Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Uller999 12-26-05, 09:39 AM	I have some money to blow whilst getting Player's Guide is a given I was wondering about purchasing the Spell Compendium. I bothered asking for other peoples' opinions for two reasons. 1. Balance, are the spells in the book all new? mostly collected? if there are new spells are they broken or gimped? 2. usefullness. Now Obviously this is going to be relative but I can safely say that 5 Nations gets cracked in my group far more than does explorer's handbook. So how usefull is this book going to be for both me as DM and my group?
ChronosCrow 12-26-05, 10:40 AM	Personally, I'm going to be using the Spell Compendium as a tool. My players are already trying to figu out the spell lists b/w the PHB, ECS, Complete Series and Magic of Eberron. I'm going ot use the SpC as a rewards tool, when they beat a wizard or befriend an NPC, they just might find an SpC spell and add it to their stash or sell it for good money. For Eberron specifically, so far I've only found one spell that has a unique Eberron feel. War Machine ( i think, don't have it with me now) It turns the caster into a Warforged Titan. You gain the physical attributes, the size, the attacks, the construct traits, armor, damage reduction of a warforged titan. You lose the ability to speak and cast spells though. You may also get an attack boost, I forget. Pretty awesome I think. It's like Lvl 7-9. Good stuff.
DarkWarriorKarg 12-26-05, 11:13 AM	With over a thousand spells, of course you'll get some that you might not like, or, that when used in combination with a certain set of improbable feats in improbable circumstances, might provide unexpected results. The only spells in it I was unfamiliar with were the ones from the dragon magazines they put in there. And it IS a compendium. Basically, anything that is not in: 1) The player's guide 2) The ECS 3) BoED BoVD is in there. The Only "twitchy" one I find is awaken construct, but then, I'm not worried about a 9th level spell anyway. Let's see if my game makes it that far.
igotsmeakabob!! 12-26-05, 02:06 PM	I was curious of the same thing... I may buy this book if it be useful. I think I'm going to get it.
Save-vs-DM 12-26-05, 02:39 PM	I've found this book to be highly useful. It has a lot of good low level spells, which is good for Eberron. Granted that most of them are reprinted from sources you might already have, but they collected a lot of hte good spells from Dragon magazine, which for me is great. I recommend the book. Cheers, Save vs DM
The Necromancer King 12-26-05, 06:57 PM	We've got a lot of books, but the Spell Compendium has become a must-have, I think. We don't have a lot of the source material the spells were taken from (we've only just started collecting Dragon Magazine), so having a huge book full of spells really helps our magic users. Even if you do have the source material, having all of those spells in one place means not having to pack around as many books. The only thing I can say I didn't like about this book was that the Spell Lists were near the end of the book; having them right at the front would have made them easier to reference.
igotsmeakabob!! 12-26-05, 07:09 PM	Yeah they never seem to be able to make a perfect book, some always has to be wrong heh.
nastynate 12-26-05, 07:31 PM	The only thing I can say I didn't like about this book was that the Spell Lists were near the end of the book; having them right at the front would have made them easier to reference. Flip the book over before you open it :cheer: problem solved.
Fedifensor 12-26-05, 11:44 PM	2. usefullness. Now Obviously this is going to be relative but I can safely say that 5 Nations gets cracked in my group far more than does explorer's handbook. So how usefull is this book going to be for both me as DM and my group? My sorcerer/cleric (soon to be Silver Pyromancer) is going to find this very useful in expanding his selection of fire spells. The Paladin in the same group has some new options for spells. So, as far as our spellcasters are concerned, it's a useful but not vital addition.
Euangelion 12-27-05, 10:56 AM	My sorcerer/cleric (soon to be Silver Pyromancer) is going to find this very useful in expanding his selection of fire spells. The Paladin in the same group has some new options for spells. So, as far as our spellcasters are concerned, it's a useful but not vital addition. Which means that your Silver Pyro is going to be doubly happy since they get access to those new paladin spells as well!
Foxboy2000 12-28-05, 12:49 AM	Hmm. the planar domains thing looks interesting, but we'd need to house-rule Eberron-specific ones until such time as they'd be published... Though Fernia's domain is wicked easy to come up with... Just how many fire spells are there?
The Necromancer King 12-28-05, 02:25 AM	Yeah they never seem to be able to make a perfect book, some always has to be wrong heh. There is no such thing as a perfect book. Even the greatest novels of our era have their detractors. I think the book is wonderful. I would have put the lists in the front part of the book (to keep the layout consistant with the Player's Handbook, in which spell lists come before the spells), but that's mostly a matter of personal taste. Go out, buy the book, love the many spells, do a happy dance, and make sure some critter gets to taste some icelance... :D