Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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53 of 57 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
You'll need two copies and a bookkeeper, August 11, 2006
This is an interesting and potentially exciting supplement, but there are so many new rules, you'll need a copy of the book for yourself and your GM. This is one of those supplements where the crunchy bits are so extensive you can't just drop it into an existing game and run with it.
Likewise, the crunchy bits are tightly intertwined and have new rules systems meaning that the GM and the player will need to understand them. Unlike many of the other splat books, this one would be hard to pick and choose - you can't just grab a couple of feats and go, you and your GM will need to understand the rules well.
The system includes three new base classes which are really there to allow you to use the new combat rules. The classes represent three different approaches to extreme combat training.
The book offers about 30 new feats including a large number of tactical feats. The much longer rules section is the maneuvers and stances. Many of the feats either have maneuvers or class levels as prerequisites, meaning you can't just drop them on your favorite fighters.
The maneuvers and stances are the core of the book. They are organized into 9 schools each of which has a different focus. These special tricks allow you to gain advantages in combat. The advantages range from simple bonuses to hit or damage to the ability to take extraordinary actions or create what would normally be considered magical effects.
Because some of these tricks are quite powerful, there is some bookkeeping involved in using them. The suggestion in the rulebook of using tokens (or index cards) to track them is perfect and should probably be considered mandatory.
Overall, this is a great book and a great expansion. The extra bang for fighters is very welcome and allows you to create some very popular cinematic and fiction archetypes that you just can't get with the conventional rules. The extra complexity is worth it, but you definitely need to make sure that you read the rules thoroughly before starting to play or adding this to your campaign.
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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Breaths New Life into D&D Close Combat, September 3, 2006
I have to admit I was a bit skeptical about this product when I first heard about it. I generally like my games to have a lower power level, and I haven't bought many "splatbooks" in the past. Plus, over the top fighting styles usually don't excite me. However, as I read some of the promotional material my interest started to peak.
I knew from my gaming experiences that the spell casting classes tended to outclass the physical combatants. Not only did they get much more powerful, but they had a more interesting options. I don't mind playing a weak character (I played a half-orc diviner in one campaign) , but the game is simply not fun when you are unable to contribute to the fights as often happens with physical fighters at high levels.
The book of nine-swords changes this with a dynamic new system of "maneuvers", special fighter abilities that are superficially similar to spells. The book introduces three new base classes collectively known as Martial Adepts: the crusader, swords sage, and warblade that utilize these techniques. The game does this amazingly well and the system is easy to learn (especially if you keep track of the maneuvers on note-cards as the book recommends).
A martial adept can ready a few manuvers at the beginning of each battle and as he uses them, they go away. However, unlike a spell caster, he doesn't need to get a full nights rest to recover his powers - just a few minutes of practice / recovery time. This allows the martial adept to keep the durability that fighters are supposed to have over mages. The maneuvers themselves are very well done - they all have flavor text telling you exactly what they look like in battle and even the more fantastic ones them sound more exciting and flashy then just cheesy.
The martial adept classes give a strong alternative to traditional spell casters without taking their place. High level maneuvers are impressive but not as flexible or powerful as equivalent spells. At the same time, they make front line fighting dynamic and exciting. The book even enhances the power of existing characters, providing several feats that allow anyone to learn a maneuver or two. I would highly recommend this book, its approach is brand new and breaths new life into the D&D combat system.
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20 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Understand What This is Before You Buy It, April 18, 2007
The Book of Nine Swords IS NOT a simple expansion of the Dungeons and Dragons combat system; it is three new classes, multiple new abilities that will alter the nature of most games, and an interesting story arc that ties them all together. It is important that the second aspect is realized by all those involved in the game - especially the other players. The new classes are, quite honestly, more powerful than many of the core classes (especially at early levels) - and their addition will change the game dynamic.
The three new classes revolve around new abilities called "maneuvers" that are used during combat rounds. In essence, these are super-powerful combat feats that renew very quickly (sometimes by the next round). While these maneuvers aren't as powerful as a fireball spell, they do offer many bonuses including increased damage, extra melee attacks, and improved armor class. Combined with other abilities that the new classes get, this makes them TOO POWERFUL for most traditional games. In fact, adding them to a current game will probably result in all of the melee-types (fighters, rogues, paladins, etc...) taking at least one level of a new class because of the major power boost they will get.
That's the biggest problem with this supplement - it isn't balanced. This is a trend that has gone on with other recent supplements including Dungeonscape, and makes me wonder if Wizards of the Coast is still playtesting their products prior to release. The classes themselves are fun to play, but they tend to only work well in a campaign focused on them (rather than stuck into an ongoing game). If such a new campaign is to be started, DMs might also want to consider other expanded D20 systems including Monty Cook's Iron Heroes.
A few other notes about this supplement:
- All classes have access to the maneuvers through new feats.
- The new classes often require A LOT of tracking and number-crunching each round.
- A useful way to keep track of crusader maneuvers each round is to use index cards. Write each of your crusader's readied maneuvers on an index card (one maneuver per card); the DM can shuffle and deal the appropriate number of cards to your character during the various combat rounds.
Final thoughts: This product isn't for every DM's game, so be aware of that before you buy it. For those looking to add flavor to a new campaign, though, it has definite potential.
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