Oriental Adventures (Dungeons and Dragons 3rd Edition) (Dungeons & Dragons) [Hardcover]

I may not need them anymore.... I have Oriental Adventures now.

First off, the artwork and presentation are on a par with the Forgotten Realms Sourcebook. Yep, it's just that good. Most games that try to add an Asian flavor just try to tweak the ordinary fighter/wizard/cleric/thief classes a little and call them something else, like samurai or ninja. Worse, they make the Asian PC's virtually unstoppable against those poor elven and dwarven sods in Western games. Not historically accurate, or really that broadening to play. The samurai and other classes are very well fleshed out. Love the rules on augmenting a family katana, too; it makes good sense how they do it, and makes it unnecessary for the DM to alter his treasure tables if he has one samurai character in a party.

The history section is interesting, and based on L5R, but I'm more interested in historical Japanese and Hindu milieus. That said, the section on weapons is very good, and doesn't have just one or two weapons. The special rules on the sodegarami and the sai really capture the reason for the weapons. Some nasty Chinese weapons make the cut, too. (So to speak....)

The spell lists are great (although I have a certain fondness for Bushido's "Stench of Kim-Chi" spell), and very Asian in their flavor and execution. This way, a wu-jen isn't just a standard D&D wizard with a couple of odd characteristics and different names for his spells.

The feats and prestige classes are uniformly well balanced and interestingly presented. The monk classes, like the Tattoed Monk, are inspired, and fit the flavor well. As a GM, I didn't see anything in them that warranted disapproval, or (*gasp!*) being banned from the games I run. All in all, very well thought out.

The extra races are a treat, too, and, like the rest of the book, very well balanced, and they fit well within Asian areas of concentration. I especially like the Vanara.

All told, an excellent supplement, and well worth the dollars I laid down for it.

First I'd like to address the few complaints I have heard.
1) The Book is unecessarily Large: FALSE. The Book attempts (sucessfully) to combine a basic rules set, dungeon master information, monster manual and campaign setting in one book. It does this at a reasonable pricefor 252 pages of information... and not a page is wasted.
2) The Five Rings campaign setting dominates and dilutes the value of the product: FALSE. The design of the book saved space by including campaign specific rules for races and classes directly in the rules section itself (rather than isolating them to a campaign section alone)
3) The Ninja should have been a Core Class: MOOT POINT. The Ninja Spy (and apparently two other Ninja presitge classes will be appearing in the dragon) was an excellent method of expanding the basic rogue or fighter (or even monk) into the fanatsy/movie version of the Ninja myth... (If you want a TRUE historical Ninja... play a rogue/monk)

Now... what is inside this book?

*5 New Races, inclusing the Spirit Folk, Hengeyokai and Korobokuru from the original OA
*5 Core Classes, including the Samurai, Shukenja and Sohei (also from the original)
*Over 25 Presitige classes including a more balanced Kensai...
*100 spells that fit perfectly in the setting
*75 New Monsters, inclusing a wealth of asian dragons.
*The Legends of the Five Rings Campaign setting which is completely modular and allows for a ready made stoyline for those DM's that just want to dive in.

This product allows for a variety of campaign, from a more historical Sword and Sake game all the way to a Hugely High-Fantasy "Crouching Tiger" style game.

Many of the huge number of new feats allow the for the Chambara (Hong Kong action movie) style of martial arts...

My only complaint is that once again, the Asian world is presented as a mismatched WHOLE, elements of Chinese and Japanese culture are thrown together in a (sometimes) unatural mixture. This complaint is not enough to lower my rating however, a good DM will do his or her research and design a campaign that includes the elements they value...

I would like to see an expansion of this product including concepts from malasia and korea (also seats of historic martial arts forms) and an expansion of the (very well done) exotic weapons to enclude even MORE weapons of the far east...

all in all... an excellent product for those interested in an Aisan campaign or for games that have monks hungering to play their Hong Kong Action Fantasies...

For the high points, I liked it much of the original Oriental Adventures found its way into the new edition. I like the new write-ups for the Samurai, Wu-Jen, and the Sohei. The newer classes are pretty good, ie. the Shaman and Shugenja. The prestige classes are wonderfully done and generic for the most part. The writers and playtester have done a masterful job of making Oriental Adventures feel eastern in flavor and not just an "add-on" for the very western D&D3E. Throughout the text, player are immersed into, in a generic sense, a very asian setting. Rokugan, as a campaign setting, seems appropriate to the new book. Its short writeup at the end of the book is a mere taste of what's to come.

The few low points are really nitpicks. I thought the martial arts was painfully short and incomplete. A lot more could've been done in that regard. The model setting that they chose, Rokugan, seemed a little intrusive at times. But then again, the text explains how to or not incorporate elements from that setting into your own. Its Japanese slant, in some ways, seems to write itself into the rules. On the other hand, there are many Chinese, Korean, and Indian elements which balance it out.

Overall, this is a great addition to the D&D3E line. I highly recommend it for those who wish to add a little bit of the East into their games.