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An Endzeitgeist.com review
The final installment of the FoTS-series is 25 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page SRD and 2 pages of advertisement, so let's take a look!
Following my format established for the FoTS-series, I'll first tell you about the additional content herein: Template-wise, this pdf provides us with teh Worm-that-Walks-template (CR +2), the Divine Creature template (CR +1), the Hive Creature template (CR +2), the Beyondling template (CR +2) and the aquatic creature template ( CR +0). Beyond these templates, we also get the universal beastlord and mystic archetypes as well as the Blight Druid archetype for...surprise: The druid. Didn't see that one coming, now, did you?
Kidding aside, we also are introduced to the Void domain and the dark tapestry subdomain and 6 new feats: 3 of these feats allow you to create wondrous creatures and advance/augment them via the respective feats. The other feats cover the monkey style, gaining a spell from a spell-list you usually have no access to or increase your caster level. There is also a new trait that allows you to conjure forth a being from the stuff of dreams. We also get the information for the breaking and shattering magic weapon qualities.
And then there are the signature magic items of Yog'vhus'chuul - Bracers of the Monkey may seem common, but then things start getting...unique. His mask combines the benefits of 2 magical masks, his vest is a combined version of no less than 3 (!!!) magical vestments and his amulet also combines 3 item-benefits. His slippers have the combined properties of no less than 6 (!!!!!) different magic items - and that is not where everything stops, quite to the contrary: His weapon, teh rod of the veiled mastsers falls just short of being artifact-level powerful, while his robe is a major artifact: Protecting against all elements, it allows the wearer to conjure forth massive amounts of powerful elementals - and even shoggoths! And he also gets a Lokanaut-ring - a godling-relic. What are godling relics you ask?
Well, Super Genus Games has so far released two pdfs providing rules for magic items that improve in power over the levels - each and every level of your character unlocks a new ability for the item and the Lokanaut, introduced in the Genius Guide to Relics for the Godlings II, is part of Yog'vhus'chuul's arsenal. Ouch!
Beyond regular supplemental crunch, we also get a host of stats that are not different incarnations of the NPC - we get stats for the Advanced Grindylow (CR 1),Blotfly swarms ( CR 4), Advanced Froghemoths (CR 14), 6- and 10-headed Cryohydras (at CR 8 and 12), advanced stirges (CR 1) and finally, Syncs - weird humanoids that gain strength when fighting prolonged fights as they start adapting to their foe's power.
The statblocks of Yog'vhus'chuul clock in at CR 10, 15 and 21 and each comes with two variants that use other templates, adding more versatility to the stats, but as with any FoTS-installment, it's not only the stats that make this installment interesting - it's the story as well.
Here are minor SPOILERS. Potential players may wish to jump to the conclusion.
Still here? All right - we actually get dreamburning information for this character as well as a how-to-use - for the creature called Yog'vhus'chuul is not your regular villain: It considers itself rather benevolent, the influence of the dark tapestry a step forwards in evolution - for he is a druid, though one devoted to the alien nature of foreign dimensions, gleefully watching the progress of not only his minions, but the blending of dimensions itself. And all the while, he is posing as a relative harmless fishmonger with a gassy froghemoth - in plain sight.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn't notice any glitches. Layout adheres to Rite Publishing's old rune-bordered 2-column b/w-standard and the artwork of Yog'vhus'chuul by Juan Diego Dianderas is awesome. The pdf comes extensively bookmarked for your convenience.
So...this is it. The final installment of what has by now become my go-to-series for awesome NPCs with complex builds, for the one series that continuously brought us complex characters worthy of the name with advanced, extremely versatile statblocks. The series that combined more third party publications in unique ways than any I had ever seen and that has vastly enhanced the already impressive awesomeness that is Coliseum Morpheuon. It is with one teary eye I read the farewell-note included in the pdf, but I'm glad as well - glad that the series can go on a high note. While probably no NPC ever will beat my all-time favorite Nameless Nil, Yog'vhus'chuul is both an interesting build and cool character to end the series on.
What I do know is that I'm looking forward to what Justin Sluder and Matt Banach are up next - Matt is currently writing his novel - and I'm sure we'll be seeing some interesting content from both. Oh, I forgot my final verdict - this, once again, due to awesome content and fair price, is worth 5 stars + seal of approval.
Endzeitgeist out.
| Wertung: | | [5 von 5 Sternen!] |
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An Endzeitgeist.com review
The third installment of the Dungeon Denizen-series deals with EL 3 encounters and is 13 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page advertisement, 2 pages editorial, 1 page ToC/foreword, 1 page SRD, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 6 pages of content, so let us take a look, shall we?
By now I assume you’re familiar with the formula of the series – if not, here’s the cliffnotes: Essentially, we get 3 d12-tables, with each entry of a table not only mentioning a creature to encounter, but also a rather extensive fluff-text you can use to paraphrase encounters, act as dressing or inspire you to create living dungeon environments. While default enemies straight from the bestiaries are included in these pdfs, there usually also are some non-standard entries, which hence come with full statblocks.
The EL3-installment kicks off with the dungeon area-table, which already is a neat intro to what to expect – take e.g. advanced and young simple creature templates applied, but even the standard creatures come with interesting angles – for example the skulking doppelganger… Among the unique creatures, we get a minotaur skeleton as well as a witch (nice!) specialized in controlling others who lives underground with her enslaved harem of men…
If you’re like me and enjoyed paizo’s take on adherer (in the glorious Misfit Monsters Redeemed), you’ll be happy to hear that an adherer features among the encounters specially designed for cavern/underdark areas. A thievish bard and a rogue drow crossbow sniper escaped from the oppressive drow cities also are provided – but my favorite would be the Basilisk Plague Zombie. Yes. Basilisk Plague Zombie. If you’re like me, that put a sinister smile on your face.
The final table, as has become tradition by now, provides wandering monsters – and we actually get a joyfully dysfunctional goblin family, an elder darkmantle and some more interesting ones as well: Take for example a claustrophobic ogre, a mother with her children lost in hostile territory (due to the cruel machinations of a werewolf, an ancient elf looking for a specific mushroom – and even a quickling.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn’t notice any glitches. Layout adheres to RSP’s elegant 2-column b/w-standard and the artworks are stock, but fitting. The pdf comes in two versions, one optimized for the printer and one for screen-use and both are fully bookmarked for your convenience.
Author Alex Connell is hitting his stride with this installment of the series – while I’m still not sure whether the line can stand its ground in the few pages an installment has in higher ELs, at EL3 it works exceedingly well and actually better than in EL2’s installment – the creatures and NPCs provided offer quite a variety of cool creatures to make this installment work well, hitting the perfect balance between the weird and common and I’m actually rather impressed at the amount of content this pdf has crammed into its pages – a solid, neat addition to the series and definitely a pdf that will enrich your dungeoneering experience. As such, I’ll gladly rate this 5 stars plus seal of approval.
Endzeitgeist out.
| Wertung: | | [5 von 5 Sternen!] |
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An Endzeitgeist.com review
This installment of the Amazing Races-series is 4 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page SRD, leaving us with 2 pages of content, so let's check this out!
The pdf kicks off with 6 new feats for Dwarves:
-Bonded Craftsman: Count as +2 class levels when adding magical abilities to your bonded object and +4 to Craft and Profession when adding abilities to your bonded object or creating/adding abilities to a bonded object of the same type.
-Dwarven Ringsmith: When only wearing rings you crafted yourself, you may wear up to 3 rings at once. Finally, if you have the Master Craftsman feat, you may count your chosen skill ranks as an effective caster level for creating rings. Awesome one!
-Dwarven Vitality: +2 to saves versus diseases.
-Golem Engineer: Repair all HP-damage to constructs in 8 hours. AWESOME!
-Improved Smith's Sight: + 4 to checks to identify magic properties of items.
-Smith's Sight: Identify magical properties via Craft skills instead of Spellcraft - Superb!
Dwarves also gain 4 new character traits: Bonuses to appraise and craft skills and appraise as a class skill, cold resistance 1, fire resistance 1 or +1 to Perform and bardic knowledge-checks.
We also get 2 new alternate racial traits - Dwarven pride being one of the coolest I've seen: You exchange greed and hatred for the ability to suppress the shaken condition while at least one ally can see them - the penalties still applying, except against further fear-effects. The second racial trait exchanges greed with +2 to Knowledge (local, history) to answer questions about or identify foes of dwarvenkind.
The pdf also provides a new archetype for dwarven rangers, the Goblinmasher, who may apply the bonus netted from the compulsory Humanoid (goblinoid) favored enemy to all goblin-related enemies like barghests, goblin dogs etc., detect goblinoids by scent and may grant his favored enemy bonus to allies instead of only his animal companion.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn't notice any glitches. Layout adheres to Abandoned Art's 2-column no-frills standard and the pdf has no bookmarks, but needs none at this length.
This pdf features some of the best feats in the series so far and has quite a bunch of cool options that help make dwarves more iconic and the dwarven pride alternate racial trait is genius. Not all is superb, though, with the Dwarven Vitality feat feeling like filler and the racial archetype being not that exciting. All in all, still a nice installment for a very fair price - and hence I'll settle for a final verdict of 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5 for the purpose of this platform.
Endzeitgeist out.
| Wertung: | | [5 von 5 Sternen!] |
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An Endzeitgeist.com review
This pdf is 14 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial/SRD, 1 page introduction/how-to-use, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 11 pages of content, so let's take a look, shall we?
Cultists, as the pdf goes on to discuss, need not be evil and may spring from oppressive governments and overtly restrictive dominant cultural streams. Of course, in fantasy gaming, cults tend to be even more problematic factor, often dabbling in the demonic and strange, being often associated with the things that hail from the Dark tapestry. As such, several of these rules tie in optionally with the neat madness rules from Legendary Games' excellent Tomes of Ancient Knowledge, which imho should by now grace the virtual shelves of DMs by now. If you opt against these madness rules, you can still adhere to the standard-rules for insanity - so either way you're covered!
First, roles particularly likely to interact with cults like exorcist and infiltrator inquisitors are discussed, as are ideas like Master Spies etc. and how existing class options may interact, for wela or woe with the cults. But what are cultic options? For the purpose of this book, the poor cultists that investigators and PCs mow down get finally new options, first of which would be an array of archetypes:
First of which would be the Apostate inquisitor, a heretic among heretics who is not limited to the domains and inquisitions of his deity. He gets an array of spells that help misleading his adversaries and maintaining his cover. Against adversaries of his former faith, the efficiency of his judgments is increased even further and may even use the bane ability /the Bane Magic-feat against members of his former faith.
The Sublime Bard is particularly suited for bards that already have the demagogue archetype and may circumvent language barriers with their bardic performances, cast dream and nightmare and compel others to bring him tributes and even grants his servants/cronies bonuses and keep them fighting even when he has been knocked unconscious - a prime candidate for the role of cultist leader.
The Oracle may now take the Eldritch Mystery, which comes with 13 new revelations that include the option to join/create covens, wilder in witch hexes and major hexes, convince mobs to do your bidding, sacrifice minions to take hits or use veil to create uniform cultist appearances to protect the identities of your allies/minions. Have I mentioned that the oracle may create wooden golems to serve as his/her personal wicker men? Hell yeah!
A total of 8 feats are also part of this supplement, allowing you to enhance your spells via certain creature types and subtypes you have researched via metamagic, increasing your damage output against them, gain additional benefits from the consumption of an opiate or sexual release - the latter being especially efficient when having intercourse with something alien. Disturbing - I like it! By inflicting damage upon yourself, you may grant yourself DR, providing teh first viable mystic masochism-feat with solid rules for PFRPG - good to see, also that neither of these feats require evil alignments - I whole heartedly approve! And then there's a badass feat for monks that allows you to make your unarmed attacks more lethal and rip the hearts from the chests of your adversaries, thus preventing resurrection. Of course, sacrificing foes to power your spell focus, spell penetration and greater versions as well as directly powering your calling and summoning spells via sacrifices like that. Finally, you may benefit longer from successful intimidations.
13 new spells are also included - from 3 spells to take on an aberrant form to creating shadow magic-based angry mobs (and a version with torches...) as well as spells to drain blood and impede the cartilages, these new spells are literally all killer, no filler. Especially the greater exsanguinating spell is neat, as its mechanics potentially can tie in with The Mad Doctor's Formulary's surgery rules. Enchant fires, obscure grimoires, incite allies into a rapture that your enemies will dread and conjure up primal lusts that result in orgiastic rites - spells that are terribly cool and terrible in their results - but not their execution.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn't notice any glitches. Layout adheres to Legendary Games' beautiful 2-column full-color standard and the pieces of full color artworks by Colby Stevenson and Tim Kings-Lynne are gorgeous and on Paizo-levels of beauty. The pdf comes extensively bookmarked with nested bookmarks, hyperlinks and an additional printer-friendly version.
Sooo....this is essentially the grand cultist's crunch-box - great class options, awesome feats, evocative spells, nothing to complain content-wise, as crunch and fluff meet in the best possible of ways. But is everything perfect? No - at least not for me - while content and production value-wise, there's nothing to complain, this pdf falls on the very short side for the asking price and the final page essentially only features a couple of lines of text.
Also, perhaps that's me, but I would have loved for at least one type of incantation or some items- they feel so culty to me. In the end, this feels like a great first part of a book and can definitely use a sequel - cultists have been woefully neglected so far and this book is an excellent addition for both players and DMs to add options to their arsenal. The only reason I'm not awarding my seal of approval is due to this one remaining the relative brevity of the offering for the asking price. Thus, I remain with a final verdict of 5 stars.
Endzeitgeist out.
| Wertung: | | [5 von 5 Sternen!] |
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An Endzeitgeist.com review of the revised edition
This installment of the Class Expansions-line is 5 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page SRD, leaving us with 3 pages of content, so let’s take a look at what we get, shall we?
Illusions and sorcerers don’t mix well. That’s been the status-quo so far Want a crafty deceiver? Go wizard or witch. Which has always stricken me as odd, seeing as sorcerers with their cha-dependant casting would make for perfect con-men and due to the versatility of illusion-spells, they somewhat could offset their limited spell array. In here, we get 3 new bloodlines focused on Illusion-spells for subtle, charming sorcerers -so how do they hold up?
First would be the Artist and taking one popular trope, the bloodline kicks off with a cool ability – scribe scroll, phantasm-spell-scrolls at 1/3rd price. I see you yawn. Don’t deny it. What’s cool is HOW this is explained/works – instead of writing a usual scroll, the Artist may create a drawing, whether via colors or charcoal and essentially hide spells in these drawings. A great idea that made art exhibits in-game much more exciting, but at the same time, it also misses a chance – Why are there no skill-DCs included to make the paintings seem mundane/perception-DCs to realize that something’s off? Yes, the usual detect-routine exists, I know – but still: That would have been a modification to make a nice ability mind-blowing.
The second ability is also interesting: As a standard action, artists may, a limited amount of times per day, alter perceptions of foes within a close range, e.g. omitting a door from their perception, cloaking a pit etc. This selective illusion is limited in range and duration, making abuse hardly possible.
You may also detect magical traps if they feature illusion spells and reappropriate illusion spells with the phantasm descriptor to other targets if your primary target succeeded his/her/its save a limited amount of times per day. At the highest levels, you may make your illusions harder to resist by doing research on your foe and as a capstone, you permanently shroud yourself in concealing illusions.
The second bloodline we get is the bloodline of facets, which is gem-themed and allows for the substitution of gems as alternate material components for your pattern-spells that increase their power at the cost of the gem, throw dazzling gem flashbangs and become a true master of all things earthen, gaining bonuses to knowledge checks and even stonecunning to reflect your obsession with the multifaceted treasures of the earth. The most interesting ability in my eyes, though, would be unlocked at level 9, when after a failed save versus one of your patterns, but before the effects kick in, the foes actually receive 1d3 fire-damage per spell-level, adding quite some injury to insult.
In contrast to this pdf's first iteration, the ability has been nerfed to deal less damage, which is also why I'm ok with it - usually I'd demand a limit of x times per day for free additional damage added to spells, but in this case, the reduced amount is all right in my book.
At 15th level, we get an ability that lets you emit single-target color spray-style rays that treat the target as having a lower HD – they count as your cha-mod lower HD - great to get out of melee-scuffles and thankfully, a slightly ambiguous wording has been eliminated. The capstone nets you a DR and punishes any melee attacker with reflexive color spray effects. Ouch!
The third and final new bloodline would be the Restless, who specializes in figments – when a figment initiates a touch, for example, the DC versus the illusion is increased by +2. As a signature ability, the Restless sorcerer may call forth a shimmering spirit, a silhouette who may at later levels even interact with physical objects and at higher levels, deal wis-damage with touches. (While the latter is a violation of what figments can usually do, I don’t consider that problematic.) Unlike regular figments, the spirit does not require concentration, making it for a great way to lead adversaries into trouble, create confusion etc. Better yet, at higher levels, the sorcerer may now speak through the figment, allowing for negotiations via the spirit – though the interaction could be deemed problematic, seeing the amount of time e.g. diplomacy skill-checks tend to require as well as the rather restricted amount of rounds the spirit can remain manifested - sorc level + cha-mod rounds. As written, e.g. diplomacy-checks to influence attitudes already take 1 minute - while requesting things would still be possible, I feel the ability could be so much more useful with more rounds per day...
At 9th level, though, the bloodline gains perhaps one of the potentially funniest abilities ever to get into the hands of player characters and one that foes like fey in my game will scavenge the hell out of: 1/day, as a swift action, you can cause a figment spell to become real for a limited time, even if it’s been disbelieved. Hole in the vault’s wall? Yep. Rock slide? Yep? Loony Tunes-style vanishing floors etc.? Yes. Watch your foes charge at your illusions and go Willie E. Coyote on them. If that does not make you smile, I don’t know what will. (And yes damage, saves etc. are addressed.) If I had one thing to complain about, it would be that the ability does not scale upwards – you’ll always be restricted to 1/day. This ace in the hole is just cool. *puts 2 bucks in the bad pun jar*
At 15th level, you may link two figment spells, concentrating on both as one action and as a capstone and as a capstone, your spirit gets a massive upgrade to cohort-level – as well as a cool story-reasoning for its existence. Whether your spirit becomes a warrior or a fighter depends on whether you have the leadership feat and additionally, you get a significant update of rounds per day to have your spirit active. Rather cool, actually - this ability has been salvaged from broken to awesome - two thumbs up!
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn’t notice any significant glitches. Layout adheres to Interjection Games’ elegant 2-column b/w-standard and the pdf sports thematically fitting stock art. The pdf has no bookmarks, but needs none at this length.
I LOVE the concepts behind each and every bloodline. Each one at least has one ability that makes me grin and cackle with glee, that makes me want to use them – the Artist in particular will see use in my game and for Throne of Night or Rise of the Drow, Facet sorcerers will make for nice additions indeed. These bloodlines, especially when you have read as many as I have, feel refreshingly different, smart and just high in concept.
The revised edition has eliminated almost all my major gripes, though not all minor ones: With the Artist, the missed chance to include forging/disguise options is a minor detriment. The Facet has been significantly improved. The final bloodline now actually works as intended and is glorious, though personally, I'd make the spirit last longer, but that's easily houseruled.
I really appreciate it when glitches, especially those that are easily rectified, are addressed - as is the case here. Interjection Games' mastermind Bradley Crouch has taken these high-concept class options and painted a canvas of interesting ideas, that much like the facet's gems now gleam thanks to their due polish and I assure you - they will haunt your imagination. The revised edition is vastly superior to its predecessor and thus worth 5 stars.
Endzeitgeist out.
| Wertung: | | [5 von 5 Sternen!] |
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An Endzeitgeist.com review
This pdf is 27 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page SRD, leaving us with 24 pages of content, so let's check this out!
The pdf kicks off with a new base-class, the Dimensional Knight, who gets d8, 4+Int skills per level, 3/4 BAB-progression, good will-saves, proficiency with simple and martial weapons as well as light armors. Dimensional knights also cast arcane spells of up to 6th level and cast them spontaneously, but use intelligence as a casting attribute - a deviation from established cha/int-casting-style dichotomies you should be aware of. They also get arcane pool points equal to 1/2 class level + Int-mod that partially stacks with e.g. the magus-class. The dimensional knights may also move 5 ft. per class level as a swift action as if using dimensional door and as a touch attack that costs 1 arcane pool point to forcefully move targets the same distance.
What's truly interesting about the class, though, would be the ability to create portals - yes, just like in the games - two-way portals that make it possible to attack through them blast through them etc. - with cover, bursts etc. being covered by the rules as well as line of sights and effects. It should be noted that some DMs might want to impose a limit on this per se unlimited ability - I suggest 3+Int-mod times per day, since this power is imho a bit too powerful to have no limits, especially with the action required getting less and less significant over the levels. Dimensional Knights may also sheathe themselves in minor dodge-bonuses granting fields. At 3rd level and every 3 levels after that, the dimensional knight also get access to a new dimensional knight talents, of which a total of 16 are provided.
These talents allow the dimensional knights to create e.g. one-way portals, create portals that work only for one particular being, portals that disorient those passing through etc. - among the coolest abilities is one that mirror images you after you pass through it - a massive amount of potential annoyance for the knight's foes indeed! Multiple of these talents require the expenditure of arcane pool points and include e.g. the creating of deadly interdimensional bombs and evade all types of instantaneous effects by using an immediate action and dismissing the spatial anomaly-field.
Dimensional knights also get the ability to create permanent nexus gateways ( very useful for dungeon crawling!) and comes with a cool capstone ability. All in all, a cool class in the vein of "thinking with portals", but one that imho needs a limit on how often portals can be opened. All in all, this class is worth the asking-price of the pdf - an uncommon, interesting take on a gish-class with a very versatile gimmick.
Next up is the Spellslinger-PrC, who gets 4+Int skills, d8, full BAB, medium fort and will-save progression and 7 levels of spell-advancement out of 10. Essentially, this is a combination-class between arcanist and gunslinger, allowing you to imbue spells into your bullets and deliver them via bullets, foregoing ref-saves. Thankfully, only a limited amount of such bullets can remain in existence at a given time, balancing the class. They may also shoot rays with their gun and sacrifice spells to increase the damage their bullets do or sacrifice spells to shoot elemental blasts - unfortunately, the class does not specify how these blasts work - do they require touch attacks or regular attacks? Offer saves? Hit automatically? We don't know. The class also comes with 7 new deeds and may sacrifice attacks to blast other projectiles out of the air and counter spells via their bullets. It should also be noted that the PrC's table lacks the plusses in front of the saves and BAB.
The next base-class is the Thunder Chief, who gets d10, 4+Int skills, full BAB, good ref- and will-saves, divine prepared spellcasting via wisdom of up to 4th level. As an interesting mechanic, thunder chiefs get storm token - they can carry up to wis-mod ones at any given time and start combat with 1/2 wis-mod storm tokens. Being in an area with a storm or being subject to cold, electricity or sonic damage nets the chief one token. outside of combat, they relatively fast are discharged. He may also lower his resistances (which he continuously gains) temporarily to gain storm tokens - the wording of this ability feels a bit jumbled, though. The signature weapon of the class is a blade of pure electricity and over the levels, the chief gets access to a variety of different talent-like abilities that center on new uses for storm tokens, allowing you to e.g. form two storm blades, make foes temporarily lightning rods or create a blade from cold instead - per se rather cool abilities, though unfortunately a couple of them fail to specify how the save against their abilities is calculated - I assume 10 + 1/2 level + wis-mod, but I'm not sure, it could also be net-damage...
Beyond these martial capabilities, they also learn to add storm-related powers to their spellcasting. These abilities are rather on the defensive side, but turn out to be interesting and the several other abilities of the class complement its theme nicely. I'll come out and say it - I don't like the base mechanic - I passionately dislike per-encounter-abilities since they imho violate PFRPG-design philosophy and the storm tokens unfortunately fit that bill. I get the idea behind the class and actually like the idea, even though its ability-suite is slightly too linear for my tastes, but the basic mechanic means I probably won't use it in my game - even though such a class bringing a dead guy back from life via thunder and lightning has some iconic imagery going for it.
Next up are 25 new feats. I won't go into the details for them, but mention only some things I noticed - a feat that allows you to deal additional fire damage in melee after casting a spell instead deals cold damage: A cut-copy-paste error. Furthermore, there are Master (insert school)-feats and their balancing is all over the place - especially the one for conjuration, which offers three very powerful options depending on the subtype of conjuration used for one feat. Additionally, the wording is not particularly precise, stating e.g.
"After casting a conjuration: healing spell you may act as
though affected by break enchantment, remove curse,
remove disease, or delay poison for any 1 effect currently
affecting you. Using this ability takes a spell slot of the appropriate
level."
I reread this multiple times and have no idea whatsoever how this ability is supposed to work, even beyond the fact that the paragraph features 4 formatting errors. Oh, and yes, this free spell is just ONE of three benefits of the feat - which btw. also states that it is available to evokers, when it should be available to conjurers. The whole feat-section feels like it lacked a proper editing job, for there are a lot of these issues in here. Which is a pity, for mostly the feats that enhance portals or add effects to your melee attacks after casting spells of specific schools are rather neat.
There also are 9 new spells, some of which feature the new [spatial field]-descriptor - this subtype of magic essentially makes it possible to modify a certain area of magic as if it were on another plane, allowing for e.g. modifications in gravity. The spells per se have good ideas like dealing more damage to burning foes, exuding electromagnetic blasts, modify gravity and extend and compress spaces - these spells in particular should be useful not only to players, but also to DMs crafting unusual terrain and usually, you'd see me singing praises here...BUT. Unfortunately, these spells are also haunted by the glitches that have crept into the feat-descriptions - from multiple typos to formatting issues, quite a bunch of errors have found their way into this section as well.
The pdf closes with 10 different qualities for magical weapons and armor. Unfortunately, the editing also detracts from this chapter, with lacking punctuation making several abilities harder to understand than necessary.
Conclusion:
If this pdf has one issue, it's editing and formatting - there are A LOT glitches in here. From lacking italicization of spells to lacking bold print, brackets, punctuation and so on, we run the gamut of glitch upon glitch - and while most don't impede the overall usability of the pdf, there unfortunately are several glitches in here that do so - beyond obvious ones, one can also find one particular issue that galls me: The writing is often simply less concise than it should be - due to punctuation-glitches sentences tend to blur together and unnecessarily obscure the rules-content - in parts of the pdf, that is - in other parts everything is all hunky-dory.
Layout adheres to a parchment-background 2-column standard with original pieces of full color artwork and the pdf comes fully bookmarked.
Oh boy. When I started reading the dimensional knight, I was grinning from ear to ear - this class rocks hard and its execution is solid - with the caveat that DMs definitely should limit the portal abilities of the class - unlimited uses are going to break your game if not handed VERY carefully. The spellslinger is also a rather neat PrC and by this time, I was actually really into this pdf. Then the thunder chief came and while I like it's idea, I already elaborated on why the class feels more like an afterthought and not nearly on par with the first two to me. Still, a good pdf so far.
And then the rest came alongside a sudden and perceivable drop in editing, wording and conciseness regarding the rules - almost as if a completely different person wrote it, with completely different (read: none) Q&A-standards. As awesome as the first part of the pdf was, as utterly disappointing and at times even broken the second part was to me - not unsalvageably so, mind you, for a lot of the issues stem from a lack of editing of these rules-sections , but still as if it was the product of a whole different company.
Where the first two classes exhibit a consciousness for moderately complex ideas and cool implementations, the second half falls rather flat of both the first half's quality and production values. Were I only to judge the first half, we'd be looking at a verdict in the higher echelons of my rating system, but due to the deeply flawed editing that serves to actually obfuscate how some pieces of crunch are supposed to work, especially in the second half of the product, I can't rate this higher than 2.5 stars, rounded up to 3. If you're picky about precisely formulated rules, then wait and hope for a revision, but if the first two classes sounded intriguing to you, then you still might want to check this out - it is definitely worth a try if you can see past its flaws. One consolation for me is that having read other pdfs by LRGG, I know they can do better editing-wise and I hope this pdf's second half remains an isolated incident. Still, as mentioned before, if you like the idea of the Dimensional Knight, I encourage you to take a look.
Endzeitgeist out.
| Wertung: | | [3 von 5 Sternen!] |
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An Endzeitgeist.com review
This pdf is 4 pages long, 2/3 of a page front cover (with a sketch by Wayne Reynolds!!!), 1 page SRD, leaving us with 2 1/3 of a page content, so let's take a look!
The dragon has raided the village, the orc-horde has rampaged through the town, the necromancer-king is ravaging the country-side or the insane druid has conjured forth tornados and tidal waves - business as usual for adventurers: They set off, kill the bad guy and there - all well! Well, not in my game. I always considered it weird that there was no repercussion for the people - beyond a motive for closure/revenge - what help is it to a town if the PCs kill threat xyz, but they'll still starve?
Enter this cavalier order, which is not about killing baddies, but about HELPING people. You know, doing something that's actually GOOD. The merciful cousins get heal and knowledge (engineering) as bonus class skills and may use the latter untrained - and if the cavalier actually has ranks in the skill, s/he can substitute Craft (Masonry/Carpentry) and Profession (Engineer) for Knowledge (engineering). When issuing challenges, allies within 60 ft. get a +1 bonus to AC and allies with significantly less HD than you get a more substantial AC-bonus. Additionally, such cavaliers may expend one use of a healer's kit as a standard action to restore one hit point to a dying creature, thus saving it. Treating deadly wounds is still possible after benefiting from this usage of the heal-skill. As beacons of hope, they may also reroll saves versus despair, fear and similar negative emotion-inducing effects with a neat +4 bonus.
So far, so good - but where the class starts rocking VERY hard is with the Architect of Improvement-ability: It allows the cavalier to devise an improvement plan for a given settlement by succeeding at a knowledge (engineering)-check that is determined by a settlements size. Properly implementing the improvement plan can be done with or without the cavalier and takes DC minus 10 months, but every day the cavalier helps counts as two for the purpose of when the plan is ready - its aftermath netting a new settlement quality. The settlements maximum number of qualities can thus even exceed its usual limit by 1. Additionally, settlements can thus modify one of their modifiers (like crime, lore, etc.) by 1 - upwards or downwards. Settlements may only implement one such plan per year, though.
But that's not all you can do with the ability! Creating shelters etc. at half the time and improving strongholds at cost are also possible! And to provide something even cooler, we also get 5 new beneficial settlement qualities: Defensible, Good Roads, Planned Community, Therapeutic and Well-educated - awesome!
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are very good - while I noticed a missing blank space, no glitch impeded my understanding of the pdf. Layout adheres to SGG's 3-column horizontal standard and the cover artwork is awesome. The pdf even comes with bookmarks, in spite of its short length - commendable indeed!
Well, usually, I would complain about the product's length - but this is a charity product, as all benefits are donated to the red cross relief funds to help the victims of disasters. And it actually doesn't feel like just some cheap charity product - it actually provides the coolest cavalier order I've seen so far - unique abilities, balanced crunch and an option to make a difference in the lives of the people of the campaign world as well as an option to actually do some good in real life? Hell yeah! Now don't get me wrong, I'd recommend this pdf even if it wasn't a charity product - but SGG's quality combined with the good cause? A must-buy and an easy verdict of 5 stars plus seal of approval.
Endzeitgeist out.
| Wertung: | | [5 von 5 Sternen!] |
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An Endzeitgeist.com review
The fourth adventure for Pathfinder's beginner's version is 26 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page ToC/foreword, 1 page SRD, leaving us with 22 pages of content, so let's take a look!
This being an adventure-review, the following text contains SPOILERS. Potential players may wish to jump to the conclusion.
All right, still here? Exallizar's promising students are up for another adventure - and this one already kicks off with an interesting first set-up: They are actually aboard a magical, fire-elemental train on their way north guarding a shipment of toys and candy. Suffice to say, we get a fully mapped, beautiful rendition of the train - and not all is going according to plan. Much like previous BASIC-series modules, we kick off with starting equipment choices - and the PCs will need these, for a new critter, the so-called Kramps, are trying to highjack the train, scrambling across the train's roof. Not only are they interesting combatants trying to destroy the candy-shipment (the timer's ticking!), the leader also gets missile toe boots - yeah - boots that can shoot eldritch projectiles.
Hopefully, the players manage to defeat these menaces, but with or without the support of the train's friendly fire elemental, the PCs will probably have to retrieve some cargo - from the Kramp's nearby base, where they may actually use the critter's ability to detect joy against them - and defeat not only the Kramps, but also acquire Battering Ram-style arctic-blast inducing items, bells that can be used to kill foes (you've guessed it - Slay Bells) and fight against steam mephits as well as nutcracker golems - and realize that they are not the only ones fighting.
There's also a white dragon here - and by this point I was groaning, for it is by my counts to oomphteenth white dragon in an AaW-module - but this one's different: Not nearly as evil as most of its kind and can be reasoned with! Depending on the PC's reasoning, they may actually befriend teh dragon and make it tag along for the festivities! Now THAT is some Christmas Spirit for you! It should be noted that the kramp-lair is also fully mapped and comes with a player-friendly version.
The pdf concludes with 4 pregens with their own artworks.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn't notice any significant glitches. Layout adheres to a 2-column standard in full color with a parchment-like background and the artworks are ok. As almost always in AaW-books, the maps are glorious. The pdf comes in two different versions, with one being more printer-friendly than the regular one.
So, this is the fourth of holiday-themed modules for Pathfinder's beginner's version and author Kevin Mickelson has this time around created one module that is indeed fun to play - after the mediocre predecessor, this one again breathes holiday-spirit, teems with puns and is appropriate and fun gaming not only for younger audiences, but also for more mature players looking for a fun innocent ride to celebrate the holidays. This is a nice, cool little Christmas module with a neat final confrontation that can be resolved sans shedding blood. If I had one gripe, then that the locations are awesome - but don't feature that much in the respective combats - why are there no simple rules for fighting on the train's roof, pushing foes off the train etc.? There is a DC mentioned to not be blown of the vehicle, but not what the consequences of being blown off are - and since this module is intended for younger audiences (and probably inexperienced DMs), being left without this information is an issue in my book.
This, combined with the relative brevity of the module, make me settle for a final verdict of 4 stars for a well-made little module.
Endzeitgeist out.
| Wertung: | | [4 von 5 Sternen!] |
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An Endzeitgeist.com review
This module for the beginner's version of Pathfinder is 28 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page ToC, 1 page SRD, leaving us with 24 pages of content, so let's take a look!
This being an adventure-review, the following contains SPOILERS. Potential players may wish to skip to the conclusion.
All right, still here? The adventurer-apprentices of the Exallizar Preparatory Academy for young adventurers have already had chances to shine (or fail) twice and the module kicks off with some friendly PvP: After 4 rounds, the sparring match is interrupted (though the DM should probably take care/specify that no one dies in this match - something the module, as written, omits), the PCs are recruited by one Ambrose Neidlum, an old man who wants the PCs to help him defend a cloister of pacifist clerics versus an onslaught of beast-men. His recruitment of the PCs includes a selection of items the PCs may choose from, which includes seeds of the curcubiters featured in the previous module as well as their caps (as shields) and special seeds that make for flaming projectilesThe headmaster immediately teleports the PCs to the monastery and there, they immediately are beset by assaults from the Noctur Gnolls and Ambrose is no help in this fight either.
Once the gnolls have been driven off, the PCs will see their first dwarf and enter the monastery complex - with the collapsed Ambrose in tow. Diran, the dward, quickly tells the PCs what the catch is - Ambrose has been cursed by the gnoll-leader Ringdocus, who, while weaker than Ambrose, has all but made the cleric useless via his sleep-deprivation curse. In order to deal with the curse, the PCs will have to deal with the recently built fort the Noctur Gnolls have erected.
The infiltration of the camp should not be too difficult, though players still should act smart - while the watch-post is sleeping, the gnoll could wake up, which has the potential of having the fort's ballista turned upon the PCs! If they manage to take the sentry down, though, they can turn the siege-weapon upon the numerous inhabitants of the fort. In a sandboxy assault that leaves much up for the PCs to decide, they can slowly empty the fort - though response actions/more interesting responses would have been nice. Once the gnoll-leader has been defeated, the PCs can return victorious from their sojourn - but alas and alack, not even the gnoll's mask suffices to lift the curse.
In order to save Ambrose, the PCs will have to hunt a strange creature only rarely seen and only in the autumn - a gestalt-bird called turducken. The American audience is probably chuckling now, to the non-Americans I suggest looking it up. The creature's lair is rudimentary and rocky, the creature being a moderately tough combatant, but nothing as difficult as the Halloween-module's bosses. Upon their return with the remains of the monster, there is a feast (of course!) and all is well - the magical flesh cures the curse and the PCs may even get some magical meat from the creature to take home.
As all BASIC-modules, this includes 4 pre-gens, advanced further from the last module as well as player-friendly versions of the maps..
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are good, though not stellar. I noticed some minor glitches here and there, though nothing too serious. Layout adheres to AaW's 2-column standard and the module comes fully bookmarked and with two versions, one optimized for being printer-friendly and one for screen-use.
The first two modules of the Kevin Mickelson's series, while aimed at younger audiences, still had a lot to offer to more mature players, with especially the latter being easily modified to provide a nice module for mature players as well. The same, unfortunately, can't be said about this one - experienced players will probably yawn at the taking of the gnoll fortress, while less experienced groups lack any guidance in the beginning PvP-situation: What happens if PCs manage to kill one another? No guidance is given. All in all a module that, while being intended as a thanksgiving-themed module, has not much going for it beyond this potential festive spirit and while not bad, can also not be considered exceptional or good. Thus, my final verdict will clock in at 2.5 stars, rounded down to 2 for the purpose of this platform, also due to its relative brevity.
Endzeitgeist out.
| Wertung: | | [2 von 5 Sternen!] |
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An Endzeitgeist.com review
The latest installment of the Wilderness Dressing-series is 1 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page advertisement,2 pages of 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!
After having been a guide through the Hills, author Brian Gregory this time takes us up to the mountains!
As has become standard for the series by now, we kick off this installment with a massive list of 100 different minor events - like finding glittering scales of silver dragons, strange king snakes and auroras - some with DCs for skill-checks, most without - and they are neat indeed!
The second table, again 100 entries long, depicts different dressings like glacier seracs, zigzagging tree-lines, nestled villages and even strange holes that sometimes emit rainbows - much glorious potential not only in fluff, but also for storytelling and development.
The d12 random encounter-table, analogue to the dungeon denizen-series, provides 12 encounters with extensive fluff to develop them further - including tengu (and an ogrekin who has beaten the final tengu the others are looking for...), a young roc and a vampire sorceress - though she unfortunately comes without full statblocks - definitely something a web-enhancement should imho remedy.
As with almost all installments of Wilderness Dressings, the final page is extremely useful, collecting all kinds of relevant terrain-information like cliff-sides, obstructions etc. for teh Dm, making running encounters in mountains rather easy - though I'm honestly missing a climb/combat while climbing/skill-use table here - the space devoted to the piece of artwork on this page feels slightly wasted - and yes, I only recently had to run cliffside climbing battles and it turned out to be slightly more complex than anticipated, so I think that would have really increased the usefulness of this particular page.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting, as I've come to expect from Raging Swan Press, is top-notch and adheres to the highest standards. The layout conforms to RSP's 2-column b/w-standard, is as printer-friendly as always and the pdf comes in two versions, one optimized for screen-use and one to be printed out. Both pdfs come with extensive bookmarks.
Author Brian Gregory has delivered a great installment of the Wilderness Dressing-series, though one that slightly falls short of its own potential - either the statblock of the sorceress or a slightly more exhaustive DM-cheat-sheet would have helped. Especially since the latter also lacks a summary of high altitudes/cold dangers, though these I wouldn't have expected. Overall, though, this means that the pdf is slightly less useful tha I would have liked - it's still a superb DM-tool and time-saver, but not a perfect one and hence I'll settle on a final verdict of 4 stars.
Endzeitgeist out.
| Wertung: | | [4 von 5 Sternen!] |
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An Endzeitgeist.com review
This installment of the Amazing Races-series is 4 pages long, 1page front cover, 1 page SRD, leaving us with 2 pages of content, so let's take a look!
The pdf kicks off by providing us with 6 new feats:
-Lasting Toxicity: Your poison remains potent for 3 hours after being applied.
-Prehensile Toes: Hold objects with your feet. VERY cool!
-Tongue Trick: Use tongue to make the dirty trick maneuver and choose one of the dirty tricks from a list every time you take the feat - gain +2 to maneuver-checks when using said application of dirty trick with the tongue.
-Tongue Trip: Trip foes with your tongue, dealin non-lethal damage upon impact. Cool one!
-Toxic Speed: Poison your body as a move action.
-Webbed Warrior: Fire bows with your prehensile feet as long as they do not touch the ground - very cool!
There are also two new character traits, one for +4 to use diplomacy versus other grippli and one that halves escape artist skills to squeeze through tight spaces.
Two new alternate racial traits are part of the deal as well, one netting them the hold breath quality in exchange for weapon familiarity and one that replaces camouflage with imposing a -8 penalty to sense motive attempts made by non-grippli.
We also get a new archetype, the Bogwalker Druid, who may choose to develop a nature bond with a limited array of domains and spontaneously convert said spells. The archetype is specified in marshes and bogs and hence takes penalties to wild empathy when using it with other animals. The bogwalker may also part the terrain of the bog and have it close behind him/her, allowing travel through bogs sans slowing down, can resist diseases and exchanges slightly less wild shape-prowess (when using non-swampy forms)for gaining bonuses when taking 20 in the swamp. A rather bland local archetype focused on one environment. Probably won't see any use in my home-game.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn't notice any significant glitches. Layout adheres to Abandoned Art's 2-column no-frills standard and the pdf has neither bookmarks, nor artworks and need neither at this length and price-point.
This installment of the Amazing Races-series kicks off strong with the feats dealing with using feet being interesting, very cool and making the race more iconic. The traits also work well, as do the alternate racial traits - and then, the uninspired archetype hits - bland, boring and sans any truly interesting ability, it feels jarring and like filler after the cool new options we got before - why not make the archetype actually develop these new strengths? Oh well, at this price-point, the pdf still is not a bad purchase, making me settle on a final verdict of 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 due to the low price point. If you want to see a cooler take on the swamp mystic, give Purple Duck Games' Heroes of the Fenian Triarchy a try - there's a neat PrC in there.
Endzeitgeist out.
| Wertung: | | [4 von 5 Sternen!] |
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An Endzeitgeist.com review
This pdf is 5 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page SRD, leaving us with 2 pages of content, so let's take a look at this PrC!
The pdf provides us with the Centurion-PrC (The centurion just needs to have led a unit to victory, have a teamwork-feat and some moderate requirements), who gets d10, 4+Int skills per level, full BAB, medium fort and will-saves, and a teamwork-feat every odd level.
The revised centurion gets access to solo tactics and a command radius that starts at 20 ft and expands over the 10 levels to 60 ft. The allies inside this radius may benefit from his team tactician ability - granting all allies in the radius access to one of his teamwork feats for class level rounds or until he issues a new teamwork feat. This increases to 2 and 3 teamwork feats at levels 4 and 8 of the PrC respectively. At 5th level, in yet another rather cool ability, he may shape the radius of his aura to a cone or line, which is actually a rather neat idea! The capstone lets him choose an ally's initiative and allows him and allies in his aura to act normally in a surprise round.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are very good, I didn't notice any significant glitches. Layout adheres to a relatively printer-friendly two-column standard and the pdf comes with some nice stock art. The pdf has no bookmarks, but needs none at this length.
The Centurion is a solid, nice little PrC that should especially in the context of war-themed adventuring find its niche and makes for a solid choice - while I'd rather urge you to check out the Supporting Roles-installment that also features the Commander-base-class, this is still a good purchase on its own and thus gets a final verdict of a solid 4 stars.
Endzeitgeist out.
| Wertung: | | [4 von 5 Sternen!] |
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An Endzeitgeist.com review
This installment of Rite Publishing’s 101-series clocks in at a massive 47 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page SRD, 2 pages of advertisement, leaving us with a massive 42 pages of content – a great bang for buck ratio, but can the quality stand up to the quantity?
Organization-wise, these variant monsters are grouped together by CR, spanning the gamut from CR 1 –CR 25 – personally, I consider this organization great, since you’ll probably not be searching for variant monsters by their name. The respective entries all feature the name of the base-creature to be modified in brackets and the entries themselves can be considered creature-archetypes or templates created for one specific creature, though unlike most templates they do not modify the base-creature’s CR. Take for example the first creature, the Brownie of the Solstice Court: Taking the benevolent fey, we get essentially the unseelie version of the critter – they are not only unpleasant in their maliciousness, they get a new signature ability – a dust they use to cover their bows (for their feat/weapon-choice reflects the changed focus), which not only penalizes those hit, it also makes the victims incur a confusion-like effect that should make these nasty fey loathed foes of your PCs. We also get desert ghouls that turn into hyenas and fast healing as long as they are not deprived of flesh to fuel their cannibalistic healing. Giant Armadeiras Spiders are also interesting – their strange poison is not canceled out by antitoxin and requires successful first aid in the form of a healing-check to prevent suffocation – rather cool!
In the CR 2-range, we e.g. get a dream imp, which not only gets a gaze that makes its victims susceptible to sleep and less alert, but which make also cover whole areas in subtle auras of dream-like haziness. Or did you want a foe for blink dogs? What about the new Flicker Wolf, which may bite through portals? Very nasty for hit-and-runs… In the CR 3-range, a black version of the hell hound, the Dipian, may drain the blood of his adversaries. There also is a rust monster-variant that decays flesh instead of metal and a cockatrice that can vitrify foes – with full rules for vitrification given, of course.
A classic, the Giant Scythe Beetle, makes a return to PFRPG in the CR 4-range. One of the strangest ways to be trampled would be featured in the new variant of Amphisbaena – the ouroborus may lock heads and roll over foes – weird, but also a cool idea. Cooler, though, would imho be the variant of the Slithering Tracker that paralyzes its foes and then invades their bodies, taking control – this one actually coming with a full-blown template for the unfortunate host-creature - a nice example for Rite Publishing going above and beyond what would have been required from this book in favor of cool concepts. Speaking of cool concepts: Turning winter wolves into Dogs of war with slashing/piercing breath weapons as well as DR is a great idea. Speaking of great ideas: If you’re like me and are missing the eye tyrant-rays of a certain IP-protected creature, you’ll enjoy a variant of the gibbering mouther that has a weaker, but nonetheless versatile selection of eye rays.
Another fine creature would be the Thunder Jinn – a variant of the regular Djinni that replaces whirlwind form with a cool ability that has thunder and lightning smashing down on the djinn, adding sonic damage to attacks as well as a cool vulnerability to… silence! Or take an aquatic version of the medusa that gets petrifying attacks and may attack with her hair.The CR 7 Bladeleaf-treant may animate its leaves as a swarm (which gets its own statblock) and one particularly infamous torture implement, the Brazen Bull, becomes a variant for the gorgon that cooks those locked in its form alie – disturbing indeed! What about a bubonic plague-spreading variant of the behir that not only gets a diseased breath attack, but which may also fling foes around or see in smoke?
Perhaps you enjoyed the by now legendary hidden character Nordom from Planescape: Torment and always wanted a version of a malfunctioning Zelekhut inevitable? Well, there’s a variant in here as well and yeah, Maruts also get their due!
Golemcrafters may now create a Maharal Golem, which may turn naturally invisible and spawn wraiths, whereas earth elementals may now be exchanged with adamantine elementals. On the cool side, Devourers may now be changed to emit dangerous, deadly chaotic waves of energy.
If you’re looking for some cool mythological creature, why not check out the Jotund Troll-variant – the Grendal – and yes, from a susceptibility to grappling to a dread aura, it comes with some cool signature abilities. Have I btw. mentioned the Prism-energy based Nightwalker/flier/etc.-variants or the awesome variant linnorms one can also find herein? Especially the Chaos Serpent with its massive breath weapon table is a highlight among them. Speaking of highlight: As someone thoroughly entrenched in Norse lore, the Norn of the Solstice Court as a less benevolent dealer of fate is one of my favorite creatures herein – at CR 18 also one hell of a foe and not one to be trifled with.
There also are variants of Cyclopes – good, blinded ones and those with deadly precognitive knowledge that makes hitting them extremely difficult indeed. Jorogumos get a variant with the Red Harlot – spider-like predators that apart from their limbs, look like beautiful women – and contrary to their appearance, they are not that bad: While not nice by any definition, they are brilliant kidnappers that do not seek the death of their victims and are honorable to a fault to boot – always speaking the truth, which makes for an interesting combination.
One of the cool variants in here would be the CR 14 Hand of the Reliquary – the hand of a vanquished avatar or similar powerful being, these deadly things (based on the Demi-lich) can age you prematurely to venerable age’s threshold and blast foes with deadly rays of pure entropy – beware, blasphemers, beware!
Apropos beware – I mentioned CR 25 before – well. It’s a variant of the Tarrasque – one that essentially turns it into the King of Monsters, Godzilla in all but name! Yes. If you’re like me, that one will make you smile just as much as the extremely deadly new behemoth variants.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are very good, I didn’t notice any significant glitches. Layout adheres to RiP’s two-column color standard and is relatively printer-friendly. The artworks, when applicable, are nice and thematically fitting and usually are stock-art, though at this fair price-point, that’s more than ok. The pdf comes fully bookmarked by CR.
Impressive – that’s what this pdf is. When I read about this first, I expected some lame “Exchange x with y” basic entries accompanied by some reskinning – but this pdf offers SO MUCH MORE.
Each and every creature herein comes at least with one, more often than not multiple new signature abilities and weaknesses, borrowing extensively from both Norse and Asian myths to supplement original creations to deliver variants that are thoroughly original and honestly often better than full-blown new creatures I’ve seen. In fact, the sheer amount of cool ideas herein is rather astonishing – with e.g. the aforementioned hand and similar far-out concepts, the pdf is surprisingly lacking in only one category – and that is filler. While not each creature is glorious, the amount of beings I’d consider lame can be counted on one hand – which is next to nothing, given the amount of them we get in here. It would have been so easy to deliver a lazy job here, but that wouldn’t be rite – and so author Steven D. Russell gives us a glorious collection of variant monsters that cuts an awesome figure when compared to just about any bestiary – especially when taking the extremely fair price into account.
Reskinning monsters can make them interesting again – using these variant monsters will make your players dread stats they (mostly) ought to know by now – and even if only used to scavenge signature abilities, this pdf delivers in spades – the 101-series continues its glorious stride of top-notch material with this installment, scoring a full 5 stars plus seal of approval – so go ahead and bring these variants into your game!
Endzeitgeist out.
| Wertung: | | [5 von 5 Sternen!] |
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An Endzeitgeist.com review
This pdf is 6 pages long, 1 page front cover, ~3/4 of a page SRD/editorial, leaving us with ~4 1/4 pages of content, so let's take a look!
The pdf kicks off with a short list of sample DCs to unearth information on ghouls before introducing us to 5 new feats:
-Grave Claws: Stagger foes with your paralyzing attacks even if they succeed at their saves. Okay, I guess - but not impressed.
-Mind over Muscle: Allows you to save again against paralysis each turn. Not a fan of this.
-Nauseating Stench: 1 round nauseated when subject to stench quality, even be sickened for 1 round on a successful save. Still not impressed.
-Resist Undead: Immunity to stench and +2 to saves versus e.g. energy drain etc. I dislike flat-out immunities granted by feats.
-Unholy Feast: Consume pieces of a corpse to get +2 to Str and 1d6 temporary hit points for 1 minute per HD of the consumed creature. I don't particularly like HD-metagaming effects like this.
We also get 5 alchemical items, though: From a satchel of herbs to help versus stench, a nail to enhance the ghoul touch spell, a tooth to enhance undead creation to make ghasts, flesh to enhance undead and a type of oil that punishes those seeking to bite those coated in it, these items universally are nice and thankfully come with relevant craft-DCs and gp-value. Nice ones!
Next up are 4 new spells, one to resist paralysis, animate undead as ghouls, hide behind a semblance of living or incite terrible, ravenous hunger. Nice spells, though I personally preferred the ghoulish spells provided by Legendary Games' Sepulchral Swaths of Tanoth-Gha.
The pdf also features 4 new magical items, one of which would be a blade to inflict painful wounds and sicken those hit with pain, a mask that nets you a bite attack that may paralyze foes, a mask that duplicates aforementioned spell to disguise undead nature as well as a scarab that allows the wielder to negate paralysis and the staggered condition by expending its limited charges.
We also get a new hazard - the ghoul's deadly feast that emits a terrible stench. Among the new creatures, we get a CR 5 Ghast Lord and two new templates, the gluttonous ghoul at CR +1 and a massive, charging ghouls called Leaping Ghouls that are particularly agile (also at CR +1).
The pdf closes with 3 nice adventure ideas.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn't notice any glitches. Layout adheres to a printer-friendly 2-column standard and the pdf features hand-drawn b/a-artworks, which, while not superb, are really nice to get at this low price point. The pdf has no bookmarks, but at this length, that's still okay.
Honestly, the pdf was off to a bad start - the feats honestly didn't wow me and feel unfocused - not bad, but not exciting either and the undead-hunter feats feels strangely displaced in this pdf that is otherwise devoted to the ghoulish creatures. The spells, while not bad, also falls into this category, though to a lesser extent. The alchemical items and magical items, hazards and monsters as well as the templates, though, are actually really great, especially for the low price-point. While hence imho not perfect, this still remains a worthy addition to your gaming table. My final verdict will thus clock in at a solid 4 stars.
Endzeitgeist out.
| Wertung: | | [4 von 5 Sternen!] |
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An Endzeitgeist.com review
This pdf is 18 pages long, 1 page front cover, 2 pages editorial, 1 page SRD, leaving su with 14 pages of content, so let's take a look!
Drop Dead Studios' first new base-class can be summed up with one TV-trope- Crazy Prepared. If TV-tropes have not yet managed to suck hours out of your free-time prior to reading this - you're welcome. ;) Kidding aside, though - honestly, there was no existing way to play the trap-creating agent-style fighter and the Vauntgaurd seeks to remedy that, so what does this class do?
Mechanically, the Vauntguard gets d10, 6+Int skills per level, a good BAB and good fort-and ref-saves as well as proficiency in simple and martial weapons, whips, hand crossbows, light and medium armor and shields (excluding, as almost always, tower shields) - which is quite a bit and basically more than e.g. the rogue (Even with Rogue Glory) or the standard fighter can hope for. This is offset somehow, though, by the Vauntguard being MAD - multiple attribute dependent.
What do I mean with that? Well, taking a cue from James Bond etc., Vauntgaurds get an ability called Force of Personality, which allows them to Cha-mod times as immediate actions to get +1 to save (+1 for every 3 Vauntguard levels)s, DR 1/- (+1 for every 2 Vauntguard levels) or +1 to AC (+1 for every 3 Vauntguard levels) or add +1 to atk (+1 for every 3 Vauntgaurd levels) or +1 damage (+1 for every two Vauntgaurd levels) as part of an attack.
The signature move of the Vauntguard, though, would be the Vauntguard traps: Also available from first level onwards: The Vauntguard can create an unlimited amount of simple traps, provided the character has a light weapon, for simple traps make atk-rolls at +5 or trip-attempts via trip-wire. They can be set up as full round actions relatively problem free. Improvised versions can of course also be used, as can a trap be made to activate e.g. alchemical items. The DCs to disable and notice these traps is up to 10 + 1/2 Vauntguard class levels + Int-mod. They last for 1 day per Vauntgaurd level or until triggered.
Beyond even these traps, the Vauntguard may also create 1/2 class level+Int-mod supernatural traps that use the same DC and can be set up as a standard action after having been created as a full-round action. Yes, this means they can be carried around, though they last only for 1 hour per level. Supernatural traps can be either elemental blasts, sanres that stick you in place or traps that temporarily sicken foes. If you're like me and love Drop Dead Studios' Rogue Glory-supplement, you'll like that they go into the interaction of their revised ranger traps with Vauntguard traps.
At 2nd level, the class gets 1/2 level as morale bonus to disguise and bluff and checks to gather information as well as trapfinding. At every even level, a Vauntguard gets a so-called aptitude, essentially a trick alike a talent and a total of 39 are provided. Some of these let you wilder in other class-toolkits, like rogue talents and access to a familiar or equipment tricks, poison use etc., whereas others include a wide variety of new supernatural traps - e.g. a snare that lifts the target into the air, an extradimensional hole-trap that reverts to an innocent floor after its duration has run its course, a trap that delivers sensory feedback (GOLD for infiltration/spying!) or ones that summon sleet or summon bat/rat swarms (nice Batman-nod). Of course, increasing trap-DCs is also possible.
In contrast to the rogue, though, the Vauntguard only gets evasion at 10th level and while they may e.g. change damage-type dealt by improvised melee weapons abd even later improvise any type of equipment, at least the DM gets to say the final say - a word of warning: If your Vauntguard gets full-blown McGuyver and wants to fix a planar rift with some chewing tobacco, it's time to put the foot down...
Kidding aside, this ability has a LOT of potential, as has the ability to weaponize supernatural traps. Adding cha-bonus at 5th level to will-saves might be a bit too much, though, seeing how the class already has two good saves. The highest level Vauntguards can go action hero on you and grant themselves an array of class level temporary hit points 1/day. The class capstone, +3 uses of Force of Personality, is in direct comparison not that exciting.
The pdf comes with two new feats to gain more supernatural trap uses and an extra aptitude respectively as well as two items that are imho integral to making this class work - alchemical (and rather cheap) trap paper and trap pellets to carry around your supernatural traps - without them, I'd be complaining about lack of in-game representations for them right about now.
6 new magic items are included - and take a bow before James Bond. Ever wanted to decapitate victims with your returning throwing hat? In here. An Extending rapier? Yep. A lie-detector in ring-form? An oil to help you seduce just about anything? What about a cummerbund that allows you to change shape? These are awesome -not only for Vauntguards! Taking a cue from "The Man with the Golden Gun", we get the golden crossbow as one of two artifacts and a headband that grants almost Sherlock Holmes-style insight into the workings of the world.
After a short section on Vauntguards and their role in the world, we get...*drum-roll* SAMPLE CHARACTERS. A boon for DMs wanting to use the class right away, we get one level 7 and one level 13 sample character, both lavishly illustrated.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are very good, I didn't notice any significant glitches. Layout adheres to a beautiful, relatively printer-friendly 2-column standard and the second, even more printer-friendly version deserves special mentioning, as it omits the background. The pdfs both come with rather beautiful artworks, many of which I haven't seen before and frankly did not expect to see at this price point. While the pdf is hyperlinked to d20pfsrd.com and generally, I do applaud such linking, I noticed e.g. the word "Good" in "good graces" being hyperlinked to the alignment-page etc. - dead hyperlinks like this only complicate the usage of the pdf and don't help, though in contrast to much worse offenders I've recently read, the hyperlinks do show that they were crafted with relative, albeit imperfect care. On the downside, this pdf has no bookmarks in either version, which I honestly consider a major comfort detriment in anything above 5-6 pages - and e.g. Jon Brazer Enterprises has started bookmarking even 2-page pdfs. So yeah, that's a downside.
When one of the authors and mastermind of Drop Dead Studios, Adam Meyers (the other author being Isaac Ellsworth), contacted me to review Rogue Glory not too long ago - I admit I expected it to suck. Long story short - I didn't and has become a staple at my gaming table. Can the Vauntguard hold up to this?
Well, at first when I read the mechanics, I thought: This is OP! However, in contrast to rogues and fighters the lack of bonus talents and the need to also cover int and cha as well as str/dex + con makes for a class, which, while not particularly weak, should not unhinge any game as long as a DM does not let the player go all McGuyver on them. That being said, I'm not a big fan on the bonus to will-saves - that amounts for too much in the saves-department for a full BAB-class for my tastes. That being said, even with these minor concerns, I still consider the Vauntgaurd a well-accomplished design-goal, as it allows you to essentially create a secret agent-style character. Could it be abused?
Yes. A Vauntguard could create the MOTHER of all trap gauntlets and is a nightmare when s/he knows you're coming and a DM has to be aware that players will seek to do exactly that - lure their enemies into playing fields that make minced meat out of them. If you can handle this, then give this well-designed class a chance - it deserves it and is a very solid addition to the class roster. My final verdict will clock in at well-deserved 4 stars.
Endzeitgeist out.
| Wertung: | | [4 von 5 Sternen!] |
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