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Tome of Battle: The Book of Nine Swords Chapter one introduces 3 new character classes to us: the crusader, sword sage and war blade. Of these three classes my favorite was the sword sage, who gets access to six of the nine martial styles introduced in this book. The crusader only gets access to three of the nine, and war blade gets five out of nine. These new martial styles have strikes, counters and stances. You can regain your martial maneuvers with only a few minutes of rest.
Chapter two gives new uses to two skills and one new skill, as well as presenting 29 new feats, plus nine tactical feats. Some of these feats were really cool - but could be dangerous if used inappropriately.
Chapter three explains how these new martial skills work - how long they take to execute, how long it takes to recover these skills for a second battle. Also gives a break down much like a spell on duration, saves etc.
Chapter four, this is where the meat of this book is contained, imo. There is a list of martial maneuvers and stances. Broken down by the martial styles in each section it covers only maneuvers and stances for that style.
Chapter five: Eight new prestige classes, almost one per martial style. Hmmmm. There were some very interesting prestige classes. But by and far my favorite was the Master of Nine.
Chapter six discussed the nine swords in some detail. Something that surprised me was each of the nine was only a +1 weapon until money, time, and prerequisites are met then these nine swords become extremely potent. This is a similar method to what a samurai can do to enchant his weapons.
Chapter seven: magic items. Not much to say. Introduced a new type of item-martial script, 2 new powers and one new item for character use.
Chapter eight: Monsters. 3 new monsters none of which significantly impressed me with their abilities.
In this reviewer's opinion go pick up a copy but don’t rush to do so. It seems to be a way to introduce martial arts into the D&D game again in my opinion. I enjoyed reading the book of nine swords, though it was a slow read, if you want another system and style of combat incorporate this book into your DMing.
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