Wizards of the Coast's "Complete" series of Dungeons & Dragons supplements have all been focused on the same thing, making your character "more" of something. More "divine", more "arcane", and now more "scoundrel" (and eventually, more "champion"). If you like the clever sneakiness of rogues, but your DM is sick of you always playing one, now you can use the elements in "Complete Scoundrel" to apply your familiar quick-witted, opportunistic style to a druid, paladin, fighter or whatever!
Now, the format of this book is just about like every other D&D supplement out there, a little intoduction, a little philosophy, and then new prestige classes, feats, equipment, spells and some adventure seeds. However, the "Complete" series usually adds a little something new to each book. In this case, it's "skill tricks" and [Luck], [Bardic Music] and [Ambush] feats. I'll go over these first.
[Ambush] feats allow you to trade in some of your Sneak Attack dice for added effect, like deafness or ability damage or hindering an opponent's ability to speak ("Throat Punch"). Obviously this only affects creatures that can be Sneak Attacked and only goes into affect if the target actually takes damage. [Luck] feats harness the power of "luck", and each feat grants you a reroll of the dice once per game day. The actual feat taken details exactly what kind of roll can be rerolled, though the rerolls themselves are undifferentiated and can be used all on one type of roll or spread out however you like. [Bardic Music] feats allow you to expend a number of your Bardic Music usages in exchange for other effects.
Now what's really exciting is the skill trick. You can think of a skill trick as a "mini-feat" that you buy with 2 skill points. Using the skill trick requires a successful skill check of some sort. It also can only be used a limited number of times per encounter or scene, usually once. Some examples include "Acrobatic Backstab" which allows you to use the Tumble skill to move through an opponent and then stab him in the back. "Corner Perch" lets you temporarily brace yourself between two walls to free your hands for attacking or some other activity. "False Theurgy" allows you to cast a spell that looks like it will be a different spell until you actually cast it. "Spot the Weak Point" allows you to make a Spot check to ignore your opponent's armor bonus on your next attack. As a player of Rogues, I personally find all of these options terribly exciting.
The first chapter of the book discusses what a "scoundrel" is and a variety of "archetypes" to help you come up with a character concept. All good stuff, but nothing all that exciting or new. Then come the prestige classes in chapter two. The "Avenging Executioner" is a murderous vigilante that inspires fear in his opponents with his bloody blades. The "Battle Trickster" is a sort of "combat show-off". The "Cloaked Dancer" uses her magical, beguiling dance to soften up her prey for the kill. The "Combat Trapsmith" can toss off a variety of quick traps, causing any who pass through them to suffer their effects, like fire, sleep, entaglement, webs, confusion and more. A "Fortune's Friend" is extra lucky, gaining extra rerolls, bonuses to saves and similarly "lucky" abilities. The "Gray Guard" are Paladins, but just barely, having come to an understanding with their order that sometimes dirty work must be done for the greater good. The "Magical Trickster" can trade spells slots for more uses of skill tricks. The "Malconvoker" summons evil creatures and binds them to his will to fight other evils. The "Master of Masks" makes magical masks that grant him abilities based on the archetype of the mask, like "angel" or "gladiator" or "lich". The "Mountebank" is a slippery master of multiple identities. A "Psibond Agent" sees through others' eyes and influences their minds. The "Spellwarp Sniper" converts area-effect spells into ray spells and then backstabs his opponents with them. The "Uncanny Trickster" focuses on getting the most out of skill tricks.
Chapter three holds the aforementioned feats and skill tricks. Chapter four has new spells, most of which enhance "rogue-like" abilities or focus on doing things other people don't want you to do. Chapter five covers equipment, some of which is actually interesting, like the "hidden spaces". These include false bottomed containers, hidden pockets, and hollowed-out books among other things. I've had friends who would have loved these rules back in the day. There are also "suprise weapons" which are typically hidden blades. Next comes alchemical items of various sorts. Most in this list seem to be small objects that can be thrown at a target to cause damage if the target is of a certain type (fey, lycanthrope, metal, etc). No book of scoundrels would be complete without poisons, and there are eight interesting poisons in this book. This chapter also contains magic items, like "Aspect Mirrors" (two-way video conference mirrors) and "Panic Buttons" (like those things ninjas throw on the ground before disappearing, but with a wider range of effects).
The last chapter talks about scoundrel adventures, the common tropes of those types of stories, and how to avoid having scoundrelous characters cleverly bypass an entire adventures (while still being fair and entertaining). It also offers sample organizations, maps and legendary sites. The chapter ends with a little insight into NPC contacts and how to best use them.
The books is 157 pages, hardbound, and retails for $29.95 US. The art is standard D&D art, which is to say varied but overall very good. To be honest, for the price, I'd have to think long and hard before purchasing this book, but I can honestly say that if I've got a favorite rogue character, or I'm starting up a long-term game and I plan on being a scoundrel, I'll get a great deal of awesome use from this book.