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Martial Arts Guidebook (PFRPG) $9.99
Publisher: Rite Publishing
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by Trev W. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 12/13/2015 19:22:16

There have been many products, both for D&D and Pathfinder, that have attempted to develop more rules, classes and feats for playing martial artists in roleplaying. Often they have been focused on one class, and with martial arts one thinks of the monk, but one could go further beyond options for the monk. With new technique rules fighting options could be given to all melee and warrior classes. Rite Publishing have made the attempt of adding a lot more martial art options to Pathfinder, and I will be discussing how well they did below.

The key option is the technique. These aren’t purely feats, but they can be taken as feats. The designers have been very intelligent, and techniques can be bought and spent a variety of ways. Yes, they can be taken as feats, but you also gain and use them as ki abilities or utilise them through grit. There are many options to use them and this means you don’t have to pay the feat tax, you can get them other ways. This means all these new techniques are open to not only monks and fighters, but paladins, ninjas, gunslingers and even magus as well.

On the techniques they are highly varied but bound around certain themes. Options to regain ki are very useful, as is trip attacks with ANY melee weapon flowing on from normal attacks. The Flying Axe Beak attack, whereupon you charge and throw your weapon and can stagger the opponent has great usability. There are also new debuff options like ‘Humble the Mountain’, allowing you to force a fort save and the potential to weaken your opponent in melee with a whole new type of debuff.

There is a school of Zweihander techniques, giving many new options to the old greatsword fighter. In giving options to cover some of their weaknesses (like being surrounded and their low AC being punctured profusely), the powerful attack technique to allow a free sunder attempt as you make a normal attack upon an opponent with a reach weapon is an exciting change of pace. The book consistently does this, shaking up combat by giving you new combo capabilities.

Nestled in all of these rules and techniques is plenty of context, information on monasteries and fighting associations, and fluff to add these schools and their taught techniques straight into your game. Surprisingly what is also presented are ready-made NPCs that use these techniques and represent their style, along with magic items tailored to groups and information to help these new resources and options to merge into any fantasy setting. There is a lot that is crammed into this product, but it is given space to develop and to make sense.

With so much to offer a DM would need to consider what they will use from this product. You could add a few schools and styles, limit the techniques to just a few suitable to your game, or you could go all out and add everything and all of these new styles and the highly varied new techniques. If you do so combat will never be the same again, it will not be a boring slog as there will be so many new options in combat and different ways a warrior can approach defeating their opponents. It will enrich your game, you simply have to choose how much.

5/5



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[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Martial Arts Guidebook (PFRPG)
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