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Arms & Armor v3.5
 
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Average Rating:4.5 / 5
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Arms & Armor v3.5
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Arms & Armor v3.5
Publisher: Bastion Press
by Richard A. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 09/04/2014 15:11:07

1st off let me state I own almost every Bastion press book ever printed so I am a huge fan but I need to share some frustrations. I also want to state, You SHOULD buy this book, but I am going to get into a deeper review of it for not just those that are die hard Fans like myself but those that read and write these things in the future.

I own the 3.0 as well as this 3.5 PDF (bought here or I couldn't review it) Although there is a Great addition to content its as the sacrifice of so much detail and information.

The Original was in Color and the artwork was fantastic and the equipment and art was leveraged to that. This new version is in B&W and some of the art work is just HORRIBLE now. Its a color pic that was meant to be Color and is now B&W and looks like crap. Sure this is probably due to 'File Size' of some other junk but in this day and age no one would blink at a 30MB PDF and the Original scanned was 50+ without Boarders and some trimming it would have been manageable. Because if you print this thing out and hold it side by side to the Original you almost want to throw it away.

The book itself has ballooned. From 96 pages to 176 pages. Much more content and much more WORK and detail for things added to the book. Good stuff and well worth this 10$ price. But The problem is some of this is just rehashed material Either from the SRD/DMG or from other Oathbound books. Now I understand why the material is there. For example they have added EPIC Weapons and Armor enchantments and let me say "THANK YOU" for doing that. Someone cares about the high level players.
But, To get to 'Acid warding'(Epic) they included Acid Resistance, Acid Resistance Improved, Acid Resistance Greater. To add one power. So that they can show you the 'progression'. But when you stack that up for multiple elements and other powers. Or just reprint things right out of the DMG like 'Vorpal' Because you need to show it for your version of 'Crushing' that is 'as Vorpal but for Bludgeoning' It gets hacky because there is so much of it.

I would have LOVED to have seen ALL of the Bastion Press stuff get reprinted in this but they didn't do that...they hand picked 1 or 2 from this book or that book. Some from Spells & Magic , Most from Poisoners Handbook and some from the Oathbound ones as well.

So its frustrating for Me to have 'wanted' an all in one resource for all my Bastion Press Content and not have gotten that instead I have more of SRD stuff that I didn't need and everyone int he game has memorized. I would say that a grant total of nearly 10 pages of this book was just copy pasted and reformatted from other books. Not all of them even Bastions.

Also now the power levels are Different. This power used to be +3 now its +4....or it was +4 in Faeries but now its +3 here in this print. I shouldn't have to get out a publication bibliography of all the Bastion press Time line to figure out which is the 'Right' 'New' Level it should me. Attention to detail is what people who love books love, keep that in mind everyone as you roll stuff out for the future.

So that is the Good and the Bad, Still very happy I bought it, wanted the updates and I buy every Bastion Press and Oathbound Book I can. That Opinion Certainly has not changed due to this book and if you dont have alllllll the other Bastion press books, or the 3.0 version this is going to be a Sterling Example of a fantastic book with tones of original content and other content you might also want to see.

4.0 Stars overall.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Arms & Armor v3.5
Publisher: Bastion Press
by Benoit B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/03/2006 00:00:00

This book contains so many enhancements to weapons and armor that it will keep the PCs (or the monsters) on the edge for years of game play.

The product is well-structured and is easy to use, being based on self-explanatory tables and alphabetical lists of descriptions.

It is a pity that the art of the PDF does not print properly, it is all "bitmap-blurred". It is also a pity that the book does not expand on weapons in order to propose a rule such as the old "adjustment to hit AC" of the 1st edition ADD: nowadays people choose their weapons for the greatest threat range or critical multiplier, but historically weapons were designed to fight specific armors. Modifiers for each weapon against each armor might be painful to use in a basic game, but it would definitely add flavor. This product could have provided such a system, it is a pity it does not.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Huge choice of properties, allowing unlimited inspiration and countless surprises.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: No weapon speicalization against armors Poor quality of printed artwork in the PDF<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Arms & Armor v3.5
Publisher: Bastion Press
by Hardy L. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/27/2006 00:00:00

I have a hard copy of the original, and while I liked many of the more asian flavored weapons, there was a great deal of errata, and that hurt the product a great deal in my eyes.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: The variety and novelty of all the weapons.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Still some over or underbalanced weapons.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Arms & Armor v3.5
Publisher: Bastion Press
by Chris G. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 10/04/2005 00:00:00

The book is all about arms and armor but it provides a well rounded approach to them. It is not just a bunch of new items and magical enchantments even though that is the bulk of the book. It has the rules on weapons like the proficiency rules, what a reach weapon and other categories are, differences between one and two handed weapon, and good definitions for sizes and improvised weapons. While these rules are basic it is useful to have them here. There are two pages of regular weapons and it does include the ones from the Players Handbook. Being able to see all these weapons side by side should really help compare and show people if there are any problem ones. Not all weapons are equal to each other. There are some that are obviously better then others. It will be up the DM to decide if he wants to include all of these in a campaign. I can mention some that might be problems like the two handed martial weapon Ogre Maul that does 2d8 damage and has a critical range of 19-20 / x3, though it does need a 20 strength for a medium size character to use it. But most of the weapons shown here should be fine in any campaign, and of course there are games that the Ogre Maul is perfectly fine as well.

New weapon qualities might be one of the more popular chapters. It is filled with many new powers some of them with a market price as high as +8. That gives a nice variety of qualities and support for the higher level of play that many books do not do. There are abilities like alterable (minor and major) that allow the weapon to change into other weapons. There is a really cool one cascading that gives bonuses to hit and damage in the same round with successful hits. There is class bane that works like normal bane weapons except work against a certain class instead of creature type. One of the powerful qualities is Holy power that does +3d6 damage to evil creatures plus can give them negative levels. The damage and negative levels increase on a critical, too. Not all the weapon qualities are combat oriented either. There is the muse power that increases Bardic Knowledge and craft checks. There are many specific weapons listed as well. Some are class specific like Black Thresher. It is a heavy flail +2 that is a unholy heavy flail +4 in the hands of a Blackgaurd. Some of them are designed for high level play like Chaosbringer that is a +6 great axe of anarchic power with ability to rage. There are some useful items for clerics called Domain Rods. There is one for each domain. They function as a weapon and they help with turning and casting. There area few really interesting artifacts as well like the Skill Blade. It gains ranks in skills that the user can use for each creature it kills. A little bit of paper work involved but a really creative idea. As there is with weapons so there is with armor. There are many new types presented here. Like the weapons there are some here that people might not want in their game but I find the variety refreshing. There are light armors that provide a maximum dexterity bonus of up to +12 though to be fair it provides no armor bonus and costs a hundred gold. And for the other end of the spectrum there is a heavy armor that provides +12 armor bonus though it has a maximum dexterity bonus of zero, reduces the speed of someone with a base speed of 30 to 15 and costs 3,500 gold. Defiantly the armor one would want their Dwarven Defender to have. There are lots of interesting armors, shields, and extras. While some of it when combined with the right magics might be a bit much, I think the selection of different armors will aid anyone running or playing in a low magic game. One great thing they do have is rules for using armor as DR. They give the DR for each armor type and have the rules nicely explained making them simple to use. They also present an optional rule for using a shield parry. Armor Qualities like the weapons quality should be a heavily used section. There are many new qualities presented here with them going all the way to a +10 market price. Just to mention that one right off it is Great Reflection with automatically reflects any spell that targets the user. There is the floating enchantment which basically allows the shield to function like a floating disk. Reduction is another one that reduces the user to the next size category lower. There also is Weightless that improves the spell failure, the armor check penalty, and also increases the maximum dexterity bonus. There is one thing I did not like though. They have various qualities that protect against the different energy types (fire, cold, sonic, etc). Each has four different ones increases in the resistance given. For all of them the first three provide just a gold piece amount to market price but the last ones give a +6 market price. I would have like to see a consistency in the pricing of these either having them all with a base gold piece increase or +X market price. There are of course a wide variety of specific items as well. In here they also include items like the Amulet of Epic Natural Armor and Boots of Striding and Springing. One of my favorites is the Beaded Armor of Odor. It has small glass vials filled with a viscous and foul smelling substance. When the person is hit there is a chance one of these breaks forcing all to make a fort save to not start retching. It might not be the most practical piece of armor as it is a favored choice of undead, but it is defiantly different. There is a the Mail of Faith which acts as better armor the higher level of divine spells one can cast. There area collection of Masks. They have them for a few races as well as like the hunter. There is a small sidebar explaining the use of masks by gladiators in an arena combat. I like the addition of these and the little explanation of a common use of them. There are also a few artifacts listed like the Robe of Transcendent that stops ageing and actually gives back the youthful visage of the person. The Robe provides a nice armor bonus, gives fast healing, and allows the wearing to see as if under a True Seeing spell. There is a small area of the game in terms of arms and armor that I have really not seen taken full advantage of. That is the area of special material. Special materials in my mind are a great way to enhance items and to make them feel unique. They offer difficult materials to get and work well in a low magic setting or one that wants a wide variety of options. Arms and Armor provides two dozen special materials that can be used in the crafting of weapons and armor. There are materials like Bergasalt that is deadly towards undead. Chromium which is a simple material that just allows steel to resist rust. There are also rules for increasing the durability of normal items and what increase to hardness and hit points it can provide. While there have been artifacts listed in other sections, they have a full chapter devoted to Artifacts. It starts with a great discussion of what artifacts are. They can be items of great power created by the gods or just a magical item that can no longer being created. There are few examples listed but there are a good amount of ideas. The chapter goes on to discuss legendary weapons and then goes on to the great idea of the Scion classes. These classes give few abilities but allow for a weapon of power to increase in power as the levels are taken. These prestige classes are open to anyone as there is one for the four basic character types. Obviously, not all characters will fit into one of the four. They have the Battle Scion for the fighter types, Faith Scion for clerics and druids, Spell Scion for Wizards and Sorcerers, and Swift Scion for the rogue types. Each class also has a sample artifact complete with the powers it gains as the character gains level in the class. These area great way to introduce an artifact into the campaign and have it grow in power with the character and directing character growth through the artifact. There is also good information concerning intelligent weapons and Outsider weapons. There is a short chapter on cursed items as well as a nice list of simple curses items can have and a good amount of drawbacks. This is the smallest section of the book as curses seem to be another area people really do not use. I like that many of the ideas here are small and more of a nuisance then something overbearingly deadly. The last Chapter deals with Martial Constructs. There are a wide variety of Golems here like the Killer Amulet Servitors. What I like about this is it actually attacks one opponent to kill even finishing it off with a coup-de-grace attack. Few creatures are listed with that specific attack mode as a common tactic. There are more then a few interesting and creative golems here.

<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: Lots of great options and creativity expanding the magical weapons and armor<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: The art could be better<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Arms & Armor v3.5
Publisher: Bastion Press
by Robert V. A. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 07/10/2005 00:00:00

Second only to the core rulebook, this is the most thumbed through source book I own. An absolute necessity for any GM, as it has all of the SRD and most of the OGL armor and weapon properties that I have seen or that are needed, all in one place and, best yet, alphabatized. It also lists damn near every weapon ever created or found in history. I consider this book to be my FOURTH Core Rulebook.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: the organization and material<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: the scion classes...absolutely useless and a waste of space (even if they were reprinted in Unearthed Arcana)<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Arms & Armor v3.5
Publisher: Bastion Press
by Michael M. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 12/21/2004 00:00:00

looking for a magic ability for weapons or armour? well i'm pretty sure you can stop because it's in here. oh buddy are they in here.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: the shear volume of magic abilities for weapons/armours. <br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: seemed very printer heavy. i think my printer had a hernia spitting it out. also the price, this is to expensive for a pdf. period<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Arms & Armor v3.5
Publisher: Bastion Press
by Dan S. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 10/29/2004 00:00:00

I was a bit nervous to drop $15 on a pdf, but my curiosity got the better of me. I'm tremendously glad I did! There are numerous new weapons, although many are a bit exotic (I'm partial to the chained mace, a heavy mace whose head twists off to expose a chain inside the handle, turning it into a flail), but it's the pages and pages of magical qualities for weapons and armor make this product worth every penny. Sure, it starts with the basics in the PHB and DMG but doesn't nearly stop there. If you're looking to create the ultimate weapon or suit of armor, or at least one that maximizes what you want to do, this is the book for you!

Additional comments added on 14 Sept 2006: Two years after purchasing it, I still find this to be one of the first products I grab off the shelf, both when preparing encounters as a DM and when looking at magical qualities I'd like as a player. I have to agree with one of the other raters, it's the fourth core book!<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: The variety of weapons, armors, and especially the magical qualities that can be enchanted into them.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: I wish they'd put out the occasional update for those of us who bought this book, adding in the new armor and weapon qualities that have been published in subsequent products.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br><BR>[THIS REVIEW WAS EDITED]<BR>



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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