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Book of Vile Darkness (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.0 Fantasy Roleplaying Supplement)
 
 
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Book of Vile Darkness (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.0 Fantasy Roleplaying Supplement) (Hardcover)

by Monte Cook (Author) "Book of Vile Darkness is a sourcebook of evil..." (more)
Key Phrases: vile damage, vile lance, baatezu traits, Dark Speech, Sense Motive, Hit Dice (more...)
3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (67 customer reviews)


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Product Description
This sourcebook for the Dungeons & Dragons game is intended for mature audiences and provides a Dungeon Master with unflinching access to subject matter that will broaden any campaign. Included in a detailed look at the nature of evil and the complex challenge of confronting the many dilemmas found within its deepest shadows. Along with wicked spells, wondrous items, and artifacts, Book of Vile Darkness also provides descriptions and statistics for a host of abominable monsters, archdevils, and demon princes to pit againt the noblest of heroes.

To use this supplement, a Dungeon Master also needs the Player's Handbook, the Dungeon Master's Guide, and the Monster Manual.


About the Author
MONTE COOK has worked in the gaming industry for more than a dozen years. His most recent credits include authoring the D&D superadventure Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil and the Dark¥MatterTM novel Of Aged Angels. Cook also contributed to the Call of Cthulhu® Roleplaying Game and the D&D Monster Manual.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 160 pages
  • Publisher: Wizards of the Coast; First Printing October 2002 edition (October 1, 2002)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0786926503
  • ISBN-13: 978-0786926503
  • Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.5 x 0.6 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (67 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #112,199 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)


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67 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
3.5 out of 5 stars (67 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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105 of 109 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars The most controversial D&D book yet, October 21, 2002
Let me preface this review by saying that I am not going to address the moral and ethical implications of this book. If you want in on that debate, visit any of the major D&D message boards. Instead, I'm going to review the BoVD on its merits, or lack thereof, as I would with any other accessory. So, without further adieu...

ART & LAYOUT: WotC continues with their book covers that resemble a "real" fantasy text. The Book of Vile Darkness (BoVD) certainly gets across the feel that it's a tome of evil. As a note, the cover you see on Amazon right now is not the published cover for the book. The real cover looks much cooler. Within, the pages look marked by fire and brimstone around the edges. The actual artwork itself varies in quality as with most of WotC's products. Much of it is very skillful and well done (Goblin Pits). But, just drawing tons of blood & gore doesn't make a drawing cool (Kythons). There are also more topless females in this book than in any other WotC product to date. Interpret that how you will. (This accessory would have gotten 5 stars if the art was consistantly strong throughout.)

CONTENT: Again, time for a preface. I'm a big Monte Cook fan. I think he makes some of the most brilliant D&D 3E products available. In some ways, this book is his greatest achievement yet. Why? He writes about evil, possession, curses, disease, torture, vile magic, and more, in an objective fashion, without glorifying it, rather putting into it d20 terms that you can use to enhance your game. That takes a phenomenal amount of tact - and I think he succeeds. Now onto what you'll find within:

* The Nature of Evil: My favorite section. This is the theory behind evil that allow for DMs to generate villains with realistic (albeit deranged) goals and motivations. What the heck drives these maniacs to such extremes? Here we examine psychology, fetishes, and what exactly is considered an "evil act". Keep in mind, we're talking evil in the D&D sense - a tangible thing you can sense with spells. We also get new vile races, example villains, and malign sites.

* Variant rules for possession, sacrifice, curses, diseases, and all aspects of evil.

* Evil equipment including torture devices (yikes), drugs, poisons, you get the idea. All the talk of "experimentation" gives me shivers, as it will for your PCs.

* Evil-only feats.

* Prestige classes: Another one of my favorite sections. You want a truly memorable villain? Start here. I sent a Vermin Lord after my PCs last night and they were looking at each other like "oh my god, what IS this thing." DMs like those moments.

* Magic: For those that have checked out Mr. Cook's Books of Eldritch Might, you know he can invent some of those most innovative spells & magic items. The BoVD is no exception. Wild, scary stuff. Your PCs will be left wide-eyed. BTW, there are many variant rules for [evil] spells and such, so these aren't only new, but altogether different in many ways from the Player's Handbook spells.

* Lords of Evil: Stats for the Demon Princess and Arch Devils. There are also stats for some lesser baddies. The princes are roughly demigod level in power, so for practical purposes, only a very high-level group would tackle them. However, they could plague a lower level group from behind the scenes just fine.

SUMMARY: If your game is rated PG or G, be very cautious about introducing aspects of the BoVD - You probably don't even want to buy this book. For the rest of you: Don't feel the need to throw the whole book into the mix at once. Used sparingly, the BoVD will definitely help DMs create memorable villains that the heroes will want to see go down and go down hard! Remember, even being vile should be fun when it comes to playing D&D!

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24 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars The definition of NOT FOR PLAYERS!, October 21, 2002
By Brad Smith (Arlington, VA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)      
I'm serious. The only person who can get anything remotely useful out of this is a DM. Players, unless they're in a "Hey, we're bad guys" campaign, have nothing remotely resembling a reason to have it.

Then again, I picked it up. And a mild case of nausea, to boot.

This is the sourcebook on evil and villainy for D&D. It includes descriptions of evil acts, what constitutes evil, ideas on making villains, feats and prestige classes and equipment for villains, lots of new spells, and a lot of new-to-3e monsters as well, including the demon princes.

The good...er, outstanding parts: It has a high production value, and it's clear that they've put a lot of thought into this. (The author's foreword: "I'm not a bad guy. Really.") It's also easy to make bad guys your PCs will want to stomp. Some of the equipment, properly rinsed in holy water after filing the serial numbers off, would be great for regular PCs.

The bad...er, negative: Way too many of the prestige classes are devotees of the demon princes and archdevils; that's boring. The corrupt spells (really Evil spells that any caster can use) are kind of stupid; they inflict heinous attribute damage on the caster and don't do enough damage. One of the villains, the Dread Emperor, has a suggested attack pattern that's impossible (just try to cast four spells in one round without being in epic levels...you have a standard action to cast Haste, cast a regular spell with the partial action from haste, and then one quickened spell/round), this from the system guru. That unnerves me a little bit. Finally, the demon princes and archdevils are, if anything, too weak.

So, in the final analysis, it's okay, and definitely worth a look, but don't even bother if you're a player. It's not at all useful for those, and not even that interesting. And, if you're the type that's easily offended by descriptions or depictions of gore, then, by all means, stay as far away from this as you can.

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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars PURE EVIL UNLEASHED, June 9, 2005
By Tim Janson (Michigan) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)      
This book was a long-time coming to veteran gamers like myself. Not just evil...but vile evil, pure evil. And were not talking player characters running amok, were talking a book that probably is not even suitable for kids or inexperienced gamers. It's definitely geared towards the mature as it pulls no punches in dealing with the essence of evil. It even states it's intended for mature audiences in the introduction so don't discount the warning as mere rhetoric. This is Hellraiser type evil...mean, nasty, and vicious and boy is it fun to read. Even if you don't incorporate this into your settings or campaigns it's worth reading anyway.

The book stars out by defining the nature of evil, at least in terms of a D&D environment before delving into such topics as vile gods and races, creating villains, torture, sacrifices, curses, etc. The book also introduces us to the "Vile feats" for your evil character, although as the book says they are intended for NPCs but with a little modification and approval of your DM, well, you know...

The book introduces several prestige classes including such things as Demonologist, Lifedrinker, Soul Eater, Vermin Lord, as well as disciples or Thralls of various Arch Devils or Demon Lords. The book also features a number of new spells, magic items, artifacts, and monsters. But the thing many long time gamers like myself have looked forward to is the revamping of the Arch Dukes of Hell and Demonlords from the very first old Monster Manual. Asmodeus, Bel, Dispater, Orcus, Demogorgon...they are all here and done the way they always should have been where even ultra-high level PCs will think twice about trying to take these guys on.

Can you use PC's with this book? Clearly it's designed for DM's only and as such presents quite a new challenged for players. I personally prefer it as a DM source only as I'm old fashioned and I prefer players to be good and battle evil and this book provides a wealth of evil. Like most WOC products the art is uniformly good although not spectacular. A welcome addition for the DM
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Book of Vile Darkness (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.0 Fantasy Roleplaying Supplement)
Ok i bought this book and i was expecing differnet ways to kill my PCs.
All this book had in it were the obvious ways to kill them (ex. guillotine). Read more
Published 4 months ago by Gregory Barkley

3.0 out of 5 stars Not quite vile enough for my standards
Monte Cook isn't a bad writer but I felt that this definitely wasn't one of his strongest books. For a book about Vile Darkness I felt it was just another source book to pump up... Read more
Published 4 months ago by D. Nguyen

5.0 out of 5 stars Roleplaying the vile
This item is a perfect addition to any campaign of experienced players, I do not recommend it to newly players because it's a little tricky.
Published 20 months ago by Marco A. cuanalo Torres

5.0 out of 5 stars Mercy Is For The Weak!!
I loved this book so much that I let me players create Evil PC's and we ran and evil campaign for over a year! Read more
Published 23 months ago by Laura A. Krause

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent supplement for high level villainy
As a huge fan of the original AD&D game, I was always inspired by the devils and demons from the Monster Manual. Read more
Published on July 3, 2007 by Bryan J. Rice

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant for gameplay, brilliant philosophically
Dungeons and Dragons supplements should be rated not on their philosophical merits, nor even (I believe) on the quality of their writing, but on their flexibility and usefulness... Read more
Published on April 29, 2007 by Paul B. Rimmer

3.0 out of 5 stars Love hate relationship
I have a love/hate relationship with this book. I love it because most of the ideas are fresh and fun to incorporate into a game. Read more
Published on March 9, 2007 by ed1300

5.0 out of 5 stars useful for dms and pcs alike
Personally I enjoyed the read. My party and I are always looking for interesting ideas to incorporate into our adventures. Read more
Published on February 11, 2007 by G. Stephens

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't buy this for your child
The book of Vile Darkness is one of the most depraved books I have ever read. However, if you truly want your villains to be vile, there is no better sourcebooks. Read more
Published on August 13, 2006 by Lord Baruch

3.0 out of 5 stars Pretty good
If you can get it for under twenty dollars including shipping and handling do so (used copy for example), I wouldn't spend more than that ... Read more
Published on June 20, 2006 by Andre

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