Book of Exalted Deeds (Dungeons and Dragons v3.5 Supplement) [Hardcover]

Demons and devils were defined. Evil was given its own spells, magic items and races. The good guys, for there part, had morally limited and easily stereotyped paladins and the occasionally pure-hearted cleric. That was it. There was no real reason for a fighter, rogue or wizard to be any more good than their alignment description read.

The Book of Exalted Deeds changes all that. Good has been given power, real power, and is now just as capable as evil of showering benefits on its devotees - though at no less cost to those devotees.

This book opens with a discussion of the motives of good. What acts are good, which are not, and the exceptions to the rules. It's never a problem for me, but this section would be quite handy for those DMs and players who have trouble figuring just what a character's alignment means and practice.

Also included is the idea of being "exalted." This isn't being on a moral high-horse or anything of the sort, it's simply the idea that just as some villains can be despicable beyond human comprehension, so can heroes be righteous.

Next we get to the meat and drink of the book: the new stuff. The magic items are adequate, not much more. There's only so many new adjectives you can add onto the beginning of item names, and only so many powers you can give, but at the very least this book includes special enhancements that directly counter enhancements from the dreaded Book of Vile Darkness.

The same goes for feats and spells, really, although some completely new concepts are also entertained.

The book really comes into its own with the prestige classes, monsters and descriptions of greater creatures of good. In these sections, you're given some specific statistics, but you're also given a really good guideline for just how you can create your own special and sacred servants of the eladrin, the angels and the guardinals. Various otherworldly and mortal servants of the three great bastions of good are described, including a lot of the eladrin that were missing from previous supplements. The tulani and the firre were particularly appreciated.

The greater creatures of good, the angels, the high eladrin, the greatest of the guardinals, are described in detail, with thorough descriptions. Given their tremendous power, I'm a little surprised that they weren't generated via Deities and Demigods, but that's a minor quibble.

What I liked best about this book is that, as opposed to the majority of WotC's other products, this book appears to be cleanly edited, neatly presented and well-organized. I'm not an organization freak in my waking life, but when it comes to reference supplements, I really appreciate having everything laid out in plain, simple order, particularly when it's information that's useful.

This book is fantastic and definitely worth buying for several reasons:

1. It is a worthwhile counterpart to the Book of Vile Darkness. For a game which prides itself on being fair and balanced in all things, it would naturally be blatantly unbalanced in favor of evil if there were not such counterpart.

2. The new feats and prestige classes are definitely worthy of those of us who prefer to play with good-aligned parties and characters. I'll expand on that below.

3. There are those idealistic, old-fashioned fools like me still in existence who believe that for a game like D&D, which is based on Lord of the Rings, it is not only more appropriate but also more fun to play with a view to some sort of noble goal to destroy evil. Such naive souls like myself have always believed that it is far more fun and exciting to kill the dragon and save the damsel than the other way around.

I'm not terribly big on prestige classes. However, the ones described in this book are terrific - very balanced and eminently playable. Although I haven't actually played a campaign with this text (yet), I can see how it would be supremely fun to do. The prestige classes are very powerful: Vassal of Bahamut (a de facto dragon-slaying class), the Sword of Righteousness (a prestige class for those who, like me, don't want to deviate from their regular character class for many levels but would like some bonus feats), and, my personal favorite, the Fist of Raziel for Paladins who wish to eschew their undead turning and special mount privileges for bonuses to their smiting ability. Ever hear of a lawful good assassin? There's now a special order of ex-rogues and assassins who have converted and have now formed a lawful good society of spies and stealthy killers of evil. Harpers, eat your heart out. There are more, of course; this is only a sample. But for those of us who live to play good-aligned Paladins and Clerics, this book is a ray of hope in an often evil-glorifying game.

But don't think for a moment that only Paladins and Clerics can benefit from this text. On the contrary, there are classes designed specifically for good-aligned Druids, Fighters, Rangers, Sorcerers and Bards. There is a prestige class only for Elves & Half-Elves. There's even a class only for female characters. But the main requirement for any of these classes is that the character be of good alignment. Not non-evil. Good.

If I have any complaint at all it's that there isn't much in the book for Barbarians and Wizards. But even so, Barbarians may wish to join one of the nature-oriented prestige classes designed primarily for Rangers or Druids. And Wizards will enjoy the new spells and metamagic feats available to them. So there truly is something for everyone.

I myself have played Paladins for years. And I'm in love with the 3.5E Paladin. But throughout many of the campaigns I've played and players I've encountered, I've often seen Paladins, good-aligned Clerics, and even the concept of goodness and law scoffed at and ridiculed. The overall feeling of many gamers is that Paladins are nothing but arrogant do-gooders whose very moral alignment is opposed to having any fun, obtaining any amount of treasure, or getting any experience points. (And that's odd since no one seems to be going around calling Obi-Wan Kenobi or Aragorn from LotR arrogant do-gooders or whimps.) Such players prefer to power-game a chaotic neutral dual-classed half-orc barbarian-fighter or something which will enhance their freedom and advancement. And that may very well work. But, again, this game was based on LotR, and I prefer to see it in those terms. And I play it in those terms. I don't think that rescuing a red dragon and slashing the throat of the damsel as enhancing the advancement of my character, no matter how much money or experience points are involved.

So for those of us who prefer to capture the original vision of the game, this book goes a very long way. Lawful good is now something to be revered - and even feared. Law and goodness are vindicated in this tome. Paladins, and the many Paladin orders listed in this book, are not whimps - they're superlative hunters and destroyers - every bit as powerful and fun as any Fighter or Barbarian, and far more so if battling evil-aligned creatures. Clerics are not just healers - they can be other-worldly mystics who are immune to virtually everything or who are fearsome warriors like their Paladin counterparts. This is almost redemptive in a game which has become, sadly, dominated by the "evil is freedom" mentality of many of the game-makers and players over the past 20+ years.

So, yes, law and goodness are now not just in keeping with the original idea of the game, but are also fun and extremely powerful. And all of us who love playing Paladins, Clerics or any other good-aligned character but who felt inferior and who were the brunt of many a joke over the past several years, will now be the ones who are accepted and sought after. And this is a welcome change for a game whose original purpose is to do good and avoid evil.

I would have liked to have seen a sample adventure, to help make some of the ideas presented more real and more easy to work into a D20 game, but that's a nice to have.

I would also have liked to have seen more interaction with the Epic book. I considered this a fairly major flaw, in that most of the ideas and scope presented would work well with epic characters. It may be difficult to figure out the progressions for the characters here, and some of the feats cry out for epic versions. Hopefully, Hasbro will address this with web enhancements later.