Races of Stone (Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 Accessory) (Dungeons & Dragons) (Hardcover)

This one deals with the "races of stone" (hence the title, I guess): the gnomes, dwarves and goliaths (a new race of giantish humanoids). The first chapters of the book deal in considerable detail (25 pages or so each) on these races. These are the most obvious "fluff" in the book, setting out details of daily life, culture, religion, arts and crafts, psychology, myths and legends, settlement patterns and so forth. However, these chapters are very worthwhile, as the contain character and adventure hooks. In particular, they flesh out what makes a race "tick": nothing terribly surprising for dwarves (clan and honour) but it brought out the gnomes nicely (trying to reconcile truth with illusion, an interesting concept with possible character development ramifications - instead of just "dwarf-lite", which is sometimes what they can seem like) and also the goliaths (with their innately competitive natures). These really help in setting the races apart as characters instead of just a collection of stat modifiers and special abilities.

The following section deals in less detail with a series of other races (in the sort of detail that the PHB deals with the core races), such as dream dwarves (sort of, well, dreamy dwarves) and whisper gnomes (really gnomes and halflings in a single race). These are not especially compelling, but OK, and the section isn't very long anyway.

Next are the inevitable prestige classes, but these are pretty good, drawing on the text in the first three chapters to develop cultural concepts for the individual races, rather than being quick knock-off ideas to pad the book.

The chapter after that deals with character options. As such, it contains info on new uses for existing skills (always useful to a DM in adjudicating), new feats (again, like the prestige classes, well integrated with the rest of the book) and a new concept, racial substitution levels. These are intended to tailor the character classes to the specific races, so that they are a bit more appropriate or bring out aspects of the races which perhaps the generic classes don't. For example, the dwarf fighter has racial substitution levels at 1st, 4th and 8th level. Thus, as dwarf fighter character can take the alternative benefits of these racial substitution levels instead of the standard benefits. At 1st level, he may elect to take the substitution level and gain a d12 HD and the ability Axe Focus (like Weapon Focus, only it affects all axes) instead of the standard d10 and fighter feat. The other substitution levels likewise contain other special abilities, which the character may or may not choose to take, tailored to his dwarvish-ness. These substitution levels are available for classes which are iconic for those races (for dwarves, fighter, cleric and [oddly] sorcerer), with a similar number of optional levels available. I like this approach, as it helps to differentiate the different races quite nicely, and as its optional, you don't have to bother if you don't like it.

The next chapter sets out equipment and magic, including some exotic super-heavy armours (of dwarvish make, naturally) and a new type of magic item, the rune circle (a stationary magic circle you need to stand on to derive the benefits from - interesting idea and potentially useful as adventure hooks).

The last section sets out details of sample NPCs and new rules for settlement demographics to take account of the differences of the individual races from the norm as set out in the DMG.

I liked this book, as it was well thought out and cohesive. The new elements, like the goliaths, were likewise thoughtful and useful, and a lot of the stuff can be used even if you don't want to get invloved with "race of stone" since it has broad applicability.