genshou
First Post
Please note that I have received a complimentary copy of this product for the purpose of writing a review.
The What, Who, and How Much
The Mercenary Advanced Class is a seven-page PDF for either modern or fantasy d20 rulesets, part of the Modern Medieval line being developed by Sword’s Edge Publishing. This product features the front cover on one page and the advanced class that gives the product its title filling the next five pages. The last page is a back cover (strange given the fact that the product has an odd number of pages). The purchased product comes in three forms: The aforemented seven-page version in PDF featuring artwork, a five-page page version used for printing (lacking the artwork and back cover), and an RTF version for easy copy & paste of the Open Gaming Content. The product is solely credited to Fraser Ronald of Sword’s Edge Publishing. At the time this review was written, the listed price on the EN World GameStore was $1.25 in US dollars.
At first glance,
the front cover gives the impression of a pre-industrial rank-and-file soldier due to the somewhat artistically simple image displayed. A quick skim through the pages reveals some old pre-Industrial artwork and five pages of almost pure crunch. There are two versions of the Mercenary presented, one with a talent at every odd level and a bonus feat at every even level, and the other designed for a fantasy d20 ruleset and lacking Defense and Reputation columns. The fantasy version has most class abilities picked for it instead of giving talents, but still has a bonus feat at every even level. The classes appear to have a good selection of choices.
The All-important Language Analysis
I wasn’t able to find any spelling errors in the text, and the grammar and sentence structure didn’t leave anything to be desired. The little descriptive text provided is excellent, so the product passes this test with flying colours.
Easy to Understand?
While I do have a few nitpicks, I encountered few problems that truly confounded me when reading the descriptions of class abilities. Aside from a few exceptions, everything is clearly outlined in the text.
The Artwork
The front cover’s artwork is very simplistic, not the best for catching the eye of the reader, but also not worse than one’s expectations for such a product. On the edge of each page as they would be arranged after printing, a grayish border with a small, archaic, and poorly-drawn soldier is the only artwork. On each page are slightly better images likely drawn from historical documents of/on the period, which are very appropriate to the content.
Down to Crunch Time!
Section I will detail the statistics of the class and how well they are balanced with each other.
Section II will go into detail on class abilities and whether or not they are balanced.
Before that, a little info on the two versions of the classes presented in the product. The version designed for Modern follows the talent/bonus feat design of the basic classes, something I think more advanced classes should do. The fantasy version has most abilities pre-selected, with the choice of combat style between melee and ranged allowing for some variance in class abilities, much like the Ranger of 3.x D&D. However, the combat styles of the Mercenary grant abilities that cannot be obtained by taking feats.
Section I
I was pleased to see that the Mercenary, while a fighting class, was not given the best Base Attack progression, since d20 Modern tried to avoid giving it out often. The high Fortitude and Reflex saves of the class caused me to raise an eyebrow for a moment, but given the class’s paltry Defense and Reputation progression, it’s not unbalancing even if it does seem a little odd to me. The class gets a d10 hit die and 4 skill points per level (5 for a human), so it is a little better than any of the base classes, but not by a serious enough degree to unbalance it as an advanced class. It compares favourably with the advanced classes (it’s not any better than Soldier, the mercenary class for modern-day warriors). In a fantasy world, often the hit dice and Base Attack tend to be beefed up on fighting classes, so even without the nerfed Defense and Reputation progressions weighing it down, the class isn’t overpowered next to those in 3E D&D. The fantasy version also carries a smaller hit die at d8.
Section II
One thing I had to notice early on was the potential for stackable goodness in this class. There are two talents, Troop Tactics and Command Troops, which can grant the same type of bonus and stack with one another. Since Command Troops has Troop Tactics as a prerequisite, it’s not a problem that the abilities work together.
All of the class talents are balanced at the earliest level at which they can be gained, and there aren’t any talents from a basic class that the Mercenary class allows to be gained earlier than usual.
And that’s it for crunchies. I think it’s...
Time for a Little Nitpicking
The number of action points gained per level is listed twice in the Modern class statistics.
The Scrounge talent does not work with the Wealth system, which is a fundamental part of any game using the d20 Modern ruleset.
For What It’s Worth
Nowadays, a Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger is more expensive than this product, and I know which one I’d rather have. The Mercenary offers prolonged use and enjoyment, instead of a small portion of a single meal.
Would I Buy This?
I have mixed feelings on this one. While I do use the d20 Modern ruleset for medieval games, and more advanced classes suited to this style are needed, the rank-and-file mercenary is best represented by an Ordinary rather than a Hero. Most people wouldn’t get much use out of the “Heroic Mercenary” class unless they were running a military-style campaign. That said, I would buy this specifically because it applies to the “modern medieval” game I am running, in which the PCs are forced to be soldiers when their kingdom is invaded.
Will I Use This in My Next Game?
As stated above, my thoughts are that this class is only useful for representing heroes among the rank-and-file Ordinary soldiers. I doubt this niche will need to be filled in my next game.
Conclusion and Individual Ratings
I expected a good advanced class but not much else, and this product did a fairly good job, but didn’t meet my expectations in all areas.
Design & Layout: ***
Proper Use of English: *****
Innovativeness/Originality: **
Artwork: *
Descriptive Text Flavour (Fluff): **
Usefulness: **
Balance: ****
Clarity: *****
Value for Price: *****
Overall Quality: ***
This product exceeded my expectations in some important areas, but disappointed me in others. It is a solid product overall, however, and thus earns 3 stars.
The What, Who, and How Much
The Mercenary Advanced Class is a seven-page PDF for either modern or fantasy d20 rulesets, part of the Modern Medieval line being developed by Sword’s Edge Publishing. This product features the front cover on one page and the advanced class that gives the product its title filling the next five pages. The last page is a back cover (strange given the fact that the product has an odd number of pages). The purchased product comes in three forms: The aforemented seven-page version in PDF featuring artwork, a five-page page version used for printing (lacking the artwork and back cover), and an RTF version for easy copy & paste of the Open Gaming Content. The product is solely credited to Fraser Ronald of Sword’s Edge Publishing. At the time this review was written, the listed price on the EN World GameStore was $1.25 in US dollars.
At first glance,
the front cover gives the impression of a pre-industrial rank-and-file soldier due to the somewhat artistically simple image displayed. A quick skim through the pages reveals some old pre-Industrial artwork and five pages of almost pure crunch. There are two versions of the Mercenary presented, one with a talent at every odd level and a bonus feat at every even level, and the other designed for a fantasy d20 ruleset and lacking Defense and Reputation columns. The fantasy version has most class abilities picked for it instead of giving talents, but still has a bonus feat at every even level. The classes appear to have a good selection of choices.
The All-important Language Analysis
I wasn’t able to find any spelling errors in the text, and the grammar and sentence structure didn’t leave anything to be desired. The little descriptive text provided is excellent, so the product passes this test with flying colours.
Easy to Understand?
While I do have a few nitpicks, I encountered few problems that truly confounded me when reading the descriptions of class abilities. Aside from a few exceptions, everything is clearly outlined in the text.
The Artwork
The front cover’s artwork is very simplistic, not the best for catching the eye of the reader, but also not worse than one’s expectations for such a product. On the edge of each page as they would be arranged after printing, a grayish border with a small, archaic, and poorly-drawn soldier is the only artwork. On each page are slightly better images likely drawn from historical documents of/on the period, which are very appropriate to the content.
Down to Crunch Time!
Section I will detail the statistics of the class and how well they are balanced with each other.
Section II will go into detail on class abilities and whether or not they are balanced.
Before that, a little info on the two versions of the classes presented in the product. The version designed for Modern follows the talent/bonus feat design of the basic classes, something I think more advanced classes should do. The fantasy version has most abilities pre-selected, with the choice of combat style between melee and ranged allowing for some variance in class abilities, much like the Ranger of 3.x D&D. However, the combat styles of the Mercenary grant abilities that cannot be obtained by taking feats.
Section I
I was pleased to see that the Mercenary, while a fighting class, was not given the best Base Attack progression, since d20 Modern tried to avoid giving it out often. The high Fortitude and Reflex saves of the class caused me to raise an eyebrow for a moment, but given the class’s paltry Defense and Reputation progression, it’s not unbalancing even if it does seem a little odd to me. The class gets a d10 hit die and 4 skill points per level (5 for a human), so it is a little better than any of the base classes, but not by a serious enough degree to unbalance it as an advanced class. It compares favourably with the advanced classes (it’s not any better than Soldier, the mercenary class for modern-day warriors). In a fantasy world, often the hit dice and Base Attack tend to be beefed up on fighting classes, so even without the nerfed Defense and Reputation progressions weighing it down, the class isn’t overpowered next to those in 3E D&D. The fantasy version also carries a smaller hit die at d8.
Section II
One thing I had to notice early on was the potential for stackable goodness in this class. There are two talents, Troop Tactics and Command Troops, which can grant the same type of bonus and stack with one another. Since Command Troops has Troop Tactics as a prerequisite, it’s not a problem that the abilities work together.
All of the class talents are balanced at the earliest level at which they can be gained, and there aren’t any talents from a basic class that the Mercenary class allows to be gained earlier than usual.
And that’s it for crunchies. I think it’s...
Time for a Little Nitpicking
The number of action points gained per level is listed twice in the Modern class statistics.
The Scrounge talent does not work with the Wealth system, which is a fundamental part of any game using the d20 Modern ruleset.
For What It’s Worth
Nowadays, a Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger is more expensive than this product, and I know which one I’d rather have. The Mercenary offers prolonged use and enjoyment, instead of a small portion of a single meal.
Would I Buy This?
I have mixed feelings on this one. While I do use the d20 Modern ruleset for medieval games, and more advanced classes suited to this style are needed, the rank-and-file mercenary is best represented by an Ordinary rather than a Hero. Most people wouldn’t get much use out of the “Heroic Mercenary” class unless they were running a military-style campaign. That said, I would buy this specifically because it applies to the “modern medieval” game I am running, in which the PCs are forced to be soldiers when their kingdom is invaded.
Will I Use This in My Next Game?
As stated above, my thoughts are that this class is only useful for representing heroes among the rank-and-file Ordinary soldiers. I doubt this niche will need to be filled in my next game.
Conclusion and Individual Ratings
I expected a good advanced class but not much else, and this product did a fairly good job, but didn’t meet my expectations in all areas.
Design & Layout: ***
Proper Use of English: *****
Innovativeness/Originality: **
Artwork: *
Descriptive Text Flavour (Fluff): **
Usefulness: **
Balance: ****
Clarity: *****
Value for Price: *****
Overall Quality: ***
This product exceeded my expectations in some important areas, but disappointed me in others. It is a solid product overall, however, and thus earns 3 stars.
