8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good ideas, but a bit rushed., 19 Mar 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: The Sword and the Fist: A Builder's Guide for Fighters and Monks (Dungeons & Dragons: Accessory) (Paperback)
Combat sometimes gets a bit repetitive in any game. Swing-hit. Swing-miss. Swing-hit. Sometimes, the players just get into the habit of saying 'I attack!' and the DM's left with trying to make it interesting. Sword and Fist makes an admirable attempt to give players incentive to be a little more creative. New prestige classes are introduced, as well as new feats and weapons. A good example each of mounted combat and a duel outline how things can be.
So why just three stars? Well, it occurs to be that this book was just a little quick out of Wizards' playtesting rooms. The descriptions for some of the feats are distinctly lacking (anyone care to tell me how to apply the Dirty Fighting feat?). Some of the prestige classes are a bit high-powered (the Ninja of the Crescent Moon jumps to mind). The price is also a bit of a disappointment. Almost the same price as the Player's Handbook, but a fraction of the content, and it's softcover to boot.
In summary, a good buy if the DM's willing to spend a bit of time editing for the sake of sanity, and also if combat's getting a bit dry. If you're doing okay in that department, I'd be inclined to give it a miss.
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6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good ideas, but overpriced, 22 Mar 2001
This review is from: The Sword and the Fist: A Builder's Guide for Fighters and Monks (Dungeons & Dragons: Accessory) (Paperback)
The book offers several good expansions to the fighter and monk character concepts, particularly with special abilities via prestige classes. These will allow fighters to keep up with spellcasters at higher levels, and some of the feats are just nasty (but balanced). The rules content then is very good. The organisations are similarly well done, but several are Greyhawk specific, and I for one don't really want any more 'secret societies' introduced to my Realms campaign. Finally, the book is overpriced for it's size - apparently we will be paying a premium for anything past core rules.
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Starting to Bloat, 18 Feb 2011
This review is from: The Sword and the Fist: A Builder's Guide for Fighters and Monks (Dungeons & Dragons: Accessory) (Paperback)
This book contained mch additional info for the Fighter and Monk base classes in AD&D 3rd Edition. It was well written and put together but for me it was this kind of "optional" add-on that started the inevitable bloat that accompanies latter-day D&D and Wizards of the Coast products in general (I was also a Magic:TG player). Its hard to know where to draw the line and there's only so much info one can process when playing a game before it interferes with the enjoyment.
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