Rating: Summary: Useful for rounding out Rogues; nothing outstanding Review: I'd buy this book again because you can never have too many feats or prestige classes, especially for the always hard to play rogue. But in a word, this supplement is uninspired. Just a collection of mostly mediocre stuff of no great pizzaz. A few of the prestige classes are interesting (although the bard is severely shorted here). A few of the feats and spells are of interest. Most of the rest of it is of limited interest unless you like elaborate traps in which case it might be a tad more interesting for you.Of the 4 class supplements I have (Tome & Blood, Sword & Fist, Defenders of the Faith), this one is the worst. Hopefully it was a passing moment of insipidness. Otherwise, the rest of class guidebooks do not look promising.
Rating: Summary: Save your money Review: I've been waiting for this product for about eight months now, ever since it was announced. I was sort of using it as an excuse for not converting an existing 2e rogue into 3e. Having bought it and explored it carefully I'm afraid to say it's not exactly any good at all. Roughly 40% padding (with a rehash on 'how your character gets on with the rest of the party' for goodness sakes) this book falls down on both content and value. The prestige classes are useless, and the whole thing reads like it hasn't been proofread. This really has left a bad taste in my mouth. I'm returning it for a refund.
Rating: Summary: More of a "Guidebook for Rogues" (oh yeah, and those bards) Review: I've only been playing D&D for a little more than a year, and I've only played one character in the one ongoing campaign - and she's a bard. I rather like my bard, and I was really looking forward to the release of this book. The book was a major disappointment. It's largely written for rogues - not bards. There are a few nice new spells, but that's the only part I found useful. Of the ten prestige classes, nine are truly written for rogues. The tenth, Virtuoso, is for a bard, but it isn't terribly impressive. The instrument descriptions did very little for me. Hopefully some third party will come out with a better supplement for bards playing D&D - and soon. They really couldn't do it any worse than WOTC did. This book (...) certainly wasn't worth the cover price.
Rating: Summary: Take it or leave it... Review: If you really want to play a rogue or a bard at an advanced level, you may want to buy this. Otherwise, you might just want to save your money. A few of the prestige classes are interesting. However, the majority of the new ones offered up -- as well as the quirky feats are just unecessary and bland. Even though I love playing rogues, I expected more from this one.
Rating: Summary: Huh? Wha..? Review: In a previous review of another suppliment just like this, I complained how these guides lack certain factors...well, i've been right all along. Sorta. For staters, the Class Guides produced by WOTC seem to be follwing a set guideline; emphasis on how to play, throw in some Prestige Classes nobody will (rarely) use, include the basics and some grossly powerful junk, and some mediocore to passable artwork, and you have a guide. While I like to be refreshed with how to play, and be given pointers, could there be more to these guides? Maybe. Why not go beyond the typical Human or Halfling Rogue or Elven Bard? Why is it the typical races that are introduced to us in the Basic Manuals the exact steriotypes as in the guide?? Why not a diversity? No Satyr Bards?? Drow Rogues?? Where is the information in adapting the classes to some of the creatures in the Monster Manual?? Nearly all the manuals never make the effort to present such material. As for Prestige Classes...somehow, there seems to be no effort in trying to make a passable Prestige Class for us DM's. I have yet to see one that I could throw into my Campaigns. I end up making my own, culling from Historical Sources. Already, I have maybe 3 covering Clerics and 2 covering Fighters. Any chance I could get a job at Wizards?? The Items: other than the basic stuff you might find on the Bards and Rogues, the rest seem to be overpowered a/or underpowered. There seems to be no balance, and whatever is listed always seems to be stuff you would only put if you can't figure out what to do. Sometimes, it's not worth it to even dump into some treasure Hoard. Spells: while I like some new stuff, some are just plain...useless. There a joke!! Okay, these are for Bards, but c'mon, does it have be THAT insulting?? Leading a band of Monsters would raise some flags with anybody...not to mention freak out the Populace. I strictly buy these only for Reference Purposes...nothing more, My assumption is that WOTC makes them to be Strictly REFERENCE books, and probably the intended purpose. I recommend that these books be bought as reference, and nothing more. Unless Wizards has some plans to add some incentive thought to future references...God help us if they try to make a suppliment on Vampires...
Rating: Summary: Weakest of the bunch Review: Of all the class guidebooks (now that Masters of the Wild is finally out), this felt like the weakest of the lot. This was frustrating, as rogues have always been my favorite class, and I was looking forward to seeing what sort of new things were offered. There are the requisite prestige classes, which are lackluster (which is typical of the guidebooks in this series) for the most part. It seems to me that it would have been better to turn the few "special abilities" of the prestige class into a feat or two, and stick with the base class. The new feats are actually pretty nice for rounding out the classes. A few boggle the imagination as to their usage (would any bard actually choose the "green ear" feat, so their songs affect plants?), but there are plenty of good, interesting feats provided. The section on creating traps is almost worth the price of the book alone. It's quite detailed, and though I can see a different approach in another book handling the same subject, it's well done. Too much of the rest of the book feels like "filler". It's still a valuable resource for the D&D player / DM, particularly if you plan on playing a bard or rogue, but I can't help but feel the authors were running low on ideas when creating this part of the series.
Rating: Summary: Song and Silence: Review: Song and silence is a great book. It provides with new feats, weapons and prestige classes which you can use to custumize your character. The best part about it is it teaches you how to use skills in a better way, and use your ability's to your advantage. the only thing that tips it off from being a 5-star is having no new skills when bards and rogues are the biggest skill user's in the game.
Rating: Summary: Song and Silence - disappointing Review: Song and Silence offers prestige classes for Bards and Rogues as well as a few new feats and skills. However, if falls very short of satisfying my taste or that of people I know. The prestige classes offer little in the way of imagination...and only one applies to bards. A few of the feats are useful, but you're better off flipping through the book and just remembering the useful ones. Also, I really enjoy bards, but there is too much space devoted instruments. There is also too much space devoted to thieves guilds. This could be interesting, but it is basically a rehash of stuff I've read about since dragon #40. All in all it's a cute read, but I wouldn't waste the money...it simply doesn't offer that much which is new or interesting. If, however, you feel the need to own all of the 'kit' books, be my guest...
Rating: Summary: More expanded ruleset than class guide Review: The class-specific series of books have been very hit and miss. Parts or some are better than parts of others. The most valueable part of this book, with mediocre prestige class ideas (exception given to the thief-acrobat) and a few new interesting feats that only a rogue could love, has to be the sections on making your own traps and poisons. It seems like instead of shipping a bunch of new directions for rogues to go, they're giving rules on how to run rogues in a game. That is a minor gripe, though, because even the provided rules are excellent.So, while this book is lighter than the others (in quantity and in quality) in terms of new "goodies" for thieves, playing a thief in a game with this book incorporated will be much cleaner and smoother in a lot of ways.
Rating: Summary: Sneak Attack Review: The Core-Class Guidebooks are more than half finished (with only the Rangers, Druids and Barbarians left) and it looks as if WOTC has finally figured out what the readers want. This 96 page handbook is less of a Guidebook and more of an appendix to the Dungeon Masters Guide... but that's a GOOD thing. Song and Silence cuts through the effluvia and gets down to business on page one. First presented are the Prestige classes (including the much missed Thief-Acrobat) and moves straight to the Feats and Skills. As you can see below, the book is laid out in a economical and no-nonsense manner. Chapter 1 - Prestige Classes -Dread Pirate -Dungeon Delver -Fang of Lloth -Outlaw of the Crimson Road -Royal Explorer -Spymaster -Temple Raider of Olidammara -Thief-acrobat -Vigilante -Virtuoso Chapter 2 - Skills and Feats -Primer on Poison -Do-it-yourself Traps -New ways to use skills -Feats Chapter 3 - Bard and Rogue Equipment -Bards and their instruments -Undead Bards -New Weapons -Thief Gear -Magic Items Chapter 4 - Organizations for Bards and Rogues -Ten Thieves Guilds -Bardic Colleges Chapter 5 - You and the world around you -The Rogue -The Bard Role in the Campaign -Role in the Game -Motivations -Relationship with Others -Special Combat Options Chapter 6 - Spells -New Assassin Spells -New Bard Spells -New Spells Finally, Song and Silence is of equal value to players and DM's alike, the artwork is first rate and the prose is entertaining as well as enlightening. Another win for WOTC.
|