JoeGKushner
Adventurer
From Novice to Master, the Manual of Classes, is a book that introduces new core classes and prestige classes to your d20 game.
On the core class side, they manage to add a harlequin and trap master in addition to some core classes that really don't need another version like the bounty hunter, duelist and gladiator. Each core class comes with standard information similar to the Player's Handbook with ideas on why they adventure, what typical alignments, religion and backgrounds they have as well as full stats from 1st to 20th level. Each class also comes with an excellent illustration in full color.
The bounty hunter, cavalier, crusader, duelist, gladiator, healer, and trap master, are all pretty simple to understand. Each one fits a broad concept that's well known. The healer uses healing hands to restore hit points and eventually can even resurrect with them in addition to spell casting. The duelist is similar to the archer from Three Arrows for the King where they excel with one weapon. The cavalier, the horse riding warrior. The crusader, the religious warrior with a bit more fight to him.
This isn't to say that they're all what you'd directly expect though. For instance, the crusader is the first class I've ever seen that gets a 1d8+1 for hit points. In addition, she can cast spells, but does so without memorization at the loss of spontaneous healing. What's the point of the latter if you have the former ability though? The Crypt Tracker, a warrior dedicated to killing undead, gets a handful of spells, turning ability, the ability to smite the undead, but also favored undead enemies. A very specialized hunter.
The one class I haven't seen done too often is the Harlequin. Back in the days of first edition, I had a book called the Complete Adventurer by Bard Games with numerous alternative core classes and in some ways, with it's selections here, this book reminds me of it. Anyway, this Harlequin is a chaotic master of theatrics with spell power similar to a bard. One of their abilities is theatrical fighting, using tricks to fool the opponents which gives the user a bonus to attack as well as the ability to ignore shields or ignore an opponents dexterity.
The prestige classes face similar problems to the core classes in that many of the ideas have been done before. While the Aegis Sentinel is a neat name, it's in essence a bodyguard with some supernatural abilities. These range from Guardian Shield, which provides the Aegis shield bonus to another creature, to Damage Reduction, where the Aegis shrugs off damage. Others like the Dragonslayer and Runeforger don't even have the name to set them apart from other forgers and slayers.
Still, there are some powerful options here. Take the Lord of Time, a spellcaster who has to have 18 ranks of Concentration and Knowledge Time, making it a potential epic class. In exchange for loss of spell casting abilities, they gain numerous abilities relating to time. This ranges from the ability to cast haste or slow three times per day as a free action to Time Stop.
Another variance, the Malkan Knight is a city guard that isn't your standard fighter type but requires the feats to forge magic items. These construction skills are what goes into making their Kivonne, wands that form invisible force swords. The Malkan gain greater abilities with their Kivonne as they go up in levels.
Last on the slightly different mark, the Somniomancer is a spellcaster who uses the 'dream state to channel arcane energy.' The requirements are simple. A 16 intelligence and the ability to cast the spell dream. Unlike some PrCs with a spellcasting focus, they don't gain spellcasting ability every level but every other level. Thankfully they have abilities to make up for that like Sleeping Stare, a Supernatural ability to force a target to sleep or Arcane Sleep where they memorize spells during sleep with an extra kick.
There are a few minor layout issues. The Crypt Tracker's table isn't numbered. The pages aren't numbered. Bad for me as I print everything out and when I look for page numbers, on the easy on the printer version, they're not there. Neither PDF had no book marks. Very bad. I'm not a master of the whole SRD thing, but it looks like they haven't updated their Section 15 either.
What's wrong with Novice to Master? While there are two versions, it's still only a 50 page product and runs at $10. For PDFs, that's fairly expensive. Crunch by itself, especially material in the PrC vein, isn't all that useful unless you have a dire need for a particular offering. The various Path of books by Fantasy Flight Games included organizations with each of their classes as well as a new type of PrC, the Legendary Class. Other books like EN World's own, under the Ambient Banner, printed by Mystic Eye Games, Librum Equitis, used pregenerated NPC's to add some utility to the book.
There's nothing wrong with PrCs, but with the plethora of them on the market, the book's utility needs to be kicked up a notch. How about some magic items? How about some feats? How about some organizations? There needs to be a little meat around the bones.
If you're looking for more variants in core class style of bounty hunters, cavaliers, duelists, gladiators and healers, as well as a few new prestige classes with takes on dragon slayers and rune masters, From Novice to Master is perfect for you.
On the core class side, they manage to add a harlequin and trap master in addition to some core classes that really don't need another version like the bounty hunter, duelist and gladiator. Each core class comes with standard information similar to the Player's Handbook with ideas on why they adventure, what typical alignments, religion and backgrounds they have as well as full stats from 1st to 20th level. Each class also comes with an excellent illustration in full color.
The bounty hunter, cavalier, crusader, duelist, gladiator, healer, and trap master, are all pretty simple to understand. Each one fits a broad concept that's well known. The healer uses healing hands to restore hit points and eventually can even resurrect with them in addition to spell casting. The duelist is similar to the archer from Three Arrows for the King where they excel with one weapon. The cavalier, the horse riding warrior. The crusader, the religious warrior with a bit more fight to him.
This isn't to say that they're all what you'd directly expect though. For instance, the crusader is the first class I've ever seen that gets a 1d8+1 for hit points. In addition, she can cast spells, but does so without memorization at the loss of spontaneous healing. What's the point of the latter if you have the former ability though? The Crypt Tracker, a warrior dedicated to killing undead, gets a handful of spells, turning ability, the ability to smite the undead, but also favored undead enemies. A very specialized hunter.
The one class I haven't seen done too often is the Harlequin. Back in the days of first edition, I had a book called the Complete Adventurer by Bard Games with numerous alternative core classes and in some ways, with it's selections here, this book reminds me of it. Anyway, this Harlequin is a chaotic master of theatrics with spell power similar to a bard. One of their abilities is theatrical fighting, using tricks to fool the opponents which gives the user a bonus to attack as well as the ability to ignore shields or ignore an opponents dexterity.
The prestige classes face similar problems to the core classes in that many of the ideas have been done before. While the Aegis Sentinel is a neat name, it's in essence a bodyguard with some supernatural abilities. These range from Guardian Shield, which provides the Aegis shield bonus to another creature, to Damage Reduction, where the Aegis shrugs off damage. Others like the Dragonslayer and Runeforger don't even have the name to set them apart from other forgers and slayers.
Still, there are some powerful options here. Take the Lord of Time, a spellcaster who has to have 18 ranks of Concentration and Knowledge Time, making it a potential epic class. In exchange for loss of spell casting abilities, they gain numerous abilities relating to time. This ranges from the ability to cast haste or slow three times per day as a free action to Time Stop.
Another variance, the Malkan Knight is a city guard that isn't your standard fighter type but requires the feats to forge magic items. These construction skills are what goes into making their Kivonne, wands that form invisible force swords. The Malkan gain greater abilities with their Kivonne as they go up in levels.
Last on the slightly different mark, the Somniomancer is a spellcaster who uses the 'dream state to channel arcane energy.' The requirements are simple. A 16 intelligence and the ability to cast the spell dream. Unlike some PrCs with a spellcasting focus, they don't gain spellcasting ability every level but every other level. Thankfully they have abilities to make up for that like Sleeping Stare, a Supernatural ability to force a target to sleep or Arcane Sleep where they memorize spells during sleep with an extra kick.
There are a few minor layout issues. The Crypt Tracker's table isn't numbered. The pages aren't numbered. Bad for me as I print everything out and when I look for page numbers, on the easy on the printer version, they're not there. Neither PDF had no book marks. Very bad. I'm not a master of the whole SRD thing, but it looks like they haven't updated their Section 15 either.
What's wrong with Novice to Master? While there are two versions, it's still only a 50 page product and runs at $10. For PDFs, that's fairly expensive. Crunch by itself, especially material in the PrC vein, isn't all that useful unless you have a dire need for a particular offering. The various Path of books by Fantasy Flight Games included organizations with each of their classes as well as a new type of PrC, the Legendary Class. Other books like EN World's own, under the Ambient Banner, printed by Mystic Eye Games, Librum Equitis, used pregenerated NPC's to add some utility to the book.
There's nothing wrong with PrCs, but with the plethora of them on the market, the book's utility needs to be kicked up a notch. How about some magic items? How about some feats? How about some organizations? There needs to be a little meat around the bones.
If you're looking for more variants in core class style of bounty hunters, cavaliers, duelists, gladiators and healers, as well as a few new prestige classes with takes on dragon slayers and rune masters, From Novice to Master is perfect for you.
I realize you didn't have time to pair up our classes against the competition, but that's where a lot of the value is. We were, in part, trying to put out quintessential versions of known classes, and then focus in on some prestige classes. That's not to say we weren't inventive with the known classes. 
