You may have come here wondering what exactly is the Tome of Battle: The Book of the Nine Swords? Here is one answer. Here is another. Another answer is that it is one of the most popular Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 edition books ever written.
And with good reason.
One could say that it is the overall improvement it grants to melee characters. A level or two in a Martial Adept class (the base classes within the Tome of Battle) can open up a wide range of play styles and options where before the melee classes tended to suffer from being good at one thing which could be duplicated by a caster with the right spells prepared for that day.
One could also say that the mechanics of the Martial Adept classes were the reason the book became so popular. Whether it was the Crusader's "luck of the draw" style, or the Warblade's swift succession of strikes, or even the simple departure from having to rest before recovering abilities, it was a welcome change from Vancian casting.
It could also be that the book itself has a style of its own. Many D&D books are made from the same template. Classes here, feats there, spells in this chapter, items in another. The Tome of Battle follows this tried and true format as well, but in-between there is an unprecedented level of detail and polish. For instance, the story of the rise and fall of the Temple of the Nine Swords sprinkled between the chapters, the almost-anime-but-not-quite artwork, the detailing of the medallions etched into the 'parchment' background of the the pages. It is very easy to tell that this book was made with love.
It is in that spirit that I've translated the Tome of Battle: The Book of the Nine Swords into Neverwinter Nights 2. It was and continues to be a work of love. I've tried as hard as I could to keep to the original, not only in mechanical terms, but also in the level of aesthetic quality that the Tome of Battle is known for. A great deal of the art was from the Tome of Battle itself, and if not from there, from one of my many searches for good postage stamp sided cutouts from artwork I've found on the internet. It took exactly elven months from the day I started to produce the first version and each day was worth it. Not only to make something to play, but just in the sheer volume of kind comments that I've received since the release date. Thanks for the support everyone, so long as you keep downloading it, I'll keep improving it.
Download
Prerelease Notes
Scripts
Changes from Pen and Paper to Neverwinter Nights 2
The Unofficial, Official Errata
Misc Notes
Current Status: The drivers for my video card were updated recently introducing a bug into NWN2. In outdoor areas the models load, but not the textures. This has made debugging for SoZ and it's overland map a challenge since a lot of creatures (and landscape) become invisible depending on the camera angle. Currently, there's no fix for this bug other than rolling back the driver.
On the bright side, I did find and correct the bug that makes the dispel icon for Salamander Charge duplicate itself. It'll be in the next update.
At the moment, it's crunch time at my office, I'm putting in extra hours and all of those shenanigans. It'll be this way for the next couple of months, so sadly the slow pace of my updates just got slower. I do what I can, but I feel the community has a right to know what's happening with things at my end.
To Contact Me: Send a PM to Amadrammelec on the Neverwinter Nights 2 forums. I check my PMs at least once a week.
