35 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great additional sourcebook, full of good ideas, September 6, 2005
This review is from: Explorer's Handbook (Dungeon & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying, Eberron Supplement) (Hardcover)
Well, another Eberron book, and another winner.
The artwork in this book is awesome, the cover art, the chapter beginning and pictures throughout are all of consistent high quality.
The content seems to be well laid out, however the lack of index in reference books is becoming frustrating.
The book contains the following Chapters (you will need the TOC as there is no index...)
Introduction
Intro and overview, how to read the stat block etc.
Chapter 1: Travel
Reasons for travel, motivations for travel, (I especially liked the section on travel vs. teleport, which gives a range of situations in which travel not teleport is appropriate.), how to travel, modes of transport, travel encounters
Chapter 2: Tools of the trade
Elemental vessels, everything you wanted to know, how to construct, controlling bound elementals, freeing them and so forth. Airships, attacking airships, elemental landcarts.
Lightning rail, movement of, battles on and a useful lightning railcar map.
Stormships and wind galleons and other vessels.
The chapter then goes on to boarders, forged papers, funded expeditions, organisations and then has...
3 Prestige classes
Cataclysm Mage
A seer like mage who's desire for forgotten knowledge and prophecy leads to great power and greater risk
Thunder Guide
A sort of scout/ranger adventurer
Windwright Captain
Most likely an NPC class as it revolves around piloting elemental vessels.
Chapter 3: Points of Origin
(Containing 4 Map Sites)
Where adventures start, a few adventure hooks, a map of the docking tower at stormhome, a lightning rail station etc.
The Crimson Ship deserves special mention as an inventive and potentially exciting role-play side adventure.
Chapter 4: Midpoints
(Containing 4 Map Sites)
The places along the way, along with many further adventure ideas to go with them
Chapter 5: Destinations
(Containing 9 Map sites)
The final destination of the adventure, described in the chapter are several fairly well detailed locales. The Khyber Dragonshard Cavern, the Shalquar Monastery and Tharkgun Dhak appeal particularly to me.
Appendix: Ancient Treasures
Giant and Dhakaani Antiquities
Magic items from past ages, some cool new items and a new special material (Eldritch whorlwood)
The book is packed with adventure hooks, detailed maps and ideas.
Looks like it will be a fantastic game aid and the artwork is fantastic.
4 stars, possible 4.5, however the lack of index prevents a 5 star rating.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great book for a DM, November 25, 2007
This review is from: Explorer's Handbook (Dungeon & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying, Eberron Supplement) (Hardcover)
As others have stated, this book really is more valuable for DMs than players. Being a DM playing in the Eberron setting, however; I find that this book includes many of those little tidbits of information like travel times and side adventure material that really fill in a world. A lot of the information in this book could be made up by a DM if they didn't have it, but having concrete rules in place lends a stability to the world. I found that reading a 'starting location' entry can give numerous adventure ideas that can easily be fleshed out.
Again, really much more useful for a DM than a player, but interesting either way.
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5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Fails to present sufficient new content. More of a DM aide., September 14, 2006
This review is from: Explorer's Handbook (Dungeon & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying, Eberron Supplement) (Hardcover)
The Explorer's Handbook advertises itself as being a book for, well, exploration for both DMs and players. When I first purchased it I was expecting a well written discussion on travel and adventure in Eberron, perhaps similar to a wilderness guide discussing all the fantastic inbetween places in Eberron. What I got was disappointment.
This book is, by far, a DM oriented book that describes a number of locations you may wish to insert into an Eberron game. The locations tend to be focused on the mid to extremely high levels. The Prestige Classes are the only part of the book I would consider being oriented towards players, and there are only three of them. The writing, on the whole, is sub par.
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