Mercenaries is yet another in the series of 1 word d20
sourcebooks (previous in the series was "Evil",
"Gods", "Monsters", "Dungeon"),
which tend to consist of various stuff about the name of the book
and were around 128 pages/$20, and rather cheaply printed.
Mercenaries is something of a departure in both terms of quality,
size, and subject. For one, the physical quality is much higher,
using fairly heavy paper with background images on it, and
featuring excellent artwork inside. It's bigger, both in terms of
page count (256) and price ($30). And lastly, while it's
nominally on "Mercenaries", in truth, it's closer to
being almost an add-on to the Player's Handbook. Really, it
reminds me of the old "Unearthed Arcana" from TSR for
1st edition AD&D - essentially a grab bag of stuff.
The first chapter introduces several (9) new
races. There's a race of rat people (the Aradan). There's a race
of angel-like people (Ashemi). There's a race of devil-like
people (the Bael). There's a mysterious race of people who always
wear cloaks (Darloks, er, I mean Dralloks). There's 2 reptile
races, a bear-ish race, and a race that just likes to kill people
for the fun of it.
Some attempt is made to fit the title and supposed subject of the
book (Mercenaries), but it's somewhat half-hearted.
The second chapter introduces several (10!) new
core classes. I like core classes. I like them a lot. So this
aspect of the book should be appealing to me. But several of the
classes seem somewhat marginal or badly done.
The first class is the Alchemist. (Of course,
you'd expect an Alchemist class in a book called
"Mercenaries". (That's sarcasm)). I have no idea how
this thing would work in play, as I haven't tried it, and have no
intention of. Doesn't seem bad, just not really PC orientated.
My problems with it are mostly because how it's brew potion
ability works. It's a bit un-wieldly and it has balance problems.
Essentially, the Alchemist gets to make potions. Lots of them.
They're not magical, but they do duplicate magical spells that
would defy the laws of physics. Ultimately, how powerful the
Alchemist is is largely determined by how much and how many
potions he can carry. For instance, a 1st level Alchemist might
be able to make dozens and dozens of inflict light wounds
elixirs.
The Guardian is something of a combination of
fighter and wizard. This is one of the dubious (IMHO) classes
because it can be acheived just by multiclassing a figher and a
wizard. I don't mind , in fact I like, different core classes,
but usually ones that offer something different. Not just a mix
of two classes. The title of the class also is a bit odd, IMHO -
sounds like a leftist, American bashing newspaper or a leftist TV
show on CBS. But I digress.
The Guardian can cast spells with somatic components in light
armor without a problem, but any heavier armor still has the
usual penalties. Otherwise it's pretty much exactly like a
Fighter/Wizard combined.
The Guerilla is something of a specialized
fighter - one aimed at stealth. It's something of a ranger-like
class - it has the track feat at first level, as well as species
enemy.
The Hunter is something of an alternate Ranger.
I generally like it, but I think it's perhaps a bit overpowered.
It has the best BAB progression, d10 for HD, 4 skill points per
level, and a ton of special abilities. On the downside, it's only
proficient in light armor. Where I think it's overpowered is it's
sneak attack ability - it seems to get 1d8 of damage. The usual
1d6 progression seems more fitting (and actually occurs once in
the table, though is presumably a typo). But other than that, I
like it. (I like the similar "Stalker" from the
Sovereign Stone campaign setting book better)
The Legionnaire is essentially a fighter who is
really really good at fighting in armor. The only really notable
thing about this class is the double entendre potential of some
of it's special abilities.
The Mercenary Ranger is essentially an alternate
version of the Ranger. It's a lot more flexible, having lots of
optional abilities that can be picked.
The Myrmidon is another combination of wizard
and fighter. It's a lot like the Guardian, only with a different
spell list and their spells do not have somatic components, so
they can cast spells in armor without a problem. This class at
least makes sense to me - it's not simply just a combination of
wizard and fighter like the "Guardian" is. I do have a
quibble with the name of this. It seems like they picked it out
of thin air, without a reason. Myrmidons were Achilles' personal
guard, if I remember correctly.
Anyway, it seems a bit, weak, actually. It's essentially like a
Bard, only with fewer skill points per level, and only one great
save. OTOH, it had a slightly better hit dice, and several bonus
feats. So all in all, it's not bad.
The Nomad is something of an odd beast. It's a
lot like the Rogue, I think. I'm not sure if there's a typo or
not. It gets 8 (x4) skill points at first level, but at later
levels, it gets only 4 skill points. It gets a d6 for hit dice,
but this increases to a d12 at level 16.
The Scout is yet another alternate (somewhat)
Ranger, though perhaps something of a Ranger/Rogue mix. At first
glance, it looks a lot like the Scout classes from Pinnacle (one
in Deadlands d20, one in Weird Wars), but it's not quite. Seems
solid enough. Much more useful in a setting with firearms, since
it's primary special ability is like the Rogue's sneak attack,
only it works only with missile weapons.
The last class is the Tattoo Mage. Basically, by
tatooing itself, it gains magical abilities. This is one of those
classes that is different enough from the core classes that I
can't tell how it works without actually playing it or having one
in my game.
Most of the classes are indeed variant fighters or rangers or a
mix of one of those, so I guess they do somewhat fit the title of
this book. But I still think it feels more like the classes
section of "Unearthed Arcana" than a book on the
subject of Mercenaries.
Chapter 3 is on skills. It's pretty short, and
just goes into new ways of using old skills. It does introduce
the concept of "Dragontechnics" as a skill.
Essentially, it's the fantasy version of explosives. I don't
really like it much.
Chapter 4 is new feats. Lots and lots of them.
76 by my count. Mostly general feats, but a few fighter ones and
1 magical one.
Chapter 5 is something of an odd beast. It's
called "Description", and has a few pages about
Mercenaries. Then it goes into some new gods (gods of Mercenaries
and such). It then ends with tables for physical info on the
races introduced in chapter one. Like I said, somewhat odd to put
that there.
Chapter 6 is new equipment. Starts off with
starting money the new classes get, then talks a bit about
availability and exchange rates. Then several new weapons are
introduced (along with a table reprinting most of the weapons
from the PHB). Also the specifics of "Dragontechnics"
are introduced here. Seems way to modern in feel than what early
explosives were like, from mentioning suicide bombers and having
specialized explosives designed to open doors.
There's 2 new types or qualities of weapons (like masterwork).
The first is 'laminated', which is like the so called
"Damascus Steel", in which the metal is sort of folded,
and ends up looking somewhat like wood (and is much much
sharper). The second is a bit of a stretch, and is
"serated", like a ginzu knife.
Some of the new weapons are over the top. Most notably the
Flamberge and Claymore. Basically, they're swords bigger (and
more damaging) than the Greatsword. Bah.
Chapter 7 is on spells. First off, it prints a
list of spells for the new classes, as well as spell lists from
AEG name books for the various other classes. Then it goes into
the new spells from this product. 55 by my count. Some are for
the new classes (mostly Myrmidon - the Guardian uses existing
Wizard spells)
Chapter 8 is actually on Mercenaries. The title
of the chapter says so. The first bit is on recruiting them, then
there is a bit about morale. Lastly, there's a fairly simple
system for quick Skirmish level combat (well, maybe a bit higher
than skirmish level, few dozen or so). It reminds me of the rules
from the old Birthright setting - basically you group units into
groups of 10 or so, and roll only one attack for them. Lastly
there's some tables for random character generation and a table
for adventure ideas. The latter are often pretty lame ideas.
Chapter 9, about 25 pages, consists of types of
mercenary companies, and samples of them. This seems to be
filler. Basically, it's a generic type of mercenary, then a
couple specific examples of an individual in prose and their
stats (which never seem to use the classes in this book, even
when the character archetype seems to indicate it should). I
would have liked to have seen some full fledged mercenary
companies here.
Chapter 10, about 30 pages, is full of Prestige
Classes. 23 of them by my count. Some, like the Skirmisher, Man
at Arms, 5th Column, Partisan, Personal Champion seem pretty
dubious. Others, like the Legacy, seem okay and fairly original.
Most are eh, though honestly, I'm not a huge prestige class fan.
Chapter 11 is on magic items. It's pretty
short, around 8 pages. There are a number of new magical weapon
special abilities, along with a few examples of specific magic
weapons using the new abilities. On magic item seems to be an
homage to Larry Niven, which is pretty cool. There's a few other
items, nothing really spectacular or even noteworthy.
Chapter 12 is on monsters. Nothing
spectacular. Lots of slightly different humanoids, like the
Banshee Troll, Desert Orc, Ridge Goblin, and other variants of
orcs and goblins (though without orc or goblin in the title).
Lastly, there's an index.
Ultimately, this book is useful, but only in the way Dragon
magazine is sometimes useful. Rather than being a book on
Mercenaries, it's mish-mash loosely tied in with mercenaries. I'm
somewhat disappointed, as I've run Mercenary campaigns in other
game systems (Traveller and Star Wars) and was hoping for
something of a fantasy version of GDW's old Mercenary Supplement
for Traveller. That basically had most the rules for running a
mercenary game, how mercenary companies work, plus sample
mercenary campaigns.
The art is generally excellent. So it gets a high style rating. Especially nice seeing work by Storn Cook & Liz Danforth, two of my favorite artists. I would give it a "Sparse" substance rating, but that's not true. It has a ton of content, so it's hardly sparse. But the quality of that content is really mixed.
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