Rating: 
Summary: It's a great book
Review: I was really impressed by everything within this book. The artwork, the rules, the weapons and the monsters all really impressed me. I quite enjoy running an Oriental-based D&D game, and this book was indespensible for that. The prestige classes were all well planned and balanced, and the martial arts system was first rate. It is far more balanced that the old 2nd Edition D&D Oriental Adventures. I had a blast using an samurai/iaijutsu master within the game, and I can see that he will be taking levels in Master Samurai (found in the D&D accessory "Sword and Fist") later on. The Iaijutsu Focus skill was great also, allowing anyone to end a fight really fast. There is also web-support for this product on the Wizards of the Coast website, in the Epic Insights section, that allows for legendary samurai. They also discuss the Epic Iaijutsu Master in the "Epic Swordfighters" area, something I can guarantee I will be using. All in all, a great book, and no fan of Oriental Adventures should be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Really Good Asian Flavor
Review: I've been a fan of oriental milieus for role-playing for a long time. I've played various incarnations of 'Bushido', which I keep for source material, and the 'Legend of The Five Rings' is prominent on my bookshelf.I may not need them anymore.... I have Oriental Adventures now. First off, the artwork and presentation are on a par with the Forgotten Realms Sourcebook. Yep, it's just that good. Most games that try to add an Asian flavor just try to tweak the ordinary fighter/wizard/cleric/thief classes a little and call them something else, like samurai or ninja. Worse, they make the Asian PC's virtually unstoppable against those poor elven and dwarven sods in Western games. Not historically accurate, or really that broadening to play. The samurai and other classes are very well fleshed out. Love the rules on augmenting a family katana, too; it makes good sense how they do it, and makes it unnecessary for the DM to alter his treasure tables if he has one samurai character in a party. The history section is interesting, and based on L5R, but I'm more interested in historical Japanese and Hindu milieus. That said, the section on weapons is very good, and doesn't have just one or two weapons. The special rules on the sodegarami and the sai really capture the reason for the weapons. Some nasty Chinese weapons make the cut, too. (So to speak....) The spell lists are great (although I have a certain fondness for Bushido's "Stench of Kim-Chi" spell), and very Asian in their flavor and execution. This way, a wu-jen isn't just a standard D&D wizard with a couple of odd characteristics and different names for his spells. The feats and prestige classes are uniformly well balanced and interestingly presented. The monk classes, like the Tattoed Monk, are inspired, and fit the flavor well. As a GM, I didn't see anything in them that warranted disapproval, or (*gasp!*) being banned from the games I run. All in all, very well thought out. The extra races are a treat, too, and, like the rest of the book, very well balanced, and they fit well within Asian areas of concentration. I especially like the Vanara. All told, an excellent supplement, and well worth the dollars I laid down for it.
Rating:
Summary: Really Good Asian Flavor
Review: I've been a fan of oriental milieus for role-playing for a long time. I've played various incarnations of 'Bushido', which I keep for source material, and the 'Legend of The Five Rings' is prominent on my bookshelf. I may not need them anymore.... I have Oriental Adventures now. First off, the artwork and presentation are on a par with the Forgotten Realms Sourcebook. Yep, it's just that good. Most games that try to add an Asian flavor just try to tweak the ordinary fighter/wizard/cleric/thief classes a little and call them something else, like samurai or ninja. Worse, they make the Asian PC's virtually unstoppable against those poor elven and dwarven sods in Western games. Not historically accurate, or really that broadening to play. The samurai and other classes are very well fleshed out. Love the rules on augmenting a family katana, too; it makes good sense how they do it, and makes it unnecessary for the DM to alter his treasure tables if he has one samurai character in a party. The history section is interesting, and based on L5R, but I'm more interested in historical Japanese and Hindu milieus. That said, the section on weapons is very good, and doesn't have just one or two weapons. The special rules on the sodegarami and the sai really capture the reason for the weapons. Some nasty Chinese weapons make the cut, too. (So to speak....) The spell lists are great (although I have a certain fondness for Bushido's "Stench of Kim-Chi" spell), and very Asian in their flavor and execution. This way, a wu-jen isn't just a standard D&D wizard with a couple of odd characteristics and different names for his spells. The feats and prestige classes are uniformly well balanced and interestingly presented. The monk classes, like the Tattoed Monk, are inspired, and fit the flavor well. As a GM, I didn't see anything in them that warranted disapproval, or (*gasp!*) being banned from the games I run. All in all, very well thought out. The extra races are a treat, too, and, like the rest of the book, very well balanced, and they fit well within Asian areas of concentration. I especially like the Vanara. All told, an excellent supplement, and well worth the dollars I laid down for it.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Addition to the D&D Game
Review: If you are an avid player of D&D 3e, then this is a must buy book. Regardless of if you are going to play a pure oriental game, this expansion has information and ideas any good DM can use. The rules for Martial Arts and new martial arts feats and prestige classes are great. I would have given it 5 stars but the WuJen and associated spells are a bit incomplete (a WuJen is concerned with the elements...but the spell list is not fleshed out to address all the different elements at every level.) The new Core classes are a lot of fun, esp. the Shaman and the samauri.
Rating:
Summary: Seen "europe"? Well of to Asia then
Review: In real life, I am intrested in Asia, so I was intreseted in finding out what Wizards had to say about that. To my surprise I recieved a book that is actualy four books. Not that you can do without the real deal, but to quickly summarize, this book is:
- The Asian version of the Players Handbook
- The Asian version of the Dungeon Master Guide
- The Asian version of the Monsterous Manual
- A Asian campaign setting (Rokugan) I realy love the way that the book has been set up, with the paper looking like ricepaper, very decent artwork.
Yes, I do agree some DM's will not like the players reading the book, as sometimes there is given away some stuff about the adventures one might encounter.
On the other hand, if you have decent players who skip over the monster stuff, I feel this will not be a problem. Personaly I simply add some monsters from some other books and that solves my problem. Given the ammount of information that has been packed in these pages, the quality of the artwork and the consistency of the information, I can only come to the conclusion I can recomend buying this book. (Provided you want a eastern flavor in your campaign.)
If your DM has decided you are in a eastern campaign and you want to stick to being a "normal" fighter or other standard character, I would still recomend this book, as understanding the eastern way will be vital for your survival.
Rating:
Summary: Sword and Sake meets Dungeons and Dragons
Review: Iwas surprised when I first began to read the OA3E hardback. There was a moment of confusion when I first began to look at the presentation... Until I realized that (because of the manner in which it was presented) this is actually two sourcebooks rolled into one. First I'd like to address the few complaints I have heard.
1) The Book is unecessarily Large: FALSE. The Book attempts (sucessfully) to combine a basic rules set, dungeon master information, monster manual and campaign setting in one book. It does this at a reasonable pricefor 252 pages of information... and not a page is wasted.
2) The Five Rings campaign setting dominates and dilutes the value of the product: FALSE. The design of the book saved space by including campaign specific rules for races and classes directly in the rules section itself (rather than isolating them to a campaign section alone)
3) The Ninja should have been a Core Class: MOOT POINT. The Ninja Spy (and apparently two other Ninja presitge classes will be appearing in the dragon) was an excellent method of expanding the basic rogue or fighter (or even monk) into the fanatsy/movie version of the Ninja myth... (If you want a TRUE historical Ninja... play a rogue/monk) Now... what is inside this book? *5 New Races, inclusing the Spirit Folk, Hengeyokai and Korobokuru from the original OA
*5 Core Classes, including the Samurai, Shukenja and Sohei (also from the original)
*Over 25 Presitige classes including a more balanced Kensai...
*100 spells that fit perfectly in the setting
*75 New Monsters, inclusing a wealth of asian dragons.
*The Legends of the Five Rings Campaign setting which is completely modular and allows for a ready made stoyline for those DM's that just want to dive in. This product allows for a variety of campaign, from a more historical Sword and Sake game all the way to a Hugely High-Fantasy "Crouching Tiger" style game. Many of the huge number of new feats allow the for the Chambara (Hong Kong action movie) style of martial arts... My only complaint is that once again, the Asian world is presented as a mismatched WHOLE, elements of Chinese and Japanese culture are thrown together in a (sometimes) unatural mixture. This complaint is not enough to lower my rating however, a good DM will do his or her research and design a campaign that includes the elements they value... I would like to see an expansion of this product including concepts from malasia and korea (also seats of historic martial arts forms) and an expansion of the (very well done) exotic weapons to enclude even MORE weapons of the far east... all in all... an excellent product for those interested in an Aisan campaign or for games that have monks hungering to play their Hong Kong Action Fantasies...
Rating:
Summary: Good sourcebook, but...
Review: Like many, I looked forward to this book with great anticipation. In some ways, that anticipation has be greatly rewarded. It is much more than an updated OA1. The realm focus is on Rokugan from the Legend of the Five Rings TCG, rather than Kara Tur, which is both good and bad. There are new races, classes, and even human clan descriptions. As has been mentioned before, there are a number of new prestige classes as well. In addition to covering the character aspects, they also describe new monsters, the Rokugan realm and history, spells and magic items, and so on. They've also shown how standard character classes and races might fit into an OA campaign. On all of these aspects, I thought they did an excellent job. I gave four instead of five stars for a few minor things. First, I thought a few of the prestige classes were overpowered, and might lead to munchinism unless the DM were to carefully monitor their use. Also, while I am warming to the Rokugan concepts, my group already had events happening in Kara Tur, which seems to have been dropped by Wizards as a world. The information in the book is enough to convert our characters, albeit with a bit of creative license, but it would have been nice to have information on 'official' changes to the world since the last book. Yes, I recommend that my friends buy the book if they are thinking of gaming in an Asian-flavored game. Several of my group have already purchased it, and are basically happy, with the caveats mentioned above.
Rating:
Summary: Good sourcebook, but...
Review: Like many, I looked forward to this book with great anticipation. In some ways, that anticipation has be greatly rewarded. It is much more than an updated OA1. The realm focus is on Rokugan from the Legend of the Five Rings TCG, rather than Kara Tur, which is both good and bad. There are new races, classes, and even human clan descriptions. As has been mentioned before, there are a number of new prestige classes as well. In addition to covering the character aspects, they also describe new monsters, the Rokugan realm and history, spells and magic items, and so on. They've also shown how standard character classes and races might fit into an OA campaign. On all of these aspects, I thought they did an excellent job. I gave four instead of five stars for a few minor things. First, I thought a few of the prestige classes were overpowered, and might lead to munchinism unless the DM were to carefully monitor their use. Also, while I am warming to the Rokugan concepts, my group already had events happening in Kara Tur, which seems to have been dropped by Wizards as a world. The information in the book is enough to convert our characters, albeit with a bit of creative license, but it would have been nice to have information on 'official' changes to the world since the last book. Yes, I recommend that my friends buy the book if they are thinking of gaming in an Asian-flavored game. Several of my group have already purchased it, and are basically happy, with the caveats mentioned above.
Rating:
Summary: A great addition, but not perfect
Review: Ok, first off I am a huge fan of asian culture and history, and because I loved the original Oriental adventures so much I was particularly anxious for this updated book. I gave the book 4 stars but if I could I would have given it 3 1/2 but the rating method won't allow it. Overall it translated over well from 1st to 3rd addition, but they added the Rokugan aspect to it rather than Kara-Tur, which changed things a bit. Although I wasn't familiar with the Rokugan card game which this was based off of, I actually feel this adds some very interesting elements to the world. You can be from different clans, and each clan has their own ways of fighting or acting toward the world in general, so this can add another layer to your characters personality. Most of the classes are very cool, but as one of the previous reviewers said there is some overlapping of classes, but its not a huge issue for me at least. I particularly like Wu-Jens and Shugenjas(now Shamans)because they have some very unique and interesting new spells. The one thing that fell short in the 3rd ed rules was the martial arts system. This is partially because characters no longer have a certain amount of proficiencies at first level and gain one ever couple levels, like in the 2nd edition rules. That made martial arts advancement very smooth I thought. Now, because characters start(or can take a feat) with broad proficiencies in weopon groups, you don't have "proficiencies" to use at first level, although you do get "feats" as you go up levels which can be spent on martial arts feats, but because you don't have those proficiency slots initially, learning martial arts can take longer than maybe it should. Also, some classes don't even get the ability to gain martial arts feats, which I think is odd. In addition, some classes like "sohei" DO get feats as they go up levels, but the feats are chosen for you and you don't get the option for others. Monks and Samurai are really the only two that have that freedom, but I think any class should have the option, so in that respect I like the 2nd ed "proficiency slot" idea better for martial arts. I think I will just keep that part of it and mesh the two together. One last note, they do have some very cool new martial arts feats in here, and some new ways of handling combat which I think makes the feats a little more valuable than in the 1st addition. Overall a good book, but just fell a bit short of what I was expecting. However, its shortcomings can easily be changed by the DM to fit better into his/her campaign so I gave it 4 stars.
Rating:
Summary: Complete, Expanded, Map, More!!!
Review: Oriental Adventures at first glance seems expensive, but look at what u get. It has a map. The book is of much better construction than the 2nd edition books. It is a much larger work than the 1st edetion Oriental Adv and includes many fantasy elements mixed in w/ psudo historical oriental stuff. This is a great book for PCs and DMs could easily mix & match this stuff into an existing campaign. **** BUY THIS BOOK ****
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