Mine? It's tempting, but not 'important' enough. Too many of the spells I'm interested in I have in other sources. Others make me scratch my head and wonder what were they thinking!
Example: Sonic Lance. It's not a Bard spell (though being sound based, it should be!) but the illustration for it clearly shows a BARD casting it! Some others were bumped up though they should have stayed where they were (Prismatic Eye, I believe, for one). However, I was ECSTATIC to see Improvisation come down to a 1st level Bard spell like it should be (rather than the 5th level it was in Song and Silence).
Anyone else care to weigh in?
Having just seen glimpses of its interior for the first time today, I can say that I am impressed. It will cut down on time spent scrounging for spells and such by a lot. I wouldn't mind running a campaign with just the Core books, the Spell Compendium, and of course, the Completes. There are more than enough options for anyone in that set.
Oh, and yes, some of the spells in there seem idiotic, as if they just needed to fill space. But there are many other good ones. One question that came up today: Back Blade of Disaster vs. Sphere of Ultimate Destruction. The only differences in these very similar spells make the sphere far more powerful, I think. I realize these were cultivated from other sources and thrown together without checking it one made the other redundant, but still....
One thing I want to know is, what is the movement rate for the Black Blade? It isn't listed. Can it just move anywhere in it's range as a free action? I think that would put it on par with the Sphere. Or, could the party fighter grab it and wield it? That would certainly equal the two, perhaps even make Black Blade more useful.
Having just seen glimpses of its interior for the first time today, I can say that I am impressed. It will cut down on time spent scrounging for spells and such by a lot. I wouldn't mind running a campaign with just the Core books, the Spell Compendium, and of course, the Completes. There are more than enough options for anyone in that set.
Oh, and yes, some of the spells in there seem idiotic, as if they just needed to fill space. But there are many other good ones. One question that came up today: Back Blade of Disaster vs. Sphere of Ultimate Destruction. The only differences in these very similar spells make the sphere far more powerful, I think. I realize these were cultivated from other sources and thrown together without checking it one made the other redundant, but still....
One thing I want to know is, what is the movement rate for the Black Blade? It isn't listed. Can it just move anywhere in it's range as a free action? I think that would put it on par with the Sphere. Or, could the party fighter grab it and wield it? That would certainly equal the two, perhaps even make Black Blade more useful.
I agree whole heartedly with Saern. Including about the better books out there.
There are a few spells that may have been more copied rather than updated, perhaps errata will correct that. Some just seem too powerful, maybe I will change my mind upon closer inspection.
Positive aspects include; non-combat spells, new twists on spells so that everyone is not a magic missile/fireball thrower. Spells that benefit all types of casters. I think if there are more than a few fighter/mages out there then there will be more than a few spells to take advantage of their talents.
Great book.
From the perspective of new versus old, we have an internal spell database within my team. I've spent a few hours updating it with the changes for older spells and ~800 of them were previiusly published and ~200 of them are brand new. While the new content to old may seem low, the corrections and updates to the older spells align them properly to current 3.5E standards and clean-up a lot of previous errata and errors. It is also quite handy to have almost all 3.5E related spells outside of the PHB together in one handy book.