Tome & Blood is a character builder supplement published by Wizards of the Coast for use with
Dungeons & Dragons, Third Edition. As the title implies, this supplement focuses upon the Wizards and Sorcerer classes in the game. As with the first two books in the series,
Tome & Blood has a suite of new content for use with characters of these two classes: new feats, spells, prestige classes, skills (recycled only), items and advice on how to make good use of this stuff as well as what’s in the
Player’s Handbook. Again, as with the previous books, much of this content varies in its quality but it’s overall quality is higher than that of either of the two previous supplements in this series.
Again, the layout and artwork is above average and competent all around. The biggest improvement is in the cover piece, which is encapsulates many of the concepts of this book as well as the classes in general—especially as they apply to Dungeons & Dragons—into one captivating image. Magic in Dungeons & Dragons is supposed to be flashy and obvious as a default; sorcerers and wizards work arcane magic in different ways, but remain capable of working together on common actions; magic is supposed to be useful and practical, especially so for action scenes, so it must be reliable for the user: all this and more is shown quite clearly on the cover of this book. The interior artwork is the same as it was previously, which means that it is well done and pleasing to the eye; the layout does its job by making the text easy to read as it flows like water down a spout into one’s mug. It’s a pretty book, all told.
Of course, as we know, a pretty book isn’t necessarily a useful book. While the utility of the previous two books in this series varied quite a bit, Tome & Blood maintains a level of utility that one expects from a supplement of this sort. The least obvious, but most important, form of content is in the advice given on how to create and develop wizard and sorcerer characters. Character building advice focuses upon maximizing the effectiveness of your character, whatever he may be, in concrete—that is, gameplay—terms. An example is to take Spell Focus for the most commonly used schools of magic, or to take Craft Wand (later, Craft Staff) so that he doesn’t waste spell slots on commonly employed spells. Other advice includes which spells to select for a given take on these characters, and what other feats or skills to select to complement other abilities. At all times, this advice slants towards the character being a useful member of an adventuring party. Given that this is what playing Dungeons & Dragons is all about, I see no problem with this approach. Rather, I applaud the unashamedly pro-adventurer bias; more of it is necessary in these sorts of products.
The new feats are also a nice addition to the game. Especially so are the new metamagic feats, which nicely expand upon the range of magic in the game without requiring scads of new subsystems written ex nihilo. (Eschew Materials is a popular one in the community, and often I hear that a DM allows sorcerers to have it for free at 1st level as a bonus feat.) Some of don’t seem useful at first—Extra Spell, Extra Slot—but their utility becomes clear when seen in conjunction with other feats and with high-level class abilities. It was disappointing to see that none of the ray-specific feats previously published in Dragon Magazine Annual #5 republished here, as they would’ve fit into this book just fine. This is also so with the ray spells from that volume, as there aren’t enough ray spells in the game right now. As for the skills, there is only some recycling of previously published skills; specifically, Spellcraft and Knowledge (Arcana) receive some attention in terms of what is useful when as well as how to make use of these effective skills. Again, this is a disappointment.
Which brings us to the spells. Most of these are new tricks to previously published spells. The mental attributes receive spells akin to Bull’s Strength, there are repair versions of the Cure “X” Wounds spells and we see the introduction of the Orb series of elementally flavored touch attack spells. (This series, coupled with the information that addresses and clarifies the interaction of rogue abilities like Sneak Attack with the use of spells, is now one of the most common series outside of those in the Player’s Handbook.) What makes this book a must-have purchase, however, is that this is book possesses the officially changed version of Polymorph Other; this is the only explicit example of any of these supplements superceding the Player’s Handbook. Aside from that, most of the new spells are nice additions to the game without being required.
The prestige classes, as usual, are the most obvious part of the book. Again, many of them are questionable at best. (One of them, the new edition of the Bladesinger, was in error and since received a revision through the official web enhancement that supercedes the version in this book.) The rule of thumb is this: if the class doesn’t offer a full caster progression, then the compensating powers must be spectacularly powerful or it is always a bad choice. Only a handful of prestige classes fit this criteria: the Arcane Trickster (it makes rogue/sorcerers and rogue/wizards very effective), the (revised and official version of the) Bladesinger (Duh!), the Mindbender (argueable a better telepath than a psion) and the True Necromancer (makes the concept playable). The others fall short at one point or another because they all forget that the primary point of playing a spell-caster is casting spells; anything that gets in the way of spell-casting had better be awesome or it’s a bad trade.
Yes, the Mage of the Arcane Order is described as a sample organization for use by the DM. There is also some space spent on Spellswords, Bladesigners, and other groups that these prestige classes assumes to exist. It’s not a whole lot, so much of the detail work is left to the DM to do; this is fine, as such things are world-specific details in any event, as demonstrated by the Arcane Order’s translation to the Forgotten Realms in Magic of Faerun.
The items are nice, especially the new metamagic rods that allow casters to use such feats without spending feat slots upon them. Likewise, the new school-themed staffs and the new golem rules are great additions to the game. The mundane items should not be overlooked; I expect wizards to take to scroll organizers like ducks to water, and the new stuff for Alchemists to make includes healing salves (which cure 1d8 damage per use). As is common with these books, the best parts are those hidden in the small cracks of the text—as it were—and not the big and flashy parts; the healing salve goes a long way toward lessening the need for magical healing. (Let alone the need for clerics, bards and druids to be everywhere all of the time.) The book, of course, includes all that you need for your characters to make all of this stuff—magical and mundane alike—so that you need not rely upon the DM to hand this out as treasure.
There’s more to this book, but this overview suffices to show that—while far from perfect, and of more use to wizards than sorcerers—is worth having around. This is especially so for those who run games more often than play them, which is a tad on the ironic side for a player-oriented supplement, as well as the obvious target audience of gamers who play these characters. Your mileage will vary, but it’s a decent secondary purchase; for your money, you are probably better off with Magic of Faerun even if you aren’t a fan of the Forgotten Realms.
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