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« on: February 28, 2007, 08:16:23 PM »
Well, the TSR power-creep came from 2 things. First, there were at least 3 independent groups of writers, all doing different things. They never communicated on balance, function, integration, and even design. The Second thing was the time tables imposed by the big-wigs. There wasn't enough time to cross-reference material.
Now, everything goes through the same three departments, R&D (basic design stage), the Writing (where "fluff" tends to get added), and Editing. But the editing department know just as much about the rules as the R&D guys - if not more. Of course there are some slips, but when is anything perfect?
The things to look forward to in a new D&D book (Complete, Environment, Monster, or Adventure) are the feats, PrC's, spells, and magic items. New systems - such as Luck feats in Complete Scoundrel - still require DM approval, but they are there, and official. Whenever I come up with something, my players either groan and take it like green NyQuil, or just ignore it.
New books are balanced within themselves - General Feats are all on the same level. Tactical, Divine, and Metamagic feats are introduced in new books all the time, and are as varied in usefulness as the core PH feats. Variant feats (again under DM discretion) are definatly more campaign specific (even FR talent feats are over-powered if you think about it).
The functions - especially of the Complete Mage - of the newer books remains top-notch. They are *all* written from the standpoint of the reader having ONLY the PH, MM, and DMG. Given that, there is bound to be repetition.
As for integration, the Complete Mage does an amazing job meshing with Complete Arcana (stuff for Warlocks), PH (expanded core class options), DMG (PrC's and magic items), and even other books.
As for design, the only think I miss are the "lines" from the PH - I loved those! But the illustrations are superb (those old 2E soft cover adventures were like cave paintings with boobs).
I think 4.0 is a while away, and WotC has to make some kind of money from D&D. Tailoring books so that players can use them helps - meaning that even the DM 'scape books have player info in them.