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Monte Cook has announced that he's releasing "The Book of Experimental Might" on February 21st. I was one of the people that was clamoring for the book, and truly appreciate that he was willing to release his house rules- many of the rules he's mentioned in his blogs and forum posts seem to be exactly what I'm looking for in my campaign. This may very well become the basis for my "D&D 3.75" (since I don't plan to convert to 4E).
Here's the link to the announcement: The Book of Experimental Might.
If I'm reading this right, the book will be a d20 supplement instead of a standalone PHB. Yes?
It appears to be a collection of optional rules for 3.5, instead of a total overhaul of the system (that would warrant calling it by a different name...)
Rules for called shot to the head!
Sword of Ogre Decapitation works for me.
Excellent! I only wish it was a print book and not a pdf, but you can't have everything...
Heh heh. I guess Monte's doing his impression of Al Pacino in "Godfather III". "Just when I thought I was out...they pull me back in!"
I also hope this is an OGL product, so others could partake as well. You know, like, if Paizo stays w/ 3.5 ;)
Rules for called shot to the head!
A phrase uttered in repeatedly at our game table while playing Transformers: The Roleplaying game, I never thought I’d see it.
Here's the link to the announcement: The Book of Experimental Might.
Hmmm.... I gotta say. A lot of those changes sound awfully familiar. I wonder if this is another Arcana Unearthed/Unearthed Arcana move, albeit unintentional (maybe).
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Interesting.
I already use a bunch of options and variant rules from various "Books of This&That Might", and although many of the announced experimental rules are already covered in my games by house-rules cobbled together from various sources, it will be great to see how the professionals deal with the same stuff.
I really hope that the majority of this is declared OGC. The Paizo guys have speculated that they might keep publishing products that are "3.75" and this book might be the key to doing so.
If past performance is any predictor of the future, expect it to have extremely torturous and Byzantine open content declarations. The rules in this product might truly be life-changing but they won't be sufficiently open to become the basis for a v.3.75.
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I really hope that the majority of this is declared OGC. The Paizo guys have speculated that they might keep publishing products that are "3.75" and this book might be the key to doing so.If past performance is any predictor of the future, expect it to have extremely torturous and Byzantine open content declarations. The rules in this product might truly be life-changing but they won't be sufficiently open to become the basis for a v.3.75.
If you build it, they will come. (fingers crossed...)
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Here's the link to the announcement: The Book of Experimental Might.Hmmm.... I gotta say. A lot of those changes sound awfully familiar. I wonder if this is another Arcana Unearthed/Unearthed Arcana move, albeit unintentional (maybe).
Others have suggested (in some cases, in unkind terms) on other boards that this is a direct response to 4E, or is "ripping off" some of WotC's ideas. In reality, Monte has been talking about some of these changes for many months, or in some cases, years, in his blog or on his forums. There are definitely similarities between some of these concepts and what's been discussed for 4E, but it doesn't appear that there's any direct relationship with what's happening with the core system. In fact- the only reason that he's releasing this is that he was badgered by many people on his boards, myself included, to release his house rules. These are the rules he's implemented in his current campaigns, and many were excited to check them out in more detail.
...expect it to have extremely torturous and Byzantine open content declarations. The rules in this product might truly be life-changing but they won't be sufficiently open to become the basis for a v.3.75.
I'm no expert, but aren't ALL mechanical additions to any OGL system that are not produced by WotC or a D&D property license holder automatically OGC?
P.S.: Is Arcana Unearthed any good? I almost picked up a copy for $10 today, but passed it up for some $.95 fiction.
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I really hope that the majority of this is declared OGC. The Paizo guys have speculated that they might keep publishing products that are "3.75" and this book might be the key to doing so.If past performance is any predictor of the future, expect it to have extremely torturous and Byzantine open content declarations. The rules in this product might truly be life-changing but they won't be sufficiently open to become the basis for a v.3.75.
Even if it's not fully open content- there's nothing preventing us from using it in our home games (which is pretty much the point anyway). :)
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...expect it to have extremely torturous and Byzantine open content declarations. The rules in this product might truly be life-changing but they won't be sufficiently open to become the basis for a v.3.75.I'm no expert, but aren't ALL mechanical additions to any OGL system that are not produced by WotC or a D&D property license holder automatically OGC?
P.S.: Is Arcana Unearthed any good? I almost picked up a copy for $10 today, but passed it up for some $.95 fiction.
It's quite good, both as a stand-alone product and as a source of ideas to plunder.
I think that a couple of classes and the whole metamagic/spell slot management are worthy the book for themselves, but there's other tasty crunch in it.
I'm no expert, but aren't ALL mechanical additions to any OGL system that are not produced by WotC or a D&D property license holder automatically OGC?
No -- only those rules that are clearly derived from existing OGC are themselves automatically OGC. Anything else only becomes OGC if the copyright holder makes it so. That's why, for example, the advancement tables of all new character classes are always OGC, while class features aren't necessarily so. The same holds for other new rules systems that are added to D20 but aren't directly derivative of material in the SRD or other OGC.
Now, I'd argue that keeping any rules closed is a violation of the spirit of the OGL/D20 STL but it's not technically illegal. I'd also argue that Mr. Cook is one of the worst violators in this regard, which is a shame, because he's created a lot of cool material whose OGC designations are crippled and thus unusable by other companies.
Rules for called shot to the head!
How bout something like this:
Add the size modifier for the opponent's head to their AC (example: a human is medium [mod +0], a human's head is probly diminutive [+4], so in this example add 4 to the oppoenent's AC)
If attack against modified AC for head is successful it deals triple damage and if this isn't enough to kill foe they need to make fort vs damage dealt, failure = death.
[Edit] if foe survives their Charisma score goes down 2 points.
Now, I'd argue that keeping any rules closed is a violation of the spirit of the OGL/D20 STL but it's not technically illegal. I'd also argue that Mr. Cook is one of the worst violators in this regard, which is a shame, because he's created a lot of cool material whose OGC designations are crippled and thus unusable by other companies.
Honestly, they are very clear. Take for example the declaration from Complete Book of Eldritch Might.
Designation of Open Game Content: Subject to the Product Identity designation above, the entirety of the The Complete Book of Eldritch Might is designated as Open Game Content except the Introduction, Chapter Four: Soul Magic, Chapter Five: Magic Locales, and the “Random Rune Generator” and “Arcana Evolved Conversions” sections in the Appendix. Anything else contained herein which is already Open Game Content by virtue of appearing in the System Reference Document or some other Open Game Content source is hereby also designated Open Game Content.
Yet somehow, everyone loves to give Monte and Sue Cook grief when the truth is that significant amounts of OGC appear in every one of their books. You can reuse their content. They even allowed a free license for Arcana Evolved. Wizards has released exactly one OGC book after the core....
Others have suggested (in some cases, in unkind terms) on other boards that this is a direct response to 4E, or is "ripping off" some of WotC's ideas.
I wouldn't go that far. I'd be more willing to believe that WotC was "ripping off" Monte Cook's ideas...
But no. If any one has paid any attention to the market, Monte Cook and WotC do seem to parallel each other often.
I would love to find out the real reason for it myself... For now I will chalk it up to coincidence, again.
Sold.
Sure, a lot of it sounds like the very stuff they keep praising for 4e, but at 9 bucks instead of 90, this one's the better bargain, especially since it doesn't mess up the game's good parts.
Crap! I just realized I'll be on travel when the PDF releases. That means I'll have to wait until March to actually go ahead and purchase it. Damn.
Why not just kill someone, reanimate them, and give them enough sentience to do the e-purchase and then send it to you per email? Or something like that (killing isn't necessary, but always welcome)
I am looking forward to it. Basically speaking if Monte is writing it, I know it will be a quality product.
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Bought it early this morning, and gave it a quick read.
The new healing system is something that I dismissed at first as "not of my liking", and after a more thoughtful reading, as something quite interesting and with a nasty tactical consequence.
To put it shortly: clerics can heal a lot and any number of times they like without resorting to specific spells, but they can heal only a finite number of people per day, and characters can receive only a finite number of magical healing per day (from spells, abilities, potions, objects, etc.). Ah!
If you use (or are interested in using) some variants that give combat a more deadly feeling - vitality/wounds and AC as DR from UA, for example - this is a must have.
The new disciplines system, related to the 20-level spell progression (and to the larger feats pool available) is quite interesting, as it rebalances the metamagic feats progression, availability, and usefulness. It is also very interesting to couple with the magic system proposed in Arcana Unearthed/Arcana Evolved, where the spell slots of Vancian magic are made more flexible.
I think that something similar can be easily developed for non-spellcasting types, something that has already been done by the folks of the Ultimate Classes. Some adaptation work is in order, but it can be easily done.
Once again, this higher number of feats can give the campaign a more heroic/powered feeling, and I think it's best coupled with other options or house rules that make combat and hazardous situations more deadly.
There are also lots of pages regarding spells and spell lists, that are related to the rehaul of the magic progression for spellcasting classes mentioned in the first chapters.
There is also more stuff regarding skills, a new core class, and other rules, but I still haven't looked at it.
Highly recommended to anyone.
I got it, too.
There is a number of interesting ideas in there.
A general overview:
Twenty Spell levels: One of the major ideas in this book. A lot of the other stuff is based on this. However, you can use many of the other things (maybe even all) without this - all it involves is a little work.
Clerics, Druids and Wizards get the 20level treatment. Bards can be played as normal in the SRD; Sorcerers are basically obsolete (with the new spell progression and disciplines, see below). Rangers and Paladins do not cast spells any more (but see below)
Disciplines: These add to the 20 spell levels for wizards to augment the 20 spell levels. They replace all class features for clerics, druids and wizards (except domains for clerics) but include the old abilities in an altered form (turn undead is a discipline now). For Rangers and Paladins, they replace the spellcasting and a small number of class features (which, again, are reborn into disciplines)
Beyond a couple of disciplines some classes gain automatically, you can choose to get a new discipline, or enhance an existing one, every even level (instead of getting a feat - the book assumes that every character gets a feat every level. But It should be no problem to just give the classes one disciplines every even level in addition to the normal feat progression if you think that excessive)
Disciplines can be used more or less at will (there are healing disciplines, and healing has some restrictions).
Since disciplines could be dropped into the game without much hassle, it would allow you to create characters that can keep on adventuring longer than normal, like 4e promises, but without getting a whole new edition of the rules (and throwing away your existing library of rulebooks), and keeping the more versatile 3e classes (especially wizards, which will no longer be the 3e generalists in 4e, and druids, which don't exist in 4e as far as I know)
Runeblade:
Another arcane warrior class, but this doesn't use spells at all. Instead, it uses runes, which produce magical effects, but need to be inscribed somewhere.
There are four types of runes: Lesser, Advanced, Greater, and Runes of Power, plus the Ultimate rune at level 20. Every rune has a point value, and you may only have a certain number of runes around at a time.
You also get a runic weapon, which will get better with time and can be inscribed with some special runes.
You know 2 runes at first level and learn one extra rune every level after.
Their HD is d8, They get 4+ Skill points, good BAB, strong Will, knows martial weapons, light armour, and shields.
Skills:There's rules for identifying magic items, merged hide and move silently, expanded intimidate (with extra modifiers based on circumstances such as relative size, current injuries and so on), and, most importantly: revised Concentration and Tumble that makes the checks opposed by the enemy's attack roll, so the DCs aren't static.
Feats: There's 14 feats, 8 of which are a variant of metamagic feats (they don't up the spell level any more, but can only be used a certain number of times, from 1 to 3, depending on the feat; you can take the feat again to get another batch of uses). Others deal with runes or disciplines or introduce new concepts like power patronage (you can boost inferiors' caster level with a spell slot per casting) or wand mastery (use wands as a move action).
Playing the game: There's a number of rules variants here that could inprove your game:
Hit points: You get a boost equal to your con score, which makes first-level characters a lot more robust.
Also, HP are divided into grace and health (health is mostly the hp you gain from constitution), with grace being a lot easier to regain.
Dying: This comes from McWod - you are staggered not only at 0, but between 0 and - con mod, and won't die until you reach - con score. So if you have 14 con, you are staggered from 0 to -2 and won't die until you reach -14.
Magical Healing: This is to be used mainly with the healing disciplines (which you can use as often as you want) and health/grace. In this system, you can only receive magical healing a certain number of times per day, equal to your level + your con mod (so 5th-level character with 14 con can get healed 7 times a day).
In practice, you will use magical healing mostly to heal Health (which regenerates very slowly) and Grace (which always heals first with magic) only in dire circumstances.
Note that this limit applies to all forms of magical healing. So those 7 times aday apply to every applications, whether this is a 15th-level cleric's Heal spell, a healing potion, or a minor discipline.
Also note that the healing disciplines don't work on an unlimited number of creatures per day (usually 1 + level + stat mod)
Poison: Instead of two rolls (one instantly, one a minute later - unless you forget it, which isn't that rare, at least not for Monte or me) you make one per round and get one point of damage until one roll succeeds or until the max damage of the spell is dealt. So if a poison dealt 1 strengths damage initially, and 1d6 strength after a minute, you get 7 rounds of poison (or less, if you succeed at one of the earlier ones)
Taking a Breather: Another notable rule. It takes a standard action and grants you a benefit from a list (including healing grace damage, bonuses to attack or damage, spell DC, or get another save against a spell that has a duration of /rounds.
I like many of those things, and will definetly discuss several of these with my group.
Magic:
This is mainly adjustments for the 20 level system - you need to know what levels the spells are now (for example, taken from the former 1st-level cleric list: Doom ist 1st level, Divine Favour 2nd.).
Some spells are gone because their effects are now achieved with disciplines. Those include the standard cure X wounds spells
There are a number of additional ideas here as well - you could use them without the 20-level system. You'd just have to change the spell level again, which should be easy enough.
Save or die: Changed to massive damage in most cases. Personally, I prefer "Save or dying" where you don't die instantly, but drop to -X HP (the X is your call, -1, -5, -9, whatever you want)
Stat boosters: Monte brought back the 3.0 versions of these spells, with the variable benefit and longer duration. Personally, I'd prefer a mix: Fixed benefit for longer duration. he even talks about giving up a spell slot to get the benefit all day, and I'd be okay with that. Personally, I'd have a couple of spells instead of just one: One gives you +2, the next +4 (and maybe one for +6). On the other hand, there's always empower and maximise.
There's also some new spells and altered once. Among others:
Arcane Lock and knock are no longer absolute.
There's a "reverse true strike" that gives an attacker a -20 luck mod on one attack. It's wizard 2 (a 1st-level spell in standard D&D)
Darkness works like before again, with real darkness, not "shadowy illumination"
X's form: A number of spells that let you change yourself into a Dire Lion, Ogre, Hill Giant, and so on.
Spirit of Triumph: Level 20 for clerics, druids or wizards. Grants you a +10 luck bonus to almost all roles, as well to AC, for 1 round/level.
For a mere 9 Dollars, it can't hurt to check it out. If you're willing to use house rules, chances are good you will find something that interests you!
Awesome! Monte + magic = spent money! Now, I just have to *get* money to spend!
Now, for you guys who have bought it already, how much of the product is OGC?
Awesome! Monte + magic = spent money! Now, I just have to *get* money to spend!
Now, for you guys who have bought it already, how much of the product is OGC?
To quote the book:
The following portions of the BOEM are open content:
(Nothing from Chapter Two, which is about Skills and a whopping 3 pages.)
Class tables and "Class Features" sections in Chapter One (Classes). So the Runeblade stuff is definetly in, and I'd say that the disciplines (which basically are class features for the magic-using classes minus the sorcerer, though the words "Class Features" isn't used there) are in, too.
What is out is the usual fluff stuff in the runeblade description (why they go adventuring and so forth) as well as his "Design Decision" sidebars (which are numerous, throughout the book, and grant insights into the design process - but aren't important for the use of the stuff itself)
The Feats in their Entiredy in Chapter Three (Feats)
(Nothing from Chapter 4: Playing the Game)
The names, spell parameters (range, duration, etc.), and game mechanics of the spells in Chapter Five (Magic)
The magic items in their entirety in Chapter Five (still Magic)
anything else contained herein which is already Open Game Content by virtue of appearing in the System Reference Document or some other Open Game Content source (Well, of course)
I'm not quite sure whether the 20-spell-levels overhaul is in, but I'd say so - after all, the spells and many of the feats are based on it, as well as the magic items.
The variant rules from chapter 4 are out, which is a pity, but on the other hand, I'm not sure whether those are necessary as OGC - that's the sort of stuff you use as house rules, not as standard rules in adventures and the like you publish.
Others have suggested (in some cases, in unkind terms) on other boards that this is a direct response to 4E, or is "ripping off" some of WotC's ideas. In reality, Monte has been talking about some of these changes for many months, or in some cases, years, in his blog or on his forums. There are definitely similarities between some of these concepts and what's been discussed for 4E, but it doesn't appear that there's any direct relationship with what's happening with the core system. In fact- the only reason that he's releasing this is that he was badgered by many people on his boards, myself included, to release his house rules. These are the rules he's implemented in his current campaigns, and many were excited to check them out in more detail.Here's the link to the announcement: The Book of Experimental Might.Hmmm.... I gotta say. A lot of those changes sound awfully familiar. I wonder if this is another Arcana Unearthed/Unearthed Arcana move, albeit unintentional (maybe).
I suspect that the guys at WoTC read Montes blogs and are influenced by them. Hence its not that Monte stole from WoTC, more likely the other way around.
I suspect that the guys at WoTC read Montes blogs and are influenced by them. Hence its not that Monte stole from WoTC, more likely the other way around.
Speaking of blogs and Wotc, let me quite something from the book's introduction:
"In fact, as strange as it may sound, I loathe reading most designer’s/author’s notes or behind-the-scenes commentary. In many cases, these notes become a self-aggrandizing opportunity to bash existing rules, and nobody wants that. [...] Talking here about what this book is reminds me of what it is not. It is not an indictment on the existing rules at all. There is no presumption here that these changes are better than the Core Rules. They merely exist as an alternative—a change of pace."
A lesson in humility some people would do well to learn.
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I'm going through it and I have found a number of small but very interesting changes I think will implement in a coming campaign.
As I feared however, over half the damn book is "spells of level 1-20" malarkey that I won't be using. I wish there was a truncated version with that stuff cut out for half the price! :-D
-DM Jeff
Now, for you guys who have bought it already, how much of the product is OGC?To quote the book:
The following portions of the BOEM are open content:
Thank you thank you thank you!!
Many thanks to everyone who has - and will - take the time to review this for us not-yet-buyers. I'm already sold. ;)
I'm going through it and I have found a number of small but very interesting changes I think will implement in a coming campaign.
As I feared however, over half the damn book is "spells of level 1-20" malarkey that I won't be using. I wish there was a truncated version with that stuff cut out for half the price! :-D
-DM Jeff
Still, it's only $9...
I know the situation is actually different for people in the US, but it's quite a bargain for those of us here in Europe.While I doubt that the 4e rulebooks are going down in local price because of the weak dollar, these kind of direct purchases are a huge advantage for some of us.
Let me do a comparison.
This book cost me less than a Big Mac meal, the price was roughly 4/5 of a Big Mac meal (Danish price, of course).
I doubt that you'd complain if you could get the book at the same rate.
Again, it's still only $9, you probably buy meals that are twice that expensive. :-)
I've only had a chance to skim it, but pretty much everything I've seen so far is interesting. Sure, most of the tweaks pertains to spellcasters, but on the other hand, non-spellcasters gain access to e.g. the wider use of healing and some of the "auras."
As I feared however, over half the damn book is "spells of level 1-20" malarkey that I won't be using.
I wouldn't say it's that much: I don't count the disciplines, which can be used without the new spell levels. The spell section does take up a big part of the book, but a lot of that is spell descriptions. Those are new/changed spells, and most of those spell changes are not due to the 20level change, but because of other house rules.
This thread convinced me to buy this pdf, just a few hours ago. After a first quick look through it, one rule I will apply immediately is "conscious to neg con mod and dead at neg con" - it just makes sense. For my next campaign, I will at least use the "add con to hp" rule. Other than that, I will have to take a closer look to see what I want to adapt. And as GentleGiant pointed out, at 9$ it is real cheap for us Europeans (about 6,10 Euros at todays exchange rate), so no real reason not to buy. (Coming to think about that, I should buy some pdfs right now - it won´t get much cheaper.)
Stefan
Speaking of blogs and Wotc, let me quite something from the book's introduction:
"In fact, as strange as it may sound, I loathe reading most designer’s/author’s notes or behind-the-scenes commentary. In many cases, these notes become a self-aggrandizing opportunity to bash existing rules, and nobody wants that. [...] Talking here about what this book is reminds me of what it is not. It is not an indictment on the existing rules at all. There is no presumption here that these changes are better than the Core Rules. They merely exist as an alternative—a change of pace."
A lesson in humility some people would do well to learn.
Here, <expletive> here!!
There is a reason that man (Monte Cook) holds my respect even if I don't like his current works.