Rating: 
Summary: Lots of new stuff, most of it worthwhile
Review: After waiting over a week for my local bookstore to get thishandbook in stock...I finally got to sit down with my copy of Sword & Fist.New feats, LOTS of prestige classes, some good combat notes, special organizations and some cool new weapons. There aren't nearly as many new feats as I was lead to believe, some of them are pretty cool (Throw Any Weapon, allows you to throw any weapon regardless of whether it was meant to be thrown, I wonder if this includes small halflings) and some don't make any sense at all (Dirty Fighting, which for some unknown reason gives you a 1d4 damage bonus to melee attacks a certain number of times per day, I don't get it). All in all, nothing earth-shattering or terribly unbalancing (whew.) in the feats area at least. But some of the new prestige classes worry me. The Drunken Master especially gives me shivers as a DM thinking of the game balance issues. (Fyi, he has a boatload of combat abilities, a HUGE amount of modifiers to his AC, and is just plain weird.) Now granted, most of the prestige classes are well balanced and some are just plain cool for those people that like a little variety in their characters (the Lasher [whip specialist] and the Chain Master are VERY cool) but a couple are a little over-powered, in my opinion as an experienced DM. It will be up to the DMs of the game to see if they can strike a balance. The organizations are a good addition and show off how many prestige classes get their foundations. The new weapons and weapon rules are a sight for sore eyes though. They took the time to give players equivalent weapons for those from 2nd edition (katana, wakisashi, etc) so that converting characters is less guesswork. The new weapons are pretty cool, although you can definately tell they spent more time on the monk/martial arts aspect of things than the traditional fighter aspect. In summation, this is a good expansion for people playing 3rd edition. Heck, I'd buy this book just for the feats, skills, and weapon lists but the prestige classes and organizations give it a good bonus kick. I only wish they'd keep releasing the near-core rulebooks in hardcover instead ofthis...paperback stock they are using. Oh well, I guess you can't have it all.
Rating: 
Summary: A Book that Creates Champions
Review: As a novice DM, I found this book quite useful.The new feats are great supplments to the 3rd edition fighters and monks all ready impressive array of abilities. However, the two pages given to skills had little relation to fighters and monks. What kind of monk relies on bard and rouge skills!? "The Game Within the Game" chapter is helpful for those who just started D&D. The "Worldly Matters" chapters was neccessary for the way this book was designed.What really makes this book great though, is the chapters "Prestige Classes" and "Tools of the Trade". "Prestige Classes" offers a variety of warriors to fit any niche in your campain (Drunken Masters for barfights,Devoted Defenders for bodyguards,Warmasters for warlords, ect.). Finally, amazing weapons, magic items, and strongholds that any great warrior would adventure for conclude this extraordinary book.
Rating:
Summary: VERY good
Review: As an example of a class guidebook, I think that Sword & Fist has very good style. The prestige classes are good, with many examples of ways that they could be used as NPCs, for all the DMs out there. The new exotic weapons are also a nice addition, with the mercurial greatsword doing an unprecedented 2d8 damage! The new feats are also nice. One of the best parts about the book are the caste/fortress/building designs, which would be useful in a large tactical campaign. The best part that makes Sowrd & Fist really shine is the fact that most of the new ideas in the book are compatable with classes other than fighteres and monks, which is very useful
Rating:
Summary: VERY good
Review: As an example of a class guidebook, I think that Sword & Fist has very good style. The prestige classes are good, with many examples of ways that they could be used as NPCs, for all the DMs out there. The new exotic weapons are also a nice addition, with the mercurial greatsword doing an unprecedented 2d8 damage! The new feats are also nice. One of the best parts about the book are the caste/fortress/building designs, which would be useful in a large tactical campaign. The best part that makes Sowrd & Fist really shine is the fact that most of the new ideas in the book are compatable with classes other than fighteres and monks, which is very useful
Rating: 
Summary: A lot of filler and yet MORE combat Feats
Review: Even with its thin size this book still has a lot of filler in it when compared with such calssics as the Fighter's Handbook for 2nd Ed. What new rules (Feats and Prestige Classes) there are in this book are useful but they compromise no more then abotu half the book. I am also disappointed that, yet again, all th new feats are combat feats. 3E is shapign to be a VERY combat-heavy game with not a lot of support for other role-play activities. Finally, although some of the new feats are much needed additions such as off-hand parry, their implementation is lack luster and unintersting. The last thing we needed was another +N to AC feat. I gave this 3 stars because the new feats to cover some real holes in the game as presented in the PHB and the prestige classes are actually fairly nice. All in all though it seems rushed.
Rating: 
Summary: Too pricey for a little book like this
Review: Fighters always get the short end of the stick - their book comes out first and is the template from which the other books blossom. S&F is yet again the weakest link of the expanded class books that have been put out.
Most of the new feats are geared towards monks and the included fighter feats are mostly throw-aways.
The prestige classes are interesting - especially the Weapon Master (the old Kensai class), Drunken Master and Lasher. The prestige classes are divided pretty evenly between those that would appeal to monks and those that would appeal to fighters.
The weapon section contains a few nice weapons (mercurial weapons stand out as the best), but again, most are designed for monks. Unfortunately, a lot of space is wasted on fighter "types" or "paths" and combat tactics, a lot of which is "who cares?" kind of stuff.
You can live without the book if your and experienced player, but those new to D&D will find it helpful for envisioning, creating and playing fighters - and monks.
Rating:
Summary: Not bad
Review: Fighters always get the short end of the stick - their book comes out first and is the template from which the other books blossom. S&F is yet again the weakest link of the expanded class books that have been put out.
Most of the new feats are geared towards monks and the included fighter feats are mostly throw-aways.
The prestige classes are interesting - especially the Weapon Master (the old Kensai class), Drunken Master and Lasher. The prestige classes are divided pretty evenly between those that would appeal to monks and those that would appeal to fighters.
The weapon section contains a few nice weapons (mercurial weapons stand out as the best), but again, most are designed for monks. Unfortunately, a lot of space is wasted on fighter "types" or "paths" and combat tactics, a lot of which is "who cares?" kind of stuff.
You can live without the book if your and experienced player, but those new to D&D will find it helpful for envisioning, creating and playing fighters - and monks.
Rating:
Summary: Too pricey for a little book like this
Review: Honestly the only reason to buy this book (or any of the Class Guidebooks)is for the new Feats and Prestige Classes. Instead of creating different books for the different Player Classes they should have just created a Feats and Prestige Classes book.... I'll never understand why a flimsy little paperback, black-and white book like this cost as much as the core rulebooks which are hardcover and have color art. So ends my gripe session.
Now the good things about this book are indeed the new feats and prestige classes. They really let you customize your character to get just the Fighter or Monk character that you want. Want to play a Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon style of Monk? No Problem. There is a Prestige Class for it. How about a true blue Cavalier... again, no problem. By adding Prestige Classes that a Monk can freely multiclass with give a little more depth to a terribly limited character class (by the Core Player's Handbook all Monks have pretty much the same abilities).
I'd have rated this product higher if only Wizards of the Coast didn't try to gouge us gamers with the insanely high price.
Rating:
Summary: Good job, but was lacking in areas.
Review: I barely finished this (Sword & Fist) today, so I'm going to start off before I forget most of it. Sword & Fist is a guidebook that has many different feats, prestige classes, and even designs and costs for a fortress or temple for your high level monk or fighter, also including stats for what typical NPC's that work in that castle. (The guards and the usual owner of the castle) Excellent content, some areas hard to understand but not enough description in some areas. For the more picky readers I'm going to go through each chapter and tell what I thought of each one: Chapter 1: Skills & Feats (Three Stars) Many of the feats in this chapter were excellent (And some even a bit overpowering), but a few of those were not explained nearly enough.(Such as dirty fighting). In addition most of them were geared toward the monk, which is good for some characters but not others. They had new uses for different skills (Bluff, Diplomacy, Gather Information, and Sense Motive) which I liked a lot. Chapter 2:Prestige Classes (Five Stars) Sword & Fist had many prestige classes with many different tastes. Very good. Chapter 3:Worldly Matters (Five Stars) This chapter described different organizations, and ways to customize your character with different ideas about where he/she started to adventure Chapter 4: The Game Within the Game (Four Stars, Possibly Five) Chapter 4 described details about tactics for different feats, ways to tweak a certain class to make a new one, and examples of two kinds of combat. Chapter 5: Tools of the Trade (Five Stars) This chapter described new weapons, vehicles (Chariot and Halfling Warwagon) included with details of how to fight with them, and new magic items. Very well done Four stars!
Rating:
Summary: Really would've preferred more...
Review: I bought this after a quick glance, seeing a few cool things that I liked. It's probably a good thing I did, at least for WotC, because I would've held off for a while if I'd looked harder. If you hadn't guessed, this is the fighter/monk handbook for D&D 3. It includes new feats, new prestige classes, new gear, advice on using skills and tactics, and, finally, schematics of various fortresses and vehicles. What did I like? Some of the feats were really useful. The tactical advice was helpful, and the fortress information is very potentially useful. However, this is a rather weak supplement. They give examples of how to use two skills, when they should've put in more. The prestige classes, by and large, are silly or useless. As an example, take the Ravager, a (mostly) NPC class. To join, you have to kill an existing member. Therefore, through attrition, each band will soon be, as the recruitment ads so wonderfully state, "An Army of One." Most of the classes included are oriental in nature, which precludes them from play if the GM bases his game solely on European background. Some of the feats are such that no fighter will *ever* be able to take them; show me a fighter with Wisdom of 19, and I'll show you someone who should've been a priest or a monk. The weapons are all exotic, and kind of munchkiny. The tactics section was far too short, and easily could've been expanded, with a general discussion of feats and how best to use them. And, well, while the buildings were nice, it seemed like they were just filler. Sigh. This isn't a bad book, it's just that it could've been so much better.
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