Sword and Fist, Part 5

Okay, this is the last chapter of the book, which I wasn't expecting. This chapter looks to contain plenty more crunchy stuff, so let's get right to it. We begin with a long list of new exotic weapons to play with. They go from Tiny to Large size, including a couple of things I think I've seen before: Mercurial longsword and greatsword. I think those were in an article on unusual weapons. Bear in mind that learning to use just one of these weapons costs a feat (Exotic Weapon Proficiency), so even a 20th-level fighter who does nothing but learn how to use Exotic Weapons won't learn them all.

We also get stats for 'Mighty Whips', which are basically like composite longbows except they're whips that require extra strength to use effectively and do additional damage. This also counts for the 'whip dagger', which is a nasty weapon that is a whip with a dagger on the end of it. So, getting hit with this thing is going to hurt like hell. It also lets you do Indiana Jones and Zorro whip tricks like entangling an opponent and tripping them. Fun.

Next is the Weapon Equivalency Table, which is an excellent little bit. Basically, there are a lot of weapons that don't get their own entries in the weapons tables. This is because they are functionally the same as another weapon that is on that table. For example, your pirate/swashbuckler wants to use a cutlass. Well, that's a scimitar, so just use the scimitar stats and call it a cutlass. This table is also very useful for games set in the Far East; the katana, wakisashi, ninja-to, daikyu, bokken, and a whole bunch of other weapons from Japan and China get listed here along with their equivalents.

And we get new magic items. Because of course we do. Can't have a bunch of crunch without magic items, can we? There aren't a ridiculous number of them, though, so let's see what we have. Two new shield special abilities (Arrow Catching and Dancing), so your shield can either be really good at blocking arrows or can detach itself from you and still defend while you wail away with a greatsword with both hands. Sure, why not?

Weapon abilities include Ki Focus, Merciful (all your attacks do subdual damage), Seeking, Sure Striking (beats damage reduction up to +5 weapons), and Vicious (hurts you as well as the target, though not as much). Well, those are...interesting. The sure striking ability looks to be the most useful, since you could have a +1 weapon and still hit things like devils and demons with it.

There are three specific weapons: the bow of true arrows, which imbues any arrow with the true strike spell. So, you're gonna hit the target, period. Shatterspike makes its second appearance (it was in The Sunless Citadel, remember?), and the shuriken of tremendous shock deals additional electrical damage when it hits.

Two new potions: false life, which gives you 4-13 temporary hit points, and flaming fists, which sets your fists on fire so you do fire damage with your unarmed strikes. There are also a couple of rings, the ring of mage armor (self-explanatory), and the ring of shocking blows, which again does additional electrical energy damage, this time with your unarmed strikes.

There are quite a few wondrous items here as well: The amulet of mighty fists, which gives a +1 to a +5 bonus to unarmed attacks and damage; the belt of mighty prowess which gives +6 to both Strength and Constitution, making this a fighter's dream; the gloves of fearsome grip which make it very difficult to be disarmed; the headband of ferocity, letting you act normally even if you are at 0 or even negative hit points (but you still die at -10); the headband of perfect excellence, which is +6 to Strength, Dexterity and Wisdom. By Hieroneous' non-existent beard, that is a beautiful item. Sure, it costs over 100,000 gp to make it, but come on. With that and the belt, you're looking at +12 Str, +6 Dex, +6 Con, and +6 Wis. That's just ridiculous. I want them both.

There are ki straps, which are just leather straps you wrap around your hands that gives a +5 to your stunning attack DC or the Stunning Fist feat. The sandals of the tiger's leap let you go all Chuck Norris on your enemies with double-damage flying kicks. And the vest of false life gives you 10 extra hit points as long as you wear it. All in all, not a bad set of items. But that headband and belt combo is just insane.

Alright, moving on we have vehicles. Specifically, chariots. Rules on how to drive and ride in chariots, along with five feats to help you do with a chariot what knights can do with horses. They are Chariot Combat, Chariot Archery, Chariot Trample, Chariot Sideswipe, and Chariot Charge. There is also a Halfling War-Wagon, which looks like a wooden tank. No word of a lie; that's what it reminds me of.

The rest of the chapter is devoted to Towers, Keeps, and Castles, which is something we didn't get any rules on in the Dungeon Master's Guide. There's not a lot here, mostly just sample buildings that can serve as the home of a mid- or high-level fighter or monk, or a castle or stronghold for the characters to assault. Either way, it's handy. Each of these also includes how much it costs to build one, and how long it takes to get it built.

The first is a simple border tower, with three floors and a rooftop. Very straightforward. The basic tower costs 40,000 gp and takes four weeks to build. It also comes with some statblocks for the soldiers within.

Next is an Elven Canopy Tower, which reminds me of the last Map-a-Week with the Deciduous Forest tower. This one looks different, of course. It would cost 46,000 gp to build this, not including the cost for the defenders, of course. And it takes ten weeks to build it due to it being in a tree, and some of the parts of the tower are actually grown.

The Lighthouse Keep looks great as a quick encounter location by a seashore. It rises seven floors up, with the third through sixth being nothing but staircase leading up to the seventh where the lamp is located. This one is a lot bigger than the border tower, costing 110,000 gp and taking eleven weeks to build. The lighthouse keeper is statted out; he's a 3rd-level Expert, and there are guards as well.

There's a Gnome Bridge Keep, which functions as a tollhouse as well as a small stronghold. It has two keeps linked by a pair of stone bridges, and the whole thing guards a bridge over a wide river. It costs 100,000 gp and ten weeks to build this.

Next is the Bailey Castle, which is what you would expect from a small castle. It costs 500,000 gp and fifty weeks to build this, and it comes with 15-foot-high walls and watchtowers on the corners, a gatehouse, chapel, summer kitchen, stables, brewery, smith, barracks, barn, general store and parade grounds, in addition to the main castle where the lord would live. This looks really nice; simple, efficient and useful. Thumbs up on this design.

Then we have the Dwarven Plateau Castle, which is a little complex built on top of a plateau or mesa, which naturally has underground components as well. Dwarves build these out of played-out mines, I guess. Well, most of the digging is already taken care of. Despite the pre-construction, it still costs 550,000 gp and fifty-five weeks to build this. Good thing dwarves don't mind long hours digging into rock.

The Monks' Temple is just a simple set of buildings that aren't really protected by anything but their isolation. It looks pretty much exactly what you would expect a Shao Lin temple to look like. It costs 60,000 gp and six weeks to build this. Mind you, the monks will provide free labor, so the cost can be dropped to only 40,000 gp. Nice deal.

Finally, we have somewhere for the sporting-minded: The Arena. This looks like a small-town football field, seating 2,500 and having several guards and archers around to keep the gladiators from trying to involve the spectators in their fights. It costs 260,000 gp and twenty-six weeks to build this. Oh, and we get stats for a typical experienced gladiator, who is a Rgr1/Ftr6/Glad2. And he has a magical dire flail to beat on people with, just because. Are gladiators really going to be allowed to have magical arms and armor?

On the last page, we get some ideas for unusual gladiator fights when having two 1st-level commoners beating each other up gets boring. There are Dwarf-and-Giant battles (usually smaller creatures like halflings against one big monster), Blind-Fight (both competitors are blindfolded), Hidden Weapons (basically a combination scavenger hunt and obstacle course before the fight), Jousts and Mounted Battles, Chain Matches (is this AEW now?) Captured Monster, Race against Time (the competitors are on a sinking dais that is descending into some unpleasant liquid), a Siege, Naval Battle (flood the floor and bring out the boats!), and finally, Spellcaster Duels. No fireballs allowed, just single-target stuff.

So, that's it for the first true splatbook of 3rd edition. This one definitely set the tone for all those to come: Feats, prestige classes, equipment and magic items...neither of these is a spellcaster, but that will obviously be subsequent books in this line. So, yeah. I think it was a good product for the most part. As long as the new crunch is carefully monitored instead of just handed out like Hallowe'en candy, it should work out well.

And that's it for this. Tomorrow's Sunday, which means another map. Let's see what we end up with.