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Masters of the Wild – A Guidebook to Barbarians, Druids and Rangers Written by: David Eckleberry and Mike Selinker Edited by: Penny Williams

It’s me, it’s a D&D3 splatbook from Wizards. If you are surprised by what is said in this review you are either very naïve or new to RPG.net. Style 1, Substance 2. There you can now page down to the forums to start flaming me. This review has a snowball’s chance of being taken seriously by many people but I promised to do one anyway and here it is. I will do my best to explain why I marked the book so low and try and emphasized what I liked. To review my general points:
1. If D&D3 is meant to be a tool kit game then it needs tools.
2. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.
3. New tools are not always better
4. Whenever possible avoid duplicating material from other books

Much of my comments will also have “what I would have done” or “other ways this could have been done within the existing framework of the d20/3e rules”. You don’t have to agree with me – already there has been at least one moderately positive review of this book – and judging from the comments when it came out, a lot of people disagree with me, but my opinions are not the result of a popular vote by other people, they are mine.

Introduction/Overview.

This is the last book, one which took a curious amount of time to be released (one would hope the extra time would have improved the quality of the book – sadly it seems to have required more). This book purports to cover the three wilderness classes, offer suggestions on play styles and new material (magic items, equipment, spells, feats and classes) especially (but not uniquely) for them. All the material is ‘setting lite’, using only a very thin layer of ‘Greyhawk’ as a default. Unlike other Builder splats this one succeeds in keeping the setting-specific material to an absolute minimum. The art is sparse and generally of good quality – most of the art focuses on the various prestige classes and these tend to represent the classes very well. The authors also include an almost laughable “what this book is and isn’t” where they explain that it is a book of options, not restrictions (oh, how false that sounds in places) and that you should ask your DM for permission to use anything in this book, nothing here replaces the rules in the PHB/DMG/MM (unless where stated – how’s that for a meaningless statement) blah blah blah.

Chapter One – Nature’s Lore

This section is the “how to make a character” and “role-playing” chapter. Like other D&D books the meta-discussion about how to make characters and how to characterize your PC is both minimal and geared entirely to a “Diablo” style of play – all stats and getting your “bang for your buck”. No discussion about, for example, the sorts of cultures the ‘barbarian’ class represents, nothing about Druid-based civilizations (although they do note the origin of the Druid in real world history – only to tell you that D&D Druid is not the real type), and very little on the mentality of the stalker/avenger/serial killer the Ranger.

If you are wondering what ability scores to emphasize, which races to play with which classes to maximize the benefits, and in the case of rangers which monster types to make a Chosen Enemy (and when to do so) Then you are in luck. If you are looking for anything else then you have come to the wrong place – do some research online or at a library.

In terms of variant rules we have the urban ranger – a mostly okay conversion and an example of something Wizards said they were going to do in these books but never did (until now) – follow their own guidelines for class variation from the DMG. What they omit, and I think should have been here is Monte Cook’s rebuild of the Ranger (free on his webpage, but they could have thrown it in for a pittance, also as a way of dealing with the front-heavy Ranger class build, but criticizing their own work seems verboten at Wizards).

Chapter Two – Skills and Feats.

This is the first of the two ‘meaty’ chapters (the prestige class one is the other). The ‘new’ here is rather low (at least from the skill point of view, a couple of new animal tricks and that’s it) and focuses on how wilderness skills adapt to more urban and subterranean environments.

The feats section gives us a new type of feat aimed at the shapeshifting character (but past the surface, many are purely for the shapeshift X per day types like the Druid). The restrictions on these is somewhat Druid-specific (for instance for Blindsight it requires the ability to assume a dire bat shape instead of any form that naturally has blindsight) an unnecessary restriction. We also get create potion but under a different name (which gets its own chapter so I’ll leave it be for now). I like how the authors try and give channeling abilities to Druids, although I think it would have been better done in the “class variant” section than as feats.

There are also 4 new ‘Toughness’ feats to choose from. Instead of fixing the original, and often commented ‘underpowered’ Toughness feat, they do the “layers of band-aids” method of fixing things. Sloppy design work really, and one place where an official rule errata would have been preferred. The rest of the feats are all in the general/combat/movement arena, many deal with trying to get around the “not subject to critical hits” for certain types of ranger enemies, something which is a mixed bag of success, but generally good.

Chapter Three – Tools of the Trade

The caber as a weapon! All joking aside this isn’t a bad equipment list, except I thought we had already had the nagarita covered – as ‘whip’ in Sword and Fist? What wasn’t done was a discussion on how ‘exotic’ weapons should sometimes be considered ‘normal, martial’ weapons for certain settings.

“Ho Highlander! the orcs attack our village help us crush them under the caber.” “Sorry, I don’t use those exotic weapons, I prefer my Halberd or my composite short bow, say hello to Mom for me, ‘kay? Save me some haggis.”

The new magic items are a mixed bag of good, poor and the goofy (and power gaming). Standing stones are interesting but sort of like “magic tattoos” – not the sort of thing one finds in a goblin’s treasure chest. Most are variations on existing DMG magic items, but made for animals (collars instead of cloaks for example) – stuff that could have been covered by a paragraph talking about item use, but typical in Wizards ‘show, never ever ever tell” philosophy to their “tool kit”.

Then we have the infusions – essentially magical herbs, plants, jellies, berries, and things you eat, smear or inhale to get magical effects. Like the Candle Magic from Tome and Blood, it is an interesting idea that is mutilated by creating a confusing and unnecessary set of rules instead of simply making allowances for such setting-variant magics within the existing Brew Potion/Scribe Scroll feats. Yet another example of where their ‘option’ is just another ‘restriction’ in sheep’s clothing and a wasted opportunity for something truly interesting.

Chapter Four – Animals

In other forums I have already espoused my utter distaste and disappointment with this chapter, but to keep all of this review in one place I will reproduce those comments here. Animal companions were like the familiars and paladin mounts of other classes – supposedly long term, close allies. Without the tiger, the eagle, the twin ferrets the Beastmaster is just another girly-man Conan clone. As a priest of nature the druid sees their animal companions as a bond with nature made manifest – these animals are the druid’s counterparts – each doing what they can to preserve and uphold nature in the world.

But then we are talking about D&D here and all animal companions are really used for is damage generators and hit point sponges. Silly me for thinking there was more to them. There is more empathy for underlings in the Civ 3 strategy guide than in this chapter. “Throwing your bitch-ass to the curb” may be vulgar and harsh but it exactly what this chapter tells you to do with ‘companions’ who have outlived their CR level. This discussion about the “Bond” and animal thought processes/behaviour/personality are good but totally invalidated by the rest of the chapter which is all about tricks, damage and power. We also get more Dire Animals (instead of a Dire Template) and for those who feel a pack of Dire Tigers is “so 2001” we have the new and improved ‘Legendary Animals’ (complete with 3 space-wasting pages of write-ups for what amounts to a ‘Legendary’ template. Legendary is obviously used in jest here since there is nothing legendary about the role the authors themselves explicitly make for these beasts:

“As the druid gains levels, her spellcasting ability and overall power improve measurably , but her trusted servants begin to pale in comparison. […] But when she reaches 16th level and acquires a 16HD dire tiger as an animal companion, she has gained only a CR 8 creature. In terms of encounter levels, the addition of a CR 8 creature to a 16th-level character is a negligible improvement” (MW, p41) Pardon me but the Nimean Lion and Jaws did not have druid accompanying them – these were legendary beasts. Lake Placid’s ‘gator had Betty White (in that case which one was the druid? – joking) but that was it. These are not legends, they are power gamed critters. Now before I go on too much about this here were other, already in the rules, ways of dealing with this ‘CR creep problem’[1]

The ‘Leveling Power Up’ – like Paladin mounts, arcane familiars, and even the mounts of the Windrider prestige class found in this very book. These take the base creature and slowly give it additional power as the person they have bonded with rises in experience level. This emphasizes the aspects of the bond and adds something to the game.

The ‘Feat Power Up’ – used more in Dragon Magazine articles, can also be seen as the ‘spell power up’ where the PC uses feats and spells (such as Fortify Familiar) to increase their companion’s power. This makes the increase a player choice, allowing PCs the option going the ‘Beastmaster’ route without creating a whole new set of monsters.

The ‘Template Power Up’ - used by clerics and the summon monster series to a degree. Using the template system allows for a moderate, and somewhat uneven increase in companions. Spells or off-camera rituals could be used to grant an animal half-elemental, half-celestial/infernal, half-dragon, or even undead templates (for the Blighter prestige class). With a small change they could have made ‘Legendary’ and ‘Dire’ into templates and gone this route.

The ‘monster character route’ – Using the Awaken spell allows a creature to take on levels of a character class. While loaded with abuse potential, this is also a system that would have used existing systems and made more sense. While not every druid dreams of having a paladin dire tiger (or maybe they do), a couple of levels of warrior or expert, or adept makes sense, but even 10 levels of commoner gives them moer hp, better bas attack, saves, feats and skills. Imagine the tracking abilities of the dire wolf ranger, or the rat rogue?

Four existing, exciting and intriguing possibilities, and they went with “make more close-ended monster types”. Go figure.

[1] A problem which was addressed in the March 2002 issue of Dragon wherein an article advocates throwing out the CR system for long-term NPCs and monsterous PCs because the CR system is designed to measure one-time, obstacle/combat utility of a creature and not it’s long term impact on the game. Let alone the fact that the CR system is very very broken and possesses a large loophole, which the legendary critters exploit ruthlessly.

Chapter Five – Prestige Classes

Everyone has their opinion on Prestige Classes, I have mine, and mine is based, mostly, on how Monte Cook saw the role of prestige classes in the DMG, and how they differed from ‘variant core classes’ and ‘archetype recipes’. Prestige classes should be the elite, secret order, the hidden master, in other words they should not be terribly common. That said: 1. I found a lot to like in at least some of the prestige classes here. I will preface my review of the chapter with this caveat – without exception I would tinker with all the prestige classes in terms of their HD/Base Attack and Saves, each and every one of them is slightly over or underpowered - but that’s a taste thing. 2. What is not a taste thing is that many of the prestige class concepts are confused and the class suffers from too much clutter in the concept – especially in the area of prestige class abilities. The most egregious of these I will highlight here. 3. Many of the classes seem to be the “all the abilities of the base class plus” variety. Nothing is given up. Since prestige classes represent a restricted and specialized form of the original core classes this seems to be power gaming twinkery. The spell casting ones are particularly bad with this. A developer of an earlier Builder book (Tome and Blood?) explained that if he had to do it over, he would make all spellcasting prestige classes increase their “effective caster level” 1 level per 2 prestige class levels in order to make selecting a prestige class something more than an “obvious” choice for Wizards and Clerics.

Blighter – the toxic/undead ex-druid. I liked this a lot, and would have benefited from my options for handling animal companions (imagine a zombie template). The deforestation power seems to need some more refinement.

Bloodhound – one of the cluttered classes. For one totally focused on supercharging the ranger’s tracking abilities, the “break stuff” powers seem a bit unnecessary. I’d be a bit leery of how easy these guys can switch targets -–DMs look for players who “freelance” hunt people just to get the bonuses.

Deepwood Sniper – an excellent idea marred by a very big mistake – at level one every ranged weapon they use becomes a keen weapon, but at level 10 they can cast True Strike once per day? Switch these two powers and it’s great. I’d also restrict their class powers to one specific weapon type (bows, or blowguns, or crossbows, or javelins). Being able to turn any ranged/thrown/missile weapon into a death machine is a bit too powerful. But I love the essential bit – it fits my idea of an archer far more than the Bow Initiate from Sword and Fist.

Exotic Weapon Master – DMs take a razor and cut this page out and burn it. Munchkin players – take a razor and cut this page out and paste it to your character sheet. Someone was really asleep at the wheel here. Weapon specialization (a fighter-only perk and the only one they have, remember) not just in one exotic weapon, but ALL of them? All exotic weapon proficiency? And the requirement to rage? How does getting really pissed off help you master the drow hand-crossbow or the laser rifle? I can see what the author had in mind I just think the whole thing is an absolute mess. Back to the drawing board.

Foe Hunter – the chosen enemy ability taken to the extreme. Good for gritty, revenge fantasy type games, but I’d keep an eye on the character – those benefits, especially when applied to chosen enemy categories (where the whole monster type is your enemy, not just a specific race), really add up.

Forsaker – the classic 1st edition barbarian, smash magic. The author does not mention if divine magics (such as druid and adept magic) are also to be forsaken as “exotic, foreign, unnatural” to these barbarians. The inherent bonus flaw has already been pointed out (ie. inherent bonuses do not stack, therefore 4 levels of this class are wasted benefit) and the other powers are a bit too powerful in my opinion. It also relies on role-playing as a limitation/restriction, shades of the old AD&D2 kit tar pit (where you get a ton of mechanical bonuses supposedly balanced by role-playing/non-mechanical drawbacks).

Geomancer – change the name, it sounds too civilized, and the whole de-evolution thing is a bit strange, but I find myself liking the class over time. It’s growing on me.

Hexer – why is lightning bolt a requirement here? Bestow Curse and Bane make far more sense.

Oozemaster – probably the least appropriate, and my favourite (serious rivalry between this and the Sniper) prestige class in the whole book. The only problem is the unexplainable reluctance to make higher-level oozemasters immune to critical hits. Seeing as how they have already made other “transformation” classes immune to these I find it odd that oozies just get a partial resistance (25%) to these.

Shifter – the ultimate shapeshifter. I like the idea but the increased shifting power is awfully awkward.

Tempest – somehow this sorry excuse for a Sword and Fist class found its way here. Its only tie to the book in any way is that rangers can get it sooner than other classes because of the front-heavy nature of their two-handed combat abilities. Waste of space.

Watch Detective – another of the victims of clutter. Great idea, Sherlock Holmes (or my new favourite Nero Wolfe). Probably would have fit better in Song and Silence (and god knows that book needed more variety in their Prestige Classes), but it throws in all these combat powers that really obscure the really great, tight, focus of the class.

Chapter Six – Magic Spells

Remember Find Familiar – that 1st level spell from 1st and 2nd edition? Well it’s back, only know it’s for druids (instead of fiddling with the class or with the animals in chapter four) and it creates a pile of compost. Isn’t that special – a pile of smelly garbage to do your bidding, a level one spell that you really need to be about level 7 to actually cast (since it involves other spells and a lot of gold and experience layout). Note to authors: they are called true rituals, Sword and Sorcery Studios invented them, maybe you could have submitted this to them instead? Or else involved them better in the class/animal chapter. The rest of the spells range from poor to good, with a smattering of spells previously printed in other Builder books.

Closing Thoughts – Why so Low?

Some say it’s because I hate Wizards, others think I hate everything/one, and some think I eat children and date their grandparents (alive or deceased), but I like to think I just like having books I can use with minimal fussing, and tool kits that actually have real tools and tools I can use for more than just their overspecialized role. Wizards brought on “continuity editors” for this line of products. I think they should spend their money better and hire a couple of full-blown developers with full editorial control. Bad work in one book is the fault of the authors (burn me once shame on you), two books is starting to smell, but five books?! No excuse. I don’t cut White Wolf slack for needing 3 editions/revisions of each game to finally get splats nailed down, I am certainly not going to softball D&D – it had twice as long to do it and the same three editions and only had to think about the same classes each time.

Some think saying “it should have been” in a review is unfair – you didn’t write it, they put in a lot of work that you didn’t. Well, that’s true, but someone should have told Wizards up front that if they didn’t want the Builder series judged by external criteria then they shouldn’t have created that very criteria in their promotional and intra-industry spiel. Wizards said the books would be A, B and C, so when a book is X, W, and AE then I feel that “should have been” is a fair call to make. When you promote your games as a tool kit I expect a tool kit – not a jumble of overpriced single-use tools that are more restrictive in some cases than having no tools at all. Now, with the post-release drift of staffers we are starting to see people who actually worked on these books come out and accept or even * gasp * agree with criticisms like mine. If even the authors, editors and developers (and PR guys) say there are problems then I can hardly give this or Tome and Blood good marks.

Taken by itself Masters of the Wild is about on par with Tome and Blood in the “good idea but needs work” areas and as bad as T&B in the “straightjacket one way of using each character” department (so add a point to each of my scores up above). Taken as part of the Builder series as a whole Masters of the Wild scores much lower, since one would have hoped that by book 5 (6 if you count the Hero Builder’s Guidebook) the complaints from books 1-3 (2-4) should have been taken into account.

Well it has been a run hasn’t it? The Builder series, at least the initial releases, are finished and all I can say about the series:
1. Ryan Dancey’s ideas on how to do a Builder series ver 2.0 is about the best list of suggestions I have ever seen.
2. Thank God it’s over.

Masters of the Wild: A Guidebook to Barbarians, Druids and Rangers