|
Warriors is one of those d20 references that's actually a reference.
Written by veterans who know their stuff, it's obvious that there's a
strong historical context winding its way through the information
provided throughout. And of course, that information is about
everybody's favorite NPC class, the warrior.
Okay, so warriors aren't everybody's favorite NPC class. In fact,
they're usually glossed over as crappy fighters. Their role has never
clearly been defined -- the DMG's explanation of the warrior class
leaves them open to interpretation. Warriors aims to change that.
The artwork in the book varies greatly, from obvious black and white
clipart to extremely cartoony (the executioner on p. 21 being the most
egregious example).
The book begins with an Introduction to warriors in general and a
reference to a new innovation, the subtype. The subtype idea is a
means of defining an NPC without making them overly powerful. They are
not like the old 2nd Edition kits (thank goodness!) but they do help
delineate the skills and feats of say, a longbowman vs. a shortbowman.
Warriors also claims to have reprinted previously published material
from the Experts book. However, there are numerous (and after the
first few times, annoying) references to go read the Experts book for
more information. Warriors also mentions that it's meant to be 3.5
compatible, but that the conversion might not be perfect (it isn't).
It rounds out the introduction with a description of medieval armies
that helps set the sometimes gritty tone of the book. Unlike the
Experts book, Warriors is largely open game content.
The prestige classes chapter details a wide variety, including Aerial
Cavalryman, Beast Rider, Charioteer, Combat Engineer, Dueling Master,
Executioner, Forester, Gladiator, Marine, Mechanist Infantry, Militia
Leader, Mountaineer, Nomadic Cavalryman, Sheriff, Watchman, and
Zealot. Warriors is strongest when it hews closely to the historical
archetypes of warriors and is weaker when it ranges into the fantasy
genre. Each prestige class is accompanied by an example of the class,
helpful to DMs and players alike who know what prestige class they
want but wouldn't recognize it by name. Below are a few examples:
-
Beast Driver: The Beast Driver prestige class is interesting
because it specializes in large, heavy mounts. Any prestige class
that gives its riders the ability to inflict a coup de grace on its
own mount is okay in my book. One of the appendices in the back
later extrapolates on the dangers of rampaging elephants and why
such an untimely demise for a mount was preferable.
-
Combat Engineer: The Combat Engineer can gain mastery of
stone, earth, or wood, which gives him a bonus to related skill
checks. He also gets bonuses with explosives.
-
Dueling Master: The Dueling Master seems out of place in
this book. By definition, someone who is an expert at killing
someone else is probably a Fighter. The abilities are what one
might expect -- and of course, this class resembles the original,
incredibly overpowered duelist from Dragon magazine an eon ago.
-
Executioner: The Executioner class gets appropriate
abilities dedicated to finishing victims off. He also receives an
herbal draught ability that seems out of place. It's likely the
herbal draught ability is due to the archetype of Dr. Jest, chief
inquisitor in Elric of Melnibone (listed as inspiration). Still, it
doesn't quite mesh with the rest of the class, which is dedicated
to killing people.
-
Forester: A ranger without the spells. An appropriate
prestige class for warriors.
-
Gladiator: This prestige class exhibits the traits that
makes the Warriors book so good - it details the different combat
styles, including Roman styles (laquearius, retiarius, samnite, and
thracian), Indian styles (banait, bankuli, lakrait, pahluwan, and
yak-hat'h) and even non-human styles. There's more detail and
respect given to the gladiator than has been published in entire
books dedicated to them. Bravo!
-
Mechanist Infantry: A combination of an grenadier and a
fantasy tinker, this prestige class doesn't do either very well.
-
Sheriff: An excellent urban ranger type, this is the rare
prestige class that makes it cool to adventure in a city. It has
everything from the Track feat to the ability to sense lies, to a
home territory.
-
Watchman: Like the Sentinel (also from Dragon magazine),
this class is similar to the Sentinel guild on RetroMUD. Well done with appropriate
people-specific abilities.
-
Zealot: The zealot is strangely out of place in this book.
It gets the chosen enemy ability of rangers, the damage reduction
ability of barbarians, spell-casting and the ability to use
clerical magic items. In short, it's a little too powerful for my
tastes and seems to be inappropriate for the relatively generic
nature of warriors.
The next chapter details warrior subtypes. Subtypes are sort of a poor
man's occupations from d20 Modern. In fact, they are quite similar, if
a bit more detailed, than occupations. I like the idea -- it helps
round out the warrior class and provide alternatives without requiring
the levels of a prestige class. Thus, there are longbow subtypes,
artillerist subtypes, etc. Each subtype gets a special benefit,
usually a class skill -- just like d20 Modern occupations. Unlike the
occupations, each subtype comes with suggested equipment and feats it
can substitute. The subtypes also include non-military versions, like
the bandit and barkeep. Incidentally, this book's subtypes is an
excellent complement to Mercenaries:
Born of Blood.
The skill chapter goes into exquisite detail about everything from
Craft (artifice) to the rune-carving Craft (Koftgari). Warriors keeps
the new skills to a minimum, offering Operate Device, Signaling,
Smell, Taste, and Torture. Duh -- why didn't anyone else think of the
Smell and Taste skills when we have Listen and Spot? One of the best
chapters in the book.
The feats chapter details relatively bland feats, including a bunch of
aerial combat feats and some feats specific to prestige
classes/subtypes.
The equipment chapter is a study in contrasts: fantasy equipment is
mixed in with exotic weapons and armor from other cultures. Thus we
have the chakram, khandar, and pata mixed in with the assault
mechanist armor (in essence, power armor). This is one of those
situations where the book overextends itself a bit -- armor of this
type is best left to books like D20 Mecha (where is D20 Mecha,
anyway?). It also includes rules on making high technology weapons and
transportation, including balloons and dirigibles. It even explains
how gunpowder is made.
The spells chapter is primarily dominated by battle runes, which are
used by zealots. These battle runes are not remarkable -- they're just
a variant of material components. Some of the spells have a
middle-Eastern feel to them (like eye of Shiva and searing sands). The
spell, transformation of Jebus, seems like a juiced up version of
Tenser's transformation
The magic items chapter ranges all over the place, from (armor, claw,
boots, cloak, etc.) of the beast to more exotic items like the bow of
Rama, dwarven firewagon, table of Ezekiel and thunderbolt of
Hirtadhvaj. Someone did their homework.
The monsters appendix is unexceptional. It has three monsters in
total, the primary focus being the Narasinhai. They're a
anthropomorphic lion race. We've seen it before.
The third appendix details sample characters, useful for dropping NPCs
that use the Warriors rules right into the game. A sorely needed
attribute that takes a LOT of work to create -- I speak from personal
experience.
The last three appendices are excellent. They detail chariot warfare,
elephant warfare and heraldry. Each appendix is short but descriptive
and summarizes all the information you need to know in a succinct
fashion.
While the text and artwork may be at times uneven, Warriors achieves
its goal -- it fleshes out the warrior NPC class with enough ideas
that it can easily be applied to PCs. It works best when applied as a
straight historical interpretation of the D20 system and is less
effective when it veers off into fantasy elements that are obviously
favorites of the authors. Overall, Warriors is an excellent sourcebook that provides breadth and depth to a long-ignored NPC class.
|
