Customer Reviews

Complete Warrior (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

The Complete series is WotC's new line of D&D 3.5 splatbooks (books devoted to a certain class or group). However, this line is more for concept rather than class; the Complete Warrior is not just for fighters and monks, since they have new combat options for everyone (even new spells).

There are three new core classes; the Hexblade, which looks okay but really does stink (its powers are too short in duration to be useful), the Samurai, who's more of a two-weapon intimidating fighter, and the Swashbuckler, who's a bouncy light fighter. There are also a LOT of prestige classes, many of which are reprints from previous books or Dragon magazines.

Unfortunately, the reprints, while sometimes necessary, are really kind of bland, and often lower the power level from previous incarnations. The new prestige classes, though, are usually pretty cool.

There are also a great many new and revised feats, and the same holds true; the revised feats pale in comparison to their previous versions, while the new feats are pretty good. Especially welcome are the Tactical feats, which allow the characters to set up situations and gain certain bonuses. For example, Elusive Target (my favorite) lets you avoid bonus damage from Power Attack from your dodge target, while Giantbane lets you emulate a certain elven archer's feats of climbing onto larger opponents. There are also weapon style feats, which seem to be mostly to encourage suboptimal weapon use. Neat in theory, but the return on investment isn't that great.

There are a few magic items, though not nearly as many weapon/armor types as one would think. There are also a few spells, and a few new domains for the included warrior-only pantheon. Advice is given for running a warrior-heavy campaign, and also on using warfare and a mercenary setting. Finally, more rules for epic play are included, including new and revised epic feats.

I'm not sorry I bought this. However, I'm not nearly as excited about it as I thought I would be. It's nice, and useful, but not very cool. I'd be tempted to give it three stars, but the tactical feats (again, the coolest thing in here) make me raise it to four stars.

I don't know what everybody else is complaining about. This offering is excellent overall. Although much of the material is reproduced from previous releases, it is updated for 3.5 and there is a lot of original material as well. The three new base classes are well thought out and balanced. The samurai, of course, appeared in Oriental Adventures, but this samurai is changed (and, frankly, much more like a samurai than the original samurai), with the weapon empowerment ability being moved to the kensai prestige class.

Those prestige classes that are reprinted from previous works (Sword and Fist, Tome and Blood, etc.)have been updated and some of them have undergone such dramatic changes that they are the same in name only (like the Exotic Weapon Master). Many of the prestige classes are completely new, however.

The feat section includes many feats that were printed in the softcover books, but also includes some new ones. In particular, the weapon style feats and tactical feats are new and interesting additions. The last thing that stuck out was the inclusion of a warrior pantheon. This pantheon can be used in its entirety or god by god just to fill in the gaps in other pantheons.

As a whole, this was well-thought out and a happy addition to the 3.5 library. It is especially worthwhile if you have not purchased the softcover supplements (as I had not). I only give it four stars because--as always, it seems--this supplement suffers from numerous editorial errors. That, unfortunately, seems to be a problem that will forever plague D&D books.

No, this book won't actually boost your character's Strength score and kick him/her up a level, but you'll feel like it did if you love playing warrior classes and start incorporating material from this supplement.

WHY IT ROCKS: The new core classes are neat and useful for more specialized warrior characters. The Samurai core class deserves special notice as a must-have for you Oriental Adventures fans, (and it improves markedly upon the "Master Samurai" prestige class concept originally introduced in "Sword & Fist"). For players that enjoy playing paladins and rangers but could care less about those classes' spellcasting ability, the book introduces variant concepts for those classes that replace spellcasting with other benefits. The prestige classes are myriad and marvelous. Some simply provide excellent 3.5 revisions of classes that originally appeared in the various "original" splatbooks ("Defenders of the Faith," "Masters of the Wild," "Sword & Fist," and "Tome & Blood" -- though I noticed no "Song & Silence" reprints), as well as the Forgotten Realms campaign setting and Dragon Magazine, but there are also several brand spankin' new ones to boot. Of the new prestige classes, it is important to note that most are short (3- or 5-level) classes that cover very specialized and interesting concepts, such as fighting with small weapons, natural weapons or no weapons, and even some that incorporate spellcasting classes and creatures with spell-like abilities into martial combat. The feats are great and well-thought out. While revisions of a number of familiar feats appear (mostly from S&F and MoW), a horde of new ones abound that even non-warriors will want to take advantage of. Introduced herein are the new Tactical feats that grant combat feat oriented characters a trio each of new fighting tricks to add to the bag, and the Weapon Style feats that make certain weapon preferences and mixes even more useful and deadly in the hands of martially skilled characters. Excellent rules for conceptual combat types such as jousts, gladiatorial matches, archery contests, and more are presented to spice up the role- AND roll-playing side of things. Finally, rounding out the back of the book is a modest section on warrior organizations, new war deity concepts, notes on epic warrior class progression, and a few new weapon types just to keep DMs and players alike on their toes.

WHY IT DOESN'T: Like the other "Complete" books in the series, there are more prestige classes than you can shake a stick at, and, unless you want to experiment with a tremendous variety of warrior concepts, you'll likely never use a number of them. Most of the 3.5 revisions of existing classes (especially those from "Sword & Fist") are important if you don't trust your own judgment in making your own conversions, but are not altogether necessary (though a few change quite dramatically). The Weapon Style feats cater mostly to two-weapon fighters and little else. Finally, the extremely short list of new spells (though somewhat understandably so), the crummy "guardian familiars" concept following them, and the distinctly short and unremarkable Magic Items section all beg the question, "Why'd they even bother printing those pages?"

In summary, the book is a must-have for today's warrior on the go. The wide array of concepts and options available in these pages should appeal strongly to both the role-player and the power-gamer in you, and the base classes and feats introduced are more useful in building concept characters -- of almost any class -- than most other "new" classes and feats appearing in other sourcebooks. The book is also a must-have for the DM who wants to juice up the campaign -- because, let's face it, the most common monsters and NPCs encountered are basically warrior-types. Believe me, you'll savor listening to the satisfying sound of players' jaws hitting the table when the "puny" goblin champion puts the smackdown on them with some moves they've never seen before!

(3.5 stars) This is a great collection of new and previously-published material for players and DMs alike. For those complaining about the cherry-picking from other titles, I'd much rather have this one resource, completely updated for v3.5, than having to scour older books and magazines full of out-of-date info.

The three new core classes (Hexblade, Samurai & Swashbuckler) are solid additions to those in the PHB; the Prestige Classes are pretty diverse, though in some cases rather narrowly targeted; and the new skills and feats are invaluable for anyone interested in truly customizing their combat abilities.

I picked this up under the mistaken impression that it contained updated prestige classes from all the builder books. It's basically a 3.5 update of the p-classes, feats, etc. from one of those books (Sword and Fist) and related material from Dragon Magazine. There are a few new nifty new bits in here. It's a nice resource to have around and it can inspire some neat character concepts and campaign ideas. The section on War in the back is poor and doesn't really fit into the rest of the book well. All told there wasn't quite enough content here to justify the $26 to me. This is still a good book for someone who is a frequent and hardcore gamer. This is a poor choice if you're a twice-a-month gamer or have a small budget.

IF you consider having a fighter for your Dungeon and Dragons games, this books is rather informative as well essential, but any other character type that is even considering to get into Combat may benefit from the book generously. They have a wide, but limited selection of weapons that you may choose from aside the norm in the player's guide selection.
They also present 3 new base classes for, that means they are not a prestige classes. The first one is a Hexblade, a balanced warrior type that has both combat abilities, and augmented by an ability to curse his enemies with magical traits. Followed by Samurai, these character types were given their own base class finally, and they are a curious type that concentrate on honorable combat. The final class is the Swashbuckler, a graceful warrior that does not hit hard, but does hit very fast along with often though it does get difficult to hit a Swashbuckler as she/he progresses up in levels.
The complete brings a large selection of prestige classes as well. To briefly name them, they are the Bear Warrior, the Bladesinger (elf type), Cavalier, Dark Hunter, a Darkwood Stalker, a Dervish (a whirlwind of destruction), Drunken Master, Exotic Weapon Master, Eye of Gruumush (orc type only though), Frenzied Berserker, Gnome Giant-Slayer, Halfling Outrider, Hulking Hurler, Hunter of the Dead, Invisiable Blade, Justicar, Kensai, Knight of the Chalice, Knight Protector, Master Thrower, Master of the Unseen Hand, A Mindspy, Nature's Warrior, Occult Slayer, Order of the Bow Innitiate, Purple Dragon Knight, Rage Mage, Ravager, Reaping Mauler, Ronin, Spellsword, Stonelord, Tatooed Monk, Thayan Knight, War Chanter, and the Warshaper. As you can see, they went into a large selection of prestige classes, and alot of these can benefit other base classes that already exist or found in other supplement books of Dungeon and Dragons.

What I love most about the complete series is that it gives you tons of options. There is no better guide to fighters and warriour options for all classes than this guide.

You have to love the new classes presented in this suppliment. The Samurai at first seems a little out of place in a Greyhawk-ish setting, but this warriour with a heart of gold really fits in any campaign. The Swashbuckler is a favorite class of most powergamers, and is becoming a favorite class of mine weather they be robin hood or cap'n jack sparrow.

The variant paladin and ranger classes are too sweet. I use them all the time with my PCs. These variant class make the ranger more like the hard core woodsman like Strider from LOTR, and the variant Paladin makes them more like the knights of the old code.

The PRCs in this guide are very essential. You simply have to love the Cavalier and Ronin prestige class. The drunken master is a real step in the right direction for the monk, a natural progression for any dedicated holy man of the fist.

The feats provided in this book should be considered core. With such feats as destructive rage, arcane strike, and other great options, you really can't miss this section. The spells are a welcome addition as well.

The sections on fantasy warfare are a must read for any DM wanting to improve their game. One road block I've had over the years as a dm is sporting combat, and this guide has a real nice section on just that subject.

I could go on and on about this great book. In short, every good Dnder should own the complete series. There are so many great options in this book, and is a favored addition to my library.

the biggest complaint i'm hearing about this book is that its a compilation of all the prestige classes from the secondary 3e books. well yes it is, but then again i didn't buy all of them. a lot of the prestige classes are highly specialized and will rarely be used but add flavor if you wish (i.e. warshaper and mindspy). i'm all about new prestige classes and feats.
that and some of the weapon writeups are interesting to say the least. i hope they follow through and have a complete mage, rogue, and priest. i find it to be one of the resources i use the most in running my own game, after the core books, psionics handbook, and magic and races of faerun.

....then indeed this book is for you. This book has a plethora of useful information. I really do enjoy it. However, there are those of you who aren't going to "do" 3.5 and will not get this product no matter what anyone says. That's your right! Still though I say give things a chance. No it's not a "must have" but the "new core classes" alone make it worth the money. If you are looking to make your "Martial" character have a little more dimension then this is the book for you!

D&D today is great. I'm a geek from way back and have ranted and raved or applauded many versions of this game. The current one is...overall...the best. It's by no means flawless but they give it depth while trying to maintain a basic simplicity. For the most part, they succeed. Many of the suppliments of the core game however are definitely wanting. One gets the impression that no editor bothered to pay attention to see if it maintains the same balance as the other suppliments, much less the core game. There are some gems however that just add even more colour to the game overall. The Complete Warrior is one of those gems. Chock full of prestige classes and a few full 1-20 classes, as well as some interesting feats and additional infortmation...it is, as a whole, very useful and fun (the Swashbuckler and Samurai classes are definitely favourites of mine now). Not all of the prestige classes hit the mark but more do than do not. I would not recommend all of the suppliments but this one just happens to be a must for the serious gamer.