Complete Warrior, anybody got it? What's in it?

[Altamont Ravenard]

AR: Non, c'est "Magefoudre" le nom.

But lightningmage really don't sound good.

I think I'm going to invent the FoutreMage in your honor if I ever use the BoEF

AR

 

[Tzarevitch]

Just how much extra damage does a Swashbuckler depend on? And how much of this extra damage works on things that are immune to criticals?

None. It doesn't get extra damage. It is like a rogue with figher BAB and no sneak attack or trap disabling. It picks up abilities relating to dodge and movement.

What kind of spells do hexblades get? Is it mainly ability enhancing transmutation spells?

Mainly low-level sorcerer spells that aren't conjurations or evocations. It tends to have buff-spells, movement spells and a couple of divinations. Its damaging spells tend to be the loe-level stat-damage types.

What is there for Bards beyond some new spells? Is their anything like a Skald Prc?

The War Chanter PrC. It is a quasi-bard with full BAB and no spellcasting enhancement. I think it kinda sucks personally, but it does give you the ability to use 2 bardic music abilities at the same time. It is more in tune with the norse warrior-skald than the mainline bard is.

Tzarevitch

 

[JacktheRabbit]

I can't spend much time looking at my copy since I am still at wor but As I recall, Drunken Master is back as is the Tattooed Monk from Oriental Adventures. I don't recall seeing Sacred Fist though (although that class really needs a re-write) and I didn't see any other real monk-type unarmed combat classes. Several of the monk-type feats did get re-writes though.


Tzarevitch

Yeah, I like the Sacred Fist but the introduction of material DR killed the class most completely than any other class in 3E when coupled with the fact that a Sacred Fist can never pick up any sort of weapon.

 

[C-52]

ToC

Can anyone who has it post a table of contents?

Is Expert Tactician in the book? Is it different than before? And is all of that Flick of the Wrist stuff in it too?

 

[I'm A Banana]

I've got the book here now...

I'm sitting here with it, now, and here's the looks

CORE CLASSES:
* Hexblade is nummy. It's kind of along the lines of a ranger/paladin, except with morale-affecting/curse-inducing arcane spells at the higher levels. It meets my criteria for a 'new class' okay, and has one interesting special forbiddance -- you cannot be good....

* Samurai is iffy. It's a fighter focused on fear, effectively, and it seems a smidge on the mighty side. In addition, it'd probably work better as a PrC. Not horrendous, but certainly questionable. Still...

* Swashbuckler. HAH. As if there ever was a timely class? I tend to groove on it, in general, though I'd be tempted to ditch some of their HP (it's a d10) for some more movement-related abilities (such as a bonus to movement a la Monk or Barbarian), or maybe some sneaky-attacks (right now, the 'precise strikes' are done as extra things they can do with their criticals...which is cool).

*Paladins and Rangers Without Spellcasting: This option is *adored*, and I'll probably implement it right off the bat.

PRESTIGE CLASSES:
I love that they included ready-to-use example NPC's....! YAY!
A few standout things:
* Dark Hunter: 5-level underground assassin. Tasty.
* Darkwood Stalker: Orcslayer! This is cool...definately a good use of a PrC, but seems a bit generic...sneak attack , etc. vs. orcs, but nothing relating to any particular orc skill in general.
* Dervish: Berserking dancer of doom! Very fun!
* Gnome Giant-Slayer: Cool, but what about a dwarvish one? Still, fun!
* Halfling Outrider: The picture is beautiful, but somehow the image of a ten-year-old astride an ugly doggy will never be anything but comical to me.
* Hulking Hurler: 3-level monster-based PrC with some cool throwing abilities.
* Huner of the Dead: Not a bad focused PrC...
* Invisible Blade: I'm not sure why they're invisible, but they're a nice knife-fighter PrC...
* Justicar: The picture = BAD ASS. Plus, these guys fit snugly into Planescape (pre-Faction War) as Mercykillers. So I'm lovin'.
* Kensai: This ain't yo pappy's weaponmaster! I like it. The ability to add strength and become a warlord is sweet.
* Master Thrower: This is one PrC I've got INSTANT use for! DELICIOUS!
* Master of the Unseen Hand: Very cool focuser on telekinesis, but it seems...odd...
* Mindspy: This is pretty sweet...they can detect when things want to hit them. Neat idea...
* Nature's Warrior: A druid who specializes in wild shape abilities...not a bad idea, but I'm not a HUUUGE fan of wild shape to begin with, so meh...
* Occult Slayer: My my my....seems a decent mage-slayer.
* Purple Dragon Knight: More Realmscreep? Eh...not a bad mass-leader PrC, so I'm happy.
* Rage Mage: This should've been multiclass...they don't add a lot to the sorcerer/barbarian combo
* Ravager: Leaves me a little cold...nice 'pain and fear' in name, but a good enough fighter can do that by unsheathing his sword alone.
* Reaping Mauler: A great 'annoy the PC's' kind of class....grappling is obnoxious for anyone. I like it, though...a nice 'wrestler' PrC.
* Ronin: Interesting, but would someone with heavy armor get much of a chance to sneak-attack? Iffy....
* Stonelord: Shows that elementalists are not a wiz/sor only thing! I like!
* Thayan Knight: MORE REALMSCREEP! ARG! Though this is mitigated by advice on how to genericize it, and it is a decent fantasy archetype (defender of a wizard)...still...blargh.
* War Chanter: Hmmm...I'm a fan. Nice direction to take bardic music.
* Warshaper: Though the illustration looks bizzarre, I love the concept of the class...finally, someone who can just shape parts as needed!

More as I go through it...any specifics anybody wants?

 

[jmucchiello]

I personally think having sample characters can be helpful, especially if they help to understand some rules better. But from what I read here, there will be 36 sample characters, one for each PrC. That does seem a bit much for me, and it would have been better, in my opinion, to reserve a number of these samples for a web enhancement. (Then again, such a treatment hides the samples from a large number of gamers that are not online.)

No the sample characters are just there to pad space. Every sample character lists the PrC abilities it gains with the full text from the page before where you first read the PrC. Very annoying. They also went out of their way to make the sample characters "interesting" by using funky races.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Some of it pads, but each write-up takes about 1/4 page at most...with all 36, that's 9 pages, out of 160...we're looking at about 5%, right? Not too much padding...

Also, I don't see them using any races that aren't in the PHB, yet...

 

[Michael Tree]

Yeah, I like the Sacred Fist but the introduction of material DR killed the class most completely than any other class in 3E when coupled with the fact that a Sacred Fist can never pick up any sort of weapon.

The Living Greyhawk website has a document with unofficial 3.5 conversions of splatbook PrCs, for use in Living Greyhawk. The conversion of the Sacred Fist includes a number of DR-beating abilities.

 

[Olive]

In no particular order: Frenzied Berserker, Thayan Protector, Ronin, Order of the Bow Initiate, Hulking Hurler, Darkwoods Stalker, Halfling Outrider, Tempest, Eye of Gruumsh, Knight of the Chalice, Hunter of the Dead, Spellsword, Tattooed Monk, Cavalier, Bladesinger, Justicar, Devoted Defender, Drunken Master, Exotic Weapon Master, Giant-Killer, Rage Mage, Ravager (I think), and Purple Dragon Knight. There are more, naturally, such as the different shapeshifting classes, but I just don't recall them.

Can anyone give the complete list, esp with a brief description for those which aren't straight updates from the splats?

 

[I'm A Banana]

Check above: that's all the new ones (and it is, I would argue, the greater percentage of the Prestige Class chapter).