by Cain.rpgorg in May 04,2012

   I don't know what's your opinion about this, but I think as Pathfinder (and D&D) players we could never have enough feats to define every single character we could dream up. Of course, it's often include our character's unique combat style and abilities, and his combat tricks. With the release of 101 Combat Feats from Rite Publishing I think we could cover much more specific tactics and combat abilities than before, regardless if your fighter is specialized in rushing melee attacks, clever tricks, or sniping with a crossbow.

   As it's regular with Rite Publishing the production value of the book - the look, artwork, layout etc. - is good and professional. The only thing disturbing me that why the artwork is titled as connected to specific feats, while most of them features nice but static stills of characters who could maybe perform the action. But this is just nitpicking I guess, and the picture about Crushing Charge is really dynamic with the bloodthirsty goblin rider. On the other hand I guess my readers are more interested in the content than anything else. Come on, it's 101 Combat Feats, it's must be awesome ! (at least if you don't mind to have hundreds of options to be around)

The content

    As you may guess from the straightforward title the book includes exactly 101 new combat feats. Some advancing upon already pre-defined paths (two-weapon fighting, blind-fighting, Vital Strike), while others are opening their own path from bouncing hammers to trident manoeuvres and Tumbling Trip.

   The book is filled with excellent ideas, and the execution is right on the spot for the most time. I'm really glad that in many cases you may now advance in your chosen path even further than before, without throwing game balance out for the most time.

   Many of the new options are really feels that they had to be made, as the already mentioned Tumbling Trip (if you avoid an opportunity attack while moving and trip your opponent) or Wild Swing (which really reminds me to the goblin fanatics of the Warhammer universe). Or may I mention Pikeman's Push (which enables you to freely bull rush opponents after wounding them) or the feats that enable to create a much better sniper than ever before?

   There are few lines crossed in this book which were, I guess, intentionally uncrossed in the core rules - permanent blindness caused by Dirty Trick, penalty-less two-handed fighting - but I think it depends on your group if you want to use these few border-crossing feats or not. Other from that maybe the lvl 20 fighter feats could be overpowered, but maybe not, considering what is available at that level to spellcaster classes.

Final words

   I think that 101 Combat Feats is a real boon to those who like combat-oriented characters, and many of the new feats are instantly conjure of images in my mind about their usage in practice which is quite telling. So this supplement gets 5/5 point from me, hands down.

For those who are interested in this supplement, it's already available on DriveThruRPG, on this link.

Zoltán "Cain" Mészáros

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