Rate the splatbook!

[Anastasia]

Yeah, let's face it. D/D 3.5 has more side books, adventures and splatbooks than...well, uh...something something something. Oh well, the fact that I can't even finish the metaphor in my opening sentence isn't important. The important thing is that D/D has a crapload of splatbooks. Some of these are well known, some aren't so much. Experienced GMs find themselves reaching for these by choice or by player demand, so I think a resource to get feedback from other knowledgeable players would be nice. This has come up recently and this is inspired by Drac's topic. It's long segue into the Magic Item Compendium was interesting in it's own way.

Anyway, enough talking. I'll open up with one, feel free to comment or add your own. I'd hope this will spur discussion and maybe help your game find the book that's right for it(Or avoid the one that's wrong for it!). Oh, and note if you're reviewing a third party book that's not endorsed by Wizards or whatever for clarity. There's a few good ones out there or so I hear.

Fiendish Codex II: Lords of the Nine Hells.

You should have an idea of what's up from the title alone. If you're slow on the pickup, this book covers the LE devils up and down. It's essentially a book entirely about the tyrant devils, adding a lot of depth to them as well as several new wrinkles to try. Further, it gives a very good snapshot of the Nine Hells, both in rulership, social structure, planar environs and notable locations. There are new devils added, including a few that are really, really worth considering. The Assassin Devils make the book worth trying alone in my eyes, and the others tend to fill interesting niches. Finally, there's a few options for more good aligned characters who oppose devils, giving the book a nice rounded feel.

The main asset is definitely all the adventure grist you get from reading about the exact setup of the Nine Hells. Each is a different themed torment, from the fiery battlefields of Avernus and the Blood War, to the frozen wastes of Caina, to the industrial city of Dis. It really stoked my imagination to get to work with this material; for every layer I didn't care for, there was one that captured my imagination. While none of them are terribly safe or low level, you can run mid levelled PCs through parts of the Hells. It's also fantastic grist for an evil themed game, or perhaps even a devil PC party. The stats and personalities of the Lords of the Nine (Okay, their aspects, which are basically their avatars. Whatever. They're not scaled for epic, though. Fair warning since the lowest aspect starts at CR 21.)

The new devils are largely good stuff. They range from the low-mid to the high level, often filling roles that weren't defined but logical. The Harvester Devil is the classical Faustian soul stealer, whisking away souls with a flick of a bloodied pen. The Assassin Devil is the elite murderer of the Nine Hells, sneaking in and leaving bodies behind. The Pleasure Devil...okay, it's just a promoted Erinyes that's cosplaying a Succubus. Whatever, in case you can't bear to use chaotic outsiders. There are several others as well that are worth considering.  You may not use all of them, but I'd be surprised if you think the monster section is bad. Whomever complied this really thought things through to provide quality devils.

The fluff in the book is pretty good. Old devil types get some new spins and interpretations, such as (re?)asserting that Erinyes are fallen angels and Nupperibo are not native to the Nine Hells, but instead specially demoted devils. Most of the extra fluff here is presented so as that it can be used as desired. You can ignore one tidbit and use others to taste without difficulty. There's also a sense of style to it all - a frozen museum in Stygia where heroic mortal souls and frozen good outsiders are kept in a grisly display? Awesome.

Of note is that the book goes into the concept of devil cults and priests of the Lords of the Nine. It introduces some spells to fit this theme and explains exactly what's up. This is the part of the book I'm least fond of, as the work takes the position of making the devil hierarchy less subservient to the lawful evil Gods. While it's an interesting concept worth checking out, it adds a layer of complexity I'm not sure I like. There's enough Gods runnin' around without adding devil ones. On the other hand, someone worshiping Bel or Asmodeus would make a decent baddie variant.

Finally, the book has a few morsels for good aligned characters who oppose the devils. There's a new race called the Hellbred. It's not that good, pretty much being angsty near devil boys who avoided going to Hell at the last moment. This is ground covered in other variant ways. Hi Drizzt clones! Hi Tieflings! That aside, there are a few good PrCs in the book. A couple of them are really good, particularly Hellreaver. It strikes me as possibly THE PrC for paladins dealing with evil outsiders to go into. From my readings, most of the classes here are strong in balance, which means they should stack up fine. Soulguard strikes me as interesting as well, and of course there's a few evil based PrCs to sweeten the pot.

So yeah, it's a pretty good book if you're ever going to use devils in depth. It reminds you that they're not just props for battle, that role is for the demons. Devils are ranked schemers, more of the trimmed goatee of evil versus the scraggy crazy guy beard of the demons. I'd give this book about a 8/10. There are some flaws, but the wealth of inspiration is hard to top.

[Dracos]

Great Idea.  I'll hit a couple of the well known ones.  Why?  Because they're the ones really every gm trying to run core gets pestered to 'allow', and thus the ones I've experienced most often in play.

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Complete Adventurer

A brief description of what the 'Complete' series is for those unaware.  It is 3.5s (as differentiated from 3.0s) splatbooks dedicated to fleshing out groups of characters.  They all follow the structure of new classes, new prestige classes, some special section, new feats, sometimes new rules, new spells, and then a huge chunk of background/organizational data that I don't think I've ever seen anyone take the least bit from since.  Since they hold most of the prestige classes ever written as well as a majority of the feats ever written in the setting, those are the two folks dip into the most often.  You can expect all of them to have some ridiculous things in them, but most of them to be harmless additions.  You can also expect things for all classes in any of them, because that's how they ensure everyone buys it.  yes....  Anyhow, Complete Adventurer focuses on 'Skillful Classes', which really means Rogue with a sideserving of bard.  It even says its for everyone, but aside from feats, you'll find most mid-low skillpoint classes need not apply.

The class section introduces three variant thief classes.  The first is a Ninja, which is basically a weaker rogue with a lot of special tricks, leaping around and poison use.  It loses the ability to sneak attack while flanking and some skill points, evasion, and the ability to wear armor.  Fairly balanced against rogue really as its weakened in the two core areas rogues most command, but it brings with it a culture that doesn't usually fit quite so well.  I've not played a scout, but it is another of those 'rush in rush out' classes that don't work very well, demanding significant amounts of room to function and providing minimal bonus to move speed, it really is only worthwhile as a ranged class, though that too is hindered by the need to stay within 30 feet in order to use most of its abilities, making it not very functional in practice.  The spell thief I've never seen played and basically takes a new tact providing a sort of debuffing wizard hindering thief that in practice, I suspect only acts as a debuffer of questionably utility (It only can remove buffs, not actually inflict ailments).  It has a weaker sneak attack but by and large, I think its usage as a pc class is minimal for good reasons and it largely exists as flavor on top of an npc multiclass character.  The reason for this of course is that until mid-to-late game, removing one spell from a wizard's library doesn't really offer a good usage option versus dishing out what can easily be most or all of a wizard's life.

I continue this later --