En Garde! (PFRPG) PDF

I have to admit that I took an incredibly long time to fully run through this product after I first got it. Frankly, I play casters. I love playing casters. When I think of making a new character, it's always a caster. With that in mind, and while Little Red Goblin have been absolutely top-notch with their other products, I was a bit slower to really dig into this one. I have lots of players who prefer martial classes or simply dislike casters, so my intent with this product was mainly to expand the options for them. I have the Game Master's Curse and run 90% of every game I'm in, so I didn't expect to find any personal need for much of what is here (aside from a wily NPC here or there, but nuances with NPC builds are often lost on my players).

What I found in "En Garde" was far beyond anything that I had expected, even given the track record of the publisher. Their take on finesse-based martial characters is stunning. I don't think I can come up with a better word for it. This looks like a supplement written by people who have actually held and used the weapons described. We all know those gamers who can tell us all of the ways that a weapon can supposedly be use used, but who have never actually held, swung, or seen the results of both success and dismal failure with "fantasy" weapons (historical/medieval and imagined). This wasn't written by those guys.

Other supplements that have described "fencers" or "duelists" have often left me with the taste of nasty, limp-wristed, namby-pambyness in my mouth. Those other classes have seemed more like dancers or acrobats than warriors. The Fencer (base class) described here can stand with Porthos, Athos, Aramis, and D'Artagnan (from the books, people). It is one of the first takes on fighting in case (with two swords) that has ever seemed like what those fencers that I actually know really do. To boot, they've managed to make fighting with a cloak in your off hand seem truly dangerous to your opponents, rather than as a poor excuse for a fan to be used when you're feeling faint. The rules are excellent and there's just too much here to even attempt a synopsis and do them any justice. Get it. Read it. Use it. Love it.

Lest you think that my appreciation of this product is mindless, check out the Meister. It's presented as an archetype for the Cavalier, but the alternate class features are noted as being replacements for Armor Training I through Armor Mastery at the levels that the Fighter gets those same class features (and the Cavalier doesn't). Thematically, this really is a super-proficient and incredibly deadly twist on the Fighter, but it gets two (2) Weapon Training tracks. The abilities listed for specific weapon groups (selected at 3rd level and set in stone for future evolutions of the archetype's abilities) are stunning, but are also a separate track from the normal Weapon Training progression. I'm not quite sure how this would play out in a game, and this archetype would really need to be tweaked to actually be an alternate for the Cavalier, but the possibility of a Fighter giving up increased armor abilities to further increase deadliness with one particular group of weapons seems quite appealing.

The selection of new weapons at the end - along with the new feats - seems almost obligatory at this point, but is managed quite well. The new weapons really feel new, and most of the new feats are usable whether or not you use the other class options of this products.

Overall, take 4.5 out of 5 stars for this. The bumpiness of the Meister and some lingering typographical/spelling errors keep this from getting the full 5, but not by much.