Warriors of Heaven (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Accessory) [Paperback]

Christopher Perkins (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Wizards of the Coast (April 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786913614
• ISBN-13: 978-0786913619
• Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 8 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,830,403 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Mayfair Games' Sentinels redone..., December 2, 1999

By 

Jason Kemp - See all my reviews

This review is from: Warriors of Heaven (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Accessory) (Paperback)

This is basically a weaker rewrite of Mayfair Games' Sentinels product, which TSR won in their lawsuit against the third-party developer several years back. Forced into the basic AD&D Cosmology, this product still borrows in spirit from the original source. As a fan of MFG's Role-aids product line, I appreciated the effort, but it was not nearly as well done as Shaman, Chronomancer, or the latest, the Guide to Hell. Still, it does introduce some good possibilities for a Planescape game, and as such, a creative DM can use this product as a springboard for greater adventure possibilities later. But still, I'd recommend the old MFG Sentinels and Demons supplements, if you can find them.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Far, far below the standard of Planescape, October 15, 1999

By 

John Kress (Arnold, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Warriors of Heaven (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Accessory) (Paperback)

"Warriors of Heaven" presents the celestial races in a manner that is both flat and without controversy. One of the highlights of the Planescape setting has always been that no one--particularly not the "authoritative" authors of official products--knows the whole story of the planes--they are simply too vast. As a result, Planescape products are known to present theories, alternate views, different takes depending on one's standpoint, wild speculations, misinformation, and even downright contradictions. Not here. No, everything here is cut and dried and told to you by a godlike narrator--as opposed to the nine or so different speakers (each with different knowledge, tone, and agenda) that illuminated for us the Faces of Evil.

Well, then, what about the information you do get? It would be useful if you wanted to introduce a few celestial-themed adventures into a non-PS campaign, but as far as those of us who like the planes themselves as a setting, there is really almost nothing new or useful here--unless one is really enamored of tables for game mechanics, and has no interest in the actual characterization of the ways, manners, cultures, and beliefs of the celestials. You can even see this in the title: why *Warriors*? Are *all* good-aligned, celestial beings militant? Are there no celestials who are pacifistic? But such things don't matter in an accessory that assumes that it is only laying out additional "monsters" for game players to fight, presumably with a minimum of roleplaying and a maximum of rolling dice and consulting tables for the results.

Let me sum it up in one point: Warriors of Heaven has *75* tables and charts of mechanical statistics in 90 pages. Faces of Evil has *none* (zero, zilch, nada) in its 95 pages. If you want a rich, insightful analogue to Faces of Evil, then this is not for you. If you are dying to introduce a 3rd level Deva into your Forgotten Realms campaign, you might find some value here. If there is to be a Faces of Good, apparently someone will have to write it for the internet.

Epilogue, 2011: Fourth edition is out, and all the game mechanics crap that I complained this book was full of is utterly dated and useless now. For that matter, it was outdated since 3.0 and 3.5 were out. "Faces of Evil"? With NO game mechanical tables? Just a damn fine campaign setting? STILL as useful as ever. A 4E campaign in Planescape is as easy as ever. This book? ALMOST worthless when released, now TOTALLY worthless.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The Vorpal Chipmunk of Death, September 17, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Warriors of Heaven (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Accessory) (Paperback)

Sorely disappointing. Eladrins and Guardinals become mortal, not to mention the Asuras. The impact this has is it takes away a bit of the character of the planeborn. The methods by which PCs can be made from Celestials (most, not all) was also disappointing.If you don't mind a Leonal with a STR-15,DEX-14,CON-13,INT-12,WIS-14,CHR-15 then this is the book for you. If you aren't into seeing the planeborn being reduced to planar elves and rakasta, save your money.Many of the spells were not new either, being only repeats that may be found in other books, hardly unique to Celestials. This book isn't a companion to "Faces of Evil" so be prepared for it to concentrate on giving stats for making weak planeborn PCs (the weak Celestials Lanterns and so forth, were understandable, but not Leonal, Tulani, etc.)and not significantly defining the culture of those creatures. A few decent ideas were presented, but far too few and those few couldn't outweigh the many powerfully horrific ideas that even counters earlier Planescape material without offering any good explanations as to why. Most products of this type usually reintroduce the creature(s) being presented in a manner that makes them more spectacular than ever. This time though, the opposite has occured. I know for one I will be ignoring many of the rules presented in this release from TSR. Do yourself a favor, save your money.