However the Adventurer's Vault is a book I've been eagerly awaiting, however it seems that all of the items in it will be reproduced in the Compendium (assuming they keep up with changes). So is there any real reason I'd want to buy the book itself beyond it being more portable (which playing online means that isn't a factor)? If the lion's share is reproduced in the Compendium, what would I be paying for if I bought the book?
Other books like the Draconomicon, FR campaign books and Manual of the Planes are of course still worth buying (although as an Eberron DM I'm not going to get much benefit from them) as very little will be reproduced by the Compendium. But books like the Power books and Adventurer's Vault seem to be not worth the money.
What do others think?
(A certain poster is using it to 'fight' 4th ed....
)They clearly don't want to repeat the big problem of the SRD
And yet they appear to be doing just that with the compendium (only replace "base" with certain supplements).
Another time they said that the compendium will just point you to the proper book and page if you search for something.
I have no idea whether or not any of the other books will make it to the compendium, but even if all relevant info is on there (doubtful) trying to find a specific item if you don't know its name is probably going to be nearly impossible.
If you use just the compendium, remember, if you stop paying for it, you no longer have it. If you buy a book, you pay more for it once, but continue to have it. (Barring destruction, theft, loss, or eventual resale.)
I personally will most likely do both. The book for my at the table needs, the online source for my game prep needs.
The difference is, unlike the SRD, you're paying a monthly fee for the information.
If you use just the compendium, remember, if you stop paying for it, you no longer have it. If you buy a book, you pay more for it once, but continue to have it. (Barring destruction, theft, loss, or eventual resale.)
I personally will most likely do both. The book for my at the table needs, the online source for my game prep needs.
Not really. I already have an updated copy of the entire Compendium saved so I can more easily discuss things from it with people here as I don't own the books. It is fairly easy thing to do.
The BIG difference currently from the Compendium and the SRD from what I can tell is that thee are no rules.
There is nothing that tells you how to use a "healing surge", or what a "second wind" is.
Some would like to see that there, and I would agree with them for a completely online game it would only make sense, but that is where the Compendium currently cannot replace the books, unless the full rules are included in it like the 3rd edition SRD, or the AD&D Core Rules software suite.
And while you have a copy of the Compendium now it may not be so easy to do in the future as more and more gets added or if they change the way it's data is handled.
As for the power books it's hard to say since we've not gotten an excerpts or detailed information from them yet.
Thanks,
Hdier
How do you save the Compendium? I would've thought that Wizards would've installed stuff to stop that from happening.
Thanks,
Hdier
Depends on your browser.
Usually:
File\Save Page As
If the page doesn't cache, you can still view the source and copy it to notepad.
There is little you can do from preventing someone from saving an HTML file locally.
You would just be missing things like the CSS and search function, but you can edit that stuff out to where you have the text. What I then did was combine all those files into one based on type.
All items into one HTML file, so I can search it with my browser.
Your spreadsheet software may also allow you to import a URL directly so you can have the elements in it.
It isn't something long term for updates and such, but for what you have subscribed to it helps give you something usable offline.
Say you store it on a USB key and carry your rules elements with you or store it on a laptop for quick lookups where not network access is.
The PDFs cheaper would be better as it would provide you with all the rules, but needing to know what the stats on a pact blade is is quicker to find maybe in this form than another.
Or if you want to print out power cards you would have the full text there that you could make to fit on some sort of card for things that will not appear in regular cards such as powers from Dragon, or racial powers.
It isn't like the DDM Warband Generator that you have a single file to save, and takes a lot of work and effort to save it. There is over 3000 pieces to the compendium that must be saved one at a time.
If somebody wants free stuff they will download the pdfs on bittorrent, so I don't see how they'd be worried about the compendium compared to that.
One piece of feedback that we have gotten consistently is that folks wish the Compendium had the basic rules of the game built into it. Things like “concealment” or “bull rush” are not there right now because we’ve always envisioned the Compendium as a repository for the giant pile of options that will accumulate over the years as new books and magazine articles add more and more rules elements to the game to choose from. That said, we hear you and I can promise that it’s something we’ll look into.