* the best. They're simply the greatest! Especially drow. Those are the best of the best. I've never tasted anything better. I recommend you try them, fried in butter.

 

[Dark Jezter]

Elves *ARE* the best. They're simply the greatest! Especially drow. Those are the best of the best. I've never tasted anything better. I recommend you try them, fried in butter.

I prefer my elves smothered in barbecue sauce, wrapped in foil, and cooked slowly over a grill for two and a half hours. Mmmm.... baby back elves... *drool*

 

[Ahrimon]

I prefer my elves smothered in barbecue sauce, wrapped in foil, and cooked slowly over a grill for two and a half hours. Mmmm.... baby back elves... *drool*

Personally I prefer my elves covered in baby oil and laid out on seran...Oh you were talking about something else. Don't mind me. *Strolls away whistling*

Ahrimon

 

[RichGreen]

my least favourites

Hi,

Here's my list:

Wilderness Survival Guide -- very dull indeed

Terrible Trouble at Tragidore

Guide to Hell -- this could have been a brilliant Planescape product.

FR8 Cities of Mystery -- nothing to do with FR, fold up cardboard buildings that didn't fold back down again.

Elves of Evermeet -- dull & useless. I was a great fan of the early FR stuff. By this time, it was being churned out without any real thought.

Cheers


Richard

 

[Echohawk]

Hmmmm... here are some real stinkers that nobody has mentioned yet:

• The two-volume Magic Encyclopedia (not the Encyclopedia Magica). This was simply a list of published magic items, but with no descriptions of the items. Utterly useless by itself.
• The Fighter/Wizard/Thief/Cleric's Screens and the Fighter/Wizard/Thief/Cleric's Player Packs. For me, these lunchbox-style products will always be a symbol of the lowest depths to which TSR's product range sank.

 

[Dark Jezter]

While we're in this thread, I just thought I'd list some other reasons why The Complete Book of Elves sucked:

Elven Plate Mail: It provides just as much protection as regular plate mail, but it only weighs as much as chainmail. It also allows for spellcasting while wearing it. And it can only be worn by elves.

Artifical Limbs: I thought this was AD&D, not The Six Million Dollar Elf. Elves (and only elves) can get severed limbs replaced by mithral prostetics that can be fitted with special attachments to provide bonuses to things like picking locks, climbing, etc.

The Stapling Shot: By making a called shot, elf archers can "staple" a target to a nearby object, immobilizing them.

The Double-Arrow Shot: By simply taking a -1 penalty on their attack roll, an elf can fire 2 arrows with a single pull of the bow, aiming them both at a single target or two seperate targets within a 60-degree arc.

Bladesong Fighting Style: Allows an elf to attack and parry in the same round without wasting additional attacks.

I'm not usually the kind of guy who bitches and moans about munchkins, but I can say with utter certainty that the CBoE is a wet dream for everybody who wants to play as a pointy-eared superman.

 

[S'mon]

It's funny actually, The Complete Priest's Handbook was the only 2e book that had broken rules in that they totally nerfed characters.

As a GM I loved the Complete Priest's Handbook - never used it in-game, though. The author correctly noted that the 2e Cleric was a lot more powerful than other 2e Core classes, and suggested ways to rectify this. Of course 3e took the opposite class and made the Cleric even more powerful than the other classes.

 

[Staffan]

I actually *liked* the Complete Priest's Handbook. It was an excellent resource when creating your own setting or if you needed priests on the fly (like in my Spelljammer campaign - "OK, this guy is a cleric of Thor, so I guess I'll use the Storm priest for him"). It wasn't meant to be used side-by-side with generic clerics, though, but I never liked generic clerics anyway.

As for a book I loathed... Black Flames (for Dark Sun). It's probably the suckiest adventure I've ever seen.

 

[Fevil]

The Complete rangers Handbook, specifically the Sea Ranger.

Parliament of Fish?!? pffft....what a waste of print and paper.