The essential sourcebook for any D&D character looking to build adventuring skills.
Complete Adventurer(TM) serves primarily as a player resource focused on adventuring skills for characters of any class. As adventuring is the foundation for the entire D&D experience, nearly every aspect of the D&D game benefits from the material in this product. Characters have access to new combat options, spells, equipment, and prestige classes, as well as exciting new character classes such as ninja and scout. Complete Adventurer also provides new information on several organizations and guilds, and Dungeon Masters will find material for creating or optimizing single creatures or even entire campaign worlds.
AUTHOR BIO: Jesse Decker is a designer for Wizards of the Coast, Inc. whose recent roleplaying game design credits include Races of Stone(TM) and Unearthed Arcana(TM). Before joining the RPG R&D team as a designer, Jesse served as Editor-in-Chief of Dragon(R) Magazine.
A sourcebook that proclaims itself as offering options for "skillful" classes.
It starts off with three new core classes. The ninja feels like a monk/rogue/assassin, while the scout feels like a combo of ranger/druid/rogue. The last is a spellthief, offering a strange set of abilities that allows the character to "steal" spells, abilities, powers, and even resistances of those they sneak attack... a bit odd, and there isn't even any attempt to try and flavour it. Still, these classes are somewhat unique and different from the core classes.
The prestige classes are all over the place. Despite being targeted for "skillful" classes, you'll also find prestige classes more suited to druids, mages, and warriors here. There's only a handful that are specifically targeted for rogues and bards. Seven of them organisation-specific prestige classes.
Skills and feats are the usual stuff - extra rules options, extra skill use options, new feats - nothing that really stands out I suppose. It's the same for the equipment section - although the alchemical items that provide skill boosts are somewhat interesting. There are also a couple of off-topic, though interesting, exotic weapons here. The new spells though are rather nice, with nice additions for bards and assassins. Oh, and there's also a very short (3 pages or so) section at the end of the sourcebook (odd placement) explaining about epic levels and a few skill-based epic feats.
What I liked best was the details on several different kinds of organisations that you could flesh out more and drop into a campaign. They take up over two dozen pages, including details like how to join, typical members, leadership, tendencies, and some bits of current affairs. There are also some random tables that lets you generate an organisation if you so need to.
Overall, the sourcebook was just mildly interesting and there are some stuff here that just that felt more like padding than originally intended content.
As far as the "Complete" books go, this one was a bit of a let-down. For one, some of the prestige classes (always what I give most of my attention to) were a bit flat ("The Exemplar," for example, pretty much offers you skill bonuses, and nothing else). The feat lists were interesting - there are some good cross-class feats (ie, a feat that lets you combine some Paladin and some Rogue skills, then allows you to freely gain levels in Paladin and Rogue without being shut out of Paladin thereafter), but without the racial or class focus of the other books, it lacked some sense of reason. Yes, everything was aimed at skills or abilities from all classes, but it was a bit vague. It's not that the book is without merit (those feats I mentioned are good), it's just not as full to overflowing as the other books.
All in all, the least of the "Complete" books so far.
Basic Premise: This is a supplemental rulebook for D&D 3.5 edition, meant for players of "skillful" classes.
New core classes, prestige classes, feats, spells, etc. Generally, these elements are supposed to be aimed towards roguish types, but they do branch out into other classes. The alchemical items are particularly cool.
Um complemento diferente para D&D; focado em bardos e ladinos, mas com uma preocupação em seguir especialização em perícias. Esse tom foi o que menos me agradou no livro - classes muito pouco combativas, magias que não parecem magias. Um bom guia para criar PdMs em aventuras diplomáticas ou de intrigas, mas não me cativou mais que isso.
I'm a bit of a bardic nut, but I think this is my second-favorite of the first four "Complete" books for 3.5. The prestige classes are a little too unwieldy mechanics-wise, but they are fabulous for flavor and enriching an existing campaign world. And I love alchemical items, hidden pockets, and all sorts of deceitful trickery in equipment. A+ would splat again.
An excellent guide for those who choose to play weak-ass characters for fun. Try it, its no fun playing as a level 20 Drow wizard. Try going up against an elder red wyrm as a freakin halfling exemplar. Those 28 ranks in climb dont mean shit all the sudden.