Martial Power; A D&D Review

I love rogues. I don’t have a particularly good explanation for my infatuation with the role playing class, but if forced to state something I would probably mention a little about style. In my book, there’s nothing quite as satisfying as clandestinely sneaking through the shadows before delivering a devastating blow to your enemy. It’s tricky, backhanded, and a little dirty… and a great deal of fun. Therefore, upon seeing a copy of Martial Power just beckoning to be purchased, I sucked up my reservations and hoped for some new and innovative additions to the martial 4th edition source. Again, how could I not buy it? A coupling of rogue love and the brilliance of the Divine Power supplement simply begged for the purchase. Was it worth it? Let’s see.

Let me begin as I did before, with a general overview of the classes and their added features, powers, and paragon paths. One thing that will be immediately noticed is the addition of new keywords which offer interesting bonus affects to certain powers. For example, rogues acquire fair use of the “rattling” keyword, which makes it more difficult for enemies to succeed in attack rolls for a short time. There are many others spread across the four martial classes (fighter, ranger, rogue, warlord), and some of which seem to be rather helpful. What really shines through, at least for me, is the new “pet” system for rangers. By relinquishing a certain core class feature, rangers are now able to train and fight alongside a beast companion. The options are varied and opportunities for customization, at least of physical appearance, are rather high. In addition, fighters gain a two weapon fighting style which, I assume, many had been hoping for prior to Martial Power’s release. Unfortunately, rogues and warlords definitely acquire the blunt end of the supplement stick. Still, their paragon paths, in addition to the other two classes, are for the most part powerful and desirable. What of extra options, though?

Martial Power’s extras begin with an extensive list of new feats. Most of them are based upon class and race combinations and offer benefits accordingly. What seems to be missing, though, is the groundbreaking bonus section that I so fondly recall from Divine Power. I cannot possibly express the usefulness of the Divine Power deity domain section which allows for custom and evil gods to possess divine channeling powers. Brilliant. Martial Power, alas, holds no such wonderment within its walls. After feats are epic destinies, and after epic destinies lies the index. A shame, certainly, but all is not lost. Two of the epic destinies, at the very least, appear to be so useful they nudge closely to the core Demigod destiny.

And there you have it. Although Martial Power doesn’t necessarily reach the value of Divine Power, it does manage to accomplish three goals reasonably well. First, it has expanded the ranger into a completely fresh and exciting aspect of beast mastery. Second, the paragon and epic destinies are useful and desirable. Third, and perhaps most importantly, every single class can find something useful here. Whether fighter, ranger, rogue or warlord, this supplement offers something of merit. Here, WotC has succeeded once again. If you have a martial character, especially a fighter or ranger, go out and buy this book right away. Even rogues, like myself, or warlords will benefit greatly from the added destinies and feats. A great buy.