What is your take on the new(ish) 3.0 and 3.5
Manual of the Planes
Planewalker's Handbook
Beyond Countless Doors by Monte Cook?
How useful and applicable are they to the planescape genre?
Take on 3.5 books
Sun, 2006-01-15 21:55
#1
Take on 3.5 books
Sun, 2006-01-15 23:19
#3
Take on 3.5 books
The Planar Handbook is the weakest of the three (I really liked the other two, too), but it has some usable stuff in it. I like the buommans (though I'm apparently the only one on the planet who does).
Mon, 2006-01-16 00:21
#4
Take on 3.5 books
Buommans are neat. In general, I agree with the other two. Manual of the Planes and Beyond Countless Doorways are really neat. Planar Handbook has some usable stuff, but isn't nearly as good as the other two.
Mon, 2006-01-16 13:07
#5
Take on 3.5 books
The Planar Handbook is the weakest of the three (I really liked the other two, too), but it has some usable stuff in it. I like the buommans (though I'm apparently the only one on the planet who does).
I agree, but I believe the handbook was published largely to update the MotP to 3.5e, so very little 'new' material IMO.
(yay, first post!)
Mon, 2006-01-16 13:51
#6
Take on 3.5 books
I agree, but I believe the handbook was published largely to update the MotP to 3.5e, so very little 'new' material IMO.
No, it's actually almost entirely 'new' material (new to 3e, anyway). The only things updated from the MotP are the axiomatic and anarchic templates.
I think it was actually supposed to be something more like an update of 2e Planescape to 3.5. It accomplishes this with a few faction prestige classes and a fairly in-depth look at Sigil, but it didn't really satisfy the cravings of Planescape fans. There's also a lot of brand new material which got a decidedly unexcited response.
Mon, 2006-01-16 15:02
#7
Take on 3.5 books
*cough*touchstones*cough*
Mon, 2006-01-16 15:13
#8
Take on 3.5 books
I think it was actually supposed to be something more like an update of 2e Planescape to 3.5. It accomplishes this with a few faction prestige classes and a fairly in-depth look at Sigil, but it didn't really satisfy the cravings of Planescape fans. There's also a lot of brand new material which got a decidedly unexcited response.
Good point, does anyone like the 3.5 faction PrC's? I thought the idea was great (and overdue) but, as you said, lacklustre...
Mon, 2006-01-16 15:48
#9
Take on 3.5 books
(yay, first post!)
Yay! Nice to finally see you here!
Mon, 2006-01-16 15:52
#10
Take on 3.5 books
Good point, does anyone like the 3.5 faction PrC's?
I like them. The Sensate and Xaositect PrCs seem particularly effective.
Of course, I'd use them with the Planewalker PS3e feats and skills, and they certainly shouldn't be the only PrCs available for faction members. For example, Xaositect mages need a class seperate from the Chaosologist class in the Planar Handbook, which is primarily for fighters.
I like the flavor text for factions, too, even if some of the interpretations are slightly different (and seem very Cordell-influenced). There's room for many philosophies.
Mon, 2006-01-16 18:20
#11
Take on 3.5 books
I like them. The Sensate and Xaositect PrCs seem particularly effective.
Really? I'd say that the PH Sensate is ludicrously underpowered given the difficulty of its requirements.
FWIW, my preferred fix -- which I never got around to writing up explicitly -- was to make all those breakpoint levels (2, 5, 10? something like that) give you a "virtual level" in every single base class you have at the time you attain that Sensate level, as well as increasing by one the number of base classes in which you can multiclass without penalty. This seemed to be in keeping with the feel of a Sensate without being overpowered, again relative to the difficulty of meeting those damn requirements in the first place.
ETA: Forgot to mention that the increased BABs and saves don't stack across all classes (take the highest increment and gain that to your BAB or save instead), otherwise that would be truly grotesque. Also, you can modify the breakpoint levels so that you gain a virtual level in first one class, then two classes, then three classes &c if you're worried about someone splashing Sensate at high levels; I don't think it's a particularly great danger but I haven't really crunched the numbers yet.
Sat, 2006-01-28 11:43
#12
Take on 3.5 books
I really liked Beyound Countless Doorways and it was actually designed in a large part to be simply slid into a Planescape campaign or run on its own. Manual of the Planes is pretty decent in giving you updated 3.5 information for various things and you can use it with most of the Fluff from older Planescape Products. Obviously if you want to stay in the Planar organization of Planescape/second edition just toss the planar alinement stuff they have in Manual of the Planes.
Also I know you didn't mention it but I wouldn't touch the new Deities and Demigods if I needed Toilet Paper. If you need details I wrote a review on it about a year ago that is posted in the reviews section.
Fri, 2006-02-17 04:17
#13
Take on 3.5 books
Manual of the planes is as good as the old MoTP, more or less. I love that book 
I don't have planar handbook, but I've read it and it's terrible
Don't know about countless doorways but it looks great from what I've heard
I have Deities&Demigods (it was on extreme discount). It's just a bunch of stats, but for someone as unfamiliar with gods as me, it's a nice reference book. Also, from time to time, I love to open the book at random page and tell players "hello, I'm Wee Jas, your friendly goddess of death. And how are you this morning?", but then again, I'm the person who thinks that munchkin monster manual has great monsters to encounter in elysium 
Manual of the Planes -
I've heard it described as Planescape-Lite, but I really liked it. It's what first made me interested in the Planes. Its a good framework, but its obvious that there's more beyond it, holes that need filling. My hunt into filling those holes introduced me to Planescape.
It gave templates for some planar stuff (Elemental creatures), some interesting alternate planes, and greatly simplified the planar traits into easy to use traits. I give it two thumbs up.
Beyond Countless Doorways -
I really, really liked it. It has lots of cool stuff. The cover art alone is intriguing and makes me want to write things (note: You never DO find out who that hair lady on the cover is...). It takes worse to jam into Planescape, but its definitely usable and very intriguing.
Planar Handbook -
I have not read it in detail. I like some of the races and it gives stuff which we can use but, honestly, I cannot comment.