Rating: 
Summary: Not a definitive guide.
Review: I really wanted a little more insight into Clerics...for me, one of the most misunderstood creatures of the entire realm. And I suppose there was some, but the feats, while sometime illuminating in their way, seem to lack range and character. And what is D and D without swordplay...This swordplay seems uninspired and lacking of"clerical wisdom"...........As for the Paladins, yes, I agree that it is not as defined a character as it could be. My d and d friends, including my fifteen year dungeon Master, Gesthelband are often confused and searching for a definitive guide, an intimate portrayal of the Paladin sector......This is not the definitive guide....However D and D is my life. And any insight into the complex world of role playing games is exciting to me...So, henceforth, even though it is not the bible of faith that I had hoped for it to be, I will say that the strings of my heart are plucked with any insight.
Rating:
Summary: Not a definitive guide.
Review: I really wanted a little more insight into Clerics...for me, one of the most misunderstood creatures of the entire realm. And I suppose there was some, but the feats, while sometime illuminating in their way, seem to lack range and character. And what is D and D without swordplay...This swordplay seems uninspired and lacking of"clerical wisdom"...........As for the Paladins, yes, I agree that it is not as defined a character as it could be. My d and d friends, including my fifteen year dungeon Master, Gesthelband are often confused and searching for a definitive guide, an intimate portrayal of the Paladin sector......This is not the definitive guide....However D and D is my life. And any insight into the complex world of role playing games is exciting to me...So, henceforth, even though it is not the bible of faith that I had hoped for it to be, I will say that the strings of my heart are plucked with any insight.
Rating: 
Summary: My players hate this book, because it helped me so much
Review: I'm sure the other reviews covered details of what the book contains. It's an accessory book for the 3rd edition D&D game, if you don't play D&D, why are you reading this review? If you are a DM, have all the core rule books before you get this one, and probably Sword and Fist. If you are a player, unless you play a lot of clerics, just borrow your DMs copy of this book. Why do my players hate this book? It inspired me to write an evil cleric adventure. The evil cleric was setup in a temple, with supporting undead and acolytes that all made sense, worked together, and used a lot of stuff from this book. Every member of the party was sure they were dead at one point or another, and in the end, one was, and half the party was in tatters, and everyone agreed it wasn't unfair, that they hadn't planned well enough. Evil Cleric Suggestion: I forget what part of the book I got this from, but one feature of the temple was the three third level clerics whose job it was to stand around behind the temple champion and cast healing spells on him. They were clerics of Erythnul, and had the trickery domain, so they were doing their job invisibly. The combat monster of the party couldn't figure out how the champion was healing himself and participating in combat.
Rating: 
Summary: It was bad, it was really bad
Review: I've been a long time fan of Dungeons and Dragons, i've got shelves of books and have played in a ridiculous number of campaigns. I thought third edition was ok and have been picking up the new class books as they come out. Sword and Fist was fairly good, lots of neat feats and prestige classes. Defenders is bad. It's really bad. The new feats are far from spectacular, there's only one or two that a player would ever consider using - regardless of character concept. The specialty classes are unimaginative. The new spheres are eh. Most importantly of all, the ideas presented within are easily reached by anyone vaguely creative or who has any gaming experience. I strongly urge you to borrow a copy of the book before purchasing it. WotC doesn't care about providing you with a quality product, they're merely skirting the edge of decency to get everyone to buy it. It's not the good ole' days of TSR where they actually cared about putting out an interesting, usuable product.
Rating: 
Summary: Terific Book!
Review: If u want to play with a Cleric or a Paladin, u need this book, all information u need to be a Good Defender of the Faith r in it!!! Tips like, how to have a Dragon as a special mount, how to play as a efetive Cleric or Paladin and go on!
Rating:
Summary: Did you like Sword and Fist?
Review: If you liked Sword and Fist, and/or you are interested in playing a Cleric or Paladin character, this is a good book for you. It has alot of new spells, new armors, new prestige classes (some of which are very cool) and of course, new FEATS. So really, anyone could use it, no matter what character class you play. On the other hand, if you are looking for alot of "source" matierial, or ideas on how to play these classes, then this book will disappoint you. It is very much a RULES book, expanding the mechanics of the game but not the culture of the game. The exception to this is a nicely written section on various kinds of temples and what one could expect to find in them, but I found this information to be a bit obvious. The best reason to buy the book is for the new spells and feats. If you aren't interested or cant keep up with the ones alreay out there, you will do well to save your money.
Rating:
Summary: Church Lady's Revenge!
Review: More than Sword and Fist, Defenders of the Faith is geared towards those characters with a religious bent. The four divine spellcasting classes have power-ups here. More spells for you to pray for and an overview of most of the major faiths as described in the Player's Handbook arranged by alignment. The feats are geared more towards clerics and paladins but many of the items in the equipment section can be used by anyone. In fact the illustrations are rather useful for both players and DMs alike. There are even suggestions on how a pc relates to a particular temple as well as how to handle the day to day workings of these houses of worship. While it's geared mainly towards clerics and paladins, rangers and druids will find things they can use here as well.
Rating: 
Summary: medocre at best
Review: The book really is not all that interesting. Yes there are more magic items, spells, prestige classes, and mounts. However none of these really stand out. Also, there is little in the way of new ideas given for either Clerics and Paladens. I give the book 2 stars, generally to counter-balance the other mediocre reviews of 3 stars, since the book clearly deserves a 2.5 rating.
Rating:
Summary: Does the Job
Review: The good has been mentioned in previous reviews. The majority of the material presented is substantial, of benefit, and a genuine addition to rules - unlike, heaven help us, the Heroes Source Book. My criticism would be the one dimensional side given to clerics, there is a predominance of hack and slash mentality in all the 3rdE D&D to date. With feats to suit. Don't expect expansion covering clerics for gods of knowledge, the sea, peace and so forth. I've given it four stars simply because my wild elf barbarian/sorcerer is definitely getting a couple of Holy Liberator levels.
Rating:
Summary: So... what's a Paladin again?
Review: The Players Handbook for Dungeons and Dragons 2nd Edition gives some excellent information on what a Paladin is and what he stands for. It even lists the Paladin's Creed. It inspired a concept of a Paladin as a great defender of justice, but also a thinker. The Player's Handbook for the new 3rd Edition did not have such useful information, but I figured the new supplement, "Defenders of the Faith" must. After all, half the book is about Paladins. Sorry, not much about that here. Granted, there's other good stuff. The book is loaded with Prestige Classes and some useful information on church structure and ritual. But all we know about Paladins from this book is that they shouldn't lie, cheat, or poison. Well, no duh, Sherlock. We already knew that. I'm also disappointed in the number of feats, especially since "Sword and Fist" had so many great ones. The feats are mostly spell enhancing, and lack fun show-offy kind of feats we all love. While "Defenders of the Faith" is a useful tool, especially for clerics, it's uninspiring. If you want to know what a Paladin is really about, get some older material on the subject.
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