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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pogre" data-source="post: 2809533" data-attributes="member: 6588">The Power Gamer’s 3.5 Warrior Strategy GuidePublisher: Goodman Games96 pages$19.99Also available as a pdf.This is a playtest review. Those wanting my general impressions may skip to the Summary at the end of the review.I have owned this little gem for several months and I must say it is one of my most used books aside from the core rulebooks. The Power Gamer’s 3.5 Warrior Strategy Guide (Warrior Guide) seeks to show folks how to maximize the effectiveness of their fighter characters under the core 3.5 rules. The premise of the book can be boiled down to – How do I kill the enemy as quickly as possible? It is a book of valuable advice and fulfills its stated goals.The Warrior Guide gives advice to all players creating fighting characters about choices they face. The chapter headings reflect this: Chapter One is about how to arrange ability scores appropriately for your chosen fighting style. Chapter Two covers what races kick butt in the fighter roles and which ones are best left to the drama players. Chapter Three is entitled Classes, but that is a bit of a misnomer. Really, Chapter Three covers the various archetypes of fighters and what class choices lend themselves best to pursuing the associated fighting style.Skills are covered in Chapter Four, and perhaps the most important chapter, Chapter Five covers feats. Chapter Five makes some very convincing arguments on what are good feats, and those that are bad deals. Naturally, there are plenty of feats in between those extremes and it gives advice on which feats to take for your chosen archetype. There are several helpful spreadsheets, illustrating the effectiveness of the feat choices. I really like these spreadsheets and the comparative damage analysis one can take away from them.Chapter Six examines weapons. Want to know what weapon will deliver the best damage? It’s in here. Want to know what weapons are bad deals? Yep, it’s here. Several more charts give average damage scales for each of the weapons and are very handy in helping on choices. Chapter Seven covers combat and although there is some quality material, it’s too short. The chapter covers how to take on various types of monsters, but I would have preferred reading more about specific tactics for entire parties. Arguably that is outside the role the book has designated for itself, but most fighters are part of a party. That slight criticism aside, this is an excellent section well worth the read.Several grognards and old time D&D players might scoff at such a tome. It is true veterans probably know most of the tricks of the trade and have analyzed the feats and weapons independently. But, let me tell you, as a 30-year plus wargamer I was impressed with the systematic approach of the book. I picked up a couple of things. Further, this book is an excellent primer to someone fairly new to the game who wants more insight. I have loaned it out to several of my players, although they wince a bit knowing I own a book on how to maximize combat monsters.Others who might pass this book because it is for powergamers are making a mistake. Sooner or later your character is going to face combat in D&D and making the wrong choices in weapons and feats could be deadly. Just because you are an awesome roleplayer does not forbid you from being effective in combat. Finally, the book can help give insight into the combat process. While reading it I remembered a couple of rules and learned of one thing my group had actually been doing incorrectly. Because the book limits itself to the core rules it can actually help illuminate those rules even more.The book’s authors use a fun sense of humor that makes the book enjoyable to read. There were a couple of quips in the book that made me laugh out loud.The only drawback is one I have mentioned already – the combat chapter is too short. I would also liked to have seen a discussion of unusual tactics and combos that could throw your opponents off guard. A discussion of combos with other party members would be cool too. But these are all nitpicks – the book does what it sets out to do and is well worth the read.SummaryThe Power Gamer’s 3.5 Warrior Strategy Guide is an advice guide for creating effective fighting characters. It fulfills its stated design goals and I recommend it heartily as a book that will see lots of use in your group.December 26, 2005Keith Pogue (AKA pogre)</blockquote>

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