D&D 2E [COMPLETE] Looking back at the leatherette series: PHBR, DMGR, HR and more!

[delericho]

The PHBR series was great. Though part of me wishes they'd had a chance to "loop back" through the earlier ones - after Bard they seemed to go on a run of very strong entries that left the earlier ones looking poor by comparison.

The one that saw most use at our table was Priests, but that was mostly as DM aid to world-building. It really was good for that, although in hindsight it does go too far in depowering the priest classes. After that it was Fighters, Psionics, Humanoids, and Bards that saw most use (and we had more than a few Bladesingers, of course...).

I did feel that Bards, Rangers, Paladins, and Druids were all very strong entries. Barbarians and Ninjas were okay, though I'd more or less stopped playing 2nd Ed by the time I got them, so I don't think they ever saw table use.

Even looking back, I like the flavour of Dwarves and Elves, even if the mechanics of the latter are iffy at best.

 

[Voadam]

The barbarian fighter struck me as a bit of an odd duck. I was expecting some sort of "barbarian rage" mechanic when I read it (though for the life of me, I can't figure out where I'd picked up the idea that such a thing was supposed to be there in the first place, especially as I hadn't read the 1E class when I first picked this book up), but there's none to be found in the standard class listing. While the barbarian fighter is a lot like a normal fighter in terms of attack progression and saves (except with a d12 Hit Die), his class abilities - as we'd refer to them now - include "leaping and springing" of all things. Apparently barbarians jumped like jackrabbits back in the day. They were also adept climbers the same way thieves were (some sort of reference to climbing trees?) and had "back protection," which was essentially an anti-backstab provision that let them not only avoid being struck from behind, but let them get a retaliatory strike in when someone tried.

The earlier Complete Book of Dwarves battlerager kit gave a substantial rage ability so that could have been the basis for your expectation.

The listed non raging 2e barbarian abilities are straight out of 1e's barbarian which was basically Conan the class with a little bit of viking, mongol, and jungle archetype options thrown on at the end. In the novels Conan is known as a great climber transferring his hill cliffs experience to scaling the Tower of the Elephant as a thief and he is known to respond to danger and ambushes with his panther like reactions attacking while others are caught flat-footed.

 

[Orius]

Ah the Barbarian's Handbook. I was looking for Conan, they gave me fantasy Indians. I left it on the shelf.

I took a look at it more recently, and basically it's little more than an update of the 1e Barbarian. Why exactly the Barbarian didn't make the cut for 2e I'm not sure, but I suspect a few key factors. The survival abilities were supplanted by the NWP system, it didn't like functioning with spellcasters and got XP for destroying magic items which were probably bad for party cohesion, it had ridiculously high XP requirements, and it was a UA class, and none of those made the cut for 2e's base classes.

So yeah, this book basically updated 1e stuff while removing some of the problematic elements, but ended up with something vague. Then because that wasn't enough to really fill out a 128 page book, it shoved in yet another one of 2e's takes on shamans/tribal spellcasters which by 1995 was pretty unnecessary.

 

[Alzrius]

Before Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes...

Before Scorpion and Sub-Zero...

Before Ryu Hayabusa...

There was...

PHBR15 The Complete Ninja's Handbook for AD&D Second Edition!

Except, of course, it technically came after all of those characters made their debut, coming out in 1995 and all. Which might explain why this book exists in the first place. Because while ninjas weren't new to AD&D, having debuted in Oriental Adventures a decade earlier, it wasn't until this book that they - like the barbarian class from the previous book - were brought forward to Second Edition. And given the wave of popularity that ninjas were riding in the mid-90's, I'm amazed it took them that long.

Now, given some of the recent controversies, I suspect that some people will look askance on this particular book. Personally, I disagree with that; even restricting ourselves to the topic of ninjas specifically, popular culture has much greater sins that need to be accounted for before this particular supplement is taken to task. For instance, I suspect that when players brought characters made with this book to the table, there was at least one instance of someone chanting "Go ninja go ninja go!"



We should all feel guilty.

That said, the ninja class presented in this book is fairly tame, being essentially a rogue with some minor reskinning (in what I suspect is a consequence of its being updated from it's 1E origins). They have the same size Hit Die, access to thieving skills, backstab, etc. Even thieves' cant is replaced with "clan signs." What strikes me as odd are the demihuman restrictions: only halflings and dwarves can be ninjas. Maybe it's just me, but I'd have thought for sure that elves would have been on there; the popular conception of ninjas tends to have them being more concerned with precision than power, and the willowy presentation of elves seems like it naturally dovetails with that. More so than dwarves, at least.

It's when we get to the kits, however, that this book begins to show its true potential. The use of a fairly restrained base class means that the kits can take the ninja in several different thematic directions, which is exactly what it does. The Shadow-Warrior, for instance, sacrifices some thieving skill utility in favor of being better in combat. The Consort is your classic "seductive kunoichi" type (albeit of either sex). The Spirit Warrior can actually learn arcane spells of the illusion school (though not until 9th level, and in accordance with AD&D game balance, they're hit with fairly significant weapon and armor restrictions, as well as a less-generous XP progression table; curiously, they list several new spells here rather than later in the book). The Lone Wolf is a ronin, and the only version of a ninja where you can dual-class as something else after taking ninja levels. While not all the kits are winners (the Pathfinder is just a ninja with some minor bonuses to the Tracking proficiency, and has no followers), most of them are flavorful and evocative, nicely presenting different ninja archetypes.

But it doesn't stop there. The third chapter is where we start getting "shinobi" kits. While the book correctly notes that shinobi and ninja are two different pronunciations of the same word in Japanese (in fact, the parts that are identical are the "shino" and "nin," being alternate readings of 忍), it introduces an artificial distinction here, in that shinobi kits are essentially kits for other classes that turn them into discount ninjas: fighters, rangers, wizards, illusionists (but apparently not any other specialist wizards; did Aaron Allston forget that illusionists aren't their own class in 2E?), priests (meaning clerics), thieves, and bards all have shinobi options. Apparently there are no shinobi druids.

The inclusion of these might sound redundant, but as the opening text of chapter three (where these kits are given) makes clear, it's because ninja clans consist of more than just members of the ninja character class...and that's when it becomes clear that this book is, just like The Complete Barbarian's Handbook, introducing not just an expanded look at a particular character class, or even character archetype, but an entire campaign based on the theme of the class. While not "Oriental Adventures 2E" unto itself, that's sort of what this book evokes. Plug in things like Kara-Tur: The Eastern Realms (technically 1E, but as I recall it was pretty light on game mechanics), the MC6 Monstrous Compendium Kara-Tur Appendix, and some of the 2E adventures from the Oriental Adventures line of products, such as OA6 Ronin Challenge or FROA1 Ninja Wars, and you're good to go (well, mostly; those latter adventures still presumed the use of the 1E Oriental Adventures book; cross-edition compatibility wasn't the big deal back then that it is now).

Given that, it's perhaps less of a surprise that this book revisits the martial arts rules from PHBR1 The Complete Fighter's Handbook...and I have to say, that has a real "end at the beginning" vibe to it, what with this being the last of the PHBRs and all. Like this book just snatched the pebble from the hand of its master.

Okay, that's not actually ninja-themed, but that's why the GIF has Picard face-palming for a single frame at the end there.

Oddly, I don't remember being nearly as excited by the martial arts rules here as I was when I first read PHBR1. I don't think it had much to do with the rules themselves - which also included that book's weapon specialization rules - but rather was because I'd already thoroughly internalized the idea of "spellcasters rule!" by that point. Bruce Lee was cool and all, but he wasn't ever going to punch Elminster's ticket, even if there was an entire adventuring party of him (Conservation of Ninjutsu and all that, to make another pseudo-racist blending of different cultures).

There were several "new" proficiencies too, with the sarcasm-quotes indicating that several are actually proficiencies from other books being reprinted here, albeit sometimes with updated listings. Of the ones that are actually new, we have several notable oddities, such as Waterwalking (not nearly as cool as it sounds; it's basically a proficiency for using a liquid-specific version of snowshoes), Giant Kite Flying (which is a headscratcher until you realize that these things are basically hang gliders), Style Analysis (which is exactly as cool as it sounds: spot the weaknesses in someone else's fighting style!), and Enamor, which...potentially makes a target fall madly in love with you. Wow, and people think that martials don't have the options that casters do, huh? Eat your heart out, charm person!

It's at this point that I should give the book credit where it's due: for all that I went on about it presenting a campaign style as much as a character class, PHBR15 does have Occidental options for what it presents. Ninjas become "spies," with ninja clans being an intelligence service (i.e. for a kingdom); there's virtually no mechanics associated with this, being more of a "tone" thing. Strangely, the book goes and presents another reflavoring for ninjas, that being "killers," even presenting three NPC-only kits to play up the idea of not!ninjas who are skilled at murder (more than your standard PC, at least). The inclusion of NPC-specific material in a PC book induces a bit of cognitive dissonance in me, as does the odd refusal to use the term "assassin" (which is a thief kit anyway). Still, props to the book for at least broaching the idea that there'd be a tone issue with ninjas (it's more than was ever done for monks).

Disappointingly, they don't justify the use of these "killer" kits by saying that only a ninja can kill a ninja, and if you know where that quote comes from then congratulations: you're old.

The fifth chapter has a lot of new weapons, far more so than new armor, equipment, or magic items. It almost feels like a mini-supplement unto itself, and the katana is nowhere near as badass as it should be. Seriously, if one of those things can cripple Metal Gear, it can do more than a mere 1d10 points of damage (2d6 if used two-handed)!

The rest of the book focuses more on the ninja-focused campaign, talking about the role of the clan, making ninja-themed (or spy-themed) adventures, giving sample ninja characters and clans, etc. I don't want to say that it's perfunctory (and it's not), but by this point we're down to the last third of the book or so; it's clear that this one was stuffed to the gills, which makes sense considering how much it's trying to cram in here.

Overall, The Complete Ninja's Handbook really does feel complete, at least in terms of bringing options for ninjas into your game. From an options-replete base class to kits that make other classes into ninjas to campaign options for ninjas to ways to remove the cultural context by making ninjas into spies, plus proficiencies, weapon specialization, martial arts, new mundane and magical equipment, new spells, and more, this one really goes the distance. Personally, I hope that gamer history will look back on it fondly for that, even if it doesn't treat the subject with all of the respect and sensitivity that ninjas receive in native Japanese media.

And remember: go ninja go ninja go!

I made another funny!

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[Voadam]

So for the martial arts, was this 1e Oriental Adventures style or a variation of 2e's various martial arts themes? 1e OA base style cost a proficiency and gave you AC, an attack, plus a path for proficiency special abilities. 2e PH martial arts gave a different chart than punching or wrestling for the effect (usually damage) of your attack roll when you hit unarmed.

 

[Alzrius]

So for the martial arts, was this 1e Oriental Adventures style or a variation of 2e's various martial arts themes? 1e OA base style cost a proficiency and gave you AC, an attack, plus a path for proficiency special abilities. 2e PH martial arts gave a different chart than punching or wrestling for the effect (usually damage) of your attack roll when you hit unarmed.

The martial arts system described here in The Complete Ninja's Handbook is basically the same one given in The Complete Fighter's Handbook, albeit with a few tweaks (i.e. it updates the "Martial Arts Results" table so that better hits deal more damage), which insofar as I understand use different mechanics from Oriental Adventures (I have a copy of that book, but haven't read it in quite some time).

That said, PHBR15 does present some optional martial arts rules that it says are "adapted" from guidelines present in OA, the most notable of which are the particular martial arts styles, such as karate, kung fu, tae kwon do, etc., along with rules for finding and training under a master, creating new styles, etc.

It's worth noting that this is one of several different unarmed fighting rules sets that cropped up during AD&D 2E. First were the basic punching and wrestling rules in the Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide, then the expanded martial arts system (which I believe was compatible with the punching/wrestling rules) in PHBR1 (and PHBR3 for some reason) and revised here, and then we got another system in Player's Option - Combat & Tactics. It was pretty crazy.

I remember that the monk class introduced in the appendix of Faiths & Avatars actually had three different entries for how it received bonuses to unarmed combat depending on which system you used; even weirder was that it explicitly said it didn't endorse compatibility between the monk class and the martial arts in The Complete Ninja's Handbook, despite those being based on the rules from The Complete Fighter's/Priest's Handbook! Presumably they meant in reference to the advanced rules, which were adapted from the 1E Oriental Adventures, but that's about when my head exploded from trying to look all that up.

Please note my use of affiliate links in this post.

 

[Voadam]

Looking it up I was misremembering the Complete Fighter's system as being in the 2e PH.

 

[Orius]

This one must have been in high demand when it came out. I went to Waldenbooks to buy a copy and they'd sold out pretty quickly. I had to have the store put a copy on order for me. So yeah, this might have been a good choice to finish off the category if it sold like this all over for TSR.

The base class isn't bad itself, and the shinobi kits were a pretty good idea. Like you said, it gives the DM the opportunity to run a ninja themed campaign without having everyone be the same class. And the suggestions for using the crunch here in a non Japanese or Asian themed setting gives the book more use.

Overall, I think it's one of the better PHB splats.

So for the martial arts, was this 1e Oriental Adventures style or a variation of 2e's various martial arts themes? 1e OA base style cost a proficiency and gave you AC, an attack, plus a path for proficiency special abilities. 2e PH martial arts gave a different chart than punching or wrestling for the effect (usually damage) of your attack roll when you hit unarmed.

Both. There's a simple option that gives you the PHB style charts for unarmed combat, and there's an update to OA's martial arts rules that expands the original 4 arts to 8 or 9 and adds some new material. Of course this book was released after Combat and Tactics in 1995 which had its own chapter on martial arts.

 

[Alzrius]

Of course this book was released after Combat and Tactics in 1995 which had its own chapter on martial arts.

You're technically correct (the very best kind of correct), but from what I've been able to look up, Player's Option - Combat & Tactics came out in July of 1995, while PHBR15 The Complete Ninja's Handbook came out in August of that same year.

Please note my use of affiliate links in this post.

 

[delericho]

This one must have been in high demand when it came out. I went to Waldenbooks to buy a copy and they'd sold out pretty quickly. I had to have the store put a copy on order for me. So yeah, this might have been a good choice to finish off the category if it sold like this all over for TSR.

I wouldn't be surprised if by then supplements had really small print runs.