Book of the Righteous (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.0 Fantasy Roleplaying) [Hardcover]

Aaron Loeb (Author), Brian Despain (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2002

The Book of the Righteous presents the most comprehensive pantheon ever seen in the d20 System. This massive, 320-page hardback provides more than 20 pick-up-and-play churches corresponding to gods that feature in most fantasy campaigns (god of war, god of justice, etc.). Each church features lavish detail, including in-depth information on its clerics, holy orders, dogma, prayers, and rituals. These churches can be used in any campaign to bring a whole new level of detail to the religious characters. Plus, for those who don't have a complete cosmology in their game, The Book of the Righteous provides a comprehensive mythology that unifies all of the gods in the book. That mythology, and its corresponding cosmology, is not tied to an existing campaign setting, making it as portable and useful as Green Ronin's critically acclaimed Freeport series. The Book of the Righteous also features a new core class, the holy warrior, and new prestige classes, feats, spells, domains, magic items, and artifacts. Third in Green Ronin's Arcana series, The Book of the Righteous is a divine sourcebook like no other.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Green Ronin Publishing (July 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0971438064
• ISBN-13: 978-0971438064
• Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 8.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,475,051 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars (also published at www.ENWorld.org), January 7, 2003

By 

F. Ochs (Iowa) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Book of the Righteous (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.0 Fantasy Roleplaying) (Hardcover)

_Why'd I buy it?_
I've been looking for material to spruce up the religious aspect of my campaign. Clerics and Paladins seems to be rife with role playing opportunity and adventure hooks, and yet the material I've seen so far was lacking (like WotC: Defenders of the Faith). I was especially interested in the "Holy Warrior" new core class and in how a "complete description of each god's church" would look like. I was not disappointed...in fact, I was very pleasantly surprised.

_Overview_
This book can be used in many different ways: it's a complete patheon and mythology of gods, it's a "pick-and-choose" box of common gods plus detailed churches, and it's a "do-it-yerself" tool-kit for making the gods of your campaign world relevant to your players. It succeeds at all of these things...and if you think about it, that's pretty amazing.

The book prose is tight and entertaining. Rule changes are clearly spelled out, and are repeated where relevant. The game mechanics seem simple and balanced (although I've not yet play-tested it myself). (And a further note to all of those crunch-lovers out there, like me: There are game mechanics in here where there needs to be.) Overall, a very well written and insightful book.

_The Complete Pantheon and Mythology_
I loved reading this section -- it reminded me of Greek, Norse, and Native American myth. It's good story, and it tempts me to include it, lock, stock, and barrel, into my home brew campaign. And it's probably pliable enough for me to tweak it here and there and then do just that.

_Plug n' Play gods and their churches_
What I'm more likely to do, however, is take the gods and their churches out and plug them in where they fit into my existing home-brew. The book gives quite a bit of help for this sort of thing. The churches are well laid out, and yet they can be self-contained; that is, the churches don't wholy depend on the mythology presented in the book. Useful, that.

Kudos, BTW, on the structure of the book with respect to churches, clerics, "paladins", and new PrC. It's all wrapped up in a seamless whole, so that the relationships between the clerics, "paladins" (holy warriors, a superior concept, IMO), and the secret orders (PrCs) is believable and very playable. Makes me (almost!) want to play a goody-two-shoes Holy Warrior.

_Cosmography Tool-kit (or "how the gods, the universe's creation, and the Planes of Existence fit together")_
The thing this book is best at, IMO, is how it opens up Myth and the Gods for you to tinker with. Paired with the excellent WotC offering, Manual of the Planes, I'm not sure there's anything else you need to come up with a compelling and logical cosmography. How the universe is created => how the gods act => how their churches are structured => how PC clerics et al. act. It's all there, so that if the PC asks....well, he'll get at least one answer....
******************************************
_Conclusion_

Production: 5 - Excellent. Fonts, headers, and spacing is very good. Layout and organization is excellent. I was very happy with both the table of Contents and the index. Note to publishers: this is how it should be done for all products!

Art: 4 - Good. The art work quality is good, most of the time, and the art work is very topical to the text on the page.

Game Mechanics: 5 - Excellent. The new core class (Holy Warrior) is expecially good.

"Cool" Factor: 5- Excellent. Even the name is good (shout "Book of the Righteous!" a couple o' times...you'll get what I mean). The mythology and churches are especially inspiring.

Overall: 5 - Excellent. If you are a DM with a home-brew world, you're a fool for not having this book. It's that good.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An RPG pantheon that is Perfect, October 31, 2002

By 

Scott Stokes "ss2020" (West Hills, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Book of the Righteous (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.0 Fantasy Roleplaying) (Hardcover)

Wow, what a book. It gives you everything you need to put the affiars of your Celestial world in order. It had a great story of creation, it explains all you need to know for each god. The Great church what a great idea, put together properly. I got through about the 1st 20 pages and realized this is "The Pantheon" for the new D20 fantasy genre. It explains the how and why of things.. Why is this god the god of Valor, how did he become this. The best part of all, is all the stuff the PCs should know, but we don't take the time to create. How the church interacts with the world, and the other churches; it's holy days and why, The Gods' view of the church. With over 300 pages of information it is worth every penny. What a resource. I have been a DM for 20 +years and this book is a must have for every GM. The Bar has been raised and Green Ronin Publishing is the new standard. Great Job Guys.

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ignore the Nay-Sayer! Well worth the price!, March 31, 2003

By 

Feywild "Feywild" (Freezing in Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Book of the Righteous (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.0 Fantasy Roleplaying) (Hardcover)

>>"If you own Defenders of the Faith, Deities and Demigods, and/or Faiths and Pantheons you are wasting your money on this. Way too generic to be useful. NOT the best money I've spent... "

On the contrary, this book renders all of those others completely redundant. What's more, this book is far, far more interesting to read, and far, far easier to incorporate piecemeal, or whole into any campaign. Of every RP book on my shelf--and I probably have a few hundred--this is by far the best money I have ever spent on an RP product as far as useability. Ignore the nay-sayer. He doesn't know what he's talking about.

Absolutely, and completely, well worth the price. See the lengthy review below for more info on the book.