Post by Gilvan Blight on Aug 2, 2010 19:26:23 GMT -5
Quickly: tons of cool items but not really any new rules.
Summary:
The second volume in the Adventurer's Vault (AV) series for 4th edition D&D. Unlike Adventurers Vault one that included some new rules including masterwork weapons, transferring enchantments, new weapon types and vehicle rules, this book has only magic items. Hundreds of them.
Included along with the magic items themselves is quite a bit of fluff. This is also a change from AV1. Every page has 1 or two sidebars that give some of the lore on an item and a quest hook or two. For some items there are also knowledge check results, giving background and lore. This is very common with the item sets.
Item Sets are introduced and immediately make me think of Diablo, as that was my first real experience with sets. They work as you would expect, wearing more then one piece from a set gives you an additional bonus. Interestingly there are both Solo sets and Group sets. The former requires multiple members of the player character party to be wearing items from the set.
New magic item types include Tatoos and Lair Items. This second type is very cool and includes items that a group of players would have installed or built into their home base.
The last section of the book is a massive index of all of the items in the book by level and price. Many of the items here are designed specifically to work with the Player's handbook 2 races which makes sense based on when this was published.
The Good:
Lots of great items! Lots and lots! As a DM I loved the sidebars, it made this an enjoyable read as opposed to a huge list of stats and mechanics. I literally was able to read this cover to cover which is pretty good for an equipment book. My players really loved the idea of the Tattoos especially the ones that worked based on how many people in the party had the same tats. The item sets I thought were cool but the players didn't seem to really be into the solo sets much as they only liked a few pieces in each set. Now the group sets look like they will be popular once we get to that Tier of play.
The Bad:
I personally found there were a few too many items specific to the PHB2 races and classes. It's not overwhelming but if you aren't playing a PHB2 class there's going to be a lot of items to skip over. I don't really see the point in the index in the back either, this is probably because I have an insider account and use the character builder when placing treasure where I can sort by level already.
The Ugly:
I was very surprised and somewhat disappointed that there were no new rules in this book. I guess the rules for item sets and lair items are technically new rules but I was hoping for more. AV one had a ton of new rules like Alchemy and Vehicles, this really had nothing. No new types of weapons, no new amour types. No rules for special materials, nothing. I was hoping for a lot more then just more magic items. Due to having no new rules so to speak if you have a DDi account this book doesn't serve much purpose. All of these items are in the Compendium and the Character Builder and there's no new rules to learn.
Overall:
I really liked the first Adventurers Vault (review pending) and I expected the same thing from AV2, and I didn't get it. While I really like the addition of the sidebars I really missed not getting any new rules to add to my game. Also due to the fact there is no new rules you already have all of this information if you have a DDi account. Now I personally still like to have a book to flip through and read, so even if you have DDi you may want to pick this up. If you don't have DDi this is a great set of new magic items sure to enhance your treasure hoards, just know what you are getting, items, items and more items and nothing else.
Summary:
The second volume in the Adventurer's Vault (AV) series for 4th edition D&D. Unlike Adventurers Vault one that included some new rules including masterwork weapons, transferring enchantments, new weapon types and vehicle rules, this book has only magic items. Hundreds of them.
Included along with the magic items themselves is quite a bit of fluff. This is also a change from AV1. Every page has 1 or two sidebars that give some of the lore on an item and a quest hook or two. For some items there are also knowledge check results, giving background and lore. This is very common with the item sets.
Item Sets are introduced and immediately make me think of Diablo, as that was my first real experience with sets. They work as you would expect, wearing more then one piece from a set gives you an additional bonus. Interestingly there are both Solo sets and Group sets. The former requires multiple members of the player character party to be wearing items from the set.
New magic item types include Tatoos and Lair Items. This second type is very cool and includes items that a group of players would have installed or built into their home base.
The last section of the book is a massive index of all of the items in the book by level and price. Many of the items here are designed specifically to work with the Player's handbook 2 races which makes sense based on when this was published.
The Good:
Lots of great items! Lots and lots! As a DM I loved the sidebars, it made this an enjoyable read as opposed to a huge list of stats and mechanics. I literally was able to read this cover to cover which is pretty good for an equipment book. My players really loved the idea of the Tattoos especially the ones that worked based on how many people in the party had the same tats. The item sets I thought were cool but the players didn't seem to really be into the solo sets much as they only liked a few pieces in each set. Now the group sets look like they will be popular once we get to that Tier of play.
The Bad:
I personally found there were a few too many items specific to the PHB2 races and classes. It's not overwhelming but if you aren't playing a PHB2 class there's going to be a lot of items to skip over. I don't really see the point in the index in the back either, this is probably because I have an insider account and use the character builder when placing treasure where I can sort by level already.
The Ugly:
I was very surprised and somewhat disappointed that there were no new rules in this book. I guess the rules for item sets and lair items are technically new rules but I was hoping for more. AV one had a ton of new rules like Alchemy and Vehicles, this really had nothing. No new types of weapons, no new amour types. No rules for special materials, nothing. I was hoping for a lot more then just more magic items. Due to having no new rules so to speak if you have a DDi account this book doesn't serve much purpose. All of these items are in the Compendium and the Character Builder and there's no new rules to learn.
Overall:
I really liked the first Adventurers Vault (review pending) and I expected the same thing from AV2, and I didn't get it. While I really like the addition of the sidebars I really missed not getting any new rules to add to my game. Also due to the fact there is no new rules you already have all of this information if you have a DDi account. Now I personally still like to have a book to flip through and read, so even if you have DDi you may want to pick this up. If you don't have DDi this is a great set of new magic items sure to enhance your treasure hoards, just know what you are getting, items, items and more items and nothing else.