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67 of 76 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beyond your wildest (plane of) Dreams, September 7, 2001
This review is from: Manual of the Planes (Dungeon & Dragons d20 3.0 Fantasy Roleplaying) (Hardcover)
Excepting the reasonably priced three core books (Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide and Monster Manual), I have been rather critical of WOTC's high prices for medium level product. No more. The Manual of the Planes is everything promised and more. This hardback contains: *Detailed descriptions of the Planes of the traditional D&D cosmology *Rules for constructing your own Cosmology *Denizens of the Planes *Rules for creating Outsider PCs *Templates for creating Planer creatures (beyond celestial and Fiends) *Four EXCELLENT Prestige classes And a LOT more. Gone on the insultingly vapid Modrons... now we have Axiomatic (read: Perfect) creatures and the Inevitables (Robotic Creatures of law seeking justic)... Slaad Mutations are fully deatiled... The book just keeps getting better And the artwork is amazing. If you were a fan of Planescape, here is your 3rd edition jumping off point... And for those of you that we Spelljammer fans... check out the Mercane... and grin.
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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Best of the Best!, September 13, 2001
This review is from: Manual of the Planes (Dungeon & Dragons d20 3.0 Fantasy Roleplaying) (Hardcover)
The new Manual of the Planes really kicks butt. With a enormous amount of cool stuff both new and old (updated for 3E), this is the best D&D book since the 3rd edition's arrival. First of all, WotC has not thrown the old cosmology in the trash bin. Quite the contrary, the updated core cosmology makes much more sense than the older versions, is crammed with nice new ideas, and is presented in such way that even Planescape old fans like me get a refreshing new look at the planes. Second, the planes now are manageable. Before this MotP incarnation, the magic rules were really impossible to use. Now the planes are defined in easy, rational terms, with physical, spacial and magical traits that quickly and efortlessly sum up the main characteristics of any given plane. You can better convey the otherworldly nature of the planes to your players, but with much less effort and less book-keeping. Better yet, the planar traits mechanics is intuitive, allowing you to wing it easily if needed, with little or no preparation time. The Prestige Classes and spells are good too, but I think the best touch of all are the tools for building new cosmologies. Total freedom at least, without throwing away the good old Great Wheel! A dream come true, really! Overall, I was absolutely impressed by the new Manual of the Planes. All DMs should purchase it, even those who do not use the planes, because the amount of goodness in this book can bring new blood to any campaign.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best 3e book, period, March 4, 2002
This review is from: Manual of the Planes (Dungeon & Dragons d20 3.0 Fantasy Roleplaying) (Hardcover)
This is an excellent work. Its not perfect (what is?) but it lacks obvious flaws and comes off as a professional and solid read. It has attractive art, useful illustrations, and a distinct look & feel that all combine to create a specific identity for the work. Its not just another hardback with some crunchy bits; when you crack the covers, you know that you are reading a complete product. What I like about the MotP is that it basically says 'Heres how we've always done it, and here are a half dozen other ways it could be done too'. Rather than giving a DM a supplement on THE PLANES, chiseled in stone, it grants a structured and easy way to 'dial-in' a unique cosmology. It pretty much assumes that if you are reading it thinking 'where is Planescape in here?' you probably already have a fair amount of the Planescape material. This doesnt prevent you from using the setting laid out in those out of print products, nor does it expect that other readers have them. It does an exceptional job of presenting a modular approach to describing and defining the expanse of reality beyond the Material world. Unlike every other WoTC product I can think of, it is totally open to interpretation and individual implementation. The book is scattered with interesting variants, and indicators of what can be changed, a few examples of how, and coverage of important game mechanic concerns if you do change things from the 'default' cosmology. All that aside, however, the single most compelling feature of this book is that upon reading it, dozen of new ideas occured to me. Basically, it got the wheels in my head spinning in a way that only some Mage the Ascension supplements have previously. This alone is enough to Transcend the product from a good, solid, professional book to a SUPERB and crucial addition to my collection of RPGs. New ideas are priceless, and this book kick started several in my head at least. I have the original Manual of Planes (well cared for and treasured), which I have reffered to over the years, as well as the basic box set for Planescape and the Chaos boxed set, and the Monstrous Compendium appendix for the planes so much of the 'default' info was not new to me. What was new was the modular tool-box approach to Reality. Highly recommended to any DM designing thier own game setting for its Cosmology-building rules, and to any DM that is ready to take thier players beyond the Material plane, whichever plane that may be.
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