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Arms of the Chosen $14.99
Average Rating:4.6 / 5
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Arms of the Chosen
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Arms of the Chosen
Publisher: Onyx Path Publishing
by A customer [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/24/2023 10:16:33

This book isn't bad - it's certainly useful for anyone wanting to play E3. It's just that I cannot help find it a bit boring - there isn't much new here, just more of what we've already seen.

Evocations? Sure - but Earthdawn did it better, back in the nineties.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
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Arms of the Chosen
Publisher: Onyx Path Publishing
by Corey R. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/11/2022 16:28:05

This book rocks! Evocations for artifacts is probably one of the greatest additions to the game of Exalted in the Third Edition. That kind of thing is what I liked best from Earthdawn (my first favorite RPG), and now it's here in my current favorite RPG! And the ideas here are many and varied. Fantastic work!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Arms of the Chosen
Publisher: Onyx Path Publishing
by Daryl T. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/28/2019 14:28:03

Reviewed version: physical copy

Note: This would be a solid 4 rating if the marketing was updated to be less misleading on book contents.

The Good

  • Artifacts are more flushed out and alive than those included in the E3 core. Rules often utilize coloured box-text helping make long paragraphs and rules easier to read.
  • The lore in the book helps to flush out the world. More general equipment - not just weapons.

The Bad

  • Marketing and description of the book. "Discover the mystical power of the five magical materials and the secrets of creating your own Evocations."
  • This is just not true. There are zero rules included for creating your own evocations - the one thing that makes artifacts different from mundane equipment. There are some slightly enhanced descriptions of the five magical materials but nothing that expands in a very meaningful way upon the core. The way the five materials are described make it possible for a user to create an artifact that does anything they want then pick a material later. The amount of space dedicated to artifact design is limited to 1.3 pages and only amounts to listing the maximum amount of evocations possible.
  • How to design evocations for artifacts is said to be coming in an upcoming sourcebook on Exigents.

The Ugly

  • The art, this was almost in the good category but the stand-out exception of a poorly done cover which matches neither the theme of Exalted nor the quality of most of the internal art helped sink it - the cover design also makes reading the logo (to see the version of Exalted) difficult as the font is small and gold-orange on top of a gold-orange background element. Most of the art is decent to good but there are several pieces that are a bit flat and lifeless - this may be in part due to the flat colours from non-glossy paper. The quality is generally higher than a lot of RPG supplements (notably Exalted 1E). One amusing end note here is the book has an ad for Scion which was a very well rendered piece of artwork beyond anything included in this book.
  • Pointless and confusing lore references. Various eras are referenced for every artifact with no timeline for the reader on the order of the eras, or how available information would be on an artifact from any given era. As written, the lore seems storyteller-only and even then the storyteller has no idea what the world looked like during the era referenced.

Should you Buy?

  • If you want more of the Exalted world: Yes.
  • If you want more already created equipment: Yes.
  • If you want is rules to make your own artifacts: No (that said the ones included can be cannibalized for their evocations).


Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
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Arms of the Chosen
Publisher: Onyx Path Publishing
by Chazz K. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 12/11/2018 12:08:47

Overall, I thought this was an excellent first sourcebook for Exalted 3rd edtion. To hear my complete thoughts, check out our review: http://thestorytold.libsyn.com/episode-3-exalted-arms-of-the-chosen-review



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Arms of the Chosen
Publisher: Onyx Path Publishing
by Gedeon M. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/17/2018 15:59:11

The example artifacts in the book are very fun and interesting. Great to play with or base your own on, I enjoyed them extreamly.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Arms of the Chosen
Publisher: Onyx Path Publishing
by Joe A. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/26/2018 16:51:51

Arms of the chosen is a source book of magic items for the third edition of exalted, focusing on the new 'Evocation' mechanic, where by which by wielding a legendary item ( or forging a legend with an item) the wielder can unlock unique abilities. In comparison to second edition books it is closer to ' Wonders of the lost age' rather than 'Odenel's codex' There is some general 'fluff' on magic materials and artifact creation, some errata and some guidance on creating evocations for your artifacts in campaigns, but that is approximately 8 pages out of 173, most of the book is taken up by example arms and armour. Looking at story surrounding the item and evocations that come off it. There is also a chapter on 'Miscellaneous' magic, which is a bit of a mixed bag, some hearthstones, some new items, and the return of some classics, like the dragon tear tiara, the golden viper and the implosion bow. Finally, their is a chapter on warstriders, with information on their general function an some named legendary warstriders and their evocation trees, there are a some fun homages to Escaflowne and Evangelion in this section. Both the art and the fiction are good, the chapter stories each focus around the theme of the chapter, so the intro chapter is about crafting, the weapons chapter features a legendary blade, they are very flavorful and with the art add greatly to the feel of the book. Aside from the miscellaneous chapter, which as the name suggests is a mixed bag, the items in this book are intended to be important parts of a characters story. To evoke, if you pardon the pun, the feeling of wielding Glamdring or Stormbringer rather than 'just a Daiklave' it's not about the power per say, since the XP spend on evocations could have been spent on other charms, but about making the item part of the legend. Thier where only a few minor niggles; most of which stem from when this book was released, with only the Solars as playable exalts. So the terms solar and exalt are used largely interchangeably in the charm descriptions, while there is some clearly 'solar only' evocations their is no clear commentary on modifiying the charm trees for non solars, even though the notes on magical material resonance in the charm description imply some of them could be used by a non-solar exalt. Over all I liked this book, there is plenty to inspire character and inspire plot.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Arms of the Chosen
Publisher: Onyx Path Publishing
by A customer [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 12/07/2017 19:30:12

This is a neat collection of Artifacts for Exalted 3E. There are some very cool weapons and armour, and I haven't really even delved into the section on Warstriders yet. A couple of disappointing things, which for the record aren't things that were done poorly, just things that I had hoped for from the book that aren't present.

  • There are only 5 artifacts that aren't weapons or armour, 7 if you include the two vehicles. EDIT - There are also quite a few hearthstones as well as 5 "natural magic" items, so this point isn't accurate.
  • There's no errata or updates for the artifacts from the core book. I was really hoping for an update on Dauntless, the 5 dot armour, as it really doesn't hold up to 5 dot standards at all - especially the essence 3 evocation, Champion's Fatal Strike.
  • There's about one page of info on creating custom evocations, which pretty much boils down to "make it feel like a combination of the wielder and the artifact's personality, and don't ressurect the dead or enable time travel." This is a little disappointing, as I was hoping for more help on the technical side of balancing artifacts, but I guess the rest of the book helps with that just through providing a large number of examples.

That said, there are some very cool weapons and armour included in this book, including some that I would be afraid to let my players get ahold of due to their sheer game-warping power, and that's speaking from an Exalted standpoint. Also, some neat examples of providing new mechanics, although those frequently boil down to an extra type of "fuel" to track for that particular artifact. Still, some fun ideas. Whether or not you buy this is pretty simple - are you planning on playing Exalted, and do you want more artifact selection than the core book offers? If so, buy this. Don't buy it if you're just looking for more setting info. There's a little of that in here, but not much beyond talking about magical materials, and the strange places that some artifacts come from. There is a neat page-long story written from the perspective of an Abyssal, though, that was cool.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Arms of the Chosen
Publisher: Onyx Path Publishing
by Joshua W. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 12/01/2017 17:12:32

While I may have initally knocked off half a point simply for the 'non-stop' layout of the new artifacts in this book, I really can't bring myself to give it less than five stars. The care and attention that's clearly been lavished all the way through, from the writing to art-work, is a pleasure to read. Bursting with lore, plot-hooks and some of the most thoughtfully crafted 'magical items' I've had the pleasure of perusing in just about any gaming system I've played. This book is an inspiring read and a must for Ex3.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Arms of the Chosen
Publisher: Onyx Path Publishing
by Ryan L. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/30/2017 09:03:45

Really fantastic book which gives players a slew of fun toys to play around with and inspiration for the players to create their own. The weapons all have really awesome Evocations, even at the base level. I still haven't looked as much into the trinkets and armor but what I saw tickled my fancy.

Of course the big selling point is warstriders that are actually both really freaking badass as well as actually playable. More to the point while they are powerful, they're not invincible. They offer players a way to fight similarly massive foes, a way to make a foe or battle more memorable/difficult, or a focus for an entire campaign.

All in all, very much worth the price and I can't wait for the rest of Exalted 3e's books.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Arms of the Chosen
Publisher: Onyx Path Publishing
by Richard C. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/28/2017 22:14:29

The book is broadly divided into several sections, covering weapons, armor, hearthstones & miscellaneous items, and warstriders.

I found the book to be an exciting and engaging read. It took me a few pages to warm up to the weapons, but by the time I got to the armor section I was sold. The Warstrider section blew me away.

What I liked most was that the book didn't just provide weapons for killing and armor to prevent being killed - it showed how artifacts could be turned to other purposes beyond their obvious functions, and it did so in interesting and mechanically satisfying ways. The Warstriders chapter sets the gold standard for the book.

An absolute must buy.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Arms of the Chosen
Publisher: Onyx Path Publishing
by Nicholas M. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/15/2017 22:26:06

Absolutely love this. The rules for artifacts are a huge improvement over the Core Rulebook. Artifact armor, which I found a little lackluster in the main book, is actually quite thematic and useful now. And the weapons (Stormcaller) are terrifyingly powerful.

Most exciting are the new rules for Warstriders. IMO they are everything that they should be; expensive, powerful, awe-inspiring, but not game-breaking. It also provides some rules for siege weapons, which is nice.

Overall a great addition to 3E.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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