paizo.com - Dungeons & Dragons: Planar Handbook Hardcover

Fatespinner, Fri, Mar 23, 2007, 12:24 PM

Has anyone purchased this book? Is it really much different from the Manual of the Planes for 3.0? I own the MotP but I do enjoy having access to cosmological material and if this book really brings anything significantly new to the table, I might pick it up. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks!

Sebastian (Bella Sara Charter Superscriber), Fri, Mar 23, 2007, 12:31 PM

I have a copy and wasn't overly impressed. It's got a lot of low ECL planar races, ranging from +0 to +2, a handful of substitution levels, 4-5 monster classes, and the usual grab bag of feats, spells, monsters, and prestige classes. The most innovative element is the planar sights at the end, which are similar to the places of power in the DMG II, and are not worth the price of admission.

I'd give the product a 3, which goes up to a 4 if you are planescape fan and want the faction based prestige classes.

Edit: It also fleshes out 3 planar cities: sigil, a githyanki city, and the City of Brass. Again, interesting, but for the most part the book is a lot of crunchy feats/spells/prestige classes and not much else.

Fatespinner, Fri, Mar 23, 2007, 12:42 PM

Sebastian wrote:

I have a copy and wasn't overly impressed. It's got a lot of low ECL planar races, ranging from +0 to +2, a handful of substitution levels, 4-5 monster classes, and the usual grab bag of feats, spells, monsters, and prestige classes. The most innovative element is the planar sights at the end, which are similar to the places of power in the DMG II, and are not worth the price of admission.

Well, I don't have the DMG2, but I do have the UA (which details just about every elemental variation of the 'core' races I can imagine), the Expanded Psionics Handbook (which details the githyanki and githzerai as playable races), and the Manual of the Planes from 3.0 which details the City of Brass, Sigil, and a few other places in very brief detail. It too has a small assortment of PrCs, feats, and spells provided within and, while they are 3.0 instead of 3.5, I don't imagine the conversion would be terribly difficult.

Also, I have never played Planescape (Heresy, I know) so it sounds like this book would not be terribly useful to me. Thanks for the feedback!

Thanis Kartaleon, Fri, Mar 23, 2007, 02:20 PM

Fatespinner wrote:

Also, I have never played Planescape (Heresy, I know)

No kidding, considering your avatar...

Fatespinner, Fri, Mar 23, 2007, 02:29 PM

Thanis Kartaleon wrote:

Fatespinner wrote:

Also, I have never played Planescape (Heresy, I know)

No kidding, considering your avatar...

Heh, I had no idea what my avatar was when I picked it. I just thought it was like a demon-thing with a pair of bifocals on, which is fairly equivocal to my smugly intellectual yet evil-as-hell DMing style.