The Dark Lady Ninyantë, Mistress of Venom by Rite Publishing

This product is 15 pages long. It starts with a cover and credits. (2 pages)

Introduction (1 pages) This has her history, dreams, Lore and advice on how to use her in the Coliseum Morpheuon setting/adventure book by Rite Publishing.

Stat Blocks (6 page) In this section is three stat blocks of varies levels to be used. In addition to normal full stat blocks each section also has a small tactics advice. Spellpowered amalgam human dark naga shadow assassin 17, CR 21 Spellpowered amalgam human dark naga shadow assassin 11, CR 14 Amalgam human dark naga shadow assassin 4, CR 8

There is also two new feats in this section, both used by her. There is also three new magic items. Once is just a elixir, the other two are very cool. A shadow ring and snake bracer.

Bonus Stuff (3 pages) This section has two templates. Amalgan – Basically you take two creatures, combine them and take a average of their abilities. It is fairly complicated, I had to reread it a couple of times in spots to fully grasp it. Spellpowered – This is a template that lets you give any creature SU abilities that mimic spells.

It ends with a OGL and ads. (3 pages)

Closing thoughts. The artwork is black and white, ranges from ok to very good. Editing and layout are top notch. I didn't notice any obvious errors. This is a very complex and interesting NPC both from a fluff and crunch stand point. It is well written and interesting personality for her, as is the stat blocks complex and interesting. The two new templates where nice, I especially like the Spellpowered one, the feats where good. The magic items where also well done, but that does bring me to one of my two critics of the product. The shadow ring implies it can cast deeper darkness, but it doesn't flat say this. The powers on the ring should have been made more clear. Which bring me to my last critic, the Amalgan template. A clever template but I found it a bit hard to wrap my head around the first time reading it.

So what's my rating? Well this is perhaps the best of the NPC's in the series so far and while some of the bonus stuff could have been more clear, the NPC was perfect. So I am going to give it a 4.5 star review. I almost went 5 stars but felt the ring especially should be cleared up a little to earn a perfect rating. Based on the NPC alone and no bonus stuff then I would give it a 5 star.

Trust me, I'm a Succubus.

This pdf is 15 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page SRD and 2 pages of advertisements, leaving 10 pages of content - Nice!

Following my format for FotS-reviews, I'll start with the lowest-CR-incarnations and work my way up, so let's go! Ninyantë is a very interesting NPC - why? Well, her low-level incarnations is:

• Ninyantë (Amalgam human dark naga shadow assassin 4, CR 8): Yep, we get a complex template base race AND some love for one of my favorite base-classes from SGG. How cool is that? Even better, all the information to run her are given, thus ensuring that you don't necessarily have to buy the SGG guide.

Her mid-level incarnation is:

• The Dark Lady Ninyantë (Spellpowered amalgam human dark naga shadow assassin 11, CR 14): Yep, we get 2 complex templates -YES! Her glorious high-level incarnation is:

-The Dark Lady Ninyantë, Mistress of Venom (Spellpowered amalgam human dark naga shadow assassin 17, CR 21): Oh my, she is deadly. She is beautiful. She is glorious. I LOVE her.

The pdf does not stop there, though: We also get the two templates, 2 poison-related feats and 3 new magic items. Of course we also get a great page of concise, aptly-written introduction to her as a character complete with dreamburning information and a box of advice on how to use her.

Conclusion: Writing is concise, Editing and formatting are top-notch and adhere to the RiP-two-column standard. Her b/w-artwork is nice and the amount of additional content makes reading this pdf an absolute blast. I didn't notice any glitches in the stat-blocks and they are among the most complex of the series as of yet and her CR 21-incarnation stat-block is a stunning beauty to behold. Some love for the extremely cool shadow assassin base-class does help, too. With all this praise, you can imagine what my final verdict will be - straight 5 stars. One of the best incarnations of the series.

Rite Publishing’s Coliseum Morpheuon was a watershed product for the Pathfinder community, providing not only an excellent mini-campaign specifically designed for high-level play, but also providing a great new backdrop for campaigning. This was best highlighted by the incredibly colorful and diverse cast of characters that inhabited the city around the Coliseum. Given that, I was quite pleased to see that Rite Publishing is expanding that roster with their Faces of the Tarnished Souk line, which continues with Dark Lady Ninyante, Mistress of Venom.

A fifteen page PDF file, the product is fully bookmarked, which is always a plus, even for shorter books. The page borders are quite ornate, in Rite’s signature style, which may make printing somewhat difficult. Several black and white interior illustrations are spread throughout the book, showing Ninyante herself and a few of her toys, among other pictures.

The book opens with an overview of Lady Ninyante and her place in the City of the Coliseum. A poison-merchant and socialite, a sidebar covers several ways to intermingle her into a campaign with the PCs – delightfully, there’s also information specific to Coliseum Morpheuon, as it outlines plot threads from that book, and lists Ninyante’s dreams (for dreamburning rules).

Ninyante herself is presented next, providing a stat block that’s every bit worthy of its 21 Challenge Rating. Following this are two new feats, one to grant a creature the Poison Use ability, the other of which lets you make a poison specific to a creature; there’s even a way it lets you poison a creature normally immune to poison, on top of that! Further are three new magic items, all of which Ninyante herself uses. I quite liked these, as one of the big draws among the NPCs of the Coliseum was how they’re not only unique, but have unique stats and equipment. The PCs shouldn’t know exactly what they’re up against, as they’re just a few more fishes in a very big pond.

We’re then treated to two more stat blocks for Ninyante, each at lower CRs. It’s never explicitly stated, but these are probably for campaigns that want a lower-level NPC to use. I can understand that, but perhaps more could have been done here, like outlining that these were Ninyante as she was gaining power and rising up through the ranks of the Tarnished Souk.

Helpfully, the book then lists in full the two templates used in Ninyante’s construction: the Amalgam and Spellpowered templates. While both of these are from other sourcebooks, it was nice to see them here (and updated to Pathfinder as well). I consider this a bonus, since these are among the most versatile of all templates – one lets you merge two creatures into a new creature, and the other lets you assign any number of spell-like abilities.

Overall, this book adds a great new character in the tradition of Coliseum Morpheuon, helping to round out and present new opportunities for such a rich, evocative location. Ninyante, if used as more than a direct antagonist, presents some great opportunities for characters to make an uneasy ally or deadly new enemy among the Coliseum. And like other NPCs in that place, she can easily cross paths with the characters simply because she has a relationship with someone else the PCs might know. Even if you don’t play Coliseum Morpheuon, this is still an exotic, powerful character that’ll add a lot to your game. Pick your poison with this latest entry among the Faces of the Tarnished Souk!