Complete Fighters Handbook- One of the best

Complete Fighters Handbook (PHBR1) by Aaron Allston Published in 1989.

Aaron Allston was one of the most successful freelance writers that TSR used. He wrote for many different product lines. His work has a certain flair to it. His writing does a good job of starting out in a particular direction and then leaves room for expansion. Other good D&D writers and designers have this flair, too. Reading well-written material makes the reader excited about playing D&D. Aaron Allston was a writer who could bring excitement.

The Complete Fighters Handbook (CFHB) is a good mix of rules and role-playing ideas. The rules and roles balance is a tough one. Too many rules and the characters tend to become too much more powerful. Too much role-playing information and the supplement is empty and hollow.  The CFHB is one of the best of the "Complete" handbooks for second edition.  It gives you an idea for how kits were supposed to turn out as mostly aids to roleplaying with a maybe one bonus and one hindrance that was different than the basic class.

The CFHB also has good optional rules for enhancing combat such as rules for weapon proficiency by type of weapon rather than name of weapon.  It also has suggested rules for fancy swashbuckling-type moves.  Players of other editions may benefit from the roleplaying suggestions for several different stereotypical fighter personalities.

Highly recommended! 5 out of 5 stars