I had pretty much sworn off any more 3.5/OGL products. Its not that there aren't quality products coming out, there are, but its that I have so many more than I can use..
Still when I saw Codex Martialis I knew I had to have a look at. A supplement that adds the coolness and realism factors of Riddle of Steel and GURPS Martial Arts 4e to D20 was more than I could pass up. Thanks to the generosity of Gallogliach here at EN World I won't have to.
The PDF itself is unassuming, 48 pages, all black and white. Its copiously illustrated with very realistic art in a historical vein and punctuated with intriguing historical quotes. A very complete biography and a superb index are included Interestingly a complete list of quotation sources is also included, something I thank that adds a bit of educational value to the product.
The system is different than most of the alternate systems I've seen for D20 games as it relies on a “martial pool” of dice. Each point of base attack gains 1 die, up to a maximum of 4 . These dice are used instead of the standard “move/attack” action set up common to most D20 games and can be used to move , attack or more than one can be used on a roll to increase the odds of an attack or defense .
This adds a very fluid feel to the combat system. Some DM's may find giving 4th level characters multiple attacks disconcerting but since the system also uses a defense bonus system based off base attack with modifiers for weapons and armor as well as armor as DR I do not believe it will be unbalanced.
The system also handles weapon lengths easily with three different range bands that benefit different kinds of weapons , dagger are great at close, spear at long and so on.
This looks as if it works quite quickly in play.
One omission I find rather odd was despite the cover art of a horse archer there was little discussion of missile weapons or how to apply the martial pool system to them. Its a minor oversight that doesn't detract from the usefulness of the product.
The “martial pool” system is modified by two, count them, two chapters of what the books calls martial feats. This name choice was very unfortunate. The martial feats do play off of some of the basic feats in D20 but they are not feats in the normal context. They are more like maneuvers that each character gets at a rate of 1 per BAB.
Let me see upfront I love this system. This adds enough well researched tactical options for almost any circumstances in any kind of game. There simply are plenty of cool things to do, none of which horribly unbalance the game.
There are a few minor bugs with the chapters however,
1st, while there are a few nods of the head to Samurai movies with such martial feats as Inscrutable Countenance and Nukitsuke little attention was paid to alternate names. The book mentions the Meisterhau (Master Cut) as being used in Japanese katana styles, yet no alternate name was given for it or almost any of the other martial feats. This makes it harder for kendo stylists to understand how they should use the rules and pushes what can be a “generic” sourcebook too far in European Martial Arts direction something the text of the book leads me to believe was not the writers idea.
2nd The book really needed style packages. Now if you have read your Agrippa (which I have) figuring out which fighting style used what maneuvers is not too difficult but DM's or players coming in from an Eastern fighting art or no arts at all will find the interaction of feats and swordplay styles rather opaque. Its very difficult to choose which martial feats a character should have in reference to real world or fantastic styles .
3rd Nein Mordschlager? Vas Ist?
The final section of the book is the appendix which contains weapons, shield and armor data, a little bit on integrating magic, a range of animal attacks, missile weapons and of course the OGL.
Really this book suffers from one major problem, that of ease of integration. While there are bits and pieces in the 1st chapters that explain how to use the book I never really got a feel as to how this would easily fit into my campaign.
It seems to designed for grim and gritty games and even includes some suggestions on capping hit points but this is far from the default play of most d20 groups but the sparse text and paucity of suggestions seem especially daunting for Game Masters who are not accustomed to shoehorning variant rules into their own campaigns
Let me add that this in no way makes the game unplayable or unusable with most D20 games. I'd have little trouble integrating the rules into A Game of Thrones D20 with its gritty rules , Standard Dungeons and Dragons, or Since the martial pool in this system already works something like conviction does in True20 it would even fit there
About the only product it wouldn't work well with is the homebrew E6 since E6 game tops out at the minimum level needed to take advanced maneuvers
However if you like realism and or western martial arts and have some experience and background you will find it a quality purchase.
Still when I saw Codex Martialis I knew I had to have a look at. A supplement that adds the coolness and realism factors of Riddle of Steel and GURPS Martial Arts 4e to D20 was more than I could pass up. Thanks to the generosity of Gallogliach here at EN World I won't have to.
The PDF itself is unassuming, 48 pages, all black and white. Its copiously illustrated with very realistic art in a historical vein and punctuated with intriguing historical quotes. A very complete biography and a superb index are included Interestingly a complete list of quotation sources is also included, something I thank that adds a bit of educational value to the product.
The system is different than most of the alternate systems I've seen for D20 games as it relies on a “martial pool” of dice. Each point of base attack gains 1 die, up to a maximum of 4 . These dice are used instead of the standard “move/attack” action set up common to most D20 games and can be used to move , attack or more than one can be used on a roll to increase the odds of an attack or defense .
This adds a very fluid feel to the combat system. Some DM's may find giving 4th level characters multiple attacks disconcerting but since the system also uses a defense bonus system based off base attack with modifiers for weapons and armor as well as armor as DR I do not believe it will be unbalanced.
The system also handles weapon lengths easily with three different range bands that benefit different kinds of weapons , dagger are great at close, spear at long and so on.
This looks as if it works quite quickly in play.
One omission I find rather odd was despite the cover art of a horse archer there was little discussion of missile weapons or how to apply the martial pool system to them. Its a minor oversight that doesn't detract from the usefulness of the product.
The “martial pool” system is modified by two, count them, two chapters of what the books calls martial feats. This name choice was very unfortunate. The martial feats do play off of some of the basic feats in D20 but they are not feats in the normal context. They are more like maneuvers that each character gets at a rate of 1 per BAB.
Let me see upfront I love this system. This adds enough well researched tactical options for almost any circumstances in any kind of game. There simply are plenty of cool things to do, none of which horribly unbalance the game.
There are a few minor bugs with the chapters however,
1st, while there are a few nods of the head to Samurai movies with such martial feats as Inscrutable Countenance and Nukitsuke little attention was paid to alternate names. The book mentions the Meisterhau (Master Cut) as being used in Japanese katana styles, yet no alternate name was given for it or almost any of the other martial feats. This makes it harder for kendo stylists to understand how they should use the rules and pushes what can be a “generic” sourcebook too far in European Martial Arts direction something the text of the book leads me to believe was not the writers idea.
2nd The book really needed style packages. Now if you have read your Agrippa (which I have) figuring out which fighting style used what maneuvers is not too difficult but DM's or players coming in from an Eastern fighting art or no arts at all will find the interaction of feats and swordplay styles rather opaque. Its very difficult to choose which martial feats a character should have in reference to real world or fantastic styles .
3rd Nein Mordschlager? Vas Ist?
The final section of the book is the appendix which contains weapons, shield and armor data, a little bit on integrating magic, a range of animal attacks, missile weapons and of course the OGL.
Really this book suffers from one major problem, that of ease of integration. While there are bits and pieces in the 1st chapters that explain how to use the book I never really got a feel as to how this would easily fit into my campaign.
It seems to designed for grim and gritty games and even includes some suggestions on capping hit points but this is far from the default play of most d20 groups but the sparse text and paucity of suggestions seem especially daunting for Game Masters who are not accustomed to shoehorning variant rules into their own campaigns
Let me add that this in no way makes the game unplayable or unusable with most D20 games. I'd have little trouble integrating the rules into A Game of Thrones D20 with its gritty rules , Standard Dungeons and Dragons, or Since the martial pool in this system already works something like conviction does in True20 it would even fit there
About the only product it wouldn't work well with is the homebrew E6 since E6 game tops out at the minimum level needed to take advanced maneuvers
However if you like realism and or western martial arts and have some experience and background you will find it a quality purchase.
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