With the recent revision of the Dungeons and Dragons 3E rules, Wizards of the Coast have also taken the opportunity to revise their line of class books and update them to the 3.5E rules. However, it is not a straight revision and reprinting of books like Sword and Fist. Instead, Complete Warrior shows that the WotC designers have thought about the highs and lows of the earlier series of books, and changed the format significantly to include more useful information and less superfluous material.
The increased attention given to the book can be first appreciated in its format: a 160-page full colour hardcover. About twenty artists provide the interior art in a variety of styles - I did not find the artwork as effective as that in the Miniatures Handbook, instead demonstrating several styles that I did not like very much. There are some great pieces of artwork in the book, but overall it was disappointing.
Where Sword and Fist was dedicated to expanding the abilities of Fighters and Monks, Complete Warrior instead is a "guide to combat for all classes". The reconception works brilliantly and the book is likely to be of benefit to most players. Even Wizards and Sorcerers benefit from some of the options in this book.
Complete Warrior is a combination of new material, and revised material from other sources: various 3E books and articles in Dragon Magazine. As a result, Complete Warrior will not be as useful to established players of D&D 3E, but to someone that does not already have Sword and Fist, there is hardly any comparison, so much is Complete Warrior its superior.
Chapter One: Classes
The book begins by presenting three new classes: the Hexblade, Samurai and Swashbuckler, demonstrating that WotC are moving away of the 3E paradigm of only providing new prestige classes. Each of them presents a concept that can only be badly implementing using present classes and prestige classes.
The Hexblade is something like the arcane version of a paladin, using magical curses to diminish the opponent's fighting capabilities whilst being a very effective combatant itself. The Samurai is a charismatic fighter, skilled with fighting with two blades, intimidating people and in the diplomatic arts. The Swashbuckler provides a way of running a lightly-armoured fighter with good intelligence and dexterity scores; it also provides a good platform for the Duellist prestige class.
These new classes seem well balanced, but, unlike the classes in the Player's Handbook, are not of the sort that would fit into every campaign. Thus, they are of varying utility to players and DMs. The one complaint that I have with the Samurai is on of inexactitude with the name: although clearly inspired by a samurai style of character, it is not the be-all-and-end-all of samurai classes as the name might imply.
These new classes don't always take the path you'd expect them to, either. The Swashbuckler doesn't have good Reflex saves, thus emphasising their fighter-base, but gains a class bonus to Reflex saves that puts them midway between rogues and fighters in that ability.
Two variants of the Paladin and Ranger are also presented: instead of casting spells, they instead have a number of supernatural and spell-like abilities that can be used each day. This doesn't really diminish the fantastical nature of those classes, instead just removing their requirement of praying for their abilities. We still have to wait for variants of these classes in a non-magical sense.
Chapter Two: Prestige Classes
The bulk of this book is taken up by new prestige classes: 36 in all. This compares to 19 in Sword and Fist. Prestige Classes have proved an extremely popular part of D&D 3E, and it is no surprise to find the tradition continued here.
Surprisingly, only a few of the prestige classes from Sword and Fist have been reprinted in this book: Cavalier, Drunken Master, Halfling Outrider, Knight Protector, Order of the Bow Initiate, and Ravager. Actually, I find it more a relief than a surprise, for I wasn't that fond of most of the prestige classes in Sword and Fist. Instead, we have a large number of prestige classes from other sources: the other class books of 3E, Dragon magazine, and a few other 3E books. There are several original prestige classes as well.
Those prestige classes that have been reprinted are often revised, sometimes significantly. For example, the Order of the Bow Initiate no longer gains a Sneak Attack ability, instead getting a Ranged Precision ability, similar to Sneak Attack but not requiring surprise. Instead it adds a significant amount of damage if the initiate takes only a single attack. I was most impressed with the majority of these revisions: they made a lot of sense and improved the mechanical aspects of the classes.
Another new feature of Complete Warrior is to provide a sample character for each prestige class. I do appreciate this, for it provides a basis for a DM to use for NPCs, or a player to use in a pick-up game - although I note that no personality or history is given for each class. Somewhat irritating is the reprinting of class abilities that were described on the previous page (or even same page), which smacks of padding. On the other hand, it is a good guide for newer DMs in how to write stat blocks, as it must be admitted that the wording must change from the general to the specific, and this demonstrates how it is done. I am neutral on the overall effect of this, however.
There is a good mix of five and ten level prestige classes, and even a three level prestige class. Druids, Bards and Wizards, who you might typically find to be left out in a book devoted to martial combat, do find some useful prestige classes presented for their use here. Indeed, I am extremely impressed by the War Chanter, a prestige class that improves the bard's combat ability, gives a different path to the bardic music, whilst sacrificing the spell-casting and bardic knowledge portions of the bard: the package looks extremely playable and fun.
Whilst most of the prestige classes are designed for players, there are still several that will primarily be used by monsters and villainous NPCs. All in all, there is much variety in the prestige classes presented in this chapter, and though not all will prove useful, I consider it very unlikely that nothing of use can be found.
Chapter Three: Supplemental Rules
There are thirty-one pages in this chapter, mainly dealing with new feats, but also introducing new spells, monsters and uses for skills.
As with the prestige classes, the feats in this chapter are a mix of old and new, are taken from various sources, and demonstrate the improved knowledge of the 3E system gained by much playtesting and experience. There were 31 feats in Sword and Fist, there are 82 here. Given that even a 20th level Human Fighter in 3E will have a maximum of 19 feats, the range of options is significantly expanded.
The feats are of four sorts:
General Feats, of which type most feats are. Several feats improve the lot of monks, most are useful for fighters, but every so often you get a feat that helps a martial wizard, such as Arcane Strike, which allows a prepared spell to be converted into a burst of energy that enhances a weapon strike. There is a good number of feats here, and the rules problems that plagued Sword and Fist are significantly absent from here.
Divine Feats, of which there are six and were originally presented in Defenders of the Faith. They have been revised for the new rules - generally making them more useful.
Tactical Feats, a new sort of feat. In general they represent a combat style and combine two or three benefits, each of which requires a specific condition to use. Just one of the benefits would be too weak for a regular feat, but together they form a potent combination. Possibly the most notable of these would be Elusive Target: the Diverting Defense manuever allows you, whilst flanked and dodging a foe, to dodge the first blow aimed at you by that foe and make it instead hit the other opponent that is flanking you! Very specific? Yes, but enjoyable. There are 8 Tactical feats.
Weapon Style Feats are also new to the game. Mostly, they help users of unusual weapons or weapon combinations, for example the use of Crescent Moon allows a free disarm attempt if you strike an opponent with both your longsword and dagger in the same round - thus promoting the use of that weapon combination. There are 10 feats of this sort.
A drawback with feats can be that they replace manuevers that should be able to be performed by anyone, although this is also part of the drawback of a systemised combat system: it can be to prescriptive on what you can and cannot do in combat, and imaginative manuevers are ruled impossible because "You don't have the feat!" For the most part, the feats in this chapter are not of that sort, but they do tend to define actions in combat a little more. I do not have a problem with this, but it is worth mentioning.
There are four new Clerical Domains given: Courage, Fate, Nobility, Planning and Tyranny; suggestions are made as to which deities from the Player's Handbook may award these domains. Seven new spells are added, and the Hexblade's spell list is given. The spells are interesting - especially cursed blade, a 4th level assassin or hexblade spell that means the wounds of a particular weapon cannot be cured until a remove curse spell is employed.
The new monsters are actually guardian familiars, constructs created by a wizard to protect them and use in combat. I'm not too enthused by these constructs, but I do like the expanded list of creatures provided for use with the Improved Familiar feat - creatures like the Worg can be used as a familiar by high-level wizards, allowing for some interesting encounters and characters.
Chapter 4: Fantasy Warfare
In the final chapter of the book, attention is given to elements a DM can use in planning a D&D game for his or her players, mainly from the focus of a warrior-based campaign. Interestingly, it notes that the fantastical component of D&D means that battles can take on a more modern feel than normally assumed, due to the greater communications, movement and destructive power of the game.
Of particular note are the ideas given to a Mercenary campaign, where PCs are employed by an army, most likely as a special operation unit. Tables giving suggested missions, complications and support seem extremely useful to me, and the authors are to be commended for their excellent discussions of the issue.
Rules for sporting contests such as gladiatorial combats, jousts and archery contests are also given.
This chapter also discusses the roles of organisations in a game, including some example organisations. It also looks at the effects of deities, discussing both the PHB deities and a new pantheon designed for a warrior-orientated game. Some epic level material is also introduced, expanding upon that in the 3.5E DMG, and the chapter concludes with a discussion of weaponry, including 17 new weapons.
All this material seems to be of pretty high quality to me. The use of the new pantheon is somewhat irrelevant to my needs, but neither does it take up much space. With the idea of adventures and the guidelines for contests, there is much here that can be immediately applied in my campaigns, and I am grateful for it.
Conclusion
3rd edition D&D promotes the idea of providing game mechanics and tools to support different types of characters and campaigns. The Complete Warrior book does a superb job of providing those mechanics. Where Sword and Fist stumbled in providing too much "advice" - often of dubious value - to aid new players of the game, the Complete Warrior instead concentrates on providing you with material to enhance the game, and when it does provides advice, it does so in an excellent manner: briefly and to the point.
In short, Complete Warrior does what it says it does: it provides new options and expanded rules for D&D players who want to create or advance martial characters. Although I have some reservations about how the sample characters are presented, those reservations do not apply to the book as a whole.
For any new player of D&D 3.5E , I heartily recommend the book; for those players converting from 3E, I think it is well worth a look. I possess all of the original 3E class books, and Complete Warrior surpasses them by far in both presentation and content.
