Pyramid Review
Defenders of the Faith (for Dungeons & Dragons)
Published by Wizards of the Coast
Written by Rich Redman and James Wyatt
96 b&w pages; $19.95
The next class splat book for Dungeons and Dragons, following Sword & Fist, Defenders of the Faith augments the cleric and paladin classes with new feats, prestige classes, and organizations.
Broken up into four chapters, Defenders of the Faith starts with Cleric and Paladins, brief guides to how to effectively role (and roll) play these characters. The advice is useful, but rarely goes beyond the basics information. One of the most interesting areas though, is the section on special mounts for paladins. The most desired mount of course, is a dragon. Methods to acquire dragons, keep them, and when to let them go, is covered.
The chapter rounds out with new uses for old skills, new skills, new feats, equipment, and magic items. These are all "candy" and their mileage will vary depending on your campaign.
The new feats include general feats -- like shield charge and improved shield bash -- and divine feats. These divine feats are interesting in that they use a turn/rebuke undead attempt to power them. Divine feats include Divine Might, increasing the damage you inflict by adding your charisma bonus to your damage roll, or divine resistance, where you grant your allies resistance to elemental based attacks.
The metamagic feats, extra smiting, extra turning, empower turning, heightened turning, and quicken . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: June 15, 2001
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