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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Messageboard Golem" data-source="post: 2010678" data-attributes="member: 18387">Review of Path of the Sword by Fantasy Flight Games.      Path of the Sword is the first of Fantasy Flight Game’s line of class books.  It offers the usually material of prestige classes, feats, and some new equipment.  However, unlike the Wizard’s class books, they also include new options that can only enhance one’s game even farther.  This book is geared towards Fighters, Barbarians, Monks, and Rangers.  I think tackling four classes in one book may have been too much as they really only focus on the combat sides of these classes.  I would have liked to see some content on the magical abilities of the Ranger and the many different class abilities of the Monk.  That is my biggest problem with the book, as it is well done.  I really like the descriptions throughout the book.  It makes the new rules easier to use.  There are six different people given writing credit.  Having that many different writers on one project and still having it come out this great is really something Wil Upchurch (Lead Developer) should be proud of.  This is one of the few books beside the Core Books that I believe is a must have.Chapter one is called the Fighting Classes.  This chapter is the meat of the book and has many good ideas in it.  In here we have Prestige Classes, Legendary Prestige Classes, and Variant Classes.  The first thing I noticed about this chapter is that every prestige class, all twelve of them, have an organization attached to them.  I really like this and the way it was done.  Each organization is given a purpose, a leader (no stat block just a name and levels), the current activities, and campaign integration.  The Campaign Integration is the key for using any of these organizations.  It gives examples on having the PCs be part of the organization, an ally of them, or even the enemy of them.  It also gives advice for what sort of campaign the organization best fits.  Here are some of the prestige classes and organizations.Brother of the Cloak: This is a very interesting class that deals with the bladed cloak, an exotic weapon defined elsewhere in this book.  This class has a lot of style.  It’s fairly easy to get into; one only needs 2 feats, BAB +5, and sponsorship.  The class abilities are very stylish and easy to envision in combat.  The organization is also really cool.  One the surface they seem to be just promoting an odd fighting style with this unique weapon, however they are actually training warriors to fight the Drow.  The history of why they do this is all here and I think it fits in easily to most games that use the Drow.  Even with out the Drow it would be simple to substitute another race for them to be targeting.Champion of the Shining Light:  This is a prestige class geared toward the monk.  It focuses the monk’s fighting ability towards the undead.  The only problem with this class is that one can easy qualify for it by third level.  It does require the one to be chosen by the elders of the monastery, but all the feats and skill requirements can be gotten by level three.Blade of the Emperor: This is a very nice secret police type class.  The organization gives good advice for many ways to use them in a game.  Order of the Unicorn: I really like this class and any organization that is actually run by the unicorns and not the people riding them is a very interesting idea to place in a role playing game.  It reminds me a little of the Heralds of Valdemar from the Mercedes Lackey books.  Also, it is not limited to only females or even to just humans and elves although they are the most common to be part of this group.  Next in this chapter we get to the Legendary Classes.  These are more powerful prestige classes that are not easy to qualify for.  One needs to be at least 12th level, at least two quests must be done to qualify, the decision to take any one of these classes must be done at least a few levels in advance, and once you take one level of the class you must take all five levels before going to any other class.  However, it is worth it.  These classes have character and power.  They are more versatile then any other class.  A character can truly become a legend with one of these classes.  Black Knight: This is a great higher-level nemesis for any good party.  One of the quests to become a one is to convince a Nightmare to become your mount.  The Great Teacher: This is a great Monk class for one that wishes to become that high level character that truly understands combat.  One of the abilities that can be chosen for this class is called Style Mastery.  Basically, the character chooses one opponent and that opponent cannot use any of his feats in combat against the Great Teacher.  It is powerful yet very stylish.Stormwalker:  This is another great Legendary Class.  One of the quests is to be reduced to below zero hit points by an electrical attack.  One does get some impressive electrical attacks in return, though like the ability to cast Chain Lightning once a day as a 20th level caster.  Now we get to the Variant Classes.  I think all of them are pretty good.  The Commander is a good leader type Fighter.  The hunter is a variant Ranger more focused on a particular enemy.  The outdoorsman is another variant Ranger that is more terrain based.  Then it has three shorter variants.  They are a few simple changes that can be made to a class (one fighter, two monk).   Chapter two is called The Fighting Arts.  It starts with a decent selection of feats.  Some of the feats like Barroom Brawler (+4 HP for subdual damage only, increase unarmed attack damage to 1d4) are good for style but really not that powerful.  My favorite feats are Furious Strength (forgo normal rage to get +20 strength for a single action) and Raging Jump (+10 to jump check, but shorten rage by one round).  Next in this Chapter we come across Acrobatic Combat and Mounted Combat.  This is just cool.  There are different classical movie attack options like Beamwork (running across rafters), Cart wheeling, and Running up Walls.  Each gives a requirement of certain skill ranks before the attempt can be made.  Most maneuvers require some type of skill check.  A lot of these maneuvers are things players will want to try in and out of combat.  They are easy to use and I think it will add a level of fun to anyone’s game.  Chapter three is Schools of Combat.  First it goes into different classic archetypes of melee fighters.  Next it goes into melee tactics, mounted combat tactics, archer tactics, and other advice.  It is a small section and make a good read for some good advice.   Then we get to the schools of Combat.  These are an additional way for characters to gain abilities outside of the normal level system.  It does cost XP and time to get.  Also, requiring role-playing to find the school and to get taught would be addition and give the characters a sense of earning these abilities.  Each school has ten lessons.  Schools of combat are a good addition to a combat character.  However, it does increase their power at the cost of some XP.  So, the character will hang back in level but have some additional powers that make him a little stronger.  The final chapter is the Warrior’s World.  It gives some good examples of mounts, some new weapons, and even goes into odd places to hold battles.  As usual there are some good ideas here and the fighting locations can make a routine fight extraordinary.Overall this is a very solid book.  The prestige classes are the strength of the book, but I feel that there really is no weak area.  Nothing in this book strikes me as being too powerful.  I do think that covering four classes in one book made it a little thin for the sheer amount of possibilities each individual class can achieve.  Other then that, there is very little that I found wrong with this book.</blockquote>

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