Tome Of Magic - Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Accessory, Tsr 2121

by David Zeb Cook

This printing is recognizableas it states "Sixth February 1995" on the credit page.

Take your spellcasters to limits they have never reached before! With over two hundred new spells and magical items, the Tome of Magic stretches the horizons of every wizard and priest in the ADandD 2nd Edition game.

In these pages are new forms of wizard magic including elementalists, metamagic, and wild magic, plus expansions of existing schools. For priests, whole new spheres have been discovered - spheres of chaos, law, numbers, thought, time, war, and wards - and powerful new quest spells lie waiting to be tapped.

All characters will experience the thrill of discovering new magical items such as the claw of magic stealing, dimensional mine, crystal parrot, ring of randomness, and staff of the elements. Tome of Magic is an invaluable expansion for all the spellcasting classes!

Genres: Role Playing Games, Gaming, Fantasy, Dungeons and Dragons, Games, Reference, Fiction

Hardcover

First published June 18, 1991

About the author

David "Zeb" Cook is an American game designer best known for his work at TSR, Inc., where he was employed for over fifteen years. Cook grew up on a farm in Iowa where his father worked as a farmer and a college professor. In junior high school, Cook playing wargames such as Avalon Hill's Blitzkrieg and Afrika Korps. "I was primarily a wargamer, but there wasn't any role-playing available then," although in college, he was introduced to the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game through the University of Iowa gaming club. Cook earned his B.A. in English (with a Theater minor) in 1977. He married his high school sweetheart, Helen, with whom he had one son, Ian. Cook became a high school teacher in Milligan, Nebraska, where his students gave him his nickname of "Zeb"; the name derives from his signature, which is dominated by a stroke resembling a 'Z'.

Reviews

[Juho Pohjalainen · Rating 3 out of 5]

When it comes to magic, I was always of the school of thought that Less Is More: a few flavourful and varied classics always trump a great many scattered-up one-note incantations. 1st edition AD&D had the best balance, although 2nd edition did add a few good ones in its core book - but Tome of Magic is where things started to go downhill, where you wanted to have a spell for every occasion, only getting worse and worse with 3rd edition and Pathfinder.

On the other hand, wild mages make for a chaotic fun addition, and I did like a few of the magic items as well.

[Malum · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is probably closer to a 2 star book, but the art is really great so I'll give it a break.

I was always of the opinion that core AD&D 2E had plenty of spells, and that books throwing mountains more of them at you were overkill. You also get some new kinds of mages here (wild and elementalists) and some new priest spheres but, again, I think the core game's spells and casters were just fine.

Priests also get quest spells, which are just really powerful spells that a deity might grant to a priest in dire need. This is something that a good DM would probably do in their story anyway, so having lists of them is kind of pointless.

Finally, there are some new magic items here (including lots of cursed items). One of my favorites is the Cursed Ring of Bureaucratic Wizardry: whenever the cursed mage tries to cast a spell, forms and a pen magically appear before him that he must fill out in triplicate before he can actually cast the spell. I imagine this item was created by Hermes Conrad.

Even though this book was published fairly early in AD&D 2E's life, it really presaged the trend that D&D (and Pathfinder, for that matter) continues to suffer to this day, which is dumping so much extra crap into the game that it becomes an absolute mess. Can you imagine if TSR or Wizards of the coast had invented chess? You would have so many rules supplements by now about bonus and alternative pieces that you can use, new special powers and moves that the pieces get, and different types of boards you can play on.

[Roxanna López · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.6 stars rounded up.

The writing is not a clear as one would wish for an RPG rules supplement, but that is not the reason why I am dissappointed with this book. It has some cool things like wild magic and cooperative magic, however, the new spells and magical objects are not that interesing or innovative compared to what is already in the core rules. Additionally, some of the quests spells and magical objects require too much bookkeeping on the part of the DM, the kind that makes game sessions drag forever and impede action scenes. In summary, since I already bought it I am keeping it, but it's not my favorite of the AD&D 2nd Edition books.

[Arthur B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Useful collection of further magic options for 2E AD&D. I wouldn't necessarily use all of them at once, but useful to dip into for ideas. Full review: https://refereeingandreflection.wordp...

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seems like a bunch of pretty useful things to incorporate into any campaign. Wild magic is easy to skip if you don't like it. Lots and lots of priest spells and some interesting items. Worth picking up esp in pdf format.

[Marc-André · Rating 4 out of 5]

A most important part of our Dungeons and Dragons journey. This book of extra spells not only taught us that we could make our own spells, but that we could invent new rules.

Plus the spells and magical item in there were pretty sweet. An important 2nd edition book.

[Mike (the Paladin) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Once you've built you character you'll still want to expand on that character. Here you'll find more spells and ideas that you can use to do just that. I like 2nd edition D&D and as a DM I'm willing to work with the players as they add dimensions to their characters as long as it's within the bounds of the story and game being played. While this may not be the most helpful, if you're really into a magical character you'll want all the depth you can get.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great resource if you're looking for more options for magic in your game. Wizards get additional options of playing elementalists and wild mage, plus lots of new spells. Clerics get new spells too, but they also get new spheres as well as a new special category of quest spells (although as players, they shouldn't be using them anyway). There are also a lot of interesting new magic items.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is worth getting for the introduction of wild mages and wild magic alone. It also expands the spells of both wizards and priests. As well it gives you more magical items to play with. A lovely little expansion worth the price.

[Abraham Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

good read about magic spells for dnd.

[Dylan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating based on usefulness.