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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Simon Collins" data-source="post: 2009590" data-attributes="member: 9860">This is not a playtest review.Path Of The Sword is the sixth in the Legends & Lairs line by Fantasy Flight Games. This book focuses on fantasy combat, offering a range of optional rules for barbarians, fighters, monks, and rangers.Path Of The Sword is a hardcover book coming in at $24.95 for 176 pages. This is fairly good compared to other products of similar size and type. Though font is slightly larger than most other products, margins are average and there is little wasted space. The internal mono art ranges from average to superb, with most being good. As with others in the Legends & Lairs series, the cover is a simple symbolic design reminiscent of the core rulebooks. The writing style is efficient, if a little bland. Editing seems good.Chapter One: The Fighting Classes, begins with 12 new prestige classes, each accompanied by an appropriate organisation. Its a sign of the times that its not the other way around. Each prestige class is 10 levels. Each organisation has information on purpose, leader stats, current activities, and campaign integration.* Brother Of The Cloak - Fighter BAB, saves and HD, thief-like fighting abilities using a blade and a cloak. The Brotherhood Of The Cloak organisation trains members in the use of this unusual fighting style but has a secret mission to destroy drow.* Champion Of The Shining Light - monk-orientated PrC specialised in unarmed combat, able to focus energy through their fists. The Champions Of Light organisation is dedicated to a fight against undead.* Dragon Warrior - barbaric warriors who serve dragons, with barbarian/sorcerer-type class abilities and a touch of dragon blood in their veins. The Brood Of Verthaxis is an example organisation that follow the destructive whims of a red dragon.* Blade Of The Emperor - fighters under secret orders from an Emperor, who make use of the empire's powerful resources to defend it. The Twenty Shards Of Glory is an example organisation who unfailingly obey the emperor's orders.* Frontier Marshal - ranger-type that rides the frontiers dispensing justice. The Order Of Jurats is an example organisation that moves into newly conquered areas to ensure law and order is secured.* Guardian Of The Way - diplomatic monk-type. The Guardians Of The Way ensure that by liasing with the outside world, the monastery remains aware of any growing evils in the outside world.* Ki Warrior - uses ki to perform animal-influenced feats of combat. The Dragon's Breath School attempt to maintain balance and order in the world.* Order Of The Unicorn - chaotic-good paladin type who ride unicorns. The Order Of The Unicorn is a loose affiliation of these unicorn-riding knights of justice.* Pit Fighter - gladiator type using a number of dirty fighting techniques. The Stable of the Outlander is an example group of pit fighters with some political influence.* Reaver - nomadic bandits skilled in the wilderness with riding and ambush abilities, that gain a spirit horse as a mount at 10th level. Troovad's band is an example organisation.* Shadow Tiger - assassin monk-type with ability to use tiger transformations for unarmed combat, and can gain a shadow tiger companion at higher levels. The Shadow Tigers are an organisation that explore the expanding Plane Of Shadow.* Tribal Protector - tribal barbarian type with an example organisation, Sword Children, that defend the tribal lands.The next section introduces Legendary Classes. Legendary Classes are similar to Prestige Classes with two major differences - firstly, they have a high-level set of prerequisites (normally minimum 12th level), and secondly they are usually unique to one (or very few) beings who have a destiny that will stamp their mark on history. The character must announce his intention to take a legendary class two levels before he actually takes it. During this time, the character must perform a series of quests which he must succeed in before he can take on the mantle of the legendary class. Each of the legendary classes offered are 5-level classes, and all 5 levels must be taken before the character can take another class.* Adamantine Warrior - a warrior who faces armies on his own and defeats them; with the ability to take huge amounts of damage (physical and magical) and still survive.* Black Knight - an evil general working for a dark lord. He rides a nightmare and brings wrath down upon entire communities.* Demonic Servant - evil character into mass blood sacrifice and demonic worship.* The Dragon - master martial artist who has defeated all challengers and has preternatural awareness.* The Great Teacher - font of knowledge regarding combat, the Great Teacher has learned from hard experience, including allowing opponents to hit him in order to understand their combat techniques.* Justicar - wandering vigilante.* The Slayer - no, not Buffy, rather a supreme hunter and slayer of a range of favored enemies.* Stormwalker - warrior with the powers of elemental lightning, granted by lightning demons.Can summon lightning mephits.The next section offers Variant Classes. These are new versions of the base core classes with 20 levels.* The Commander - leader version of fighters, with reduced bonus feats but combat tactic abilities.* The Hunter - non-magical ranger variant with a bounty hunter slant.* The Outdoorsman - another ranger variant with favored terrains rather than enemies, reduced fighter bonus feats, and bestial and magical companions.Also given is a less detailed variant, the Urban Warrior, with a larger skill choice and points, but with no bonus feat at 1st level. A new skill, Urban Lore is described (elsewhere known as Streetwise). Two more shorter monk variants are also given - the Seeker Of Wisdom who has a different skill set with reduced weapon proficiencies, and the Ghost Hunter with a more limited alignment choice, a different skill set, the ability to turn undead at 1/2 his class level, but reduced Fort save progression.Chapter Two: The Fighting Arts, offers twenty-seven new feats, though that includes a re-written form of the Two-Weapon Defense feat from FFG's Seafarer's Handbook (and six others from previous FFG releases). The feats include six that can be used by Barbarian's only whilst raging such as Raging Jump and Warcry. Other feats include Taunt, Master Tracker, and Weapon Trip.The next section covers acrobatic combat. The section offers a number of combat manoeuvres that have prerequisites such as skill ranks, feats, or minimum ability scores. The manoeuvres include Attack From Above, Rappelling, Swing Kick, and Running Up Walls. Similar manoeuvres for mounted combat are also given, and include Deft Dodging, Jumping On Horseback, and Straddling Two Horses. There is also a sidebar giving a ruleset and advice for knocking a rider from his mount.Chapter Three: Schools Of Combat, is aimed at newer players to the game, with advice on tactics for melee combat. There are recommendations for abilities, skills, feats, and tactics for three different combat styles - swordsman, destroyer, and grappler. There is some commentary on melee tactics, such as flanking, positioning, and knowing when to run. Similar advice is given for mounted combat, ranged combat, and melee combat vs. magic combat. There is some further advice and suggestions for good feat combinations for combat-orientated classes.The next section in the chapter deals with the schools of combat, aka fighting styles. There is a brief discussion of fighting academies and travelling masters (with a table showing costs in XP and time, and a level cap) before getting on to the schools themselves. Each school has ten lessons a student can learn - each lesson gives an advantage whilst fighting, gaining in power as more lessons are learnt.* Soldiers Of The White Shield - defence orientated style from Lead Footing (a stability bonus against trip attacks), up to Damage Reduction (2/-).* The Vinekeepers - focuses on remaining hidden in a wilderness environment, with lessons granting from Natures' Clothing (+2 to Hide), up to One With Nature (full concealment against attacks in a forest).* Order Of Illianel - focuses on strength of striking, from Focused Attack (+1 to attack and damage), up to Screaming Attack (+4 for an attack where the student leaps screaming at their opponent).* The Veruthian Slayers - focuses on destroying undead, with lessons that range from gaining Undead Lore (a bonus to Knowledge (Undead) skill checks, up to Spectral Blast (a blast of positive energy that rips through hordes of undead).* Anrath Betrayers - animal is blended into the student, giving powers from Animal Magnetism (animal frienship) to Dire Transformation (the ability to polymorph into a dire animal).* Talaxian Duelists - focus on one-on-one duels, with lessons ranging from Calm Demeanor (giving Concentration as a class skill), up to Barrier Of Reflection (being able to cast spell turning once per day).* Fists Of Ramos - uses unusual unarmed combat style to confuse opponents, ranging from Tipsy Demeanor (+4 to Perform), up to Tornado Kick (like an unarmed Whirlwind Attack, with a possibility of knocking foes unconscious).* The Jadan Spearmen - specialists in reach weapons, with lessons ranging from Spear Expertise (gain Weapon Focus (Longspear)) up to Superior Spearfighting (using a spear like a quarterstaff with reduced penalties)Each school has details of the leader of the school, and some discussion of the academy itself.Chapter Four: The Warrior's World, begins by looking at mounts. Six types of mounts are discussed (stock, trail, recreation, show, hunter, and war), and several different mount species are described, giving an example of each. Species include horse, donkey, and elephant, as well as more fantastic species such as unicorn, riding dog, and dragon. Different mount equipment is listed and discussed, including barding and mount weapons (such as bladed shoes).The next section looks at organisations for fighting classes. After offering a template for creating these types of organisations (ranks, membership requirements, benefits, drawbacks, and causes for expulsion, the text goes on to give a few examples using this template - the guild for adventurers, the contemplative order, wardens of the great wood, and the servants of ice (barbarians who worship ice demons).The next section discusses the influence of the environment on combat. There is a discussion of slipperiness, slope, reduced space, obstacles, glare, and gravity. Different levels of these five factors are given, and advises modifiers based on the extent of the environmental influence. There is also a short discussion of fighting while climbing. Some examples of actual locations where these rules might be used are given, from the icefields of South Akatan to a ship at sea during the winter storms.Some new equipment such as elven warpaint, bladed cloak, and harpoon crossbow are described. There is then a section discussing personalising arms and armour, such as precise fitting, embossing and decorating, functional modifications (e.g. hollow hilt, weighted, armour-piercing). The next section gives rulesets for fighting tournaments and games, and covers footraces, archery contests, hammer throw, axe/knife toss, gypsy knife fight, hunkerhausen (a two man tug of war), weapon display, mounted racing, and jousting tournaments.Conclusion:When I first picked up this book, I presumed that it was going to be a class-orientated book as it mentions the four combat-orientated core classes on the front. This is a bit deceiving, as what it really is, is a wealth of options for expanding combat. I guess it might have been a hard book to give a title to but the Path Of The Sword, does not really accurately capture the concept of its contents. The plus side of this, is that there is a reasonable amount of information in here that can be used for other classes than those mentioned on the cover.Indeed, what is inside is actually pretty good. It has plenty of crunchy stuff in the form of prestige classes, feats, combat manoeuvres, fighting styles, and the tournament and games rulesets at the end of the book. It is also useful for players running the four combat-orientated classes with the plethora of tactical advice and character-building suggestions it gives. It also provides plenty of ideas for a GM, since some of the prestige classes seem designed for NPCs, the organisations are fairly generic and should be readily integratable into most standard fantasy campaign settings.On the downside, a GM is only likely to pick bits here and there to introduce into her campaign setting. I found some of the prestige classes a bit bland - I'm unsure of how much use is made of Prestige Classes really suitable for NPCs. Full playtesting of the advantages that lessons from the Combat Schools give would be required before a fair assessment of their power could be made.But all in all, this book should have something for everyone. Whether there is enough to warrant the cost is up to you - hopefully the detail above will help you make a more informed decision.</blockquote>

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