Get up close and personal with Melee Tactics Toolbox! The new tips, tricks, and tactics in this volume enable your Pathfinder Roleplaying Game character to perform a huge variety of daring deeds in hand-to-hand combat, whether you’re dashing around a foe to flank it by yourself or inspiring allies to hold the line on a castle wall.
Melee Tactics Toolbox is a player-focused manual that makes the most of in-your-face abilities, spells, and weapons, in addition to providing a plethora of new rules options to make you even more formidable in combat. Each Pathfinder Player Companion includes new options and tools for every Pathfinder RPG player. Inside this book, you’ll find:
Tips on how best to fight in melee, including suggestions for rules options that can give you an edge, as well as general tactics available to all characters.
Dozens of new kinds of magic armor and melee weapons, weapon special abilities, and wondrous items to hinder your foes or protect you from close-combat attackers.
Thirty new feats to bolster your staying power in close combat, including combat, style, and teamwork feats.
An illustrated guide comparing more than 20 different styles of swords, including the falchion, katana, and urumi.
Tons of new spells, equipment, weapons, class archetypes, and character options, including a new bardic masterpiece.
This Pathfinder Player Companion is intended for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and the Pathfinder campaign setting, but can easily be incorporated into any fantasy world.
Written by Paris Crenshaw, Ron Lundeen, and David Schwartz.
Cover Art by Milivoj Ceran.
Each monthly 32-page Pathfinder Player Companion contains several player-focused articles exploring the volume’s theme as well as short articles with innovative new rules for all types of characters, as well as traits to better anchor the player to the campaign.
ISBN-13: 978-1-60125-732-1
Other Resources: This product is also available on the following platforms:
You don't have to guess what sort of stuff is in the Melee Tactics Toolbox. If you like mixing it up face-to-face, there's a reasonable chance the assortment of feats, equipment, spells, and more will have something that piques your interest. The book also contains some general tips on tactics, useful for newer players to the game. Like most books in the Pathfinder Player Companion line, this is a 32-page, full-colour offering, divided into two-page sections. The interior artwork is really impressive, and I have to particularly call out the great shot of the Iconic Brawler punching out a troll on page 3. You can judge the front cover art yourself. The inside front-cover has capsule descriptions of four fighting schools and war colleges in the Inner Sea region of Golarion: the Aldori Academy, the Crusader War College, the Grand Coliseum, and the Tempering Hall. I thought it was a useful shortcut for coming up with a background for a character. Maybe someday I'll do a "graduate students" campaign where every PC has to be a student at a fighting school, wizard's academy, or bardic college! The inside back cover is a "Combat Options Overview" that has a chart of what type of action various things (like combat maneuvers and combat feats) require, along with basic definitions. I really should print it out for new players. Anyway, now onto the content.
The first five pages are the table of contents, a "For Your Character" page that summarizes what sort of stuff you'll find in the book, a "Rules Index," and a two-page Introduction. I guess this would be useful if I were deciding whether or not to buy the book, but the book is short enough that I would rather have more content than multiple pages describing that content. The Introduction does contain some reasonably good advice for different types of melee encounters, and a useful sidebar that I haven't seen elsewhere summarising the *seventeen* different types of feats in Pathfinder! Okay, maybe those PF2 fans have a point about bloat . . .
"Up Close and Personal" contains some good advice on offensive melee tactics along with suggestions of which feats to take to support various builds. It introduces seven new feats for close-combat, some of which have become pretty common with certain builds, like Artful Dodge and Circling Mongoose. On the whole, the new feats look pretty well-written and fairly powerful.
"On the Defensive" is the flip-side: advice for protecting yourself in melee combat (such as the benefits of different types of armor, whether or not to use a shield, etc.). There are three new feats, with one ("Just out of Reach") something that would come in very useful in certain APs like Rise of the Runelords. There's also a new Cavalier archetype called the Castellan; there aren't a lot of Cavalier archetypes, but this one is really only useful in a very niche sort of campaign centered around fortifying and protecting a castle.
"Mass Melee" contains some advice (again, with specific suggestions for feats and class options) for when the battlefield is crawling with multiple combatants on each side. When I ran homebrew campaigns, I used to love tossing twenty or thirty low-CR mooks on the battlefield, but a few years of playing exclusively APs and PFS have gotten me used to the PCs outnumbering the enemies. This section contains five new feats; I used Harrying Partners (making Aid Another last for an entire round) to good effect for one PC, and I know Phalanx Formation (eliminating soft cover for reach weapons) is really useful for a lot of builds. There's a new bardic masterpiece ("Battle Song of the People's Revolt") that looks pretty great, and a bland Fighter archetype called the "Drill Sergeant" (basically, it gives them the Cavarlier's tactician class feature).
"Unarmed and Dangerous" is really designed for monks and brawlers. It contains six new Style feats (3 for "Cudgeler Style" and 3 for "Kraken Style") and a very brief Bloodrager archetype ("Bloody-Knuckled Rowdy"). I've never gotten into Style feats so I don't really have an opinion, and the Bloodrager archetype pays a heavy price (one fewer spell known per spell level) to get better at unarmed combat.
"Melee in a Pinch" was a clever idea: what to do when you weren't expecting a fight (or, at least, when a fight slides into a situation you're not ready for--like underwater, while grappled, etc.). I know I've taken the "Aquatic Combatant" feat (no penalties on melee attacks underwater, and your weapons do full damage), for example. There are eight more feats in this vein. There's also a "Makeshift Scrapper" archetype for Rogues that are about improvised weapons, and it looks okay but not amazing.
"Anatomy of Melee Weapons" is something very different: poor drawings of several different types of swords and very basic diagrams of the different parts of an axe, mace, and sword. For most of this stuff, Wikipedia and Google Image search would be better.
"Melee Weapons" introduces sixteen new weapons. At this stage in the development of Pathfinder, I'm not really sure they're necessary. The only new one here I've ever seen someone use was the Elven Branched Spear just because it was an elven weapon that had reach and a x3 Crit modifier.
"Tools and Equipment", on the other hand, contained loads of good stuff. An armor truss is almost a must-have for solo adventurers who want to wear heavy armor, while "exemplar weapon salve" allows you to turn that story-based background weapon into a masterwork weapon suitable for enchantment. I would like to scare a player so much that they start regularly using Sunderblock, but it hasn't happened yet.
"Magic Armor" contains a good assortment. Advocate's Armor is really clever (getting hit by a crit has a chance to put a lesser geas on the attacker), an Alchemist's Suit could be great fun (get hit by a crit and automatically apply the effects of one of eight vials stored within it), and my caveman shaman really needs to get the Mammoth Hide armor.
"Magic Weapons" didn't do as much for me. I liked the Diplomat's Traveling Stick and could imagine characters it would be perfect for. One of the weapons, the Pirate's Arm, is just bizarre.
"Armor and Weapon Special Abilities" presents some pretty niche material, but it's an interesting array.
"Wondrous Items" has a mostly unremarkable selection. I do really like the Anchoring Bracers, and would love to see the surprise on a gamer's face when they try to have their character teleport away from a tough battle.
"Melee Spells" finishes the book, containing ten new spells. Most spells are assigned to four or five different classes, but I'd guess magus and bloodrager would get the most out of the selection. Some of the spells are cast by swift actions, which is particularly useful.
Overall, Player Companions like the Melee Tactics Toolbox are just a big grab-bag of stuff. Some of it's great, some of it's dumb, and most is mediocre. Having this book is excellent for something like PFS, as sooner or later you'll almost surely want an option that appears somewhere within these pages. I also think the advice given on melee combat is reasonably useful, even if it's rather concise.
Basics: This book is all about the aspects of melee combat and on that premise it delivers.
Mechanics: There are some fantastic options mixed in with a lot of poor options that will not fare well. Feats are important choices and most of these feel like they are better suited for an NPC.
Theme: This is where it shines giving you ways to bring melee combat alive if you don't mind toning down the power level or taking niche options. The new weapons inside are my favorite part especially the Orc Skull Ram.
Execution: It was unbalanced but shined in some examples with weapons and combat styles.
Summary: If you know there is content in this book you want your character to use pick it up. Choices can be sub-optimal or niche so diving in to explore may result in a less than stellar experience with this thematic piece.
Like Ranged Tactics Toolbox, Melee Tactics Toolbox is primarily a book of character options, this time focusing on mêlée combat. Like its companion, it doesn't actually spend a great deal of time on the tactics of its title, but does have scores of new feats, weapons, magic items, and more. Also like its companion, it seems to be desperately trying to create new things for something that doesn't really need any new things added to it. By itself or in conjunction with Ranged Tactics Toolbox, Melee Tactics Toolbox will likely be a useful resource for players, but in conjunction with the scores of other books out there, it will likely be mostly forgettable. It's not a bad book; it just doesn't really stand out.
Ring Side Report- RPG Review of Pathfinder Player Companion: Melee Tactics Toolb
Product-Pathfinder Player Companion: Melee Tactics Toolbox
System- Pathfinder
Producer- Paizo
Price- $12
TL; DR- a one-feat-book 77%
Basics-Why do it from afar when you can hurt them up close! Melee Tactics Toolbox provides every up close and personal character with several new options ranging from spells, items, feats, class options, and even new archetypes much live every other player companion product.
Mechanics or Crunch-This is a major crunch book for players, but I wasn’t amazed. There are several new options, but nothing here immediately made me want to build a character based around that theme. Some of the new options seem like new expectations just for expansion sake as the archetypes underwhelmed me like the rogue archetype that strips out all the rogue powers that make a rogue a rogue. Nothing here is objectively bad, but it’s not as amazing as I expected. 4/5
Theme or Fluff-This book has a bit of theme, but not as much as I wanted. You get a few bits and pieces but not near as much as the world books the Paizo puts out. It feels light. 3.5/5
Execution- This book has a ton it it, but it feels a bit overstuffed. There are many things in the book, but it feels a bit like things were thrown in because of the melee thing and that was the sole reason that they made the cut. So, things didn’t flow as well as other books. Also, much of the execution was a bit off as there were a few too many walls of text to really draw me into and through the book. But, as a counterpoint, the book does have a nice font, decent layout aside from a few too many text walls, and some nice art. However, as a counterpoint to that, the book still has the standard Paizo price for its splatbooks which is a little high anyway. 4/5
Summary-This is my least favorite Paizo Pathfinder book to date. Overall, it’s not a horrible book, but compared to Paizo’s other products, I wouldn’t suggest you start with this one. Honestly, this is a one-feat-book meaning that you will find exactly one thing from this book that might, sometimes, help you PFS character. And, you will buy it so you can show your PFS GM the feat/spell/item, so you can legally use it in your game. But, truth be told, you can pass this book by and be ok even if you are a greatsword only fighter. Too many options that are not worth the price, little world and character story, and a less than stellar execution make this a book that won’t find its way into many Pathfinder collections. 77%
Huzzah! I am still bothered by the inaccurate Falchion in Core Rules. You know, the one that is SUPPOSED to be a one handed archer's sword or sword of Agincourt?
D20 has a point: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/equipment---final/weapons/weapon-descriptions/falch ion
Was your involvement in this book similar to the Dirty Fighting book coming soon?
No, I just developed this. Sometimes when developing, you find you have a little more room than expected (for any of a variety of reasons), and need to add something. In this case, I added the estoc.
Eric Hinkle wrote:
Good news, and thanks. I do seem to recall you also mentioning it in one of the old Super Genius PDFs, I'm eager to see the 'canon' version of that blade.
I did, several years ago. I carefully didn't look at the old SGG version while design the official Paizo version. This was both so I wouldn't give my old design undo influence, and because I didn't want to have to add the SGG book to the section 15 OGL entry. If anyone can be certain some rule is independent of a previous product, it's the guy designing the rule both products.
I did go back and check my old version after the book was off to print. I can honestly say I like the new version better.
I'd love to see class archetypes similar to the teng sword master archetype, maybe something for slayers considering they are a combination of rogue and ranger. Maybe a ranger or slayer archetype that allows for heavy armor and combat styles to be taken with it.
There are a LOT of possibilities for this book, and it's certainly impossible to fit them all in. But I'd love just additional options not just in archetype form but also in plain simple feats that can be taken by any class which enhance melee prowess.
This product should have rules and an official chart for oversized weapons and weapons for exceptionally large creatures!
Really, the Giant Hunter's book should have had it too! That book even offered more ways to use oversized weapons.
Get on it Paizo! It is long, long, long overdue.
If you're willing to buy a 3rd party product, there is a table listing weapon damage at different sizes going from Fine to Colossal in Everyman Games' Microsized Adventures PDF. It's also got some great combat maneuver rules that can be used with giants.
There is a very extensive thread going on the rules questions forums about the topic. It's the most FAQ'd topic ever, with 500+ requests and over 10 pages of discussion.
Yes, that needs a errata/FAQ entry. We're well aware of it, and I'd bet Mark Seifter is working on it. It's much better for such things to get handled with our formal process of errata, rather than being covered in a Pathfinder Player Companion, where we don't generally do major rules clarifications and not everyone would know to look for it there, and it's not easily searchable.
Yes, that needs a errata/FAQ entry. We're well aware of it, and I'd bet Mark Seifter is working on it. It's much better for such things to get handled with our formal process of errata, rather than being covered in a Pathfinder Player Companion, where we don't generally do major rules clarifications and not everyone would know to look for it there, and it's not easily searchable.
Bloody-knuckled rowdy (Bloodrager - some brawler-like abilities)
Castellan (Cavalier - defender of castles and walls)
Drill sergeant (Fighter - gains some of the cavalier's tactician abilities)
Makeshift scrapper (Rogue - uses improvised weapons to great effect)
Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Great now we can get the difference between the Aldori Dueling Sword and the katana in appearance based form. I believe JJ said that the Dueling sword was based on the katana before it was ever statted out, so if would be nice to see how it differs appearence-wise.
By the way Feros you might want to use spoiler tags for people who don't want to know yet.
Thanks for volunteering information, Feros. Would you be willing to share any new spells, the new weapon and armor enchantments, the new wondrous items, and any other new character options?
Also, would you be willing to say what weapon categories the new weapons are (ie, simple, martial, or exotic)?
Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
Luthorne wrote:
Thanks for volunteering information, Feros. Would you be willing to share any new spells, the new weapon and armor enchantments, the new wondrous items, and any other new character options?
Also, would you be willing to say what weapon categories the new weapons are (ie, simple, martial, or exotic)?
If I answered all the above, the post would go on a long time. I can do a small overview however:
Some New Spells:
Darting Duplicate—create a duplicate to draw an AoO from a foe.
Dimensional Blade—cause your weapon to become 2D an act as touch attack against armor.
Instant Weapon—create a melee weapon out of force energy.
There are 10 new spells all told.
New Armor Enchantments:
Channelling—adds 1 dice to channeling when this shield is wielded by someone who can channel energy.
Evolving—rather revolting armor that adds summoner evolutions to the wearer for 30 minutes a day.
Frosted-ice covered armor does cold damage to grapplers and is slippery.
Singing—shield sings to produce bardic countersong effect.
Volcanic—heavy armor that can spout smoke and hot molten liquid.
New Weapon Enchantments:
Culling—slashing melee weapon that does extra damage with Cleave.
Growing—increase size and damage of the melee weapon without making it harder to use.
Shrinking—shrinks melee weapon to size of dagger to make it easier to conceal.
Smashing—bludgeoning melee weapon that does extra damage to inanimate objects.
Spell Siphon—melee weapon can remove a single combat spell from a target onto the wielder.
Sticky—reach, piercing melee, and flail weapons only. Allows a steal attempt on critical hits instead of damage.
Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
zergtitan wrote:
Great now we can get the difference between the Aldori Dueling Sword and the katana in appearance based form. I believe JJ said that the Dueling sword was based on the katana before it was ever statted out, so if would be nice to see how it differs appearence-wise.
By the way Feros you might want to use spoiler tags for people who don't want to know yet.
Actually, the Aldori Dueling Sword and the katana are side by side. So you can see the similarities and differences. :)
@Feros: Thanks for all those spoiler, but since I only play PFS these days, I think I will wait. Some of those magic weapon and armor abilities seem quite likely to get banned. Just mentioning the word "evolution" is usually enough.
If your attack is bludgeoning damage the dimensional blade spell makes it slashing but you do only half damage so it wouldn't be as useful for the monk.
Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
doc the grey wrote:
Care to elaborate on what an Orc Skull Ram is?
Orc Skull Ram:
It's a wooden log with a shoulder strap. Orcs traditionally make the ram’s head out of a large skull. On a critical hit, you get a free Combat Maneuver Attack to bull rush the target.
Don't know as much about the rest of the companion, but I LOVE the back inside cover: "Combat options overview"!
Detailing what is what type of action, and detailing the differences between those: Free action, swift action, attack action, melee action, standard action, and full-round action.
That page alone is a heaven-sent.
Printing out this one for my players and myself...
Modules Overlord
