Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Simply Divine?, 8 May 2002
By A Customer
When I received this book through the mail, I had already heard mixed opinions about it. Some thought it was great, flawless and without peer. s maintained it was a mockery of the original book for the 1st. Edition of the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons game. Others were less willing to comment, saying there were parts they liked, and some bits they thought could use more work. It was with no small amount of trepidation then, that I opened the package and perused this tome.
I must say that at first glance, the book took my breath away. Obviously, when thumbing through a publication, one notices the most eyecatching of details first, in this case the artwork which is, simply, breathtaking. The artists have outdone themselves in their work here. Whilst some of the illustrations may have been sub-par cmpared to others, make no mistake, all of the artists who worked so hard on this book should be commended. The pictures of the gods are simply that good.
The writing itself is intriguing, interesting and tantalising. The mechanics are, as usual, solid, with the Gods abilities explained and categorised for the benefit of the Dungeon Master, and a seperate entry for each God provided. A problem in this area is, however, that details on the gods are more than a little sparse. Whilst we can now see who of Hextor and Heironeus is mightier in a purely mechanical sense, we gain no insight into myths or legends about the deities themselves. This oversight, of course, is forgivable as the book is about the Gods themselves, and not the mortals who observe and record their doings and histories.
The book also provides ample examples and ideas for using gods in your campaign, from how the gods view their followers in a broad sense, to methods and implications of gaining divinity, and adventure ideas on the path to godhood.
In addition to the default pantheon detailed in the Player's Handbook, Deities & Demigods also features the Asgardian, Pharoanic and Olympic panteons, each based off of real world pre-christian religions. These are well represented and done in the smae consumate style as the main pantheon (and Thor fans will be proud to note that the Norse Thunderer is probably the strongest divinity featured in the book), with the same beautiful illustrations and the added bonus of a detailed cosmology for those who wish to visit the homes of the Gods.
There are two major fauts with this book. The first is the number of references to the Epic Level Handbook, to be published sometime in June. Whilst not a real niggling issue, it does seem to hint of a desertion of WotC's commitment to a player needing only the Core 3 rulebooks and no others. The second issue is that creating Gods for your own home games. There are no rules for creating your own gods, or ascending a mortal t divinty. As this was one of the things that the book promised, it lets down the overall quality and excellence of the publication.
Still, for a book detailing entities that are unlikely to appear in many games, it is without a doubt a worthwhile buy simply for the gorgous artwork, excellent (if unfinished) system of gods and brilliant design idea. If you ever intend to have your characters walk the lofty halls of heaven not as supplicants, but as natives, this book is a must.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not bad at all., 22 Dec 2002
I picked up this book at our local fantasy store a while back, and bought it after I paged through. At first glance, I was quite impressed. The deities of D&D have, in my opinion, always been one of the most interesting parts of the game.
Though I am way more fond of the Forgotten Realms deities, this book didn't disappoint me either. The book starts off with some godly feats and abilities, which was all quite impressive. It continues explaining how to build your own pantheon. The following chapters showcase the gods themselves. The D&D pantheon impressed me the most. Then you have some of the 'existing' pantheons. I didn't much like the Greek pantheon because I found it rather absurd to portray such a complex religion into a D&D pantheon. The Viking and Egyptian deities were quite interesting though.
The book concludes with a series of example religions (monotheism, dualism and mystery cults), and ways to achieve divinity. All in all, I wasn't disappointed, but the next time I will pick up this book it is probably to make my own set of gods, rather than reading all the showcase of gods which is obviously what the book was written for.
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by Bruce R. Cordell
