Introduction (CFH)

Introduction
The ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS® 2nd Edition Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide told you all you needed to know about playing warriors in the game. But it could be that you want to know more than the bare minimum it takes to play the warrior classes.
That's where The Complete Fighter's Handbook comes in. In these pages, we're going to show you lots of interesting things you can do with the warrior classes . . . things that the Player's Handbook and DMG didn't have room to show you.
Do you want to play fighter characters other than Fighter, Paladin, and Ranger? Here we'll give you rules for characters like barbarians, samurai, gladiators, amazons—they're all subsets of the three main warrior classes, but they're here.
Do you want new combat rules? We have them. You'll find rules for different weapon styles, combat tactics, combat maneuvers, jousting, combat results, and many other fighter-oriented abilities within these pages.
Is it new equipment you're after? That, too, is present in copious quantities, from new armor and weapons to new magic items.
Or perhaps you want some role-playing and campaigning tips for your fighter characters—or your campaign in general. In these pages you'll find role-playing advice for fighter characters, and discussion of the role of the fighter in regular campaigns and in all-fighter campaigns.
Whether you're a player or DM, an intent rules lawyer or just someone wishing to add a little depth to your campaign or character, you'll find something here for you. Have fun.
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Incidentally, The Complete Fighter's Handbook presumes that you're using the AD&D® 2nd Edition game rules for Weapon Proficiencies and Nonweapon Proficiencies. Many of the rules presented in this book depend on use of the proficiencies. So if you haven't been using them so far in your campaign, we highly recommend that you familiarize yourself with them and introduce them into your playing.
Here's a special note for those of you who are using this Complete Fighter's Handbook with your first edition AD&D® game instead of the new second edition: This supplement mentions a lot of page numbers from the Player's Handbook and the Dungeon Master's Guide. The page numbers cited are for the second edition, not the first; you'll have to ignore the page numbers given.