36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Primal Power shows WOTC is getting better at doing 4th Edition, October 30, 2009
This review is from: Primal Power: A 4th Edition D&D Supplement (Hardcover)
It seems clear that as time goes on, the developers at Wizards of the Coast are becoming more comfortable with the 4th Edition system, especially the roles they have in mind for each class, and are more comfortable with evolving them in interesting ways.
In primal power, we see the barbarian evolve from what was quite possibly the lowest AC class in the game to a high AC class (via Hide Expertise) that is capable of limited amounts of marking and otherwise acting as an off-tank. Some foolish people I've talked with online think this is the end of the world ("Barbarians were balanced before!" they cry), but as someone who has played a barbarian in the RPGA since it was in the playtest phase, I can say this is a welcome change - making barbarians either run around in heavy armor (which is out of character for them) or just trivially easy to kill (their temporary hit point regeneration was never high enough to deal with much incoming damage). If you've ever watched Conan, you know that barbarians are supposed to run around in fur and yet still be inexplicably hard to kill. The changes in Primal Power put them where they should be.
Likewise, they've given druids a new option which makes them difficult to kill, giving these leaders a new niche to fill as well. Druids in 4e have been suffering from a lack of unity of design, and while this new option is welcome, it still doesn't answer the essential question of what it is a druid is supposed to do, or bring to a team. Is he the guy that entangles enemies in plant roots? Or the guy who becomes a cat and tries to scratch people with his claws?
In a similar vein, Wardens have been given a new role as well: off-healers. They can pop off a nice heal once or twice per combat without compromising their essential nature as "area effect defenders", giving them a clear niche in the game, and serving as a nice alternative to Paladins as a defender class that can provide supplemental healing in a leader-light party.
Shamans? Nobody understands why shamans exist, or what they're supposed to do, but they still have their invisible mobile walls and have been given some new options which reduces some of the tough limits shamans faced when trying to be primary healers.
Overall, it's nice to see WOTC getting into its groove a little more, after a rough start with a pretty bad PHB1 and not-well-thought-out early offerings like the Battlerage Vigor fighter and Righteous Wrath of Tempus paladin. Hopefully between a final draft of hybrids (which offer a lot of promise in restoring flexibility in character creation to the player) and expanded roles for classes in books like these, 4th edition D&D will feel less like a straitjacket to its players.
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5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent supplement, December 8, 2009
This review is from: Primal Power: A 4th Edition D&D Supplement (Hardcover)
The artwork is amazing, the organization excellent, and I love the new Warden class. Overall, Primal Power is a great addition to Dungeons and Dragons.
While I really like the content of this book, creating a new primal character can be a bit difficult. Let's say you are making an Elf Druid. You need Player's Handbooks 1 and 2 plus Primal Power to fully flesh that character out. However, this isn't much different than it used to be where you had a spearate book for elves, and a separate one for druids. At least you get access to several races and classes in this book.
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5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Book, a must have for any 4e player, November 5, 2009
This review is from: Primal Power: A 4th Edition D&D Supplement (Hardcover)
This is a awsome book, the best "Power book" released so far.
Why it is so great?
1. All the classes have fun new builds, like the shoutting barbarian, and the swarm druid
2. Besides the new options for players there are a lot of roleplay tips and fluff to play around
3. The side bars are amazing
4. The art is on par with all other 4e books
So, Primal Power is a book that any player must have, especialy those playing primal character, and is a nice source of info for the DM's as well.
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