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An Endzeitgeist.com review
This pdf is 6 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page SRD, leaving us with 4 pages for the PrC for the Tinker-class, so let's take a look!
Rules-wise, the requirements for the PrC are neither too steep, nor too easy to qualify for: 3rd level inventions, 8 ranks in Craft (weapons) and exotic weapon proficiency. The class gets 1/2 fort and ref-save progression and full BAB-progression as well as 5 levels of invention-progression over 10 levels. The PrC gets 4+Int skills per level, d10 and no additional armor and weapon proficiencies. With regards to his/her automaton's and alpha's HD and ability scores, the innovator's class levels fully stack.
So what's the deal with this class? Remember a certain gnomish illusionist/rogue in Baldur's Gate 2 and his crossbow that no one but him could use due to being insanely complex? Yeah. This essentially lets you make your own signature weapon - so insanely complex that "even magic gives up" when trying to grant proficiency in it to others. Said weapon also gets weapon focus, specialization, greater weapon focus/greater weapon specialization over the levels.
At 1st level and every 2 levels after that, the Innovator gets so-called breakthroughs, which belong to one of 3 different categories: If you want to go into a category, you get the lowest tier of that category and the categories are alchemical, construct and magic. The alchemical category allows you to add dazzling flash powder to your weapon attacks. Here is a weird typo "Unlicing creatures" - are immune to flash powder. Neither thesaurus nor dictionary-searches turned up something for that one, so I assume "unblinking" or something similar was meant - or I'm just not cool enough to know the proper slang. At tier 3, the weapon may lob alchemical goods at foes within 60 ft. Tier 4 finally adds more capacity for alchemical items and adds fire to the weapon.
The construct category nets access to an added miniature crossbow that adds +1d4 damage to your weapon's damage, reload after each shot and add said damage to any attack (yes, that means to any hit by e.g. the flamers...) with the weapon, add a robotic arm to the weapon (which can wield weapons, shields and impede foes) and even a second arm - yes, your weapon can wield two-handed swords or even a tower shield (though the latter makes using the signature weapon impossible as long as the shield is held).
The magic breakthroughs allow you to add wands of progressively higher power and integrate them into the weapon. The class also gets to choose between not one, not two, but 7 (!!!) capstone abilities and they are glorious: Launch automatons via signature weapons, reduce BP-cost of one invention, increase the bonus of robotic arm-held shields and weapons, get infinite flame-enhancements, infinite acid for the lobber or infinite magic missile-spamming capacity - though I REALLY don't like that one. Any kind of auto-hit, even if it's only a magic missile, should NEVER be available without restriction.
The pdf also includes a small FAQ that explains how the breakthroughs stack.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are good, though not top-notch - the "unlicing" had me stumble a bit, but that's honestly a little glitch that can be neglected. Layout adheres to Interjection games' two-column b/w-standard and the pdf comes with unobtrusive, thematically fitting stock-art. The pdf has no bookmarks, but needs none at this length.
All right, let's get this out of the way: This PrC is damn cool. The weapon-customization is an idea that could carry a whole alternate class and honestly, I found myself wishing for a full-blown martial tinker-alternative instead of a PrC. Why? Because the automatons move into the background when compared to the weapon and due to, apart from one capstone, do not really feature in the PrC's unique options. This is all about the new weapon and due to the weapon getting 5 out of 12 breakthroughs over the 10 levels, I would have enjoyed to see more of them, even though the potential for combinations makes me grin my vile DM-grin.
So is this worth your money? Yes, it is - if modifying an exotic weapon to unknown heights of complexity, making it weird or if a certain gnomish scoundrel from a popular Bioware-game was one of your go-to-characters - then take a look, for this pdf indeed offers a neat PrC. While I can't help but wish it provided a tad bit more on the breakthrough-side, I still consider this a well-crafted option for the Tinker-class and hence will settle on a final verdict of 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5 for the purpose of this platform due to the low price.
Endzeitgeist out.
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An Endzeitgeist.com review
This pdf is 10 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 age SRD, leaving us with 7 pages of content, so let's take a look!
So...we get another take on the Swashbuckler. Yeah. I wasn't looking forward to that one. This particular take is a base-class that gets d8, 6+Int skills per level,3/4 BAB-progression and good ref-saves as well as proficiency in light and medium armor and with simple and martial weapons. No spells and only 3/4 BAB-progression? Yes, for the class gets an ability that is called "Flash of Steel": This is a full-attack action that allows for an additional attack as if using the two weapon fighting feat - now here's the catch: Flashes of Steel use a different BAB equal to the class level (but the usual penalty for two weapon fighting is applied). At higher levels, the swashbuckler gains more additional attacks. Among other things, the swashbuckler may use disarm and trip and uses the full str-bonus when using Flash of Steel. What's missing imho from the ability is clarification whether this ability counts as two weapon fighting for the purpose of feats and abilities and whether it can be stacked with flurry of blows and similar abilities. The ability also lacks the specification whether CMB for disarm and trip-maneuvers as part of flash of steel is calculated with the flash of steel-BAB or the regular one. They also get weapon finesse at first level.
2nd level is imho when the class gets interesting, with the extraordinary ability Parry: Whenever making an attack action, the swashbuckler may forego one or more attacks of up to dex-mod attacks. At any time before his next turn, the character may hence use the omitted attacks to parry incoming melee attacks - I assume this is not an action, but the pdf fails to specify what type of action it is. Essentially, s/he attacks and when surpassing the incoming attack, the swashbuckler may negate it. Unexpected attacks from e.g. charmed adjacent allies and larger creatures are harder to parry, incurring a -4 penalty. The class also gets bonuses to initiative, half class level to Diplomacy and Bluff-checks, increasing AC-bonuses when dual-wielding weapons, dex to melee damage when using weapon finesse, increased weapon dice for light or one-handed piercing weapons or rapiers (including a table) and another ability makes a comeback:
Due to luck's favor, the swashbuckler may decrease falling damage (by landing in the iconic haystack etc.) and at 8th level, the swashbuckler may use an AoO after a successful parry to make a counter-attack on a creature within range. At 1th level, swashbucklers may even maintain parries when moving and make attacks during a movement. S/he also gets improved uncanny dodge and may even move over difficult terrain. At the very highest levels, swashbucklers get a defensive roll, may roll death-defying skill-checks twice and as a capstone, may combine a full attack action with a move action.
We also get a new feat that decreases the penalty incurred to parry ally-attacks down to -2. Very specific and not particularly cool.
The pdf also features several new archetypes for the swashbuckler (which were added as a "thank you" to loyal customers - very nice and commendable from Amora Games!), first of which would be the Blind Swordsman - who only gets proficiency in one sword, but gain blindsense when unable to see and several sense-based abilities. The Fencer suffers from having the incorrect proficiency-listing - the one from the blind swordsmen shows up here again. 1/day, they may challenge to a duel and perform flash of steel with only a rapier, lunge and follow feints up with an AoO. Flamboyant swashbucklers work better when surrounded by foes and may influence crowds with intimidate. "Sword and Pistol" is an archetype that nets the amateur gunslinger feat and allows the archetype to use his/her firearm to supplement his flash of steel. Masked Vigilantes get a code of conduct (which must be lawful - but why? What about chaotic freedom fighters in a despotic regime?) and get bonuses to intimidate and net allies bonuses against fear. Weirdly, the class gets detect evil - which makes e.g. less sense for evil masked vigilantes and they may also grant their weapons temporarily the bane quality.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting is ok, though not perfect - aforementioned proficiency-issues, minor inconsistencies here and there and punctuation glitches can be found. Layout adheres to a relatively printer-friendly 2-column standard with full-color artworks and the pdf comes fully bookmarked - two thumbs up for that!
Authors Kevin Bond and Ryan Cramer have created a neat base-class with some cool mechanics that actually works. While the editing could be tighter, overall, the crunch is solid and features several rather nice abilities. While Parry is not a particularly ingenious ability and could slow down play, it works and overall, I'm actually a fan of the class and consider it one of the better takes on the swashbuckling-trope, even though some minor ambiguities remain.
In fact, I'd probably rate this higher, were it not for the immensely high standard Dreadfox Games' superbly complex Swordmaster-class has set. While said class is HARD to learn and nothing for beginners, the Swashbuckler has one flaw that prevents it from reaching the highest rating-echelons - it's linear. Very, very linear. Talents? Paths? Any choices on the side of the player? NOPE. None. This severely impedes the replay value of the class and makes swashbucklers feel imho too similar to one another. Combined with aforementioned glitches, this drops the final rating down to 3.5 stars, rounded down to 3 for the purpose of this platform - at least until the glitches have been purged, after which this should be considered rounded up.
Endzeitgeist out.
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An Endzeitgeist.com review
This pdf is 14 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 7 pages of content, so let's take a look, shall we?
Since full statblocks would blow the page-count out of all proportions (and most likely wouldn't be required), this pdf opts for fluff-only tables that mention the respective classes and levels of the people encountered, but not more - to get right out of the way what kind of information you get. The first table deals with peddlers, merchants and traders and covers 25 entries over 2 pages, wherein we find the whole gamut,. mostly focused on low-level peddlers, dealing in everything from kind gnomes trading clockwork toys to shady information/poison-brokers and even a tiefling who wants to buy...your soul.
The second table, covering bards, minstrels and troubadours, also spanning 25 entries over 2 pages, feature elven twins (one dances, one plays), seamstresses with ambitions for hackneyed and problematic plays, professional half-orc pugilists and incognito spies even.
The third table covers mercenaries, spellswords and freebooters, again sporting 25 entries - and I like that warriors get some love in the respective entries, making a difference between professional fighters and warriors. Beyond that, there also is a gnomish security expert, a questing paladin, professional safe-crackers and finally one hilarious, garish tengu-thief who doesn't understand why you left your valuables in that chest locked in the vault beyond those traps where he could so easily get it... Great one!
The final page is taken up by a massive 1-page b/w-artwork of an elven maiden sitting on a tree in the forest - nice one!
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn't notice any glitches. Layout adheres to RSP'S 2-column b/w-standard and the pdf comes fully bookmarked and with two different versions, one optimized for screen-use and one for print. The artwork is nice indeed.
Greg Marks has a nice array of different fluffy encounters here for your perusal and the respective travelers should add some nice color for your overland travels and I really like the respective entries - and hope we'll see one such installment for e.g. deserts, jungles, the far north etc. - since the characters in here are mostly looking like they fit best in a default fantasy environment. All in all, a very good supplement with nothing to complain about, though personally, I would have loved more entries like the respective last ones of the tables - for these tend to be the weird, really cool ones.
My final verdict will hence clock in at a solid 5 stars.
Endzeitgeist out.
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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 take a look!
Fetchlings get 5 new feats:
-Deep Darkness: Increase miss chances granted by miss chances by your caster level. Nice one!
-Piercing Shadows: When using Gloom Strike, ignore up to 5 points DR. Nice!
-Swift as Shadows: When only traveling 30 ft. or less via shadow walker, you can do so as a move action. Now this one is glorious - simple and yet interesting in the tactical options it provides.
-Shadowed Vigor: Increases cold resistance to 10 and a constant endure elements spell-like ability - unfortunately not specifying which caster level said ability uses. I assume the ability uses default spell-like ability standards, but it could be possible that instead, if applicable, the character's potentially modified caster level takes precedence. While a very minor ambiguity, it remains an ambiguity.
-Shadowed Vitality: As Shadowed Vigor, with the same minor ambiguity, only for electricity. Also a pity that no stacking benefit for having both feats is provided in either.
We also get 2 new traits, one to net you Diplomacy and Knowledge (local) as class skills and at +1, whereas the second does not net you the native subtype.
Fetchlings may now also choose from 3 different racial traits:
-Anchoring Shadows: At 9th level, get dimensional anchor - cool!
-Scion of Darkness: Gain the Persuasive feat.
-Shadowfingers: +2 to CMB to blind or dazzle foes - nice one!
The race also gets a new wizard archetype (though the archetype fails to specify that the archetype is for the wizard), the Shadowmancer, who needs to have access to the Illusion arcane school. This arcane archetype gets stealth as a class skill, gains his shadow as a variant arcane bonded object that may shroud the shadowmancer and obfuscate him from foes. A cooler ability, though, is one that allows you to create mundane objects from shadowstuff that perish in bright light. The high-level abilities fall slightly behind the awesomeness of his low-level powers, with especially the couple of bonus HP to the shadow companion the shadowmancer gets at 15th level being not particularly impressive.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are slightly less tight than I've come to expect from Abandoned Arts the minor ambiguities in two of the feats and the lack of mentioning the wizard are very minor issues, but still there. Layout adheres to Abandoned Art's two-column no-frills standard and the pdf has no bookmarks, but needs none at this length.
I was actually surprised by this installment of Amazing Races, as it offers some interesting and cool options to the fetchling-race as well as providing some rather iconic options beyond what I would have expected. Unfortunately, the minor ambiguities and rather lame high-level abilities of the archetype slightly detract from the overall appeal of an otherwise great little pdf, making me settle for a final verdict of 4 stars.
Endzeitgeist out.
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An Endzeitgeist.com review
This installment of the Treasures of NeoExodus-series is 4 pages long, 1 page editorial/SRD, leaving us with 3 pages of content, so let's take a look!
A legacy of the legendary dread necromancer and war-criminal Xon, these heavy flails are made from a new special material, so-called Blood Iron. This material deals an additional point of damage to bleeding foes and multiple attacks may sicken the victims of the dread ministrations on a failed save. Furthermore, the weapon may repair itself or cure its owner's constitution damage.
Rules-wise, the weapon is a +1 wounding blood iron heavy flail that makes stealth impossible - the howling of tortured souls emanating from it also shakens all foes around it, though, offsetting this huge penalty. The lack of a save versus the shaken condition might be considered problematic, though. Those slain by it have their souls bound within the weapon and the dead can be conjured from the flail as shadows under the control of the wielder.
The pdf also provides us with item-cards.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are very good, I didn't notice any significant glitches. Layout adheres to LPJr Design's full-color two-column standard and the artwork is awesome, as we've come to expect. The pdf comes with a second version that is slightly more printer-friendly and the pdf has no bookmarks, but needs none at this length.
This is a solid, evil item that lacks any subtlety - I don't like that the new material has a fixed DC and there have been installments in the series with slightly cooler abilities, but generally, this is a solid product and well worth a verdict of 4 stars.
Endzeitgeist out.
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An Endzeitgeist.com review
This pdf is 12 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial/SRD, 1 page ToC/introduction, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 8 pages of content, so let's take a look, shall we?
All right, first of all: I LOVE that we get new vehicles - they feature heavily in my campaign, make combat more dynamic and bring whole new tactical options and cinematic flair to a game. That being said, not a whole lot of books have tackled the subject so far, in spite of the existence of these rules since ultimate combat. Enter Jon Brazer Enterprises' second Book of Multifarious Munitions and we thankfully get some new fodder to battle on and travel with - but does the vehicle-book hold up to its potential?
Well, the first of the vehicles is rather basic - a crescent-shaped hovering board, which, while based on magic, should also put a smile on the faces of any sci-fi aficionados that would enjoy some hover-board battles. By the way - an aquatic, no-current relying board is also part of the deal - something rather relevant for fans of Alluria Publishing's great Cerulean Seas Campaign Setting. The fast and mobile halfling frigates may be small, but fierce indeed and multiple of these could take down larger vessels...
Speaking of small, but fierce: Kobolds get an AWESOME tool: AN alchemical, extremely painful flamethrower that should put the fear of these little critters into your players - put one of these in your kobold warrens and watch the PCs squirm when the little kobolds douse them in concentrated, searing death.
Now if you're more of a fan of the Harry Potter-franchise or of the classic concept of witches flying on brooms, the vehicle-treatment for brooms of flying will surely put a smile on your face.
Of course, more mundane vehicles can be found in here as well, with three in particular addressing a mayor gap I'm surprised at it not having been filled before: Siege Towers! From ramshackle siege towers as probably employed by the huge horde of orcs to regular ones and the almost impregnable ones the dwarves employ, the siege towers could find a place in just about any campaign.
Fans of clockworks, whether in a steampunk-context or of Midgard's Zobeck can also rejoice - there is a ram propelled forward by mechanical feet and controlled via a wand as well as a clockwork horse possessed by a demonic spirit (perhaps a lost design from the days of the revolt in Zobeck?) and, of course - a clockwork tank armed with a ballista. Clockwork tank armed with a ballista. If that does not put a smile to your face, what does? I know I was grinning from ear to ear when reading this.
Now if warfare's the name of the game - then mobile barricades will provide shelter for the poor infantry and protect against the muscle-powered reapers, deflecting shields studded with multiple blades and used to overrun adversaries. Have I mentioned the wind/air elemental-powered land barges, essentially armored troupe transporters? Now if you don't want to get all into the fray, why not use a blade sphere?
What's a blade sphere you ask? It's a sphere of blades that doesn't decelerate for two rounds after letting it go, shredding and waltzing through anything in its path - of course, if your players fancy themselves sky pirates, you're in luck as well: On the one hand we get the low end of airborne vehicles with the flying wagon and on the other, the massive, intimidating, fortress shattering sky dreadnought - disabling one of these ought to be one epic hell of an adventure! And then there is the Warbird - if you happen to know a certain song "Flying on wings of steel...", you know what to expect - A mechanical, bird of prey-shaped vehicle that WILL go down in the legends of your group: "Remember that one time we flew on the mechanical eagle..." -epic indeed.
Of course, characters and factions more in line with the sinister aspects of magic also get new tools: Take for example the Zombie Bone Chariot, which is propelled by fast zombies (also nice for post-zombie-apocalypse-settings à la the upcoming "Warlords of the Apocalypse" or "Obsidian Apocalypse") or, one of my favorites, the bone skiff: A ship, which can be powered by channeling negative energy and which may extend up to 6 zombified arms (!!!) to attack a given target! This is disturbing indeed and gleefully so!
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn't notice any glitches. Layout adheres to a printer-friendly two-column b/w-standard and the pdf comes fully bookmarked. Beyond even that, we get hyperlinks (and the good kind!) of rules-relevant concepts to d20pfsrd.com -as well as artworks. A total of 4 beautiful full color artworks are in here, all of which to my knowledge are not only original, but also make you want to use these vehicles even more - V-Shane and Rick Hershey did a great job.
WOW. I liked the book on ships - but this is a whole different beast! Not only do the vehicles cover a wide array of ideas and concepts, they are innovative and often feature unique modifications for propulsion, attacks or special qualities that set them apart. I hoped I would love this pdf - turns out, I adore it! Author Dale McCoy Jr. has created an extremely iconic, versatile array of vehicles that are guaranteed to enhance your game - whether piloting them, fighting them or engaging in all-out warfare, whether on land or up in the heavens - this pdf delivers - in spades! Going beyond even what I expected, it delivers versatility, ingenuity, stellar ideas and marries them with top-notch production values - an all out joy to read and review, this pdf scores a hearty recommendation at 5 stars + seal of approval and is a candidate for the top ten of 2013 - it may be small, but like the kobold-flamethrower, it sets ablaze your imagination.
Endzeitgeist out.
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Publisher Reply: |
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Thank you for taking the time to write such a glowing review. |
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An Endzeitgeist.com review
The first of the Porphyra-region books is 53 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial/ToC, 2 pages of SRD, 1 page advertisement, 1 blank page, leaving us with 47 pages of content, so let's take a look!
After a short, fluffy introduction into life in the swampy triarchy, we kick off with new races: Power-wise, they are built with 10 to 12 points via the flawed ARG-guidelines, which per se does not bode particularly well, so let's see how significant the power-fluctuations/levels will turn out to be, shall we? The first race would be the boggards that get +2 to Str and Con, -2 to Int, slow speed, dakrvision, low-light vision, can hold their breath 4xcon score rounds, get a secondary attack with their sticky tongues, may ignore natural difficult terrain in swamps and emit the terrifying croak of boggards. Per se an ok race, though for my tastes slightly too strong - making tongue and croak available via feats instead of generally and getting rid of one of the senses would have made them imho balanced with the base races.
Next up are the feykissed - those with fey blood i their veins. The flavor text mentions a settlement called "MacCool", which I SO hope will be renamed in the final setting -seriously, what next? The hamlet DocAwesome? Bodacialisciousson, the metropolis? Yes, it's a name, but one I consider jarring. Crunch-wise, they get +2 to Dex and Cha, -2 to Str, count as fey, get low-light vision, DR 5/cold iron, escape artist and perform as class skills, +2 to stealth and perception and may use charm person 1/day. A solid race, though I consider the DR MUCH too strong at low levels - dagger + commoner couldn't even hurt a feykissed at level 1! In my game, I wouldn't allow these, though I can see them work for other campaigns.
The Grippli are also covered - basically, we get the base race from the ARG (which imho is already stronger than the core-races, albeit only slightly) and add MORE powers: They HALVE falling damage, are always considered to have a running jump, ignore difficult natural swamp terrain AND get a toxic skin usable 1/day - all in addition to the ARG races already considerable powers. Not gonna happen in my game, though I'll probably take some of the rules and make them alternate racial traits, but balanced, imho, this race as written is not.
Half-elves get also a slight power-boost, with an added +2 to sense motive and +1 to DCs of sleep and divination-spells they cast as well as the option for half-elves of Cha 15+ to cast dream1/day. I actually like this slight power-upgrade for the half-elf, since I always thought the base race needed something distinct that sets them apart from their respective parent-races. Humans born in teh Triarchy can traverse hedgerows faster and suffer no penalties to acrobatics and stealth while in bogs and may use survival to detect quicksand even while running. What's rather cool - there's a chant of the reedlanders depicted and reciting it flawlessly by heart is suggested to provide a circumstance bonus to get rafts unstuck - this kind of information is what makes a given culture come alive and feel distinct, so kudos and two thumbs up!
The final race covered by the book would be the lizardfolk, who get +2 Con and Wis, -2 Int, can hold their breath longer, get 1d3 bite and 1d4 claws as natural attacks, +4 to acrobatics and +2 to AC. Honestly my favorite of the races, execution-wise - while I'm not a big fan of the natural attacks, they remain not particularly strong and honestly - I can actually see myself allowing this race in my VERY restrictive home-game, so yeah - nice job there! It should be noted that each race I mentioned comes with at least one new trait to anchor them in the triarchy.
But enough on the topic of races, what about the triarchy itself? Well, we kick off the gazetteer-like section of the book with an overview of how lordship, an elected, non-hereditary title, is determined as well as that there's the Triarch, a kind of high lord overseeing the whole triarchy, but also on an elected basis. We also get an AWESOME full-color map of the triarchy that is player-friendly to boot and which should enhance immersion in the region before we delve into the write-ups of the different settlements, all of which come with a full-blown settlement statblock, a short piece of aptly-written prose as well as several settlement qualities - and guess what: Apart from the stupid name, MacCool is actually a cool settlement! I'm now hitting myself for this dumb pun. We also get a full color player-friendly map of a typical village in the triarchy, based on one of Raging Swan's b/w Village Backdrops - the color does add to the maps appeal, though.
Next up is the section on new archetypes, wherein barbarians may elect to become warrior poets, who may grant morale bonuses to allies upon critical hits or take 1/day 20 on a knowledge check or take 10. Rather nice - each one of the archetypes comes with a sample character - including a nice piece of fluff. The otherworldly druid is limited in domain-selection via nature's bond and may opt to gain a fey animal as companion instead of a regular one. Furthermore, their wild-shape form is modified by further bonuses to reflect their closer ties to the realms of the fey - it should be noted that the sample character comes with a companion - something all too often neglected in publications.
Two new traps for the Trapper ranger archetype lead into the Wild Huntsman ranger-archetype, exclusively intended for the feykissed race. Escaping from these is problematic, since they may react as an immediate action to a withdraw by moving their double movement rate in pursuit a limited amount of times per day, making them pernicious foes indeed. Worse, their horns may strike fear into the hearts of mortals and the most powerful see their companions turn into unseelie creatures (as per the new template also included). Rogues may now become whisky runners, experts of drunken boxing that may fuel their grapples and dirty tricks via the alcohol they consume.
Wilders (as per Dreamscarred Press' superb Psionic Unleashed) may now take up the Cunning-folk's method, netting allies temporary HP when surging and we also get to see a new Vitalist method (from the APG of Psionics, Psionics Expanded - an imho must-have book...): Gaining endorphin surge as a power, the Taseck is interesting indeed - upon transferring wounds, they grant the target a massive, but short-lived bonus to Str and Con, but leave the target fatigued after the initial rush has waned. An issue here is that the ability does not specify how the temporary hit points gained from the con-increase are handled: Akin to the barbarian's rage? I assume so, for another cool option for the Taseck may trade powers for rage powers and use endorphin surge to enhance barbarians by letting them treat endorphin surge as their own rage. If you opt to choose rage powers, you don't have to multiclass, btw. - they are available to you while in psychic frenzy or under the effect of the signature power of this method.
The final new archetype would be the bog witch, a witch that replaces her familiar with a bog mummy, making her companion more powerful, but for the tradeoff of a higher risk of losing the mummy to fireballs, foes etc. After that, we get a new 5-level spanning prestige class, the Vate of Chiuta, who gets d8, up to +2 BAB, +2 fort- and ref-saves and +3 will as well as full divine spellcasting progression. These clerics may choose whether to channel positive or negative energy anew each day, breathe underwater and learn to automatically reincarnate and sense their bodies for 7 days- making it possible to potentially reclaim the original form. Dying anew within this time-frame, though, permanently ends the life of the Vate. Nice little PrC that lives very much from its great fluff.
We also get 4 new feats, all of which are interesting - what's more exciting, at least for me, is the section on herbalism: 19 new herbs, complete with value, perception DCs to spot them, DCs to use them and side effects are covered - and I love them! From prolonging life to curing damage incurred by electrical attacks, duplicating eagle's splendor or making the rejuvenation from fatigue faster, the herbalism-section is cool, oozes flair and just rocks!
Via 11 new spells, you may now gain a bird's eye view, create seelie and unseelie henges to guard against aligned and summoned creatures and quicken natural HP-recovery, create mires or obscure a road. All in all, a nice, flavorful array of spells. 3 new magic items, 2 new psionic ioun stones, 3 new artifacts (one of which is actually a psionic tattoo - damn cool!) as well as 3 new psionic powers complete the deal before we get a massive array of equipment tables that not only cover Ultimate Equipment, but also the stellar Inkantations and Luven Lightfinger's Gear and Weapon Shop before closing with two pages of cool, new mundane items.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are good, though not perfect - I noticed a couple of minor glitches here and there - nothing too glaring, though. Layout adheres to PDG's printer-friendly two-column standard and the full color artworks are nice - especially since, at least to my knowledge, several of them are new. The pdf comes fully bookmarked with nested bookmarks for your convenience.
Let's start with the bad - I don't like the races - while not as broken as other races based on the ARG I recently reviewed and at least mostly balanced among themselves, they feel too powerful for me when compared to the core races. MacCool is a terrible name for a settlement and the new archetypes, with the exception of the vitalist method, didn't really excite me that much.
On the plus-side, this pdf has a great map, interesting settlements, a flavorful PrC, cool spells, nice equipment both mundane and magical (though I wished we also got magical whiskeys in addition to the non-magical variants featured herein...) - and the excellent herbalism-section is a boon for my eyes. The archetype-sample NPCs are also a great innovation - I wished every archetype had such a sample creature - it would take a lot of number-crunching from DM-shoulders.
When I started analyzing this book, it first looked like I wouldn't get warm with the Triarchy, but as a region with interesting and uncommon race dynamics, it works rather well and could easily be plugged into a given world. However, I still feel like the pdf falls flat of its own potential: Beyond the aforementioned complaints I can muster against it, I also feel that if this book had focused more on the fluff, the region, its cities, its flora, its produce - it could have been even better.
When rating this, I was rather stumped and didn't really know what to settle on. In the end, I decided that the pros outweigh the cons, that the races, while not perfect, at least won't break a game and that the great fluff, characters, statblocks and ideas contained herein still warrant a verdict in the upper echelons. hence my final verdict will clock in at 4 stars - with the caveat that those as picky with regards to race-balance as I am should consider themselves warned, though not warned away - spurning this pdf based on said grounds would imho be a mistake. Author Josh McCrowell has done a nice job and I look forward to reading more Porphyra-supplements by PDG.
Endzeitgeist out.
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An Endzeitgeist.com review
This pdf is 13 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page SRD, 1 page advertisement, leaving us with 9 pages of content, so let's take a look!
So. Another gish-class. I can't say I'm too excited by the prospect, but author Marc Radle has already created the revised Vanguard, which ranks among my favorite takes on the concept, so let's take a look: The Battle Scion gets d10, full BAB-progression, good fort-and will-saves, 2+Int skills per level, proficiency in light, medium and heavy armor, shields and simple and martial weapons AND may cast spells while in armor from the very first level without arcane spell-failure chance - thankfully still specifying regular spell failure chances for spells granted by other classes. Starting at 4th level, Battle Scions get access to arcane spells of up to 4th level, which they cast as a prepared caster via Int at caster level battle scion level-3. Furthermore, starting at 4th level, they also count as fighter of battle scion level -3 for the purpose of qualifying for fighter-only feats. They are very much advertised, and correctly so, as a kind of arcane paladin-style class.
Thankfully, though, the class also gets some signature tricks to pull off - namely a deflection aura (which is not particularly powerful) and more notably, the power to throw so-called forceblasts: Usable 3+Int times per day, these are essentially big singular magic missiles that automatically hit for 2d4 damage, scaling up to 8d4 at 19th level, making this essentially a warlock-style, force-damage slinging class. Honestly, I'm not too big a fan of those automatic hits, but the strict limitation on how many times per day it can be used serves as a balancing factor. Of course enhancing one's weapon via an array of magical qualities as a standard action is also part of the deal and makes for melee versatility as one would expect from an arcane/fighter-class.
The pdf also comes with an archetype called Force Blaster, which enhances said blasts - for once, the archetype delivers +2 uses via a bonus feat and also allows the blaster to do unique things with the blasts: First of all, the class may use move actions instead of standard actions to fie these blasts and at higher levels, fire two of the blasts simultaneously and even fire them as swift actions at level 11 and above. Finally, the force-blaster can deliver push and trip combat maneuvers via their blasts - and honestly, the whole archetype, while a cool idea, is problematic to me - the damage the maneuver-enhanced blasts deal in combination with the guaranteed hit feels like a bit too much for my tastes - while the average damage the blaster can deal may not seem too impressive, automatically hitting AND the fact that the maneuvers can be initiated essentially sans fear or repercussions make this archetype feel slightly too strong for my tastes - depending on the power-level of your campaign, you might want to take a VERY good look at this one before allowing it.
The second archetype is the bonded scion, who makes his weapon an arcane bonded item and may enhance his bonded weapon, later even using his blasts to enhance his weapon to make it especially lethal against incorporeal foes. Where the blaster feels a bit on the strong side, the bonded scion feels a bit weak - especially the weapon-enhancement could have used some added versatility in my opinion.
We also get 5 new feats that range from extra blasts to enhancing arcane strike, the arcane aura and the arcane bond and make it even possible to awaken arcane bonds. The two rather complex feats that scale and add to the arcane bonded item's prowess are nice indeed and after that, we get what I consider a great additional offering: Legendary items, i.e. magical items that get stronger over the levels: The regalia of Gax the Great ( an homage to Gary Gygax?), the first Battle Scion: His armor, shield and longsword are depicted and allow the owner to e.g. expend spells for additional melee damage, dispel foes when striking them etc. - I'm a big fan of legendary items and the inclusion of them is, at least for me, a great benefit and should make this particular section also relevant for characters of other gish-classes.
The pdf closes with a handy prepared spell tracking sheet, though honestly, I don't consider said sheet to be too useful - a column for range, targets etc. would have gone a long way there.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are top-notch, since the only glitches I found have since been ironed out. Layout adheres to a 2-column, full-color standard with original artworks (which are nice to look at, though not mind-boggling) and the pdf comes fully bookmarked for your convenience.
So...is this pdf worth its asking price? It ultimately depends. The battle scion is the third prepared gish-class I've read and its design-goal of delivering an arcane paladin can be considered accomplished. Though whether that's enough depends on the person you'll ask. the magus is essentially more on the casting-side than the martial side, whereas the battle-scion is the other way round - a fighting class with an array of arcane spells. And honestly, that's where I'm not 100% sold. To me the magus is a kind of paper-tiger - deadly, but also relatively fragile in melee, whereas the battle scion is much sturdier - and the battle scion may learn ALL spells from the sorceror/wizard-list. Only up to 4th level, granted, but still, that's quite a bit of flexibility when compared to non-gish martial classes. The closest analogue would probably be that the magus is a razor, the battle-scion (especially the blaster!) being more of a sledge-hammer.
It's hard to put into words, really, but I feel like there's something off with the class, something that makes me a bit weary - whether it's the full BAB, the heavy armor casting at first level or the array of automatically hitting force projectiles (which can be quite OP at low levels!) or just the combination of these components - the Battle Scion works, yes, but it does so while leaving me with a modicum of unease. At first level, for example, the Battle Scion severely outclasses the Magus in damage-dealing potential (via blasts and better BAB) as well as AC and while later the Magus gets arcana and spells to offset the imbalance, the Battle Scion retains a massive, all but guaranteed source of damage via his blasts. Honestly, I probably wouldn't harp as much on them, but even with a 15-point build, you can easily get 6 blasts at first level without sucking in melee- that's 2d4 per round for a total of 12d4 over 6 rounds - damage that next to nothing can avoid or negate at this level, while even blaster sorcerors are stuck with 3 level one spells (+1 when assuming also a Cha of 16 analogue to Int 16 for 6 blasts) + bloodline. Yeah. the full caster is at low levels a worse blaster than the battle scion AND can't hold a torch to it in melee. Outclassing the blaster-class in a given level is NOT a good sign when you also can fight on par with the melee characters AND wear heavy armors from the get-go.
While at later levels these issues tend to balance out, I consider the battle scion at lower levels to be unbalanced. "But Endzeitgeist", you say "Marc Radle's Vanguard also gets a similar blast and you didn't complain about that one!" Yeah, you're right - do you know why? Because it remained a standard action and couldn't be executed faster - and the forceblaster archetype gets rid of this action-economy-balancing. Because you couldn't execute the blasts that fast - and because you could prevent them by separating the vanguard from his weapon - no weapon, no blast and a way for people to deal with in-game knowledge with the threat of the class. Additionally, the Vanguard only has a 3/4 BAB-progression, making it not shine as much as the Battle Scion does in melee.
Overall, the Battle Scion, at least to me, is slightly off on the power scale. If you do have a campaign on the conservative end of the power-spectrum and especially at low levels, the Battle Scion will be problematic. Is it broken? No, not horribly so and at mid levels and above, it actually works very well. But at least in my opinion, it will outshine fighters AND casters at low levels and also its Magus-pendant and thus I consider it overpowered. Now the supplemental information, apart from the blaster archetype, is great, but honestly, I can't help but feel disappointed in the class. Author Marc Radle's Vanguard-class is imho superior in balance and personally, I won't allow the Battle Scion anywhere near my table until my PCs hit at least 6th level. That being said, in high-powered campaigns, the class probably won't shine as much, though the points I brought up still remain valid - prepare for disgruntled martial characters and sorcerors at low levels when allowing the class beside them. I know my players would have taken severe issue when outclassed in their hometurf by a mixed class.
My final verdict thus, unfortunately and in spite of overall solid ideas, will clock in at 3 stars - unless you already hand out wands of magic missile like cookies. If your campaign is high-powered, then the Battle Scion will find its place with you and deliver a solid execution of the idea of arcane paladin.
Endzeitgeist out.
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An Endzeitgeist.com review
This latest installment of the Fantastic Maps-series is Jonathan Robert‘s second entry in the “Iconic”-subseries, i.e. maps that don’t feature the usual grid of the close-up Fantastic Maps-series and instead takes a look at a larger geographic region, this time around a town – and what a town it is! Coming as a 35-page-pdf in letterpack standard, the town takes up 1 page, as does cover and how-to-use, leaving a total of 16 pages devoted to blown-up versions of the map in full color and grayscale respectively to be printed out and e.g. laminated or made into one massive hand-out of epic proportions.
Now taking a look at the overview-map (which btw. includes map-keys), you’ll realize that this town is rather intriguing – a coastal town with a relatively sheltered river harbor lies nestled behind massive, fortified walls, the harbor’s entrance being guarded by a massive keep. The southern part of the town, with its boat yard and lumber yard (the latter on an adjacent cliff-side) thus evoke a sense of industriousness that is underlined by the quarry featured in the Northeast of town and the massive stone elevators and water wheel also featured on the map – in fact, there is so much to discover on this map, it makes you realize where other town-maps are lacking. Beyond the superb quality of the map per se, Jonathan Robert’s Fantastic Maps-line has improved and reacted to the criticism I voiced about this map’s direct predecessor – it also includes an archive, wherein one can find high-res jpegs of the town in color and b/w as well as with labels as well as 33 .png-files you could easily use to massively customize towns of your own making, adding massive value to this specific offering. Finally, we get the pdf also alternatively in a4-format so that Europeans like yours truly can also properly enjoy the maps when printing them out.
Conclusion:
The pdfs are bookmarked, the hand-drawn maps of Jonathan Roberts are nothing short of mind-bogglingly beautiful and this town in particular has inspired me to actually craft a story around the map. Yes. Those nice, little details like stone circles, the elevator etc. add a touch of the special while the town still remains easily inserted into just about any setting and locale. Add to that the amount of support via .pngs, high-res jpegs and the option to get the map sans keys and we have an stellar, superbly beautiful offering that will make many DMs looking for a town-map quite happy I’m hoping I’ll get to see many, many more of these awesome settlement-maps and remain with a well-deserved 5 stars + seal of approval for this installment of Fantastic Maps.
Endzeitgeist out.
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An Endzeitgeist.com review
This compilation of SGG's spellpoints-pdfs is 39 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial/SRD, leaving us with 37 pages of content, so let's take a look!
The spellpoint system essentially boils down to this:
The first 50% of a pool are a caster's are an open pool, the second half make up his reserve pool. Casting from the reserve pool entails first fatigue, then exhaustion and even unconsciousness when failing a will save of 10+spell points used in the casting. Divine spellcasters have to attune themselves to spells when praying and can attune themselves to a number of spells equal to their wisdom score (not the modifier) per spell level. And then there's eldritch dissonance, which is a great balancing factor: Preparation spellcasters add the spell's level to the spell point cost after having cast it once, thus preventing them from spamming a certain spell. Spontaneous spellcasters only add +1 to the spell point cost. Metamagic increases the casting time of spells enhanced by it and also the spell point cost - with quicken spell being the exception to the first clause.
The respective classes come with suggestions for renaming the spell-point variants when compared to the non-spell-point-using ones. The cleric's imbue with spell-like ability spell as well as the arcane mnemonic enhancer also gets a revision. Diminished spellcasting archetypes and PRCs are part of the deal as well, providing some guidelines for DMs to modify the respective classes. The book also provides favored class options for the classes.
A total of 26 feats are part of the deal as well - from aspects to arcana, judgment etc., there are feats to use spellpoints to enhance anything from judgments to wild shapes, master the modified metamagic, regain spellpoints via superb counterspells and regain spell points via sex - a rather cool idea!
The pearls of powers and rings of wizardry are modified by the system as well and the pdf closes with the optional, iconic rules of overcasting and conserving power via reducing casting levels.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are top-notch; I didn't notice any glitches. Layout adheres to SGG's 2-column b/w-standard with solid b/w-artworks. The pdf comes fully bookmarked for your convenience.
The original pdf was a great innovation that had its minor issues eliminated via its expansion - and now we have all the different pdf collected in one easy-to-use, more polished final offering that greatly enhances the usefulness of the whole system. As a neat little supplement, this pdf provides us with an exciting, interesting alternative to the basic vancian casting system. All in all, a superbly useful version of the cool alternate system and definitely worth a look - if you don't have the original pdfs, that is. This is a compilation and as such it imho well replaces its component predecessor pdfs, but also doesn't feature that much incentive to get beyond added comfort should you already have these. My final verdict will be 5 stars with the caveat that this might not be for those who already have the component pdfs.
Endzeitgeist out.
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An Endzeitgeist.com review
This installment of 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, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 6 pages of content, so let's take a look!
Following the format of the wilderness-dressing series, we kick off with a massive 2-page table depicting minor events, a total of 100 different entries that include hunting sparrowhawks, deep pools cloaked by hallucinatory terrain and swarms of insects infested with filth fever. A solid table of nice entries.
After that, we'll get to the swamp dressing-table of 100 entries- including drag-marks of slithering...things...(with Survival DCs), sucking mud that impedes movement, cryptic mounds rising from the slough and weirdly decorated skull fetishes and other signs of disease and decay.
Just like Raging Swan's Dungeon Denizens-line, we also get a list of 12 random encounters that come with a rather extensive fluff-write-up each to make them relatively easy to plug and play and which include the almost to be expected lizardfolk (one of which needs help versus a witchfire...) and mosquitoswarms as well as giant slugs and an ancient black dragon.
The final page is my personal favorite, though - a superbly useful DM-cheat-sheet for the terrain, with stealth, paths, bogs, quicksand and undergrowth, all provided on one easy to navigate page for DMs to make sure that running the encounters remains a smooth experience. I really love these!
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting, as I've come to expect from Raging Swan Press, is top-notch - I didn't notice any glitches. Layout adheres to their elegant 2-column b/w-standard and the pdf comes fully bookmarked and in two versions, one of which is optimized for the printer and one for screen-use.
Raging Swan Mastermind Creighton Broadhurst has taken details in RPGs and dressing up to an art form with his supplements and this pdf shows once again why these product lines are as useful. And call me odd - but I've always liked marshes - perhaps because insects don't like my nicotine-haze, but all in all, I love the smell of marshes and bogs, the sense of ancient life pulsing between decay and depths and the plentiful life beneath the murk and exemplified by the majestic trees found there. Swamps have always captured my imagination and this installment does a lot to properly convey that into words. So all well? Well, yes - though the series has me spoiled to a very high degree and I honestly missed the one weird encounter, the oddball random encounter - you know, the flail-snail, the crash-landed flumph, the vegetarian, schizoid werewolf (and yes, I had such a druid in my games as an NPC once), the weird hermit...something like that. Hence I'm "only" going to settle for a final verdict of 5 stars, omitting my seal of approval, but remaining with a heartfelt recommendation.
Endzeitgeist out.
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An Endzeitgeist.com review
This archetype is 5 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page SRD, leaving us with 3 pages of content, so let's take a look!
We've all been there - a treasured character dies and we need a new one - in-game, that's a bit more problematic, though: We all remember the scene from "The Gamers", where the group suddenly takes in the new mage standing right in front of the BbeG's fortress. And, of course, such characters suddenly know all the information the player knew - usually this is explained via talks around the camp-fire etc., but that solution always felt unsatisfactory to me. Interjection Games has recently released the superb Tinker-class, one complex, glorious beast of a class and this is an archetype of an uncommon type. As the Tinker comes with more than the character, this pdf's idea is essentially, that the Tinker's treasured Alpha automaton becomes free-willed upon the death of the Tinker and BECOMES the new the player character.
As such, the archetype is uncommon - you get to play a full-blown construct and the issue of constructs on low levels are addressed. Rogue Alphas hence get their very own progression table - they get full BAB, good fort-saves and up to 12 build points as well as a maximum invention level of 6th. Rogue Alphas start game at two levels lower and may not multiclass into other classes and since the transition is from a class feature to a full-blown character, the stats are rolled upon transition - with the exception of con, since constructs don't get a con-score. It should be noted that the archetype behaves like a fighter archetype and as such, the Rogue Alpha gets 2+Int skill mods per level, though I would have appreciated that being spelled out in the pdf.
Now much like a tinker, a rogue alpha gets access to blueprints and an invention book, but unlike Tinkers, they can essentially only use these to modify themselves - with a caveat at a later level, but more on that later. As you can glean by now, a rogue alpha is not yet another tinker, but rather loses all access to other automatons and at least temporarily, inventions netting class skills and skill ranks are disabled. Speaking of skills - Rogue Alphas may actually select one of their former master's Knowledge skills as a class skill. In place of armor training, Rogue Alphas learn to scribe inventions down at 3rd level, get their int-bonus to bonus hp per level and at higher levels, may execute their integrated inventions as a move action instead of a standard action and later even as a swift action a limited amount of times per day.
At 9th level, the Rogue Alpha learns to forge a link with an automaton without opening itself to Tinker-domination and thus gains one automaton - his/her/its Beta: The Beta gains up to 7 HD, up to +5 BAB and +2 saves, up to 16 Str and Dex (starting off at 12) and 47 hit points and much like a tinker's automatons, the Beta greatly benefits from being close to its master, gaining massive bonuses when being close to the Alpha. Later, the Rogue Alpha may deploy a minor version of itself a limited amount of times per day and may use pool abilities with the Beta and not be destroyed when reduced below 0 HP and may add permanent additions at the highest levels.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn't notice any glitches. Layout adheres to Interjection Games' 2-column b/w-standard and the pdf has no bookmarks, but needs none at this length.
This archetype is interesting and ambitious in that it makes a construct playable and makes for a new type of character - instead of playing another tinker, you play your character's legacy including a new class. The concept is glorious and the execution is more than solid. However, I do have one gripe - while the class is intended to be earned by gaining an Alpha via the Tinker-class, I think the period of "brokenness" at the lowest levels could have been easily solved to make this class work more universally - by making the Rogue Alpha at lower levels subject to negative conditions, for example and give them a pool of rounds per day, where they can ignore these "Prototype design-flaws". That way, playing one of these at lower levels wouldn't even pose a risk. Since this, while not a crucial flaw, remains a flaw nonetheless in my book, I'll settle for a final verdict of 4 stars.
Endzeitgeist out.
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An Endzeitgeist.com review
This supplemental pdf for TPK Games' much-lauded Malefactor-class is 23 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page ToC, 1 page advertisement, 1 page SRD, leaving us with 18 pages of content, so let's check this out!
All too often in the days of old, we got cool classes -and never any support for them. Thankfully, these days are over - the 3pps of PFRPG thankfully cooperate and often support one another and their products. Rather nice is also that multiple classes have gotten supplemental products to further expand their options - which is absolutely awesome! And now, the Malefactor gets a massive expansion of the available tools - but what do we get?
After a one-page introduction to the matter at hand, we delve right into the meat with new archetypes for the Malefactor, first of which would be the Bog Witch: The archetype changes the class skills available and replaces strife surge with the ability to put on a face-paint of mud, netting cha-mod extra strife points that are used LAST and if the face-paint is washed off (it is PRECISELY mentioned how much water is required!), the points are lost. While not particularly complex, I really like how fluff and crunch are married here - a good start for the supplement.
Cavetappers get expanded weapon proficiencies , modified class skills, can't bypass concealment via harrowed strikes and may use percussion instruments/their signature ratcheting flails to duplicate limited amounts of bardic performance-style abilities. Again, a nice blending of fluff and crunch, though not particularly complex. Frostblights change their skill lists and leave no footprints in the snow/icy terrain, tremorsense on icy terrain and 1/round roll twice and take the better result when spending a strife point in a melee attack - terrain-bound classes/archetypes tend to be problematic and this one just isn't exciting. Essentially a filler-archetype. The final archetype is the revised Curse-Eater Archetype, gaining cursebreaker at 2nd level, gain HP from devouring curses, gain SR from devouring curses as well as the option to transfer the curses to foes. I like this one.
Next up are new feats, a total of 5 to be precise: Cursedrinker allows you to destroy cursed items, recharging your strife pool (nice feat!), whereas Split Malediction allows you to target additional foes with your maledictions, each additional target reducing the DC by 2. Hex Bringer nest Malefactor access to witch hexes, whereas draw upon the grave lets all maledictions you cast count as strife surged when within 30 ft. of a haunt or unhallowed location - which is cool, though it does pose a minor issue - if you're like me and have started attaching haunts to items as well as locations, then this becomes mobile and permanent. Apart from that, I would have liked varying benefits based on haunt-strength/caster level of unhallowed areas. Not perfect, but still a passable feat. The final one is Oracular Conduit, which grants you an oracle-curse that progresses with your levels and also nets you access to a 0-level or 1st level spell as a spell-like ability. I assume these spells follow the Oracle's default by working via Wis to their DC and are cast at the Malefactor's caster-level, but the feat does not specify that, which is a flaw in my book since spell-like abilities usually work via Cha and I'm not sure which to use..
After the feats, we get new maledictions, a total of 22 to be more precise. It should be noted that the one page of advertisement is in the middle of the pdf - while I understand the reason for doing so, I also think that this is slightly problematic when printing out the pdf and is something to be aware of. Three of the maledictions allow you to create special traps like letting some overhanging things fall on foes (including damage-types for icicles etc.), trap foes in murk and create a special trap that makes those subject to it become hopelessly lost. They, like all the other maledictions, can be enhanced via dread escalation. Among the others, we get ways to deal non-lethal damage to creatures with breath weapons by turning their own weapons against them, increase your capabilities to break, lift, etc. objects, coldsnap items to impede item-use, loosen and open straps, dim lights, curse foes to accidentally buff foes or debuff allies, decrease DR, make vermin attack those afflicted with a sickly sweet stench incurred by being subjected to hateful honey, make foes easily flammable, drive creatures into a deadly rage (with some neat bonuses if you can really enter rages that deals subdual damage to the raging characters and thus works both defensively and offensively), let summoned creatures mutiny, displace items (making drawing them harder), caltrop foes, disperse animals and vermin, make incorporeal creatures more vulnerable versus corporeal creatures, curse healing via a tumor that results in confusion, divert projectile weapons and echo the damage of poisons or diseases. My favorite ability, though, would be Blind Spot, which creates its ominous blind spot in the field of vision that gets total concealment - this one in particular is simply awesome!
The first PrC would be the Black Cat Rager, who gets full BAB-progression, good ref-saves, 2+Int skills per level and may use maledictions and other spell-like and supernatural abilities while in rage. If rage wasn't ample clue - this PrC essentially is a combination of a beast totem-using barbarian and a malefactor, enhancing claw damages and rage/rage-power progressions. Helping the Rager is harder than usual as a minor penalty for the class and it gets a choice between two capstones. The second PrC is the Hellbound Witch, that gets 2+Int skills per level, 3/4 BAB-progression, good will-saves 5 levels of spell-progression and is essentially a combo-class between malefactor and witch, allowing the class to meld hexes and maledictions into one deadly curse. You might notice something absent from my usual formula - both PrCs unfortunately lack their hit dice, essential information for using the two PrCs. I hope this crucial information will soon be added.
The pdf closes with 2 new ratcheting flails, an oil that creates artificial strife surges as well as an unluck bringing animating scrimshaw albatross.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting per se as a whole are neat - though glitches have slipped here and there past the watchful eyes, negating some of the appeal of this pdf. Layout adheres to a printer-friendly 2-column b/w-standard and the artworks provided are neat. The pdf comes with full bookmarks and hyperlinks for your convenience.
I love the Malefactor -as long as you're not up to searching for DPR and if the other players are okay with that, the class rocks. That being said, the content herein is high in flavor and offers some glorious options for the Malefactor - idea-wise, this is definitely a great supplement. However, there is some filler interspersed throughout the pdf and the editing could have used another glimpse, with several rules-relevant glitches, chief of which would be the missing HD for both PrCs, detracting from what would otherwise be a great supplement. It is said glitches as well as the interspersed filler here and there that drags down what has great potential to a supplement that is good, but flawed. As such, as much as it pains me, I have to rate this down to 3 stars.
Endzeitgeist out.
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An Endzeitgeist.com review
This pdf is 13 pages long, 1 page editorial/SRD, leaving us with 12 pages of content for the class, so let's take a look!
The Fleshwraith, (very) loosely based mechanically on the Machinesmith, gets 4+Int skills per level, proficiency with simple and natural weapons and light armors, 3/4 BAB-progression, good fort and ref-saves and access to prototypes of up to 6th level. Unfortunately, the pdf fails to specify the type of HD the class gets, though I assume d8 analogue to the Machinesmith. Nevertheless, a major glitch that renders the class potentially unusable.
Like the Machinesmith, the Fleshwraith can create a greatwork, though there's a major difference here - a fleshwraith's greatwork is a bioengineered construct with d10, fast BAB-progression, no good saves and no skill points. Their whole features are provided in a comprehensive list (and yes, being bio-constructs, they can be healed) before we delve into the different types of bioengineered greatworks.
The Mechanus, Mobius Weapons and Mobius Puppets (Check RiP's excellent "Secrets of Renegade Archetypes" for those) get some additional rules to set the fleshwraith-take on them aside from the machinesmith-take. The class also gets two new greatworks - the Genetic Lab. Unlike other greatworks, this one is not particularly mobile, though a new one can be set up via either some time or a shorter time-frame supplemented by monetary investment. This lab produces so-called gesigner-cells, but more on them later. This lab also provides an array of low-level at-will/charge abilities as well as the option to get 1/2 class level to Knowledge (Nature) and create toxins via this skill instead of Craft (Alchemy) as well as the poison use ability.
The second greatwork would be a more disturbing one - the hivemind, which allows the Fleshwraith to cultivate insects to bring forth 1/2 level + Int-mod hivemasters, which act as a kind of charges. Fleshwraiths with this greatwork gain a vermin companion and use the hivemasters for a limited array of basic spell-like abilities. In contrast to Machinesmiths, Fleshwraiths get a scaling healing touch, usable 3+int mod times per day, which is not based on positive energy and makes for an interesting ability - allowing for non-divine healing.
The Intelligent Design ability is also interesting: The Fleshwraith gets 1/2 level in evolution points, with which s/he can modify her own body just as if s/he were an eidolon. The rules are relatively solid here, but there's a weird disjunction regarding fluff and crunch here: At first, from the description, I thought the Fleshwraith could only modify her constructs via this ability when in actuality it is his/her body that is being modified - the fluff here is just confusing and needs a rewrite.
As the Machinesmith, Fleshwraiths get tricks, to be precise at 2nd level and every 2 levels after that. Beyond Machinesmith tricks, we get 3 new ones for the genetic lab that allow for the addition of alchemical extracts to be added to the list of his/her prototypes, consume unused prototypes to duplicate healing effects or imbibe poisons and drugs to create clouds of spores with the respective effect - nice for an escape-bluff, for example. Adheres to the Hivemind-type of Fleshwraith may get vermin affinity, improved stealth when moving slowly or 1/day web shelter. Other tricks enable her to reappropriate 1/day one point of her evolution pool to another evolution as a standard action, more often at higher levels or gain the craft construct feat - all, of course, with a distinct focus on her/his biomechanical work.
As the machinesmith, greatworks get updates over the levels - this time around a rather cool one: They may essentially highjack racial abilities via RP and temporarily grant racial abilities to the recipient (whether willing or unwilling) of the injection. I'm not particularly sure whether detrimental racial abilities like light blindness and similar traits with negative RP-costs fracture into this ability, though - which is relevant, since the potential for offensive use is there and the lack of save against it means that a cocktail of racial weaknesses might make for a powerful tool. The amount of creature-types that can be used as well as the spell-like abilities are further expanded.
Hivemind-Fleshwraiths can add evolutions to their vermin, as granted per intelligent design class features and mount vermin and even vermin swarms (like a certain Spiderman villain) and heal themselves via their hivemaster insects. Chitinous plating and finally, frightfully powerful insects complement this greatwork's upgrades.
After that, we get a second new base-class, the Host. The Host gets 4+Int skills per level 3/4 BAB-progression, proficiency with simple weapons, good ref and fort-saves and no spell-casting. The lack of class HD here really hurt the class, since whether d12, d10 or d8 are granted really would make a difference - after all, the class is rather melee-centric. Essentially, the basic idea is to allow you to play a creature akin to my most beloved Spidey-villain Venom. The Symbiont that melds with you allows you to create gory shields and also permanently enhance your physical attributes and gain faster healing. Per se a great concept - but the execution makes some mistakes: Level 18 is an empty level - no benefits, nothing - that does not confirm with PFRPG-design standards. Also, the class is terribly linear, offering only a minimum of choice and no e.g. talent/trick-selection etc., rendering its characters more exchangeable than I've come to expect from classes. The decision to make the class 3/4 BAB would require it to be supplemented with abilities on par with that of e.g. the monk and honestly, I don't see that right now. It doesn't happen often, but here I'm actually asking for a power-boost - tricks, full BAB, something in that vein. Oh, and we NEED those HD to play this in the first place.
9 new spells/prototypes for the Fleshwraith have been included in the deal as well, many of which are exclusive to the class: Making animate objects bioengineered constructs is cool, though spells in the description have not been properly italicized. Spitting or sneezing corrosive acid, grant 1-point evolutions, grow spiky exoskeletons, add poison to target creature's attacks, implant brains into bioengineered constructs, throw sticky nets - it's there. Two prototypes in particular are awesome: Larval clone grows a cocoon and makes your body grow a tumor-like larva that can carry your consciousness from your dead body and rejuvenate you or even carry it to other creatures, allowing you to dominate them bodysnatchers-style. The other lets you, as an immediate action, fall prone and be covered with a rather powerful defensive mucus and crawl only while under its effects, leaving a slimy trail - awesome imagery there!
We also get a new feat that allows you to demoralize flat-footed creatures in the surprise-round and a new 2-point evolution that nest your eidolon a small pool of 1-point evolutions that can be changed for a more versatile companion.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are not particularly impressive: While I didn't stumble across any too glaring glitches, non-italicized spells in text and the overall formatting and at times disjunction between fluff and crunch make this pdf a harder read than it ought to be - especially with complex classes like this , this is an issue. Layout adheres to NeoExodus 2-column full-color standard and is beautiful to behold, as is the alternate, slightly more printer-friendly standard in the second version of the pdf. The pdf comes extensively bookmarked with nested bookmarks as well as several pieces of full color artwork which will be familiar to fans of NeoExodus-products, as they've been used before.
Damn. This is one of the cases where I just don't like being a reviewer. Why? Because I LOVE THE IDEAS TO DEATH. Author Benjamin Rombeaut has created a compelling class/variant with cool abilities and a sufficiently icky feeling. However, this pdf features several issues beyond the subpar formatting - while now the class-tables are included, the pdf still lacks the HD of the respective classes, which renders them unusable as written.
Worse, I somehow feel as if the Host-class just doesn't belong - linear design, dead level, overall rather weak, this one feels like it desperately needs another takeover/its own pdf to properly shine. Said space should have been devoted to providing more abilities/greatworks and especially, tricks, for the fleshwraith - as provided, the Host feels like half-done filler material that has been dropped into a pdf where it doesn't really belong.
This pdf has/had potential galore, but as written, it falls terribly and painfully flat of its own potential, with the lack of necessary information and the none-too-easy to process presentation conspiring with these glitches to force me to rate this at a verdict the pdf doesn't really deserve - 1.5 stars, upgraded to 2 for the purpose of this platform - I hope the issues will be addressed and that I'll be able to upgrade this pdf's rating in a manner similar to what happened with the Machinesmith back in the day.
Endzeitgeist out.
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An Endzeitgeist.com review
This pdf is 19 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page SRD, leaving us with 15 pages of content, so let's take a look!
This being a review of an adventure-module, the following contains SPOILERS. Potential players may wish to jump to the conclusion.
Still here? All right! Many a world features massive remains of underground dwarven subterranean city complexes and this pdf details one such complex or at least a part of it - the titular waystation, which features hammer-handed, old dwarven guardian-beings as well as an infestation of fungous, acidic ambush predators. PCs may also find an ancient, powerful magic hammer (with deeds to unlock the powers) or find multiple entries on donations from days long past - but do you know what makes what would otherwise be a relatively good, but not too exciting dungeon-crawl really stand out?
One word: Railway system. Essentially, the now defunct empire once featured magical rail cars the PCs can ride through the depths and battle on. This idea alone is imho worth the very fair, low asking price and any even remotely talented DM should be able to properly craft from this framework a more massive set of vehicular encounters - not only in the DCC-ruleset.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn't notice any glitches. Layout adheres to PDG's printer-friendly 2-column standard and the pdf comes fully bookmarked and with both a player-friendly map and a DM-map for your convenience. The pieces of b/w-artworks, all original btw., greatly help enhance the unique mood of the set-piece dungeon locale.
I'm impressed - while short and sweet and more locale than adventure, author David Przybyla has crafted an iconic, interesting place that can easily be expanded and add some speed to your underdark explorations with not only the content it features, but also with the ideas it introduces and leaves for the DM to develop. A prime example of an inspiring supplement, I'll gladly rate this 5 stars and can recommend this to DMs of other rules-systems for idea-mining just as well.
Endzeitgeist out.
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