Complete Arcane: A Player's Guide to Arcane Magic for all Classes (3.5e)
 |
 |
Myth and mystery surround those who wield the awe-inspiring might of arcane magic. Whether through ancient knowledge¸ innate talent¸ or supernatural gift¸ these formidable and versatile spellcasters command powers beyond measure. This supplement for the D&D game provides everything you need to expand the power of arcane magic for characters of any class. Along with new base classes¸ prestige classes¸ feats¸ spells¸ monsters¸ and magic items¸ Complete Arcane provides guidelines for spell duels¸ arcane organizations¸ and other aspects of a campaign world imbued with magic.
Master Eldritch Secrets and Formidable Power
Myth and mystery surround those who wield the awe-inspiring might of arcane magic. Whether through ancient knowledge¸ innate talent¸ or supernatural gift¸ these formidable and versatile spellcasters command powers beyond measure.
This supplement for the D&D game provides everything you need to expand the power of arcane magic for characters of any class. Along with new base classes¸ prestige classes¸ feats¸ spells¸ monsters¸ and magic items¸ Complete Arcane provides guidelines for spell duels¸ arcane organizations¸ and other aspects of a campaign world imbued with magic.
Product History
Complete Arcane (2004)¸ by Richard Baker¸ is one of the best of the class expansion books for D&D 3.5¸ hands down. A more comprehensive reworking of 3e D&D's Tome & Blood¸ Complete Arcane manages to deliver an absurd amount of well-balanced and flavorful character options for players with arcane characters. It's 192 pages of magic-weaving¸ eldritch goodness¸ full of spells¸ magic items¸ feats¸ prestige classes¸ and monsters.
Showing Real Class. One of the first things you note about Complete Arcane is the vast amount of new character options. There are three new classes¸ with the wu jen converted from Oriental Adventures and the war mage ported over from the Miniatures Handbook. The new class that particularly shines is the warlock.
There was great furor about the warlock when the class was released¸ with impassioned (and sometimes a little bit frothing) concern that the introduction of at-will spellcasting would prove to be dramatically overpowered. Nevertheless¸ it was a significant step away from Vancian magic and the creation of a fun¸ playable class that had a fairly low learning curve for newer players. The warlock managed to combine fun new mechanics with superb flavor¸ something that's not particularly easy.
Almost 20 new and converted prestige classes fill more than 50 pages. Almost all are well balanced¸ although a few are relatively esoteric - you don't find many acolytes of the skin wandering around adventuring worlds¸ for instance - but a few have firmly established themselves in D&D's canon. The alienist¸ with its tentacular revelations and twitching insanities¸ makes a return. So does the wild mage¸ a concept generally beloved by players and hated by everyone else at the table since early editions of D&D.
Of particular note are new prestige classes for bards¸ a fun class that had traditionally garnered less support in supplements than other spellcasters. It's also worth noting that every prestige class has a stat block for NPCs¸ making it simple for DMs to pull one in as an adversary.
Feats of Strength. The feats presented in Complete Arcane are generally interesting and well thought out. One in particular is worth calling out: Practiced Spellcaster (giving the spellcaster +4 to their caster level¸ maxing out at their actual Hit Dice) puts every multi-classed spellcaster and spellcasting race with a l