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Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 793.93
EAN num: 9780786939091
ISBN number: 0786939095
Label: Wizards of the Coast
Manufacturer: Wizards of the Coast
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 288
Printing Date: March 14, 2006
Publishing house: Wizards of the Coast
Release Date: March 14, 2006
Sale Popularity Level: 67617
Studio: Wizards of the Coast
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Product Description:
Unlock the Magical Power of
Vestiges, Shadows, and Syllables
Tome of Magic presents three new kinds of magic that you can integrate easily into any Dungeons & Dragons® campaign. These magic “subsystems” function alongside the existing D&D® magic system and offer new game mechanics, character options, and adventure possibilities. Within this tome you’ll find three new standard classes–one for each new kind of magic–as well as new spells, feats, prestige classes, monsters, and magic items tied thematically to each.
Pact Magic
Powerful entities known as vestiges exist beyond the boundaries of life, death, and undeath. The binder uses pact magic–a combination of symbols and secret rituals–to summon these entities, strike bargains with them, and gain their formidable and sometimes bizarre supernatural powers.
Shadow Magic
The Plane of Shadow is a dark, twisted reflection of the real world. The shadowcaster, by understanding the fundamental properties of the plane and unlocking its magical mysteries, learns to harness and channel its umbral gloom, shaping the darkness to serve her whim.
Truename Magic
Every creature has a truename–the word of its creation. The truenamer knows the primal language of the universe–the language of Truespeech–and learns the truenames of creatures and objects to gain control over them, transform them, or destroy them.
For use with these Dungeons & Dragons® core books
Player’s Handbook™ Dungeon Master’s Guide™ Monster Manual™
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
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I really like wizards and magic users so I really wanted to love this book. If you want something off the beaten track of magic, this provides some ideas. As an aid to most games, though, it doesn't provide much. It's a niche product for those looking for variants in magic.
Rated by buyers -
This is one D&D supplement that isn't riddled with dead pages. The book is interesting cover to cover, which at the very least makes it a good value in terms of the ammount of the product you are likely to use.
All three of the book's concepts are interesting and somewhat unique.
However, all three have mechanical issues that are left completely up to you, the user, to resolve.
If you are the type of person who wants a product to "works" out of the book, this is a bad product. Shadow Magic has its perks, but due to its design has massive spikes an lulls in power throughout your leveling. It is depressing how bad Shadowcasters are at levels 6 and 12, yet amazing at levels 7 and 13. This uneven growth can be very unsatisfying, leaving one to wonder "Why aren't I a wizard?" The binder has a very similiar problem, though somewhat less extreme.
Truenaming carries similiar baggage as the number of skill raising abilities erraticly varies from campaign to campaign, the class's power fluxates wildly from campaign to campaign.
Personally, I like the stuff in here, but its not very "plug in and play."
Rated by buyers 
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The very first time someone brought this book to the table, I'll admit that I wasn't immediately impressed by it. However, I thought I saw some potential, so I borrowed it from a friend at work to read over the weekend. I read the whole thing, cover to cover, twice, before Monday.
This book has finally reminded me what it was I loved about D&D when I started playing second edition over a decade ago. Unlike most every other third edition book (and even more so with 3.5), Tome of Magic isn't just a gotta-catch-em-all collection of new feats, spells, magic items, and prestige classes. It is stuffed with truly new, fresh ideas. I had thought that the rules in the Expanded Psionics Handbook were a novel approach to spellcasting in D&D, but the alternate magic systems in Tome of Magic are worlds beyond psionics in scope and style. This book could easily serve as the basis of at least one, if not three or four, whole new campaign settings. Truly different, truly spectacular.
And a special aside for Truename Magic. This system is the way spellcasting in a fantasy setting should be. Lets face it. Spells per day? Choosing spells in the morning when you wake up? Transparently artificial, rediculous, and illogical concepts. Truename magic fixes this and fixes it right, while still being a viable and fun system to use.
Rated by buyers -
Tome of Magic offers you three new styles of magic to incorperate into your game.
The first, Pact Magic, bears a slight resembelence to the "summons" system from Final Fantasy VIII. They don't attack, as such, but instead provide you with interesting abilities. The only major draw back to Pact Magic is the fact that the book seems to set up the Pact users as almost inherently evil. The beings you have to make deals with are not nice in the least, and the complicated system of "I've used this one, so I can't use this one," will be tedious to a beginning player.
The second, Shadow Magic, could easily take the place of the Shadow Weave in a Forgotten Realms setting or be incorperated into basic games as an alternate style to normal magic. Of the three new styles, this one is the most traditional, combining a blend of "domain-like" styles and specalized magics. In addition, their powers eventually become spell-like abilitites. The only real downside of the system is the sheer lack of volume of spells. Even bards get more. What they lack in versatility, though, they more than make up for in power.
Finally, True Name magic feels incredibly similar to the Earth Sea book series, in that you discover more powers and abilitites with more names. The fact that this one is actually based off of a skill, the True Speak ability, makes it even more interesting. The Difficulty Classes on the skill's use are also very well done, ranging from 10 at lower levels, up into the 50's at higher levels. Best of all, the progression into Epic Abilities, though not really spoken of much, could be easily done by simply raising the DCs of things.
A fairly good book, but not for everyone. Each of the new magics is interesting and dynamic, but this book is not for everyone. If you like playing wizards and sorcerers (or maybe even clerics), then this book is for you; however, if hacking and slashing or sneaking and stabbing is your style, let your D.M. pick this one up.
Rated by buyers -
Not to insult other popular pencil-and-paper role-playing games of our time, but there's a reason why Dungeons and Dragons is the world's most renowned RPG of them all: Because the men and women who are responsible for its design are practically without peer in terms of sheer creative genius. Sure, I love the traditional themes of arcane and divine magic that almost all fantasy RPGs provide, and psionic powers are nothing to sneeze at, either. However, by delving deep into the esoteric aspects of world history and ideology and coming up with the three new types of magic for gamers and Dungeon Masters alike to add to their most cherished gaming campaigns, Wizards of the Coast has made sure that D&D Version 3.5 is everything they'd planned it'd be: dark, mysterious, inventive, and downright appealing.
Divided into three chapters, the Tome of Magic supplement explains how DMs can incorporate the likes of Pact, Shadow, and Truename Magic into the mythical gaming worlds where their players' characters dwell in search of adventure. Players, too, can get an idea of what these more-or-less new forms of ancient power have in store for them and their allies as they sally forth into the depths of their alter egos' home realm. For instance, the chapter on Pact Magic introduces the Binder PC class and explains how participants in this occult and hence widely despised profession share their souls with a wide variety of Vestiges--beings whose existences in the world ended so tragically that their names have forever been carved into the stone tablet of history as their spirits transcended all reality into utter nothingness. Successful bondage to a Vestige grants a Binder that Vestige's powers and a physical trait that symbolizes the Binder's pact with his/her new patron. A failed pact grants the Binder the Vestige's powers as well as a successful one does, but the latter persona manifests himself/herself so heavily upon the former being that the Binder's behavior is warped by the spirit's own mentality, making the mortal perform eccentrically and--more times than not--downright irrationally.
Similarly, Shadow Casters, who participate in Shadow Magic, draw their powers form the Plane of Shadow--a literally dark and spooky reflection of the campaign's real world. It is by unlocking the mysteries of this twisted alternate reality and harnessing its nearly limitless gloom that these mages learn not only how to utilize this most umbral of all elements as the base of their spells, but also how to merge their own mortal existences with the Plane of Shadow to perform feats that no other being of their realm can, such as surviving for days without food or sleep and resisting the effects of poison and disease.
Finally, the Truenamer PC class is a student of the true universal language of all creation (called Truespeech) and as such learns the fundamentals of the third form of ages-lost mysticism, Truename Magic. By studying the fundamentals of this ancient tongue, a Truenamer can harness control over various objects and subjects, forcing them unto his/her will at the mere mentioning of their "true names"--namely, the names of their creation. To tell you the truth, the Truenamer PC class is a pretty fun one to play in a standard D&D gaming session--even more fun, in my opinion, than the standard Wizard or Sorcerer.
Oh, and before I forget to mention it, Tome of Magic has quite a few adventures in store for Dungeon Masters to put to use in their subsequent gaming sessions--not to mention fifteen total Prestige Classes for PCs and DMs alike to try our (five for each of the three basic Character Classes presented in this book). The monsters are pretty impressive, too, and not just because they're illustrated so well by the most talented artists in the gaming industry, either. Then again, players who are satisfied with playing one of the more established Character Classes from previous releases of the D&D 3rd Edition and Version 3.5 gaming manuals and supplements will still want to check out the new spells and feats presented in ToM, if for nothing else other than to add even more variety to their PCs.
All in all, Tome of Magic is no disappointment in its quest to bring something new to the gaming table. I was definitely impressed, and I believe other Dungeons and Dragons fans will feel the same way I do. If you can find it in your local hobby shop or bookstore, then by all means, snag it! It's a definite keeper.
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