Martial Power: A 4th Edition D&D Supplement (D&D Rules Expansion)

 (20 customer reviews)

Martial Power is a sourcebook for 4th edition Dungeons & Dragons that offers more powers, feats, paragon paths, and other options for the martial classes: fighters, rangers, rogues, and warlords. It is not a stand-alone book; it builds on what's presented in the Player's Handbook.

Martial Power is 180 pages, and the production values seem pretty good. The font, layout, and general format is very close to that of the core rulebooks, keeping things consistent.

The content is laid out in an orderly and logical fashion: there's one chapter dedicated to each of the four classes, plus a fifth chapter that deals with feats and epic destinies suited to martial characters.

Each of the class chapters contains one to two new build options. The new fighter builds, for example, are the berserker-style bloodrager and the two-weapon-wielding tempest. Each contains a pretty broad assortment of new powers, usually between 4 and 6 at each level (and of each type,...Read more

The Martial Power Handbook does exactly what it says it does: expands the core martial classes giving them more options. Each class is given two entirely new builds - with the exception of the ranger.

I would say that each class has a fairly good new build, and a passable one. The Ravager for the Warrior is an interesting take and has nice abilities. The Tempest, I felt, was just the Two Weapon Fighting style from Ranger pasted onto the Warrior. It's nothing new.

The Ranger only gets one new build: The Beastmaster. This build is a wonderful addition to the classes. Companion pets were bound to be implemented in some way eventually, and I think they did a decent job with how it was done. Anyone desiring to take a beast companion will have to focus on the new build though, which means eschewing previous options to optimize the build.

I was hoping for more for the Rogue. The Aerialist is a decent build for mobility, being able to slip into the...Read more

Look I'm not gonna lie to you people. I bought this book for pure crunchy player options.
Its not that I'm a power gamer, my games are very story centric, but lets face it after 15 years of playing DnD do I really want to pay for chapters on "how do fighters/rangers/thieves fit into your game?", or reams of random premade dungeons or strongholds like in many previous class splat books?
Hell no i don't want to pay for that nonsense, and if this is the new dirrection of 4th ed I wont have to unless i want to. Frankly this fact alone is enough to give this book four stars out of shear joy of lack of filler content.
But seriously, whats in this filler free volume is actually pretty sweet to. Tons of interesting ways to set your character apart. Yes, you could always do this with roleplaying (and lord knows if you dont your missing the point), but lets face it, its always nice to have rules that help reflect/express your characters background, style, and personality...Read more