The following review was originally posted at Roleplayers Chronicle and can be read in its entirety at http://roleplayerschronicle.com/?p=30980.

There are some folks you just don’t mess with even in an RPG. If you are running around the Tarnished Souk then there is a good chance you’ve spent a lot of time and effort making your character awesome. Aneshka could ruin all of your hard earned efforts really quickly: really, really quickly.

OVERALL

Perfect Aneshka is a compelling NPC that I would rather be on the good side of. Like so many of the faces in the Tarnished Souk she has an interesting back story that a fantasy novel could easily be written about. Not surprisingly she has so many traits and talents that make her almost undefeatable and complex to run properly.

RATINGS

Publication Quality: 8 out of 10 Rite Publishing was smart to stick with the black and white for their art on this one. Because of their rampant use of stock art some of their products still come off visually as a bit disjointed. I’m not sure if the cover art inspired the character or if it was the other way around, but no matter how it happened they got this one right. The art is simplistic, yet it still conveys the aesthetic lifestyle that Aneshka leads. Based on the extensive detail, I’m guessing this is original cover art. Not only does it fit her description, but her magical bracers, swords and even her neck tattoo are included. The interior art is stock and the varying styles are a bit of a detractor. The page boarders for this book are typical for the series and work just fine.

Mechanics: 10 out of 10 Nothing having to do with the Coliseum Morpheuon is ever simple, mechanically speaking, and Banach and Sluder do an outstanding job of making the impossibly complex manageable. When you have a creature/character that is a CR 22 at it’s highest, there is going to be a lot of rules consultation and numbers crunching. This supplement, like many of the others in the series, does a good job of making those things manageable and useable. There is no escaping some of the complexities but their management is done well by Rite Publishing.

Value Add: 8 out of 10 Because of the extensive templates involved with Aneshka, this product is defiantly geared towards the Pathfinder system. Yes, the concept of Perfect Aneshka, Fate’s Immaculate Blade can be used in other settings and systems, but as written no way. Because of her powers and abilities, Aneshka must be used very carefully. I would compare her to an unlocked loaded gun; not dangerous just sitting there, but could be game changing in the wrong or even the right hands. If you are running a game that has anything to do with Pathfinder, the Tarnished Souk or even extra planer travel, then Aneshka is a good character to use.

Overall: 9 out of 10 FoTS: Perfect Aneshka, Fate’s Immaculate Blade is yet another well thought-out, well-edited and high quality product. It remains complex and full of crunchiness but that does not mean it isn’t a great product. The Tarnished Souk is a deadly place and the addition of characters like Aneshka just re-enforce that fact.

The latest installment of te FoTS-series is 15 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page SRD and 1 page advertisement, leaving a total of 11 pages for the latest addition to Rite's roster of far-out NPCs, so let's take a look at her!

Following my standard for reviews of the FoTS-series, I'll start with the supplemental material: There are archetypes in here, and a lot of them. Special mention deserves the weapon champion generic archetype, one, that akin to those innovated by SGG in what seems to be a long time ago, can potentially be taken by every class: This archetype enables one to specialize in a very close set of weapons and receive rather versatile bonuses when using them, from additional damage to shield bonuses, improved CMBs etc. The physical exemplar is another such generic archetype and portrays a character that tries to hone his/her/its physical form towards perfection, resulting in improved attributes etc. To properly realize which abilities Aneshka has given up in her classes, the ki master and woodland spellcaster archetypes (which are part of the regular classes ability roster) are also defined. Beyond that, we get the urban ranger archetype as well as the serene savage (barbarian) archetype. Due to Aneshka being a half-giant, her racial traits (originally appeared in Psionics Unleashed) are also reprinted. Now, before all the psionics-haters start screaming, you shoudl know that half-giants only get one psionic ability and that is to cause a shockwave with a stomp and said ability is reproduced as well. And come on - that is not particularly psionic now, is it?

Aneshka also comes with 6 feats and a particular specialty: The synergy with SGG continues to my enjoyment and this illustrious member of the FoTS-series is lethal even for the Coliseum - especially due to utilizing two feats from SGG's guide to horrifically overpowered feats: "Gestalt", which grants her the abilities of a monk with the physical exemplar archetype and a barbarian with the serene savage archetype and "Prestigious", which grants her access to the special powers associated with the assassin PrC. Both feats are reprinted here and their benefits are explained in detail. 2 new traits associated with the dreamburning mechanics of Coliseum Morpheuon are part of the deal, as are 6 items, one of which is actually a major artifact. Have I mentioned her 25-point buy or her PC-level wealth? All that is fractored into her Cr and explained, should you wish to create similar characters. Even her lowest incarnation can be considered deadly at CR 8, but the true terror is her CR 22 incarnation - we're talking about up to 9 attacks, the worst of which is at 17!

But what about her as a character? Aneshka has once won the Coliseum - she has drunk from the cup of desires and her prowess is partially a result of this - however, still, she has lost all she ever held dear, her family dead and gone. Seeing this as a twist of fate and punishment for her scrupulous past, the giantess has turned towards a cold fatalism and a belief in the strands of fate and change - at the same time a devoted observer of other's destiny and a harbinger of doom for others. She comes with dreamburning information as well as some rather devious hooks, one in particular awesome if you as a DM manage to stage her continuous reliance and driven nature and belief in the whispers of fate early on and escalate it - but I won't spoil that one here.

Conclusion: Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn't notice any glitches. Layout adheres to RiP's old two-column b/w-standard and the artwork portraying her is nice. The pdf comes fully bookmarked. When I heard that this installment would use SGG's HO-feats, I gibbered a bit - FoTS-NPCs are formidable, cool foes and Aneshka even more so due to them. The amount of options her highly volatile build has are staggering and her combat prowess is frightening indeed, I love it! Her character feels multi-facetted and the additional content - well the additional content and specifically, its implementation, is what makes this interesting: The combination of high point-buys, HO-feats, generic and specific archetypes and all the abilities coming together in one deadly, glorious being of raw destructive power: This NPC and its statblock is a beauty to behold. As a character, Aneshka is also interesting and a multi-facetted being, though there are FoTS-installments I personally prefer - Smiles, Nix-Ra-Bael etc. But from a mechanical point of view and regarding her build, she might yet be the most complex (!!!) character in an array of NPCs that is famous for its elaborate builds. Seeing that I can't find a fault with the pdf and love her build, I am practically forced to rate this the full 5 stars seal of approval,

Endzeitgeist out.