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This pdf is 8 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial/ToC, 1 page SRD, leaving us with 5 pages of content, so let's take a look at these new bloodlines, shall we?
The cyclopean bloodline gains perception as a class skill and has its spells focused on ill omens and divination, with bonus feats reflecting the divination focus as well as the toughness associated with cyclopes. Among the bloodline powers, we get a gaze of doom as well as the interesting development that has cyclopean sorcerors turn blind on one eye, hampering depth perception. This is offset by two insanely powerful abilities, though: One allows you 1/day to EXACTLY the die-result of one of your die-rolls. While only working for you, that's an automatic critical threat at 3rd level, a 100 on a d% etc. - I don't need to tell you how broken this is, do I? Worse, the bloodline, starting at 9th level, allows these sorcerors to DOUBLE the threat range for ALL attacks - rays, natural attacks, melee, ranged etc. for 3+cha-mod rounds 1/day. Never gonna happen in my campaign.
The Inevitable bloodline has unsurprisingly diplomacy as well as law-spells in its arsenal as well as e.g. combat expertise and similar discipline-themed feats in the bonus feat selection and gains a limited regeneration (3+Cha-mod rounds per day) that improves over the levels. Nothing to complain here. Medusan sorcerors get disguise as class skill, bonus feats appropriate for her like skill focus (sculpture) or brew potion, a slowing gaze, poisonous blood (that lacks frequency, onset etc. and information on whether it can be harvested) and finally undergo an apotheosis.
Otyugh sorcerors (rather disturbing concept, but cool) gain sickening and plague-based spells and bonus feat-selections based on toughness, fortitude and become progressively a carrier for diseases, increased senses and immunity to diseases but strangely not the ability to draw sustenance/heal from waste-consumption - a wasted opportunity indeed. *Puts two cents into the bad pun-jar...* The full color artwork by Tamas Baranya is worth special mentioning here - a cool Otyugh, though I would have preferred an artwork of a sorceror that has undergone the capstone apotheosis into an otyugh/mortal-hybrid.
Sphinx-bloodline sorcerors get access to a Knowledge skill of their choosing, divination/language-themed spells, may utter confusing riddles and shout deafening battle-cries at higher levels. Nothing to complain here balance-wise.
The Stirge bloodline (featured as an awesome example on the cover) gets stealth as a class skills, bleed/insect-themed spells, grappling and agility/disruption-themed feats grows both wings and draining proboscis as well as act as a disease-carrier and create mirror images of yourself. thematically, the most concise and cool of the bloodlines, its solid mechanics back it up. This one is actually really, really good.
The final bloodline would be the unicorn bloodline that gains access to heal as a class skill as well as curative magic as bonus spells and feats that help with rays, self-sufficiency etc. You may manifest a horn, call nature's allies and later even later emulate the kirin, gaining flight. Though probably my players would never stop making virgin/unicorn-jokes, a solid choice.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are good, though I lacked the medusa sorceror's bloodline poison-information. Layout adheres to a relatively printer-friendly two-column standard with some awesome full color artworks I wouldn't have expected at this price-point. The pdf comes fully bookmarked. Oh boy, most of these bloodlines actually have at least one good idea going for them, with especially the stirge bloodline standing out. However, for each idea that stands out, there's also one that would require some balancing imho - the Cyclopean bloodline is utterly broken in my book and e.g. the sphinx, inevitable and otyugh bloodlines all somewhat fall behind their own potential - some more courageous, more unique ideas would have gone a long way there - why can't e.g. sphinx-sorcerors not, gargoyle-style enter a kind of temporal stasis to whether the ages and await intrepid adventurers? Why can't otyugh-sorcerors eat waste to sustain/heal themselves? Why can't inevitable sorcerors swear an oath to complete a particular objective and gain bonuses when seeking to fulfill it? When all's said and done, I feel that quite a few of these bloodlines miss the essence, what makes the parent-creature iconic. Add to that the minor issues here and there and we arrive at an offering that is ok, but not much more, reflected in a final rating of 2.5 stars, rounded up to 3 due to the fair price for the purpose of this platform.
Endzeitgeist out.
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This pdf is 17 pages long, 2/3 of a page front cover, 1 page editorial/SRD, leaving us with 15 1/3 pages of content, so let's take a look!
This pdf kicks off with multiple ways on how to integrate the relics into you campaign, offering an option for DMs (like yours truly) that prefer fewer, but more powerful magic items and a sequence of feats, if you prefer so, to unlock the powers of these relics. Relics as templates or as assumed treasure are also possibilities to introduce them into your campaign. One of the headers in this part features a formatting-relic, btw.
Analogue to the first supplement of the series or the concept of Purple Duck Games' critically acclaimed Legendary-series, these relics are magic items that grow in power with your character's progression. Unlike the legendary-series, though, these relics gain a new ability every level, from 1 to 20. The relics covered again, like in the predecessor, take inspiration from real-world mythology, with e.g. Draupnir, Óðin's Ring that can actually produce gold and offer massive insight-themed bonuses or Svalinn, the shield which in Norse mythology stands before the sun.
But there are also relics not tied to Norse mythology - Like Darkkenhael, the first set of dragonhide armor ever made or the golden Kavacha-armor that is based on the armament of the tantric deities. or the lokanaut, the trickster's ring or the Myrmix, armor of legendary charioteers/champions that would become known as archons.
The pdf also provides DMs with all the tools to create relics for their campaign, featuring powers by level guidelines for light, medium and heavy armors, shields and rings, all step-by-step, level by level.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are very good, though not perfect - from minor formatting errors to a missing space here and there/punctuation glitches, there are several small and unobtrusive minor glitches. Layout adheres to SGG's 3-column landscape standard and the full color artworks, while in some instances seen in other SGG-books, is awesome. The pdf has no bookmarks, which is a minor bummer at this point.
This installment of the Relics-series is imho slightly superior to its predecessor, though still not approaching the fluff usually provided in the legendary series. The DiY-kit to make your own relics is an AWESOME expansion of the first pdf in the line and the fact that relics get something every level is still awesome. But much like its predecessor, in direct comparison with PDG's offerings, we get much less relics. In essence, this is a very straight sequel and the gripes I had against still are there - the relics get no lore-sections, we get less than in the legendary-series etc. However, where this one is vastly superior to its predecessor is in the amount of DiY-relic creation tables: 5 versus 2 in the predecessor. These ensure that this pdf is more useful than its direct predecessor, offering much more tools for the DM to play with. My final verdict, hence, will due to the lack of bookmarks and minor glitches, be 4.5 stars, but still rounded up to 5 for the purpose of this platform.
Endzeitgeist out.
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This installment of the 100% Crunch-series is 32 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page advertisement, 2 pages of editorial, 1 page ToC/foreword, 1 page advice for novice GMs on how to read statblocks, 1 page SRD, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 24 pages of content, so let's check this out!
As with other installments in the series, we kick off with a table that lists the respective creature- stats by CR and also mentions some of the peculiarities associated with determining CRs for templates creatures like zombie lords before we get the zombie lord template and after that, the signature mini-templates to further add versatility to the template. Ranging from CR -1 to CR +2, we get a total of 14 different mini templates - all of which with one exception you'll know from 100% Crunch: Zombies. Alchemical zombie lords, those acting as hosts to insects etc. are part of the deal, but e.g. the akata-spawned void zombies, yellow musk creeper zombies have no representation among the zombie lords - pity! Modifying the templates with some aberrant mutated one would have been awesome. Druid zombie lords with plant companion creepers could have been nasty indeed...
The new simple variant is the Mudra zombie, which adds more arms to the respective zombie lord. Worse, the ineptly-named magus-variant again makes a return - all my complaints about its nomenclature remain intact - for a longer rant, check my review of 100% Crunch: Skeleton Champions. (And since this was brought to my attention: I KNOW that the Magus-title is canon, official etc. - but I still consider it a glaring f***-up by Paizo, who should definitely know better.)
Per se, these variants are nice options, though e.g. granting archer-feats, armor-proficiencies imho does not necessarily need to be included as template variants for a template that presumes intelligent base creatures with class levels and would have been better used for unique variants.
Two of the complex zombie variants, the fast and plague zombie, are also reprinted from 100% Crunch: Zombies. No new complex variant templates in this installment either.
After that, we're off to the selection of statblocks - at CR 2, we e.g. get a dwarf fighter 1, a goblin rogue 2, a hobgoblin fighter 1, a human cleric 2 - so far, so bland. But we also get a merfolk and a sahuagin zombie lord, which is neat indeed. Thankfully, in contrast to the book on skeletal champions, there is more variety herein - monks, adepts, warriors, oracles etc. mean that there is more variety in here regarding base classes.
Where the pdf thankfully completely outshines the Skeletal Champions-pdf is in its variety of base-races: Aberrant bloodline driders, 6-armed harpy oracles, rakshasas, dhampirs, stone giants, young green dragons, aboleths and even babaus complement more standard races like multi-classed elves, infernal tiefling sorcerors, gnoll rangers or straight, level-less ettin zombie lords, resulting in a much more balanced offering than the one on skeletal champions, offering a nice selection of the common and the weird. Personally, I would have loved to see more APG/UM/UC-non-lich-candidate-classes used in the builds, but at least the oracle sees some action.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn't notice any glitches. Layout adheres to RSP's elegant two-column standard and the 2 pieces of b/w-artwork are nice. The pdf comes in two versions, one optimized for the screen-use and one to be printed out. The pdfs also come fully bookmarked.
Huhum. This pdf is a weird one to review for me - on the one hand I'm still bugged about the lack of intriguing new variants that set the zombie lord further apart from the run-of-the-mill zombies. I'm also sort of bugged at the lack of cavaliers (come on - fast zombie cavalry is hardcore!) and relative lack of support for non-core classes. However, at least we get some support for the oracle and e.g. getting a jackalwere zombie lord ROCKS.
On the one hand, much like the issue on skeletal champions, this pdf wastes a chance to improve the base template with unique options and has some massive overlap with the issue on zombies. On the other hand, the base-creatures used are much more versatile and interesting, making this pdf, at least for me, much more usable.
In the end, the installment is superior to Skeletal Champions, but fails to live up to the massive potential a collection of zombie lord stats could have had. Being better than the issue on skeletal champions, but imho worse than the one on liches, I'll settle for a final verdict of 3.5 stars, rounded down to 3 for the purpose of this platform.
Endzeitgeist out.
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This module is 40 pages long, 1 page front cover, 4 blank pages, 1 page editorial/ToC, 1 page SRD, 1 page advertisement, leaving us with 32 pages of content, so let's take a look!
This being an adventure-review, the following contains SPOILERS. Potential players may wish to jump to the conclusion.
All right, still here? House Rodow, a mercantile noble house has seen better days - bad investments had the family fortunes bleed out and the situation escalated - to the point where the family decided to once again summon the demon that made it possible for them to gain their prominence. The problem is, though, that a competing noble family got wind of this and sent off an agent to deal with the summoning, interrupt it and gather evidence. Unfortunately, said agent failed to specify the details of what was to happen to the Rodows.
Thus, the PCs, as soon as they arrive at Rostow Manor, they'll see that a raging fire has recently burned the manor - exploring the house, which is in danger of collapsing, should yield some interesting hints - a lot of sample DCs make investigating what went down feasible. After the Pcs have eliminated 4 wild dogs in the manor gardens, one Pinion Merino with his security, arrives in his carriage and hires the PCs to bring justice to the unknown perpetrators. Tracking the perpetrators into the wood, the PCs will have to deal with orcs before arriving at the home of the culprits - caves of a tribe of mites - where the PCs may also find out that the mites were coerced into the attack on the Rodows. The Mites are not stupid (though not particularly competent) and have among other things, a ballista ready to fire at the PCs...
Now if the PCs manage to defeat the mites, there will be an interesting map with a red x - the x denoting the secret location of the Rodow family's crypt - which Pinion concedes and tells them about the trouble of the Rodow family. Exploring the tomb turns out to be rather tricky - the door is animated and quite some traps litter the locale. Sealed in the tomb, the players find 4 bandits, ready to thank the PCs for their release with death as well as the devil the Rodows dealt with. It turns out that the competing merchant family's agent was behind the downfall of House Rodow - and the PCs have a choice to make: Support the slaughter of a house of devil-worshipping nobles or bringing justice to a not particularly bright agent of a corrupt house of merchants. However they decide, the PCs will have to bring one culprit to justice - or, well, just walk away.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are good, though not perfect - I noticed some minor glitches and the 4 blank pages are slightly annoying when printing out the module. Layout adheres to AaW's 2-column, parchment background-style and the pdf has no bookmarks, which is a mayor downside. The stock art is thematically fitting and the cartography of the two locations (but not the manor) is as awesome as I've come to expect from AaW.
Author Haakon Sullivan's module is an interesting short 1st level module with some challenging encounters, interesting DCs and choices to make - while not reinventing the wheel or blowing me out of the water, it features a permeating sense of decadence and corruption, which is nice to see. That being said, I couldn't help myself feeling like the minor formal issues combined with the lack of a truly inventive idea make this not reach the echelons of excellence. While solid, the story has been done before and honestly, I would have loved to see a haunt here, or at least a slightly more terrain-invested showdown. In the end, I thus feel justified in rating this 3.5 stars, rounded down to 3 due to, among aforementioned minor gripes, the glitches and the lack of a printer-friendly version.
Endzeitgeist out.
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All right, you know the drill - 3 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial/SRD, 1 page content - this time detailing 10 new feats - though only 2 of them have the [Style]-descriptor and most develop the new styles, so let's take a look!
-Basilisk Blink: As long as in basilisk style and with at least one ki point, you gain a gaze attack with 30 ft range that deal 1 point of dex damage to living foes on a failed save versus DC 10+1/2 class levels+ ki-governing attribute modifier. Interesting and balanced thanks to the restrictions.
-Basilisk Stare: Allows you to kill foes your gaze rendered helpless with dex damage with a glance. Ouch, but also rather cool!
-Basilisk Style: Adds 1d3 Dex-damage to stunning fist as long as you have 1 ki-point in reserve.
-Improved Uncanny Style: As long as you have 1 point in your ki-pool, you gain the benefits of uncanny style sans spending ki.
-Phoenix Feathers: When using Wind Stance in Phoenix Style Stance, gain concealment versus both melee and ranged attacks. As long as you have elemental fist uses left, also gain fire resistance 5.
-Phoenix Fire: +1 elemental fist use per day and gain fire resistance 10 as long as you have one use left. Also expend 1 use of elemental fist to gain wis-mod rounds fast healing 1.
-Phoenix Style: When using acrobatics to move through threatened squares and attack with elemental fist, you deal additional fire damage equal to the amount of elemental fist uses left as a standard action. Additionally, this increases your wind stance's concealment to 30% and as long has you have 1 elemental fist use left, you gain fire resistance 1.
-Shifting Style Defenses: When you change styles, you get a +1 dodge bonus to AC for 1 round. Cool idea, but could have been a tad bit stronger for my liking.
-Toughened by Training: Gain +2 Hp per Style-feat you possess.
-Uncanny Style: Spend 1 point of Ki to enter a stance of one of your styles as a part of the initiative check.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are very good, I didn't notice any significant glitches. Layout adheres to Abandoned Art's no-frills 2-column standard and the pdf has no bookmarks, but needs none at this length.
Style feats are a tough sell on me, partially because I consider several of them overpowered and flat-out broken. Suffice to say, I was positively surprised by this pdf's offering: Tying Phoenix Style to elemental fist instead of ki is an interesting decision and even the basilisk style, which could have easily turned out to be a disaster, actually works really well - in spite of featuring a gaze attack. That being said, 2 of the feats feel a bit weak and a bit like filler to me, though their ideas per se are not bad. It is only due to this I will omit my seal of approval for an otherwise cool collection of useful, style-related feats with interesting mechanics.
Endzeitgeist out.
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This pdf clocks in at 13 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page advertisement, 2 pages editorial, 1 page ToC/foreword, 1 page advice for novice DMs on how to read statblocks, 1 page SRD and 1 page back cover, leaving us with 5 pages of content, so let's take a look!
Bossin, unlike the other village backdrops, may ring a bell with some of you: Indeed, the village can be found in the Free Lonely Coast pdf by Raging Swan Press and is the first to detail a village there since the excellent Swallowfeld supplement. If you're familiar with the series, you'll notice that the village's depiction has been streamlined: Going beyond demographics/village statblocks, we get notable folk, locations and items available at the market place all rolled up on one page - all necessary information for the DM, neatly packaged and tied up. Neat!
Following the format of the series, we also get lore-section, an original b/w-map, 6 sample rumors and information on villager dress and nomenclature. Statblock-wise, we get 1 for villagers, one for thugs and one for a half-goblin spy as well as one for the village's corrupt adventurer-turned-reeve, Jacca Lander, who is not only in league with goblinoids, but actually holds the whole village in a kind of extortion ring, terrorizing the poor populace and extorting what meager gains the village has from its lumber and slate resources.
Add to that spurned love and 6 sample events and we have rising tensions in a powder-keg of a village, all waiting to erupt - and adventuring opportunities aplenty.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn't notice any glitches. Layout adheres to RSP's crisp, no-frills standard and the cartography for the village is awesome. Speaking of cartography - you can download the map of the village as a high-res jpeg in two versions, one of them sans keys and numbers on the raging swan homepage - great customer service. The pdf comes in two versions, one optimized for screen-use and one to be printed out, both of which come fully bookmarked.
Bossin is a nice, idyllic village under a brutal sway of bullies and will make for a great low-level proving ground for adventurers, with opportunities to shake off the yoke of the oppressors, be heroic etc. - all in all, a nice village for a very affordable price and while in concept not quite as awesome/uncommon as Apia, still a great addition to the line. Lacking any sustainable complaints, I'll happily award this pdf 5 stars, omitting my seal of approval only because Apia has set the bar so high.
Endzeitgeist out.
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This pdf is 10 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial/SRD, 1 page ToC//introduction, 1 page advertisement and 1 page back cover, leaving us with 5 pages of content, so let's take a look!
This is a book I've been waiting for, since it offers something essentially not really covered by any 3pp out there - new vessels! Furthermore, much to my delight, the book does not simply offer basic vessels, though these can be found in here:
The Dhow, Carave, Bilander and Dromond-ship-classes are fully statted as basic vessels and also come with miniature grid-maps of the respective ships that include all decks where applicable. Pity the book does not offer these ship-maps in large, though.
Where the pdf truly shines, though, would be with its modified vessels - The Good Weather for example is enchanted to be faster and accelerate faster, whereas the Iron Lightning trades speed and acceleration for enhanced armor. The Indefatigable caravel ship is also better armored and slower than vessels of its class and trades in cargo space for more weaponry, while the Night Star is a smuggler's dhow with secret compartments. The Horn of Doom is a minotaur dromond armed to the teeth and horns, whereas the terror trident is using water elementals as an uncommon means of propulsion. The description of the named vessels include enough material to serve as interesting hooks and the crew entries, while not delivering full statblocks, serve as a nice fluffy complement to the ship's crunch.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn't notice any glitches. Layout adheres to a very printer-friendly 2-column b/w-standard with the ship cartography being nice, though leaving me wanting for enlarged, proper maps of the ships. The pdf comes fully bookmarked and with hyperlinks to d20pfsrd.com.
YES! A vehicle book! We need more of these, at least in my opinion and I REALLY like the modified vessels - more and varied vessels that go beyond the ship's standard array of capabilities are always appreciated and in my opinion, long overdue. That being said, While the content is top-notch and worth the low price of admission, I honestly would have liked to get larger versions for these ships. Seeing how this remains my only gripe with this otherwise nifty pdf, I'll settle for a final verdict of 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5 for the purpose of this platform.
Endzeitgeist out.
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Publisher Reply: |
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Thank you for taking the time to write such a glowing review. If you liked this one, you will really enjoy the next installment in the series later this month. Again, thank you. |
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This campaign setting is 258 pages long, 1 page front cover, 2 pages editorial, 1 page ToC, 1 page advertisement, 2 pages of SRD, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 250 pages of content, so let's take a look!
Kicking off with a general introduction, we are introduced to the central topics of Vathak - the land of the native Bhriota-humans has been conquered by the monotheist forces of the Vindari, who have established a rather xenophobic colonialism that has been met with a response truly dreadful - from the bowels of the earth of Vathak, the Old Ones are awakening, their spawn having already eliminated slowly but surely most subterranean cultures and now they are pouring into the land, serving as a twisted infection of reality itself.
As with most campaign settings, we kick off this pdf by introducing the stats for the respective races:
Bhriota get + 2 Str and Con, -2 to Cha, +2 to intimidate, a bonus feat at 1st level, familiarity with axes and Bhriota-weapons, providing a set of racial traits for human ethnicities, something I usually tend to do in my home-game as well to make non-human races stand out more as weird and different beings, both in mindset and culture. If you are a fan of Ravenloft, you will be familiar with Calibans, the deformed beings that have been exposed to twisted magics in the mother's womb, deformed in various ways. Vathak has an analogue race in the cambions, who get +2 St and Wis, -2 Cha, +2 to intimidate, are slow, get darkvision, count as monstrous humanoids, stealth is always a class skill with a +2 bonus for them and they treat their cha as 2 points higher with regards to their sorceror abilities and spell, if applicable.
Dhampirs, the half-blood scions of the almost exterminated vampire lords of Vathak, get +2 to Dex and Cha, -2 to Con, +2 to Bluff and Perception, +2 to saves vs. diseases and mid-affecting effects, light sensitivity, are treated like undead when it comes to positive/negative energy, can detect undead 3/day (though the spell is not in italics) and take no penalties from energy drain, but can still be killed by it. The Romni take a cue from Ravenloft's Vistani in that the race gets skill-bonuses depending on the clan they belong to. They don't gain an additional skill point at first level or whenever they gain a level, but do receive one bonus feat at 1st level. They get +2 to Dex and Cha, but -2 to Int and are set apart by an interesting fluff that has them a race of beings with heterochromia - they all have one golden eye, which, aesthetically-speaking, I consider rather cool.
The quiet and sneaky svirfneblin are the survivors of the onslaught of the Old Ones' spawn and get +2 to Dex and Wis, -2 to Str, -4 to Cha, are small, get +2 to AC, darkvision 120 ft. AND low-light vision, +2 to stealth while underground, +2 to Craft (Alchemy) and Perception, stonecunning, SR of 11+class level, +1 to the DC of illusion spells they cast and are under constant nondetection and may 1/day cast blindness/deafness, blur, disguise self at their class level. If this list doesn't make it abundantly clear: These are essentially the sloppily-converted ECL+3 or 4, I can't remember, race from the 3.5 days of old - at this massive array of powers, the race can in NO WAY even be considered rudimentarily balanced and is completely and utterly BROKEN. My advice: Ignore them and substitute regular gnomes, who generally disguise themselves as street-urchins in Vathak. And yes. I'm aware that the ARG-svirfneblin share these traits. Which is my point here, btw.: Paizo sometimes gets it wrong - hardcore. And the ARG-svirfneblin are just such an example. I'd really be interested in knowing what the designers smoked to consider the race balanced in contrast to even the other ARG-classes... But back to Vathak.
The final race fully described would be the Vindari, essentially the colonialist dominant force in the lands of Vathak. It should be noted that all of these races come with extensive favored class options and age, height and weight tables and that other races like the rare and all but extinct dwarves and elves also are covered.
After that, we're off to the new classes included for the setting - 5 to be precise. For brevity's sake I'm not going into my usual details regarding the respective classes and only provide you with a short overview each. All right? Let's go! The Apostle is a servant of Vathak's One True God and as such must be Lawful good (though the domain write-up features a glitch that mentions lawful neutral... which would be the more interesting option, thinking about medieval Catholicism...). They only get a few skill points and access to spells of up to 6th level, but they gain access to a linear progression of hymns (which can be used a limited amount of times per day) and they also get access to an array of prayers that are organized in four categories (lesser, moderate, greater, true) that must be prepared like spells but work as spell-like abilities and are interesting, though for my tastes a bit too close to spells in format and presentation - opting for a more courageous alternative and all-out banning the cleric class would have perhaps been the more prudent thing to do.
Blade Slingers are imho a base-class no one needs - an agile throwing weapon specialist. Boring and better off as an archetype. The Eldritch Conjuror is Vathak's take on cultists, i.e. casters that dabble in the madness of the Old Ones and are blessed with madness and changes to their anatomy. He spontaneously casts from the summoner-list and gains bonus abilities depending on the Great old One-Idol s/he chooses. Okay class, but honestly not sure how appropriate this is - would have been better off as a summoner-archetype instead of a full-fledged alternate class. Rifleers are rifle specialists that gain bonus damage versus flat-footed and helpless opponents as well as access to a wide variety of trick shots. If you're thinking they'd use gunslinger mechanics, you'd be wrong - and honestly, their mechanics are not better, so a wasted chance and an unnecessary incompatibility there. The final new class is the Sword Dancer, a class that uses sword dance in a mechanic similar to a barbarian's rage, including an array of abilities that work like a momentum/movement-themed version of rage powers.
All the base-classes sans ninjas and samurai and the new classes also get new class options/archetypes in the chapter, ranging from patrons and hexes to aberration-hunting paladins etc. Beyond these class options, which mostly are solid, though nothing that blew me away, we also get a wide variety of feats that allow cambions to succeed at amazing feats of strength, spew acidic bile or use your cloak-fighting skills to get a 20% miss chance versus foes etc. Overall, the feats are solid, though none particularly stood out as brilliant to me. Perhaps I've simply seen too many feats by now.
The equipment-section provides an array of firearms as well as local weapons, most of which actually come with an artistic representation and feature some weird weapons like spigots that drain your blood - though probably not, as suggested, via a vacuum. Various interesting mundane tools are covered as well, as are numerous cool drugs that provide tangible bonuses for the risk of addiction. Two vehicles are part of the chapter as well as an array of sinister magical items. The obligatory spell section provides along-side thankfully comprehensive spell-lists that cover all casting classes a variety of magic that seeks to evoke themes of horror and dread. Unfortunately, many of the spells are simply not that iconic, falling into the been-there, done-that-category and if they manage to evoke cool imagery, are sometimes undermined by the writing: A spell that infects a target with hatching barbed worms s/he has to vomit up has a rather awesome imagery, but sentences like "The stomach of a touched victim begins to rapidly swell, and within their lower intestines, there begins to form thousands of worms.[sic!]" (SoV, pg 129), rip me right out of the setting.
by now, we have taken a look at 126 pages of crunch and delve into the setting itself. Vathak is essentially a small continent that could be plugged into other campaign worlds and the respective write-ups of the lands, complete with heraldry, city-statblocks, haunts and hooks galore are actually a joy to read and both interesting and inspiring. So much so, that I consider them to somewhat offset the relatively weak crunch so far. Indeed, for idea-mining purposes, this chapter is a joy to behold and paints an interesting panoply of lands with rather excessive issues and in dire need of any heroes they can get. Especially jarring then the fact that the writing, while generally rather good, sports faulty prepositions and conjunctions here and there as well as several other, minor glitches that detract from the otherwise interesting setting.
The section on religions is rather short - as it should be, for there is but One True God. Taking a cue from Christianity and the behavior of monotheist religions throughout time, Fat Goblin Games is doing the courageous thing and resist including a whole pantheon of gods, instead opting for this One as a counter-point to the Old Ones also featured in this chapter. While my heart cringes when I see alignments attached to these elder beings, overall I applaud Fat Goblin Games opting to go a route that is less thread. Kudos! Secret societies and factions are also introduced here before we delve into the Gamemastering chapter.
This was what I was looking forward to the most, to be honest: Beginning with an introduction that offers tips for inexperienced horror-DMs, we move on to an actually useful adventure-generator that delivers the idea-starved DM a base foundation to craft an adventure from. Okay, I guess, if you need one. The Fear and Sanity-system included in the book works thusly: Each character has character level+wis-score sanity points they can lose by encountering terrible events or delving into forbidden knowledge, resulting in insanities from the GM-guide. No new ones in here, though we at least get a sample list of appropriate san-losses for events and creatures and for studying tomes of forbidden knowledge. As a personal nitpick of mine: Sanity can be regained via high-level magic and at a RAPID rate, 1 point per level, sans magic, making insanities at best a laughable inconvenience. When compared to how hard it was in Ravenloft (or CoC/ToC) to get rid of insanity, that's almost insulting. On the cooler side, we get an array of weather hazards as well as a nice selection of diseases, some of which sport multiple phases as well as an ok trust-system.
We also get advice on creating settlements as well as 50 different hooks before delving into this book's bestiary-section, where a wide variety of creepy creatures await, some of which you might know from Creature Monthly #1 - unfortunately, a glitch in one of the creatures taken over has not been addressed, reeking of cut-copy-paste. On the plus-side, the artworks ranks among the finest most disturbing PFRPG-artworks I've ever seen and being b/w actually works in their favor. Gloriously twisted. The setting also provides a list of setting-appropriate critters by bestiary (nice) as well as multiple encounter tables, but no index, which is a mayor downer for a campaign setting of this size.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are of a varying quality - ranging from very good to problematic, the excellent writing is oftentimes interrupted by aforementioned wording issues that rip one slightly out of what could have easily been a thoroughly joyous read. Formatting issue like spells that are not in italics and lines that aren't bold but should be can also been found throughout this book. Layout on the other hand is a feast for sore eyes. I am not engaging in hyperbole when I say that this is the most beautiful b/w-layout I have seen since reading the Monsternomicon by Privateer Press. It's just fun to look at this book and thankfully, the team of Fat Goblin Games has opted for a two-column standard over the more cluttered 3-column one that some of their pdfs sport. The same holds true for the artwork - we all know by now that Rick Hershey is an immensely talented artist, but seeing his b/w-drawings makes me honestly wish he'd go more often for this route over color - the artworks herein rank, hands down, among the most gorgeous I've ever seen and the cartography is top-notch as well.
On a downside, while this pdf is bookmarked, it doesn't sport nested bookmarks, which in combination with the lack of hyperlinks or index, makes navigating this book harder than it ought to be.
Damn. this is yet another book where I curse being a reviewer - for I want to like this setting and its great ideas. But really, I can't. Because it sports some compromises that hurt it. For a setting all devoted to Lovecraft's mythos, this campaign setting sports a remarkable lack of understanding where the horror comes from. Let me elaborate: Lovecraft's appeal lies in the indifference and futility of the struggle versus the cosmic forces that at best are indifferent to our existence. Understanding actually unhinges. Adding wisdom as a BONUS to sanity points runs directly contraire to the central tenet of Lovecraftian horror, namely that ignorance is bliss and that the reality behind our perceptions is a horrific place. Both in sanity rules and in the tweaking of PFRPG-rulesets, Shadows over Vathak fails to capture this feeling. The mythos is not to be fought, it is to be survived - at best and only temporarily. In a setting where the creatures are actually well-known, they lose a huge chunk of what makes them scary. Furthermore, we have a problem of systems: While I get that Golarion wilders in the mythos as a pulpy sojourn to have players battle icky tentacle-things once in a while, this is not Golarion. To truly live up to the idea of Lovecraft as the setting purports to, it would have required some massive tweaking of the base mechanics.
Having some experience with a d20-based mythos-game (no, not the terrible d20 CoC...), I would have expected the following: Alternate Hp/health-rules. Barbarians with 200 Hp+ will not be frightened by rats with human heads. Player characters in PFRPG are much too powerful to remain afraid at higher levels in a horror-sense (as opposed to fear of powerful foes). If, however, your level 5 character has 23 health, the whole thing changes - after all, 3 attacks could be the end. Second, the issue of magic. In a world where the Old Ones rise, we'd need some magic that is tainted - Ravenloft and Darkness & Dread followed this concept and I've run numerous campaigns where the corrupting nature of magic, first a ground for complaints by my players, has greatly enhanced the roleplaying potential. It also explains why there's no local wizard academy to blast those aberrant horrors to kingdom-come with a barrage of fireballs. Speaking of wizards: Make arcane magic inherently alien and potentially maddening. I did in my home-game and it worked well - explaining also why not every damn town has its local mage and being much more in line with the Mythos-notion of spells eroding sanity and being WRONG.
Third, the Fear- and Sanity-system herein is almost an afterthought and insulting in its lack of complexity, especially when there are so many interesting and great systems out there that beg to be converted to PFRPG. Fourth: I love the inclusion of monotheism but would have considered a more radical solution a better way: No clerics, no druids, no divine casting. Oracles only (for the One True God and the Old Ones) - and that class should be stripped of just about all spellcasting, with healing being reserved to divine prayers that are not always granted. Using magic to offset disease, poison, parasites, madness etc. ruins many types of horror and in a setting devoted to the spirit of utter futility of the struggle versus the alien creatures - divine magic feels much too common, too alleviating. If it was as rare as accounts of medieval wonders, then this would work.
Fifth: Where are the Incantations? Much more in line with how spells work in the mythos, incantations and rituals, as well as research rules are yet more crucial things missing from the pages of this book.
All of these variant rules suggestions, all a staple of horror gaming, would have greatly complemented this book, offering true mythos-style horror-fantasy while at the same time allowing for more pulpy/mainstream-usages of the setting. Instead, we essentially get a standard fantasy setting - a dark one, yes, but one I maintain that is less horror-themed than Ravenloft because it fails to grasp what makes horror work - either the personal or them impersonal level. There is so much space devoted to classes, spells and feats, of which about 90% is in my opinion superfluous and not particularly interesting or fails to utilize e.g. gunslinger rules. If all of this space had instead been devoted to provide more fluff, more rules to set this setting apart and make it work as HORROR, then this could have been the best setting ever for me: The potential and ideas are there, but as written, the rules almost guarantee that a game set in Vathak will sooner or later devolve into a PFRPG-slugfest instead of a desperate struggle for crucial information to stop a dread ritual.
Mind you, in spite of great research rules (SGG's Anachronistic Adventurers: The Investigator) and Ritual-rules (Zombie Sky Press' Incantations) already existing for PFRPG. Hell, even a more appropriate holy character exists with Necromancers of the Northwest's Priest from the "Book of Faith". So much potential, so much wasted potential.
If you're looking for Lovecraftian horror, then this setting does simply not deliver. If you're looking for a dark fantasy setting with aberrant primary foes and can see beyond all the issues and don't expect all the rules that this setting would have required to make its premise work or just an idea-mine, the this still might be worth checking out. When all is said and done, though, this campaign setting imho still fails to do what it sets out to do. My final verdict will thus be 2.5 stars, rounded down to 2 for the purpose of this platform.
Endzeitgeist out.
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The latest issue of Pathways is 37 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page ToC, 1 page SRD, 10 pages of advertisement, leaving us with 24 pages of content, so let's check these out!
David Paul has an interesting editorial this week about violence in real life and games, about keeping kids safe and about the potential for learning life lessons.
This issue's template provides us with the Divine Champion Creature template (CR +2) that allows a creature to essentially go super-saiyan and turn into an avatar-form and we get a CR 5 sample ettercap using it. Neat!
Will Myers has a new magical beast for us, which comes with a nice artwork - the CR 15 Mutah that can breathe different colors of deadly mists with different effects and may even change skin colors to duplicate spells.
Creighton Broadhurst of Raging Swan Press has a sample encounter for us - the Grave of the Mad, in which the players may encounter some poltergeists and the sample artwork provided is also neat - the best thing, though, is the rock-sliding hazard that accompanies this pdf.
Mike Welham provides us with new foes that ufortunately feature an editing glitch - the Screaming (Cr 6), which is called Screaming C in the creature's text, but just "Screaming" in the header. Per se, the screaming undead with its sound-based attacks is neat, though. The CR 9 Dischord may warp words and are spawned from botched countersongs and the like. Cool!
Daron Woodson, head of Abandoned Arts, answers 20 questions in this issue's interview regarding his neat Bullet Point-length pdfs.
The pdf concludes with reviews of some of the best PFRPG-pdfs out there by yours truly and Joshua "KTFish7" Gullion, fellow reviewer and all-out great human being, who has suffered a stroke. If you find it in you, do me a favor and send some positive thoughts in Joshua's direction. Thanks.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are not as good as in other Pathways-issues, though still good. Layout adheres to RiP's -column standard and the pdf is fully bookmarked, which is neat.
This issue of Pathways is, like all of them FREE and as a free file, it is definitely worth being downloaded and read by you. However, this time around also lacked this one component I'd consider truly brilliant, truly awesome and thus, due to this and the minor glitches, I'll settle for a final verdict of 4 stars.
Endzeitgeist out.
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This pdf clocks in at 18 pages, 2/3 of a page front cover, 1 page SRD, leaving 16 1/3 pages of content, so let's take a look, shall we?
This is the book that almost broke SGG's 1-product a week-stride and it has been in development for a LONG time - justifiably so, as e.g. I recall Mongoose Publishing's rather ill-fated take on Chaos Magic back in the 3.0-days. That being said, I loved the chaos mage in 2nd edition and one of the most memorable characters of my campaigns during that era was one, so I was rather pleasantly surprised to see the crunch-specialists of SGG tackle this particular field. After a short introduction on the basics of chaos magic, we are introduced to a central concept to this particular brand of magic, so-called chaos surges.
Chaos Surges are the result of a chaos mage failing a concentration check or new spells, closely emulating other spells and are determined by the type of targeting of the attempted spell and the surge effect. A d20-table is rolled to determine the modified target and the surge effect does not consume material components, foci etc. required, though the spell that prompted it still consumes them, if applicable. A spell created by a chaos surge cannot be dismissed by the caster. Depending on effect, area, target and you-type spells are covered and the chance for the DM to get creative is also part of the basic options for chaos surges.
A new type of spell-descriptor is introduced as well, the bedlam-spell that can be enhanced, but at the chance of potentially resulting in a chaotic surge - great to see that this avoids confusion with the already existing [chaos]-descriptor. The spell-lists by classes are properly organized and provide new material for all classes, though druids admittedly get the short end of the stick and summoners are completely left out. A total of 18 new spells are part of the deal, allowing chaos mages to make blades anarchic (and confusing enemies for short periods of time, if cast with chaos magic). Bewilderment ranks among the more interesting spells as well, rendering you immune to mind-affecting effects, but at the cost of confusing you. This page also features the rare Super Genius Games-glitch - the spell's header is not bold, instead a part of the prior spell's text is and there are a couple of words in italics that shouldn't be. Cursing foes with failing on any natural 1 on a d20 roll is also rather neat. 9 of the spells are devoted to chaos surges for the varying levels.
The Chaos Surge spells are meaty indeed - they offer you the chance to cast a spell you know of the spell-level of the surge or lower if you succeed at a concentration check of 11+ caster level (retaining the risk and properly scaling with your levels) -the surge transforms into the desired spell. You may even, at DC 16+caster level, try to e.g. cast a second level spell via a level 1 chaos surge! The level 9 version even allows for the use of level 7 and below spells you do not know! You can also incite movement, cancel morale bonuses and aiding one another and teamwork (Loss of Order is such a great spell!), conjure up chaotic maelstrom clouds, massively hamper spellcasting, force foes to reroll and take the lower result and duplicate rod of wonder effects.
Beyond spells, we also get two new archetypes that differ from traditional archetypes in that they are not class specific: Bards, Inquisitors, Oracle, Magi, Clerics, Summoners, Witches, Sorcerors and Wizards may e.g. pursue the path of the Chaos Mage. The central mechanic of this archetype is overcasting - they may cast spells at lower spell levels than they'd usually be if they succeed at a concentration check of 10+caster level+ original level of the chaos spell+ difference between original spell level and spell level used to cast x5.Ona failure, the spell can manifest at half power or manifest as a chaos surge. prepared spellcasters may furthermore opt to unprepare chaos magic and replace one chaos spell with another chaos spell, whereas prepared spellcasters can use overcasting only when they have depleted their resources of a given spell level. The second archetype, the spellstorm, represents the unbridled power latent in the character and allows them to enter a casting-enhancing eldritch fury - though at the potential of creating chaos surges while in the mode. A total of 12 fury powers, analogues to rage powers in how they work, are also provided and allows for knowledge of the type of chaos surge effect a cast will entail, improved accuracy etc. The editing here is also not as tight as I've come to expect from SGG, as the respective entries refer often Stormspell, potentially confusing readers. I also noticed a reference to the barbarian base-class, a remnant of cut-copy-pasting.
The pdf closes with a new hazard, the Zone of Arcane Ataxia, a more limited wild magic zone that makes the magical energies harder to control. 10 variants of this zone with respective DCs to control the magic are provided. The pdf also features extensive advice for DMs regarding the introduction of chaos magic and how to balance it.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting show that this pdf did not have the luxury of a second pass at editing, sporting numerous glitches that are atypical for releases by SGG and could have been easily avoided. While they never reach a point where they make the rules harder to understand, they remained a distraction throughout my lecture of this pdf. The pdf adheres to SGG's 3-column landscape layout and the mostly full color artworks are dazzling in their beauty. The pdf comes fully bookmarked.
I may be the wrong guy to review this pdf, since I admittedly have a positive bias to Chaos Magic - I love the concept, and moreover, I absolutely adore the execution: Chaos Surges rock, make combats more exciting for the characters and if you're like me and once had a character succeed at a series of dice-rolls that had a about a 1: 10000000000000000-chance to work in his favor, then this is the book for you.
If your group still talks about legendary rolls of the bones like that and if you want to add a sense of unpredictability to your magic, then this is a REQUIRED purchase: It adds a sense of wondrous danger to magic that I enjoyed in 2nd edition's chaos magic take, but with MUCH more concise rules. I LOVE this pdf to death. Concept, execution, all awesome - though perhaps not for every group. If your players are afraid of characters dying due to chaos surges, of potentially friendly fire or if immature and dangerous uses by the chaos mage player would crop up, then this could be problematic - as the pdf acknowledges. I maintain, though, that in the hands of a mature group and moderately skilled DM, this pdf can bring tons of fun and excitement to your game. Were it not for the uncommon amount of minor glitches, this would be a straight 5 star + seal of approval file, but as provided, I can't go there, as much as I'd love to, forcing me to settle instead for a final verdict of 4.5 stars, rounded down to 4, but still with my seal of approval. This is one glorious supplement that manages to tackle a topic that is extremely hard to balance design-wise and succeeds at that nigh impossible task.
Endzeitgeist out.
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This pdf is 12 pages long, 1/2 page front cover/editorial, 1 page SRD, leaving us with 10 1/2 pages of content, so let's check this out!
First of all: What are hauntlings - well, the theories for their origin differ from speculations on ghosts replacing an unborn's soul to residual resurrection-magic-radiation gone awry, but the result is a peculiar breed of beings with a close tie to ghosts. As such, they can be born from any parent-race and the hauntlings can expect to be ostracized by most cultures. On the mechanical side, hauntlings get +2 to an ability-score of their choice, count as humanoids with the half-undead subtype, get darkvision 60 ft., +2 to saves versus mind-affecting effects (also to spells? The pdf does not specify...) and diseases, react to negative energy as if they were undead (i.e. are harmed by positive energy), don't incur penalties from energy drain (but can be killed), get +2 to two Knowledge-skills of their choice and treat them as class-skills and can create a silent image that only exists for a single living being.
The race also comes with 5 alternate racial traits that allow them to conjure up mists 1/day, become incorporeal (though the text contradicts itself - is it 1 minute per day or HD rounds per day?), get +1 to DC of their phantasm-subschool illusion and cast 1/day dancing lights, deathwatch, ghost sounds and prestigidation, 1 /day make one opponent shaken on a failed save or emit a howl 1/day that shakens all non-(Half)-undead .
The hauntlings also get 4 racial traits that represent their close connection to undead - nothing to complain here. Neither is there anything to complain about the favored class options available that span all the different Paizo-classes minus ninja and samurai. A total of 9 feats for the hauntlings are also included in the pdf, offering interesting options: From tapping 1/day into the knowledge of the dead to make an int-based skill-check as if you were trained in it and gain HD-ranks as well as the option to take 10 to making an invisible sensor to spy on others 3/day. However, the feat, on a formal level, does not provide the necessary information whether the sensor is magical, can e detected etc. and also features a minor formatting glitch with the "Special"-line being not bold. Other feats allow you to extend your phantasms to multiple creatures and even include sound, smell and thermal components and even modify memories.
The memory-implanting includes a weird line that has me puzzled, though: "You can only change the details of an event the subject actually experienced, or implant a memory of an event the subject never experienced." Come again? I don't get this restriction, even after reading through multiple times. Does it mean that not both can be done in one application of the ability? Also, regarding thermal components: Can these potentially damage those inflicted by phantasms? I wager no, but again, I'm not sure. On the cool side, you can also use your phantasm to make yourself invisible to a living creature and have your phantasm spread via touch of those inflicted with it. How this viral phantasms interact with mass hallucinations and modify memories: If I modify the memory of a creature and add the viral component, does the modification spread to others?
Aura Sight as a feat hits a pet-peeve of mine, it allowing you determine attitude, creature type, subtype class and level/HD of a creature by studying it for 5 rounds. While there's a save against the ability, I still don't like metagamey information like that and even with the study-caveat, the amount of information gleaned is too much for my tastes. Finally, you can take a feat to gain an animal companion-like bond that looks like a globe of light that get perfect fly-speed 60 ft. and uses TOUCH-ATTACK rays. Two of them. WHAT? Animal companions are already powerful boons, but adding a touch attack to their arsenal is downright broken - don't think so? Build a summoner or hauntling druid and get this as A FEAT and see balance take a nose-dive.
We also get 4 nice mundane items, with ghost salt coating making damaging incorporeal adversaries possible, a cloak that is harder to steal from, bone-enforced leather armor and a book on funeral practices of a particular region. Unfortunately, the ghost salt lacks a DC to create it as an alchemical item.
We also get a total of 7 different magical items that range from gloves that confer the ghost-touch property to an oil that makes regular armor to work against incorporeal attacks, a ghostbuster-style bronze coffin that can suck undead in, an undead-detecting torch, a vial that contains positive energy to damage haunts to 3 types of essentially ouji-boards. What slightly upset me here is that of the magic items are straight reprints from Super Genius Games' "4 Ghostbusting Items" - that wouldn't be that bad, were it not for the fact that they imho are the most iconic ones. Oh well. In a formatting peculiarity, the last two items (which share a page) deviate from the layout of the book, suddenly switching to a 2-column standard.
Two pages are devoted to variant hauntlings that can replace the traditional hauntling abilities/racial traits, allowing you to play descendants of banshees, ghouls, reapers and huldrefolk.
Finally, the pdf offers us a table with unsettling hauntling characteristics, providing 48 (not counting roll twice/thrice) entries that include heterochromia, drawing flies and gnats, strange birthmarks etc. Nice to add further flair to the hauntlings.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting, as much as I loathe to say it, are subpar - there are numerous instances of text that should be bold, but isn't, spells not italicized and even rules contradicting one another. Since the issues in my opinion impede the usability of the race, this will reflect heavily in the rating.
Layout adheres with one exception to a 3-column portrait-format, which feels slightly crammed - especially since the one page that adheres to a 2-column standard is much easier to read. Why this decision to mix two layouts has been made, I don't know, but I do know that imho, the latter is superior for everything but entries like the final table. Now it is no secret that artist Rick Hershey is a core member of Fat Goblin Games and it shows - especially for such a small pdf, the artworks are staggeringly beautiful and add A LOT to this pdf's appeal in their full-color glory. Especially at this price-point impressive indeed. On the downside, though, the pdf is not bookmarked, which would have enhanced its user-friendliness.
This is one of the pdf where I HATE being reviewer. Why? Because the Hauntlings are a GREAT race. their phantasm-hallucinations that only certain people can see and the idea of expanding upon them is GREAT, glorious even. The race hits a nerve with me and I really, really like the race's concept. That being said, unfortunately, the pdf also suffers from various glitches that make me cringe, prime of which would be the contradictory durations of turning incorporeal in an alternate racial trait. Unfortunately, these glitches that influence directly the usefulness of the whole race, are a theme for this pdf - there are numerous abilities that would require some additional clarification, from the nature of their spying sensors to how multiple of the phantasm-feats interact. Which is a DAMN PITY, for idea-wise, these are GLORIOUS. No, really - things only one person can see? And then suddenly multiple ones? Infectious hallucinations? AND the modification of memories? This is narrative GOLD, especially for horror-themed scenarios or DMs wanting to run an unsettling gas-lighting plot, making PCs doubt PCs, eroding belief into one's sanity. The potential is VAST. Concept-wise, I wouldn't hesitate rating this pdf 5 stars + seal of approval.
BUT: There are so many minor glitches that accumulate to the point where I have to rate it down. And then, there are the major ones - add missing craft DCs for an alchemical item, a completely broken feat (companion with 2 (!!!) ranged touch attacks? WHAT???) and we have the mess. Don't get me wrong - this pdf can easily salvaged by a competent DM and be the 5 star + seal of approval file of its potential. But I can't rate it that high. In fact, for the glitches and issues that hamper actually using the hauntlings, I'd usually bash this pdf down to 1 star. But I can't. Why? For even though this pdf requires work on the DM's side to balance and use, its concepts remain top-notch, awesome and cool, even if you already own the ghostbusting BP.
How to rate this, then? I fought long and hard with myself since I've rarely encountered such a vast, yet easily fixable discrepancy between a product's ideas and their execution. Author Rick Hershey has created a race I actually WANT to play, want to use in my campaign - and will. If you're picky and want a balanced go-play-race, ready to drop in, then steer clear of this pdf, at least until it has been fixed. If you don't mind the glitches and are willing to work to make the wonky bits work, then GET THIS. As a reviewer, though, it would be unfair towards other pdfs I reviewed to look over the obvious problems this pdf has and thus have to settle on a final verdict of 2.5 stars, rounded down to 2 for the purpose of this platform.
I sincerely hope this will get a revision that makes the abilities work sans ambiguity, for it is easily a high-concept, 5-star-potential racial ecology.
Endzeitgeist out.
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All right, you know the drill - 3 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial/SRD, 1 page content - this time detailing 8 new feats dealing with alchemy, so let's take a look!
-Alchemical Cocktail: Add an ingested alchemical item to a potion and ingest both - to maintain balance, the combined potion has to be ingested in 1 round or lose all potency. Still, a nice idea!
-Cerebral Surge: Reduce Cognatogen-bonuses to gain access to mage hand, detect thoughts and telekinesis, depending on the amount of bonuses you sacrifice. Cool one!
-Devious Trapsmith: Incorporate alchemical items in your regular or ranger traps, making them slightly more deadly. Ok, I guess - but not worth a feat.
-Gruesome Transformation: Sicken intelligent creatures that witness your cognatogen or mutagen transformation. Neat!
-Mad Bomber: This one really cool, as it allows you to maintain up to 3 delayed bombs at once. Nice!
-Mutagenic Alchemy: Mix acid, alchemist's fire, antitoxins, thunderstones or tindertwigs with your mutagen for varying benefits - cool idea, but bad format: that could have been a whole supplement. For a feat, it works, but feels a bit limited.
-Scientific Curiosity: + 1 to Craft (Alchemy, Traps), Disable Device, heal, Profession (Engineer, Herbalist), Knowledge (Engineer, Nature)-checks. Okay, varied skill bonuses, but not too exciting.
-Weird Science: Effects produced by extracts may not be identified with spellcraft. On the one hand very cool, but the lack of other options of identifying means that the extracts could become comparatively powerful. Not comfortable with that one.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are very good, I didn't notice any significant glitches. Layout adheres to Abandoned Art's no-frills 2-column standard and the pdf has no bookmarks, but needs none at this length.
This pdf provides some interesting feats with unconventional mechanics - the sacrificing of bonuses for example feeling like a good idea, as does the genius mad bomber feat. That being said, Weird Science screams for abuse and some of the feats herein don't reach the excitement of their fellows. All in all, we thus arrive at a solid addition to the series, providing at a low price an interesting array of alchemy-themed feats and a solid 4 star-verdict, not quite reaching the upper echelons of 5-stars.
Endzeitgeist out.
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This installment of the Treasures of NeoExodus-line is 5 pages long, with 1 page being devoted to editorial/SRD, so let's take a look!
The legend of these two items is intriguing indeed, as they were once wielded by Desert Shade, mythical first Khagan of the Dominion and crafted for him by his bride to be to vanquish a common foe, a wizard of grand notoriety and cunning. Much like the former installment of the series, the writing is actually quite good and adds a nifty legend to the items.
Me using the plural stems from the fact that this installment of the series actually covers two items, first of which would be Wyrmclaw, a +1 keen dispelling burst scimitar that can siphon dispel magic or greater dispel magic from foes hit. A minor gripe here would be that the DC to avoid the siphoning is fixed and does not scale with wielder-levels.
Dragon's Breath is a +3 wyrmsbreath (fire) light wooden shield that, when wielded in conjunction with the scimitar, allows the wielder to burn stored charges in the shield to grant it temporarily the flaming quality as well. Nice duality between the mechanics of both weapons.
Learning from Peace & Tranquility, we actually get 2 pages of item-cards, with covers for either weapons or both of them on one card - very cool!
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are very good, though the shield's formal powers are not in italics. Layout adheres to LPJr Design's 2-column full-color standard and the artworks for both items are nice indeed. The pdf comes in two versions, with the latter providing a slightly more printer-friendly layout. The pdfs are not bookmarked, but don't have to be at this length.
Mechanics-wise, I have nothing to complain about these two weapons, their combined abilities feeling cool and sound in execution. While powerful, neither is unbalancing and in fact, for such a mythic duo of items, fall a bit on the weak side of things - but that is mainly due to their association with the first Khagan. All in all, this ranks among the best installments of the series, with the improved item-cards adding the slight tip that offsets the italics-glitch. My final verdict will hence clock in at 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5 for the purpose of this platform.
Endzeitgeist out.
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This installment of Rite Publishing's free e-zine Pathways is 34 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page ToC, 9 pages of advertisement, 1 page SRD, leaving us with 22 pages of content, so let's take a look!
This issue's editorial features an interesting point made in favor of transformative experiences and how to deal fluff-wise with them - I actually wouldn't mind seeing a full article on the topic covered here!
This issue's template is the lustful creature template that clocks in at CR +2. Steven D. Russell not only have quite literally burning desire inciting strikes and an aura of lust, but also increased enchantment and fertility - their offspring may grow within a year! Furthermore, they have a gaze attack that strips equipment-based bonuses from the targets - a powerful, cool signature ability.The CR 12 rakshasa is illustrated by Ian Greenlee and the unique style is AWESOME. I'd love to see more artworks done in this style in future publications - kudos!
Creighton Broadhurst of Raging Swan Press provides the EL 8 Domain of the Elder Spider - coming complete with extensive terrain information as well as spider statblocks provided for the different spiders at home in the locale. A nice, easily inserted locations.
Thomas Leblanc, one of the recently risen to prominence talents in crunch design provides us with new universal monster rules in the guise of rules for suspendable emanations, monsters that radiate (making grappling dangerous) or granting it protective exteriors à la spines etc. Really nice, short article.
As a prime example of RiP listening to fans and reviewers like yours truly, one of my minor criticism with the otherwise stellar "In the Company of Monsters" is addressed in here by providing 9 alternate racial traits, with one in particular being interesting - it allows a gargoyle access to stoneskin, but only after 7th level. Interesting design-decision and something I wouldn't mind seeing more often! Furthermore, favored class options are tied to one of the alternate racial traits, providing options for alchemist, barbarian, cleric, inquisitor and ranger, but more importantly, also covering armiger, gladiator, divine channeler, stoenwarden paragon, time thieves, witch hunters and war masters. Awesome to see this 3pp-support!
The mastermind behind LPJr Design's unconventional products, Louis Porter Jr. is this issue's interview partner and has some rather interesting things to say, though no beans are spilled regarding anticipated NeoExodus-releases like the Hive and the book on Quickslavers. Still, an interesting read!
Finally, several reviews of yours truly are provided in the final chapter, giving you an overview of several of the better products I've taken a look at in the last month.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn't notice any significant glitches. Layout adheres to the much streamlined 2-column full color standard of the e-zine. The pdf comes fully bookmarked and, as mentioned, I LOVE the artwork and would absolutely adore it if we saw full-blown products adhering to this aesthetic.
Beyond one of the coolest artworks in the history of Pathways, the overall issue is a rather strong one, with the simple, yet cool universal monster rules and gargoyle-expansions as well as the excellent template offering quite some cool pieces of crunch available all free and honestly, at 0 bucks and with relatively few advertisements, this is a hard offer to beat indeed and well worth your HD-space. My final verdict will thus clock in at 5 stars + seal of approval for yet another great free offering by RiP.
Endzeitgeist out.
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The second installment in the wilderness dressing series is 13 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page advertisement, 2 pages editorial, 1 page ToC/foreword, 1 page SRD and 1 page back cover, leaving us with 6 pages of content, so let's take a look!
We kick off this installment of the dressing-line with a table of 100 minor events, much like we did in the installment on woodlands, and much like that installment, the events range from the mundane to the mystical - murders of crows flocking around the carcass of a large animal, half-dug grave-like holes, broken hunter's traps, centaur trails - and even ant hills, creepy pumpkin-like effigies and strange lightning strikes make for a nice array of bits and pieces to flesh out your plains.
A second table of, again 100 entries, makes up for the second meaty bit of the pdf, providing e.g. owlbear-bones picked clean, dubious signs proclaiming ownership, shattered wine-glasses at a well-used camp site, vast amounts of brilliantly colored flowers, crossing streams, shed griffon's claws etc to spark adventures or just make the plain more lively. Where did the nobles (peasants can't afford glass or wine...) go? Is the griffon still around? What killed the owlbear?
The 12 sample encounters are also interesting - from wild ponies crossing the PC's paths to a lich that has returned to his peasant parents to exact vengeance for his unpleasant childhood, the respective entries run a sufficiently large gamut to be useful for most DMs out there. The pdf closes with common terrain features of plains, covering hedgerows, fences and trails and the types of undergrowth that can be found there.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn't notice any glitches. Layout adheres to RSP's elegant, printer-friendly two-column standard and the pdf comes in 2 iterations, with one being optimized to be printed out and one intended for screen-use. Both are extensively bookmarked.
Much like the first installment in the woodland-dressing-line, this offers us not a generator for the respective terrain, but rather things and oddities to populate the area with, adding interesting options and hooks galore, serving as a great way to inspire beleaguered DMs and adding detail to an otherwise bland terrain archetype. Much like for Woodlands, I'd appreciate a generator, perhaps in the "So what's..."- series, allowing for the customization of flora and fauna, trails, hedgerows etc. and much like that one, my final verdict for this well-crafted contribution to the series will clock in at a well-deserved 5 stars + seal of approval.
Endzeitgeist out.
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