I'm not old enough to be an old school second edition player, but I can recognize a classic RPG supplement when I see it. The Complete Bard's Handbook is classic. All gaming books which focus on a single class should be this thorough. Inside are articles on roleplaying bards, rules for using first and second edition bards, a long list of instruments with illustrations, bard kits, musical jargon, and a handful of magic items. Fortunately, the first edition bards are only briefly covered as they are absolutely rediculous.
Most people will be interested in this ebook for the kits. Kits are subclasses for 2nd edition characters that represent specialization and cultural background. Each kit has unique extra abilities called benefits, extra restrictions, and a lot of flavor text. Most of the kits are designed for human bards, but a few like the Halfling Whistler are specifically demihuman bards. Hack-and-Slashers will like the Blade kit. Crazies will like the Jester kit. My personal favorites are the Charlatan and Gnomish Professor.
The artwork in Complete Bard's Handbook is mixed. Some pictures are overly simple, but most are large and impressive. The full color paintings are gorgeous.<br><br>
<b>LIKED</b>: The paintings are beautiful, the kits represent a good overview of bards from different societies, and the price is good.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: This product was obviously scanned. It's a good scan, but retyping would have been more appropriate. <br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>
Rating: [5 of 5 Stars!] |