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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Messageboard Golem" data-source="post: 2010381" data-attributes="member: 18387">By Bruce Boughner, Staff Reviewer d20 Magazine RackSizing Up the TargetPath of the Sword is a 172-page hardcover accessory published by Fantasy Flight Games in their Legends & Lairs series. The authors are Clay Breedlove, Shaun Cashman, Lizard, Michelle Lyons, James Maliszewski, and Brian Patterson. The cover is done by Brian Schomburg and is done in the faux-tome cover style and is available for $24.95.First BloodLegends & Lairs is a staple in the D20 Universe. The Path of the Sword is the first of Fantasy Flight Games' foray into Class-specific Prestige Handbooks. This tome is intended for Barbarians, Fighters, Monks and Rangers. Paladins are covered in Path of Faith and Bards in Path of Magic. All four are similar in layout and cover the same topics, Prestige Classes, and introduce the concept of Legendary Classes.There are only four chapters in this book, classes, fighting arts, schools and the Warrior’s world. A dozen new Prestige classes grace the first chapter. Eight of the new Legendary Classes and several variant core classes are outlined here. As I have said in other reviews, the classes have been well thought out, but on the flip side, some of the classes were designed to combat certain threats that have as yet remained unpublished.Prestige classes include the Brotherhood of the Cloak, who fight with bladed cloaks, or the undead slaying Champions of Light. Dragon Warriors carry the blood of dragons in them, while the Frontier Marshal is similar to the sheriff of the Old West. Ki Warriors and Shadow Tigers seem to be a take off from the first edition Oriental Adventures. Pit Fighters are gladiators of incredible bloodthirstiness.Legendary Classes include the barbaric Admantine Warrior, the ruthless Black Knight and the diabolic Demonic Servant. Monks can achieve the class of Dragon and Great Teacher. The Justicar, the Slayer and the Stormwalker all protect the innocent from evil in the wild.Variant classes include the Commander, the Hunter, and the Outdoorsman to start but also have the Urban Warrior for fighters and Ghost Hunter for Monks.The Fighting Arts chapter focuses on feats. A new class of feats are included here, Rage feats. This category is given to Barbarians and others who are able to Rage. Six feats are given for this category including feats like Warcry, Holy Fury, and Savage Health. General feats include things like Lionhearted, Bull’s Strike, Parry, and Riposte.Different styles of combat are also discussed with styles like Acrobatic Combat, fighting from the rigging of a ship or Oriental martial arts, maneuvers for these styles like beam fighting and blade ballet show how the style can be applied to game use. The other style is Mounted combat with Hit and Run and Sideswipe as some of the maneuvers. Schools of Combat are essays on options for building unique fighting styles by having the fighter train in a school environment to develop the unique style. It starts with the mechanics of melee, melee, mounted, ranged and magic melees are discussed with maneuvers for each and the best way to develop feats for them. Then the schools themselves are given. Defense masters like the Soldiers of the White School and wilderness experts like the Vinekeepers to undead slayers like the Veruthian Slayers. The schools cover a wide variety of fighting styles from dueling to unarmed combat to beast fighters.The Warrior’s World deals in the accoutrements of a fighter. Developing mounts with determining factors of stock, trail, recreation, show hunter and war considerations. Then unique mounts like zebras, pegasi and griffons are described, then their equipment like barding and mounted weapons are given. Then organizational templates to develop schools or mercenary companies to provide campaign hooks and character flavor and development are outlined.Combat conditions like slippery terrain, fighting on slopes, glare, obstacles and other conditions with modifiers for running under these conditions. Then several examples of each of those conditions are given to show their use. New equipment, armor and weapons are then shown and modifications to common items like basket hilts for swords as means of personalizing items for the fighter’s characterization. The book ends discussion various tournaments and giving samples of them.Critical HitsPath of the Sword covers a number of common topics in great detail, however most of the classes given here fell short of my expectations as commonplace. Later books in this series spoiled me as I acquired them before this one, but this volume sets the tone and the following books steadily improved. While the classes left me dry the schools and combat situations were really what made me feel I hadn’t wasted my dollar. Having been in single and melee combat for many years I recognized real effort made to give a game play mechanic for difficult situations.Critical MissesBetter classes, like I stated, I felt like the classes given here were design for a specific world milieu that has yet to see print as opposed to classes that could be easily dropped into any world.Coup de GraceAs the first of the series, this book set the tone for those that followed, but it was weaker than the others in the series. There was however a lot of good equipment and combat information that made up for the weakness of the classes.To see the graded evaluation of this product and to leave comments that the reviewer will respond to, go to The Critic's Corner at <a href="http://www.d20zines.com/html/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=371&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0" target="_blank">www.d20zines.com.</a></blockquote>

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