Fighters, contrary to the way first instincts make you want to build them, are not most effective as the damage powerhouse of the group. It’s certainly possible to build them that way, but if you do, you lose effectiveness in their most useful talent: Making enemies stick to them and soaking up damage. They can most definitely put out a dangerous amount of damage, even when totally set to be a meat shield, but the focus should be on taking blows and preventing other members from taking blows. With the Brawling Fighter build in MP2, fighters get a lot of power choices to move the enemy around and prevent them from getting close to your more fragile allies. The ranger and rogue can put out the damage, but they can’t if they’re dead.

That’s also the premise of the Warlord, although they go about it in a very different way. Warlords can most certainly substitute for the fighter in a pinch, and he definitely has some painful powers, but his forte is on motivating allies to greatness. Whether it’s a warning shout, giving them a bonus against attacks, or letting an ally who can do more damage than you take an attack. Let’s not forget the fact they they can administer healing, as well. It’s not as potent as the cleric’s healing, but is significantly better than the bard’s. This new book introduces a build for the warlord which lets him get away from the front ranks, and stand back and plink off arrows, while still giving the group these bonuses that are extremely important to the outcome of a battle. There’s a first level power for the archer warlord that lets him grant an ally a ranged basic attack. This lets the bow ranger, or the wizard, or the sorceror, etc. get one more shot off, that he normally would not get.

Both of these classes have their own important jobs as members of the martial power group. The new builds, powers, and abilities, offer very unique ways to do it for them, while the rogues and rangers mostly improve on what they already have.

This is much better IMO than MP1 in terms of new content.

Is it my campaign or are there other gamers out there that find this too?

What are the key powers with a Fighter or Warlord that make them dangerous, because the Ranger and Rogue clearly excel in delivering the damage?

Not everyone uses character builder, and plenty of people like having physical books to reference instead of always using the compendium. Some people even enjoy art. There are also some good sidebars and such, though probably not enough to justify the cost difference if that’s all you look for.

If all you need is the rules content, then go for it- consider this review just an overview of the kind of thing you’ll be looking forward to getting in DDI during the next update.

I mean, it seems like they have one chapter that partially deals with a few role-playing tips for how to think about a martial character. That’s not something I feel I would need but ok: that makes sense. But to pay $30 (or $20 on amazon) for something when you could just pay $10 instead for basically 90% of the book? Or more accurately: pay $30 x however many books or $10 instead? I just don’t get it.

If any power source deserves a “Round 2″ for a splatbook, it would be the martial power source. They didn’t get any new classes since the initial release of PHB1, and if not for Martial Power 2, then the constant stream of new classes and power sources would cause people to eventually forget about them. So all in all, I’m glad to see MP2, but aren’t particularly interested in Arcane Power 2 or Divine Power 2…yet.

As for the builds themselves, I have to admit that the archer-style warlord excites me the most (with the brawler fighter coming in as a close second). I’ve recently reread the Chronicles Trilogy from Dragonlance, and it struck me that Tanis Half-elven would make a very good archetype for this build. I’m looking forward to seeing my players use these new options!
.-= beej´s last blog ..Conceiving the Tianak =-.

Well done review!
.-= Neuroglyph´s last blog ..Review – Blackdirge’s Bargain Bestiaries: Dragon-Blooded by Blackdirge Publishing =-.