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Rating: Summary: Decent, but overrated one-trick pony Review: There is much to recommend this book. It tells you how each alignment views sex. It gives you new prestige classes to use, and it gives you lots of new spells. However, it pales in comparison to the book "Naughty & Dice", which is far more useful in other campaigns. Buy BoEF and it is generally only useful in D&D campaigns where perversion is encouraged. BoEF is a nice addition to a gamer's library, but there are better options.
Rating: Summary: Useful for campaigns with mature - and open minded - players Review: This book has a lot to offer to any D20 campaign with mature players who recognize that sex and romance are legitimate motivations and interests for their characters.
If you want such activities to take center stage in your campaign, you'll find everything you need here, with a new Appearance ability score, several very well-thought-out base classes, a variety of specialized prestige classes, and new skills, feats, and spells.
But even if you have a more conventional campaign (such as the one I DM) and want the sex to occur "off screen", there's an awful lot you can use. I don't use Appearance, or any of the feats and spells that depend on it. Nor am I using any of the classes, but plenty of useful substance remains. My players enjoyed their encounter with my seductive Bard (a conventional archetype, if there ever was one!), whom I could have created with standard D20 rules and careful role-playing, but who was that much better with a smattering of feats and spells from this book.
The text and pictures are generally tasteful and well done. The spells and feats are mature and game-balanced, as opposed to some of the sophmoric efforts I've seen in other books supposedly addressing this theme.
The book does assume that the reader (and by extension, her characters) considers sex to be a natural and normal aspect of human relationship, and that whatever the participants consensually agree is fun is all right. If you are comfortable with that viewpoint, there should be nothing here to offend. Otherwise, perhaps you'll agree with other reviews I've seen that seem to think this book is somehow encouraging "perversions" in a role-playing campaign.
If the thought of a female bard hitting on a paladin (who, living up to her alignment, will not proceed with a liaison without ensuring that each participant is getting exactly what she expects) creeps you out, stay away!
I, however, found that refreshing - and highly recommend the book.
Rating: Summary: Excellent book for adult-oriented RPG's Review: This is a book that caused a lot of controvery when it came out and, frankly, it shouldn't have. I've read it, and this book is probably less offensive than the Book of Vile Darkness was.[Of course] you don't want this book for your underaged role-player; what do you expect from a book with this title? But if you're legal, and are interested in introducing sex and romance to your games, you couldn't find a better resource for d20-based games. The BoEF handles sex and eroticism in a mature fashion, rarely if ever degenerating into the silly, somewhat immature approach other books on the subject take. Sex and love are topics handled from a variety of angles, differing by race, alignment, and other factors. There are new rules that are actually (sometimes more) useful outside the boudoir, and the artwork within uses generally tasteful photography and photo-manipulation. All in all, if you intend to use sex in your d20-based games, you need to get this book.
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