Customer Reviews

Oriental Adventures (Dungeons & Dragons Supplement)

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I've been a fan of oriental milieus for role-playing for a long time. I've played various incarnations of 'Bushido', which I keep for source material, and the 'Legend of The Five Rings' is prominent on my bookshelf.

I may not need them anymore.... I have Oriental Adventures now.

First off, the artwork and presentation are on a par with the Forgotten Realms Sourcebook. Yep, it's just that good. Most games that try to add an Asian flavor just try to tweak the ordinary fighter/wizard/cleric/thief classes a little and call them something else, like samurai or ninja. Worse, they make the Asian PC's virtually unstoppable against those poor elven and dwarven sods in Western games. Not historically accurate, or really that broadening to play. The samurai and other classes are very well fleshed out. Love the rules on augmenting a family katana, too; it makes good sense how they do it, and makes it unnecessary for the DM to alter his treasure tables if he has one samurai character in a party.

The history section is interesting, and based on L5R, but I'm more interested in historical Japanese and Hindu milieus. That said, the section on weapons is very good, and doesn't have just one or two weapons. The special rules on the sodegarami and the sai really capture the reason for the weapons. Some nasty Chinese weapons make the cut, too. (So to speak....)

The spell lists are great (although I have a certain fondness for Bushido's "Stench of Kim-Chi" spell), and very Asian in their flavor and execution. This way, a wu-jen isn't just a standard D&D wizard with a couple of odd characteristics and different names for his spells.

The feats and prestige classes are uniformly well balanced and interestingly presented. The monk classes, like the Tattoed Monk, are inspired, and fit the flavor well. As a GM, I didn't see anything in them that warranted disapproval, or (*gasp!*) being banned from the games I run. All in all, very well thought out.

The extra races are a treat, too, and, like the rest of the book, very well balanced, and they fit well within Asian areas of concentration. I especially like the Vanara.

All told, an excellent supplement, and well worth the dollars I laid down for it.

Iwas surprised when I first began to read the OA3E hardback. There was a moment of confusion when I first began to look at the presentation... Until I realized that (because of the manner in which it was presented) this is actually two sourcebooks rolled into one.

First I'd like to address the few complaints I have heard.
1) The Book is unecessarily Large: FALSE. The Book attempts (sucessfully) to combine a basic rules set, dungeon master information, monster manual and campaign setting in one book. It does this at a reasonable pricefor 252 pages of information... and not a page is wasted.
2) The Five Rings campaign setting dominates and dilutes the value of the product: FALSE. The design of the book saved space by including campaign specific rules for races and classes directly in the rules section itself (rather than isolating them to a campaign section alone)
3) The Ninja should have been a Core Class: MOOT POINT. The Ninja Spy (and apparently two other Ninja presitge classes will be appearing in the dragon) was an excellent method of expanding the basic rogue or fighter (or even monk) into the fanatsy/movie version of the Ninja myth... (If you want a TRUE historical Ninja... play a rogue/monk)

Now... what is inside this book?

*5 New Races, inclusing the Spirit Folk, Hengeyokai and Korobokuru from the original OA
*5 Core Classes, including the Samurai, Shukenja and Sohei (also from the original)
*Over 25 Presitige classes including a more balanced Kensai...
*100 spells that fit perfectly in the setting
*75 New Monsters, inclusing a wealth of asian dragons.
*The Legends of the Five Rings Campaign setting which is completely modular and allows for a ready made stoyline for those DM's that just want to dive in.

This product allows for a variety of campaign, from a more historical Sword and Sake game all the way to a Hugely High-Fantasy "Crouching Tiger" style game.

Many of the huge number of new feats allow the for the Chambara (Hong Kong action movie) style of martial arts...

My only complaint is that once again, the Asian world is presented as a mismatched WHOLE, elements of Chinese and Japanese culture are thrown together in a (sometimes) unatural mixture. This complaint is not enough to lower my rating however, a good DM will do his or her research and design a campaign that includes the elements they value...

I would like to see an expansion of this product including concepts from malasia and korea (also seats of historic martial arts forms) and an expansion of the (very well done) exotic weapons to enclude even MORE weapons of the far east...

all in all... an excellent product for those interested in an Aisan campaign or for games that have monks hungering to play their Hong Kong Action Fantasies...

Simply put, Oriental Adventures is a great companion to D&D3E. The book itself is a work of art with wonderful layouts and artwork as well as having content that doesn't require a huge learning curve. That being said, there are many high points and only a few low points.

For the high points, I liked it much of the original Oriental Adventures found its way into the new edition. I like the new write-ups for the Samurai, Wu-Jen, and the Sohei. The newer classes are pretty good, ie. the Shaman and Shugenja. The prestige classes are wonderfully done and generic for the most part. The writers and playtester have done a masterful job of making Oriental Adventures feel eastern in flavor and not just an "add-on" for the very western D&D3E. Throughout the text, player are immersed into, in a generic sense, a very asian setting. Rokugan, as a campaign setting, seems appropriate to the new book. Its short writeup at the end of the book is a mere taste of what's to come.

The few low points are really nitpicks. I thought the martial arts was painfully short and incomplete. A lot more could've been done in that regard. The model setting that they chose, Rokugan, seemed a little intrusive at times. But then again, the text explains how to or not incorporate elements from that setting into your own. Its Japanese slant, in some ways, seems to write itself into the rules. On the other hand, there are many Chinese, Korean, and Indian elements which balance it out.

Overall, this is a great addition to the D&D3E line. I highly recommend it for those who wish to add a little bit of the East into their games.

First off, let's get one thing straight, I love the new third edition and for awhile was an avid collector of the collectible card game Legend of the Five Rings. I also have the original oriental adventures as well as materials for Kara-Tur. The new Oriental Adventures uses much of the history and mechanics of Rokugan(the world of L5R) with other cultures to produce a book that will provide a lot of options for any campaigns. Japan, China and India are tapped to provide most of the scource material but at it's core are pieces of a great campaign that can be assembled however you like. There's even a section for suggesting how to put it all together. New races, new classes and a boatload of new ideas, all laid out for a dm to pick and choose what they want and what they don't want. Not much on Toturi's Army(my favorite faction due to their wolf mon) but this is a minor quibble. I bought it in the store and was very satisfied with the results.

Ok, first off I am a huge fan of asian culture and history, and because I loved the original Oriental adventures so much I was particularly anxious for this updated book. I gave the book 4 stars but if I could I would have given it 3 1/2 but the rating method won't allow it. Overall it translated over well from 1st to 3rd addition, but they added the Rokugan aspect to it rather than Kara-Tur, which changed things a bit. Although I wasn't familiar with the Rokugan card game which this was based off of, I actually feel this adds some very interesting elements to the world. You can be from different clans, and each clan has their own ways of fighting or acting toward the world in general, so this can add another layer to your characters personality. Most of the classes are very cool, but as one of the previous reviewers said there is some overlapping of classes, but its not a huge issue for me at least. I particularly like Wu-Jens and Shugenjas(now Shamans)because they have some very unique and interesting new spells.

The one thing that fell short in the 3rd ed rules was the martial arts system. This is partially because characters no longer have a certain amount of proficiencies at first level and gain one ever couple levels, like in the 2nd edition rules. That made martial arts advancement very smooth I thought. Now, because characters start(or can take a feat) with broad proficiencies in weopon groups, you don't have "proficiencies" to use at first level, although you do get "feats" as you go up levels which can be spent on martial arts feats, but because you don't have those proficiency slots initially, learning martial arts can take longer than maybe it should. Also, some classes don't even get the ability to gain martial arts feats, which I think is odd. In addition, some classes like "sohei" DO get feats as they go up levels, but the feats are chosen for you and you don't get the option for others. Monks and Samurai are really the only two that have that freedom, but I think any class should have the option, so in that respect I like the 2nd ed "proficiency slot" idea better for martial arts. I think I will just keep that part of it and mesh the two together. One last note, they do have some very cool new martial arts feats in here, and some new ways of handling combat which I think makes the feats a little more valuable than in the 1st addition.

Overall a good book, but just fell a bit short of what I was expecting. However, its shortcomings can easily be changed by the DM to fit better into his/her campaign so I gave it 4 stars.

I was given this as a gift, and have spent several hours salivating over the type of martial arts legend that I might be creating sometime in the near future. Lots of funky feats, interesting uses of the skills, and a good explanation of oriental weaponry for those of us who aren't as in-touch with kung-fu movies and the like.

My biggest complaint with the book is that it IS set in a settling (Legend of the Five Rings), which I am unfamiliar with. I think making it generic would have been a much better thing to do. But I do feel it's going to adapt fairly easily to my gaming group's campaigns in the Forgotten Realms, and any home-brewed locations we may come up with.

If you're a bit wary about it, find a used copy... but I do think it's worth a look, particularly if you're running monks and rogues who do a lot of hand combat, or if you're looking for a bit more of an Eastern flair to your character.

If you are an avid player of D&D 3e, then this is a must buy book. Regardless of if you are going to play a pure oriental game, this expansion has information and ideas any good DM can use.

The rules for Martial Arts and new martial arts feats and prestige classes are great. I would have given it 5 stars but the WuJen and associated spells are a bit incomplete (a WuJen is concerned with the elements...but the spell list is not fleshed out to address all the different elements at every level.)

The new Core classes are a lot of fun, esp. the Shaman and the samauri.

In real life, I am intrested in Asia, so I was intreseted in finding out what Wizards had to say about that.

To my surprise I recieved a book that is actualy four books. Not that you can do without the real deal, but to quickly summarize, this book is:
- The Asian version of the Players Handbook
- The Asian version of the Dungeon Master Guide
- The Asian version of the Monsterous Manual
- A Asian campaign setting (Rokugan)

I realy love the way that the book has been set up, with the paper looking like ricepaper, very decent artwork.
Yes, I do agree some DM's will not like the players reading the book, as sometimes there is given away some stuff about the adventures one might encounter.
On the other hand, if you have decent players who skip over the monster stuff, I feel this will not be a problem. Personaly I simply add some monsters from some other books and that solves my problem.

Given the ammount of information that has been packed in these pages, the quality of the artwork and the consistency of the information, I can only come to the conclusion I can recomend buying this book. (Provided you want a eastern flavor in your campaign.)
If your DM has decided you are in a eastern campaign and you want to stick to being a "normal" fighter or other standard character, I would still recomend this book, as understanding the eastern way will be vital for your survival.

Even for some of you who HATE Asian elements in your games, it's still worth it. A lot of it is pretty jank (cool), for those who lke monks, this is a must have. It adds a bundle of Martial arts feats. The races are a bit odd, but they are creative. I like the Nezumi the best; they are small rat people. The classes are great, except I dislike the Shugenja, but the Sohei is cool. The Samurai could have been done beter though he needs more special abilities.
The monsters are strange, but the Pennagolan (Oriental Vamps), Hopping Vampire (A feral version of the vamp), and the Oni (Oriental Demons)are great.
The biggest letdowns were the religious system. The system was kind of like Shinto, the native religion of Japan instead of doing it the D&D polytheism way. The other letdown was the fact that they did Rokugan instead Kara-Tur.
Overall, It was worth it , though it did cost a lot.

This book really is amazing - it's not just a listing of different types of characters, magic and monters like the older version of the book. It's has all of that and more. The book, much like Forgotten Realms, is an entire world with a fairly compelete history, culture and intrigue.

The book is divided into sections and as DM there's a huge amount of information to go thru and decide whether or not to add to your campaign. I love some of the monsters and the new spin on some of the character classes is fantastic. I have always been intrigued by the idea of non-human characters and they're in this book in detail. As a player I love the idea that I could play a character similar to a Chinese Fox Fairy (a favorite character from a childhood book).

Anyone one who wants to put a truly different spin on his game or character should break down and purchase this book. It really is worth it.