Rather delightfully, the author begins by nailing his colours to the mast. He likes over-the-top martial arts movies, and is herein presenting a rules-heavy sourcebook from which you can pick and mix the bits you want to use in your own setting. Doesn't need to be oriental in the slightest, there's no setting or campaign information, no scenarios. Just concepts and rules for those who want to be martial artists, or to make monks a bit more than just fighters who do it without armour or many weapons.
The first chapter delivers the Martial Artist core class, and several prestige classes that involve the martial arts. There are some interesting design notes, about how a Monk is more defensive than a Fighter, but how the new Martial Artist is still likely not as powerful as a Fighter, and so on. There's also a nice and clear statement of precisely what is and what is not Product Identity or Open Gaming Content, which should keep those who like their legalese happy - all too many people only stick in a vague comment about which is which!
The things that make a Martial Artist distictive are these: he prefers unarmed combat rather than the weapons & armour of the Fighter, but he concentrates on physical skills without the search for enlightenment and spiritual perfection that occupies the Monk. (Hmmm... when I did martial arts you did the spiritual bit as well...) There are suggestions for multi-classing the Martial Artist with a Fighter (to get someone good in a brawl) or even with a Sorcerer (delivering a 'touch' attack with a round-house kick has a certain appeal!), as well as being a straight specialist. When a Martial Artist does choose to use a weapon, he apparently prefers one that is capable of being used gracefully in combat (in game terms, one you can use Weapon Finesse with!), indeed he can lose bonuses to AC if he uses anything else, or armour/shields. Without these encumbrances, he's good at dodging! There are other class abilities too, like being able to call on your inner strength in a 'Surge' - basically an adrenaline rush that makes you fight and move faster... but until you reach 20th level, you are fatigued afterwards. In true martial arts style, you can break objects with your bare hands. Best of all, there's a huge range of 'Martial Secrets' which you can take at certain levels, picking the ones you like best to develop your own unique style of martial art.
To take any of the Prestige Classes listed, you need to at least have the Improved Unarmed Strike feat and there may be specific requirements as well. Many don't require Martial Artist levels, though, so can be taken as specialisations from another class. The first is the Armour Pugilist - a fellow so tough that he can seemingly make his skin as hard as steel (but cannot use armour or shields at all). The Blade Artist is a knife-fighter of reknown, a true specialist - and one who has a mystical association with his chosen blade. A Blood Hunter is someone who has managed to befriend a vampire long enough to learn a specific secret combat style from him, they tend towards evil and usually serve their vampire master. These will probably be NPCs unless there is an evil element to your campaign.
Crooked Monks are basically combat contortionists; and it's a way for someone with a chaotic alignment to attain some martial arts training. This fascinating class is a rather scatty fellow, who believes that the way to enlightenment lies in trying everything. They find it hard to settle down for long, and indeed it's a requirement that you have tried at least 3 core classes before taking this Prestige Class! Ghost Killers are the descendents of long-dead heroes, who received guidance from their ancestors as they specialise in fighting undead. Ki Blasters are able to focus and deliver their ki as a ranged attack, rather than merely use it to enhance a strike. The Psynergist combines his ki with psionic abilities. Storm Lords like the elements - but they mean wind, rain, frost and lightning rather than the classic elementalist's air, earth, fire and water! Most are druids or sorcerers, and there is a requirement to be able to cast at least one electricity-based spell... unless you have been struck by lightning!
The Sylvan Monk takes the art of dodging to new heights, believing that everything should be accepted, absorbed and allowed to flow through and past you. Taken to its height, they seem to alter reality so that the attack never reached them at all. They are nature-lovers, although they're usually monks with a few druids and rangers amongst them. The Tanterist is a healing specialist... and often verging on pacifist, although they can deal out hurt when they want to. Training involves detailed study of anatomy.
We then come to the new Martial Arts feats. They've been classified as 'Hard' (offensive) and 'Soft' (defensive), with others falling in between; there are also 'Ki' feats (supernatural abilities), weapon feats and metamagic ones. There are a goodly range of these, many of which are available to all characters, or to fighters, as well as more specialised martial arts ones. The idea is to allow you to customise a character by creating your own 'style' of martial art by combining the appropriate feats with his other skills and abilities. Very tasty... and there's an 'Options Chart' at the back to help DMs decide which feats will be available in their campaigns. Most naturally give you extra combat abilities, but there are others - for example, the 'Master' feat means that you are so well-known in martial arts circles that you attract a following of students who build a training centre for you!
To enable further customisation, there are a series of 'Style Mastery' feats - which come automatically, not filling a feat slot, once you have the prerequisite feats in your repertoire. A range are given, along with advice on how to design your own... which is the real joy of it all!
The next chapter is entitled Building a Master, and it's all about ways in which you can create and customise your martial artist character into someone truly memorable. There are a lot of ideas based around multiclassing a Martial Artist with each of the other core classes, for example someone combining Barbarian or Ranger with Martial Artist might develop combat styles based on detailed observations of animals. Moreover it also looks at the sorts of organisations that monks and martial artists might join, or even set up, during the course of the game. Naturally, they don't exist in the campaign world purely as a home for these characters, they can become a dynamic part of the setting, and feature in - or even instigate - whole plotlines of their own. Or, their doings may just fuel a few rumours and news items, events in the background which the characters may ignore, but foster the impression of a living world in which they live and with which they interact.
Chapter 4 covers New Options. These are mostly aimed at gamers who wish to feature cinematic action over realism, but even if you like your world to 'work' there are bits of use. Indeed, the section on Cinematic Action sounds pretty much how I run my games anyway - but I go for a rules-light, visualise not demonstrate, no miniatures or detailed scale maps style! Indeed, this chapter is worth the reading for ideas of ways in which to run your game irrespective of whether or not you want to use martial arts in any great detail in the campaign.
And then there are notes on the effects of alcohol. It's a nice, simple and effective system for judging a character's capacity and the effects of having a bit too much. There are also notes on variant ways to use existing skills, the use of the extreme speeds that some characters are able to reach and more. Plenty to dip into, and to take what you fancy to use in your campaign. The chapter rounds up with a handful of spells, magical and wondrous items, all with some relevance to martial arts or combat in general.
The book rounds off with a table of quick-reference NPC martial artists for when you need one in a hurry, and the 'Options Index' which not only enables you to find whatever particular feat or skill you're after, but also classifies them to make the choice of which you'll use a bit easier!
Overall, it's well worth getting hold of this especially if you want the martial arts to feature in your game: but even if they will only play a minor part (or be an option available to interested players), it has other good material in how to run campaigns and the alcohol rules.
Return to Beyond Monks: The Art of the Fight page.
