OGL: The Arcane Duelist is a short 7 page pdf detailing a new base class for fantasy d20 games, the Arcane Duelist. This products forms part of Mob United Media's Frontline series of core classes, where each class uses the full base attack bonus progression and is strong enough to enter melee combat and stand beside other warriors and fighters. The Arcane Duelist blends magic and skill with weapons to create a formidable opponent capable of dual-wielding magic and weapon.
This product comes as a single pdf file. As a short product there are no bookmarks or a table of contents. There is some interior art, and a good cover has been included with the product. The file is quite large for such a short pdf, coming in at close to 9MB and for some reason this is telling when reading the pdf on my machine (P4, 1GB RAM). This is presumably due to the large background image taking time to load before the text appears, and it's quite frustrating that it happens on every page. Writing and editing is generally good, although the mechanics could do with some improvement. For one, the product contains a number of references to 3e rules, rather than 3.5e rules, and in places could've used a clearer or more complete description for a particular mechanic. Nevertheless, for a short pdf it looks good and presentable.
The arcane duelist is a master of blade and magic. He wields both with equal proficiency, and is a respected member of society. The pdf provides enough detail to get a flavor of the class, although the concept is nothing new. In this instance the arcane duelist appears to fill the standard fighter/wizard role, with a focus on the fighter, and the implementation rather than its background is the original aspect of the class. In essence this is more of a fighter orientated eldritch knight, but lacking perhaps in the versatility in balance between the two classes that the eldritch knight prestige class provides.
The arcane duelist's key feature is to blend wands and swords in combat, and as such an arcane duelist gains the ability to use wands and strike with a weapon in the same round. Another key feature is the ability to parry spells with his weapon and the ability to counterspell other magic. Other than these three primary abilities, the class is rather bare, simply increasing in BAB while gaining a very limited spell selection (up to 5th level spells at 20th level, but the spell list contains about 30 spells in total through all levels).
The concept of a magic wielding warrior is not a new one, but I think Mob United Media has found some interesting implementations for this in the arcane duelist. I think more could've been done to make the class less empty, and perhaps adding more flavor. Mechanics could've been strengthened a bit by being clearer. For example, at 18th level the arcane duelist gains an ability called Enchant Weapon (which should be Enhance Weapon, you can't enchant a weapon) that gives any weapon the arcane duelist wields a +1 enhancement bonus. While the implication and intent is that it only applies while the weapon is wielded, and is not permanent, a little extra wording would've put the mechanic on a firmer footing as to the situation the enhancement bonus is valid. It's also a rather weak ability to gain at 18th level. How much good is an +1 enhancement bonus at that level in any case? Still, the product has some merit, and the arcane duelist can be used in situations where a more fighter orientated magic wielding class is required.<br><br>
<b>LIKED</b>: OGL: The Arcane Duelist is a warrior-orientated look at the fighter/wizard archetype. It provides some interesting blending of magic and weaponplay, and should fill some niches where other classes fail to do the same.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: The class is perhaps a bit empty in that it offers very little other than the spellcasting and BAB progressions, and in the former case is extremely limited. The mechanics could've used a bit more firming up, or correction in the case of 3e material such as the Pick Pocket skill.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>
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