Complete Scoundrel

From: Wizards of the Coast

Reviewed by: Ron McClung

Complete Scoundrelis a new Role Playing Game Supplement from Wizards of the Coast.

Core D&D books seem to be a dime a dozen these days. With the innovation of 3.5, the paperback class books were converted to hard back Completebooks. This is the first one I have had in my possession, as I do not regularly play D&D. I have seen the others but am not 100% familiar with their formatting. I do have the 3.0 book Song and Silence: A Guide to Bards And Rogues, the closest thing to a previous version of this book. I thought I could compare and contrast, but as I read the Complete Scoundrel,I realized that they are very different.

From the front cover: “A Player’s Guide to Trickery and Ingenuity”

Content: Complete Scoundrel, as its title implies, is a book focusing on the D&D Rogue class and its many facets. As this is one of my favorite D&D classes, this book appealed to me. I tend to play a mix of fighter and rogue in any game I play. This book works in conjunction with the core rulebooks of D&D 3.5. It also compliments the Complete Adventurer. In addition, rules from Complete Warrior, Dungeon Master Guide II, Player’s Handbook II and Expanded Psionics Handbook are also referenced. Of course, in the interest of selling more books, WotC does this quite often.

Chapter 1: Scoundrels of All Types– The introductory chapter gives you the rundown of everything Scoundrel. It answers the basic questions like ‘Who is a scoundrel?’ and ‘How can one best craft his scoundrels skills.’ It contains explanations of scoundrels of different alignments and multi-classes. From lawful good to chaotic good, from barbarian scoundrels to sorcerer rogues–it details variations of the scoundrel in those contexts. It also goes deep into creating the character concept of a scoundrel, helping the reader really flesh out the character. As a role-player, I really value sections like this, but I fear that a player who gets this book is always diving into the Feats or Prestige Class section and this kind of information gets neglected. It addresses the strengths of a good scoundrel and the area most players do not like to have – weaknesses. Also, it delves into what skills to focus on and what prestige classes to look into. Some very interesting scoundrel character concepts, including the showy acrobatic scoundrel, the hardcore aggressive scoundrel, and the animal-friendly ringmaster, are also explored.

Chapter 2: Prestige Classes– Now we delve into the traditional meat of a d20 Complete book – the Prestige Class (PrC). There are 14 prestige classes in this book. They include the seething and brooding Avenging Executioner, lucky Fortune’s Friend, and the focused magic wielding Spellwarp Sniper. There are a wide variety of interpretations of a scoundrel. Of course, it tries to stem off all the basic classes one way or another. A few of these PrCs reference other Compeltebooks as mentioned above. However, any rules it may reference are noted in a side bar.

Chapter 3: Feats and Skill Tricks– The Feats of a scoundrel are designed to enhance his skills in the back alleys and shadowy places he usually practices them. They help him survive these harsh places with his wits and skill. This chapter introduces some new Feat categories – Ambush Feasts (enhancing sneak attack abilities), Bardic Music Feats (the name says it all), and Luck Feats (putting the power of luck – good and bad – in the hands of the players). There are over 50 feats in this book, ranging from the General Feats like Cool Head, Freerunner, and Sweet Talker, to (as mentioned before) Luck, Ambush and Bardic Music Feats. Ambush Feats basically enhance sneak attacks like the basic sneak attack class ability as well as sudden strike of the ninja and skirmish class (Complete Adventurer). Luck Feats allow for re-rolls in various situations and introduce a new mechanic of ‘expending re-rolls.’ Basic Music feats, like Chant of the Long Road and Warning Short, give specific benefits of their own.

This chapter also introduces the concept of a Skill Trick. In a lot of ways these are like Feats, but they are closely tied to specific skills and also cost skill points. They are explained as ways to perform great cinematically skillful actions like swinging across the chasms hanging from a whip or leaping off a warhorse while swinging a sword. There are four categories of Skill Tricks and there are over 40 Skill Tricks listed. I foresee a new series of books coming out dedicated to this.

Chapter 4: News Spells– What would a D&D book be without something on spells? There are new Assassin, Bard, Cleric, Druid, Hexblade, Ranger, Sorcerer and Wizard spells. There are almost 30 new spells in total. They range as low as 1st level and as high as 6th level. Some of these spells are very sneaky and tricky – thus very handy for a scoundrel based character. I particularly like the Armor Lock (causing an opponent’s armor to go rigid), Enlarge Weapon (causing your weapon to enlarge), and Spymaster Coin (imbuing a coin with a small fraction of your senses).

Chapter 5: Scoundrel Equipment– The trappings of a scoundrel can be many and varied. This equipment section has many interesting items. There are sections on hidden compartments like false bottoms and false scabbard tips; surprise weapons like bayonets and hidden blades; alchemical items like Forger’s Papers and Toxic Tooth; poisons (of course); and several magic items. The magic items include Aspect Mirrors – communication devices that can be used at any distance; Panic Button – a typically innocuous device that can produce a number of effects, including gaining temporary hit points and considerable bonuses to attributes or saves; and Trinket of Trickery – an item that holds the effect of a single Skill Trick. There are 9 magic items. There are also Living Items like Gut Miters, Planar Motes and Torch Bug Tubes. Some very interesting and imaginative ideas, but I would not expect anything less from the team at WotC.

Chapter 6: Scoundrel Adventurers– The last chapter in this book is primarily for GMs and discusses scoundrel adventures and campaigns. There are sample adventures as well as adventure seeds that are included in this chapter. It gives the GM helpful hints on how to run a scoundrel adventure and how to run with a party containing one or more scoundrels, as well as commons themes of scoundrel adventures. Also described in these pages are a few scoundrel organizations – the Free League (a vast group of completely independent free-thinkers), The Blind Tower (an organized crime syndicate of thieves, assassins and general adventurers), and the Seven Ravens Clan (a group of vigilantes and individuals who seek their own form of justice against people like those that join the Blind Tower). I read somewhere that the Free League was inspired by a faction from the old D&D campaign setting Planetscape.

Additionally, this book expands on a concept introduced in the DMG II. Legendary Sites are like magical locations from the DMG II. These include Bunnengeist Haunt (a generic location where an action/inaction lead to a life-altering catastrophe), Champion’s Crown (the goal of every gladiator and pit fighter), and the Frog God’s Fane (a swamped and overgrown temple of mystery). These are meant to inspire adventure and provide generic locations to spawn scoundrel adventures further. There are a total of 9 Legendary Sites.

No scoundrel would be worth his salt without contacts. It is always a matter of who you know. This book expands off the contacts rules presented in DMG II. It provides a new contact table. Also, at the very end, it provides a random table of 100 scoundrel challenges.

From the website: “In a world filled with monsters and villains, a little deception and boldness goes a long way.”

Rules: Of course there are a variety of new prestige classes, spells, feats and skill uses throughout this book (see above). Also I mentioned above the concept of a Skill Trick. This is a new concept added to d20. They allow for a more diverse and expanded use for skills. We are all familiar with those skills that rarely get used. This helps the character use those skills. Of course, because they cost skill points, these appeal more to the skill-focused character class. However, this is even better because they tend to get over-shadowed by the magic users and the hack-n-slashers.

There are also the addition of the Luck feats which bring in a new mechanic of spending your re-rolls. Every Luck feat brings with it a way to generate re-rolls (or I like to think of them as re-roll points). They are expended on any one of the Luck feats that you have. This is an interesting mechanic but I am not sure it is totally necessary. Additionally, the Spells section expands on a new school introduced in the Player’s Handbook II – the Polymorph School – which is the ability to change a form of a target from one thing to another.

I know one of the criticisms of d20 is the number of mechanics and rules to deal with, but I honestly like cool mechanics like these. It is simple enough to remember after using it a little while. I know d20 tends towards too much book diving at times and that is frustrating, but these new mechanics are really true to the heart of d20. If you do not like d20, you will not like these additions. If you like d20, you will like them.

Without playing each and every one of these prestige classes individually, I can not comment too much on game balance with this book. Every time I open a book with prestige classes and feats, I am concerned with balance. Also, balance is a fairly relative thing. You could have a power gamer take advantage of every point and bonus he is given while others are more concerned with the character concept than points and bonuses. Whenever I open a WotC book, however, I usually assume that makers of the system know a little more about game balance than most. Some may say that may not be a safe assumption, however, so I leave that judgment to the individual.

Layout: This is a standard D&D book with full color pages, great art and easy to follow formatting. The table of contents is thorough but there is no index. The people at WotC have been doing this long enough that it is safe to say they know what they are doing in the way of layout. A nice bonus are the quality maps in the adventure section, which are also downloadable from the Wizards of the Coast web site. This is a feature I’ve really admired about WotC lately – taking full advantage of the web with support of their products.

In conclusion, this is all you need for the free-wheeling independent-minded characters in your D&D campaign. Scoundrels are a favorite type of character, whether you are playing intrigue based gaming or your normal dungeon crawl. They are versatile and adaptable, which makes them fun to play. For a D&D scoundrel, this book makes it even more enjoyable. It captures the feel of a scoundrel and provides mechanics to enhance what a scoundrel thrives on – his own wit and luck – to get him through life.It is a good quality and useful book. It is also one of the more useful ones of the Complete series because every character has a little scoundrel in them, right?

For more details on Wizards of the Coast and their new Role Playing Game Supplement “Complete Scoundrel” check them out at their website http://www.wizards.com/dnd/, and at all of your local game stores.

Complete Scoundrel

From:Wizards of the Coast

Type of Game:Role Playing Game Supplement

Written by:Mike McArtor and F. Wesley Schneider

Contributing Authors:Robert J. Schwalb

Developed by:Andy Collins

Cover Art by:William O’Connor

Additional Art by:David Bircham, Miguel Coimbra, Ed Cox, Eric Deschamps, Carl Frank, Randy Gallegos, Howard Lyon, Warren Mahy, Michael Phillippi, Franz Vohwinkel, Eva Widermann, Kieran Yanner

Number of Pages:158

Game Components Included:1 book

Game Components NotIncluded:Core d0 Rulesbooks

Retail Price:$ 29.95 (US)

Retail Price:$ 37.95 (Can)

ISBN:9780786941520

Website:www.wizards.com/dnd/

Reviewed by: Ron McClung