Book of Exalted Deeds

[IronWolf]

The next mature title in the D&D line that allows players to explore the concept of truly heroic play. Book of Exalted Deeds is the second title in the line of D&D products specifically aimed at a mature audience. As the Book of Vile Darkness was a resource book on the most evil elements of campaign play, this title focuses instead on the availability of good resources and features in the D&D spectrum. There are tips and information for running heroic campaigns and characters, and the text is written to instruct and inspire players to take a broader view of their game as they engage in exalted or valiant activities. Consequently, the choice to become heroic and the consequences that accompany that choice are treated in a mature and sensitive manner. Additionally, this title will explore a wide range of exalted features specifically designed to enrich truly heroic play, including new feats, prestige classes, spells, races, and magic items.

 

[Selvarin]

The Book of Exalted Deeds, a 192-page hardcover,is the second in a line of mature-themed products published by Wizards of the Coast. As with its predecessor, the Book of Vile Darkness, BoED came with a "Warning! Content is intended for mature audiences only" sticker. I know, it seems strange considering it isn't filled with vile material or try to quanitfy real-world religions or religious leaders--something
which could understandably bother some people. However, some portions do draw upon aspects of real-world religions in a general sense and so the sticker was included. (One of the authors, James Wyatt, mentions after the intro that he didn't expect to see a disclaimer on it.) Regardless, in the end this is a minor issue and the sticker comes off much more easily than the one placed upon the BoVD. What matters
more is what's inside, so let's hit it.


The Book of Exalted Deeds is about the nature of goodness, morality within a campaign world, and how to
play a good character in a better manner. After the obligatory introduction, it gets into the Nature of Good in Chapter 1. Here, the usual ideas about what makes a person good (charity, forgiveness, and personal sacrifice, to name a few) are dealt with in concise bits. Sidebars regarding the use of material from the Book of Vile Darkness, and the difference between 'exalted' and epic, are included. Every form of Good is clarified, as well as certain heroic archetypes (from the benevolent Healer to the Redeemed villian), plus what exalted members of each class type should take as far as feats and prestige classes found within the BoED goes. the concept of using celestial creatures as PCs also comes into play. Some may disregard the first part of the chapter which dealt with what being Good or 'exalted' entails but personally I found it to be a worthy read. The part about ends & means in particular gave me something to think about, since in
many campaigns--mine included--the heroes are a bit grittier and may occasionally resort to dodgier things for the greater good.

Chapter 2 deals with variant rules and runs for 10 pages. Here, you will find details on channeling, exalted cohorts, exorcism, as well as exalted gods (new, and provided later in the book). Where chapter one dealt with basics, chapter gets more specific and has game effects. Channeling (wherein a celestial merges/manifests within a willing mortal's body) is an interesting concept, as are the listed benefits of voluntary poverty level by level. There's a table listing the level adjustments for half-celestials and sections on sainthood and martyrdom. And were you looking for a celestial counterpart to Dark Speech? There are the Words of Creation, which can be used to enhance magic items as well as bardic talents. Additional guidelines regarding how a character gains experience points in D&D when they're pacificistic were also included. This, to me was a bit more difficult to comprehend as D&D is more or less a game about
smacking the bad guys down in spectacular ways, nonetheless I'm glad it was covered. (By the way, even if you're a pacifist with the Vow of nonviolence and Vow of Peace feats you're allowed to gain XP for destroying constructs and undead so it's not all bad.)

Chapter 3 deals is all about Exalted Equipment. It's a retty short chapter, only 6 pages, which was fine with me as I'm practically drowning with 'new' equipment from other books. No, what's here is only what's needed. the concept of non-lethal weapons is expanded upon a little, which is just as well since pacifistic types need something to disable their opponents when words or spells fail. Ravages and afflictions is, at least to me, an idea I've never encountered before in other game books. Poison in general is evil because of the damage it causes, thus goodly types can't use it. Ravages and afflictions are, in essence, magical forms of trauma that only affect evil creatures, and are most potent against evil outsiders. I don't know if any of them derive from real-world stories or what, but they're all pretty creative. Haunting Conscience (a magical affliction), causes 1d4 points of Wisdom damage and causes the sufferer to dwell on its evil deeds.
Another causes the sufferer to obsess about themselves to the point where they'll just stare into a mirror.
The concept of sanctified weapons is also introduced. Such weapons aren't inherently magical but they deal 1 extra point of holy damage to evil creatures or 1d4 points of damage against evil outsiders. There's a variant piece on optional material components and their potency when used. It was okay but I didn't like the idea of a % that optional component x would provide a given bonus or enhancement. Let's use a couatl feather for example. According to the BoED a spell to which it's applied has a 35% chance to have
its effective caster level increased by +2. that's great but why only 35%? if it's so special in the first place then there should be a definite benefit. In this case it's easy enough to rule-0 it and say 65% of the time it provides a +1 bonus with a 35% chance of a +2 bonus. I'm not saying this can be done in every case, but still I think it's a step in the right direction. Oh, and the interesting part regarding these material components is that they must be freely given, and not merely taken from a dead creature. Another subject brought up in this chapter regards relics, which have the touch of goodness upon them but which aren't necessarily magical in the typical sense. Just a few items are detailed, sch as a saint's burial shroud
or a sacred vessel which turns water placed inside it into holy water. It's a nice touch, and if used in a low-magic campaign will prove very useful.

In Chapter 4 you'll find various feats. Some are general but some have the 'exalted' designation and can only be taken with the DM's permission. Exalted Turning causes 3d6 points of additional damage to undead who are successfully turned, whereas Holy Ki Strike allows you to deal an additional 2d6 points of holy damage to evil creatures. For the most part they're well written and the sort that any good-aligned PC would love to have. Again, for the pacifist types there are some special options, such as Nonlethal Substitution (imagine being able to lob a fireball at opponents that deals nonlethal damage instead of fire damage). There are also feats which relate to special vows as well as feats which relate to bonuses gained from swearing allegiance to the Court of Stars or Servant of the Heavens. Stigmata is an interesting feat wherein you heal others by giving your own life energy. No one's left out, there are useful feats for
each class or type. Even rogues get their share.

Prestige Classes fill up about 33 pages in Chapter 5. 21 prestige classes, two of which are 3-level PRCs, one of which has 5-levels, and the rest 10-level PRCs. Twelve are tied to deities or celestial beings (such as powerful archons). The Beloved of Valarian is dedicated to the unicorn deity Valarian and takes a vow of chastity, while Vassals of Bahamut serve his caus against evil dragonkind. There's the Apostle of Peace (which is well-written and has its own spell progression, not some +1 caster level/PRC level), the Lion of Talisid, and the Skylord, to name just a few. The Sword of Righteousness and the Wonderworker are PRCs designed to allow a character to gain more exalted feats at the cost of slower progression, which is why they're both only 3-levels each. And for those who missed the swanmay of 1st and 2nd Edition AD&D,
here she is as a prestige class instead of a monster type. Overall I'm pleased with the variety and depth of the prestige classes, and I like the idea of classes which are devoted to celestial individuals and groups who aren't necessarily deities in their own right. It adds an extra layer of service to a higher authority.

Chapter 6 deals with Magic. Nine new domains, 119 spells, new magic items. Ack, it's almost a blur to my eyes. There's so much. Something long overdue is the expansion of spells with the Good descriptor. Hallelujah! (You knew this was coming, right?) For clerics who chose the Good domain, you now have more at your disposal. In addition, there's the notion of 'sanctified magic', magic which draws power from the spellcaster as part of the spell's casting. This sacrifice runs the gamut of temporary ability damage to a permanent level drain or worse. It's costly but also quite powerful, and while I shudder at the thought of casting Armageddon--and losing a character level in the process--I might be tempted nonetheless. Take
note of Phoneix Fire, a 7th-level spell that instantly kills you, deals damage to evil and neutral creatures within range, and then brings you back from the ashes (you lose a level here as well, as per resurrection). There are some colorful spells here, no doubt about it.
The magic item section has its own goodies from new armor properties like Soulfire (immunity to all death spells, magical death, etc.) to weapon propertes (Heavenly Burst, which discharges a damaging radiant burst upon a successful critical against evil creatures)...It's almost too much to list, really, between the
spells and magic items. Some early faves from the specific weapons list are the Bow of the Solars and the Nightblade of Arvandor, not to mention some new intelligent items. The major artifacts section is short, including only the Cup and Talisman of al'Akbar and the Regalia of Good. What others will go 'hmmm' in a nice way about is the section on redeeming evil magic items. There's a specific procedure for doing so, and some examples of what such a redeemed magic item might become thereafter Some may become just an ordinary version of itself---a redeemed nine lives stealer that lost the ability to steal life becomes a +2 sword, whereas it becomes a +1 holy sword if itstill possessed the ability prior to redemption. (I don't recall seeing a procedure in the BoVD concerning corrupting good items, but if not it's easy enough to extrapolate from this how to do so.) Of course, some cannot be redeemed and for them options are suggested as a means to facillitate their destruction.

Filling up the last third of the book are chapters 7 (Celestial Paragons) and 8 (Monsters). Chapter 7 begins with more details on channeling and the qualities conferred upon mortals by the celestial paragon in question, as well as an epic level spell that facilitates this called Channel Celestial Paragon. Unless you're going 'Epic', you can skip it for a while. The rest of the chapter details the various named celestials,
such as Raziel the Crusader, as well as sample champions for each. Most have high CR's, as you can guess, including Zaphkiel the Watcher (CR 32). Past that, there is Talisid and the Five Companions. Whereas the celestials mentioned previously were all Lawful Good, these beings of Elysium are Neutral Good. And last but not least is the (CG) Court of Stars, replete with Morwell the Queen of Stars and both her champion and consort, respectively. Although she and her consort are eladrin, I don't see why they couldn't be turned into something even more fey-like. Perhaps a campaign where the elves are descended from eladrin? In Chapter Eight, the deathless type is introduced as a goodly alternative to the undead type. It's a temporary type, however, and unlike undead they draw their power from the Positive Energy Plane. In addition, there is the saint and sanctified templates, the latter of which is added on to a once-evil creature (the sample creature used is a sanctified red dragon). The rest of the chapter is filed with new archons and other outsiders. Some are new (such as Shiradi and the mousy Musteval) while others are not (bariaur, eladrin). And while I was aware that the Aleax would be included, the Moon Dog was a surprise. At the very end is an index of celestials, listing all good outsiders from all WotC/D&D products up to the time of publication.


Conclusion and final thoughts



It can be hard to justify paying $32.95 for yet another game book. In fact I had no intention of picking this up when I went down to the game store--I was jonesing more for the Underdark HC than anything else. However, there was something about this book that made me curious so I bit the bullet and got it anyway. I was not disappointed in the least. From the material (by and large new, not recycled) to the layout and artwork (which was superb, even Tom Baxa's work was above the norm), I've been enthralled. I know that someone's going to look for something to nitpick over but I personally can't find anything to gripe about. From a gaming standpoint it's a very useful sourcebook for playing Good heroes. This isn't something you'd get in order to better play a medieval 'Dirty Harry' type, this is a book to get if you aspire for something greater. I do agree that it works a little better when your DM has the Book of Vile Darkness, if for nothing else to make the villians stand out in starker contrast to the heroes, but by no means is it necessary. Despite the warning/mature theme sticker I don't think most people will have a problem with any of the subject matter. Sure, you'll see where something from a real-world religion may well have inspired a spell or object (e.g., the saint's burial shroud may remind some of the Shroud of Turin), but everything has been thoughtfully treated and the references are minor. There is some minor nudity on pages 23 and 141, but in both cases it was natural and logical (I don't think avorals and lillends feel the need to cover themselves, ye know?). As stated in the introduction you can use what you like, adapt what doesn't fit, and ignore what you don't like. It's a toolkit, and a handy one.

Quick note: "Holier Than Thou", an article by Christopher Perkins relating to celestial monsters, appears in Dragon #312. It deals with using asuras, bariaurs, hollyphants, leskylors, moon dogs, quesars, and rhek in a Savage species-style manner. As Perkins is listed as one of the BoED's authors (with James Wyatt and Darrin Drader), and since it is Part I, it's worth getting the magazine for that article even if you aren't sold on the BoED itself.

 

[JoeGKushner]

The Book of Exalted Deeds brings new options for players interested in actively pursuing their good alignment. It's the counter weight to the Book of Vile Darkness, and like that book, is meant for mature readers. I personally don't get that part as there really isn't a lot of objectionable material, but given the discussion on some of the options for good players and actions, I suppose Wizards want to cover themselves.

After the introduction, the book goes into some role playing advice and options. On one hand, it's good to see concrete examples of how say, prisoners should be treated or how noble such characters should act. On the other, it seems like the authors have taken everything we know to be good today, and combined with the ideals of good, and made a very difficult character to run, almost going to the 'lawful stupid' degree. For example, accepting surrender. You have to and on top of that, you have to try and redeem such surrendered individuals until they are turned over to the law.

Okay, fine. But the book recommends that good characters shine better when confronted with vile ones. The book also suggests that you don't mess with the player's trust. You can't have all three things. You can't be using the most vile criminals not using every trick in their book to kill, disable or maim the players while the players are trying very patiently to redeem them. It's possible but would require some actors or something to pull off on a consistent basis instead of everyday role players.

Another thing I thought was lame was the ravages and afflictions, the good versions of poison s. They are poisons, get over it. Sure, they only work on evil creatures but, they are 'debilitating'. Using such a, yes, poison, is now a good act because it effects only evil creatures?

There is a new type of feat, the exalted feat. These feats can only be taken after the character has a ritual performed on him and are lost, much like paladin hood, if the character ever commits an evil act. In my campaign, one of the player's has taken Nymph's Kiss. Now this feat grants you a +2 bonus to all Charisma checks against Fey Creatures and a +1 bonus to saving throws against all spells and spell-like abilities plus 1 extra skill point per level. Might be a little over the top. If you have any exalted feat, you radiate good. Now you have to take Exalted Smite to actually have your weapon be considered good-aligned for bypassing damage reduction. Not too bad, but unless you've got a lot of smiting ability not the greatest.

One thing I don't like is feats that are common mechanically. For example, switching a stat for a skill or attack or the dreaded +2 bonus to two skills. We have several different patrons, each with their own feat, that gives the user a +1 luck bonus on any one roll or check once per day. We've got Favored of the Companions, Servant of the Heavens and Knight of Stars. Why not just one feat, “Favored”, with examples under it as to what each one is?

Same deal with Consecrate. Here, you take any spell and give it the good descriptor and half the damage is now holy damage or divine damage and isn't blocked by energy immunity. Very much like the Vile version. But now you've got Consecrate Spell Like Ability, with the full text repeated of the benefit while Consecrate Spell Trigger, just states, “modified as thought it had the Consecrate Spell feat applied to it.” Why not just use that for Spell Like Ability?

The Prestige Classes also mirror those in Book of Vile Darkness to a certain degree. There are new good patrons that take the places of the demons and devils and players can work towards a PrC with one of those patrons. Same player who took the Exalted feat is working towards Defender of Sealtiel, the patron of defenders. Strong hit dice, 1d12, two good saves, Fort and Will, high attack bonus entry requirement (+7), high Listen requirement (5 ranks), and three feats to get into. They gain many abilities related to defense like protective aura, shield of faith, shield other, and a defensive stance that gives them strength and constitution bonus with a dodge bonus but locks them to the spot they're standing on.

For those who want more general PrCs, the anointed knight takes the place of the warrior of darkness, using special oils to augment their magical weapons and themselves. The exalted arcanist gain access to exalted spells and bonus exalted feats. Perhaps the most simple to integrate into a campaign would be the sword of righteousness who gain a bonus exalted feat at every level (3 level prc) with reduced hit dice. The PrCs flesh out the divine patrons of D&D without going overboard and still allow for some non-specific material that can fit into any campaign using this book, but not the patrons.

The new spells include sanctified spells, standard spells, many with the good descriptor, new domains, celestial, community, endurance, fey, glory, herald, joy, pleasure, and wrath, and a spell list breakdown by class, level, and for arcane, school. This allows you to get a brief description and see if it's something you can use for those with say, prohibited schools. The sanctified spells can add a lot of divine to a game. Armageddon, a 9th level conjuration spell, opens a portal to a good aligned plane and has celestials come down and fight for the cast. First, 2d4 avorals, then a ghaele eladrin, then astral deva. Should be enough to put the smack down on most evil creatures.

Magic items are also included for further options. These range from new special abilities like angelic, where you gain a bonus against evil creatures on your ac and saving throws, to specific weapons and items like vassal armor, +3 exalted half-plate that increases the wearer's armor class versus critical hits. Every item type gets touched on from rings and staffs, to wondrous and intelligent magic items to major artifacts and redeemed evil magic items.

Now one thing as a DM I was interested in was the Celestial Paragons. These are supposed to be patrons for orders and organizations and take no worship themselves. Fine and well but the information on what they actually do and how they act as patrons is not there, instead, it goes the Deities and Demigods route and fully stats out these incredibly powerful beings. About the only thing they can do is petition higher powers (gods) for specific spells for those working under them and grant them access to the new domains in this book.

The monsters in the book introduce some old favorites to 3.5. Take the Aleax, a creature I don't recall seeing in too many other places than it's original AD&D Fiend Folio appearance. This creature is conjured forth by a deity and takes the appearance of the one it's meant to slay, hunting that individual down with a list of that individual's crimes against the deity. Several archons are included, owl, sword, throne and warden and even the moon dog makes an appearance. One monster template, the saint, was an interesting twist as it is an acquired template added to any living creature of good alignment. Now I'm very old school and let me tell you, Saint Kargoth, patron of the deathknights, with his sword Gorgon the Shatterer, was not good, nor living. Still, I can see the point they make here but wish that they had made the Saint more universal so that you can have evil saints as well as good saints and that they updated one of the old Saint NPC's instead of some nameless 7th level paladin.

The art in the book is top notch for the most part. Doug Koacs, Wayne Renolds and Ron Spenser provide some great illustrations with others who help fill out the book. Ron Spenser has long been a favorite of mine and I'm glad to see his work in several Wizards of the Coast Products. The book follows the layout and look of the Player's Handbook with a semi-aged scroll look.

My own group has three people who own the book, one of them playing a paladin fighter, another playing a lawful good summoner, and a third playing a cleric of Torm who hasn't taken advantage of the book yet.

There are some things I would've like more information on, more examples of how you can use the Book of Vile Darkness with the expectations of good characters here for example. More information on the role patrons play in a campaign and how they actually interact with the world. Overall, very satisfying. In the end, the book is really a heavy resource for players, providing a wealth of options from feats and prcs and spells, to magic items to strive for and patrons to follow. It works as a great foil for a campaign that uses the Book of Vile Darkness and can expand the planar cosmology of any D&D campaign by finally making the good patrons have some presence in a campaign.

 

[MerricB]

The Book of Exalted Deeds is the second in the line of D&D products intended for mature audiences. It treats upon what the nature of "Good" is in a role-playing campaign, with discussions upon that matter, new magic, feats and prestige-classes for good-aligned characters, and new monsters and unique celestials with that alignment.

The book is an attractive hardcover of 192 colour pages; the artwork in it is of similar quality to that of the Complete Warrior: a variety of styles, some of which I appreciated more than others. Fifteen interior artists are credited. The cover is a work of art by Henry Higginbotham, one of his best designs for a 3E D&D book, if not the best.

The billing of the work as something intended for mature audiences only is something I fully agree with: most D&D campaigns can easily survive without requiring the moral ambiguities raised in a book of this matter. What this book does, and does well, is move the game of D&D past merely hack 'n' slash fighting and look squarely at the issues confronting a group who wish their adventures to be morally and ethically based as well as merely "fun". To aid this, the idea of "Exalted Deeds" is introduced: an exalted character always acts in a good manner, never falls towards evil. The path is difficult, but the rewards are high.

Chapter One: The Nature of Good

What does it mean to be good? This is what this chapter looks at. It begins with a discussion of basic acts and beliefs of good people: charity, healing others, personal sacrifice and showing mercy being some of them. A fairly uncompromising line is taken here: you can be good and display these traits, but to be exalted, you must always show these traits.

What this means in a D&D campaign is discussed, and covered well. It can be uncomfortable to read and more uncomfortable to implement, but it does make an exalted character special. Of particular note is the discussion of mercy towards prisoners: an exalted character must always assume that the prisoner truly wishes to repent and change his ways if the prisoner expresses those views (assuming no magic is used, of course!). Although this may seem like an easy way for a DM to continually hoodwink his characters, the discussion also makes clear that the DM needs to keep the trust of his players - and having every prisoner betray the exalted character is a good way of losing that trust. This is an example of the maturity required by the book: both DM and players must agree to produce a campaign where the path of exalted deeds works.

The Book of Exalted Deeds also looks at how Law and Chaos influence characters of a good alignment, archetypal good characters that may be used as role-models for PCs.

It ends with a discussion of how the DM can make a campaign that will allow the players to play exalted PCs in a manner that will allow them to shine, whilst also demonstrating the narrow path they have to take.

This is good material, stimulating both players and DMs with ideas for improving their campaigns, and for introducing a strong moral component into the campaign. These discussions provide the basis upon which the rules material that forms the rest of the book is built.

Chapter Two: Variant Rules

Several additional rules are presented in this chapter that become useful in a campaign with exalted characters. Of particular note are the following:

Channelling - a mortal becomes invested with part of the power of a good celestial; a counterpart to the evil possession in the Book of Vile Darkness.

Exalted Cohorts - cohorts particularly fitted to exalted characters, such as unicorns, brass dragons and couatls.

Sainthood - a PC who by their exalted acts becomes a living saint; thus becoming part celestial (gaining a Saint template).

For the most part, these variant rules will affect some part of the functioning of the world. If you permit sainthood for PCs, why do not other saints exist? The answer being: they probably do, and thus the rules allow the world to be expanded. None of the rules are that complicated, though there is one rule/feat combination that is problematical: that is the Vow of Poverty.

To get the benefits of the Vow of Poverty, one must take two feats, but upon swearing it there are a number of benefits the PC gains to offset the fact that they may no longer use any items - or more importantly, magic items - save a simple, non-masterwork, non-magical weapon, and a few ordinary day-to-day tools. These benefits, for the most part, are fair and balanced if taken by a Paladin or a Fighter. In the case of a Monk, things get far more difficult.

A human monk, at first level, could have a +4 armour bonus to AC on top of the other benefits that a monk gets, and more benefits are gained as the character gets higher and higher in level. Whilst, for the most part, the Vow of Poverty looks balanced, it is in these odd cases that it may prove problematic, and must be carefully watched by the DM.

The rest of the material in this chapter is of good quality.

Chapter Three: Exalted Equipment

This chapter is only a few pages long. The most notable part of it are the suggested relics, and the rules for ravages and afflictions - the latter being magical poisons that only affect evil creatures. The material in this chapter does not enthuse me greatly.

Chapter Four: Feats

There are six general feats in this chapter, three metamagic feats, and 43 Exalted feats, which is a new type of feat, requiring the character to be utterly good in outlook, much like a paladin, and can only be granted in a ritual in which a celestial is involved, thus allowing the DM full control over their acquisition.

As one might guess, a paladin will find several exalted feats of use! If the path of good is strayed from, the penalty to the PC is the loss of all Exalted feats, with nothing replacing them.

I like this a lot: it rewards characters for good play, and has the option of punishing them if necessary. Interestingly, against the previous credo of 3E, this book balances a game benefit against a role-playing penalty. I would normally consider this to be a sign of bad game design, but not in this book. Why? Because it is for mature players and DMs! For the superior players that this book is written for, a role-playing requirement does balance the power granted by these feats.

I must emphasise that, for the most part, these feats aren't wildly more powerful than existing feats, but they have just a little edge on them to make a player feel special about having one.

The feats range from those that adjust familiar game mechanics, to those that represent a vow to a deity, cause or way of life. As I have mentioned, the Vow of Poverty is somewhat problematical for balance, but the Vow of Non-violence and the Vow of Peace will severely affect the running of many D&D campaigns. Once more, maturity and judgement is required; I am so happy that the options are given.

All in all, there are many excellent feats in this chapter that help define the abilities of an exalted character, as well as also reinforcing that role.

Chapter Five: Prestige Classes

Chapter Seven: Celestial Paragons

It is impossible to discuss the contents of chapter five without also discussing the contents of chapter seven: the Celestial Paragons. Taking up a role similar to those of the archfiends of the Book of Vile Darkness: figures less powerful than true deities but commanding a following nonetheless, the Celestial Paragons represent archetypal concepts of good classes and the like.

The sudden appearance of these paragons could be problematic for an ongoing campaign. I would tend to alter their descriptions so that they became the servants of particular deities, rather than good in general, but I must admit that I like the paragon as they are described in the book.

There are three groups of Celestial Paragons described here: the Celestial Hebdomad, seven lawful good archons who defend Celestia; Talisid and the Five Companions, neutral good guardianals of Elysium; and The Court of Stars, chaotic good eladrins of Olympus. The latter are the group I enjoy the most, for there are elements of the faerie about them.

Of the 22 new prestige classes here, most are followers of one or more of the Celestial Paragons, the remainder tend to just provide exalted roles of one kind or another, although we do also have a Vassal of Bahamut for lovers of that draconic deity.

There are prestige classes that several classes could qualify for, but many are devoted to providing an exalted progression for just one class: a bard could take the Troubadour of Stars prestige class, holding as his or her patrons the members of the Court of Stars, thus gaining celestially enhanced music while losing some spell-casting ability and her bardic knowledge spells.

The Slayer of Domiel, who is sponsored by one of the paragon archons, is a lawful good assassin who uses supernatural means to slay evil foes: a rather unusual concept that some DMs may not approve of.

A favourite of mine is the Skylord, an elvish prestige class that gains a celestial giant eagle or similar as a mount and gains many bonuses to be used whilst riding this; eventually gaining a certain power over storms.

These prestige classes just look fun, and because most have exalted feat requirements, also give the DM plenty of latitude for involving the deities and celestials further in the campaign as patrons of the PCs.

Chapter Six: Magic

The counterpart of the BOVD's Corrupt spells make their appearance here in the form of Sanctified spells. The Sanctified spells differ from normal spells in that they require a sacrifice of some sort. The ultimate of these is likely to be exalted fury, a 9th level spell. It deals damage of your current hit points + 50 to all evil creatures with 40 feet of you; however in doing so you sacrifice your life. Not all the sanctified spells are that extreme, of course! The sacrifices range widely in nature, which is good to see.

Also presented are nine clerical domains: Celestial, Community, Endurance, Fey, Glory, Herald, Joy, Pleasure and Wrath. The book notes that the Community and Glory domains were presented in Defenders of the Faith as prestige domains, but have become just normal domains in this book. I rather like the Herald domain - a bardic type of domain if ever I saw one - but they all seem interesting and flavourful.

New spells are given for all classes, of which the paladin gains quite a few. The spells seem powerful, but I cannot properly judge if they are truly unbalanced.

Several new magic items, many unique, round off the chapter, along with a few artefacts. A section on redeeming evil magic items does not appeal to me at all, though it does note that some items are irredeemable and can only be destroyed.

Chapter Seven: Monsters

This chapter has a somewhat misleading title, because monsters are normally associated with evil. Not so here! Instead we have many champions and servants of good. There are several creatures that were first presented in oAD&D making their reappearance here, such as the Aleax and the Moondog. There are also new archons and other celestials, as well as new templates.

I'm not going to discuss these monsters that much: they look reasonable, but I don't find them of much particular use unless the PCs are seeking allies for their quests. Thankfully, a sidebar gives suggestions as to which creatures may be summoned by which summon monsterspell.

Conclusions

Where the Book of Vile Darkness is a DM's book, the Book of Exalted Deeds is aimed more at enhancing the players' roles in the campaign. I find it a more satisfying book. The discussion of the meaning of good seems both more complete and more useful in running a campaign and the new prestige classes, spells and feats feel more interesting and useful than those in the BOVD.

Is this a book for mature players? Absolutely. It is not just in its discussion of moral concepts - something that a young child would probably find hard to understand - but in the requirements of mature role-playing, where the actual role-playing and decision making of an ethical character must be adhered to. This book could easily be turned into a power-gamer's book, if the requirements of the exalted feats and classes were ignored.

The flaws in the book are these: new material that may not integrate well into your established D&D cosmology, and a tendency towards powerful abilities that may not be properly balanced by the role-playing restrictions. This is not a book for the novice Dungeon Master!

Despite those persistent niggles, I do like the Book of Exalted Deeds. I feel that there are many parts of it that I would have to alter to make it fit my campaign, but I find the whole inspiring, and that is far more than I expected.

 

[GameWyrd]

Wizards of the Coast' the Book of Exalted Deeds faces a tough test if it wants to provide 192 pages of worthwhile resources for players who want to do more than just slap "good" in for their alignment and then act like neutral party members.

In the introduction we're told that the Book of Exalted Deeds is for players. The book aims to ensure that a good alignment mean something. About 70 pages in this "players' book" is given over to stats for Celestial Paragons and Monsters. Most of the book is full of prestige classes, magic, feats and equipment.

In truth no one was expecting nearly 200 pages of moral argument packaged alongside the d20 logo. No one would buy such a product anyway. But there is a serious problem with "good" in D&D and it needs to be addressed. What is good? Is slaying all the orc women and orc children in the dungeon good? Is killing something you've determined to be evil an act of good?

The Book of Exalted Deeds begins, as it must, by trying to tackle these questions. It's tempting to write off the attempt as a no win situation. After all, there are huge cultural differences within D&D's own reader base which would seem to offer up mutually exclusive opinions of "good". There's no death penalty in Europe. There is in America. We can debate whether the death of a convicted murderer is good or not - what chance do we have of deciding what the fate of an evil god worshipping goblin, equipped with a deadly weapon and caught stealing berries from a sacred grove should be?

Chapter One looks at the Nature of Good. We're run through good aspects and discuss what they might mean in game terms; altruism, charity, healing, personal sacrifice, worshipping good deities, casting good spells, mercy, forgiveness, bringing hope and redeeming evil. "Worshipping good deities" stands out in that list for me. The thing to remember that this is a fantasy world with no false religions - all gods are real and there are good gods, neutral gods and evil gods. Redeeming evil is handled by the Monster Manual; if it says "Always Evil" then the creature can't be redeemed and, in theory, good heroes can smite a way. The trouble with this assumption is that characters shouldn't have access to the Monster Manual. The heroes should not know there's an entry somewhere which says "Always Evil".

The Book of Exalted Deeds weighs into a heavy debate. Do the ends justify the means? Normally in D&D they do. It's alright to slay every monster in the dungeon because some monsters in the dungeon have been terrorising a nearby village. It's alright to hack through minions to reach the evil wizard in the tower. It's alright to summon creatures and throw them into the fight against evil. What about beating information out of an orc warchief to find out where the demon summoning ritual is going to be held so you can stop it in time? Can you torture information out of someone so you can try and stop a greater evil? The Book of Exalted Deeds says no. If you do evil then you've made evil and in the D&D cosmology this is enough to harm good. If you had powers or abilities which require you to be good at all times then doing a little evil in the name of a greater good will cost you everything.

The Book of Exalted Deeds doesn't address the flipside to this decision though and that's a shame. What about accidental evil? If you save a man's life - that's a good act. But what if turns out to be an assassin? An assassin who then goes on to assassinate the peace loving king? What if you stop a hobgoblin tribe only then to shift the balance of power in favour of an evil demonologist who goes on to decimate a dozen villages? Missing from the Book of Exalted Deeds' list of the Nature of Good is "responsibility for your actions".

We look at some good hero archetypes; Righteous Crusader, the Fated Champion, Benevolent Healer, Holy Teacher, Peasant Hero, Redeemed Villain and really almost anything could have been put in this section and the pages of stat blocks doesn't help anyone. This is all filler.

There are variant rules for chapter two. The most significant offering in this slim chapter is the Vow of Poverty. The typical D&D game is inherently selfish. Very often characters adventure for loot and magical items. In fact the very fact that a group collects a host of magical weapons is built into the Challenge Rating system. Is collecting piles of treasure and deadly weapons a good pursuit? The Vow of Poverty magically rewards characters with an impressive list of power ups and abilities if they forsake loot. This balances the game mechanics but DMs will have to watch that the incentive to take risks and adventure is not removed from the game. In theory, of course, the good character will be willing to adventure to just help others.

There is new equipment in the book too. Poisons are evil and so good aligned creatures poison monsters with something else. Er, sorry, good aligned creatures, um, punish monsters with something else. This something else is the "ravage". Ravages are magical concoctions which use magic and the evil of the target against them to inflict a supernatural effect - so good creatures are immune.

As we might expect there are a bunch of new feats too. We've the likes of "Holy Ki Strike" which does more damage to evil creatures. Much of what it means to be good is to be able to do more damage to evil creatures. Later on in the book we find new magic spells. Unlike the feats many of these spells have the good descriptor. Spells with the good descriptor are fundamentally good and even, according to The Book of Exalted Deeds, casting these spells is good. The ability to speed up your teleporting is a spell with the good descriptor. Healing magic doesn't have the good descriptor because you could heal someone evil so they could fight Good. On examination plenty of the so-called good spells could be used in an evil way. This isn't the fault of Exalted Deeds, this is just a bit of core rules reverse engineering that the DM needs to do. If some magic is quintessentially good then it's quintessentially good; this is the nature of magic.

There are piles of prestige classes in the Book of Exalted Deeds. In many ways this is a prestige class book; rewards for characters who manage to stay "good" long enough. I'll list all the prestige classes and just take a minute to count the number of them in the form of "[something] of [someone]".

Anointed Knight, Apostle of Peace, Beloved of Valerian, Celestial Mystic, Champion of Gwynharwyf, Defender of Sealtiel, Emissary of Barachiel, Exalted Arcanist, Fist of Raziel, Initiate of Pistis Sophia, Lion of Talisid, Prophet of Erathaol, Risen Martyr, Sentinel of Bharrai, Skylord, Slayer of Domiel, Stalker of Kharash, Swanmay, Sword of Righteousness, Troubadour of Stars, Vassal of Bahamut and the Wonderworker.

In this list the likes of Valerian, Sealtiel, Raziel and co are listed in the Celestial Paragons chapter. Here we find powerful forces of Good which aren't aligned, as such, to God deities. The Celestial Paragons are, in cosmology terms, there in counter part to the Archfiends in Hell.

In fact the D&D cosmology is a strong influence in the Book of Exalted Deeds - more so than any moral study. Although I think D&D would benefit from a better idea of "good" it's perhaps a hard and awkward "product" to package up with WotC's fine art and costly hardbound book. The Book of Exalted Deeds tries, it seems, to fine the best possible compromise. It pays as much attention to moral questions of good and then moves swiftly onto D&D safer grounds and provide rules for the Forces of Good. The result is satisfactory. I can't find a compelling reason to splash the cash for Book of Exalted Deeds but there's likely to be something in it for everyone even if that means there's a lot of filler in there too.

* This Book of Exalted Deeds review was first published by GameWyrd.