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That art is breathtaking and terrifying. The War of Immortals is upon us. Next Wednesday you can feast your eyes upon this beauty, and maybe like me also catch the last two episodes of Agatha All Along… I got my PDF ahead due to my subscription, which is totally worth it if you want the book, though also I’ve been enjoying the hype online and from my friends. Also the Curtain’s Call adventure path has been leading up to the event as well. Some truly epic (wait, mythic!) events are unfolding. I’ll go deep into the book next time, heavily into the lore and possibly a separate one around Mythic itself, but I had to start calling out my excitement for new options here!

The Animist

I’ve been eagerly awaiting the Animist. The cleric I play in my brother’s game is very spirit focused. When I created him, there wasn’t anything quite right for Pathfinder2E to be used. He’s certainly developed into more of a priestly figure (and his deity is the city he’s in) but he still often calls on spirits and I’ve used spirits in the nature of his spellcasting, literally calling on the help and power of the spirits of those who’ve passed but were dedicated to the city somehow. My fun gnome is the voice of the city! Yes, I definitely considered an ancestors approach with the Oracle. Anyway, the Animist is all about being the go between between the living world, the mortal, and the spiritual. They speak to the dead, to the fey, to the spirits of nature… They’re a Wisdom-based divine caster and they’ve some depth of versatility whether you want to play close to a particular kind of spirits or tap into the metaphysical in a broader sense. The feature set really enables this.

When building an Animist you choose between one of our practices: Liturgist, Medium, Seer, and Shaman. I do love that we continue to see inspiration from Pathfinder1E now in somehow more unified, but also broader (for building characters) options. The Liturgist uses song and dance to connect with spirits. The Medium channels spirits but bonds with one in particular. The Seer focus on undead and haunts, the lingering spirits of the deceased. And the Shaman has learned how to focus power into giving the ephemeral a bit of the physical world, allowing them to affect our mundane existence to some degree. Of course there’s the Apparitions you’ll bind or channel, drawn from the following:

• the Crafter in the Vault found in lost forges and dark dungeons who like to create but get easily jealous too
• the Custodian of Groves and Gardens who steward the gentle green places
• the Echo of Lost Moments representing old magic and lost memories
• the Impostor in Hidden Places that are secret keepers from the farthest depths where mortals rarely go
• the Lurker in Devouring Dark tied to the drowned depths
• the Monarch of Fey Courts of natural and lively fey spirits tied to the First World
• the Reveler in Lost Gelee that are tricksters and pranksters who will not like it if you don’t laugh at their oft-times dangerous antics
• the Stalker in Darkened Boughs that are spirits of ancient woods
• the Steward of Stone and Fire drawn from hot springs, volcanoes, and canyons
• the Vanguard of Roaring Waters flitting through the rivers between mountains and breaking where they meet the sea
• And finally the Witness to Ancient Battles, soldier never returned home or who never found satisfaction from their fight

That’s quite a few to choose from and normally you choose 2 as you prepare for the day with one being primary, but you can change them when you Refocus. Your primary spirit grants you a vessel focus spell but you get the bonus lore skills and spellcasting from both. The Medium does get to make 2 of them primary however. You’ll have to review all your options to see if what the others get compares quite with getting 2 primary, and thus 2 focus spells. I’m glad they call out you get a number of focus points equal to the number of focus spells you have due to your binding (max 3). While lore skills are always tied to intelligence, which I sometimes take into consideration with players, I do love that you get 2 for each spirit. You can call on spirits of the areas you plan to explore (dungeons, old magic lab, battlefield) or individuals you might meet (fey, undead) to really help you that day. And again, you can change them when you refocus. I love the ramifications for roleplaying.

The Exemplar

Meanwhile, an Exemplar has felt the spark of divine energy as the rains of the dying Corum came down. Maybe ya got hit by it, maybe you found a pool of enchanted water, who knows. Heck, you can say it’s a power that has developed within you outside of the Godsrain if you wish. That’s up to you! Either way, that power now thrums within you and that which you wield. Maybe you’re going to choose Strength or maybe you’ll choose Dexterity, but either way you’re likely to be a hero or an immortal foe… They’ve noted this class is Rare and powerful, with impacts to any game they are in. I’m quite excited to see how it shakes out in a game, but that’s true for nearly everything in this glorious book.

The key feature is investing your divine spark into an ikon, which is usually an item but can be something upon your body. You start with 3 and you’re bound to have a hard time deciding. There’s 21 examples offered from armbands that sparkle and gleam that captivates those who see it to a dark, shadowed sheath that allows you to pull any one-handed thrown weapon from it, born of shadowstuff. There’s an 8th level Additional Ikon that lets you acquire a fourth. You can shift what you’re investing as well as you acquire more through a 1 action Shift Immanence ability, or for free when rolling initiative. Each has their Immanence ability, i.e. while invested with that divine power, but you can leverage that spark to do a Spark Transcendance ability. That power then goes to a different ikon you have, and you can only do the Transcendance ability once a round. It’s limited sort of like doing witch hex cantrips once a round, and thus it’s good to have a collection of ikons you know you want to cycle through. For example, the Fetching Bangles allow you to choose an enemy within 20’ to make a Will save against your class DC or it’s pulled into a square adjacent to you. The Shadow Sheath on the other hand let’s you attack a creature you just missed with a Strike with another shadowy blade and the target is automatically off guard to you.

It’s not just the power you’re investing in your form or those items, however. It’s also the legend that develops around you, granted through Epithets, like extension titles. “The Brave” or “The Radiant” for example. Your first one is granted at 3rd level, noted as your story starting unfold as you literally make a name for yourself. The Brave are trained in Athletics and you get to Stride half your Speed any time you Spark Transcendance. It has to be in a straight line, but it’s a free action, also can’t do it to the same enemy more than once in 10 minutes. Meanwhile the Radiant is trained in Diplomacy and your Spark Transcendance inspires an ally of your choice within 30’, restoring hit points equal to 2 + double your level. They too are immune for 10 minutes, so it’s really once per encounter. At 7th and 15th levels you choose additional lines to add to your Epithet, always gaining more Spark Transcendance additional abilities.

Mutliclass Archetypes

We get the multiclass archetype details for both and I appreciate the perspective given to each, which grants insight into what is felt about these classes and how to utilize them to further develop your characters. I think many are doing the Free Archetype rule – my groups do – and so the new multiclass options and archetypes (oh we’ll get to those in a moment) always draw attention. The developers/writers mention the animist is a good way to find a spiritual connection for any character, like having your ancestor help you such as I’m imagining is the case of the cool dwarf fighter art above. It’s an easy way to pick up some cool Lore (skills) and some interesting divine abilities.

The multiclass exemplar on the other hand has a fairly sizable list of considerations for various classes as this archetype gives a chance for anyone to get a touch of divine power, a spark. I imagine a whole campaign of heroes who get this archetype as part of the Free Archetype rule. You do only gain one ikon, but it’s useful for anyone looking for a particularly powerful weapon. At level 12, you can take a feat to gain another. It’s noted Bards might want to go down this path with fancy show-combat. Rogue’s might like Shadow Sheath and become epic, deadly tricksters. And of course any spellcaster might like to partner an icon’s attack with a powerful spell. Truly dangerous Magus unlocked? Let me know what you end up designing!

The New Nephilim

It’s been covered elsewhere, but we get 4 new Nephilim heritages. Reminder Nephilim is the term for all our planar scions like tieflings and aasimars and now the Aeonbound too. They are tied to the City of Axis and that expectation of system and even body perfection. They’re great at healing and can Treat Wounds without a healer’s toolkit. The Battleblooded (see above) are descended from einherjars, those chosen by valkyries and other mighty warriors. They gain Intimidation training and gain Intimidating Glare for free. The Faultspawn are born of the asura and gain a reaction to use when rolling a saving throw against a spell or other magic that gives a +1 circumstance bonus or +2 if it’s divine and from a worshiper of a deity you have a grudge with. Finally there’s the Proteankin, the Ganzi, born of the chaos of the bubbling Maelstrom. You get resistance equal to half your level tied to a damage type that randomly shifts each day. There’s also a small +1 circumstance bonus to saving throws against anything that would give you the controlled condition.

Class Archetypes

Now as for the archetypes, and by archetypes I mean Class Archetypes, we get 5. There’s the Avenger (rogue), the Bloodrager (barbarian), the Seneschal (witch), the Vindicator (ranger), and the Warrior of Legend (fighter). I’ve been eager to see the Avenger, as our classic Slayer of 1E returns. How nice to see you Zadim! I did adore that class, even if the character I had for it died far too early. What did I follow it up with? Oh an inquisitor and voila, here’s the Vindicator. Welcome back Imrijka! The Bloodrager is also a return from 1E, but the iconic is new. I’ve been prepping some various character concepts and the Avengers and Vindicator give great options for religious groups. These class archetypes start with varied changes at first level, but at 2nd level have to take a specific dedication. The Avenger has a deity they follow and are trained in intimidation, religion, stealth, and the deity’s divine skill as well as 3 plus your intelligence modifier skills. So effectively, you lose 2 as normal rogue has stealth, the racket skill, plus 7 + int more. However you get to use the deity’s favored weapon to deal sneak attack and get the weapon’s critical specialization when you critical with it! There’s also medium armor proficiency, but imagine the rogues we’ll see sneak attacking now with scythes and other weapons. The 10th level Shadow of Death feat allows you to instantly kill a target that has the doomed condition once they hit 0 hit points. The 6th level Zealous Inevitability lets you place that upon a target. That target when so killed can’t be returned to life or turned undead.

Vindicator on the other hand is a modified ranger as I noted earlier. They are trained in Religion, not nature, and they gain their deity’s sanctification as well as training in the favored weapon. Well if its damage die is less than a d6, you get the Deadly Simplicity feat. You also learn warden spells as divine spells! These vindicators are hunting down hidden dangers like undead and supernatural evils. Of note, the developers call out that evil religions typically refer to their vindicators as inquisitors, typically seeking out heretics. The edge they get – Vindication Edge – gives you a status bonus of +1 to your spell attack rolls against your hunted prey and they get a -1 status penalty to their saving throws against your divine spells. The Vindicator’s Mark you get, a focus power, targets AC and deals spirit damage and also outlines the target. Also makes them take more damage from your weapon attacks. It’s a perfect set up for a divine hunter!

I’m so excited to continue Investing In the War of Immortals. There’s so much more to get to, so you hold on tight. Like I said, more on Mythic and then also lore, probably two separate articles as there’s so much good stuff here. Then we’ll look ahead to PAX Unplugged with a feature on the 5th Conspiracy game I played and you should definitely check out there. Hope you enjoy your Halloween. I’m so excited for Agatha All Along and loving this witchy season! And of course, let me know what you’re building as you get your hands on the goodness of this book! 

Investing In:

I wasn’t quite sure what to name my article series when I first started but the idea of showcasing or discussing things that make me excited, that I find new and interesting, or maybe I’m otherwise passionate about seemed to fit with the idea of Investing In something like the Pathfinder 2E mechanic. To use some magic items you have to give that little bit of yourself, which helps make these things even better. I like the metaphor of the community growing and being strengthened in the same way!

I also want to hear what you’re Investing In! Leave me a comment below about what games, modules, systems, products, people, live streams, etc you enjoy! You can also hit me up on social media as silentinfinity. I want to hear what excites you and what you’re passionate about. There’s so much wonderful content, people, groups (I could go on) in this community of ours that the more we invest in and share, the better it becomes!

Sources

Banner – War of Immortals cover, Paizo, art by Wayne Reynolds

1. back cover text, War of Immortals, Paizo
2. Legendary Heroes opening chapter full page, War of Immortals, Paizo
3. Embodiment of the Balance feat banner, War of Immortals, Paizo, art by Oleksii Chernik
4. Seer, Animist, War of Immortals, Paizo
5. Celestial Archer, Exemplar, War of Immortals, Paizo
6. Fighter Animist, War of Immortals, Paizo
7. Battleblooded, War of Immortals, Paizo
8. Avenger, War of Immortals, Paizo
9. Vindicator, War of Immortals, Paizo

[00:00:27] Navaar: And I’m Navaar. 

[00:00:29] Esther: And today, we are finally, at long last, I can’t believe this, sitting down to discuss the Pathfinder Remaster.

[00:00:39] Navaar: Yes, finally. Very excited. This remaster, for those who haven’t been keeping up with Pathfinder news, has been not necessarily a long time coming. I think talking to Luis, it was kind of like, there were things that they wanted to change as a group with Paizo, but the events that happened at the beginning of the year with the OGL, with Wizards of the Coast, like, really sort of set things on their path of like, “Okay, yeah, we need to move away.”

Paizo led the ORC license change and, took the opportunity to say, “let’s remaster our core books.” That being the Player Core is what it’s called now.;The GM Core; I believe we got a Monster Core coming… 

[00:01:24] Esther: Yes, we do. 

[00:01:24] Navaar: And forget what the fourth one is. But the two that are out, the two that we can talk about — and because it’s release day for the public, as well, because our lives are crazy and, and we weren’t able to record it until now — we can just talk about whatever we wan, I’m pretty sure. Because it’s 15th of November when we’re recording 

[00:01:41] Esther: We can talk about whatever we want.

[00:01:43] Navaar: Yeah. Take that, I forget the rules. I don’t know. Folks, we record these late, constantly.

[00:01:49] Esther: Embargo.

[00:01:49] Navaar: Yeah, the embargo. Yeah, take that, Embargo! So, yeah, before we get started though, it’s been a while. People are still listening to our voices because there have been other episodes that have come out that were prerecorded, but it has been a while since you and I have actually sat down to talk on the show, and I think it’s important — even though I told you this is where we should start at a different thing, I was thinking about this now — I think it’s important to tell everybody that Esther and I got to meet in person at Big Bad Con this year, and it was incredible.

We got to hug, we got to hang out. We didn’t get to do a panel together because I had a family emergency that required me to leave earlier, but, we still had, I still had a wonderful time seeing you, so. 

[00:02:28] Esther: I had a great time seeing you and it was, it was phenomenal. I feel like we could have a whole conversation about Big Bad Con and everything that happened there and our experiences. It was so good to get to hug you and meet you and just chill. And someday we will get to do a panel together, but like, you were being a really awesome dad and spouse and of your family, so like.

[00:02:51] Navaar: Thank you. Yeah, yeah. I mean, life comes at us fast. I think, especially like this year — I mean, for the past three years, realistically — but I think like, in this year for me personally has been like, the most where my schedule has been like, “Oh yeah, things aren’t going to just go the way you want them to go,” at almost any given week. So you just got to really learn how to like, go with it and, and move. I mean, I’ve told you this before, but I think like the way that you and I do this show, and the way that you’ve talked about like giving yourself sort of accessibility and the, and, and the capability to like, adjust as needed and be comfortable with that has changed that perspective for me a lot. And so I appreciate that. It was also great to meet a lot of the Paizo team and like, Paizo freelancers and stuff like that. It was, that was really cool. So it was — it really felt like all the things that we believed about the company in terms of — or the people in the company, I don’t want to like put the company on a pedestal.

But the people in the company, all the things that we believed about them in the way that they, the values that they held, it felt like that was visible while I was hanging out with them, which is really cool to see and get to experience. And so, yeah.

[00:04:06] Esther: It always feels really good to meet people and be like, “Oh, even though I’ve like talked to you over the internet, you are really awesome in person too.” And like, just get to hang out and like talk and, and chill. That is an experience that I treasure, with being in person at a con. And it was so great to meet Luis, and James, and Jess, and Ruvaid, and all of these other people, and to get to, like, actually sit down and play a little bit, because we had, a game that Luis GM’d, where we were all doing, like, Animist and Exemplar playtest classes. And that was, that was really, really fun for me. I so rarely get to play, and I forgot everything I ever knew about the game in that game, truly. I was like, I could not remember anything. But I had so much fun, and I guess this is all just to say, if you ever want to go to Big Bad Con, we highly recommend it. It was a really great supportive space.

[00:05:04] Navaar: Yeah, I mean, so long as they continue to keep, like, all of their safety protocols and things like that, like, I think that it made a huge difference. In comparison, like, other conventions — you can just, like, literally look at any other one that had, like multiple tens, dozens of people get COVID, versus the I think very small handful of people that either got it before or, or at least tested positive while they were there.

So, yeah, I mean, I think it’s, I can’t imagine they would make that change. I hope it stays the same because it — 

[00:05:35] Esther: I dotoo. 

[00:05:36] Navaar: It made me feel comfortable. My social anxiety made me feel uncomfortable at times, but that’s just me. Don’t, don’t blame that on the con. Yeah, I think it was really good.

So, I just wanted to add that in there because I think it, it’s, a special thing. Like you and I, I feel like we had a friendship before we became hosts together, but it was great to like, have the opportunity to actually go and meet that person that you, you know, spend time talking with and, and texting with and, and creating content with. And so, yeah. 

[00:06:01] Esther: Absolutely. Absolutely. There’s something about just getting to like meet in person that is really, really special and I’m glad got to.

[00:06:08] Navaar: It was our own version of the remaster. 

[00:06:12] Esther: Yes. [Esther and Navaar laugh]

[00:06:13] Navaar: And with that incredible segue, we’re gonna jump right into these books. As we talked about, the Player Core and the GM Core are the two main books. I think we’ll probably spend a little bit more time on the Player Core because that’s the one that most people are going to use.

But yeah, like just kind of from the beginning things get shaken up a little bit. They’ve changed some of the ancestries that are, like, the core ancestries, and they’ve also changed some of the classes that are the core classes. One of the most famous of Pathfinder’s ancestries is the leshy, and leshy has become core to the game. So, uh, that’s very fun to see. 

[00:06:52] Esther: I love that. So the, the new core ancestries are: dwarf, elf, gnome, goblin, halfling, human leshy, orc, and then, the versatile heritages, which are changeling, nephilim, which basically the nephilim is taking the place of tieflings and like extraplanar, like heritage entities like that.

And then the aiuvarin, which is the new term for half-elf, and dromaar, which is the new term for half-orc. And I love both of those changes. I really love them getting their own names and like cultural background. And that just thrilled me, that change. 

[00:07:29] Navaar: I do have a very, this is a Esther special question, because as, as our religious consultant for the podcast– that’s, I just made that up. But as a person who, you know, studies and deals with religion, as your like sort of day job, how do you feel about the name nephilim as a ancestry, or a heritage, I should say in the book? Because I think like that’s very specifically tied to religion, right? If I remember correctly. 

[00:07:59] Esther: Mmhmm. Yeah, oh, I love this question. I may have a little bit of a, an unexpected answer. Because I’ve read in a couple of discord servers strong feelings about this name. And I actually don’t have particularly strong feelings about the name nephilim. I believe it comes from a Hebrew, like, mythology is the wrong — but Hebrew tradition. And that like Nephilim are biblical angelic entities or like, demonic entities as it may be, entities that are non human, but supernatural in some way. And maybe like, blended with human blood or something like that. I could also be pulling all of this out of thin air.

So I, I’m fine with it. I think it does touch on some of what we were talking with Avi about when we recorded that episode, which is like the, the roots in traditions that don’t always get more fully expressed in the game. And I would love to know like kind of how some of those influences from that specific tradition might get flavored into like, new feats for these heritages or stuff like that.

Yeah, I guess I’m just like, I’m open to seeing what comes of it and how people enjoy it.

[00:09:17] Navaar: Yeah. I guess in the same way, there was already angels and devils, right? And so, to the extent that that’s like pulling from a, like that root, Christian, Muslim, Hebrew, all of that, like those — what do you call them when you’re grouping those three together?

Uh, but anyway, to the extent that like, it’s pulling from that same religious tradition, I think that there’s — it’s not as odd when you compare it to like, what’s already there. But it is like — I was seeing it and I was like, “Oh, that’s an AFI song!” But also that it was religious context.

So yeah, anyway, I’m glad that it’s not like a big thing for you specifically. I was just curious, like, because you have, you know, this experience looking at it from a religious perspective. So.

[00:10:00] Esther: Yeah. I think the other thing I would note is nephilim, I believe is used at least in Hebrew scripture to refer to like, large beings, like kind of like giant — 

[00:10:11] Navaar: That was the other thing the, yeah. I was like song! It’s a song, and it’s also giant people. 

[00:10:15] Esther: Yeah. Giant people. And I don’t know that giant-ness is reflected in these nephilim, but your mileage may vary.

[00:10:24] Navaar: Right. Yeah. But I think this also, this is also points us to another thing, another big change that came, with the remaster is that there’s no more alignment. 

[00:10:34] Esther: Mm hmm.

[00:10:35] Navaar: The alignment chart for Pathfinder 2e is gone. But now there are holy and unholy, I think is the two terms that they use. 

[00:10:43] Esther: Yes. And edict and anathema.

[00:10:45] Navaar: Yeah. So, I think it’s cool to be able to say, like, “however I want to play with this, whatever my aesthetic is, whether that’s horns or a halo, like, that doesn’t dictate in the rules what my characters morality is going to be, or how they will be looked at.” 

I think like that, that does a good job of like pulling away from a lot of that, those same tropes that like — in recent, recent pop media, Baldur’s Gate 3 had a big thing of people being like, “Hang on, like, I thought we… I thought we already talked about all this.” But that was like the TTGRPG space talked about, the video game space was like, “We’re making this game for however many years, this is how it’s gonna be.” But it really opened up the door again for people to have a discussion about like, “Hang on, why is my character being treated this way just because of the way that they look?” Which is a good discussion. Continue having that discussion. But I think like, when you can make a game where it’s like, “Now I don’t have to worry about that. I don’t have to even think about that, really. What I’m thinking about is, like, what is my player’s morality despite what they look like.” Which I think is, this is how it should be, especially in a game where you have as much character customization as you do with Pathfinder. Making that more seamless, I think, is really good. 

[00:11:58] Esther: The other thing I’ve thought about is like — and I want to preface this with, I’m not hating on alignment. If alignment works for you, you can still use it in your games, and that’s totally fine. But I think sometimes that like, you know, nine box grid can really box us in to very, very oversimplified and railroaded versions of what morality is, what ethics are, and like what it means to be a quote unquote good person or an evil person.

And I really like this new system of like, edict and anathema, and how it can be determined by your class, your background, your character’s backstory and their life, your worship of a deity. Like, there’s so many different influences that can come together to build your values system in this world, and I think that just contributes to richer worldbuilding and richer experience of gameplay. So I’m very, very excited about that change.

[00:12:55] Navaar: Yes. same, yeah. And let all your anathemas be no genocide. 

[00:13:00] Esther: Mhm.

[00:13:01] Navaar: Mm-Hmm. . Um, yeah. So after ancestries we have the new core classes, which most of these are gonna be the same. But my favorite that I haven’t played got in here. so the new ones now are Bard, Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Ranger, Rogue, Witch, and Wizard.

So notably, no Sorcerer. No Champion. which I imagine Champion being, “we gotta hold off on this as we figure out how this works now without alignments.” Which I think, I have confidence in the team that they’ll get it done, and I’m excited to see what they do with it. But yeah, I love Witch being a core.

[00:13:39] Esther: I love Witch being a core. That was the one I honestly went directly there and started through the Witch. 

I’ve, I’ve played a Witch multiclass, but I’ve never played a Witch as like, my primary class. And I’ll be honest, in part because I really loved the idea of the Witch, but the first iteration just didn’t quite pack enough of a punch in the way I wanted it to. And —

[00:14:07] Navaar: For, I’m sorry, for 2e or for first edition?

[00:14:09] Esther: For 2e, for 2e. Yeah. And I think they fixed a lot of what I was uncomfortable with in this, so I’m really excited to hear your thoughts on the Witch.

[00:14:22] Navaar: Yeah, I think like, I agree. I think that there are things that it, it makes it so that it’s smoother. Like if it, if it’s gonna be your core one and you’re gonna take something out like that is… I would say like a Sorcerer’s, pretty iconic, right? That’s like thing that, like, you have that innate ability and all this stuff.

You really have to give something that’s going to, that’s gonna like pop and gonna, and gonna feel good, so. I’m trying to like get to the page that I can find my thoughts, but yeah. What were some of like, the standout things for you? 

[00:14:53] Esther: So, on page 184, they get into the — 183 actually — we get into patrons. And this is where the Witch kind of wasn’t up to what I wanted it to be before. The patrons were like kind of one-word entries. And I’m gonna like pull something out of thin air, like, “shadow” or “darkness” or “light” or something like that. 

[00:15:18] Navaar: Or “fate,” yeah, yeah, yeah. 

[00:15:18] Esther: Yeah, or “fate.” And kind of barebones descriptions of like, what it got you. And they’ve really done a beautiful job of expanding patron descriptions and flavors. So the, the titles are now Faith’s Flamekeeper, The Inscribed One, The Resentment, Silence in Snow, Spinner of Threads, Starless Shadow, and Wilding Steward. And those names alone get me more excited than like, “snow,” or “shadow.” 

Um, and I’ll just, I’ll just pick one at random: Spinner of Threads, that’s the one I want to go with. So the description for this is: “You met your patron in a memory of an encounter yet to come, or a premonition of something long since past, as they untangled and respun the tapestry of time and fate. Was your patron a Norn? A herald of a deity like Pharasma, Alseta, or Grandmother Spider? Could it even be a single individual appearing at three or more points in its timeline, multiple versions of the same being, parallel threads converging on a single moment.” And so then it tells you your spell list is going to be Occult, and your patron skill that you get trained in is Occultism. And you get the lesson of Fate’s Vicissitudes.

Which is: “Your patron’s harsh lesson is that fate spares no one, rising and falling in turn for all. You gain the Nudge Fate hex cantrip and your familiar learns Sure Strike.” And then your familiar now gets a little boost as well based on what your patron gives you. This is the Familiar of Balanced Luck, which means: “Your familiar has a spot on its body that looks like a good luck charm or a bad omen, depending on the angle. When you cast or sustain a hex, one creature within 15 feet of your familiar gets your choice of either a +1 status bonus to its AC or a -1 status penalty to its AC until the start of your next turn.”

So that’s just a bit of an example for you of the updated, re-juiced patron descriptions and what you get.

And honestly, that was enough to take me, to being really excited about the idea of playing a Witch one day. Like, you know that I am all about flavor, and the flavor in these is beautiful, but it’s also really backed up with a lot of good mechanical stuff that I think really just gives the Witch that extra something that makes it a really solid option for a caster class. 

[00:17:46] Navaar: I agree. I also haven’t had a chance to play the Witch, but I’ve, I’ve GMed for one. There’s a Witch in An Unwavering Force, the show I’m in, and we… I love hexes. I think all of them are really cool. Once you understand, I think especially once you understand like, how much of a benefit a +1 or a -1 is to a character, and then you look at the other hexes outside of, like, the core hex, it’s like, “Oh yeah, this is, this is good.”

But I really love the nasty hexes. And I think, similar to what you were saying, I don’t think I have the words for it, but like, having patrons that feel like there’s now this sort of defined relationship, there’s now this sort of backstory that you can build off of. As opposed to just being like, “There’s a, there’s a deity out there who just gives you stuff, and you don’t ever acknowledge it. But you have this really cool familiar with you.”

Whereas this, like — now it’s like, for people who really enjoy having patron relationships, I think this is going to hit the spot. But all that to say, the one that I love is the Resentment one. “The Resentment is a single feeling radiated from your patron in the moment you met them, as palpable as heat from a fire. The desire to see every tall poppy felled and every proud nail hammered down, whether to righteously bring justice for small folk, or the base urge to see the powerful defeated. Your patron is likely far from the upper echelons of its kind, such as a hag ousted from its coven, or a quasi-divinity, or lower-ranking demon. This leaves it only subtler and weaker tools to see its end met: curses, hexes, and you.” 

And so you get the Lesson of Strength’s Impermanence. So: “Your patron has taught you that the power can be taken much more easily than it can be built. You gain the Evil Eye hex.” The best hex! “And your familiar learns Enfeeble. Which Enfeeble used to be Ray of Enfeeblement. And I believe that the spell itself got a little bit of a boost as well.

And: “Your familiar seems hostile to all creatures other than you, hissing at them if they get too near.”

So I think like just in terms of, again, like the flavor and the roleplay around that, like having this like angry little shit that’s just there with you constantly that helps you get spells, it’s such a fun thing, right? Because I think we’ve, we’ve all met somebody who has like that one cat that they’re just like, that cat is not gonna let you hold it. Don’t hold the cat. It’s not gonna be good. And yeah, we need more of that.

[00:20:06] Esther: We do. I’m looking up Enfeeble real quick, because wanted to see — yeah, so, Spell 1, it’s two actions, range 30 feet, targets one creature. You sap the target’s strength depending on its Fortitude save. Critical success: the target is unaffected. Success: the target is enfeebled one until the start of your next turn. Failure: the target is Enfeebled 2 for one minute. And critical failure, the target is Enfeebled 3 for one minute.

I honestly don’t remember how that compares to the previous version.

[00:20:37] Navaar: Right, yeah. I don’t either, but I’ll just say, like, just from that, I love that you don’t have to do an attack roll. 

[00:20:43] Esther: Mm hmm.

[00:20:44] Navaar: I love that it lasts a minute. I’d have to look at the rules, but like, if you land that successfully, especially at a lower level, and then there’s no like, additional save after that, that’s massive. 

[00:20:55] Esther: Yeah. 

[00:20:56] Navaar: But I mean, as I’m looking this up, the other thing is: magic has changed a little bit in this remaster. Instead of having to do like, different components and all this stuff, the spells are sort of laid out in ways that make it so that you can still be holding weapons or have things in your hand and still be able to do gestures.

I think it’s like, called Utterances now. So there’s like, these little changes that they’re making that are, are… one, it, it helps them get further away from OGL. But two, I think it helps make it a lot of this stuff easier for new players coming into this to be like, “Okay, I don’t have to like figure out what the spell components are for this, or learn what the word somatic means.”

Uh, you know! [laughs] Uh, we can just kind of move forward. 

[00:21:41] Esther: I straight up forgot that somatic and verbal components aren’t a thing anymore — or are not a thing in the same way anymore. And that’s really exciting.

[00:21:50] Navaar: Yeah, I’m looking at the spell… okay, I, think it actually, the spell might be the same. So it’s just the name that they changed. ‘Cause it’s still the same fortitude save, two action spell. But either way — so just like, some of the ways that they’ve changed some of the stuff is like, sometimes it’s a name change. Just to make things different, and also hopefully easier. 

[00:22:14] Esther: Yeah, I, I think a lot of, a lot of the material here feels either basically the same or incredibly similar. It’s still worth it to pick up both of these books to have the most current version of the game, but nothing felt like an earthshaking, game- system-altering change here. Like, it just feels like a refinement and a steady improvement on the past several years of this game. And that feels really good. 

[00:22:45] Navaar: Yes. I enjoy that. I think one of the things that, um, I wanted to talk to you about — because we’ve had a lot of discussions with Paizo staff that you listeners have heard now, where we’ve talked to them about, like, what’s it lie In iterms of accessibility in Paizo, and how we look at like accessibility and, and tools for accessibility when it comes to the game, things like that.

Opening up a rulebook is always sort of difficult. For you, do you feel like you felt that the book was easier to navigate and/or read as you’re going through it? 

[00:23:20] Esther: Absolutely. I love that you asked this question because honestly, one of the biggest barriers to getting people into this game thus far has been the size and in some ways, the layout, of the previous Core Rulebook. I know that’s not the case for everybody, and there’s folks who that all really, really worked for. But I actually recently lent my copy of the old Core Rulebook to someone who came over to my house for dinner and was really into learning about TTRPGs.

And I was like, “Just take this!” And they were like, “Wow, this is huge. This is a lot to get through.” And I was like, “Yeah, it’s easier than it seems.” But it’s been — a barrier of entry for multiple people was just like, the sheer size of this book and the amount of information and, and sometimes the way it was laid out.

So for me, actually — especially with the new Player Core — it did feel like a simpler layout. It does feel condensed and like it’s a bit more streamlined, and that the flow of information is maybe actually largely the same, but it makes just a little bit more sense to me. Yeah, I’m curious about your experience.

[00:24:32] Navaar: Yeah. Similarly, as I was going through it, I think like the thing that really stuck out is really like, the layout, right? In terms of like, just the graphic design of it, it seemed like things weren’t as cluttered or — it just seemed like it was a lot smoother to find stuff, to read stuff, to navigate even things on the page.

I just, I really love that because I think it, it is hard to go and give somebody a big book and be like, “Hey, like, learn this and make a character.” And it’s just not the most accessible way, regardless of how you make your book. But I think when you can do everything you can… Pathfinder is the kind of game that a big book, maybe it’s created its own necessity. But it like, it’s hard to think of like, Pathfinder without this.

And I’ve never even read the full original Core Rulebook. To be clear, I never intend to. Just that there’s so much, that’s so much stuff that I just don’t need. But it’s like when it’s, when I need it, it’s there. And, you know, finding out where it is. And so like, I think, yeah, just a lot of like the ways that they’ve changed — if you go and look at like the equipment, right, the weapons, as fun as it is to have like, weapons spread around on a page, it also breaks up the text, and that’s distracting.

And so like having the text it laid out in a way that’s — I can go look for the picture of this thing if it exists, but also now here’s all the descriptions that I need in order, without other things in the way visually, I think that makes a big difference. 

[00:26:03] Esther: It reminds me of Avi talking to us about sculpting the page appearance and how that’s like, editorial work. And so I, I want to just shout out the editorial team for — and the graphic design team — for these layout decisions. I think that sculpting of the page really does come through in the final product. And it seems more streamlined and easier to access. And that is a very, very good thing.

[00:26:31] Navaar: Yes. Yes, absolutely. Yeah, what other, what other things, uh, stood out to you? 

[00:26:37] Esther: I had one more thing about the Witch, and then the Wizard, actually. 

So, there’s a Witch feat at Level 18. This, I believe, replaces the former feat Hex Wellspring, which let you recover three Focus Points when you refocused if you’d spent at least three Focus Points since you last refocused, or something like that.

This is called Patron’s Claim and it is: “Your patron partially manifests itself through your familiar to claim a foe’s power for its own. Your familiar gains the following activity.” So this is a two action, once per hour effect, which is: “Your familiar’s mouth opens impossibly wide before your patron’s grasping limb stretches forth from it at a creature within 30 feet, dealing 10d10 spirit damage with a basic Fortitude save against your spell DC.

If the creature fails its save and takes damage, it is also Drained 2, or Drained 4 on a critical failure. And you regain one focus point, up to your usual maximum, as your patron grants you additional magic in exchange for your gift of your opponent’s spirit.” Wow. What a feat. I mean, you’ll have to get to Level 18 before you can take that, but I absolutely loved that. Just like —

[00:27:53] Navaar: That feels like a good Level 18 feat. You did touch on something though, that is another change that came to the game. So, Focus Points were sort of weird — I remember when I first started playing, honestly, it took me so long to figure out like, how they worked. When you got a new one, how did you recharge it?

And I had to like, keep going back and reading the rules. It’s been made a lot simpler now. So ignore — if you’ve never, like, if you’re still new or you don’t understand Focus Points, just ignore whatever the old rule was. Now you just, you have to spend 10 minutes to focus, then you can get your Focus Points back, or you can get a Focus Point back per 10 minutes that you spend refocusing, without the other conditions that were set upon, like you had to use one to get something back, and et cetera, et cetera. Which I think is, is really good because then it — if you’re a character who uses Focus Points a lot, for instance, I have a character that is a Ranger — and I use Gravity Weapon a lot. He’s also a psychic. And so I use — all of my psy cantrips use my focus points. It’s great to like, “Alright, cool, I did three really cool things. And now, after this battle’s done, in 30 minutes if I spend the time, I can do three more cool things in the next encounter.”

As opposed to like, “I can do one and then I have to wait a day or whatever.” So I still don’t understand the rules, for the old version of it. But I, I am, I’m excited that they made that change. I think it’s another thing that just like, this is how we get towards a more simpler concept. Because I don’t think that Pathfinder 2e is a difficult game to learn. But Focus Points, specifically, hung me up for a long time. 

[00:29:27] Esther: Same, same. I remember — so the first 2e character I ever created was a Champion, and she had a Focus Pool. And I was so confused about how it functioned differently than regular spells, how I had like, get it back up to the number of points. Like, it was, it was a process to learn and I’m lucky that my GM is just, has a great brain for like, remembering rules and systems, because I would have been really lost without him.

[00:29:56] Navaar: Yeah. It’s a, it was tough. Cool. So what was your, what was your Wizard thing? 

[00:30:01] Esther: So my Wizard thing! I was really curious how the Wizard was going to change, because they’ve gotten rid of the various magical schools: abjuration, conjuration, illusion, enchantment, all of those. And I think those were close, or too close to the OGL way of thinking about magic and arcane schools, and so they’ve been replaced. And yeah, now the arcane schools are: the School of Ars Grammatica, the School of Battle Magic, School of the Boundary, School of Civic Wizardry, School of Mentalism, School of Protean Form, and the School of Unified Magical Theory, which is basically like being a Universalist Wizard again. And I instantly really liked those for the ways that they sounded very straightforward and descriptive of like, what they are. The vaguest one I think is like, School of the Boundary — and we can look up what that means — but I just loved like, School of Battle Magic. Okay! School of Civic Wizardry. You kind of get the vibe of those things. 

They have somewhat changed Arcane Theses. So the Arcane Thesis options before were Improved Familiar, Attunement, Metamagical Experimentation, Spell Blending, Spell Substitution, and Staff Nexus, and now they are Experimental Spell Shaping, Improved Familiar Attunement, Spell Blending, Spell Substitution, and Staff Nexus.

So like, there’s some overlap there, but you’re also getting some new flavor for what’s possible for the Wizard. And basically, your Arcane Schools, you get the same number of spells and cantrips and extra spell splots that you would have gotten from like, picking a school to focus on in the old system. You get that from your new arcane schools. So basically works the exact same way. And yeah, I honestly… I have never really wanted to play a Wizard that badly. And that may be an unpopular opinion; it’s just, it’s just me. 

[00:32:04] Navaar: No, yeah. I agree. 

[00:32:06] Esther: Yeah. And so I was surprised when I read through the Arcane Schools and I was like, “Huh, you know, I can actually imagine like, building a character and having fun building a wizard now.”

I wasn’t necessarily expecting that from the remaster, but it really did it for me. So yeah, I just, I wanted to shout out the way the Wizard has been, not like majorly rethought, but like minorly tweaked. It works for me.

[00:32:37] Navaar: I think like when you… just having the vibe of like, here’s a thing. Because I think that’s what has always sort of stood out to me for other spellcasters, right? Is like, even with the Sorcerer, it’s like, the source of your power is, is this thing. And so that kind of draws you towards a direction.

And even though the Wizards have like schools of magic, it just always felt like you’re going to learn whatever spells you want to learn anyway. But like, when you tell me that my school of magic can just be Battle Magic, like that — to me, I’m like, “Oh, yeah, this is like playing Skyrim and being like, I just want to focus on destruction, right?”

You know, and so creating that vibe, I think, really does a lot to make it more appealing, really. Like there’s a reason that the Psychic appeals to me. Even if I wasn’t playing in a Star Wars game, there’s a reason that the Psychic appeals to me.

‘Cause it’s very, it narrows that down into like a very specific subset of like, here’s some really cool shit that you can do with these psychic abilities. Or a cleric even, right? You know, there’s a lot of stuff like that. So I think like having that Wizard I think helps, pull people in. I agree. 

[00:33:49] Esther: And I also, I like that they’re kind of removing the ” if you’re an illusionist, you really have to focus on learning illusion spells.” Like, that felt so limiting. I’ve built Wizard NPCs before, or like, major, major NPCs that the players would interact with, and it’s always felt very limiting to me to feel like I have like, a narrower range of options to choose from. And this, the way that magic has been rethought and reworked, it feels like you can do a lot more flavor-wise to, like, make whatever fit being Battle Magic, or Civic Wizardry, or Unified Magical Theory. Like, whichever one you want to pick. And I really like that.

I think Pathfinder is a game of customization for so many people. And this feels like one more way to get that customization. 

[00:34:44] Navaar: Absolutely. Yeah, let’s see. What other changes did they make? they just, they’ve done quite a bit of stuff with other things. I feel like I remember seeing they’ve made some changes to how you apply runes to shields, so in that you can now buff up shields and actually want to use them, as opposed to like worrying about them breaking, including magical shields as well. Because the runes uh, before didn’t allow for certain things or didn’t allow for as much versatility. That’s really good to see. I think as much as I feel like martial classes in Pathfinder 2E are already really badass, there are certain things that you’re inclined to do when you don’t have as many benefits to do them. 

[00:35:33] Esther: Yeah. The other thing I’d just shout out is that I think they’ve done a really good job laying out like the Playing The Game section, which Chapter Eight. And it’s, it’s just really good to have reminders of like what encounter mode is, what exploration mode is, what downtime is. To have the Pathfinder baseline, which is on page 397, layed out for like — the people who create this game have certain expectations of what will or will not be on the table in terms of play. And I think it’s really just useful to remember that those guidelines exist in the book, it’s helpful to point new players there. And that’s the kind of thing that, like, people have asked me before. Like, what’s on the table? Or how do you… how do you, like, live your life in this game? And it’s just great to have a place to easily point folks to. So, just another shout-out to the layout and the general thought and organization. I think that’s really well done.

[00:36:31] Navaar: Yeah. I think, so another interesting thing about the layout — because thing that is interesting to me, and I both are game designers. layout of how the rules are presented was something that when I was making my game I gave a lot of thought to, I reorganized before I like, it in to get to published.

Because how we look at it, I think says a lot about like, how the game gets approached, right? And so, like, for me, my game, was like “Here’s the rules that everybody needs to know. And then here’s a quick I think it’s like, two or three pages of like how to create your character. And then at the end is like, here’s how the GM can run the game.” What I think is interesting is that Pathfinder is set up in a way that’s like, “Here’s how to make your character for about three or four hundred pages.” Which, not gonna use all those pages, don’t let that intimidate you. I don’t think that’s bad when it comes to Pathfinder 2e because Pathfinder 2e is about the character customization aspect of it. You’re going to spend a lot of time working on getting your character right, or making tons and tons of characters, so it makes sense to have all of this stuff in here. And while is a lot of choice, and sometimes that can be intimidating, I think the choices are so that it, it allows you to really think about like, how do I want to approach the world. a new podcast out called Infectious Enthusiasm by my mentor Quinn Murphy. And uh, about Pathfinder 2E, and his friend Brian. And, and they, about a lot of things, but the way that like weapons work, for instance, is one of those things of like, weapon choices are even — it’s it might be just “I like the aesthetic of this.” But also it might be, “Well, I like the aesthetic of this, but I actually want to be able to Trip and Disarm with my weapon on an attack. So this might be a better option for me, you know?” And so I think it’s, cool that they put a lot of care into how that gets presented to somebody. I think it’s fun to like notice those things now and be like, “Oh, now I, get it. Now it makes sense that this is the way that it’s done.”

[00:38:46] Esther: What you said just reminded me of the intense respect I have for especially veteran game designers. Because as a designer, I feel like I became intensely aware of the need to serve like, the broadest possible audience: people who are going to like pick up the game and play it and not do a deep dive into the rules, and the people who are like, “I need to understand every aspect of this to be able to do all the complicated things.” And it’s really important to have a system that will function for both. For the person who’s like, “I want to be able to maximize my weapon damage and customize do all these extra things.”

And the person who’s like, “I would like to take my sword and rob the bank,” or whatever, or rob, rob from the rich and give to the poor, let’s say. And I think it’s really important to have a system that can do both, that can do like the very broadest, most blunt instrument way, and the really detailed, precise way, and a thing that I admire so much about Pathfinder 2e is I really think it does both.

I have players at my table who are both of those kind of players, and the system works equally well for all of them, which just speaks to its design. 

[00:40:03] Navaar: I mean, there is something to be said about, like, having the ability to go both directions of, of minmaxing and just like… I just want to be good at other stuff. love to be able to like, be good at all the things, but I think like a lot of the best moments are those ones where, where you do fail or you have such a low chance of succeeding that it’s like, ” All right! Well, here, here we go.” Because so agree. I think it’s, it’s great that Pathfinder has found a way to be both of those things.

So, I just remembered that I have a gripe about the GM Core. Uh, clear, it’s a beautiful book. I love it. I love all the options. love all the ways that it can help out GMs. But I don’t think that there’s Dual Classing anymore as a variant option, and um, will fight somebody. 

[00:40:56] Esther: Okay, Dual Classing or the Free Archetype? 

[00:40:58] Navaar: Dual Class. I don’t they’d ever of, like — Free Archetype, everybody loves. 

[00:41:01] Esther: The Free Archetype is so 

[00:41:03] Navaar: Yeah, Free Archetype feels like you’re getting something cool without it feeling like it’s overpowered. Dual Classing is not overpowered because you still only have three actions, so there’s only so much you can do, but is badass. a little bit overpowered, because you do get extra health, to be clear, I guess extra feats. But again, you can only do so I don’t think it’s a thing, and I’m gonna have to fight Luis about this. Logan. I’ll fight whomever. all that said, don’t think Dual Class is a widely used thing. very specific thing that I’ve used twice now. But I love it! I would use it every time. I think think it just adds more customization to your character. yeah, Free Archetype is, like the– feels almost like a pillar, like a benchmark of Pathfinder 2e to like, have Free Archetype. So I don’t, I can’t imagine they’d get rid of that. 

[00:41:47] Esther: I looked specifically for that one and I was like, it has be here. They, they have gotten rid of 

[00:41:51] Navaar: In the same way that I like, I opened and I was like, “Oh yeah, variant rules, Dual Class, um, Dual Class. I misspelling it? Nope. Okay. do I need to fight about this?”

But, think what’s interesting is that, like, the Player Core does a good job of, like, here are the rules, how to play the game, here are some of the things that, like, as a player, you won’t have to worry about adjudicating, but you should understand how they’re done. I really think you probably, you still could the game with just the Player Core. I do believe that, based on what I’ve seen.

What the GM Core does is include a lot of other really cool stuff to add in to make the game, more immersive and more cinematic, more narrative focus. And have like, all these other ways to do this stuff. And like, subsystems are one of those big things.

So yeah, Victory Points. That’s a big one that a lot of people use. It’s like ways to like, uh. have these events that aren’t just a fight , and figure out who’s who quote unquote wins in this.

Chases: have more chases in your games. 

[00:42:55] Esther: Duels. 

[00:42:56] Navaar: Yes. Yeah, the Duels one is fun. Subsystems aren’t the only thing in the game, but now I just want to talk about Duels. [laughs] So yeah, the way that they’ve done Duels is like, you basically like Princess Bride, because I can’t think of any other example, of like, you’re going to have this moment. Everything’s going to be set up. There’s the conditions of this thing. You can have limited tools. You can have a judge for it. There’s spellcasting tools in here as well. 

[00:43:20] Esther: Sweet. 

[00:43:20] Navaar: And additional reactions that you could take. 

[00:43:23] Esther: Yeah, so the old Gamemastery Guide, just to do a bit of comparison, I looked through all the different sections of it. And they were: Gamemastery Basics, Tools, Subsystems, Variant Rules, NPC Gallery, and then the Glossary and Index. And in the new one, it goes: Running The Game, Building Games, The Age of Lost Omens — which I believe got taken out of the Core Rulebook and put into the GM Core —

[00:43:48] Navaar: Yes. 

[00:43:49] Esther: — And then it goes Subsystems, Treasure Trove, Treasure Table, Glossary and Index. A lot of the material is still the same, but then you have like the Age of Lost Omens worldbuilding stuff put in there. Which, I like that change. In some ways, I feel like it flows more naturally in the GM guide, so that really worked for me.

But yeah, the subsystems, they go into all the cool, all the cool stuff.

[00:44:14] Navaar: Yeah, I mean, so this is something I think… okay, so, start with the lore, because I have another one, too. But so, when it comes to The Age of Lost Omens, for instance, and the regions and things like that, I think it’s good to have something brief, like the Player Core does have, of like, here’s a region, you know, for the player to read.

But I think like, what this does to have the broader systems laid out the GM core is that it then allows the GM and the player to go, “Let’s have a discussion about the kind of, like, place you want to grow up in, in this country, in this region,” and then build on that from there together. I think, like, game is about teamwork overcoming things together. And in that same way, like, it works best when the player and the GM are working together and having communication about this stuff.

So think in its own subtle way, this sort of reinforces that dynamic, to allow you to do that. think it makes sense for it to be here, but I can also see the argument for the other way is having all the items and the treasure be separate from the Player Core.

Do you like it more as a surprise for players, or do you like it more for players to be able to like, “This is a wishlist item or things I want to shop for?” 

[00:45:33] Esther: Hm. good question. 

[00:45:34] Navaar: I say as we are two people who have access to the treasure vault. And, uh, it’s so, so we might be biased and/or… what’s the word? we might But either way, I’ll let you finish.

[00:45:45] Esther: We might predisposed one or the other. 

[00:45:49] Navaar: Yeah. 

[00:45:49] Esther: That’s a really hard question for me, because I actually have players who like to do it both ways: who are like, “That’s too much for me to look through, surprise me.” And I’m like, “Okay, what would go well with your class, what would go well with your build, what can I gift you that’ll be really fun?”

And players who are like, “I want this item. I want to use it in this way. Please give it to me at this level.” And I’m like, “Okay!” I may have a slight preference for the latter because I really appreciate it when players take a lot of agency over their own character build and like, keep track of stuff like that, and keep track of items that they want to use and then use the items in really great ways that make the game come alive and are just really exciting. So I may have a slight preference for that. But I don’t think that having the treasure trove in the GM Core is going to keep players from being able to find the items that they want, I mean, Archives of Nethys exists, they can always buy the GM Core if they want to. 

[00:46:50] Navaar: Treasure Vault! 

[00:46:51] Esther: Or Treasure Vault, yeah, 

[00:46:53] Navaar: Yeah, I mean, I agree. I’ve been, there is like basic equipment as well in the thing. I think there’s really no right answer. I set it up like there was one, but there’s really not. Both of them have their place, and both of them are really fun.

I agree, like, having players not know, like, what’s gonna be in this chest or whatever, then find it, and then be like, “Oh, like, which player is this perfect for?” I think that’s really really cool. I am also a person who sent a wishlist of very like, four items to my GM and been like “Three of these are negotiable. One of these is not. And I just I’ll let you decide what I get.” So I get it. Yeah, I don’t know. To be fair, my item was a vehicle. So It’s not like it was a sword or anything, which I think is more reasonable. I’m an unreasonable player in the most reasonable way, so.

[00:47:40] Esther: You remind me — my spouse like, came to me one day and was like, “Can I get a gnome Clunkerjunker?” And I think it’s a goblin Clunkerjunker, but like, their character is a gnome. And I was like, “Okay, what’s a Clunkerjunker?” And went over it and I was like, “Hell yes, you can get one. I don’t know what you’re going to do with it, but yes, I’ll allow this!”

[00:48:00] Navaar: Yeah. I just recently became, like over the past year, like super invested in The High Republic. And because we’re playing in a Star Wars world, I was like, “I know that we’re like 200 years after when this thing existed, but like give me a dirty, rusted one and I will still be just as happy.” So, listeners of An Unwaving Force, find out if that ever happens.

But yeah, it is fun to like have both of those things. I think it’s — because we’ve talked about this a lot — if we’re looking at like, how the things are structured, I think it makes sense to have that page count and most of that information be here for GM. And then it gives them the space to be like, “Cool, some of you don’t care. Some of the players want to shop. I’ll just look at the book.” 

Cause it’s it’s not a secret, right? It’s not like playing a monster game and like, you don’t want to know what the monster is yet, you know what I mean? So I think it’s fun. Which is why the Monster Manual, to answer that. own thing, is like its own book. So, Yeah.

Any other things that,like, you want to touch on before we end? 

[00:49:01] Esther: I just wanted to note how I was really struck by the thought and thoroughness and care that went into the GM Core, just reading through all of the different likely scenarios that they lay out about what your players might encounter, the way they talk about safety tools. And the way they talk about adapting the game to fit the needs of your table, I just wanted to highlight for a moment, because I think a lot of times when rules change or systems change, feelings can run hot and high about that. And there can be like intense disagreements over whether a change is good or bad or whatever. And I think that the team behind this product in the first edition of Second Edition, and in the Remaster now, have done such a clear job of saying, like, adapt this to fit your needs.

If rule doesn’t work for you, change it. If you want to make a different call, do that. You’re empowered to do that. So I just want to encourage people, like, if you’re not feeling the changes, you don’t have to make them. Play the game in a way that works for you. Or if you really are feeling the changes, but there’s something that doesn’t work for you — I feel like sometimes people get stuck in like, “But the rules say it’s this way!” And I really don’t think the people who make this game want us to get stuck there. I think they want us to use it in a way that works for us to have fun. And that just really came through to me in the way that this book was written.

And I just wanted to like say, I really appreciate that. Shout-out to the team.

[00:50:40] Navaar: Yeah. I mean, I think if you’re new to running Pathfinder 2e, like reading these first few sections really is going to set you up on how to run a game, because it talks about a lot of stuff that like —

I think in so many ways, many folks who design games, we take for granted that we’re game designers, that we play TTRPGs consistently. And we don’t ever consider — or I don’t think a lot of people consider often enough — how your game might be the first game somebody plays. And I think I was just having a conversation with somebody about this recently, of just, like, “This is all great, but what’s the game loop? I want to know how you want, how you expected me to play the game. Because then I can feel like I can read this and understand like, okay, cool, I’m hitting on the things that this game was designed to do.” If you don’t have that in there, if there’s no like, “This is how the game runs, or traditionally runs, or we expect it, we wrote it to run,” right, then it’s like, “Okay, well, now I’m just taking all of this stuff and hopefully putting it together.”

Plenty of people got through decades of gaming that way, when there just wasn’t enough information, or the books weren’t as easily disseminated to people, right? You just kind of picked up whatever you could find at a thrift store or whatever the case was. I think taking the time to like, use page count for that specifically, and to go into safety, and to go into like, table comfort, and to go into improvisation, and to go into all these other things, it’s really good for people who this could be their first time. We did talk about this before, but so many people like switched over to Pathfinder 2e at the beginning of this year,;other people decided “I’m going to switch over, but there’s a remaster coming, and maybe I’ll wait until this is here.”

This might be your first time picking it up, and the people are just getting into this stuff younger and younger. So, I love it. Yeah, I agree. I think that’s a really good addition to the books.

[00:52:39] Esther: Yeah. I think it matters that they lay out some common ways that play unfolds so people can have an idea of like, what to follow or what to deviate from. That makes a huge difference in player comfort and GM comfort a lot of the time. And I think they’ve done a really, really good job with it.

[00:52:57] Navaar: I mean, they talk about, like, there’s a brief paragraph about the spotlight. And like, I think so many new GMs can struggle with like, spotlight and pacing and things like that. And to like have something that just kind of like, points it out to you of like, “This is what it means,” I think helps a lot.

Because again, people who do this consistently, we take this stuff for granted. We don’t understand the things that just come second nature. And that can be intimidating for people when it’s like, “I don’t understand what I’m doing wrong.” And it’s like, “Well, I don’t know. It’s easy. Just figure it out.” Like, that’s, that’s not a good approach. So yeah, I’m glad that that’s there. 

[00:53:36] Esther: Can I also just say, I really appreciate whoever wrote the passages about dealing with — I don’t know if they use the term problem players — but dealing with difficult players. I really a) appreciated that that was in this book because, I mean, I haven’t even GM’d that many games, and I’ve mostly GM’d for people I know. And I’ve had a couple of difficult players who maybe didn’t start out that way, but became that way. And I’ve had to have, like, adult conversations with them about why some of the things they were bringing to the table really, really weren’t working for the community of folks at the table, and it’s really heartening to see that that was very plainly addressed. And also, I just like, b) , figuring out how to basically write “This is how you have an adult conversation with someone…” A hard thing to do in a rulebook, is, is a lot, and so shout-out to whoever put the thought in to telling a bunch of folks how to have hard conversations and, and talk about ways that, we can learn to get along at the table or how to draw boundaries. Like, super important. And I just, shout-out for putting that in the book.

[00:54:46] Navaar: Yeah, I mean, I think like — the last thing on this, like, I think that the two most visible ways that we see Pathfinder 2e, right, are the AP space, actual play space, uh, whether that just be like standalone charity games or, or long running actual plays or whatever the case is. Like, a lot of these now, as that space continues to grow, are a cast of people who have been brought together, as opposed to like, a group of people creating a thing, sometimes.

I mean, that still does happen, to be clear, but being cast in a show is something that happens more frequently than I’m sure it used to. And the other aspect of it is Pathfinder Society, which is its own thing. But, from everything that I’ve heard is growing a lot this year. Like big, big numbers, um, in comparison to what it used to be. And in those two cases, like — it’s Pathfinder Society, same thing. Like, you’re gonna have people that you just don’t know. I think what It does is like, saying “We’ve created this thing, we’ve created this sort of community around this. We understand that there is this–” and like whether or not Paizo does have a responsibility, I think like it’s good to have a stance of like “Whatever responsibility we have, we’re going to use our platform to say, here’s, here’s our value system and how we hope we can help you with these specific situations.” So yeah, it’s good.

[00:56:16] Esther: I think that’s a really good note to wind down on is the clarity of Paizo’s value system through these two books. Which for me, it’s been so fun to host this show and get to know the people who both work for Paizo full time and freelance, and to, like, get a sense of the values that people are bringing to the work. And I feel like those values are very explicit in these books.

Like, I felt good about reading them. I didn’t feel any really yikes moments, which, I’m very, very happy to report that I didn’t. Um, and, and that feels good to be able to say to our listeners. Like, I, I can really solidly recommend these as great resources for people who are new to the game, and new to tabletop RPGs.

[00:57:06] Navaar: Yeah. Absolutely. Oh, cool. Well, that’s it folks. That’s us for the remasters. Very excited to see the new Monster Manual, when that comes out, the Core Monster book, and the other one that I cannot remember what it is. Number 4. But we do have more exciting books on the way. I don’t know when Tian Xia’s coming out, but I’m waiting impatiently. 

[00:57:28] Esther: Is it Player Core 2? 

[00:57:30] Navaar: Is it Player Core 2? 

[00:57:31] Esther: I think it’s Player Core 2. 

[00:57:33] Navaar: What used to be the Advanced Player’s Guide? Yeah. because it’s gonna add more classes and stuff. That makes sense. sense Don’t quote us on it.

[00:57:41] Esther: We’ll have our story straight next time.

[00:57:43] Navaar: We’re Pathfinder podcast, but we’re sleepy too. And yeah, and we have plans to bring on some actual play folks in the Pathfinder 2e space, so get excited for that as well for next time or sometime in the future. 

Yes. 

[00:58:00] Esther: Yes. Navaar, real quick, where can we find you online these days?

[00:58:03] Navaar: I am online these days at NavaarSNP, both on Twitter and on Bluesky. You can also find me over at An Unwavering Force, where we are still using the unremastered rules for now, for our Pathfinder 2E Star Wars game. And pay attention to Secret Nerd Podcast, because I just recorded something this past Sunday that everybody should be very excited about.

Secretnrdsocial for that, and UnwaveringForce on social media for An Unwavering Force. 

[00:58:38] Esther: Amazing. I’m so excited for the new Secret Nerd drops. This is going to be really, really good. And as your patron on Patreon, I got a little sneak peek of what is to come and it’s very, very exciting. As for me, you can find me at dungeonminister on Twitter and Bluesky. I’m also doing stuff slowly but surely at Chromythica on Twitter and Blueky and chromythica.com. 

Most importantly, you can follow Know Direction on Twitter, Bluesky, Mastodon, YouTube at KnowDirection or at our website, knowdirectionpodcast.com. You can follow us on Patreon, where if you so desire to chip in some money that goes towards the making of all our network shows and the maintenance of the network, you are very welcome to do that. And we’re very grateful, thank you to all of our patrons. And yeah, I think that’s it for my media close.

Thank you all so much for being here and tuning in. And until next time, this has been Know Direction, your number one source for Pathfinder news, reviews, and interviews. 

[00:59:42] Navaar: Bye! 

[00:59:44] Esther: Bye! 

Can you cook? I can. I can bake too. I enjoy sushi too, though I’ve never made any personally. So I’m all for fresh seafood, but eating a whole crab shell and all? Does Cleff worship Zon-Kuthon? I know the Zora were desperately hungry but… Okay I won’t spoil anymore there. If you know, you know. At some point, someone was hungry enough to try eating something whether they cooked it or not. I had that conversation about lobster just a couple weeks ago. Who picked that up and went ‘oh maybe this will taste good.’ Spoilers on that: it is, though I know not everyone enjoys it.

Traveling around The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom you’ll find a lot of fruits, veggies, monster parts, and other random what you might call ingredients to try putting into your cooking. And let’s be frank, some of it is downright alchemy, especially where the monsters parts and other random stuff comes in. Meanwhile in Kingmaker there’s a hint of that, more than a hint if you utilize the Cooking activity that’s part of the Camping Activities introduced in the Kingmaker Companion Guide. My group is, and they get a little kick out of how much haggis they’re eating right now. But the basic and special ingredients kept in a bag of holding can get a little… bland. And like I said, there’s a hint of the cooking (ahem alchemy) in the main path. It’s so early on and relatively minor that I wouldn’t call it a spoiler, but suffice to say there’s a chance to find some moon radishes and one of the NPCs will cook you Moon Radish Soup. Only problem is, it’s not really just cooking. Or it is, but mechanically it’s alchemy and thus the Craft Alchemy feat is required.

Later on there’s special meals that are rare and are practically you cooking monster parts. Hearty Purple Soup is cooked purple worm meat! Technically though it doesn’t require purple worm meat, but 6 basic and 3 special ingredients you pick up from foraging during other camping activities. A single serving of haggis is 2 basic ingredients, so you’re really chopping up that purple worm (and adding carrots it looks like?) to make that hearty soup. Cooking a basic or special meal requires Survival or Cooking Lore (not Crafting like Alchemy) and I’m sitting here in Zelda thinking Link got way more than the benefits of Free Archetype. How many skill feats? I’m going to have to make his stats too…

Anyway, I’ve since decided on a few special rules for our Kingmaker game.

Cooking Rule Variant 1: You can use Crafting or Cooking Lore to produce alchemical recipes like Moon Radish Soup.

It felt right to allow it to be Crafting or Cooking Lore for the more alchemically beneficial meals, though I’ll note the success, critical success, and favorite meal benefits of those recipes can feel like alchemy.

Additionally I wanted to expand some of what the heroes might pick up. It’s noted in the Ingredients section of Camping Activities that a GM can allow the PCs to harvest special ingredients after encounters with appropriate creatures. However, 1 special ingredient for a success and 2 for a critical seems too little. A Purple Worm is gargantuan. You’re telling me you can only get 1, maybe 2 special ingredients if you’re lucky or well-skilled? Nah.

Cooking Rule Variant 2: When harvesting ingredients you get special ingredients on a successful check based on its size or double that if a critical success. Medium 1; Large 2; Huge 4; Gargantuan 8. 

Remember it takes 3 special ingredients to make Hearty Purple Soup. So a successful check harvesting from it will only net you the ability to make 2 servings. Guess you better critical if you want to feed the whole party, or find more purple worms. I am not responsible for the farm/food industry that develops in your Kingmaker games but when the heroes start worrying about how to feed their growing Kingdom well… You’ve been warned. Of course you might also want to leverage something like the Monster Parts system from Battlezoo Bestiary. I’d suggest a 1 to 1 for special ingredients.

I also wanted to provide more herbs, plants, fruits, veggies, etc. to be found and harvested for alchemical or other uses. The Gremlin Brothers I mentioned in my Low Level Additions blog post first made me think to do this with their Restov Hinterlands & the Greenbelt offering. They now have five expansions to buy for Kingmaker including the Narlmarches and Selen Hills. More encounters, more hex-grid options to find, updates maps. No sponsor here; I just bought them and love the additional and great work they’re doing. I def encourage Investing In there! My players were rather excited to find the bright blooming flower Dordoran’s Fire and know they could brew it into tea. They haven’t yet (Stag Lord first) but soon enough. You might recall Pathfinder 1E had introduced herbs in Ultimate Wilderness. I wove a few into our Strange Aeons game because the Life Oracle was an Herbalist. Thus I wanted more of that! Things to find, collect, cook or brew into alchemy/recipes…

Cooking Rule Variant 3: All the following ingredients are considered Level 2 alchemical items once created and the denoted effects last for 10 minutes unless otherwise listed.  Once you eat/consume a serving, you gain temporary immunity to its effects for 24 hours.  For ingredients that can be used in other magical or alchemical item creation, they are considered to be 20% of the item’s crafting cost.

Herbs and Spices:

1. Moonbloom: A luminescent flower that grants a +1 item bonus to Perception checks and darkvision.
2. Serpentleaf: A rare herb that provides a +1 item bonus to resistance against poison and toxins.
3. Kelpweed: A nutritious seaweed that grants a swimming speed equal to your base speed and grants resistance to cold 5.
4. Honeycomb: Sweet honeycomb that provides a +1 item bonus to charisma-based skill checks and saves against effects that have the Emotion trait.

Animal Meats:

1. Manta Ray Fin: The fin of a manta ray that, when consumed, provides a +1 item bonus to Reflex saves and grants a swim speed equal to your base speed.
2. Stag Venison: A lean and nutritious meat that provides 2 temporary hp / character level or can be used for healing potions.
3. Dire Boar Bacon: Thick, savory bacon that grants a +1 item bonus to strength-based skill checks and strength-based damage rolls.
4. Owlbear Drumstick: A large, flavorful drumstick that enhances dexterity-based skill checks with a +1 item bonus and increases base movement speed by 5 feet.
5. River Shrimp: Freshwater shrimp that can be used to create a potion that grants water breathing or a swim speed.

Rare Mushrooms:

1. Shimmercap: A bioluminescent mushroom that grants invisibility for 1 minute and a +1 item bonus to Stealth checks in dark environments.
2. Bloodcap: A crimson-colored mushroom that enhances combat prowess, providing a +1 status bonus to attack rolls and damage.
3. Dreamspore: A hallucinogenic mushroom that induces vivid dreams, granting a +1 item bonus to Will saves or the results of one augury if taken right before sleep.
4. Feywild Mushroom: A rare mushroom with transformative properties, allowing characters to assume an Animal Form at 2nd level for 1 minute as per the spell.

Exotic Fruits:

1. Spiceberry: A pungent berry that enhances the flavor of cooked meals, increasing the level of the item to 4 and duration of their effects to one hour.
2. Forest Berries: A mix of vibrant berries that grant a temporary increase of 1 hp / character level to the character’s maximum Hit Points. The maximum remains over the 10 minutes, so if lost from damage they can be healed.
3. Sunfruit: A rare fruit that can be used for magic items that grant resistance to fire damage, or cooked for a +1 item bonus to fire and heat-based effects.
4. Starberry: A small, glowing fruit that enhances magical abilities and grants a +1 item bonus to spell attack rolls.
5. Thundermelon: A large melon that, when eaten, grants a +1 item bonus to strength-based skill checks and lightning resistance 5.

Monster Parts:

1. Wyvern Scale: A tough scale that can be used to craft armor or potions that grant resistance to acid damage.
2. Troll Heart: A pulsating organ that, when consumed, grants fast healing equal to character level for 1 minute.
3. Basilisk Gland: The gland of a basilisk that can be used to create a potion that grants temporary petrification immunity, or cooked for a +2 item bonus to any effect that has the transmutation trait and causes the slowed or petrified condition.
4. Siren’s Scale: A shimmering scale from a siren that can be used to create a potion that grants water breathing. When cooked into a recipe, it grants a +2 item bonus to Performance checks.
5. Pixie Dust: A shimmering powder that can be used to create potions of levitation or temporary flight.

Alchemical Ingredients:

1. Essence of Nightshade: A potent extract that can be added to meals to grant darkvision, bonuses to Stealth checks, or invisibility. The meal’s effects double in duration.
2. Elixir of Elemental Resistance: A vial of alchemical concoction that, when added to meals, grants resistance to one specific energy type for the meal’s normal duration.
3. Draught of Focus: Used for alchemical items or potions that enhance mental acuity or grant bonuses to Intelligence-based skill checks.

Elemental Residues:

1. Elemental Essence: After cooking into a syrup or inhaled vapor, this vial of elemental essence grants resistance 5 to a specific energy type.
2. Ember Shard: A fragment infused with fire energy that, when added to meals, grants fire resistance 5 and a +1 item bonus to damage equal to the spell’s level for spells with the fire trait. If eaten after cooking it lasts 1 minute. If eaten as part of another meal, the 1 minute duration begins at the player’s discretion with a bit of heartburn.
3. Frost Essence: A crystalline substance imbued with cold energy, granting cold resistance 5 and +1 item bonus to damage equal to the spell’s level for spells with the cold trait. If eaten after cooking it lasts 1 minute. If eaten as part of another meal, the 1 minute duration begins at the player’s discretion with a sudden chill and goosebumps.
4. Gale Feather: A feather infused with the essence of wind that, when used in cooking, increases movement speed by 5 feet and grants the ability to cast the Feather Fall spell once.

Presently there are 30 and while grouped, I listed them numerically in case I want to do a random roll for what might be found in an area/hex/treasure listing. I’ve not yet gotten to the next stage of formally listing what happens with certain ingredient mixes. My plan is to consider what might happen and go through the experimental “cooking” that the players do. I’ll document it and assign a related level/duration with the effect. Predominantly I suggest comparing against other Alchemical items. For example, combining Stag Venison and Moonbloom may create a meal that grants temporary hit points, Perception, and darkvision as well as the ability to get a sense of others health when you look at them like a Status effect?

I hope you’re enjoying my continued inspirations from The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom for Kingmaker. Obviously you can use these in any campaign, not only Kingmaker. All the camping activities can be used in any campaign after all! Until then, I’ll be investing more time in Zelda and my Kingmaker game. Again, Happy Pride and if you’ve any custom rules you’re creating for your game I want to know about them! And remember a lot of great cultural traditions or means of connecting people stems from cooking, so be sure to invite your fellow koroks for a fine meal but maybe best to save the experimenting with ingredients for another time.

Investing In:

I wasn’t quite sure what to name my article series when I first started but the idea of showcasing or discussing things that make me excited, that I find new and interesting, or maybe I’m otherwise passionate about seemed to fit with the idea of Investing In something like the Pathfinder 2E mechanic. To use some magic items you have to give that little bit of yourself, which helps make these things even better. I like the metaphor of the community growing and being strengthened in the same way!

I also want to hear what you’re Investing In! Leave me a comment below about what games, modules, systems, products, people, live streams, etc you enjoy! You can also hit me up on social media as silentinfinity. I want to hear what excites you and what you’re passionate about. There’s so much wonderful content, people, groups (I could go on) in this community of ours that the more we invest in and share, the better it becomes!

Sources

Banner – The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Link cooking, Nintendo

1. Cooking A Meal, Pathfinder Kingmaker Companion Guide, Paizo
2. Hearty Purple Soup, Pathfinder Kingmaker Companion Guide, Paizo
3. Link & some koroks cooking, Creative Commons Attribution, miyabau

There are plenty of reviews of this book, so we won’t be spending time on that. Instead, this week we’ll look at how Absalom has changed between its original publication and the Second Edition update, and dive into the lore behind Absalom and find some tidbits that can serve as the basis for characters or adventures.

The More Things Change…

The world of Golarion has changed a lot in the past decade, with the Whispering Tyrant breaking free of his prison in Gallowspire, revolution in the Mwangi and the infernal Chelaxian empire, the rise of New Thassilon in the west and closing of the Worldwound in the east. Through it all, Absalom has retained its position as the center of trade and commerce in the Inner Sea region and beyond. Its calendar is used across Avistan, and four once-mortals ascended to godhood within its storied walls.With a population of over 300,000, Absalom edges out Goka as the largest city on Golarion, and its strategic position in the Inner Sea means it sees trade and immigration from most of the rest of Golarion.  All of this means, you can make pretty much any sort of character fit in with an Absalom background or starting point for a campaign.

Even a summary of the history of Absalom would take many pages, but here are a few highlights of the recent events which have occurred that may provide campaign seeds or background stories for your games.

• The Siege. In 4717 A.R. (Absalom Reckoning, in years since the founding of the city), an unholy alliance of demons, cultists, and undead tried to overthrow the city from within. Known as the Black Echelon Uprising or the Fiendflesh Siege, the event deeply wounded the city and shaped the stories of every citizen. If you’re from Absalom, this event needs some thought in terms of how it affected your character. Thousands died in the attacks: did you lose family or friends, or become inspired to take up the cause of defending the city? The leader of the city’s Grand Council, Primarch Gyr, went missing during the siege: were you a supporter suddenly left without a patron, or did you see a political opportunity to join one of the factions struggling for control of the city?
• The End of Slavery. One of the few positive results of the Fiendflesh Siege, all slaves in Absalom were granted their freedom if they helped defend the city. This quickly led to  slavery being abolished in Absalom forever. How did this affect your character? Are you one of those who took the pledge to defend Absalom to gain your freedom, and how do you feel about that deal? Did you work for freedom for all after the battle ended?
• The Whispering Tyrant’s Return. Only two years after the Fiendflesh Siege, Absalom was once again visited by an ago-old enemy: Tar-Baphon, the Whispering Tyrant. The ancient lich escaped his imprisonment in Ustalav, destroyed much of Lastwall including the city of Vigil, and sent his undead armies to ravage the surrounding lands. He then assaulted Absalom, hoping to destroy his age-old foe’s city, before being defeated and driven back to his domain on the Isle of Terror. Yet another world-shaking event that would have affected every citizen of Absalom. How did it affect YOUR character? Did you manifest a sorcerous bloodline or make a pact with a mysterious power during the crisis? Did you flee the Tyrant’s armies as a refugee? Perhaps these repeated catastrophes gave you faith in a divine patron such as Groetus, the God of the End Times?

…The More They Stay The Same

All of the First Edition content published for Absalom can still be used, of course, with a few modifications for recent events. Perhaps your PC has come to Absalom hoping to attract followers before attempting the Test of the Starstone to become a god yourself. Perhaps you’ve come to study at one of the magical academies such as the Arcanamirium in the Wise Quarter of Absalom, or come to the Grand Lodge to petition to join the Pathfinder Society. Perhaps you came to the city from elsewhere and are trying to find your place in the metropolis, or perhaps you were born calling Absalom home. Almost any character background can be fit into Absalom, and almost any service or item can be acquired here, making it a common starting place or at least waypoint in many campaigns. (See my previous article on using your character’s journey to help flesh out background.)

Because Absalom is so big, it will also never be completed in terms of published canon. There will always be gaps in the published lore for you to fit your character’s story or adventure into. For example, back in my early days playing in the Pathfinder Society Organized Play Campaign, when all of the factions were nation-based, I designed an (unofficial) organization called the Lamplighters, which was a loose affiliation of adventurers within the Pathfinder Society. The Lamplighters had a few basic precepts to do with self-reliance and being able to handle a wide variety of situations, which I designed to justify my preferred play style. We were basically “Pathfinders first, faction second” characters, and didn’t spend much time worrying about the side-quests that used to accompany scenarios – we did what the Venture-Captain told us to do. (Now, of course, this role is filled by an official faction, first the Grand Lodge faction and most recently the Grand Archive faction.)

As the idea caught on with a few other players, I developed more of the Lamplighters’ background and goals as an organization. We had a charter and goals,  I would give a special stamp on Chronicle sheets, we even had temporary tattoos bearing the Lamplighter sigil at one PaizoCon! I also decide they needed a headquarters, which is the shop “Kaleel’s Curiosities”, an import/export business that one of my Pathfinder Society characters retired to run. Kaleel’s Curiosities is in Absalom’s Coins District, just down the street from the Grand Bazaar, the largest open-air market in Absalom. I picked one of the many hundreds of unlabeled buildings on the map for it, and I’m pretty confident that nothing Paizo publishes will ever “evict” me from that specific building! (And if it does happen, I’ll incorporate that into the story.) The Lamplighters has served me as background for a couple of my other characters, both in Organized Play and home games,  and I’ve used it as a GM as a patron for my PCs as well. I’ve gotten a lot of use out of that little unmarked square on the map!

Leaving Home

Once your PC’s backstory is sketched out, think about the journey they will take from the region they were born to the starting location of the campaign. Sometimes our PCs may be locals to the campaign start: I played a Sandpoint local in my first Rise of the Runelords campaign. In this case the journey from backstory to campaign is as simple as stepping out your front door – but really, what was it that involves your character in the action? Why did they choose to engage in the campaign rather than just run away from danger or report an issue to the authorities and then move on with their backstory life?

If your character isn’t local, you have a wonderful opportunity to develop this part of your character by doing a “travel by map” scene. Remember the Indiana Jones movies where all the travel is shortened into a montage with a red line moving from location to location on a map? Lost Omens has a huge number of maps, including world-spanning ones. Start at your home town, and plan out the route your PC takes to get to the campaign site. Then, using the setting material available* you can create a short travel journal that takes you from backstory to campaign. (* Always check with your GM first to make sure they’re OK with you using different resources to avoid spoilers – you don’t want to use a bit of lore in your backstory that they are using on-camera during the campaign!)

For my Carrion Crown character, I had decided on a dwarven scholar who had delved too deeply into forbidden lore and developed strange occult powers. Using the oracle class  as a chassis, I came up with Urgas Maar, a reluctant spell caster trying to understand what was happening to him. Then, I plotted out my route from the Five Kingdoms Mountains to the tiny Ustalav village of Ravengro, where the campaign began. I checked with my GM, Thurston Hillman, and he told me what resources I could use for this – a lot of the Ustalav book, “Rule of Fear”, had spoilers for the campaign, so I relied mostly on the campaign setting and Pathfinderwiki websites.

10th Arodus, 4711 A.R. – Leave Tar Kazmuhk forever. Head through mountains, heading northwest.

I wrote an in-character journal describing my travels from Tar-Kazmukh in the Five Kings Mountains north to the shores of Lake Encarthan, then around the lake with stops in Kyonin and Razmir, finally ending with the overland journey from Ustalav’s capital of Caliphas to Ravengro. Besides getting myself in the “zone” for Ustalav’s geography of creepy forests, imposing mountain passes, and insular villages, I used a combination of random encounter tables and tidbits of lore to imagine what the journey must have been like. It started out really basic, just point-form notes attached to dates, but as I wrote and researched, little events started to come up to flesh out the journey.

13th Arodus – leave Five Kings Mountains behind, descend into Kyonin River valley.

16th Arodus – a patrol of the Queen’s Rangers finds my campsite in the early morning, and informs me that unescorted travelers are not permitted within Kyonin – not even a neighbor and ally. I do not argue, as I do not want word of my presence to make it back to Tar Kazmuhk. I agree to accompany the elves on their way to Greengold, the only elven city to tolerate foreigners.

Once I got into the journal narrative, I found it easy to imagine locations for various formative events that I had roughly outlined for my character in terms of their backstory.

27th Arodus – arrive in Pilgrimage in the nation of Razmiran, Land of the Living God. As if a god would still live on Golarion instead of in their heavenly realms! But I do have my own revelation in Pilgrimage. While rescuing a young girl who had run afoul of several dockyard lowlifes, I find that I am able to channel some sort of divine energy which affects not only my enemies but also the very stone beneath their feet. According to Lila, the girl, they were smothered in darkness while the flagstones of the street cracked and tilted to prevent their escape. I do not clearly remember the event, but from Lila’s fearful description and hasty departure, I think that may be a blessing. When I awake in the morning, I find a mark has appeared on the back of my neck, shaped like a branch of a tree. I spend much of the rest of my voyage in quiet contemplation, trying to discern the meaning of these events.

Some of the ideas were suggested by my GM, who I consulted during the process to make sure I wasn’t doing anything that would conflict with or preempt anything they had planned. In one case, I changed my route to avoid an area where something was planned for later in the campaign:

19 Rova, 4711 A.R. – I receive a reply from the Professor (Lorrimar, the key NPC in the Carrion Crown campaign), eagerly welcoming me to Ustalav. He bids me to travel to Ravengro with all haste, but suggests I avoid the shorter route through the Hungry Mountains, due to recent troubles along the road. I resolve to head north along the coast to Thrushmoor, and thence to Kavapesta, which brings my near several sites of Pharasmin worship which may aid me in my understandings.

This process really got me invested into the campaign background, and my character, very deeply. It worked so well that it’s become my standard PC development process, both for my own characters and for NPCs that I write as a freelancer.

You don’t have to write a novel of historical fiction for every character – although I’m not going to stop you if that’s what you want to do! However, considering the charcater’s journey from backstory to campaign in both a geographic and figurative way is a great way to kickstart your character’s history with the campaign and give you lots of roleplaying opportunities as you grow from a fresh level 1 to one of the prime movers and shakers of Golarion.

For those interested, you can read Urgas Maar’s full journey from the Five Kings Mountains to Ustalav here.)

More lore!

“We look forward to working with the union to continue and expand our efforts to make Paizo a better place to work and to ensure that Pathfinder and Starfinder products continue to exceed gamer expectations for many years to come,” said Jeff Alvarez, President of Paizo.

The next steps will involve the United Paizo Workers (UPW) union electing their bargaining representatives and then meeting with Paizo management to negotiate terms for a collective bargaining agreement. We expect this process to take some time, but we are committed to the effort and hope to settle a contract in due course. Until an agreement is reached, the Paizo staff continues to focus on creating amazing Pathfinder and Starfinder products.

Paizo has always been about creating awesome games, and we look forward to the changes that unionization will bring to the company. Please join us on this journey by following the UPW on Twitter and stay tuned for future updates!

###

About Paizo: Paizo Inc. is one of the world’s leading hobby game publishers. Since 2002, millions of players have joined the goblin army by playing the Pathfinder® and Starfinder® roleplaying games across tabletops, at conventions, at their favorite local game store, and digitally on virtual tabletops. Paizo.com is an online retail hobby destination for gamers that carries the latest products from top hobby game publishers. Players also find accessories, like dice and maps, miniatures, T-shirts, goblin plush toys, and the newest releases to quickly replenish those adventuring supplies for the next dungeon run.

Contact

Paizo
Aaron Shanks, Media & Marketing Manager
Email: press@paizo.com

Update:

Paizo Workers United have also released their statement here.

As of today, Paizo leadership has voluntarily recognized our union! This is the first step in a long journey. Now that United Paizo Workers is officially representing Paizo employees, we get to elect a group of representatives to sit down with reps from Paizo’s executive team and the CWA to start negotiating. Voluntary recognition is an act of good faith on Paizo’s part. That’s cause for celebration!

Captain Carter                         CR 10
XP 9,600
N Medium humanoid (human)
Init +5; Senses Perception +19
DEFENSE
HP 165; fast healing 5
EAC 23; KAC 25
Fort +12, Ref +12, Will +11
Defensive Abilities vibranium shield
OFFENSE
Speed 50 ft.
Melee slam +22 (2d10+10 bludgeoning)
Melee shield +22 (2d10+15 bludgeoning)
Ranged pistol +20 (3d6+8 piercing)
Ranged shield +20 (4d6+10 bludgeoning)
STATISTICS
Str +8, Dex +5, Con +6, Int +2, Wis +2, Cha +3
Skills Acrobatics +24, Athletics +24, Culture +24, Diplomacy +19, Sense Motive +19
Languages Common
Other Abilities super soldier
ECOLOGY
Environment any
Organization solitary
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Pistol (Ex) Captain Carter carries a standard issue pistol, which has a range increment of 30 feet and targets KAC.
Super Soldier (Ex) Captain Carter received a serum that granted her superhuman abilities. She can leap great distances. When making Athletics checks to jump, she does not need to take a 10-foot running start. In addition, the DC for her jump attempts are twice the number of feet she is attempting to jump horizontally or equal to the number of feet she is trying to jump vertically. She can also carry an amount of bulk equal to her Strength without difficulty and lift three times what a normal human could.
Vibranium Shield (Ex) Captain Carter has a shield made of vibranium that allows her to deflect most any attacks coming her way. She can align her shield as normal, gaining a +3 shield bonus to AC. Additionally, she can use a reaction to intercept an attack and reduce incoming damage by 20.
Captain Carter can throw her shield as a ranged attack against any creature within 60 feet. Her shield targets KAC. Whether or not her attack hits, Captain Carter’s impressive spatial reasoning allows her to throw the shield with the perfect trajectory to cause the shield to ricochet back into her hand at the end of her turn, regardless of where she is.

In an attempt to shift the tide of World War II, the Allied forces used their vast scientific resources to produce the super soldier serum, a special concoction that would give any person improved physical capabilities. This serum would push a person to the peak of physical perfection, improving their strength, speed, endurance, and cognitive capabilities. Unfortunately, an attack during the first attempt at using the super serum forced Peggy Carter, then an SSR agent, to receive the serum instead of the intended subject. This caused her body to reach its upper limits, even growing in size. With her newfound abilities, Peggy became a powerful weapon in the Allied forces’ arsenal, taking on the mantle of Captain Carter. Captain Carter now serves a symbol of hope, taking down evil and upholding the virtues of good wherever she goes.

That’s it for this week! If you end up introducing Captain Carter into your game or you have any request for a future Monstrous Physique, please drop me a line at KnowDirection@hotmail.com.

Companion Basics

Creature Companion rules were launched in Starfinder with Alien Archive 3. It included basic rules for both using an animal companion as both a combatant and/or a mount. I’m not going to go too much into detail about what I consider the feat taxes associated with using Creature Companions (although I might make an archetype or alternate class feature to lessen it in the future!). What is really smooth about the system though, is that just like in alien creation, the basics are all on a table. Essentially all creature companions are the same at their core, and then specific creatures will make changes to that core in a variety of ways!

Cute Companion

Now, I haven’t followed Starfinder Society much since mid-Season 2, but in a Season 1 adventure SFS 1-23: Return to Sender by Natalie Kertzner you come across this really cute creature that has been tortured and experimented on by the bad guys (booo jinsul!). This cute thing looks like a cute shark mixed with an octopus. At least back when it was new, there was some speculation that it might’ve been a relatively newborn Besmaran Whelp (a starship-sized creature encountered earlier in Season 1). Whether or not that is true, I’m going to run with this idea and make a creature companion that has some randomness in it, just like the whelps!

Composition of the Companion

Size & Type.

One thing that I’ll need to think about when putting this together is the size of the creature. When it’s introduced in SFS 1-23, it is tiny-sized, but it is also pretty beaten up. I’m thinking for ease, we’ll probably make the companion small or medium. If it is based on the Besmaran Whelp, then that means its type is an aberration.

Senses

As an aberration, it should have Darkvision 60ft, and thanks to its shark-like appearance I feel pretty safe giving it blindsense(scent) 60ft. as well.

Saves

All companions have 1 good save and two poor saves, this little Besmaran Whelp Larva will have a good Reflex save and the other two will be its poor saves.

Modes of movement

It is likely ungainly on land, but because one day it’ll be a Starship-sized creature when it “grows up”, I want it to have a fly speed. It has an obvious aquatic nature to it, so a swim speed makes sense as well. I’m thinking a base speed of 10ft, fly 40ft (Ex, good), swim 40ft. It isn’t going to be the best at flying or swimming, but it can make a pretty good showing.

Attack

Its default Melee Attack will be a bite (Piercing), but look below when we get to special abilities, as I’m thinking this little Whelp Larva will occasionally have some trick up its sleeves!

Ability Modifiers

This Whelp Larva will have good Dexterity and good Constitution

Special Abilities

It seems that most, if not all of the Creature Companions have two special abilities. I actually wanted to have some randomness to one of the abilities, thanks to the randomness of the Besmaran Whelp in the repeatable adventure that it’s in. Luckily I have something that I can base that randomness on! The klikharp creature companion’s mutations ability will work wonderfully for me. I might not use all of the abilities presented there, but I will likely use a lot of them. For the second ability, I might give it void adaptation.

Putting it Together.

Besmaran Whelp Larvae were experimented on by the Jinsul. Released by adventurers, they have multiplied to the point that some people have taken these seemingly cute creatures as companions. Every day there is something new about them, and those that train them must adjust to all of these changes quickly!

Besmaran Whelp Larva          Levels 3-20
Small Aberration
Senses blindsense(scent) 60 ft., darkvision 60ft
Good Save Ref; Poor Saves Fort, Will
Defenseive Abilities void adaptation
Speed 10 ft., fly 40ft. (Ex, good), swim 40ft.
Melee Attack bite (P) or tentacle (B)
Space 5 ft. Reach 5ft.
Ability Modifiers Dex, Con

Special Abilities
Cosmic Chaos (Su): The besmaran whelp larva has not fully stabilized in its formation yet, and changes its form daily. At the beginning of each day, roll a 1d6 and the whelp gains the listed ability for the day. At 7th level, the whelp may roll twice, if the 2nd roll is the same as the 1st, simply re-roll until it has two different abilities.
The result is 1 – Bioluminescent: As a move action, the besmaran whelp larva can increase the light level two steps (to a maximum of bright light) in a 10-foot radius centered on itself for 1 minute.
The result is 2 – Burrowing: The besmaran whelp larva gains a burrow speed of 30 feet.
The result is 3 – Energy Ray: The besmaran whelp larva gains an energy ray attack. This attack targets EAC and has a range increment of 30 feet. To determine the energy type, roll a 1d6. On a 1 it’s acid damage. On a 2 it’s fire damage. On a 3 it’s electricity damage. On a 4 it’s cold damage. On a 5 it’s sonic damage. And on a 6 it is force damage.
The result is 4 – Hardened Skin: The besmaran whelp larva’s skin grows tough, it gains a +2 bonus to EAC and KAC.
The result is 5 – Quick: The besmaran whelp larva’s moves quickly. Increase all movement speeds by 10ft.
The result is 6 – Breath Weapon: The besmaran whelp gains a breath weapon. It can use it every 1d4 rounds. It is a 30-foot cone and has the blast weapon special property. The attack targets EAC. To determine the energy type, roll a 1d6. On a 1 it’s acid damage. On a 2 it’s fire damage. On a 3 it’s electricity damage. On a 4 it’s cold damage. On a 5 it’s sonic damage. And on a 6 it is force damage.

Growth Spurt(Ex, 6th Level) Upon reaching 6th level, a besmaran whelp larva can choose to become Medium. If it remains Small, each time it gains a new level it can choose to become Medium.

Conclusion

This may not have been the article I originally intended to do today, but it had me smiling by the time I finished writing it up. Smiles are something that I’m needing right now so I don’t feel bad putting this together for folks! Hopefully in two weeks, I’ll have a website to show off AND an article comparing two classes to on another!

Problem is, Monster of the Week is at least initially framed for a modern game with modern troubles, with various weapons like guns and a lot of verbiage around our present time and world. I figured the story can be whatever I want it to be. And what I wanted was to facilitate a Bachelor party for one of the heroes, basically whomever my friend Mike played. I’m a Lost Omens / Golarion fanatic so I knew my story would be based in Golarion. But they’d need characters. While some had D&D and others had Pathfinder experience, at least one person was new to tabletop and also I wanted something we could very quickly move through without reference materials, maps, and give us some ease of play.

How Do I Want To Do This?

I decided I’d premake character options by going through the various playbooks and pre-choosing options to align them with certain archetypes or classes. Names, pronouns, looks would be up to the players but at least they’d be ready with attributes, abilities, and weapons. I decided there’d be a devilish element to my story (which I’ll get to in a moment) so I wanted a good divine representation, let alone the newer player to TTRPGs was keen on being a cleric. I chose the obvious playbooks for a Cleric and Paladin, the Divine and Chosen respectively. The Divine would have Boss from Beyond to talk to their patron as well as Soothe (to calm others), Lay on Hands (to heal), and even Cast Out Evil (because devils). I gave each character one advance (to simulate a more experienced group) so that’d work well. They also had a thunder hammer, which easily could fit in the world of Golarion. The Chosen Paladin could make a Big Entrance and had Devastating damage. I let their special weapon have the holy trait (important later) and that they were fated for a heroic bit of Divine Help. Their doom? Why a nemesis of course…

A Rogue was necessary and I’m glad I put one together as that’s what our bachelor wanted to play! I turned the Crooked into a Rogue with a Burglar background. They had a Notorious reputation and a magical artifact for a bit of luck. The weapons are where it got tricky. I prechose a revolver and a shotgun and when we got started asked the player to think of some classic weapons for them to be in a medieval style. A throwing axe and heavy crossbow were his choices and I loved how he pulled them out of a hidden pocket or from beneath a table. I’m particularly proud of the transformation I made to the Constructed. I immediately thought of our Best Man taking on the character, and he did! The Constructed would be our Bard, healed by music and singing, loving a dance, and having a hidden weapon of a sonic bellowing attack! He wasn’t particularly charming, but he was tough and eager to protect and defend our party. He committed a few social faux pas out on the dance floor, but we all were laughing as he maneuvered through his literal doing the Robot as he was an awakened marble statue of course. It didn’t matter what the playbooks, abilities, or weapons were called after all; the mechanics guided our gaming and let it flow right into the story we were forming for a great time!

I won’t go over each playbook and the options I made but I thought I’d share which playbooks I used to simulate which archetype/class below. If you’re a fan of Devil Wears Prada (or that new Cruella movie) you’d have loved how my friend Eric turned the Monstrous undead set up I made into a truly devastating Dame with a bloody thirst! Here’s that listing of playbooks:

• Chosen – Paladin
• Crooked – Rogue
• Divine – Cleric
• Monstrous – Fae Druid
• Monstrous – Undead (vampire)
• Spell-Slinger – Sorcerer
• Exile – Magus
• Constructed – Bard
• Wronged – Barbarian / Ranger

Back to Riddleport

As I said I knew my story would have to involve Golarion. The Bachelor and a few others were already familiar with the Lost Omens setting, and two players in particular are in my Expedition Coalition game. Do you recall where my campaign started? That’s right: Riddleport! Specifically, the Gold Goblin. What a better place for a Bachelor party than a gambling hall in a city that is quite accepting or loose morals and profitable vices! Have a drink, play some Ghoulette, meet Belatharus “the Pit Fiend” Pit manager, and entreat with some Succubi/Incubi dressed servers! How better to slip some devils into the monstrous mix then to have them hide in plain sight! It can’t all be fun and games after all; we need adventure!

I decided that there’d be a real Pit Fiend sewing some chaos on behalf of Cheliax in Riddleport. Having heard of Lavender Lil’s assistance to various heroes as well as the presence of this band on a bachelor party, how could they resist but finally make a move? I set up a basic outline to support my story:

• Set Up – choose characters and explain the plot of the bachelor party
• Introduction – have the group already checked in and get into drinks, games, food, and dancing
• The Hook – a withered body of a cypher mage is found out back and Belatharus hopes the heroes will investigate
• Rising Action 1 – either over time or with an MC reaction (mmm roll those failures!) I’d have another found in the privy stalls but with the added complication this is one of Overlord Cromarcky’s personal guard! Better get on that fast!
• Rising Action 2 – ensure through investigation, magic, or talking to others the party knows a blond server was seen with the man. The heroes will probably know it’s some sort of vitality drain that killed them too!
• Complication 1 – through investigation the party can find the server often visited the VIP section overlooking the main part of the Gold Goblin, but when they track the server down… they’re dead in a trunk at a dressing table in the back! What happened?
• Rising Action 3 – Belatahrus is found barely clinging to life! Turns out some VIPs were just in this room for a meeting but they’re not here now
• Conflict – confront the VIPs and reveal one is a Pit Fiend while a few others/servers are succubi / incubi! FIGHT!
• Conclusion – celebration and thanks from Belatharus/Lavender/Cromarcky/etc.

Players Will Always Surprise You

Like a round of Ghoulette you never quite know how things will end up or how your players will surprise you. We never got to Complication 1 or Rising Action 3. My efficient, knowledgeable heroes quickly determine there was likely a fiend at play considering the first corpse was withered and drained, but not by a bite. The vampire PC made it very clear it wasn’t her and that the mage’s robes were “just dreadful.” They were looking for a devil and got drawn to the VIP section after that second corpse was found in the privy. Never wear perfume! Also, find a way to protect against divination. The Magus (using the Exile playbook) successfully used a Weird roll to do a bit of magic and see through illusion, triggering a combat with the real Pit Fiend and his cronies!

Here’s the stats I used for those monsters including a regeneration mechanic I added in case you’d like to use sometime:

• -cubi Devils (4)
  • Armor 1 Physical
  • Health / 5
  • Regeneration 1 (holy prevents for a round)
  • Attacks
    • Charm: character rolls Cool
    • Energy drain: 2-harm close magic
    • Embrace energy drain: 4-harm hand magic
    • Claws: 1-harm close armor-piercing
• Pit Fiend
  • Armor 2 physical, Armor 1 magical
  • Health / 12
  • Regeneration 2 (holy prevents for a round)
  • Energy Bolt: 2-harm far magic energy
    • 1-harm for multiple reactions in same round
  • Firestorm: 4-harm close area heavy loud energy
  • Claws: 3-harm hand heavy messy armor-piercing
  • Tail lash: 3-harm close armor-piercing

One thing I had forgotten was the Luck mechanic. I ended up limiting it to 3 uses per hero except the lucky Rogue Bachelor who could use as much as he wanted. It made for a lot of success, but some very entertaining big wins and really, that’s what this was all about. It was a tremendous amount of fun adapting Monster of the Week for a fantasy game. I do love that gaming has kept us engaged during the pandemic but I was truly thrilled to be playing a game in person again with a large group. Get vaccinated if you can, which protects those who can’t!

Do let me know what other games you’ve adapted for other settings or uses! I highly suggest you invest your time doing so as it’s a great way to challenge your improv skills and engage your friends! Let me know if you try Monster of the Week and specifically some of the details I’ve laid out above. You can be certain it’s not the last you’ve heard of adventure at the Gold Goblin!

Investing In:

I wasn’t quite sure what to name my article series when I first started but the idea of showcasing or discussing things that make me excited, that I find new and interesting, or maybe I’m otherwise passionate about seemed to fit with the idea of Investing In something like the Pathfinder 2E mechanic. To use some magic items you have to give that little bit of yourself, which helps make these things even better. I like the metaphor of the community growing and being strengthened in the same way!

I also want to hear what you’re Investing In! Leave me a comment below about what games, modules, systems, products, people, live streams, etc you enjoy! You can also hit me up on social media as silentinfinity. I want to hear what excites you and what you’re passionate about. There’s so much wonderful content, people, groups (I could go on) in this community of ours that the more we invest in and share, the better it becomes!

Sources

Banner – Sci-Fi vs. Fantasy, Creative Commons Attribution, DaniLovesFood

1. Monster of the Week banner, Evil Hat Productions
2. Divine playbook image, Monster of the Week, Evil Hat Productions
3. Crooked playbook image, Monster of the Week, Evil Hat Productions
4. Ghoulette, Second Darkness: Shadow in the Sky, Paizo
5. Exile playbook image, Monster of the Week, Evil Hat Productions

Folks may be aware that I’ve been up to my interface plugs in cyberpunk and biopunk research recently. Monica and I are nearing the final stages of writing a technopunk sourcebook we plan to be our first self-published project. To get away from the distractions of our day jobs, social media, and really get some words written, we scheduled a weekend away at Ravenwood Castle in Hocking Hills, Ohio.

Ravenwood Castle is a delightful bed and breakfast in our region with a medieval theme that specifically reaches out and caters to gamers with several different activities and amenities like a well curated games library, onsite game conventions / events, even a room you can rent out to play your campaign finale in. On this particular trip however, we were only looking for quiet solitude and space to write. Our own personal Marlowe House writing retreat.

The boardgame library at Ravenwood Castle.

While it may be a little odd to think we were getting away from technology to write about technology but Monica and I are very familiar with Ravenwood Castle as we’ve been visisting every few years for the past (almost) 20 years. We knew that the isolation and relaxing atmosphere would be perfect for disconnecting from all the modern distractions. We checked in Thursday afternoon and stayed until just before lunch on Sunday. While we may not have hit every task on the to-do list we tackled some details and outlines we hadn’t realized we needed until we really started working together.

Sometimes this is the sort of kick your creativity needs: a change of scenery and a momnet of seperation from the constant updates and demands of Discord, Facebook, or Twitter. The beauty of the area can’t be undersold either, we didn’t do any hiking this trip but the Hocking Hills region of Ohio is reknowned for its waterfalls and scenic trails. When we stepped outside our cottage at night we were far from the light polution of the city or suburbs and wonders of the night sky were readily visible. Nothing kindles my imagination like the beauty of nature.

The best part of the trip were the staff. Friendly and delightful folks, who take pandemic precautions seriously. Which is a big reason this was our second weekend away from home at the castle in the last 12 months and I’m already thinking about the next possible trip.

Blogcast is a twice monthly series on the Private Companion blog in which Ryan Costello, Jr, host of 3.5 Private Sanctuary and Know Direction, shares his thoughts on the medium, and his advice for anyone who would like to start a podcast of their own

“A blog about podcasts? Now that’s meta as hell!”

– “Chatty DM” Philippe-Antoine Ménard (http://critical-hits.com/category/chattydm/)

I’ve considered a blog on my podcasting experience since around GenCon. I was not inspired to pull the trigger on it until board member rendrin expressed in his Pathfinder Society Podcast thread on the 35privatesanctuary.com forums interest in starting a podcast about Pathfinder Society, and requesting any advice on the topic. Hopefully he did not take my absence from that thread as ignoring him. In fact, his request was brewing into something far bigger than I believe he anticipated.

I don’t feel the need to introduce myself, what with the About Us tab on the top of this page, and the size of the overlap in the Venn diagram of people already familiar with me from the podcasts and people likely to be reading this. That is not to say my experience makes me an expert on all things podcasting. I cast my pod when there weren’t that many podcasts, and followed a mix of instincts and good examples. I stumbled a bit along the way, I learned from most of those stumbles, and this blog is designed to share what I learned. If nothing else, people gain some insight into my take on this interactive audio hobby of ours. Hopefully Blogcast succeeds on a larger scale than that, clarifying confusion and inspiring others to start their own podcast, because…

Podcasts Matter

By now it should be clear that podcasts mean a lot to me. Most of my conversation starters come from Judge John Hodgman, Freakonomics Radio, or TED Talks (or cracked.com because the internet). The guests on The Nerdist (NSFW) and Atomic Array (SFW), and the discussions and reviews on The Dice Tower and What’s On Joe Mind heavily influence the media I consume and the products I purchase.

I believe podcasts, and social media in general, help people. Happiness needs a community with which to share in that happiness. Before direct media, during my awkward teenage years, it was like I never saw eye-to-eye with what was popular. Out of the thirty cable channels available in my area, two f them were entirely dedicated to sports. There was only one show dedicated to comics. I still look back fondly on The Anti-Gravity Zone.

Even though how I expressed my love of D&D, and wrestling, and GI Joe, and super heroes was very similar to how sports fans express their fanaticism, media content needed one thing: volume. There were (and probably forever will be) more fans of football than fantasy RPGs. There are days a football fan could turn on TV at any time and find something to watch. Meanwhile I flipped when I stumbled across stuff like the D&D scene in E.T. That was the reality of people like me at the time: if you liked something outside of what was popular at the moment, you liked it alone or in a small group. I have never been ashamed of my love of fantasy RPGs, super hero comics, professional wrestling, or GI Joe, I just had a hard time sharing my love of such things. Now, through podcasts, and blogs, and message boards, and video sites, and everything else the internet has to offer, I can find communities, and splinter communities, with whom to share what excites me about my interests. The Anti-Gravity Zone may be long gone, but there are at least a hundred shows just like it being produced on the internet every day that are mine to discover.

That is a huge part of the reason I podcast. Not the only reason, however. Not even the main reason.

Why Podcast?

As a caster of pod-based entertainment, I am not only audience but producer. Hosting podcasts fills an expressive void in my life. This isn’t to say I don’t socialize unless there is a live mic recording it, although I have told Matt and Perram that our conversations were wasting content. At least with Matt and Perram, I know we can pick up a completely different conversation and chat about it just as much. As recently as a couple of hours ago, I went to a social event and said very little. As recently as this Tuesday, I was described at work as someone who doesn’t say much. And as recently as the day before that, I lead a half-hour conversation about how flying works in 3.5 D&D.

I can be very social. I love how board member and IRL friend Acev put it when he said “We can’t shut him up!” It just helps when there is a certain focus and rhythm to the conversation. Podcasts give me that focus and rhythm. They let me express myself verbally in a way that regular conversation doesn’t always. If I lead a conversation IRL for more than a few minutes, I get self-conscious that I am hogging the spotlight. When I host a podcast, not only do I feel comfortable leading a conversation, I know it is expected of me.

Therein lies my motivation for podcasting. Yes, I have received exposure that lead to opportunities as a game designer. Yes, I have been recognized by people I respect and have been told by strangers that they like what I do. Yes, I helped a medical technician get through a 60 hour shift during a hurricane. These are all amazing benefits of the podcast, but they are not what motivates me to write my outlines and charge up the mics every week. If all I wanted was some work or some attention, I doubt I would have gotten through my first year. I podcast because I love podcasting. I love podcasting because I get to express myself and that benefits a community in which I am happy to be a part, a community that, before things like podcasts, was much less of a community to me.

Podcasting and You

That’s what I get out of podcasting. What do you get out of it? That depends on what you are willing to put into it. Maybe you want to make a career out of it. No judging. Fair warning, however: Monetizing a podcast is rare and difficult, but not impossible. One of the most financially successful podcasts is the aforementioned Nerdist. I recently listened to some of the best advice for creating and maintaining something successful on the internet in The Nerdist 312: YouTube Titans. Chris Hardwick talks with Grace Helbig, Harley Morenstein, and Hannah Hart to talk about Daily Grace, Epic Meal Time, and My Drunk Kitchen. The humour gets crude, as is standard for The Nerdist, and the discussion wanders at times, but when they get down to talking about why they believe their YouTube channels have been successful (each regularly getting over a million hits an episode), the insight they offer is amazing. Among their aggregated theories on their success:

Integrity: Even if the hosts of Epic Meal Time and playing characters, the enthusiasm they bring to their show is palatable. Oh! That was a pun. Snuck up on me. These guys just go out there and put on a big show about terrible food without worrying about etiquette or calories. They aren’t appealing to a target market, or meeting with focus groups, or using their show as a platform to reach mainstream work. The return on investment, be it money, or attention, or credit, is so often so low, that if everything on the internet that was done out of love suddenly disappeared, there would be no internet.

Consistency: Having an audience means meeting expectations. You might say that this is free entertainment and an audience should not feel entitled to anything but what you want at that exact moment. I have never agreed with that, and I have heard it often enough. Staying within a certain release schedule and following a certain format heavily influences how likely your audience is to build. That does not mean you need daily content. That means if you promise daily content, you better deliver it. If you can’t, at least let your audience know why.

Transparency: The days of one-way entertainment are gone. When I was in high school, I wrote Seth Green a fan letter to let him know I was a huge fan of his work. When I was in college, I paid to see a live reading of a Family Guy episode and got to ask Seth Green a question. It felt like a once in a lifetime opportunity. Today, if I want to tell Seth Green I’m a fan, I can tweet him. He’s a legitimate celebrity. If any fame you amass is built on being an average Joe (or Jo) and turning a passion into a success, you are still expected to be an average Joe. Average Joes answer e-mails, comments, and tweets. Even if you somehow end up with followers in the thousands. Even if they are very active. Some will be awesome people who you would hang out with anyone. Some will be polar opposites of you that you share exactly one thing in common with.

Parting Thoughts

These are all ideas we will explore in the future, as well as choosing your format and release schedule, technical stuff, and maybe even that whole list of topic ideas I wrote down and can’t seem to find. Before we go, if you are seriously considering starting your own podcast, here are two questions you should ask yourself:

1. What do you think you will get out of podcasting?

2. What do you see as your biggest obstacle to podcasting?

TtYL.

At GenCon, I met a gentleman who told me he was learning Pathfinder to help him host games at his friend’s new castle in Ohio. After a few follow-up questions to make sure this wasn’t slang or a metaphor, I needed to know more about Ravenwood. In giving their website an eye over, I found out about RavenCon. Ravenwood officially became a fascination. So I contacted Ravenwood president Jim Reed, who was more than kind enough to answer all my questions

Unconventional is a monthly series on the Private Companion blog in which we speak with the gamers who run gaming conventions.

Private Companion: Who buys a castle?

Jim Reed: A crazy person.  My wife and I had been looking for a business to buy for a few years, but never found the right one.  We’d pretty much decided to call the search off when we noticed that Ravenwood was for sale in March of last year.  We’d been guests at the castle on and off since it was built in 1995, and had always loved the place.  So we decided we’d buy it.  We thought we were crazy at the time.  Now we know we are.

PC: What is a castle even doing in Ohio?

JR: Defending against an invasion from Michigan.

Ravenwood Castle – 65666 Bethel Road, New Plymouth, Ohio 45654

PC: From my conversation with your Castle Steward, Steve Waldron, gaming was always part of your plan for Ravenwood castle. What makes Ravenwood such a perfect venue for gaming?

JR: From a practical standpoint, Ravenwood is removed from the demands of every day life.  It’s quiet, there isn’t a television blaring in every room and your cell phone won’t be constantly ringing and beeping.  It’s the perfect environment to sit back and enjoy a board game or a role playing session, undisturbed by the usual every day interruptions.

From a more basic standpoint, it’s a freaking castle.  With a pub.  Who wouldn’t want to sit down and game in the real life counterpart to that mythical tavern where so many Dungeons and Dragons adventures start?  I know that sounds like a commercial, and in fact we’ve used it as one.  But it’s also what pretty much every gaming buddy of mine said when I told them I’d bought a castle.

PC: You may win the trophy for most dedication to the hobby. What does gaming mean to you?

JR: I’ve been gaming in one form or another for over 30 years, starting with the original red box, Dungeons & Dragons Basic.  After college my gaming group (AD&D 2e) broke up, and I switched primarily to computer games.  In the last few years I’ve made an effort to get back into role playing, and have jumped into board gaming quite heavily, thanks in large part to my Castle Steward, Steve.

Whatever the medium though, gaming has always been an important part of my life.  I have no doubt that the hours spent reading stacks of rule books or engaged in creative problem solving helped me out academically.  I’m such a believer in the developmental power of games that I have been actively introducing (corrupting, if you listen to my wife) my daughters to gaming for most of their young lives.  These days, gaming is also a great means to relax and divert the brain from the problems of the office.  It’s also a wonderful way to spend some quality time with family and friends.

PC: Are you the same Jim Reed who works on The Dice Tower? http://www.dicetower.com/index.php/about_us/jim_reed If not, could you take Jim in a fight?

JR: Alas, I am not.  Nor could I take him in a fight.  Such a fight would be a stalemate, as it’s a scientific fact that all Jim Reeds are identical in all respects.  We’re effectively interchangeable.  True story.

PC: What can RavenCon attendees look forward to March 1^st weekend?

Ravenwood Castle Gaming

JR: We’ve got a real smorgasbord of gaming set up for the convention.  On the board gaming side, we’ve got Colby Dauch coming in to demo some Plaid Hat games and run a Summoner Wars tournament.  We’ll be running an event long “World Tour” of Ticket To Ride.  We have a library of 40 or so games that will be available for the open game room.  We’ll also have a table of “In It To Win It” games, where if you win the game, you get to keep it.

On the role playing front, we’re planning several sessions throughout the weekend.  We’ve been working with Michael McNerney, the Columbus area Pathfinder Venture Captain, and he’ll be providing some GMs for Society play.  We may also run some 4e D&D, or perhaps D&D Next sessions.  Details on that are still pending.  Finally, there are going to be a number of kids (my own included), and we intend to run a session or two made up exclusively of children.  I’m leaning towards We Be Goblins for that, though that’s not set in stone.

Aside from all the gaming, we’ll have a silent auction, a giant turkey leg dinner, lots of good beverages in the pub, and just about anything else you can think of doing in a castle.  Oh, and if I’m able to scrounge up an Apple computer of some sort between now and then, we hope to be running the alpha version of Johann Sebastian Joust from the recent Sportsfriends Kickstarter.

PC: How often do you foresee holding events like RavenCon?

JR: As often as we can.  We had a big weekend long gaming convention at the end of October with nearly 60 people in attendance.  On the upcoming events list, we’re running a small Pathfinder event next weekend (February 1st), RavenCon the beginning of March, another full castle private gaming event later in March, and although it’s not specifically gaming oriented, we have the Ice and Fire Convention at the end of April.

Going forward, we expect to run RavenCon at least once a year, and as many smaller group events as we can.  And of course, we encourage guests to game every day.  In fact, Steve spends quite a few of his evenings teaching guests new games or running them through a short Pathfinder session.  What a job!

PC: Suppose the Picts catch wind of Ravenwood. How would you defend the castle from marauders?

JR: Nice try, but you’re not getting the secrets of our defense out of me that easily!

Castle by firelight

PC: If someone books a room at Ravenwood but can’t make RavenCon or any special gaming event, how can they maximize their gaming experience?

JR: We offer what we call Ravenwood Raids, where you and a group of friends rent a few rooms and get the exclusive use of the library game room as well.  This has been very popular, and basically lets you have your own mini-convention on your own schedule.  If you’re coming by yourself, just bring a willingness to try something new.  Let Steve know you’re interested in gaming and he’ll be more than happy to show you our library of games.  He’ll be glad to teach you any of them you’d like, and will probably sit down to play a few with you too if you’d like.

PC: What would someone who doesn’t game do at Ravenwood?

JR: We have quite a few non-gaming events as well.  From the family friendly Alice in Ravenland last weekend, to our popular weekend long murder mysteries.  But as much fun as the events are, the majority of guests come to Ravenwood just to relax and get away from it all.  We’re situated in the Hocking Hills area of Ohio, and are surrounded by state and national forests.  There’s amazing hiking, canoeing, caving and tree top adventures within minutes of the property.

PC: Ravenwood is a 4 hour drive from GenCon, which is like a leisurely stroll by GenCon road trip standards. How will Ravenwood’s proximity to GenCon affect the best four days in gaming?

JR: Steve and I both attended GenCon 2012, and our proximity certainly means that we’ll be attending GenCon for the foreseeable future.  We’re actually considering having an official presence at the convention, as in a booth, but I don’t think that will happen this year.  We’ll also likely be offering a pre/post GenCon package of some sort this year, so we can act as a waypoint for those coming from further away.

PC: Ravenwood is already progressing on its mission to be the best gaming castle in Ohio. What is the next in the Ravenwood plan for gaming domination?

JR: We’ve redesigned the library to be a gaming room.  We’ve built a respectable library of games, although we’ll keep increasing that because let’s be honest, buying games is a bit of an addiction.  And we have plans to redesign the Raven’s Roost Pub to accommodate gaming even better than it does now, and that’s probably our next big project.

But most importantly, right now we’re just focusing on letting people know we’re here.  The gamers who have visited us so far have raved about their experience.  But we’ve only been doing this for six months, and in the grand scheme of things only a small percentage of the gaming universe knows we exist.  We’re working on that.  We’re also developing relationships with people and companies in the industry.  We’ve started working with Paizo, WotC, Plaid Hat and Days of Wonder, and they’ve all been incredibly helpful with RavenCon.  In the coming months I’m looking forward solidifying those relationships and making new ones, and jointly making Ravenwood Castle a center for all of the coolest things in the gaming world.

Find out more at ravenwoodcastle.com

If you run a gaming convention and would like to be considered for a future instalment of Unconventional, send an e-mail to knowdirection@hotmail.com, subject line: Unconventional [your con name].

4 Winds Fantasy Gaming released this press release two weeks ago, announcing they’d been acquired by Purple Duck Games. The Private Companion spoke with Mark Gedak of Purple Duck Games to get more details.

Private Companion: Purple Duck Games is best known to Pathfinder enthusiasts for multiple short, to the point PDF, like Random Encounters Remastered, and Items of Power and Ambition. What was the appeal of 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming, a company better known for larger, published products like Luven Lightfinger’s Gear & Treasure Shop?

Mark Gedak: 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming has always been one of my favourite third party publishers. I have each of their print releases on my gaming shelf and have used open game content from their products in a number of our own releases. As Purple Duck Games has been growing and learning, Robert was always open to questions and sharing of information. It has been common practice to share our new releases back and forth for the last year or so. So we have always had a good working relationship.

PC: How will this acquisition affect the future of Purple Ducks Games releases?

MG: There will likely be some delays initially in Purple Duck Games’ releases as we work to integrate the work from both companies. I expect we will see a greater integration of 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming’s content into our products including the Porphyra campaign setting. There may also be an upswing in the frequency at which we are able to bring some larger products to market as our writer base is likely to expand as well as we welcome many of the writers of 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming to continue to work on the dual brand products as well as on Purple Duck products.

PC: What about the 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming projects that were announced but not yet released, like the much hyped The GOLD Guide to Competitive Gaming?

MG: The GOLD Guide to Competitive Gaming, is one of the products listed as “in-the-works” that has been transferred to Purple Duck Games in the deal. It is one of the big projects in the deal that we are looking forward to completing.

PC: How would you summarize Purple Duck Games, both to a Pathfinder enthusiast and to a general gaming audience?

MG: Purple Duck Games is the natural outgrowth of Mark’s years of gaming, reviewing products, participating in playtests, and hobbylancing. We publish the kinds of products we want for our games, the kinds of products our writers are passionate about, and the kinds of products that support the games we love to play like the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Dungeon Crawl Classics, ICONS, and 4C Superheroes. Purple Duck is about putting out products that you can use, no matter what type of campaign you want to run. We want to help people expand their games.

For Pathfinder players, the setting we are developing (and have shared early work on with Gods of Porphyra and Godmetals of Porphyra) rejects the standard fantasy settings formula in favor of a setting that embraces the multitude of flavors, play styles, and character choices available to players who have played since the red box to players just getting started.

Porphrya’s strength is the ability to allow for any sort of player with any sort of interests to benefit from the setting/source/character option materials provided by our games.

PC: In the press release, you mentioned that you would maintain the 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming name as a brand. Why?

MG: Robert worked very hard to establish 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming as a brand. I have enjoyed their products for many years. 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming means a lot to Robert, it means a lot to me as a gamer, and it means a lot to the fans of 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming. All of the original 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming products that remain in circulation will continue to credit the hard work of Robert and his company. New works that Purple Duck Games have contributed to but are outgrowths of Robert’s work will be dual branded to recognize our contribution as well.

PC: You also mentioned that Robert Thomson, former owner of 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming, will stay on with Purple Duck Games as developer of the 4 Winds “in-the-works” projects. Can you elaborate on Robert’s future with Purple Duck Games?

MG: Robert is going to be working on actively writing some of the “in-the-works” projects. He is still going to be designing material for 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming products and is welcome to contribute to any Purple Duck Games products as well. The big difference is that Robert will not need to worry about the day-to-day management and planning of the companies’ works. From a writing standpoint, Robert is coming along to make sure that things he has committed himself to write will be written. Purple Duck Games is handling the other publishing aspects (editing, art, layout, printing).

PC: What do you feel it says about the current state of the market for third party Pathfinder material that one of the original third party publishers for Pathfinder was not able to sustain itself?

MG: I do not think the acquisition of 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming says anything about the state of the third party Pathfinder market because the idea that 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming was unsustainable is not the case. From my conversations with Robert, the 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming company was something that he no longer wanted to run, not that he couldn’t run. Over time, people’s lives change and they need to make the decisions that they feel are best for themselves. Robert wished to divest himself of 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming and Purple Duck Games was happy to acquire its assets.

PC: When does Purple Duck Games expect to announce the first new release under the dual Purple Duck/4 Winds branding?

MG: The first product to be released under the Purple Duck /4 Winds branding will be a small book of barbarian, bard, and cleric NPCs written by Robert Thomson called GM’s Options: NPCs 1 – Barbarians, Bards, and Cleric. It should be available on February 1^st. Beyond that release, most of the Purple Duck energy for the dual brand will be focused on completing the Deus Ex Historica, Exploding Aces, and The Gold Guide to Competitive Gaming projects.

PC: Thank you for your time, Mark. We look forward to what Purple Duck Games does in the future, both with the 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming brand, and it’s own lines of Pathfinder RPG compatible products.

Perram shares the joy of unboxing the new Pathfinder Battles – Shattered Star miniatures from WizKids. You too can share in his joy:

Perram’s Shattered Star unboxing on the 3.5 Private Sanctuary YouTube channel

So far, 2013 has seen the 3.5 Private Sanctuary gaming shelf of podcasts diversify with a blog and increased YouTube presense. What do you think? Where else could we go? Share your thoughts on our forums.

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Find more of The Gamer’s Guide to Pathfinder at their official site!

Find more of The Gamer’s Guide to Pathfinder at their official site!

Striga

The humanity leaves the face of what looked like a normal person. Skin and eyes dry out and turn grey, and its mouth fills with a blue glow hungry for life essence.

Striga CR 5

XP 1,600

NE Medium monstrous humanoid (shapechanger)

Init +5; Senses blindsight 30 ft., darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +10

Aura nondetection,

Defense

AC 19, touch 15, flat-footed 18 (+4 deflection, +1 Dex, +4 natural)

hp 76 (9d10+27)

Fort +5, Ref +7, Will +6

DR 15/cold iron

Offense

Speed 30 ft.

Melee bite +11 (1d6+1 plus grab)

Special Attacks lecherous form

Statistics

Str 12, Dex 13, Con 14, Int 14, Wis 11, Cha 19

Base Atk +9; CMB +10 (+14 grapple); CMD 25

Feats Improved Initiative, Skill Focus (Bluff), Stealthy, Toughness, Weapon Focus (bite)

Skills Bluff +14, Diplomacy +11, Disguise +22, Escape Artist +3, Knowledge (history) +7, Knowledge (local) +9, Perception +10, Sense Motive +7, Stealth +17

Languages common, elven, halfling

Ecology

Environment Any

Organization solitary, hunt (1–2 plus 1–4 dogs)

Treasure NPC gear

Special Abilities

Aura of Nondetection (Su): A striga is constantly under the effect of nondetection.

Lecherous Form (Su): Strigas assume a haunting visage when feeding on lifeforce. A striga in lecherous form loses its deflection bonus to AC, gains a +4 bonus to its bite attack, and drains 1d6 Con while grappling. A striga in lecherous form gains 1 temporary hp per point of Con it drains from a target, or 1 hp/HD (typically 9) per point of Con it drains from a young target. Temporary hp gained from draining Con in lecherous form not in excess of a strigas maximum hp total become normal hp after an hour rest. Assuming lecherous form is a move action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity.

Unlike most shapeshifters, strigas are naturally in a state of disguise. At rest and without effort they resemble a typical human whose face and gender they have no control over. Years do not age strigas, however, and they move every ten to fifteen years to avoid suspicion. When a striga feeds, it must assume its lecherous form to tap its victim’s lifeforce. Doing so leaves it vulnerable, however, so hungry striga take to the shadows and wait for lone victims. Striga who cannot escape combat assume lecherous form to survive wounds they suffer while draining the lifeforce of their enemies. Particularly resourceful strigas raise hunting dogs to distract attackers when they must feed off a group.

Strigas feel no emotion and find the concept baffling. They only learn the emotional tendencies of their surroundings to blend in. Most strigas concoct a number of stories to justify remaining unmarried and without family. A striga only needs a few stories which it rotates between every time it moves on. By the third or fourth move, its older aliases are mostly forgotten and can be used again. Strigas avoid long lived races, particularly elves, for although theirs is a succulent lifeforce, strigas do not wish to be identified. Unlike dopplegangers, they cannot assume a new face when they assume a new identity. Being recognized can ruin a hunting ground for centuries.

The party explores some more and finds itself in a sticky situation.

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Unfortunately, the recorder ate session 3 of the Elemental Band.

To give a summary, the party interrogated their prisoner and found out a little information about the abbey, etc. In exploring a room off the main room where they fought the previous episode, they found a concealed passage and opened that up.

They were beset by more manes and fiendish rats, but they held them off at the door and eventually killed them. The party continued exploring through a maze of passages encountering several traps. The Rogue in the lead fell into several pits covered by an illusion. Doors were also trapped. The Monk opened a door that caused a rock to fall, but missed him. Later, he wandered away from the party slightly to a corner that had two doors. He opened one door to find himself staring face to face with a heavy crossbow that missed him. He then opened the other door, only to find another heavy crossbow that hits him and drops him. The barbarian half orc brought him back though.

The party continued to explore, and the rogue started using caltrops tossed down a corridore to check for illusions. He attracted the attention of another swarm of rats and manes, backed up by a crystal statue of a minotaur. The Barbarian enlarged himself and held off the monsters at the edge of a pit that was in between the party and the creatures. One grease spell by the wizard, and many rats and manes fell to their entrapment in the pit or were smashed by the barbarian even though the barbarian was grieveously wounded. The statue was smashed to powder by the combined firepower of the party.

The party then went back to the main room to rest for the night and recovered the spell book of the wizard that they took prisoner.

Frell: Human Wizard
Cratire Riddu: Human Druid (With Ein, his riding dog animal companion)
Mason Delmar: Human Monk
Trakus: Half Orc Barbarian/Cleric
Davish: Human Rogue/Swashbuckler
Talen: Human Fighter.

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Frell: Human Wizard
Cratire Riddu: Human Druid (With Ein, his riding dog animal companion)
Mason Delmar: Human Monk
Trakus: Half Orc Barbarian/Cleric
Davish: Human Rogue/Swashbuckler
Talen: Human Fighter.

Listen Now!

The party is composed of:
Mai’therik: Elven Scout
Tenebrae: Fighter
Shane: Abjurer
Grakthul: Barbarian
Geft: Cleric of Modius

If you are interested, read the campaign hand-out that explains a little about the world and house rules.

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Note: Due to technical issues, episode 2 is not available.

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Frell: Human Wizard
Cratire Riddu: Human Druid (With Ein, his riding dog animal companion)
Mason Delmar: Human Monk
Trakus: Half Orc Barbarian/Cleric
Davish: Human Rogue/Swashbuckler
Talen: Human Fighter.

Listen Now!

Find more of The Gamer’s Guide to Pathfinder at their official site!

Listen Now!

Find more of The Gamer’s Guide to Pathfinder at their official site!

Listen Now!

Find more of The Gamer’s Guide to Pathfinder at their official site!

A discussion on the vehicle rules presented in Ultimate Combat and the Caravan rules presented in the Player’s Guide to the Jade Regent Adventure Path.

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Find more of The Gamer’s Guide to Pathfinder at their official site!

Listen Now!

The party is composed of:
Mai’therik: Elven Scout
Tenebrae: Fighter
Shane: Abjurer
Grakthul: Barbarian
Geft: Cleric of Modius

If you are interested, read the campaign hand that explains a little about the world and house rules.

Listen Now!

Find more of The Gamer’s Guide to Pathfinder at their official site!

Listen Now!

Find more of The Gamer’s Guide to Pathfinder at their official site!

Listen Now!

Listen Now!

Find more of The Gamer’s Guide to Pathfinder at their official site!

Listen Now!

Find more of The Gamer’s Guide to Pathfinder at their official site!

Listen Now!

Find more of The Gamer’s Guide to Pathfinder at their official site!

Salislacerta

This green scaled humanoid suckles the air, watching you with domed, familiar eyes.

Salislacerta CR 1/3

Salislacerta bard 1
XP 135
NE medium humanoid (reptilian)
Init +5; Senses darkvision 60 ft; Perception +3

DEFENSE
AC 14, touch 11, flat-footed 14; (+4 armor, +1 Dex)
hp 7 (1d8 -1)
Fort -1, Ref +3, Will +1
Weaknesses Light sensitivity, primal weaponry

OFFENSE
Spd 30 ft.
Melee gore +1 (1d6+1)
Ranged light crossbow +1 (1d8/19-20)

Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.

Special Attacks bardic performance 5 rounds/day (countersong, distraction, fascinate, inspire courage +1), lacerta whims, salt leech
Bard Spells Known (CL 1st; concentration +3)

1st (2/day)—charm person, cure light wounds

0 (at will)—dancing lights, mage hand, message, prestidigitation

STATISTICS
Str 13, Dex 13, Con 8, Int 8, Wis 9, Cha 14
Base Atk +0; CMB +1 (+3 grapple); CMD 12 (14 vs grapple)
Feats Improved Grapple ^b, Improved Initiative

Skills Acrobatics +5, Bluff +5, Disguise +5, Intimidate +5, Perception +3

Languages Common, draconic, telepathy 100 ft

SQ bardic knowledge +1

ECOLOGY
Environment temperate caves
Organization solitary, pack (2-4), lounge (9-15 and 1-3 leader salislacerta), family (25-40, all combatants)
Treasure NPC gear (studded leather, crossbow and 20 bolts, 2d6 gp)

Insectile and reptilian, salislacerta try to convince their victims they are peaceful. They feed off the salt of living creatures as sustenance, but they can also ball salt stolen from the living into salt components for a bizarre selection of mystical powers. Salislacerta are best able to fool potential victims after they have fed and are able to use their deceptive lacerta whims.

Salislacerta are asexual, average just over 5 ft tall and weigh 140 pounds. They are green-skinned save for a yellow belly, with deep black orb eyes. Although scaled and possessed of webbed feet and hooked hands, these features do not provide any abilities normally associated with them.

Salislacerta employ psychological tactics as must as they can, primarily their disguise self lacerta whim when they can. Salt-starved salislacerta will engage in melee, but will try to use nonlethal damage to knock out damaged foes so they might feed off the salt in their victim’s live body.

Salislacerta Characters

Salislacerta are defined by their class levels—they do not possess racial Hit Dice. All salislacerta have the following racial traits.

+2 Dexterity, +2 Charisma, –2 Constitution: Salislacerta are limber, fragile seducers.

Salt Leech: In addition to the options available to all grapplers, salislacerta can use salt leech against a grappled foe. On a successful grapple check, a salislacerta deals 1d2 Constitution. The salislacerta gains 1 salt component. A salislacerta can gain a number of salt components equal to its HD + its Con modifier. A salt component lasts for 1 hour or until the salislacerta spends it on a lacerta whim.

Lacerta Whims: Salislacerta who have recently fed gains access to the following abilities:

Charm Monster (Sp): Once per day a salislacerta can spend 5 salt components to cast charm monster with a caster level equal to ½ its HD (minimum 1).

Desperate Plea (Su): A salislacerta can spend salt components as an immediate action to gain a bonus on its next Bluff check this round equal to twice the number of salt components spent.

Disguise-Self (Sp): A salislacerta can, as a standard action, spend salt components to cast disguise self for 1 min/salt component spent. Its caster level is equal to ½ its HD (minimum 1).

Fast Healing (Su): A salislacerta gains fast healing equal to its current salt component total for a number of rounds equal to its HD.

Unnerving Hiss (Su): A salislacerta can spend salt components as an immediate action to gain a bonus on its next Intimidate check this round equal to twice the number of salt components spent.

Improve Grapple: Saliscerta gain improved grapple as a bonus feat.

Gore (Ex): Salislacerta gain a gore as a primary natural attack.

Darkvision (Su): Salislacerta can see in the dark up to 60 feet.

Light Sensitivity (Su): Salislacerta are dazzled in areas of bright sunlight or within the radius of a daylight spell.

Telepathy (Su): Saliscerta can communicate telepathically at a range up to 100 ft.

Primal Weaponry: Because of their pincer-like hands, salislacerta can only ever learn to use simple weapons, even if they take levels in a class that normally grants martial or exotic weapon proficiency.

Languages: Salislacerta begin play speaking Common and Draconic. Salislacerta with high Intelligence scores can choose from among the following bonus languages: Dwarven, Giant, Gnoll, Goblin, Orc, Undercommon.

Glacier Giant

A blue-skinned giant with shards for hair and wielding a massive icicle like a club gradually glides across the icy terrain.

Glacier Giant CR 15
XP 51,200
LE Huge Humanoid (cold, giant)
Init -2; Senses low-light vision; Perception +24

Aura Absolute Zero (15 ft)

DEFENSE
AC 25, touch 6, flat-footed 25; (–2 Dex, +19 natural, –2 size)
hp 218 (23d8 +115)
Fort +18, Ref +5, Will +8
Defensive Abilities Form Ice Armour and Weapons; Immune cold; Resist acid 10, electricity 10, and fire 10
Weaknesses vulnerable to sonic

OFFENSE
Spd 30 ft.
Melee +1 icy burst greatclub +27/+22/+17 (4d6 + 15 plus 1d6 cold plus frigid, 19-20/x2+1d10 cold)
Ranged rock +9 (1d8+13)
Space 15 ft.; Reach 15 ft.
Special Attacks rock throwing (120 ft.)
Spell-like Abilities (CL 23rd)
3/day – wall of ice (DC 15)

STATISTICS
Str 30, Dex 6, Con 20, Int 14, Wis 13, Cha 12
Base Atk +17; CMB +29 (bull rush +31); CMD 37 (39 vs bull rush)
Feats Anchor to Ice*, Awesome Blow, Cleave, Improved Awesome Blow**, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Cleave, Improved Critical (greatclub), Improved Vital Strike, Martial Weapon Proficiency (greatclub), Power Attack, Vital Strike, Weapon Focus (greatclub)
*See below
**New feat found in 101 Monster Feats by Rite Publishing

Skills Climb +33, Intimidate +24, Perception +24, and Survival +24.
Languages common, dwarven, giant
SQ icewalking

ECOLOGY
Environment cold mountains
Organization solitary, gang (1 and 2-3 frost giants), hunting party (1 and 3-6 frost giants and 1-4 winter wolves)
Treasure double coins, half magic items

SPECIAL ABILITIES
Aura of Absolute Zero (Su) So cold is the moisture in the air surrounding a glacier giant, non-magical fire is immediately snuffed, liquid freezes, and creatures suffer 1d6 cold damage each round.

Form Ice Armour and Weapons (Su) Glacier giants do not burden themselves carrying equipment, instead trusting in their natural armour in case of ambush and forming their defences when combat arises. As a move action, a glacier giant can form any melee weapon, shield, or suit of armour familiar to it. Popular examples include a suit of full plate armour (adding a +9 armour bonus to AC and reducing its speed by 10 ft); an ice club; a tower shield (adding a +4 shield bonus to AC); a block of ice which counts as a rock for the glacier giant’s rock throwing ability. Any weapon formed by a glacier giant is considered a +1 icy burst weapon. When a glacier giant forms ice weapons, he does so based on his strength and grasp. He can choose to create wield a two-handed weapon he forms one-handed, suffering a -4 penalty on attacks and dealing +10 damage on a successful hit rather than +15.

Weapons are not normally forged out of ice for a reason; it is an unreliable material in combat. When a glacier giant confirms a critical hit with an ice club, it gains the broken condition. If the glacier giant confirms a critical hit with a broken ice club, the weapon shatters after dealing its damage. When a glacier giant suffers a critical hit, its ice-formed tower shield is destroyed. If the glacier giant has not formed a tower shield, its ice-formed plate mail is destroyed instead.

Frigid (Su) Whenever a glacier giant successfully hits with its ice club, the target might succumb to the chill of the ice shards puncturing its skin. Each round the subject of frigid must make a Fortitude save (DC 15) each or suffer the following effects:

Round 1 – staggered

Round 2 – slow

Round 3+ – petrified

All effects of frigid end on a successful Fortitude saving throw. Creatures immune to cold are immune to the effects of frigid.

Icewalking (Ex) This ability works like the spider climb spell, but the surfaces the glacier giant climbs must be icy. The glacier giant can move across icy surfaces without penalty and does not need to make Acrobatics checks to run or charge on ice.

These slow-moving cousins of the frost giant are rare to the point of myth. The dwarves who first witnessed this giant embodiment of cold’s mastery over ice dubbed it Jokul Frosti, commonly changed to Jack Frost by the villagers who have since crossed them. A glacier giant’s lethargic mannerisms lead many hunters who see one to belief they have caught it injured or exhausted. They mount impromptu attacks, only to find the giant at full strength and ever-ready for a fresh meal.

Glacier giants are only fertile for one year of their long lives. They are particularly active during this mating period. The pursuit of the few or possibly only fertile glacier giant of the opposite gender makes them ornery, and they have been known to band together with frost giants for the company and raid cities to relief stress. Despite their similarities, glacier giants and frost giants cannot breed together, although that does not prevent fertile glacier giants from trying.

Although they need very little food to survive, glacier giants attack potential prey on sight, attempting to freeze any creature not immune to its frigid attacks for later consumption. They stalk icy plains near water in particular to ease transporting their frozen meals back to their mountain cave lairs.

Glacier giants enjoy their resistance to fire and mock any mage in witness of an ineffective fireball or scorching ray. They prefer to corner a few targets behind wall of ice spells and use their Anchor to Ice and Vital Strike feats. Glacier giants beat opponents immune to cold back with their Improved Awesome Blow to better focus on targets vulnerable to the frigid effect of their ice club.

Anchor to Ice [Monster]

Ice crawls off the ground and freezes around this creature’s leg.

Prerequisite: Cold subtype

Benefit: When in icy terrain, as a move action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity, this creature can freeze itself to the ground. While in this state, it cannot move and suffers a -4 circumstance penalty to Reflex saving throws. It gains a +1 circumstance bonus on melee attack rolls, a +2 circumstance bonus to melee damage, and a +20 circumstance bonus to Combat Maneuver Defense against forced movement. Ending the effects of Anchor to Ice is a free action.

Based on Anchor to Earth, originally published in 101 Monster Feats by Rite Publishing

OGL Declaration

Design: Ryan Costello, Jr

Thanks to: Hecknoshow

Product Identity: The following items are hereby identified as Product Identity, as defined in the Open Game License verion 1.0a, Section 1(e), and are not Open Content: proper names (character, deities, etc.), dialogue, plots, storylines, locations, characters, and artwork.

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Compatibility with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game requires the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game from Paizo Publishing, LLC. See http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG for more information on the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Paizo Publishing, LLC does not guarantee compatibility, and does not endorse this product.

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15. COPYRIGHT NOTICE

Open Game License v 1.0a Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc. System Reference Document. Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Authors Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, based on material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.

Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook. Copyright 2009, Paizo Publishing, LLC; Author: Jason Bulmahn, based on material by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, and Skip Williams.

101 Monster Feats © 2011 Steven D. Russell, Open Gaming License Copyright © 2007

Bestiary 2 © 2011 Paizo Publishing, LLC; Author: Jason Bulmahn

Glacier Giant. Copyright 2011; Author Ryan Costello, Jr

Got a monster idea? Request it!

Monster Manual IV

Publisher: Wizards of the Coast

Monster Manual III came out in August of 2004. For two years, it held on as the most current monster resource for Dungeon Masters, with Wizards of the Coast’s focus apparently shifted to specialty books that expand on specific monster types, like Libris Mortis. When Monster Manual IV was finally released in July of 2006, there was no denying a new Monster Manual was due. But this Monster Manual was different. The state block layout had evolved. Each monster entry was a two-page spread with new standard subsections. There were pregenerated 0 HD monster characters. With so many changes, was this what 3.5 gamers wanted from Monster Manual IV?

Expectations

I always like a new resource for threats and ideas, so any Monster Manual is an easy sell with me. However, Monster Manual IV marked WotC’s biggest commitment to the new format of stat block heretofore used mostly for NPCs in Dragon Magazine. At the time I was not such a fan of the format. I entered in Monster Manual IV cautiously.

At a Glance

Henry Higginbotham’s cover tells a story. It is textured in the style of the previous Monster Manuals, one of the few sourcebooks since the core rulebooks to preserve the facade of an actual magical tome. This particular tome cannot contain the magic within. Lightning streaks its surface and an evil blue dragon peers out of a hole he has ripped, looking out at the opportunities his escape has allowed. The burgundy and grey of the cover contrast nicely with the blue dragon’s scales. There is no questioning the focal point here. It is certainly one of the most memorable 3.x covers because of its style and playfulness.

The interior art is WotC’s standard fair, which is to say high quality and plentiful. There aren’t as many exceptional pieces here, neither of questionable quality or pure brilliance. There are several nice maps which were an unexpected inclusion that added variety to Monster Manual IV’s visuals. The only piece I will single out is James Zhang’s necrosis carnex. A bipedal undead construct composed of limbs stitched to a torso, this piece unnerves in ways that more violent and scandalous art elsewhere fails to. I have a high tolerance for the bizarre but this piece gives me the heavy jeevies.

Highlights

Packed with Information

It is startling how little of each monster’s entry the stat blocks consume. Very few take up more than one of the four columns in the two-page entries. The following subheaders make up the rest, as appropriate: Strategies and Tactics; Sample Encounter; Knowledge chart; Ecology (including physical description); Society; Typical Treasure; For Player Characters; In Eberron; and In Faerûn. Each section is only a paragraph or two long, so if you don’t care about the society of a monster, or where to find that monster in Eberron, you aren’t cheated out of significant space.

The most useful sections are the Knowledge charts and For Player Characters. The knowledge charts break down what skill is required to puzzle out the obscure monsters before the players with more information given the higher the result. Pretty standard for Ecology Of articles in Dragon Magazine and very much appreciated here. Occasionally different knowledge skills will decipher different information, such as the joystealer, an incorporeal fey creature. Knowledge (nature) reveals its fey aspects, knowledge (the planes) reveals its incorporeal aspects.

The For Player Characters subheading lists which conjuration spells can summon the creatures, information on how the new animals can be taken as familiars and companions, and how to build the undead and constructs. Maybe the sailsnake is exactly the animal companion to complete a PC’s flying snake themed druid. This section is also useful to DMs for seeding storylines. Knowing just how many fangs and claws are needed to create a fang golem inspires scenes of the PCs constantly crossing animals with severed paws and bloody gums throughout a dungeon.

To top it off, the table of contents indexes which monsters have For Player Characters sections, which creatures qualify as mounts and animal companions, which can be summoned, and where to find new weapons and special spell components like the skiurids –shadow plane squirrels- who collect nuggets of negative energy which can be used to increase the effective caster level of necromancy spells.

Advanced Sample Monsters

Drow, githyanki, gnolls, lizardfolk, ogre, orc, and yuan-ti are all popular villains of previous monster books given a shot of adrenaline by Monster Manual IV. Using the same stats, Complete series classes, and some creative building, we get new samples of these monsters that can be used as a party or individually. Taking the drow as an example, Lloth’s sting is a 4^th level drow ninja, dark sniper is a 6^th level drow scout, arcane guard is a drow fighter 2/wizards 5, and drow priestess is a drow cleric 8. These are all more appropriate and have better character than the drow warrior 1from the original Monster Manual.

Lairs and Adventure Sites

Creatures go hand-in-hand with lairs, right? Monster Manual IV contains multiple maps for use in your game. Some are tied to specific monsters, although the serial number is easily filed off. Some are deliberately generic and iconic. The locations are briefly summarized, serving as a jumping on point rather than a canned encounter. There is one fully detailed adventure site, the Deephollows, which serves as a great model for anyone who has never used or designed a location before.

Low Points

Lack of Variety

There are fewer monsters in Monster Manual IV than previous Monster Manuals because of the new format. It does not feel that way necessarily, but the lack of variety does show through. The most obvious is the CR range. The majority of the monsters fall in the CR 5-7 range, with more of CR 1-4 covered than CR 8+. There are no CR 13-14 creatures at all. By Monster Manual IV, low CR monsters were plentiful. Depending on who you ask, the mythic 3.5 is between levels 5- 15. Only having the low end of that covered does not even cater to the majority of players. It is true that low CR monsters can be advanced more easily than high CR monsters can be reduced, but that sort of extra prep and complications is what makes high level less desirable.

Another trend is the number of creatures with the ability to explode post-mortem or at will. I like a good revenge power, it keeps players on their toes, but I don’t want the game to turn into hit and running because killing monsters in melee is too risky.

Sample Encounters

Of all the subheadings that make up the monster entries beyond the stat block, the most consistently underwhelming is Sample Encounters. What I want out of a sample encounter is an unusual motivation, a unique environment, and a self-contained story. The sample encounters presented for the most part offer generic backstories without substantial hooks for how the backstory plays into the encounter. Most entries have two encounters, one of which summed up as “you fight one of these creatures” and the other would be “you fight two of these monsters”

There are exceptions. Good creatures and fey creatures have sample encounters that justify even good and nature-loving groups confronting them. 0 HD creatures have a variety of combinations of the sample creatures and associated monsters. Otherwise, even with just a few paragraphs, these sections could have done more.

Dragonspawn

After Draconomicon and Races of the Dragon, and with Dragon Magic on the horizon, there was no lack of dragon-related content by July 2006. There are no new dragons in Monster Manual IV. There were, however, Spawns of Tiamat. And Spawns of Tiamat are awful. More than 40 pages are dedicated to what amounts to the half-dragon template added to monstrous humanoids and animals. The blackspawn stalker is a giant spider/black dragon. It does what you would expect it to do. So do all the others. There is nothing imaginative about even one Spawns of Tiamat, and if anything ever watered dragons down as the majestic eternal kings of the fantasy world, this is it.

Overall

Monster Manual IV is a solid monster book and more. Unlike base classes, which by 2006 were overloaded with useless information, the two page format outlines each monster mechanically and somewhat justifies how such a beast could exist, then throws a few bones to PCs and DMs trying to run them. I am surprised to say this might be my favourite monster book for 3.5 D&D.

Date Released: July 2011

Date Reviewed: July 2006

Hivoid

Thousands of bees move together in a humanoid-shaped swarm. Viscid orbs form eyes that communicate sentience, and yearning.

Hivoid CR 6
XP 2400
N Medium vermin (swarm)
Init +3; Senses darkvision 60 ft; Perception +28

DEFENSE
AC 17, touch 14, flat-footed 13; (+3 Dex, +1 dodge, +3 natural)
hp 63 (14d8)
Fort +9, Ref +7, Will +4
Defensive Abilities swarm traits

Immunities mind-affecting effects

Weaknesses swarm traits

OFFENSE
Spd fly 60 ft. (good)

Melee slam (1d4+1) or swarm (2d6 plus poison)
Ranged sting dart +13 (1d8+1/19-20 plus poison)

Space 5 ft.; Reach 10 ft.

Special Attacks conscripting gaze (3/day), worker initiation

Spell-Like Abilities (CL 14th)

3/day—summon swarm (wasp swarm, Bestiary pg 275), summon giant wasp (Bestiary pg 275)

STATISTICS
Str 12, Dex 16, Con -, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 12
Base Atk +10; CMB +11; CMD 24
Feats Dodge, Flyby Attack, Hover ^B, Improved Critical (sting dart), Mobility, Point-Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Wind Stance, Wingover ^B

Skills Acrobatics +20, Fly +21, Perception +28

Languages telepathy 100 ft.

SQ hive body, hive mind

ECOLOGY
Environment temperate forests
Organization solitary, pair, division (1 plus 1-3 hive workers), hive (1 plus 1-3 hive workers plus 5-15 giant wasps)
Treasure none

SPECIAL ABILITIES
Conscripting Gaze (Su) Looking into a hivoid’s vacant eyes is like receiving orders directly from the queen. A hivoid’s gaze recruits drones for its army. 3/day, it may turn its gaze against a single creature within 30 feet as a standard action. The target must make a Will save (DC 18) or become a loyal drone, following the hivoid’s commands as dominate monster. The creature is allowed a new Will save to avoid the effect every round at the end of its turn, unless it is the target of the hivoid’s worker initiation. A creature that successfully saves against conscripting gaze cannot be affected by the same hivoid’s conscripting gaze for 24 hours. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Hive Body (Ex) A hivoid’s composite body is more tightly formed than most swarms. As a result, its traits are slightly different than most swarms:

• Although it is made up of fine creatures, a hivoid does not gain immunity to weapon damage. Instead, it suffers half damage from piercing and slashing weapons as a swarm made up of tiny creatures;
• A hivoid can initiate combat maneuvers. It is not automatically immune to any combat maneuvers, however it can gain immunity to a designated combat maneuver until the end of its next turn as an immediate action. For example, if a creature attempts to bull rush a hivoid, it can fragment its body quickly enough to gain immunity to bull rush until the end of its next turn. If another creature tries to grapple the hivoid before the hivoid has taken its turn, the hivoid cannot gain immunity to grapple until after the end of its next turn because it has already used its immediate action for that turn;
• A hivoid is not susceptible to high winds, such as those created by a gust of wind spell. For purposes of determining the effects of wind on a hivoid, treat the hivoid as a medium creature.

Hive Mind (Ex) Although made up of mindless bees, when a hivoid takes shape it forms a hive mind, gaining an Intelligence score, skill points, and language-based communication. As its mind is made up of a collective of mindless creatures, a hivoid retains the vermin immunity to mind-affecting effects.

Poison (Ex) Sting—injury; save Fort DC 10; frequency 1/round for 6 rounds; effect 1d2 Dexterity damage; cure 1 save. The save DC is Constitution-based. A hivoid suffers 1d4 damage when it successful hits with an attack that poisons a target.

Worker Initiation (Su) Drones slogging about the ground either slow the hive or are abandoned. As a full round action, a hivoid can force feed a mutating pollen to an adjacent creature suffering the effects of its conscripting gaze. The creature suffers 2 Con damage and gains the hive worker template (below). If this Con damage is ever fully healed, the creature loses the hive worker template. A creature with the hive worker template no longer makes Will saves to resist the effects of the hivoid’s conscripting gaze.

Whether through unconscious imitation, freak evolution, or influence from beyond, on rare occasions a swarm of bees adapts a humanoid shape and gains a hive mind. Still, bees are creatures of purpose and hivoids primarily follow their vermin instincts of gathering nectar and pollen.

A hivoid’s advantage over unintelligent swarms of bees presents in the face of danger. A hivoid targets obvious casters with its conscripting gaze as soon as possible. If successful, it summons giant wasps or wasp swarms to distract other enemies while it uses worker initiation on the caster. If it is unsuccessful in conscripting a caster, it settles on the next nearest targets in range and uses Flyby Attack to swarm enemies while remaining safely in the air. Once it has dropped an enemy, it uses worker initiation on any enemy still under its control.

Hive Worker

A hivoid can create a hive worker when it uses its worker initiation ability on a living creature under the effect of its conscripting gaze. A hive worker’s statistics are identical to the base creature, save for the following changes.

· Fly 30 ft (Poor). If the creature already has a fly speed, it uses this fly speed or its base fly speed, whichever is higher, and this manoeuvrability or its base maneuverability, whichever is better;

· It gains a sting attack as a secondary natural weapon, dealing damage typical of its size (1d4 Medium, 1d3 Small). If the creature already has a sting attack, it deals this damage or its normal damage, whichever is higher.

Publisher: Wizards of the Coast

Written by: Richard Baker (Matthew Sernett, Frank Brunner)

Nine martial styles to turn the swing of a warrior’s blade into the stroke of an artist’s brush. Book of Nine Swords marked a major departure in the eyes of players from the traditional combat experience. That alone made it one of the most contentious Wizards of the Coast releases of the 3.5 era. Then, it was cited as an early example of how 4^th edition would play out. What can a book that made up the middle ground of the edition wars bring to your 3.5 game?

Expectations

When Tome of Battle – Book of Nine Swords was initially released, I expected a book that could flesh out my preferred role, the warrior. Any time I attempted to browse through it left me confused and uninspired. As time passed and a controversial reputation formed, my expectations changed. There had to be something more to this book for so many to sing its praises while seemingly as many ritualistically burned it.

At a Glance

Eric Polak’s cover epitomizes the Book of Nine Swords: An opportunity to demonstrate what this book is about is used to mediocre effect. The cover’s format is the profile window used mostly by the Complete series, and the character profiled is generic. Mostly, we see a warrior’s shoulder and back, which are mostly obscured by a plain black clock. He wields two blades, one of which ripples with electricity. The blue electricity and similarly shaded wrist guards are the only colours that stand out among the earth tones. As will be discussed, the book’s big sell is maneuvers that allow warriors to defy physics and dominate the battlefield. This character’s pose does not strike me as someone who is about to turn a tide of chaos or perform a bonesplitting strike. The electricity looks more like a shocking weapon property rather than a supernatural swing of the blade that captures a bolt of lightning. If I were to speculate on this character’s class, there is no doubt in my mind that this is a ranger. He is wielding two weapons, has a bow slung over his shoulder, and is wearing light armour with a leaf-motif. If he were an elf or a half-elf, maybe he is a forest-themed fighter. As a human, he has to be a ranger, or a rogue who just killed a ranger and is using his stuff. While there are options for the ranger in the Book of Nine Swords, there is no rang analogue among the three new base classes. This cover does not put the book’s best foot forward. I would speculate that the layers of nonspecific choices are the result of a missed art deadline and WotC had to use the template of another series’ cover and a piece of emergency art. Comparing this book to the Tome of Magic supports my theory. However, the character on the cover appears in virtually all chapter headers, often alongside a similarly dressed dwarf. Because of this cover, The Book of Nine Swords does not start well.

The interior art and layout are outside of the 3.5 style and colour pallet. Gray tones dominate, and shading is minimal in Kalman Andrasofszky’s many pieces, and Wayne England’s chapter headers are darker in tone with rawer characters. At the risk of sounding unable to accept something different, I feel the pieces that are more in line with the art in other 3.5 books do a better job demonstrating the maneuvers. Instead of presenting a new idea in a new style makes it harder to relate to than a new idea in a familiar style.

Highlights

Bringing More to Melee

There comes a point where the best option for a warrior is to set up a full attack scenario and never leave it. The effectiveness of the tactic is undeniable but the dynamics of a mobile encounter with interactive battlefield elements is lost. Years into the game, rare was the option that trumped standing in one place and rolling as many D20s as possible. The Book of Nine Swords deals with his problem. Maneuvers are special actions a character can learn and then use once an encounter (or more with the Sudden Recovery feat) that open up new tricks for melee characters. Swift and immediate actions add variety to what a warrior can do in addition to a full attack, and other maneuvers effectively trade multiple attacks for extra damage and an effect, as well as the freedom to dedicate a move action to positioning. Boosts are quick bonuses or strategic actions, usually swift actions so they can be performed in conjunction with a full attack or a strike. Quicksilver Motion is a boost that lets you perform a move action (such as moving your speed, drinking a potion, etc) as a swift action. Cloak of Deception is a supernatural maneuver that as a swift action works like greater invisibility until the end of your turn. Counters are immediate actions that let you actively defend yourself or gain a measure of revenge when hit. Zephyr Dance adds a +4 dodge bonus to AC that can be used after an attack is successful to try to turn it into a miss. Moment of Perfect Mind allows you to make a Concentration check instead of a Will save. Strikes are attacks, used as standard actions or full round actions, that inflict additional damage and apply conditions or grant benefits. Death Mark is a supernatural maneuver that deals 6d6 fire damage to a creature you hit as well as an area of effect based on its size. Hamstring Attack deals 1d8 Dexterity damage and reduces a target’s speed. Stances are fighting styles that grant ongoing minor abilities or actions. Shifting Defense lets you make a 5 foot step as a free action whenever you are attacked, using up your attacks of opportunity in a round. Strength of Stone grants immunity to critical hits.

Easy to Insert

Integration is the biggest problem subsystems present. They insert a new set of rules into the game that core sourcebooks do not contend with an that the DM and potentially other players must learn. Book of Nine Swords is the mostly easily inserted 3.5 subsystem. Maneuvers are mostly accessible to the three new base classes, but the martial stance and martial study feats (both of which can be taken multiple times) are non-restrictive ways for non-martial adepts to gain access to maneuvers and stances, including higher level maneuvers and stances. A non-martial adept has an initiator level equal to half his character level, meaning the higher level a character is when he takes on of the feat, the higher level maneuver or stance he can learn. A fighter can spend his feats on a maneuver and stance or two, gaining tactical flexibility.

The three martial adept classes -the crusader, the swordsage, and the warblade- have more access to maneuvers, naturally, but not so much that they overwhelm an uninitiated DM. The crusader has access to three of the nine disciplines, only knows four stances and 14 maneuvers by 20th level, seven of which he can use in a round. The warblade has access to five of the nine disciplines, only knows four stances and 13 maneuvers by 20th level, seven of which he can use in a round. Essentially, even at near epic level, a DM does not have to worry about a deluge of bizarre rules overloading his game. If you are hesitant to allow the Book of Nine Swords into your game, a good compromise is to disallow access to counters, as they can be slightly more trouble than the other types of maneuvers and upset the flow of combat. The swords sage has access to six of the nine disciplines, knows six stances and 25 maneuvers by 20th level, twelve of which he can use in a round. Again, for the hesitant DM, this is the one class that can overwhelm you with new rules. Otherwise, what the maneuvers do is plainly written and, outside the desert wind and shadow sun disciplines, are extraordinary abilities.

Skilful Warriors

An easily overlooked new use for Intimidate amplifies the skill’s usefulness in combat. A duel of wills is an opposed intimidate check with potential bonuses depending on who wins. Intimidate is already a common class skill for warrior classes and an appropriate one. The more uses for the skill, the more warrior are justified investing ranks in it and not dumping Charisma.

Intimidate is not the only skill of interest to martial adepts. Each discipline adds a skill to your class skill list, and many maneuvers use skills creatively. Not just physical skills either, like Tumble and the Desert Wind discipline or Balance and the Iron Heart disciple. The Diamond Mind discipline finds uses for Concentration, a skill normally reserved for casters.

Low Points

Bad Flavour

Book of Nine Swords is overrun with options with that do not justify what they do. It is not for lack of flavour. I would say this book emphasizes flavour. However, flavour is meant to complement the rules and ground them in reality. Where does that 1d6 damage to a 30 ft radius come from? It was a fireball. Why can he move before and after his attack and I can’t? Because he learned to spring attack.

The maneuvers in the book of nine swords allow characters to perform actions that feats cannot contain. Comet Throw blows your target 10 backwards and deals 4d6 extra damage.

Some are explained but still difficult to comprehend. When you hit with the Stone Bones strike, you gain DR 5/adamantine for 1 round. The flavour talks about how you focus you energies and you attune your mind and body to be incredibly resilient, but there are still a lot of questions left unanswered and lines do not connect. The most common, as in stone bones, is how does the cause trigger the effect? How does hitting a target make you shrug off attacks? What is it about missing the target that leaves you vulnerable?

Stone Bones is just an example of a maneuver that could have been better explained. It is hardly the worst. That would be Crusader’s Strike, an extraordinary ability where divine energy surrounds your weapon, healing yourself and an ally within 10 feet when you successfully hit a target.

If this were temporary hit points, it would be reasonable. Temporary hit points represent a character ignoring wounds because he is inspired. His wounds are still there, he is still bleeding and full of arrows, but he can fight on. Crusader’s Strike does actual healing – wounds close, bleeding stops- without divine intervention (because it is an extraordinary ability) or dressing of a wound.

Vampiric touch is a popular core spell with a similar effect, but the spell’s name explains why the target is damaged and the caster healed. Crusader’s Strike could have been the name assigned to any of a thousand effects. Now not every option is as self-explanatory as vampiric touch so perhaps the description of the maneuver explains the cause better.

“Divine energy surround your weapon as you strike. This power washes over you as your weapon finds its mark, mending your wounds and giving you the strength to fight on.”

The flavour text contradicts the rules. It reads like the supernatural ability this should be, and does not address the most confusing part of the maneuver: how does it heal an ally within 10 feet?

The flavour in Book of Nine Swords fails to do its job, and this is a problem that stars with the title. What are the nine swords? Not really anything.

Confusing Terminology and Organization

A hurdle that must be overcome designing a subsystem for a game so far after its release and as supported as 3.5 D&D was by Book of Nine Swords’ 2006 release is finding establishing the vernacular out of language that does not already apply to other rules. Consider the edition’s first subsystem, psionics. Psionics does not have spells, it has powers. You don’t cast powers, you manifest them. These important key words ease reference and distinguish the subsystem from the core rules.

The way in which Book of Nine Swords manages this hurdle could best be described as “flat on its face”. Spells are to maneuvers as magic is to nothing. There is no single word that describes what this book is all about. The good-idea-poor-execution reference in the introduction emphasizes how poorly organized the terminology is:

“Tome of Battle: The Book of Nine Swords describes a system of special combat “spells” know as the Sublime Way, the Nine Disciplines, or blade magic. Here are some of the salient terms and facts you will need to be familiar with as you peruse this book.”

Conspicuous by its absence is any mention of nine swords. At best, Sublime Way is a good nickname for this system, but not explicit enough to be its name. It would be like calling making the Dazzling Arts. Blade magic is a misnomer as maneuvers are mostly extraordinary abilities. The etymology of Sublime Way and blade magic are never explored or defined. The Nine Disciplines is in so much as it is consistent with the number of disciplines in the book. It would be like calling magic the Eight Schools and leave it at that. Martial Power is also occasionally used outside the reference index and might be the most accurate of the names used. It is a major problem conveying a concept when that concept has no name.

The nine disciplines are named, but with an adjective-noun formula that make them feel arbitrary (mentioning that each discipline has different regional names does not help firm the idea that these are the best names). When you talk about schools of magic, they all have single word names that directly describe the theme tying the spells of that school together. Evocation. Illusion. Necromancy. Without knowing anything about the discipline, what types of maneuvers would you expect from the diamond mind? What about stone dragon? Which discipline would you expect to generate fire, desert wind or setting sun? Most of the names offer only hints to what makes that discipline unique, and there is no sense that any conceivable maneuver could only fall into one of these disciplines and only one. Given that only one of the energies is accounted for (fire, in the desert wind discipline and not the setting sun), there is at least room for acid, cold, electricity (as the cover indicates) and sonic disciplines, or that a discipline could have been devoted to energy in all its forms.

One of the more consistent key words is maneuvers. Without a doubt, when you are using Sublime Way/blade magic/Nine Disciplines/martial power, you are initiating manuvers. Maneuvers are made up of boost, counters, strikes, and stances. Sort of. Whether stances are a type of maneuver or another aspect of martial powers goes back and forth. The reference index lists them as maneuvers but defines them separately. The new core classes have maneuvers known and stances known. A non-martial adept class gaining access to martial power can select boosts, counters, or strikes with the martial study feat but stances with the martial stance feat. Yet instead of listing maneuvers alphabetically followed by stances listed alphabetically, maneuvers and stances are mixed together and listed by discipline. It would be a bit like if spells and magic items were listed together. Think of how much more tedious character creation becomes if you have to read past all the Necklace of Fireballs on your way to finding the description of Neutralize Poison.

Extraneous Material

Weapons of Legacy is not a good book. Even still, it seems like a good idea on the surface to stat out the titular Nine Swords as weapons of legacy, magic items of such renown they improve as their owner increases in level. Unfortunately, the Nine Swords that supposedly tie the Book of Nine Swords together are a weak in concept and superfluous in execution. Each of the nine disciplines has a set of associated weapons, including non-swords. Outside of the 20 pages dedicated to nine swords of legacy, there really is little mention of the significance of the title.

Each class and prestige class receives the long form entry of the time, including a sample encounter, is also a niche use of the space. Cutting some of that material in favour of alternate class features, another base class, or more maneuvers and feats would have been nothing but space better spent.

Overall

It isn’t hard to see how this book polarizes fans. I have never sung the praises of a book so highly and then crucified its shortcomings so severely. BOOK OF Nine Swords feels like it should have been about fantasy martial arts. An early sidebar indicates that may have been what it was going for, as does the repeated use of the word ki without any connection to the monk class. If that was the book’s intention, not including a martial adept monk analogue base class was unfortunate but not surprising. This is a book full of poor thematic choices, with flavour that makes good mechanics seem bad.

Book of Nine Swords’ influence on 4^th edition is evident, but that is not all together bad. One of my biggest complaints about 4E is how every class (pre-Essentials) followed a strict mechanical formula and implemented a management of limited resources. I shy away from classes that limit my use of abilities per day, so there was never much of a chance I would convert, but I did ponder if the mechanics behind all 4E classes could make one interesting 3.5 class. Book of Nine Swords shows that yes, 3.5 is that flexible.

The inevitable 4E comparisons aside, ultimately Tome of Battle: The Book of Nine Swords is a solid list of options if you can wade through the mess that is its presentation.

Date Released: June 2011

Date Reviewed: August 2006

Enlightened Zombie

Despite the wherewithal of a rolling rock, occasionally an alpha zombie establishes the destructive direction of the undead horde’s path. Unlike a mindless zombie, an enlightened zombie retains some of its mental capacity. It can not reason, but it can strategise.

CR: As a standard zombie of its HD +1.

Abilities: As a standard zombie, except its Intelligence becomes 2.

Skills: Skill points equal to 4 + Int modifier (minimum 1) per Hit Die. Enlightened zombies can have ranks in any of the following skills: Climb* (Str), Intimidate (Cha), Perception* (Wis), Survival (Wis) and Swim* (Str). All of the skills marked with an (*) are class skills for enlightened zombies. Enlightened zombies with an Intelligence of 3 or higher can put ranks into any skill.

Feats: An enlightened zombie may select from the feats available to an animal of its intelligence. For enlightened zombies with Intelligence 2, see Animal Feats in the Druid entry of the core rulebook. Enlightened zombies with Intelligence 3 or higher may select any feat they are physically capable of using.

Advancement: Although it loses its class levels when it becomes a zombie, an enlightened zombie may take class levels as it advances.

 From his velvet throne, King Geoffrey peered down on the portly man in a wizard’s robe. Dubscheme had uncharacteristically not attacked the city in days, this was true, but the kingdom’s “saviour” had been eyeing the king’s amulet since he was allowed entrance to the court, the stone head of Dubscheme looked hand sculpted, and the king’s every instinct said the sweaty man before him deserved the dungeon, not a reward. Fortunately, the king did not need to rely on instinct alone.

 Geoffrey turned to his magistrate, who raised his goggles with a frown. “Not a word of truth,” the magistrate pronounced. “From his tales of valour to the name he gave us, this man has been lying actively and constantly.”

 The unshaved con man went white. As the king’s guards closed in on him, he glowered at the magistrate. The courtesan showed the man no sympathy. He slid his Goggles of Discern Lies back over his eyes and watched him be dragged away cursing, the first honest words to come from his mouth.

Goggles of Discern Lies

Aura faint divination; CL 5th

Slot eyes; Price 60 000; Weight —

Description

These goggles have translucent white lenses of shaved pearl skin. When placed over the eyes, the wearer can concentrate on a subject and know if they are telling a lie, as the spell discern lies. Will save DC 15 to negate.

Construction

Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, Discern Lies; Cost 30 000 gp

     There are advantages and disadvantages to niche hobbies like pen-and-paper RPG gaming. An advantage is that there are not so many How To guides to choose from at bookstores, a gluttony of options. A disadvantage is that there are no How To guides to choose from at bookstores, option starvation. Fortunately by most standards, we gamers are tech-savvy enough to track down the few products that specialize in our needs, even a How To guide to game design. Just because it exists, however, does not mean it is automatically any good.

     For every creative field there is a market for how to do it, how to unlock the secret formula that quantifies creativity. Step-by-step guides that teach amateur artists how to see geometric shapes in everything. Script doctors like Robert McKee, who know so much about story structure and what makes a great movie despite having only ever sold one script, which went unproduced. The How To genre is one of questionable credibility.

     There are very few legitimate celebrities within our hobby, so the pedigree of any book like the Kobold Guide to Game Design series is instantly evident. In this case, firmly established designer and publisher Wolfgang Baur holds the reigns, with contributions from Monte Cook, Ed Greenwood, Rob Heinsoo, and Colin McComb. This impressive collection of talent discusses aspects of the hobby they are best known for, like system design, plotting, collaboration, and more.

     Kobold Guide to Game Design vol III – Tools & Techniques is a series of essays written to inform and improve home and professional design habits. The format is white washed, with only one piece of art between the covers. I can not speak for the first two volumes because I have not read them, but volume III is not the game designer’s bible. You still need your own ideas, you need to make your own connections and you’re on your own to break into the profession. Read with an open mind and used properly, the collected wisdom and vast and varied experiences of the Kobold Guide to Game Design Vol III – Tips and Techniques can give an aspiring designer the edge to become a professional designer. 

     Full disclosure – The good people of Open Design Publishing provided me with a PDF review copy of Kobold Guide to Game Design vol III – Tools & Techniques. I have worked for Open Design Publishing in the past, having writen articles for Kobold Quarterly magazine and koboldquarterly.com.

For a breakdown of the contents, see page 2

      What do characters know about the creatures they share their worlds with? Is a vampire’s aversion to holy symbols as common knowledge as a slugs aversion to salt? Do people run screaming at the first sign of a horn-headed horse or are they humbled to be in the presence of nature’s good side, the unicorn? A GM that can’t answer these questions quickly can upset the flow of their session or, if an inquisitive character with a lot of ranks in Knowledge skills like a bard is in the party, the entire campaign. To save a GM some improvising, 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming released GM’s Aid VIII: Monster Knowledge Cards – Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Edition.

     Full disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of GM’s Aid VIII: Monster Knowledge Cards – Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Edition for review, and I have a working relationship with 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming. I believe I can maintain an objective position despite this.
      Monster Knowledge Cards is a PDF product designed to be compatible with do-it-yourself perforated business cards. It outlines information about all the monsters in the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary. Instead of following the rules for described in the Core Rulebook for making Knowledge checks to recognize and understand monsters (10 + monster’s CR), the Monster Knowledge cards have the same array for all monsters: 10, 15, 20, 25. Which Knowledge check applies to which monster type is outlined in the How To Use page.
      I like the Monster Knowledge Cards version a lot more. Including an array of DCs removes the all-or-nothing of the Core Rulebook Knowledge rules. The skew in difficulty comes from the creature type. Outsiders and aberrations are the harder creatures to identify than goblins, dragons, and zombies because Knowledge (planes) and Knowledge (dungeoneering) are less common than Knowledge (local), Knowledge (arcane), and Knowledge (religion). The creature type- Knowledge skill relationships are not always perfect, and the cards agree. Alternatives are listed as well. Still not perfect, but close enough.
      The information given for each monster could be more consistent, even accepting that certain Knowledge skills are rarer than others. DC 10 Knowledge (religion) tells you “an Allip is an undead spirit of someone driven to suicide by madness; their incorporeal form cannot be harmed by non-magic weapons” but DC 10 Knowledge (planes) only tells you that “a Hound Archon looks like a muscular human with a dog’s head”. Unless you’re researching hound archons in a library, that much should be evident at a glance.
      Thanks to bookmarks, the Monster Knowledge Cards are easy to reference as a PDF, although I recommend printing out the How To Use page because which Knowledge skill is being checked is not reinforced on the cards. I can see GMs that do not use computers printing these cards out, but otherwise the card format is not all that useful.
      This is a perfect example of a product that knows what it is supposed to do and does it exceptionally well. I have not GMed a session without using the Monster Knowledge Cards since I got them. So far 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming’s GM’s Aid line has been a series of hits, with Monster Knowledge Cards possibly being the best of the bunch.

Expectations

As my campaigns flirt with Golarion, I have been most interested in incorporating the Pathfinder Society. I want a world spanning order that the PCs can turn to when the story loses momentum.

At a Glance

Steve Prescott’s cover piece leaves me wanting more. A rogue appraises a gem she has pried loose while her disapproving partymates spot an ambushing naga. The piece is nice, with a more realistic style than Pathfinder standby Wayne Reynolds. The colours are earthy and subtle, with my only complaint being the chalk-like reflection of the gem in the rogue’s eye. The big issue is that the cover does not convey the book’s theme. This scene says “looters”, not archeologists. The Indiana Jones “it belongs in a museum” message associated with the Pathfinder Society is absent, meaning it is a nice piece of art but an inappropriate cover.

The interior artwork falls into one of two categories: scenes and portraits. The scenes are mostly chapter headers, like a piece on page two that succeeds where the cover fails. A trio of dungeon-crawling adventurers are faced with a mystical obstacle. A caster and possibly a rogue patiently consult a book to determine how to bypass the trap while a fighter takes a more hands on approach.

The portraits are headshots for NPC snippets. More on these later.

Highlights

Engaging History

The writing in a book about archeologists in a fantasy world needs to balance dry details with exotic elements. Too much emphasis in either direction, taking itself too seriously, or not taking itself seriously enough could absolutely ruin a book like this. Fortunately, the writing is strong, interesting, and well-balanced. Not surprising considering it is written by prolific Paizo freelancer Tim Hitchcock, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 6 contestant Russ Taylor, editor James L. Sutter, and and publisher Erik Mona.

Additionally, the Pathfinder Society’s characterization is nicely evolved. Heretofore, it has been represented as trustworthy and straight forward. Seekers of Secrets reveals a suspicious side of the organization, with unreleased volumes, a checkered past, and an anonymous cabal of masked overseers known as the Decemvirate. Nothing previously known about the Pathfinder Society is  contradicted, thankfully, and the new information is ripe to be explored. This is the bar for which all fluff books should aim.

NPC Snippets

In the space it would take for four or five mid- to high-level NPC stat blocks, Seekers of Secrets outlines the backstories and personalities of fifteen NPCs related to the Pathfinder Society. The expressive portraits included fill in blanks about these characters and how a GM should handle them. Although there would have been value in having every feat, skill, and spell these characters possess presented, it is unlikely any of these NPCs will ever see combat. Names, races, and levels are given as a guideline for a GM that needs to stat these characters out. Less time efficient but more page efficient. Given the needs of this book, I accent this compromise.

Fluffy Crunch

Once upon a time, a Pathfinder RPG gamer could skip Pathfinder Chronicles and Pathfinder Companion with no fear of missing valuable crunch. The reason for this was that Paizo did not want to publish extensive 3.5 rules with the Pathfinder RPG on the horizon. Now that Paizo knows the current rules of the game their campaign setting supports, they are being more liberal with the options they include. This may seem like a low-point, and in many ways it is. However, there is a flavour to most of the new options that justifies their inclusion here rather than in a Pathfinder RPG sourcebook.

An item called a Wayfinder was introduced in the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting as an item Pathfinder Society members use liberally. It only makes sense to expand upon this, the one item exclusive to the subject of this book. The Campaign Setting suggested that Wayfinders have unique relationships with ioun stones, but no rules were outlined. Seekers of Secrets outlines those rules, and includes a number of new ioun stones. There are three prestige classes introduced. All three are directly tied to the Pathfinder Society. So yes, there is more crunch now than in the Pathfinder Chronicles books released under 3.5 rules. But the crunch and fluff are tied together tightly, with each enhancing the other.

Low Points

Meta-Name Confusion

The Pathfinder Society is an organization that writes journals of their adventures called Pathfinder Chronicles, and uses compasses called Wayfinders. The Pathfinder Society is also Paizo’s organized play program. Pathfinder Chronicles is also the name of Paizo’s campaign setting. Wayfinder is also the name of a magazine for Paizo fans by Paizo fans. That last one is less Paizo’s fault but no less true.

This is a broader problem than just Seekers of Secrets, but if I am new to the game and just played a Pathfinder Society scenario at a gaming convention, I might feel betrayed by this book, assuming I was getting a book about the real world Pathfinder Society.

I get that branding is important, that when people say “Pathfinder” Paizo wants them to think of them before they think of the car, the GI Joe, or the movie. The problem is that there is still confusion just saying Pathfinder among gamers. Are they talking the game or the campaign setting? Are they talking about something internal or something external? The ad for the Pathfinder Society in the book and on the back cover adds to the problem, and making the rules in this book legal in Pathfinder Society organize play whereas the majority of Pathfinder Chronicles material is illegal adds a whole new layer of confusion.

Ioun Madness

Let it be clear that I have nothing against ioun stones. In fact, if you can forgive a little on-topic self-promotion, there is an ioun stone specialist prestige class in Strategists & Tacticians, my upcoming sourcebook from 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming, called Ioun Angel. Let it also be clear that I do not think the new ioun stones included or the rules for cursed and flawed ioun stones included are broken or uninteresting. I just feel dedicating twelve pages of a sixty-five page book to ioun stones excessive. It feels like so much more could have been done with this space. Bizarre.

Unbreakable Ties to Absalom

This is barely a low point. To officially join the Pathfinder Society, characters must apply at the grand lodge in Absalom. So if your campaign takes place nowhere near Absalom, technically your characters need to leave your campaign, your plot, your important NPCs to trek to Absalom or they can not join the Pathfinder Society. It is one of those situations that is easy to house rule, but why do I have to?

Juicy Bits

The outline and map of the Grand Lodge is quite useful, with a few unexpected adventure hooks built in.

All three prestige classes are fun, but the Student of War stands out. It has a lot of ranger elements without making ranger a prerequisite, giving non-rangers access to some ranger abilities or turning a ranger into a specialist.

Revelation is a spell that helps parties without skill monkeys overcome traps and puzzles.

Overall

This book met my expectations, which were high. Although I have several other books and products cued for review, I had to read Seekers of Secrets as soon as I got it and started using it immediately.

Even if you do not run a Golarion game, the Pathfinder Society as outlined fits into any campaign.

Date Released: November 2009
Date Reviewed: February 2010

     Well this is just flattering. Designer Dale C. McCoy, Jr. based Book of the Faithful 1 – Power of Prayer off a comment I made in Private Sanctuary episode 87 . As a thank you, he provided me with a free copy. Although I did make my own version of Prayer Feats, it will be interesting to see his take on the same idea.

     Just to add, this is the first of a subseries called mini-reviews. Mini-reviews differ from standard reviews in that they cover small releases, usually PDF, from 3rd party publishers. They differ from product reviews in that they are sourcebooks. A mini-review will not have as many highlights or low points simply because there is less content or narrower focus to review.

Expectations

     Is it egotistical of me to expect to like the product based only on my part in inspiring it?

At a Glance

     Power of Prayer uses stock art. It is nice art and raises the quality of the pages without raising the cost.

     The layout is a little tight. The text isn’t hard to read but it takes a bit longer to determine the break between feats at a glance. There was no need to meet a page count and there is an unused white space at the end of the PDF, leaving me confused about why everything was so cramped.

Highlights

Functional, Balanced, and All (Core) Encompassing

     These feats work. There is a feat for each of the core domains granting a relevant ability without being over or under powerful. The bonuses they grant are larger than the average feat provides, but they are limited to once per day. Especially appreciated is how the skill-based feats scale based on ranks and how the more commonly used skills get their own prayer feats while the less commonly used skills are bundled together.

     Technically had Power of Prayer found a more generic prerequisite than domains it could have been more applicable. A character worshipping a non-core god might not qualify for any of these prayer feats. Most likely they will, but with fewer options. At least Power of Prayer did not make up a new pantheon just for this book, which a player would have to ignore or work around to use these options.

Evocative Names

     In my (admittedly limited) experience designing, nothing stumps me more consistently than naming. A good name has to accurately describe the option, add some flavour to the crunch, and bring it to life. Prayer feats like Held at Death’s Door and Memory of Friends are perfectly named.

Low Points

Loose Language

     Power of Prayer could have used an editing pass. Mostly the writing is acceptable, but there are incidents of unnecessary words, homonyms, and awkward phrasings. This is especially true of the crunch. The most confusing example is that the definition of prayer feats states “The faithful follower can be of any class or alignment” and yet there are alignment prerequisites to certain prayer feats.

     Most of the rules are written clearly enough to understand. They do not leave a lot up to interpretation. However, they do not have the smooth phrasing of a Paizo release.

Once Per Day

     This is personal preference, but I dislike once per day mechanics. I played a lot of multi-classed barbarians with 1 rage/day in 3.5. Invariably the rage would go to waste every day in game for fear I might need it later. This means I am unlikely to actually use any of these options, but I would not hesitate to allow a player I was GMing to take them.

Juicy Bits

     I think Held at Death’s Door’s ability to stabilize a character that was about to die is the best ability granted by any feat in this book. It also perfectly represents the kind of boon people pray for.

     Protect Thy Neighbor uses the Aid Another rules, which I think are under appreciated in the game. Perfect for a feat tied to the protection domain.

Overall

     Look, it’s $2.00 at DriveThru RPG. Each copy sold supports a fan of the show trying to fulfill a dream shared by many of us, being a professional game designer.

     If that isn’t enough for you, the options are high quality and completely live up to expectations. Any character of any class can gain some benefit from their devotion. Shame on Complete Divine for overlooking non-divine casting classes.

Date Released: 2009
Date Reviewed: February 10, 2010

     I was recently comped a copy of DTiles for review. According to the publisher’s website, DTiles is “the easiest, fastest tile-mapping software on the market. Build your own library of reusable tiles and print them out at 1″ square scale. Design complete sets of dungeon tiles or a whole dungeon at once – all in full 300 dpi!”

     Can DTiles live up to its press’ big claims?

     The program’s layout is extremely straight forward. You are greeted with a blank slate upon opening the program, with a simple task bar along the top and four options in a left hand window. Exploring the three taskbar menus, File does everything you expect it to (New, Open, Save, Print, Quit), Map allows you to toggle a grid, and Help gives product information. There is nothing intimidating here. It isn’t like Photoshop, a program with so much subtly and so many options that unless an amateur gets experimental they will never improve. DTiles is easy to master, even easier to understand, and avoids confusing bells and whistles.

     The fun of the program is using the four left hand options: Floors; Walls; Stairs; and Doors. The Floor pictorial submenu has three stone floor designs. Walls has a thick and thin stone wall. Stairs actually has six different staircases, some straight, some spiralling. Finally, Doors has a nice variety: a heavy wooden door, a wooden double door, cell bars, and a cell door.

     The interface is easy and fun. Clicking on any of the options highlights them. Highlighted options can be dragged and dropped. Holding down the mouse button drops tiles everywhere you drag, creating rooms in seconds. A much appreciated detail is that there are slight variations to floor tiles of the same type so no two adjacent tiles match. Walls and floors can even be highlighted together, making room creation even faster.

     I made a path leading to a stone building with a staircase going down and printed it out (left). It produced a nice, crisp image. Even in greyscale with reduced ink, it looks great as a map tile. The tiles are perfect for 28mm scale figures like D&D Miniatures and Reaper Minis.

     The website did not lie. This is the easiest and fastest dungeon building software I have ever used. A DM could create and print a dungeon room while the players are debating whether to pick the lock or knock the door down.

     Although I enjoyed DTiles, it has a major flaw. Not in the programming, I did not come across any bugs. The problem is the depth of the library. Yes it can create floors, walls, doors, and stairs. So can a wet erase marker on a battle map (right). Walls, doors, and stairs are as easy as a few quick lines, and floors don’t even have to be drawn. Where are the dungeon furnishings that are tedious to draw? No tables, chairs, bedroom sets, statues, piles of gold, alters. The three floor tiles are all stone. Fine for a classic dungeon but I was hoping to use DTiles to create a reusable map of the tavern my PCs like to frequent. Not unless I want a stone box with standing room only. I went to Undermountain Games’ website to look at screenshots to make sure I wasn’t given a stripped down demo to review. From the looks of it, I have the basic set. The upcoming Dungeons Vol. II advertises “3 new floor and wall designs, piles of gold and treasure, ancient sarcophagi, and much more. In addition, Dungeons Vol. II extends the Essential Toolset and enables you to build your walls at 45 degree angles!” while Dungeons Vol. III “also extends the Essential Toolset enabling you to build circular walls and chambers! And just like Vol. II, Dungeons Vol. III also comes with new floor and wall styles and many other library items as well.”

     It is hard for me to give DTiles a straight recommendation. The expansions sound like they are on the right track, however, the DTiles program currently costs $14.95 (SRP $19/95) while each expansion is listed at $9.95. That is about $50 for what sounds like what I want from the basic program. Even with both expansions, could I make my tavern? Or a vampire’s crypt? What about the missing Princess’ trashed bedroom?  The last one may seem specific but if it’s a setting I need for an adventure, I would want my dungeon creation program to support it.

     I would be a lot happier with DTiles if it allowed me to upload fan-generated tiles. The RPG hobby is very communal and that would show me that this is a program for gamers by gamers. Maybe Undermountain Games would sell a few less expansions but I could see them selling a lot more DTiles programs and building a loyal fanbase.

     My final word is that the program works amazingly well, but the library currently does not meet my needs. Sadly, at the moment DTiles does not get my recommendation but I really hope some day soon it does.

Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
Date Released: December 2007
Date Reviewed: February 3rd, 2010

Expectations

     This is one of the few books I knew I would buy regardless of concept, reviews, or author. Elder Evils by Robert J Schwalb has the distinction of being the last 3.5 supplement published by Wizards of the Coast. I was purchasing this book not as a 3.5 D&D gamer; I purchased this as a 3.5 D&D loyalist.
That is probably why it sat on what remains of the shelf, unopened since I purchased it.

At a Glance

      The cover is not only gorgeous, it captures the feeling of the book perfectly. A party of adventurers in the foreground, tiny compared to the monster in the background. This robed behemoth made up of worms –called The Worm that Walks, as we find out in chapter 9- swings a bizarre axe-headed morning star and takes out a whole building. To further emphasize the size of this thing, one of the worms that it is composed of is big enough to reach the adventurers on a roof. The colours are dark and depressing, accented by towering flames and The Worm that Walks’ glowing red eyes. A small gripe is that this cover features a generic, unknown party. After seven years with the Player’s Handbook’s iconic characters, it feels like they should have had the honour of gracing the edition’s last cover.
     If WotC skimped on the production value of Elder Evils, it does not show. This book is packed with artwork, all original as far as I can tell, and top notch. I have a fondness for art depicting templates, like W. England’s Brood Spawn Ogre (pg 38). How do you make an ogre scarier? Cross it with a Tyranid.
      The elder evils are all big ideas with elaborate execution, and the artwork and lair maps do them justice. Maybe it’s my affinity for GI Joe and Conan the Adventurer, but my favourites belong to Sertrous. On page 96, artist Izzy brings to life the guargantuan outsider described as a creature so bizarre the mortal mind translate what it sees into the closest terrestrial equivalent, a giant snake with a flower-like head. Seen taking on an army with ease, this is truly artwork of an epic challenge. His Serpent Reliquary on page 121 by cartographer Mike Schley turns a building of chaos into a logical layout that is easy for a DM to follow but mind bending for PCs to explore.
      I don’t often list chapter headers as stand out artwork, but the chapter 7 header on page 96 rubbed me the right way. It’s a simple scene, with Krusk and Vadania dodging a lightning bolt, elevated by the attention to detail. Krusk’s eye patch indicates that he’s seen a lot of adventures since his debut in the PH. Vadania’s fangs imply she took the Aspect of Nature alternate class feature from Unearthed Arcana. Like the book itself, this artwork captures the growth of the 3.5 rules and history.

Highlights

Late DM Essential
     3.5 spoiled players but starved DMs. The problem was that most DM-centric supplements were created with the same mentality as player-centric supplements: a feast of options. Keeping track of options makes a DM’s life harder. Rarely were there sourcebooks that made DMing easier. Elder Evils is a rare exception.
      There is more to this book than just a bunch of high level and epic threats. Elder Evils is a campaign design guide in disguise. In addition to the titular villains, each chapter summarizes one of nine entire campaigns that generally run from low level to early epic level. It explains how to seed and nurture a plot so that a campaign inevitably leads to a world shattering conclusion without laying down tracks. The brilliance of this accomplishment shines in the tight format.
     Each plot essentially runs the same way. Somewhere between 2nd and 5th level there is an early, insignificant sign that the PCs have no way of knowing marks impending doom. A few levels later, a similar but more pronounced sign occurs. By the next sign, a snowball effect has commenced and the PCs must rush to uncover the meaning and origins of these signs or they face unheard of disaster. None of the campaigns spend more than a page on the outline, and only a little more than that on the background. They allow DMs the freedom they need to run adventures their way or even insert an Elder Evil into a canned adventure or adventure path. Or DMs can design their own elder evil and use this book as a guideline. Like a good teacher, Elder Evils gives extra attention to those that need a guide and grants freedom to those that are more independent.

Easy to Use
      This book could have been a formatting nightmare. There could have been an NPC chapter, a new monster chapter, a chapter outlining all of the elder evils, and finally a chapter of sample encounters. Instead, the first chapter contains all of the rules that apply universally to elder evils, and every chapter thereafter is a self-contained plot. Chapter two, for example, introduces Atropus, outlines Atropus’ plot, introduces all the NPCs and monster relevant to Atropus, and then lays out the series of encounters that end the Atropus campaign. Each encounter is a two page spread that summarizes the sequence of events, key environmental features, what the PCs will be encountering, and a layout. There isn’t much room behind a DM screen, so only needing a book open to a two page spread (occasionally flipping back no more than a dozen pages or to chapter one) to run an elaborate and original encounter is so very appreciated.
      This highlight has a caveat, which I address in the low points.

Referential
     I can understand that not everyone will be grateful for this the way I am, but Elder Evils is more than just the last 3.5 book WotC released. By using material from all five Monster Manuals, books from both Complete series, and the majority of the 3.5 sourcebook library, Elder Evil is an endcap for the edition. It can be a bit overwhelming, especially keeping track of where the referenced options come from, but seeing NPCs with levels in non-core classes like the hexblade, a wide variety of spells from the Spell Compendium, and monsters from any book that printed monsters is very fulfilling. The return of vile damage (introduced in The Book of Vile Darkness) alone made me giddy. It makes 3.5 feel like one living ruleset rather than a core body with multiple unrelated appendages. Elder Evils even mentions an adventure path from Dungeon magazine. This may be the only 3.5 sourcebook that acknowledges Dragon and Dungeon magazines even existed, other than the Dragon Compendium.
      A DM can get by without a full shelf of 3.5 sourcebooks, with alternatives offered for some of the heavier rules like psionics. For those of us that take great pride in our vast 3.5 collections and knowledge, this is the perfect sourcebook to say good-bye to the edition.

Low Points

High Level Headaches
     High level play has issues. Among them save or die and save or do nothing spells and effects, massive amounts of ability damage, strange brews of poisons, diseases, and conditions countering or conflicting with buffing spells and magic items. There is also a lack of out-of-the-box threats. If a DM does not want to repeatedly run D&D’s deadly Ds (demons, devils, and dragons), then lower level threats need to be advanced. If you think running a spellcasting monster is tough, try a spell casting monster with a template, multi-class levels and a prestige class you’ve never heard of.
      This is the caveat to Elder Evils’ ease of use. The end game encounters are still complex and frustrating. The elder evils all have high spell resistance and some of their minions are even immune to magic. Casters might as well roll against the creature’s SR at the start of their turn to see if they should even bother doing anything. It may seem logical to give the elder evils fear effects, but saying all creatures within 30 feet that fail a DC 30 Will save are dominated is like saying “screw you” to the fighter PC, “why don’t you just stay back and pretend your arrows are actually overcoming the creature’s damage reduction?”
      The problems inherent in 3.5’s high level play are not the fault of Elder Evils, and it was too late in the game for WotC to develop new rules to make it easier. Regardless, this is the playground Elder Evils chose to play in and anyone that wants to play with it better be prepared for lava instead of a sand box, spikes built into the slides, and a swing set of strangulation.

Repetitive
     While there is some great variety from one monster to another and one suggested campaign to another, there are a lot of unnecessary trends. The majority of the campaigns outlined in Elder Evils involve an NPC pawn that the PCs know (and usually trust) secretly trying to raise a creature that will destroy existence as they know it. Technically this one book houses years of content if a gaming group were to run each of the nine campaigns back to back, but the repeated clichés mean the fun will run out before the content.

Confusing XP Rewards
     Why constantly indicate that due to the environment increase the XP reward is 125%-150%? Why not just give the environment it’s own CR?

Juicy Bits

There is so much to choose from, but I will restrain myself.

Harvester of Souls (pg 13) is a vile feat that returns the fear of death to D&D.

Caira Xasten (pg 20) is a mad NPC. She shows how bad a bard can be.

Ragnora (chapter seven) is the most fiendish of the elder evils. What PC will question an unexpected boost in the effectiveness of healing spells? None, until everyone starts over healing, growing more flesh and blood than a body can take.

Overall

      What a surprise! Elder Evils was such a fun and inspiring read, I found myself wanting to run each campaign as I read it and plotting new elder evil campaigns of my own. To all DMs, buy this book if you can. Keep in mind, though, that only one person in a gaming group can read this book beyond chapter one.

If You Liked This Book…

A DM that wants to evil up his game can not go wrong with The Book of Vile Darkness.

I could recommend either the DMG or the DMG II, but honestly, both these books should be ashamed that they did not cover campaign design as elegantly as Elder Evils.

Hosts

Ryan Costello, Jr

Ryan Costello, Jr started 3.5 Private Sanctuary as a proud 3.5 loyalist who wanted to build a community for other fans of the 3.5 edition of the world’s oldest roleplaying game, but his passion quickly converted to Pathfinder enthusiasm as soon as Paizo released their 3.5 successor. In addition to hosting the general geekery podcast Geek Together, Ryan now hosts two Pathfinder RPG podcasts –The Private Sanctuary, and Know Direction– he is one of the pillars of Pathfinder social media news coverage. Additionally, Ryan has written Pathfinder game material for third party publishers, as well as Paizo, contributing to such titles as Ultimate Campaign and Ultimate Equipment.

Cathy Dolan

Cathy Dolan joined The Private Sanctuary with episode 222, helping to relaunch the for 3.5 Private Sanctuary’s identity with a new voice and perspective, heavily focused on the social aspects of the hobby and the role playing aspects of character building. A dyed-in-the-wool geek, Cathy is the primary occupant of the sencond chair on Geek Together. She goes in depth about what makes her a geek in her Geek Together Episode 0.

Jefferson Jay Thacker a.k.a. Perram

Before Perram joined Know Direction as the show’s first full time co-host, the podcast could have best been describe as a bunch of Pathfinder RPG stuff. Perram brings a knowledge of and love for Golarion to Know Direction, something any Pathfinder podcast is lacking without. On top of being a man on the pulse of the Pathfinder campaign setting, Perram is the founder of the superlative site for Pathfinder spellcasters, Perram’s Spellbook,  a free web application that creates customized spell cards.

Former Hosts

Jason Dubsky

One of the original hosts of  3.5 Private Sanctuary, Jay is a human with the electronic interface template and several levels in Tech Whisperer. The Private Sanctuary would be a cardboard box and an e-mail address if not for Jay. His computer know-how got the site off the ground and his experience with 3.5 as a DM and player keeps it afloat. A man of the people for the people, Jay is a perfect example of the people behind the surge of interactive media that dominates the internet.

Matt Belanger

Movie and RPG enthusiast, Matt Belanger has a soft spot for Forgotten Realms anti-hero Drizzt Do’Urden, and would play a paladin in every campaign if he could. Hobbies include building characters for fun, building a DVD collection, and building the ultimate movie room to house his DVD collection. One-time occassional guest host on 3.5 Private Sanctuary, Matt became the full time co-host with episode 156 until episode 222. Since then, his love and knowledge of rules has given the podcast more crunch.

      Kobold Quarterly enters its third year of print with issue 12. No theme this time, just an assortment of fantasy RPG articles contributed by regular writers and eager fans. Once again, 3.5 Private Sanctuary analyses the articles of most interest to 3.5 loyalists.

     An issue of KQ used to be heralded by a new episode of the Open Design Podcast interviewing the writers and previewing the articles. Unfortunately, Ed Healey has moved on from his work with Open Design and it seems like the show is either over or on indefinite hiatus. For that reason, I was surprised to receive an e-mail about the latest issue already available.
KQ #12 is 65 pages long, the shortest issue since #9. There is no set length for this magazine, and I don’t think reading into page count is worth it. Seven articles taking up 29 pages are dedicated to 3.5/Pathfinder. Five articles taking up 16 pages are dedicated to 4E. Finally, nine pages are system-neutral content. The rest is advertising space.

Content breaks down as follows:
•    Keep it Short, Wolfgang Baur’s editorial. He talks about the advantages of shorter, more to the point encounters, especially in canned material. It is the kind of insight that only someone with the experience of a Wolfgang Baur can have. One of his best editorials.
•    Telkari, Inevitable of Death by Tim & Eileen Connors (3.5) So torn. Despite an interesting roll in the fantasy RPG cosmology, the robot-theme always turned me off inevitables. I also can’t escape hard feelings towards the marut, one of which TPKed my warrior party during a playtest of the Pathfinder Beta rules. However, since KQ #11’s Ecology of the Vampire, I have been a huge fan of Tim and Eileen Connors. Unfortunately, in this case, the strong prose was not enough to win me over. The article, which outlines the history and motivation of a marut named Telkari, failed to make me like the inevitable.
•    The Ecology of the Froghemoth by Jonathan McAnulty (PF)  Like a complete reversal of the last article, I love the froghemoth and would have bought the issue (if I didn’t have a subscription) for its name on the cover alone. It is a bizarre and over-the-top monster that won me over fifteen years ago in 2E. McAnulty, who wrote KQ #10’s On the Care and Keeping of Gelatinous Cubes, clearly shares my love of less iconic monsters. This article embraces the froghemoth’s b-movie kitsch but takes it seriously enough to attempt to justify its existence. Creature stats for younger froghemoths (woghemoths and tadhemoths), and even trap stats for deadly froghemoth eggs add value and diversify the froghemoth as a threat. The writing is complimented by zany artwork that gets the tone of the article perfectly. Biased or not, this is my favourite Kobold Quarterly article ever.
•    Burnt Offerings on Stage by James Jacobs. I counted this as a 3.5/Pathfinder article even though it is more of a general interest piece. James Jacobs reflects on seeing an adventure he wrote adopted into a stage play by the da Vinci Arts Middle School. The pictures tell of the high production value of the play, and although the article is words light, it’s a nice inclusion.
•    The Holy Remix – Specialty Priests for the Pathfinder RPG by Scott Gable (PF) This article introduces four cleric-themed mash-up classes: the Sohei (Sacred Fist), a monk/cleric; Phantom (Sacred Palm or Cultist), a cleric rogue; Emissary (Sacred Voice), a rogue/cleric; Sage (Revolutionary), a cleric/bard/rogue. The article felt unfinished, like the ideas were laid out and left that way. All four classes seem to be interesting albeit overpowered, but it is hard to tell because of the unusual format used. What should have been one of my favourite articles really left me indifferent.
•    Impossible Caravans and Unseelie Ambassadors – Introducing the Winter Court by Neal Hebert and Jon Cogburn (4) I feel the same way about Zobeck articles in Kobold Quarterly as I did about campaign-specific articles in Dragon magazine: I read them begrudgingly and last, and I can not help but skim through them. I almost exclusively set my games in homebrewed settings and articles set in established worlds always meander towards their point, taking time make references than I’m sure fans of the setting enjoy but are of absolutely no interest to me. In this Zobeck article’s case, being 4E on top of everything, I only read it for review purposes. It was okay, it had some interesting ideas, but I would have preferred the same article in a vanilla setting. It does win points by including a hand out, although if you are not running in Zobeck, you can’t edit those bits out.
•    The Myths and Realities of Game Balance by Monte Cook. Monte Cook’s system neutral editorials are usually appreciated, but it feels like he never cracks the shell of this issue’s topic, game balance.
•    Elves: The Fallen Ones by John Wick and Jesse Heinig (3.5) The third instalment of Wicked Fantasy,  John Wick and Jesse Heinig’s adaptation of the 3.5 standard races into a generic dark fantasy setting. This is the most tragic interpretation of elves I have ever read, distancing itself from almost everything established about this normally noble and long-lived race without compromising the idea of elves at all. This series has improved with each instalment. I have a hard time picturing them topping this article and yet I have no doubt that they will. Interestingly, this is the first Wicked Fantasy that did not also feature 4e rules.
•    Spiked Pits, Poisoned Arrows, and Healing Words by Scott A. Murray (4) This is a great idea regardless of edition. The title is a bit misleading, but this article is about boon traps, devices found in dungeons that aid its denizens in some way.  The format of 4e traps is a bit tough to convert to 3.5/PF and unfortunately more than half the article is stated out boon traps. Still, it’s such a good idea I hope a 3.5/PF version appears on koboldquarterly.com.
•    Spice Up your Combat Encounters: The Combat Skill Challenge by Phillipe Menard (4) The well-respected Chatty DM talks about including skill challenges in combat. Despite skill challenges being a new mechanic for 4E, they are really just a codified concept that has been around for at least as long as I’ve been role-playing. Even the crunchy parts of this article can be translated easily into 3.5/PF mechanics, and the advice is definitely applicable to any RPG.
•    Lessons from the Shadows: History’s Greatest Assassins by Catharine McDonald (4) This article may be accompanied by a 4, but there is not a game mechanic in it. Not even a reference to a skill. This is purely an insightful look at the real ninja upon which legend and pop culture icons were based. A fun read with some okay advice on using these tactics in your game.
•    Sanctus et Virtus: Relics & Reliquaries of Zobeck by Brandon Hodge (3.5) The issue’s second Zobeck article. There are some interesting artefacts, all with stories of their creation, and a nice section on adventure hooks. I don’t tend to use artefacts, personally.
•    Eight Plagues and Diseases by Stefen Styrsky (4) The 4E disease format is surprisingly hard to understand if you are not familiar with the system. These diseases can be converted to 3.5/PF, but unless a DM absolutely needs a disease and none of the existing 3.X diseases will do, it isn’t worth it.
•    Vilest Evils of the Abyss by Phillip Larwood (3.5) This would be a great article except for a major flaw. It introduces majors villains, the BBEGs campaigns are based around. But instead of stating them out as creatures, they are stated out as gods. So I know their favoured weapons, their domains, everything I need to create a cleric of Agoziel or Thazrinu or Uvapula but would have to invent statistics for them (based on a detailed outline, granted) to have them appear in my game.
•    War Wagons of the Magdar by Wolfgang Baur. The third and final Zobeck article, this one is system neutral. Unlike other system neutral articles, this one does not stand on its own. It describes war wagons and the training of the infantry that uses them, which screams for stats and feats. It left me crunch-hungry.
•    Dragon’s Lair by Corey Macourek This is a nice addition at the end, a map of a dragon’s lair that can be converted to any cave layer. Funny that there is no accompanying article but it’s pretty self-explanatory.

     Kobold Quarterly #12 surprised me. I didn’t like or have use for many of the articles I thought I would. I really liked and can find use in articles I never thought I would. Strangely, I think I can get more out of the 4e articles this time around than I can out of the 3.5/PF articles. This isn’t a criticism of the quality of the 3.5/PF articles. In this issue, the specific and potentially niche articles just all happen to be 3.5/PF while the generic, broader articles are 4E.
     I don’t know what to say about this issue as a whole. I would warn anyone considering buying this issue that it’s a little all over the place and would not recommend it to someone as their first issue of KQ. I liked it enough to recommend it to someone exactly like me, however, but KQ#12 had me at froghemoth.

      Much like my concept for the perfect character sheet, the criteria is vague. Ideally a character sheet has space for at least a short hand note for every option my character could have without wasting too much space on class-specific options. The notorious example is how few character sheets have a space dedicated to Dodge bonuses to Armour Class, even though it is one of the fundamental AC bonuses. A character sheet should also be easy to use. The less I need to reference rule books, the better. For example, all it takes is an asterix and a footnote to let a player know which skills armour check penalties apply to. Finally, the less tangible of all qualifications: aesthetics. I want a character sheet that flows, that is pleasant to look at. A series of lines and boxes may be the core of all character sheets, but the same is true of cubism.

     Unlike last time, some of this round’s character sheets are interactive across media. No longer just for gamers with access to pens or pencils, players can type directly into these character sheets. Some even do the math for you. However, in a world with character generation programs, is there a need for interactive character sheets? The interactive features of these character sheets do not merit a better or worse score on their own. Just like any other character sheet I review, if something about it makes managing my character easier, it ranks higher for me.

     Here are the character sheets we will be reviewing today:

Since the release of the Pathfinder Campaign setting, one country in Golarion has clawed to the top as most popular. Cheliax, Empire of Devils.

Expectations

Paizo knew they had a winner on their hands so they saved a Cheliax companion for the launch of the Core Rulebook so that the options could be Pathfinder RPG compatible instead of reverse compatible. Now that I expect many options in a companion book.

At a Glance

Paizo wisely invests in top quality art usually, but this time the cover is surprisingly soft. One would expect something terrifying or devious for Cheliax, and the cover does have the appropriate elements: a crimson border; a warhorse-based centaur in full plate and an infernal mage accompanied by a cackling imp; art by Matt Dixon. Unfortunately it comes off soft and cartoony. Amiri looks more like a Barbie than the iconic barbarian, with bright colours and lipstick. My only theory is that Paizo deliberately went with a cartoony cover to soften backlash to a sourcebook featuring devil pacts and corruption.

The interior art meets expectations better, starting with the Cheliax version of a coq fight on page 2, a cockatrice fight. It’s a fun idea, except that cockatrice are immune to cockatrice bites.

Otherwise the art is sparse. There are a variety of headshots that will most likely end up in a faces deck. There is also a very nice piece featuring a lady in red on page 20. Out of context she looks like a devious noble, the smirk and drip of blood on her hand giving away her cruel intentions. By placing her amidst magic item descriptions, the imagination runs wild. Is she wearing the glamorous side of a cloak of flash and shadow? Is a grudge blade hanging off her belt? Is she holding a pact parchment? Very intriguing.

Highlights

Paints the World

The Cheliax Companion succeeds at its base function: it brings the country to life. By discussing history, religion, entertainment, society, even architecture, it feels less like a sourcebook and more like a well written travel guide.

Interestingly, the Cheliax Companion distances the Empire of Devils from its infernal reputation. Rather than describing streets cobbled out of skulls and pentagrams at every corner, Cheliax is actually portrayed as a fairly typical city that acknowledges but is passive towards its ties with hell. This is a realistic departure from the expected and explains why paladins haven’t tried to cleanse the country in droves.

Player Friendly

If this was a product aimed at GMs, the depths of Cheliax’s pacts and corruption would have been explored more deeply and honestly. This being a Pathfinder Companion, that lack of information is much appreciated. The intent of the Companion series is to give player’s the information they need to play characters that live in Golarion without handing them valuable secrets. Although outlining a world through implication is usually preferred over hard facts, the extra layer of vagueness and the impression that everything is okay in Cheliax matches the country seen through a commoner’s eyes. It matches a player’s perspective.

The absence of rules for playing the oft-referenced Hellknight might seem like negligence, but it falls under the same category. Hellknight popularity is based on a Boba Fett effect. The intrigue based on the little information provided is far more appealing than knowing anything more. A Hellknight prestige class does appear in Pathfinder Adventure Path #27: What Lies in Dust (Council of Thieves 3 of 6), a product for GM eyes only.

Good Crunch

It might be surprising to hear that a Pathfinder Companion has game options. It should be made clear that there are only about seven pages of material relevant to characters, most of which is strongly tied to Cheliax. Consider this the prize in the cereal box. It may be fun to get glow-in-the-dark Ninja Turtle stickers, but if you don’t like Shreddies you’re wasting your money.

Low Points

Long Winded

The Cheliax Companion is a fun read and very informative, but its format has more in common with a history book than a splatbook. As such, when it gets heavy into Chelaxian history, especially the parts that revolve more around politics that pacts, it can get a bit heady.

Additionally, it is not formatted in an easily referenced style. The glossaries and timelines are appreciated, but a couple of pages of appendix would have been helped to use the book while gaming.

Assumes Previous Knowledge

A Golarion-curious gaming group might see Cheliax as the Pathfinder campaign setting’s most popular country and try to get away with only purchasing the Cheliax Companion. It is not enough. The Cheliax Companion fleshes out ideas established about the country, but an understanding of Golarion, the Pathfinder’s gods, and basic knowledge of Cheliax is required to use this book to its fullest. Luckily, there exist resources like the Pathfinder Wiki.

Spiked Chain Options

Barely worth mentioning, but the spiked chain is criticized for being an illogical weapon that can do too much. A piercing, tripping, reach weapon that functions underwater. Now, with a couple of feats, it can function as a bola and net as well.

Juicy Bits

The sidebar on how to offer a bribe may not be hard crunch, it is a fun read that presents GMs an alternative way to run a social encounter.

Traits are unique in that they are crunch that features heavily in Pathfinder Chronicles and Pathfinder Companion books without actually being a part of the Pathfinder RGP. Traits of note include accelerated drinker for quick potion consumption, and all three magic traits introduced: desperate focus, diabolical dabbler, and theoretical magician.

The Ring of Terrible Cost are useful items that capture the feel of selling yourself for a short term gain.

I’m going to include the Emergency Force Sphere spell because I like spells with a casting time of 1 immediate action and because I wish I’d taken it for the sorcerer I just retired.

Finally, a pair of noteworthy feats with nothing to do with spiked chains are Belier’s Bite, a must-have for monks, and Osyluth’s Guile, which creatively uses Charisma defensively in combat.

Personal Experience

So far the only experience I have with Cheliax is my wife’s Pathfinder Society character.

Overall

If you plan on running a game set in Golarion and there’s any chance the adventurers travel to Cheliax, your group should split the cost of the Cheliax Companion. If you have a concept for a city or country with devilish influences, Cheliax serves as a great template. If you want to flesh out your PC’s backstory, there is a nice mix of fluff and crunch.

If You Liked This Book…

If you liked it for the fantasy world read, check out Classic Monsters Revisited or Gods and Magic.

Date Released: August 2009

Date Reviewed: December 2009

The first sourcebook released by 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming, the Pathfinder RPG third party publisher that will be releasing Strategists and Tacticians: The Definitive Guide to Clever Warfare. Hopefully with as little bias, this review can inform curious fans of the products they have to offer.

Expectations

My first exposure to The Book of Arcane Magic was an interview with Robert Thomson in an episode of Atomic Array. So I knew going into the book that it featured arcane academies, new bloodlines, and a whackload of spells. It being a new third party publisher’s first release, I did not know what to expect of the quality, but I could tell a lot of passion went into the book.

The fear when picking up a third party publication is that the book will feel unprofessional, unmitigated, even hackneyed, especially when the book’s authors are the publishers. When the only people that can say no are the people that would be hearing it, the product can suffer from a total lack of filtering.

At a Glance

The layout of the cover is great, with a distinct frame that fits the genre and a nice textured red with a hint of brown. However, I just do not like the artwork within the frame. The male fails to capture the feel of an elf or even a half-elf and just looks like a pointy-eared human, while the female suffers the clichés of comic book women, with huge breast, a pose that cannot be comfortable, and an outfit that defies gravity. Of all the spells that could be illustrated, both are casting spells that produce tiny colourful balls.

The interiors have two distinct flavours, which makes sense given two artists worked on them. Jason Ammons’ pieces have the right mix of shading, detail, and use of white space to pop in black and white. Most of his art is used for the chapter headers, setting the tone nicely. Kate Ashwin’s pieces do not work so well. Although there is obviously talent to the work, the emotions most of her art evoke feel inappropriate. For example, page 12’s Victim of Cold Feet looks like it belongs in a webcomic. There is nothing wrong with soft edges and bubbly features in the right context, but in this context it undermines the spell it is supposed to be evoking. Granted it is a 1^st level spell, but the art should not make it feel like just a 1^st level spell.

Outside the art, the layout is nice and clean, feeling neither cramped nor padded, The ringed border helps the visual dynamic, making it easy not to notice that there is very little art in the book.

Highlights

Not Just a Collection of Options

The Book of Arcane Magic is a fun read. Each chapter begins with an excerpt from the lives of arcanists Marcus D’Lyn and Dissin Bi’Jou. These sprinkled paragraphs draw the reader into each chapter. We meet them discovering an ancient wizard’s secret spellbook, leading directly into the chapter on spells where the reader gets to discover the contents of that spellbook as the narrators do. By the end, the reader may even feel an attachment to these characters whose journey they followed. Definitely a clever writing devise to illustrate with words rather than the more expensive illustrations.

If the excerpts were followed up with drivel options, I could hardly recommend the book. Instead, the book introduces many clever and useful options. Of particular note is the talent the Thomsons have for naming options. The names of their spells walk the line of descriptive and derivative, giving a strong sense of the spell’s effect based on name alone without being simple names like “cone of lightning”.

Specific

The Book of Arcane Magic is not as similar to Wizards of the Coast’s Complete Arcane as one might assume. Whereas Complete Arcane’s function was to introduce relevant arcane options for any class, The Book of Arcane Magic narrows its focus. With a subtitle like A Sourcebook for Bards, Sorcerers, and Wizards you know this will be a good book for your wizard but useless for your ranger.

The reason this is a highlight is because The Book of Arcane Magic does not need to find something for every class. Instead of having to fill pages with options like arcane raging that serve no function to most classes and few barbarians will use, bard players, sorcerer players and wizard players can rightfully expect something of interest in almost every chapter of The Book of Arcane Magic. Space is left open for a variety of new familiars, extensive information on colleges of wizardy and bardic schools, and a lot of spells.

Foundational

Anyone could fill a spell chapter with evocation spells that pair areas of effect with energy types in ways the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook missed. It takes greater insight to spot gaps in the mechanical foundation of the game and fill them. Spells like transparency, which allows a sorcerer or wizard to look through solid objects, have multiple uses and give characters opportunities to adventure in new ways.

Furthermore, there are a lot of low level spells in The Book of Arcane Magic, including several cantrips. As these are the spell levels that characters have the earliest and most access to, there is more need for these levels than most sourcebooks cover. Every wizard that was ever rolled in Pathfinder or 3.5 D&D has had at least a few 1^st level spells. Here are a few more to mix things up nicely.

Low Points

Sparse Filter

My fear of third party publications comes true, although barely. At least three quarters of the options in The Book of Arcane Magic are well written, clear, and actually quite clever. Of the remaining quarter, some suffer from minor clarity issues or spelling and grammar mistakes that an editor really should have caught even in one pass. So most of the book is fine. But not all of it.

Of the less severe problem, the voice and word order vary from Paizo published Pathfinder material. Whereas something like the charge of the valiant spell reads “Your spell allows a charging character to make a full attack at the end of his charge,” a Paizo spell would read more like “When the subject of the spell makes a charge, it can make a full attack.” Again, a minor complaint, but it takes away from the immersion when a verse feels intangibly off.

Of the more severe problem, there are balance issues. Again, there are only a few of these cases, but some are severe. Village Idiot, for example, is a bard 3, Sor/Wiz 4 spell that reduces are characters Wisdom to 3 with no save allowed. Effectively this can deny any cleric or druid their spells for the duration of the spell (rounds/level), and it reduces all targets’ Will saves. A mighty Pit Fiend would be a failed SR away from dropping 27 points of Wisdom, dropping its Will save from an 18 to a 5. That Pit Fiend would be left susceptible to domination, illusions, and other abilities that affect the mind. Such as the monstrous bloodline’s bloodline power Evil Eye, another option with questionable balance. Creatures that fail a Will save against a sorcerer’s gaze are dazed for three days. Dazed is the condition that denies a character all its actions. The Core Rulebook notes that most daze effects last a round. This is because a character without actions is effectively furniture. It feels like there is a typo in that spell as nothing else a 9^th level character can do castrates a character for so long, even once per day.

Most of The Book of Arcane Magic is better balanced, but a responsible GM will want to review any option his players take from it just in case.

Fact-Focused

The Book of Arcane Magic constantly refers to specific examples and uses absolutes. The entire chapter on Colleges of Magic is backwards. It introduces eight colleges of magic (one for each school of magic) and three bardic schools (separating the bardic perform skills). The chapter names and outlines specific colleges and schools and then suggests in a sidebar that GMs can make up their own. Instead, the chapter should have given broad examples that apply to all colleges of a certain type (for example, colleges of illusion tend to have a higher concentration of gnome faculty than most other colleges of magic) and mention a few clever names per institute. I have no use knowing that Bartek’s School of Transmaturgy had been raided by dark elves, but I would like to know what schools of conjuration tend to look like, what classes their students attend, and other nonspecific ideas.

A sourcebook should be designed as a guide for employing the options, but an in-game tour guide. The less stated as fact, the more flexible the options are and the more a GM or player can feel ownership of them.

Lack of Page Economy

The Book of Arcane Magic is less than 70 pages long and yet it feels like it could have been shorter. Many of the sorcerer bloodlines introduced grant the claws bloodline power, and so the extensive paragraph explaining how claws work could have been summarized once, or replaced entirely with a reference to the page in the Core Rulebook that all the information comes from. Similarly, the college of magic and bardic school graduate feats are very repetitive.

Also, the majority of the magic items just follow the rules for magic item creation set forth in the Core Rulebook using the new spells introduced. It’s nice to have the work done, but it’s nothing someone couldn’t have been themselves. The same goes for the sample characters in the bloodline section, useful in certain circumstances but not what I want in this book.

Juicy Bits

College of Magic post-graduate feats are a great mix of fluff and crunch. Although the section on running colleges of wizards was too specific, having the names of colleges in these feats feels appropriate.

A few spells stood out as particularly fun or effective. Bird’s Eye View creates a nice visual as it grants the caster a top-down view of the world around them. It actually means that a player looking down on his figure on a battlemap is seeing exactly the same thing as his character is seeing. Additionally, it means the caster has line of sight around corners and behind cover.

Miss is brilliant in its simplicity. The subject of the spell suffers -10 on its next attack. A sorcerer could be real trouble with this spell.

What is a fate worse than death? Given the availability of resurrection magic, plenty. One example is nevermore, a 9^th level spell that wipes the universe clean of any knowledge of the subject’s existence. Bonus points for including a bizarre exception to those that forget, intelligent undead.

The bloodlines introduced are a lot of fun, with a few that stand out. The feline bloodline is perfect for an Egyptian-based sorcerer. The lycanthropic bloodline makes good use of the bloodline powers and goes beyond the standard format of bloodlines. The mixed bloodline is appropriately random, representing the stew of magical blood in the offspring of different sorcerers.

Even though this is a sourcebook for bards, sorcerers, and wizards, there is a one page appendix with spell lists for clerics, paladins, and rangers.

Overall

4 Winds Fantasy Gaming proves that it is a capable third party publisher for the Pathfinder RPG. At $15.95 for the print version and $10.95 for the PDF, this sourcebook, smaller and cheaper than their later releases, is a good example of what the company can do. In the time we wait for more Pathfinder RPG sourcebooks from Paizo, The Book of Arcane Magic is a great source for new spells and ideas.

If You Liked This Book…

It shares some ground with the 3.5 WotC sourcebook Complete Arcane.

Starving for more spells? Try the 3.5 WotC Spell Compendium.

If you’re unsure about investing in 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming, check out the free Book of Arcane Magic web enhancement, featuring the reborn sorcerer bloodline.

Date Released: August 2009

Date Reviewed: December 11^th, 2009

3.5 SURVIVES THRIVES!

Expectations

What can I expect from a new and improved but reverse compatible version of my favourite role-playing game? I want the world but don’t want to hope for it. In effect, my expectations can not be articulated.

At a Glance

Initially I was disappointed that Paizo went with full page art instead of stylized borders. The covers of Paizo’s other Pathfinder lines –Pathfinder Chronicles, Pathfinder Companions, Pathfinder Modules, and the Pathfinder Adventure Paths- are tied together by distinct borders that make the artwork pop. No sourcebook comes to mind before the Pathfinder RPG line was launched with the Pathfinder Bonus Bestiary that had full page art on its cover. That may be the point Paizo was making, but is it a valid point?

The style of cover, with the Pathfinder RPG banner across the top and the title towards the bottom, does evoke a familiar image, just not familiar to RPG sourcebooks. The cover is reminiscent of a comic book, with an action scene that speculates on the adventures contained within. Whereas readers would open a comic to find the fates of Valeros, Seoni, and the red dragon, opening the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook invites us to decide their fates ourselves.

Wayne Reynolds’ piece is good, but the game has only been out a few months and I’m already tired of it. I don’t fault Paizo for not mimicking the ancient tome style of the 3.5 Player’s Handbook or Dungeon Master’s Guide, but finding a similarly generic idea that gets the point across would have more staying power.

The layout and page borders set a mood for medieval fantasy. A nice weathered brown and Celtic floral pattern. The borders are slightly different from the Bonus Bestiary before it and the Bestiary after, so expect this design to continue to evolve.

There is a lot of great art in this book, but a few stand out either as spectacular pieces or really capturing a fantasy RPG scene. The duel between Merisiel the iconic rogue and a grinning ship captain on page 92 lays to rest any arguments that the climb skill is boring. Both cling to ropes and brace against the mast of a ship being scuttled by a giant sea creature’s tentacles. Any mortal in such a situation would accept their fate and make amends with their god, but a fantasy hero and villain merely exchange confident looks and wait for an opening to strike.

One page 321, amidst the planar spells, there is a beautiful piece of magic that contrasts near darkness with a vibrant arcane purple. A caster, obscured by rings of smoke, floats just off the ground, her arms extended skyward. Surrounding her is a gargantuan cobra (a Xacarba, I’m told, but it is not in the Bestiary) creature with multiple necks, sets of fangs, and eyes, and with a fiery glow from its mouth. This big snake isn’t poised to attack the caster, it’s recoiling, as if from fear or intimidation, a nice visual for how a summoned creature might feel towards its temporary master.

Final art of note is on page 416 in the trap section. Paizo is known for its redesign of goblins into mischievous and unsympathetic little buggers with laughable but evil antics. Despite this, there is nothing but pity for the desperate goblin seen dissolving in a green slime trap. The little guy doesn’t stand a chance.

Highlights

Familiar System, New Outlook

Many 4e converts ask 3.5 loyalists how they can claim to love their preferred system while giddily converting to the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Put simply, we acknowledge that 3.5 had problems that grew with every new sourcebook release, but 3.5 functioned in such a way that we connected with. For most of us, 4e failed to make that connection. And again for most of us, Pathfinder succeeded.

Pathfinder is so very 3.5. It without a doubt succeeded at its goal for reverse compatibility, with all the rules changes between this Core Rulebook and the 3.5 core rulebooks summarized in a free Conversion Guide. Although they do not list every detail, the broad strokes are covered in just 18 pages.

The base classes have evolved, combat maneuvers are unified, how certain feats and spells work is different, but all these changes are based on experience, and despite all these changes, the game is still recognizable.

Everything a Player Needs and More

In my review of the Dungeon Master’s Guide, I criticized it for containing material like prestige classes and magic items, which I felt belonged in the Player’s Handbook. The Core Rulebook is a reflection of what I wanted from the PH.

Granted, there is more than just what a player needs in the Core Rulebook, like information on traps, poison, and GMing (note the G). This was necessary by design as this isn’t the Pathfinder Player’s Handbook. At least a new player can find all the core options available to his character without having to borrow the GM’s forbidden blue book.

Easy on the Eyes Formats

There were options in 3.5’s core rulebooks –the DMG specifically- that felt undigested. A lot of rules did not jive together in an easily referenced manner. The format for magic items, for instance. A lot of information was cobbled together in a run on sentence at the end of each entry, and some useful information was missing. Curses, diseases, and poisons were hard to manage because they required so much cross-referencing.

The Core Rulebook updates the formats of spells, magic items, and afflictions, making them all easy to manage. Even the idea of alignments being steps apart has been graphed in a way that facilitates understanding. The format for spells is a step back from the later 3.5 format that the Spell Compendium introduced, but still an improvement over the original 3.5 format.

Low Points

Unlearn What You Have Learned

You know how a rogue can’t sneak attack undead? You know nothing! At least that’s how it can feel playing the Pathfinder RPG.

There are a plethora of nuanced changes so subtle, an experienced 3.5 player may play the Pathfinder RPG completely wrong for years and never come face to face with his mistaken presumptions. Even the Conversion Guide does not outline every change, instead advising that players and Game Masters reference the rules before using a familiar spell or feat. This will mean that the first few games using the PFRPG will progress more slowly than 3.5 veterans are used to. There is both good and bad in that.

More Expensive Entry Fee

3.5 players needed to buy one thirty-odd dollar book to get the rules they needed to play (minus the player-centric information locked in the DMG). The DM needed an extra couple of books. Now a player still needs one book, but it is twice the size and nearly twice the price.

I know I can pick up a $50 RPG Core Rulebook in one hand and a $50 video game in the other and see why the former is a better value than the latter, but will a new player see the same thing?

Opened a Can of Worms

The year long playtest that helped finalize the Pathfinder RPG core rules and served to establish Paizo as the inheritor of the 3.5 kingdom meant every player had a forum to express themselves. Sadly, it also meant every player had to face rejection. The Pathfinder RPG is a culmination of half a million gamers’ experience, but it is not perfectly attuned to any one gamer. Furthermore, the playtest made moding the system a mainstream concept. There is value in the revelation that a gaming group can change any rules that do not satisfy them, but there is a loss of community if every group tweaks the system to serve their individual whims. Eventually this could lead to a fracturing of our common knowledge, like thousands of slowly forming dialects breaking down communication.

Fortunately, one of Paizo’s strengths is its connection with the community. But has this solved the problem or simply slowed it?

Juicy Bits

So very much. .

The new Cleave (pg 119) is still the feat for fighting groups but has been modified to be more functional.

Dragonhide (pg 154) does more of what players expect it to as material for armour.

In addition to the revolutionary new rules for combat maneuvers, Paizo found room to outline specific scenarios, like bullrushing multiple foes (pg 199).

Breath of Life (pg 251) is a new healing spell that serves the same purpose as the indispensable but non-OGL revivify.

The rules for cost of living (pg 405) make managing a character’s life outside of adventuring easy and logical.

If 3.5’s “they work the same” take on casting spells of the fire subtype underwater bugged you, pg 432 is your cure.

The 7 Step NPC Creation on pages 450-454 not only makes a GM’s life easier, it provides insight for players into how the designers expect characters to be built. Who knew that a melee-oriented character should choose Wisdom as its fourth highest stat but a range-oriented character should choose Intelligence?

Finally, rare for the juicy bits, something that is thankfully not in the sourcebook: The Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook is setting neutral. Golarion, the setting of Paizo’s other Pathfinder lines, may not even be mentioned once, and the book certainly does not assume all games will be set there. Nothing against Golarion, but there is enough material covering that setting, it did not need to be included in the Core Rulebook.

Personal Experience

I’m playing in a 3.5/PFRG hybrid (which I saw called a 3.P game, my preferred nickname for it so far) and GMing a pure Pathfinder game. I also made several PFRPG pregen characters for a convention one shot. So far, pure Pathfinder is my favourite incarnation of 3.5.

Overall

If you have all the 3.5 books you feel you need and have made your peace with grapple and dead levels, you don’t need Pathfinder. However, if you are ready for a change but nothing too drastic, Pathfinder is a tune up comparable to the switch from 3^rd to 3.5. Also, if you have any interest in buying new books for your 3.5 game, your two big options are used old releases or new Pathfinder releases. Even third party publications are quickly converting to Pathfinder. With a great company like Paizo releasing a strong product like the Pathfinder RPG, 3.5 loyalists can enjoy their game for years to come.

If You Liked This Book…

Check out almost any of Paizo’s other releases.

Date Released: August 2009

Date Reviewed: November 2009

My KQ subscription ran out after issue #10. The day I found this out, I renewed. I am only mentioning this because, regardless of how I review individual issues, Kobold Quarterly delivers consistently enough to have earned my approval in advance. For those of you that only want to invest in the issues you hear are good, I am here for you.

Slightly smaller than the previous issue, KQ #11 weighs in at 76 pages. There are four 4e specific articles that take up 17 pages of the magazine. That leaves 42 pages of 3.5, Pathfinder, or system neutral content, plus two bonus Pathfinder-specific pages included with the PDF. A smaller issue than #10 with a higher 4e content proportion. Is there enough content to make a 3.5 loyalist happy?

Content breaks down as follows:

• It’s Good To Win, Wolfgang Baur’s editorial. Discussing Kobold Quarterly’s 2009 ENnie “Best Writing” gold win . The magazine definitely deserves bragging rights and while it isn’t as insightful as his editorials usually are, it has its reason to be there.
• A Broken Mind: Sanity and Disorders by Scott Gable (4e) Yes it’s 4e, but the mechanics are easy enough to translate if you want to add some Cthulhu horror to your 3.5/PFRPG. Unfortunately, it doesn’t read like a 3.5 article. Whether it is more in line with 4e’s tone and cadence or whether it is just Scott Gable’s writing style, A Broken Mind reads more like a friendly blog post than a formal article. A bit distracting but not a flaw by any means.
• Wicked Fantasy – Uvandir: The Pride of Craftsmen by John Wick and Jesse Heinig (3.5/4e) What was not obvious to me when I first read KQ#10’s article on Haffums was that John Wick and Jesse Heinig’s Wicked Fantasy was a series of articles reimagining the core fantasy races. Haffums were a reinterpretation of Halflings, and now Uvandir are reinterpreted dwarfs. Although I do not expect to replace dwarves with Uvandir in my campaigns, there are ideas that I can either employ to dwarves or use on another, less cornerstone race.
• Howling Werebeasts: How to Play Lycanthropes as PCs by John E. Ling, Jr. (3.5) A lot of the common issues of characters contracting the lycanthrope curse are addressed nicely. Arguments against simply accepting the bonuses lycanthrope, alternative rules to support those arguments, and a slower progression of gaining the abilities all work towards “fixing” lycanthrope. Best of all, the solutions all follow precedence set in WotC sourcebooks and fit nicely into the 3.5 rule scheme.
• Ecology of the Vampire by Tim and Eileen Connors (3.5) Anyone that listened to Private Sanctuary episode 94 heard me gush over this article. Rarely do you find a flavour article that handles crunch so smoothly. The writing is spectacular, approaching the millennia old monster in brilliant new ways. Do not run a vampire encounter without this article. And once you’ve read this article, I guarantee that you will want to run a vampire encounter.
• Running Across the Screen: A GM Roundtable by Christopher L. Dinkins and Jeremy L. C. Jones. A roundtable about the art of game mastering with: Cam Banks, Jason Bulmahn, Monte Cook, Will Hindmarch, Jim C. Hines, Kenneth Hite, James Jacobs, Robin D. Laws, Mike Mearls, Chris Perkins, Chris Pramas, Matthew Sprange, Greg Stafford, Greg Stolze, Harley Stroh, and James Wyatt. Even if only know half those names, you know enough to get excited. Unfortunately, the roundtable is overcrowded. There is only about one answer per guest. This could have been broken up into four articles that would have been more insightful into each designer’s point of view. Still a good read, though, filled with many GMing universal truths.
• Book Reviews: All tomes read by candlelight by Cynthia Ward and Pierce Watters. With all due respect to the authors, I wasn’t interested enough in the content to read it.
• Haunted by the Spirit of the Rules by Monte Cook. This feels like a companion to the GM Roundtable, with Monte Cook analyzing the “creative misinterpretation” of rules and “beat the game” mentality of some players.
• Wishing Well by Garrett Baumgartner (4e) It is 4e mechanically, but there are tidbits of advice that can be applied to the casting of wishes in 3.5, such as interpreting wishes without metagame language more favourably.
• Whack Jacks and Harpy Nets: New Weapons for Old Monsters by Adam Daigle, Stefan Happ, Tim Hitchcock, and Michael Kortes (3.5) Ten new weapons designed specifically for monsters. They are all creative concepts but some, such as the Giant’s Arbalest, are designed better than others, such as the Warcage. Giants are disproportionately well represented in this article, but any weapon for giants can be wielded just as well by any large or larger creature that uses weapons.
• Torture and Fear on the Tabletop by Hank Woon (PF, 3.5) This article started so well, illustrating the major problem with torture in a hit points-based game. However, the mechanics it suggests are too limited and the article too short. Torture and Fear on the Tabletop proposes that torture scenes use charts that randomly determine torture effects, so a character braving torture may take some non-lethal damage or may go permanently blind. It makes resisting torture a gamble, which is good, but the chart system takes the torturer and the victim completely out of the equation. A pixie with a poker can torture an epic paladin as effectively as a bugbear with max ranks in Profession (torturer) could torture a Halfling commoner. This article had room for torture device stats, saves against fear, and escalation. Instead, it reduces the entire mechanic down to a single roll on a chart that goes against the nature of 3.5 rules.
• Same Rules, Different Treasure by Ken Marable (3.5/4e) A wonderful article on changing the flavour or magic items to give them back their exotic nature. It is not organized in the way I would have and goes into unnecessary detail of cultures that tend to use non-traditional versions of popular magic items. Overall, it is a very useful article that gets the creative juices flowing.
• Monstrous Paragons by Phillip Larwood (4e) This article is too mechanics-heavy to be of any use to 3.5 loyalists.
• Mysteries of the Philosopher’s Stone by Mario Podeschi (4e) A bit more flexible than Monstrous Paragons, this article still would require some heavy modification to apply to 3.5.
• The Spell-less Ranger: A Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Base Class by Marc Radle (PF) Although alternative class features for spell-less rangers are nothing new to 3.5, this is the first Pathfinder RPG spell-less ranger I have seen. It borrows heavily from the rogue with class features like stealth strike and ranger talents, but ties them to the ranger’s favoured terrain. Nature’s Healing is a nice touch, making up for the loss of cure spells. I worry that the right favoured terrain choices could effectively replace rogues with rogue/rangers. I also worry that this spell-less ranger is easily better than the standard ranger. A fun concept, but GMs beware letting a min/maxing player get their hands on it. As an added bonus, the pdf of Kobold Quarterly #11 includes character sheet enhancements for rangers to keep track of favoured enemy and terrain bonuses, as well as animal companions. Wolfgang Baur has promised that these would be made available on the Kobold Quarterly site a few weeks after the issue’s release.
• Farragum, the Howling City by Dan Voyce (3.5/4e) Ever wonder what make Derro insane as a race, or how an insane society can function? Farragum is a Derro city that drives its inhabitants crazy. Adventures set here are a race against time to preserve the sanity of the party. Complete with a map of the underground isles city. I look forward to using it.
• Road and River by Wolfgang Baur There are references to Zobeck from Wolfgang Baur’s Open Design projects. Never having read any Zobeck material, I have no real idea what I was supposed to get from this article. It’s short, though, so even being confused by it doesn’t take away from the magazine.

KQ #10 was such a strong issue, it was almost a guarantee that #11 would be a step down. Still, despite a lower page count and more 4e articles, it felt like at least as much 3.5 content as before. Some articles did not deliver exactly what I wanted from them, but they were still useful while other articles delivered far more than I expected. The issue is worth it for the vampire and werewolf articles alone. Everything else is cream. Even if you do not pick up the issue, keep an eye open for the ranger aids, whether you play the standard or spell-less version of the class.

Beware of vampires, wolves, and bats,

Goblins, ghouls, and ghosts.

Zombies in familiar coats,

Beware, most of all, of creatures hunting in packs.

DOWNLOAD NIGHT OF THE UNDEAD HORDES

3.5 Private Sanctuary is the online home of 3.5 loyalists and Pathfinder enthusiasts. Featuring new audio and writen content every week, including:

The Private Sanctuary podcast: The flagship podcast, featuring 35 minutes of original discussion on 3.5 classes, races, crunch, flavour, and DMing advice. Hosted by Ryan Costello, Jr and Matt Belanger.

Know Direction: The Pathfinder RPG news, reviews, and interviews podcast. Hosted by Ryan Costello, Jr and Perram, of Perram’s Spellbook.

Dwarfed: The original podio satire about Markle, a meak and hairless dwarf who takes on the adventure of a lifetime tocomplete the destiny of a deadman.

All this and more! Remember, you’re always welcome in our Private Sanctuary.

A special three and a half thanks to Tahsin for the help getting this template going.

Download Prayer Feats.pdf

Paizo Publishing

 Paizo supported 3.5 and now supports the Pathfinder RPG with various products including specialized card decks, adventure modules, maps, and more. They also released sampler box called the Game Mastery Treasure Chest. Not only does the box give curious gamers a nice selection to try out, it gives reviewers one product to cover many reviews.

 This review will focus partially on each item in the box and partially on the lines the different items are from. So for example Map Packs: Inns will be reviewed both on its own and as the spokesproduct for the entire Map Packs line.

The contents of the Treasure Chest are:

    * GameMastery Map Pack: Inns

    * GameMastery Flip Mat: Woodlands

    * GameMastery Critical Hit Deck

    * GameMastery Item Cards: Elements of Power

    * GameMastery Campaign Workbook

    * GameMastery Module TC1: Into the Haunted Forest

Map Packs: Inns

 Map packs are modular battle mats dressed to a theme and printed in full colour. In this case, the theme is Inns. Each of the 18 cards features a portion of an inn, with details like tables, chairs, bars, tapestry, and bedrooms. The cards have faint arrows to indicate the edges that can be connected to other pieces. There is a 1 inch square grid pattern, perfect for D&D Minis, Reaper figures, or any miniature of that scale. There is no protective coating, so do not draw on these cards.

 This pack is not as customizable as it implies. There are two distinct inns that can be constructed using these cards, one stone and rich looking, the other wooden and cheap. Because of the grass border, GMs are forced to use the corner cards or explain away why their inn does not have walls. Walls are not printed in universal locations, so an inn can be constructed that has a bed right next to the bar. Basically, there are two possible layouts and then smaller versions of those layouts.

 Ultimately, the usefulness of these cards runs out quick. When I played using them, my players wanted to move two tables together to accommodate the four of them. I let them, but that meant parts of what was printed had to be ignored. When a fight broke out shortly afterwards, keeping track of which table was not where it appeared was a hassle. Also, at one point I said the waitress went to the kitchen, only to find that the Map Pack had not included a kitchen. Having to set every bar scene in basically the same Inn, or a chaotic version of it, also hurts the value of this Map Pack.

 Map Packs would be best suited if they were square instead of rectangles, first of all, and second of all if they had a Labyrinth (the board game) design philosophy. A road that goes top to bottom can be rotated to go left to right. Then have a diagonal road that meets in the centre so the roads always line up. That way a few tiles can be used to make a wide variety of roads. Take that idea and apply it to Inns, dungeons, caverns, whatever. Tile A is a table with chairs around it. Tile B could be the same thing, or a bar, or a pool table, as long as it flowed from one card to another logically. A GM can play the cards on a wet erase battle mat and decide where the outer walls and entrances are himself. In fact, if they were designed in that manner, a GM could use these cards to enhance his inn and save time drawing what every inn has, but leave him the option of adding his own details.

 The key word when designing Map Packs should be “flexible”. Instead, it feels like a couple of full maps were drawn with a few parameters and then just cut up.

Flip Map: Woodlands

 A double sided battle mat depicting a wooden area. One side is a plain forest with a straight path in the middle, the other side features a cave, a stream, what looks like a giant stump, and a clearing with rocks that can also double as an altar. Again, it has a 1 inch square grid. The coating allows you to use wet and dry erase markers on it without leaving a permanent mark.

 I’m curious what decision making goes into whether an environment should be a Map Pack or a Flip Map. The Inn cards could have easily been printed as a double sided mat, and the woodlands could have benefited being modular pieces. As it stands, the only way to get variety out of the flip map after it’s been flipped is to fold it in different ways. This actually adds a great deal more variety than the Map Pack because there is less variety between chunks of forests than there is between separate inns.

 The map is useful although not particularly generic. If you have a top down GMing style (that is, you design an encounter based on the tools at your disposal rather than design an encounter then search for tools that work with it) you can get a great deal of use out of a product like this and it does speed up game play. Eventually, however, it will run its course like playing the same level in a RTS game, or seeing the same location forced into plots of a TV show just because they have the set.

Critical Hit Deck

 Critical hit charts date back to 1^st edition, I believe. The idea was that instead of simply multiplying the damage, a player rolled a percentile dice and consulted a chart to see what crippling effect they caused with their well placed blow. The critical hit deck makes that idea tangible.

 Instructions are on a card included in the deck, which is efficient and handy. However, the rules recommend not using the deck against players because the ramifications would be too severe. This is a major problem. The strength of the 3.5 system is that it outlines how the universe works, not just the effect each individual action has. PCs and NPCs follow the same rules because they, theoretically, hold equal weight in the eyes of the universe. If the game gives PCs an unfair advantage, it lessens their accomplishments. Luckily, using the deck with 3.5’s design philosophy is as simple as ignoring that one rule.

 Each card is divided into four categories: bludgeoning, piercing, slashing, and magic. It is nice to see the weapon types taken into consideration, as well as weapon-like spells (such as rays) which can actually deal critical damage. Therefore there are over 200 different results, making the critical hits deck infinitely reusable. The effects range from simply dealing double damage, to causing conditions, to ability score damage, to a few zany or brutal original effects. All with descriptive names that do so much in so few words.

 Weapons with higher critical multipliers are also taken into consideration, allowing players to draw additional cards and pick the one they prefer. The deck is extremely well crafted, takes the game’s mechanics into consideration, and adds a lot of spice to encounters, especially for warriors. Players are also given the choice to keep the deck closed and deal their critical damage normally.

 The deck is not perfect. It can slow down a game for math and forces players and GMs to keep track of conditions, but this is true of half the spells in the game. The effects can be severe, especially when turned on players. Also, ironically, the deck is one of the few 3.5 products not compatible with the Pathfinder RPG. Critical feats basically mimic the effects of certain cards, but the player has control over the effect. There is nothing stopping a group from using both the Critical Hits deck and Critical feats, but the overlap takes a bit away from both.

Item Cards: Elements of Power

 More visual aids to immerse the group and speed up play. This deck of 54 cards features illustrations of weapons, armour, and wondrous items, identified only by their mundane name (like chainshirt, dagger, or stone) on the front, and a physical description on the back along with a blank space for notes. Hints of the “elements of power” theme can be deciphered in almost every item, but only a few are overt about it.

 The images add great detail to what is normally just words on a page, and giving out cards when a character finds a new magic item makes the event feel more tangible as well as more exciting. Because the cards do not specifically say what they are, a GM can reuse cards (some more than most) getting more value out of a single purchase. In particular expendable items like potions and scrolls. If the potion on card 21 is always used as a Cure potion, the players will begin to recognize it as their characters do. A GM can even show a card when an NPC is about to use a magic item, making the player’s aware of a threat or reward.

 These cards could definitely use a protective coating that allows them to be written on. However, 100 card sleeves go for a dollar and can be written on with permanent marker. The only other problem is that this deck does not give every item a PC might encounter. There are five armour cards, hardly covering all the possible armours a character could wear and not even covering the basics. But there are plenty of other decks available. Given how addictive these cards are, I expect to buy many sets.

Campaign Workbook

 A popular new product concept is the GM notebook, a place to keep track of all PC information and storyline notes. Most GMs find themselves surrounded by loose sheets behind the GM screen, the Campaign Workbook wants to help GMs get organized.

 It doesn’t help. It is small, specific, and spiral bound. As I said in my review of Pathfinder Character Sheets a character sheet fits the most information it can into the least amount of space. The character sheets in the Campaign Workbook are the standard least amount of space, only smaller. The area for notes is segmented, forcing a GM to conform to the space provided. Unless a GM has the Campaign Workbook on him when he gets an idea, he will have to rewrite every note into the book, giving him more work.

 I do not see a product like this ever working. Really, the best GM workbook would have to be a three ring binder so typed sheets and copies of canned information can be added where it needs to be. A pdf of Campaign Worksheets would be helpful, but a GM still needs to control what goes where.

Into The Haunted Forest

 This 1^st level adventure module doubles as an integration aid for the rest of the products in the Treasure Chest, specifically using both Inns from Map Pack: Inns, every corner of the Flip Map: Woodlands, and several of the item cards. It also includes four pregenerated 1^st level characters based on the Pathfinder iconics so a whole gaming group new to 3.5 can plug and play.

 The story itself is okay, although it starts with a bar fight that it assumes the PCs will be involved in and railroads any group that has the good sense to stay out of it. The format could be easier to follow if the vital information was better identified and more compressed, but the appendixes make running the encounters easier. Speaking of the encounters, if there is a Druid in the party with decent Wild Empathy, the first half of the adventure can be handled diplomatically. There are some fun riddles halfway through the adventure, although at least one is extremely cryptic and without an explanation for the answer. The final encounter is ridiculously hard for a party of 1^st level characters and will TPK if the GM does not scale it.

 How this module uses the items is very telling of how useful they are. The Campaign Workbook and Critical Hit Deck can be used or not, which is really their purpose. By using both inns at full size, the module basically taps them out. Had a few cards been used to make two separate inns, it would have been a great example of the versatility of the Map Pack. Unfortunately, the Map Pack has limited versatility, and the module proves it. The Flip Map, on the other hand, is used for five different encounters. The module uses four corners of one side as separate settings (it recommends folding the map in four down the middle despite having seems that fold it into six quadrants. Just use paper as fog of war and your map won’t look like a paper snowflake that wasn’t cut). Even after using every inch of this map, it still has the potential to be reused. Finally, whenever an item is found, the module recommends which item card to represent it. I flipped through the module before running it and took out the cards they recommended I use.

In Conclusion

 The Treasure Chest is a nice variety of products bundled together. It is about $10 cheaper to buy this pack than to get all the items individually. Personally, the Map Pack and Flip Map were disappointments and I will stick to my generic Chessex dry erase mats (at least until I try Gaming Paper ) The Critical Hits Deck is a hoot and I would have picked it up anyway. I would not have picked up a deck of item cards, however, so I am glad the Treasure Chest opened my eyes to the fun they bring to a gaming session.

     Since the dawn of the RPG, gamers have yearned for the perfect character sheet, one that contains all of a character’s vital statistics in an easy to read format in optimized space. Since 3^rd edition, most character sheets have followed the Wizards of the Coast model http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/charactersheets, with skills on the right, ability scores, saves, and weapons on the left, and then a second page devoted for spells, feats, and equipment. Or rather, the names of the spells, feats, and equipment. The space provided rarely accommodates even a brief explanation of the more complex character choices. So the search continues. With the recent release of Pathfinder and the fan-support Paizo products tend to get, will we finally see a character sheet that is everything it needs to be?

    As of this review, The Pathfinder Database has four character sheets available for download: The Official Paizo character sheet; a landscape character sheet designed by fan Treyu; and a no frills character sheet by Neceros, and another landscape character sheet by Kae’Yoss. Additionally, LPJ Design just released the Expanded Character Sheet: The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Edition, a 19 page PDF available for $1.99. These five character sheets are run through a gauntlet to see which comes closest to being the perfect character sheet.

Paizo Publishing Official Pathfinder RPG Character Sheet

     At a glance, the official Pathfinder RPG character sheet is the most professional. The shape of the banners is more than a simple highlight and click in Microsoft Excel. Beyond the cosmetics, however, we’ve seen this character sheet before. It is the standard two pages, everything is laid out where you would expect, etc. The reason this design has survived close to ten years now is that it is logical, flows well, and it ain’t broke. An improvement over the Beta character sheet is the inclusion of asterix to denote trained only skills, but this is less a great idea to include and more a bad idea to have taken out to begin with. The only real addition is the Combat Manoeuvre Defence slot, which would have been illogical to omit.

    The problems with this design are the same problems the classic design suffers. It tries to appeal to so many different types of characters that it is not very useful for any one. Caster have too much space for weapons and too little space for spells. Fighters have too little space for feats and have a wasted area for spells. Since 3.0, elves have had a +2 saving throws bonus to resist enchantment spells. And since 3.0, there has never been enough space near the saving throws to adequately write this note. If a player has to memorize a character bonus or mark it on a cheat sheet, the character sheet is not doing its job. And can someone explain to me why neither Paizo nor WotC have ever dedicated space for a dodge bonus in the Armour Class entry? It is an extremely common bonus to AC, especially in Pathfinder where the Dodge feat gives a perpetual dodge bonus.

     In summary, there is nothing new here except a few changes that make Pathfinder-specific rather than a 3.5.

Closeness to perfection: 65%

Treyu’s Character Sheet

     Immediately, this character sheet stands out for its horizontal layout, but what are the advantages over the standard format? The page definitely has a different flow, with a couple of items that feel slightly out of place but others that work. Skills take up the entire right hand side. The format is familiar. Although it lacks indicators for trained only skills and skills with armour check penalties, it does include empty spaces at the bottom in case you house rule a new skill or use something like Autohypnosis from The Expanded Psionics Handbook. Making the Knowledge skills all Knowledge (_____) rather than include the most popular ones and a few extra blanks was a strange choice, and the space provided is barely enough to fit “arcana” let alone “geography”.

     The AC section still fails to include space for Dodge, but the way it handles Touch and Flat Footed AC is inspired. All three types of armour are next to the same six boxes (for armour, Dex, Shield, Natural, Deflection, and Misc), but Touch and Flatfooted have the irrelevant boxes greyed in. This makes the distinction between the different ACs visual, and by greying the spaces instead of blacking them or crossing them out with thick bars, the character sheet leaves the option to fill them in should you get a feat or class feature or what have you that allows you to retain these areas.

     There is ample room to track Hit Points, including a second, narrowed area for non-lethal damage. There is a big box marked Notes that sits between Saving Throws and Combat Manoeuvres so a player can jot down information relevant to either. The weapons section is really nicely laid out, emphasizing the weapon (with enough space for a name or a series of magical properties), to hit and damage, but still providing areas to track the math. The weapon section might be the best innovation on the first page of this character sheet.

     What most stands out on the second page is the figurine for tracking body slots. The often overlooked 3.5 rule that limited a character’s magic items by locations on the body is still alive in Pathfinder, and this section lets a player manage his character’s gear visually. It has to be mentioned that the body slots listed do not use the names of the body slots but a mix of body slots and items that occupy those slots. For example, it says eyes and head, which are body slots, but also cloak and shirt, which are items that occupy body slots (in this case the shoulders and chest).

     The rest of page two is basically lines. Lines for feats, lines for class features, lines for languages. If not for the body slots section, this page would be completely devoid of visual elements. Simply not being pretty is only a small flaw, but considering how creatively the rest of the character sheets manages space, it is disappointing to see nothing similar done in these areas.

     This character sheet has a third page, one completely dedicated to magic. This is very efficient because non-casters can skip this page completely, while casters can print as many of this page as they need for their most important class feature. There is room for 37 spells, with categories dedicate to the spells’ names, level, school, something L, something U, Spell Resistance, range, area, duration, and description. The space is pretty tight, but with a few abbreviations everything should fit. At least the space for descriptions is significant.

     What are L and U? A small note to the bottom left of the sheet explains that L stands for Learned and U stands for Used. Still not self-explanatory, but clearer. What is not clear is why no space is provided for saving throws. With feats, class features, and racial bonuses to specific types of spells, it would be nice to have an area to write the total of all these bonuses rather than having to do the math every time, possibly overlooking a bonus here or there.

     In summary, Treyu’s character sheet includes al the information of the Paizo character sheet and more, uses space well, and overall is an early contender for best character sheet.

Closeness to perfection: 80%

Neceros’ Character Sheet

     This character sheet is designed with a smaller print than most. Although there are nice boxes dividing up the space, players with large print will soon find the sheet to be an absolute mess. Despite the small print, space is very cleverly used. Just above the skills is an area for up to three classes and their level as well as space dedicated to the character’s favoured class. For such an important part of a character, it is strange that most other sheets grossly overlook class.

     There is logic to the sheet’s flow, and if you can’t follow it, there are labels for the different sections. Health & Combat includes HP, DR (mislabelled Damage Resistance instead of Damage Reduction), SR, Initiative, Speed (mislabelled Misc), and XP. Attacks & Defence includes the three types of AC (including a space for Dodge bonuses and two spaces for miscellaneous bonuses), Saving Throws (with plenty of room for modifiers and notes, although more could have been dedicated had the class modifier box not been so mysteriously big), melee attacks, ranged attacks, CMB, CMD, and room for five weapons and two types of armour or shield. Again, the small typeface takes away from what is otherwise brilliantly managed space.

     Skills are their own section, with boxes to check off class skills, space for ranks, ability modifier, trained bonus, and two miscellaneous bonuses. There are also three empty spaces for optional skills. Shading every other skill makes following the math very easy. If skills that suffer armour check penalties had been indicated, this would be the perfect skill chart.

     Rounding up the very full first page is a section for Feats and Features. Three columns of lines, again the least creative way to categorize this data.

     The second page is dedicated to equipment and, strangely, special abilities. The special abilities column may not fit the theme, but the inclusion of a uses/day box is much appreciated. As always, a section for body slots is important, although this version is graphically bare. This page is neat and easy to use, with more space than usual dedicated to wealth, a handy section for loads, and plenty of room for notes. The downside is that only the basic equipment section has a column for weight, implying that if a character is wearing a magic helmet with daily charges, a player would have to write it once in Equipment for the weight, once in Magic Items for the charges, and once in Worn Equipment for the body slot.

     The third page is for magic and animals. Easily the most complicated page to follow, it tries to accommodate for casters that memorize, spontaneous casters, and psionic characters, all in the same space. It does too much and leaves no room for descriptions of the spells and powers and too much goes to waste. The page considers sorcerer bloodlines but breaks them up illogically, and the space for familiars does not leave room for animal companions, meaning druids, paladins, and rangers (and some clerics) need an entirely separate sheet.

     In summary, the first two pages are superior to the two pages of the Paizo character sheet but the third page is a mess. If you are a non-caster, you have almost everything you need. If you are a caster, you’re out of luck.

Closeness to perfection: 80%

Kae’Yoss Character Sheet

     The most visually interesting short of the official Pathfinder character sheet, and another with landscape orientation, this character sheet does not take many risks. Without even looking at it, a player can probably guess accurately where they will find ability scores, saving throws, skills, name, level, description, etc. It is all where it is expected and in the standard format. Speed is the only thing on the first page in a strange place. It lacks information on multiple types of movement, too. In every way it feels like an afterthought.

     Skills are near perfect. Area to check off class skills, skills that can be used untrained are indicated, the knowledges are all there, there is extra space. Once again, skills with armour check penalties are not indicated.

     The rest of the sheet feels like untapped potential. Take AC. Does it include a box for a dodge bonus? Not specifically. There is a box for armour bonus and another for Dex modifier, then four boxes left blank. Blank boxes also appear with the saving throws and weapons. Leaving extra space for miscellaneous bonuses was a strong point on Neceros’ character sheet, but the difference there was that it covered the basics and left extra room. Kae’Yoss’ sheet fails to cover the basics.

     The second page has Feats and Abilities in the standard columns of lines. The rest of the page is dedicated to equipment. Area is dedicated to body slots in a way that feels inefficient, alongside armour, shields, and protective items. A big empty space is labelled “Equipment” but, like much of the first page, it feels unfinished. The point of a character sheet is to help players organize the many aspects of their characters. If they wanted big empty spaces, they’d use blank sheets.

      There is not much more to say about the third page. It is dedicated to spells and feels unfinished. Even Neceros’ spell page was more useful.

     In summary, comparing the thought and effort that went into formatting most of the first page to the rest of the character sheet indicates that this was rushed and ultimately fails at its basic function because of it.

Closeness to Perfection: 50%

Those are the free character sheets available at the Pathfinder Database as of this writing. Does LPJ’s $1.99 Deluxe Pathfinder Character Sheet surpass the cheap sheets enough to be worth the purchase?

LPJ Deluxe Pathfinder Character Sheet

     Advertised as a 19 page character sheet, the PDF is actually 20 pages, the last page being an advertisement. It is nice to think LPJ was honest enough to not include that in the page count. Sadly, less than half of the other 19 pages are not all character sheet. The one page of OGL legal information is forgivable. The twelve pages of character tokens are not. The pattern to these pages is 49 medium sized copies of one character followed by nine large sized copies of the same character, ideal for… what knows what.

     The inclusion of these pages is baffling. What does this have to do with a character sheet? What player needs 49 identical versions of their character and nine versions in a larger scale? Had there been 294 individual medium characters and 54 individual large characters, they could be excellent tools for a Game Master although still a strange fit for a character sheet. Similarly, had they been multiples of monsters, a GM could use them. Instead, these mostly look like PCs, with one zombie and one warforged/very heavily armoured warrior. Was there any demand for encounters with 49 medium zombies and 9 large ones that practically maxes out most battle maps? Mercy to the GM that has to keep track of the individual damage of all these identical creatures.

     Eventually the actual character sheet will be reviewed, but the staggering first impression of this sheet is that it has been padded for page count. Although the product description does mention “Miniature Counters”, it is at the very end of a long list and in no way implies that these counters take up twice the page count of the actual character sheet. There is no indication of the thought process that attached these counters, nor do they fit the intention of the product as “…a 19 page PDF resource that players can use to have a more detailed view of the character they are playing”.

    Now to start the review of this six page character sheet.

     The first page is identical in content to the first page of Paizo’s official Pathfinder Character Sheet, right down to not including a Dodge bonus to AC and not indicating skills that have armour check penalties. Obviously it is not a straight copy, but it is a sheet that does not include one ounce of thought put into it, except that the page must be formatted to leave space for the LPJ Design logo.

     The second page is again basically identical to Paizo, except that some room has been made on the top of the sheet to repeat the character name, level, race, and a few other bits of important information. A small change, but a thoughtful one for a GM that might have ten character sheets in his notes. The other change is that the Paizo sheet has a column in the middle broken up with two headers (Feats and Special Abilities) whereas the LPJ sheet has the same column broken up in the same way, but the headers are Feats and Feats. Obviously a typo and not the first on these character sheets reviewed, just the first on a character sheet that isn’t free.

     Since the Paizo character sheet is only two sheets long, the LPJ character sheet has four pages with which to be original. Page three actually does succeed at that. An equipment page with an inventory list that includes areas to mark down HP and hardness of the items in addition to the standard categories. This may seem like an arbitrary addition, but if it does come up in the heat of battle, the less time spent researching and calculating this information, the better. There is also a section for magic item body slots that is clean and straight forward. The only problem is that page two also had a section dedicated to gear, one that is made redundant by page three.

     Page four tracks spells per day. It is one sheet for all spell casting classes, so ranger and paladin players need to include an entire page dedicated to a few square inches and even dedicated casters like wizards use less than a quarter of this page. Also, this information is again redundant because of the second page of the character sheet.

     Page five is called spellbook listings, but can be used for sorcerers and clerics and all the other classes that do no use spellbooks. There is room for twenty spells, with space to fill in a almost everything you would want, including type of save and DC. The only aspect of the spell not covered is the school, but at least there is ample room for notes. Best of all, there is nothing else on this sheet so a caster can print a copy of this one sheet for every 20 spells they have.

     The final page is interesting, although compact. There is an area for Campaign notes, a strangely subcategorized area for session events, then areas to list contacts and alliances, and quests and known enemies. Essentially it is a notes page, but one that specifically narrows your notes down into easily managed chunks.

     In summary, of the 19 advertised pages of this PDF, one is included for legal reasons, twelve are useless, the first two pages of the actual character sheet are identical (except for a typo) to one that can be downloaded for free, two pages are okay but expand on information already presented earlier, and two sheets are original and pretty useful. Reusing the first page is acceptable because it handles vital information in a familiar way. However, the fact that the second page went unchanged despite the redundancy of information shows that this was not a product that was given enough thought and effort. Honestly, can LPJ designs in any way justify including the gear section on the second page? Is a player supposed to fill out their gear on two pages? Failing to optimize space means it fails as a character sheet.

     If this truly were a 19 page character sheet, or even 18 pages accounting for the mandatory OGL, there could have been the generic first page (preferably improved upon), a second page without redundant and class-specific areas in favour of expanding the gear and magic item information, a page that is completely useful to all casters (basically the fifth page of what LPJ released), leaving 15 pages that could have been class specific. A barbarian page to track rages per day, rage powers, and other class features. A bard page that manages bardic music. A cleric page that handles their spells per day and domain. Two druid pages, one for class features and spells, one for Wild Shape and the animal companion. Handled this way, not only would LPJ have created the perfect character sheet, they would have created 11 perfect character sheets, one for each class. Instead, the mix of false advertising and lazy design means the only character sheet that you have to pay for ranks lower than all the free ones.

Closeness to perfection: 60%

In Conclusion

     The two highest ranking character sheets are by Treyu and Neceros, but for different reasons. If you are playing a warrior and only need the first two pages, Neceros’ sheet is easily the best of the bunch. Casters, however, are better off with Treyu’s overall good character sheet. Even mixing and matching the best off all these character sheets will not produce the perfect character sheet that we all continue to yearn for.

I had many opportunities to purchase Cityscape that I did not act upon. Flipping through it at a gaming store, I never found myself engaged. It wasn’t until I started DMing The World’s Largest City that I felt the need to get this book. Now that I have it, I expect to use it heavily in that campaign. I just worry that I won’t enjoy it.

At a Glance

Cityscape’s cover is deceptively complex. The landscape style profile box that is the signature of the environment series is obviously filled corner to corner with an expansive city, focusing on what looks like a wickedly ornate church with a powerful green glow. Upon closer inspection, there is not a sign of life on any street, in any building, anywhere except a combat on the roof of the church. What’s particularly amazing is that the combatants are so small they are easy to miss, and yet detailed enough to be identified as Ember, Hennet, Lidda, and Regdar, the iconic characters from the Player’s Handbook. Surprisingly effective for such a subtle piece of art.

Cityscape’s major failing from an art perspective is the cartography. The overhead views of the sample cities fail to convey each city’s unique qualities. Other than Cliffside, the five cities just look like blobs of buildings. The maps are also from such a high perspective that the map key vaguely indicates large expanses of the city in a way that is hard for a DM to use.

The rest of the artwork is limited and uninspired. Jon Hodgson’s Elf City evokes a sense of natural yet alien, and Howard Lyon’s Where The Hell Did That Come From? delivers an emotion worthy of the piece’s title. Other than that, many pages go by with no art whatsoever and when something visual is included it isn’t much more than colourful filler.

Highlights

NPC Encounters

Has an urban adventure ever been played that did not include an encounter with city guards? And what if a fight breaks out with a shop owner? The NPC encounters provided are intuitive, generic, quick to reference and easy to use.

Handy Sidebars

Need the name of an inn quick? Tired of having all your social scenes in a tavern? Don’t know what renting a room long term should cost? There are numerous sidebars that are good for ideas and make a DM’s life a little easier.

Stays on Topic

Cityscape certainly maintains its focus on urban adventuring and urban life. This may not seem like much of a highlight, it’s true, which brings us to…

Low Points

Poorly Written

Why do weathermen act like comedians on local news broadcasts? Because without a little energy and a few jokes, the weather is dull. Cityscape reads like a weatherman with no sense of humour. It blandly states information without capturing the imagination or drawing the reader into this fantasy world that is so similar to theirs and yet so wonderfully different.

Dullness is only the first, possibly most forgivable, writing problem this sourcebook suffers from. It is also inconsistent. D&D being a game, word use is very important. If a novel sometimes describes a cult as an organization other times as a church, that is acceptable. When a sourcebook codifies organizations and churches as separate rules to be used differently, saying a cult is both makes running an encounter more difficult. A ghost and a ghoul may be similar in many ways, but the Monster Manual assigns then different rules and therefore they are given different names. Had organization cults been named something different than church cults, such as cabal, confusion could have been avoided.

Provides the Wrong Information

Bafflingly, Cityscape is at the same time vague and too specific. The entry on storms/floods explains what storms and floods are as though the reader were a child from the desert, but offers no rules on how they are destructive or how to run such a complicated encounter. It only says that a flood is a bad thing for cities, assuming the average player has no idea what floods are, but once informed they can devise their own rules for how waves can destroy buildings, how to handle a panicked population, and what characters like barbarians and fighters can do in such a situation.

The entry on contacts actually mocks the rules as they put them forth, making a decent argument for why roleplaying situations should not have hard rules assigned to them as they assign hard rules to a roleplaying situation. What’s worse, there really are no rules for contacts beyond how many a PC should be allowed. There are examples but no explanations. Allastir Whitemane will provide PCs asylum once, Zirra Shalhab with appraise a nonmagic item for them once a week. There are no charts outlining what value favours have or how to balance them. Outside the eight examples, the DM is left to decide what seems fair on their own, making them happy to have purchased a sourcebook that tells them to make up their own rules.

Bad Crunch

This is a combination of Poorly Written and Provides the Wrong Information. Most of the spells and feats are dull. The prestige classes are too specific. The crunch feels like it belongs to another game entirely. Take the rules for a decrepit building. If the building takes damage, roll a d20. If the result is at least the damage dealt, the building collapses. Think about that. If 1 point of splash damage hits the way, the building is guaranteed to fall apart. If a fireball explodes within the building, as long as it does more than 20 damage, the old, abandoned structure supported by rotten wood and crumbling brick is fine. Essentially a decrepit build can inconsequentially sustain 21 to infinity points of damage. Put away your siege engines and take out your slings because that is the most illogical rule in the entire game, and it also happens to ignore the existing rules like hit points and saving throws that the 3.5 universe is run on.

Juicy Bits

Sculpt Spell is a metamagic feat that allows a player to modify an spell’s area of effect .

The Trip to the Healer interlude is a DM’s dream, outlining which ailments are cured by what spells and who can cast them. Know who to call on if you have a disease? According to this chart, you need a 5th level cleric, a 5th level druid, or an 11th level ranger to cast remove disease, and it will cost you 280 gp.

Throng of children is a unique threat that adds a psychological edge to a mob encounter.

Personal Experience

I have run city games but without the help of Cityscape. Reading through it offered few to no tips to improve my urban adventures.

Overall

Ideally Cityscape should have made city building as fun as character building, complete with city character sheet. Instead, it is a mix of abridged textbook and sarcastic notes accidentally taken seriously and printed. It is hard to believe Wizards of the Coast released this sourcebook. There is very little useful information in Cityscape that hasn’t already been printed in the Dungeon Master’s Guide and Dungeon Master’s Guide II. It isn’t fun to read, it isn’t insightful, and its feelings about the durability of a decrepit building are inverse to reality.

If You Liked This Book…

Building a City is a free webenhancement for the Dungeon Master’s Guide.

Dungeonscape is the next book in the environment series, with writing and content of such higher caliber it puts Cityscape to shame thrice.

Date Released: November 2006

More than any part of our bodies, we associated who we are with our minds.  An attack on our minds is more than just anassault on our body, it is an assault on ourselves. Perhaps that is what make Thought Rippers such terrifying creatures; first they take over our minds, then they feed off them.

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The first issue of KQ was printed after the 4^th edition announcement but before the 4E core rulebooks were released. Originally it seemed to be a 3.x loyalist magazine, but it started including 4E content alongside 3.5 and Pathfinder content in issue 7. This has been a major point of contention amongst KQ subscribers and it is regularly discussed in the letter pages and the site’s forums. With no guarantee about how much content a 3.X loyalist can expect before purchasing, this review sets out to determine the overall value of Kobold Quarterly issue 10 to someone who has little or no use for 4E articles.

Debuting this issue are convenient icons to help a discriminating gamer know what system an article supports before reading it. Third edition articles are marked with a 3.5, Pathfinder articles with a PF, and 4^th edition articles with a 4. Articles without an icon are either system neutral or of general interest to gamers. These icons are a major step forward for Kobold Quarterly. A gamer can pick up an issue off the rack and see at a glance if they are satisfied with the amount of content for them, although including these icons in the table of contents would help further. Gamers whose local gaming stores do not carry Kobold Quarterly on the racks unfortunately do not get a similar virtual benefit. 

Loyalists can calm down. Of the issue’s 90 pages, only five pages are fully dedicated to 4e. An article on a new race –Haffums by John Wick and Jesse Heinig- presents rules for playing the race in either 3.5 (and therefore Pathfinder) or 4E. This seems like the best argument for publishing a magazine that supports both systems. More gamers benefit from the contents of this article than any other. It provides rich flavour for fans of fluff, and crunch for two separate systems. So even though the only readers that benefit from this article in its entirety are fluff fans that play both systems, every reader gets enough out of the article to use it. This article parallels the magazine's raison d’être and hopefully such articles will find regular homes in future issues.

Content breaks down as follows:

• Ethical and Unethical Gaming. Wolfgang Baur’s editorial is a thought-provoking piece about the moral implications of looting bodies.
• Revering Ninkash by Ed Greenwood (3.5). An amusing article about the dwarven god of ale, it goes into great detail and backstory. However, despite the 3.5 icon, the article is missing information on the god’s domains, meaning it is not plug and play. There is also a section of Holy Ales that outline effects –like withstanding heat and cold as harsh as dragon breath- without codifying rules for them that make this article slightly less useful than it could have been.
• Sneak Preview of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game by Jason Bulmahn (PH). Who can you trust to review the new Pathfinder RPG more than the lead designer himself? The article hints at the PFRPG final product and reveals new details about the game. It ends with a preview of the Shadowdancer prestige class. This article is ripe with information and insight, a great read for anyone excited about the game. The only downside is that this is a quarterly magazine and this article is only relevant for three more weeks, when the Pathfinder RPG is released August 13^th. Also, there is a small cut-and-paste hangover in the Shadowdancer right up where it mentions the assassin. Hopefully this was caught before the Pathfinder RPG went to print.
• Chaos Magic of the Porteans by Todd Stewart (PF). New spells and magic items related to Pathfinder’s children of chaos, the Porteans. Maybe it’s because I’m only halfway through the Pathfinder Campaign setting, and maybe it’s the nature of chaos magic, but I found it hard to follow what some of the spells and items even did. Before reading this, I thought “Ooh, another Pathfinder article.” After reading it, I though “What did I just read?”
• Swords Against Darkness: Dungeon & Underground Skill Challenges by Michael Brewer, Quinn Murphy, and Jonathan Jacobs (4). A skill challenge article that recreates the mine cart scene in temple of Doom. I tried to keep an open mind to see if this article was at all relevant to my 3.5 game. “The 4e skills aren’t that different,” I thought. But I just couldn’t wrap my head around it.
• ‘We Need a Cleric’ A Conversation with Jeff Grubb by Jeremy L. C. Jones. Grubb is a TSR alumni who wrote campaign settings. It’s always interesting to hear from game designers about their craft and passion.
• No School Like an Old School by Monte Cook. Monte explains what he meant when he called Dungeonaday.com an “old school dungeon”. He defines what he thinks of as old school gaming versus new school and in the terms he uses, I’m a dedicated new school player.
• Back and Better than Ever by Michael Kortes (3.5). Feats and flaws for characters that have come back from the dead. This is the article of the issue for me. It fills a niche I have always wanted filled (that bringing characters back from the dead should not be so straight forward) in a way that I never would have thought of that is easy to implement and fits the system perfectly. It even balances out flaws, a great idea that is too easily abused usually. Great idea, great mechanics, a great article that I am thrilled the RPG Podcasts ad with the 3.5 Private Sanctuary logo accompanies.
• Ecology of the Hill Giant by Richard Pett (3.5). There’s a reason Kobold Quarterly’s ecology articles are so popular. This article provides insight into using a hill giant, hooks to make the encounter unique, and some new giant-related feats I am dying to try. There are adventure hooks and even a template for Hill Giant Half-Breeds. A fun read that’s useful for any DM.
• Ask the Kobold by Skip Williams. It does not feature a 3.5 icon but it might as well, since the questions addressed are about the 3.5 wish spell and how lycanthrope works in 3.5. Usually Skip Williams answers rules questions but in this case he offers advice on adjudicating difficult situations.
• Whispering Enigmas: A Warlock Field Guide by Mario Podeschi. Examples of what warlocks say when signing pacts. This may seem like an article that should have the 4 icon since it does not apply to the 3.5 (and non-OGL) version of the Warlock, but it is flavour that could be used in a 3.5 game. It is not a field guide by Dragon magazine standards. Some mods required.
• Haffuns: Seeming Servants by John Wick and Jesse Heinig (3.5) (4). Haffuns are like brownies or the cobbler’s elves, devoted and generous to a flaw. They are an odd choice for a PC but can present very interesting plot hooks as NPCs, particularly in a city filled with them. Although the feats are uninspired, the fiction is amusing and worth the read, and the division between 3.5 and 4E content is very clear.
• PCs without Backgrounds by Amber E. Scott. An interesting advice column on a different take on character backstory.
• Ticking Hounds and Clockwork Hunters by Ben McFarland (3.5). Take it or leave it. If you use clockwork constructs in your game and have a high tolerance for fantasy robots, this hunter and dog combo make for a great low-level series of encounters. If you find this niche has no place in your game, it’s a decent read.
• On the Care and Keeping of Gelatinous Cubes by Jonathan McAnulty. An amusing read with self-aware over-analysis. It may get a little old once it reaches the tricks to breeding variant oozes but it nonetheless sneaks a surprising chunk of crunch into a fluff piece.
• The Halberd: Chopping Your Way to Gold and Glory by Brian E. Shefveland. A brief history of a misunderstood weapon. Understanding it doesn’t make it a better weapon in the game, though.
• Ruyintan Caravanserai (or The Sand Dragon Inn) by David Schwartz, maps by Jonathan Roberts. A unique market place that can easily be installed in any game. I already plan on using this location and its maps as the opening scene in the next campaign I DM.
• Elven Lust and the Green Gods by Wolfgang Baur. A brief description of a region. Given its length and lack of tangible details –and that the editor-in-chief wrote the article- it feels a bit like filler.

Kobold Quarterly continues to provide quality material to 3.5 loyalists and fans of the fantasy genre. The layout and editing is professional. The quality of writing and variety of articles grows. Kobold Quarterly #10 is one of the best issues they have published so far, especially for 3.5 loyalists and Pathfinder enthusiasts. If you’ve ever wanted to give this magazine a try, this is probably the best issue to sample.

Is your Pathfinder game is missing a classic monster? Maybe the multi-eyed, gazer beaming Ogler is what you need. 

Download The Ogler

A DM can never have enough monsters, and a free baker’s dozen is useful to anyone.

Expectations

My initial expectations were batted aside by the full colour pages and original cover artwork. Before that first glance, all I really hoped for was a preview of the Pathfinder RPG and a few of the monsters that Paizo designers have implied were too crazy or limited to make the full Bestiary cut. Okay, I was hoping for the Yrthak.

At a Glance

Previews for the Pathfinder RPG have shown a new format for covers, but the Bonus Bestiary is the first time we get to see it in print. No letter boxes like the Pathfinder Chronicles series, Pathfinder RPG sourcebooks feature full cover artwork with the Pathfinder logo and the title of the book superimposed. I am not a fan of this style. The titles take away from the artwork and the artwork takes away from the title. By sharing the same space there is no focal point and so the eye just absorbs the entire cover as one solid piece. Compare that to comic book covers, where the artist usually leaves high headroom for the logo. Comics sometimes play with this space by having the artwork interact with the title or overlap it, but that only works because readers are familiar with the comic’s title through repetition. If the water naga on the cover were on top of the logos instead of behind, this sourcebook would seemingly be called the Bonu.

Putting the cover style aside, Tyler Walpole’s cover is appropriate and effective. A water naga springs out of an underground stream, catching Valeros the iconic fighter off-guard, but only slightly. In this piece of art, the monster has the advantage, as it should be since this is its book. Depicting an ambush reminds players that they never know what monster will jump out at them or from where. And the choice of a water naga –not a typically a cover-worthy monster- emphasizes that this isn’t a book about the big baddies or the boss fights, it’s the other guys that are getting a little extra attention because they just made the cut. Great details include the bed of rocks and skulls, with one skull flung upward by the water naga’s momentum, and the torchlight’s glow on the water naga’s stomach plates. Although the cover art is inconsistent with the water naga interior art, this is a nice piece lessened by poor layout.

Some interior artwork outshines others, but given the nature of the book it is impressive that every entry has art. Visual references help stir the imagination and make the monsters jump off the page. Highlights are the dragonne, one of the few illustrations of a composite monster that successfully blends the parts (dragon and lion in this case) while creating a unique feel. Also the shadow mastiff, with its smooth look despite its plates and protruding spikes, poised to leap. Comparing one to the other, both are clearly dangerous creatures, but the dragonne stoic posture versus the shadow mastiff’s attack pose demonstrates the difference between neutral and neutral evil.

Highlights

Decent Selection

The open-endedness of choosing monsters for encounters means that which monsters qualify as iconic is subjective. Sure every game has its share of orc or dragon encounters, but two gaming groups’ different perception on the importance of the axe beak can come down to one memorable encounter. Some of the monsters in the Bonus Bestiary, like the Allip or the Nixie, come straight out of 3.5’s Monster Manual, while others like the Ascomoid or the Caryatid Column, are from earlier editions or obscure 3.5 sourcebooks. There is also variety to the monster types and Challenge Rating, meaning DMs running a low-to-mid level campaigns have Pathfinder RPG options they can use already.

Free and Freely Available

Free RPG Day comes but once a year, and with it usually comes a variety of black and white rules summaries or canned adventures. Paizo went further than that with a brand new supplement printed in full colour for an RPG that wouldn’t be released for another two months. It may not have been the thickest book available but it was definitely the prettiest.

Better yet, those that could not attend Free RPG do not have to fear never having the statistics for a Fairie Dragon to put in their game. Paizo is offering a Bonus Bestiary PDF as free as the printed version was. For hands-on gamers that missed out, there is also a print version available for purchase, although for how long is undetermined.

Historically Significant Preview

Let the speculation begin. The inside cover of the Bonus Bestiary previews over 250 of the 300+ monsters that will appear in the Bestiary. However, subtracting the 13 listed monsters that appeared in the Bonus Bestiary, that leaves over 50 monsters unaccounted for. Click here for a list of the OGL monsters from the Monster Manual that were not listed in the Bonus Bestiary preview, along with a link to their Hypertext SRD entry.

The preview also shows how certain options like druid animal companions and summon monster spells will work. Rather than the definitive list of available animals and monsters like in the Player’s Handbook, it looks like the Pathfinder RPG will include such information on what level companion animals fall under and how they advance, and what level spell summons certain monsters in the Bestiary or in both the Bestiary and the Core Rulebook.

It is exciting to read the new Combat Maneuver Defense rules, or seeing the new format for poisons and diseases, but come August 13^th, when the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook is released, will the thrill of the preview be lost? Not necessarily. As the first official Pathfinder RPG release, the Bonus Bestiary is special. Even when the glossary is reprinted in the Bestiary, even if all 13 monsters are reprinted in adventure paths or canned adventures, the fact that the Bonus Bestiary officially kicked it all off for the Pathfinder RPG will give its significance weight when the library of Pathfinder RPG sourcebooks is much heavier.

Low Points

One Page Entries

Wizards of the Coast published 3.5 sourcebooks that included monsters flowed free-format. If a monster’s entire entry took up half a page, that is all it got and the other half of the page started the next monster’s entry. This may not have been the cleanest choice but it meant that monsters took up space proportionate to their significance.

This is not the case with the Bonus Bestiary. Being a CR 7 monster with a complex special ability, the dragonne has a lengthy stat block. Because it is a magical beast, it can be trained as a mount or used as an animal companion. Most of the dragonne’s entry is taken up by vital game information, leaving limited room for the creature’s backstory and tactics in combat. In fact, the dragonnes’ entry states they “spend the majority of their time on the ground, even in combat, since their wings prove somewhat ungainly”. Yet this is a creature with a fly speed and the Flyby Attack feat, meaning there are some airborne tactics that could be explored or at least suggested but aren’t.

Compare that to the nixe, a CR 1 fey. There is a section exclusive to the nixie entry that details how nixies are portrayed in mythology and outlines a few optional special abilities to make the Pathfinder RPG more mythologically accurate. It is an interesting section, but why don’t all monsters get similar treatment? It is space filler. In essence, the nixie gets more depth than the dragonne because the nixie takes less space to fully outline. Being such a niche creature, nixies make no appearances in most campaigns, let alone enough appearances to warrant a second type of nixie.

Since the highest CR creature in the Bonus Bestiary is the CR 8 lammasu, it can only be presumed that high level monsters in the Bestiary will have more than one page.

No High Level Monsters

There is variety to the challenge ratings of the 13 monsters in the Bonus Bestiary, covering as low as CR 1 and as high as CR 8. However, at least one creature with double CR digits would have been nice, if for no other reason than to preview more of the Pathfinder RPG rules. Not only are high level threats missing, but so are rules for advancing monsters. That CR 2 Huecuva will remain CR 2 forever, unless the Bestiary has a blanket system for advancing any Pathfinder monster.

Dull Title

This is a general complain for the Pathfinder RPG sourcebooks. The core rulebook will be called “Core Rulebook”. That lacks the dynamics of Player’s Handbook or Dungeon Master’s Guide. At least Bestiary is catchy and descriptive, but Bonus Bestiary sounds more like a subtitle. This sourcebook could have invoked the feeling of peaking inside a dungeon to get some idea of what threats are to beheld in the Pathfinder RPG. Between the poor names and unappealing covers, the Pathfinder RPG is a step backwards for Paizo from their Pathfinder Chronicles titles like Classic Monsters Revisited and adventure paths like Rise of the Rune Lords. For a company that has done such a good job marketing itself, its branding lately has been weak.

Juicy Bits

Ant lions can create sand traps. Rather than setting a DC and consequence of failure, the Bonus Bestiary includes a stated out trap, showing the fresh ideas Paizo brings to the 3.5 system.

The caryatid column is a different take on the gargoyle. Rather than being a magical beast that can sit as still as a statue in order to ambush prey, caryatid columns are construct that act as decoration most of their lives, but can become weapon-smashing guards that are immune to magic, making them very tough to beat.

Personal Experience

I have yet to use the monsters out of this book. I have encountered the 3.5 version of the allip as a player and found them to convey the horror of being mentally attacked by the restless soul of a suicide victim.

Overall

When I list the book’s title as a low point, you know I’ve run out of things to complain about. This book is free and it is of professional quality. Because of its length, it could be argued that it is great for a free book but not even worth the five dollars Paizo is currently charging for printed copies. Although five dollars is probably the upper limit for what this book should cost, having it in my collection is worth more than that.

Even without an Yrthak.

If You Liked This Book…

It is hard to pinpoint another sourcebook that compares to the Bonus Bestiary, given that a lot of its appeal is metagame. I guess I’ll just recommend you wait for the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary like the rest of us.

Date Released: June 2009

Date Reviewed: July 2009

Updating non-core 3.5 options to Pathfinder? Substituting a suboptimal feat? Need an NPC in a hurry? NPC Feats is a game aid for DMs looking to balance encounters quickly.

Download the NPC Feats PDF

Dragons were awesome before awesome meant cool. Paizo tries to define these creatures and their role in Golarion in this Pathfinder Chronicles sourcebook.

Expectations

Dragons aren’t actually in the title of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, unlike Dungeons & Dragons. So while dragons naturally serve as the backbone of the generic fantasy setting D&D takes place in, the same does not necessarily have to be true for Pathfinder’s fantasy setting Golarion. It will be interesting to find out if and how the option to have dragons a less influential race is explored. Either way, based on Paizo’s track record, this book should be a real winner.

At a Glance

The cover is in the letterbox format that visually defines Pathfinder Chronicles covers. The focal point has two huge dragons –a red and a silver- fighting on a castle ledge that is too small to support either. The red dragon breaks bricks on the wall it is forced against, the silver dragon’s weight collapses the edge of the rampart. Within the mouth of the red dragon is a yellow glow, a clear indication that it is about to unleash its breath weapon right in the silver dragon’s face.

Darin Bader’s cover art is dynamic and full of story. His style is perfect for large scale fantasy scenes such as this one. However, the piece has a glaring problem. The silver dragon does not look silver. Instead of being a dark grey highlighted to look metallic, the dragon is coloured extremely pale and mat, basically resembling a white dragon. The tears in its wings are a signature of evil dragons in fantasy art as well, and the creature’s cowardly expressing all make it hard to accept it as a silver dragon.

The inside cover has headshots of the ten primary dragons, a great reference guide to the new looks of these old icons. 3^rd edition did a great job of distinguishing the dragons by giving identifiers to different types, like the gold dragon’s Chinese influence or the black dragons forward facing horns. It will be hard to adjust to a new set of identifiers, especially with the Pathfinder green dragon resembling the D&D blue dragon. The best updates are the brass, copper, and bronze dragons, the three true dragons most often mistaken for one another. In particular the copper dragon with its Bart Simpson hair of spikes stands out in a crowd.

Although the redesign is a good idea, the Paizo artist that drew these headshots failed at a critical component of dragon art. The crucial difference between a dinosaur and a dragon is the emotion and wisdom conveyed in the face. Todd Lockwood’s metallic dragons in the Monster Manual were clearly intelligent and most importantly good creatures. That is missing here, especially in the gold dragon’s face. The cornerstone of good dragons doesn’t look noble, he looks annoyed. The brass dragon looks more sinister than the white dragon next to it. It may seem like a minor complaint but this failing makes the awe or terror that dragons are supposed to instill one and the same, and that is very unfortunate.

Of the interior artwork, the introductions to each dragon entry are the best of the book, but a few separate themselves as greater pieces of art.

The artwork introducing the bronze dragon teaches that truly, the best way to kill a giant shark is to drag it to the surface between your claws then blast it with lightning breath. Putting aside the mindblowing circumstances of the battle, this is one of the best depictions of lightning breath ever illustrated.

Speaking of best depictions, the red dragon introductory art conveys the terrifying presence and hunger for destruction of the cruelest of the evil dragons. Through an ants-eye-view, we witness hell on Earth. Or Golarion.

Surprisingly, the white dragon entry introductory is visually stunning despite being almost entirely white. In a winter forest during a snowstorm, a frost giant has a white dragon by the throat, his axe raised to strike. The artwork has the same effect as a whiteout, where so much light-catching whiteness obscures vision so that it is not immediately obvious to us (or the frost giant) that there is another white dragon about to enter the melee.

Highlights

Intriguing Ideas

The problem with icons is the little room they offer for change. Indeed, “icon” means instantly identified and therefore it is hard to tell which or how many details can be altered before the icon is unrecognizable. That makes it impressive that Dragons Revisited can bring in new ideas to freshen up dragons while keeping them recognizable.

Each dragon type has been personalized in some way, with the relationship between dragons given a new perspective. Bronze and green dragons shared drive for knowledge supersedes their differences in alignments and they can collaborate quite effectively. White dragons are inbred pack rats. A well-conceived detail can inspire a scene or encounter. There are a lot of well-conceived details in each entry.

The most intriguing idea introduced is the turn. Up until 4^th edition, dragons have been defined as much by their alignment as their colour and breath weapon. Spotting a metallic dragon means back-up, a chromatic dragon means trouble. Dragons Revisited spins that notion with tarnishing and redemption.

Good dragons can be tarnished (a great play on their metallic colour), turning to evil, and evil dragons can be redeemed, turning good. Although it is made clear that this is a rare occurrence, occasionally a good dragon has a dark side and an evil dragon has a hint of compassion. The idea is explored further by analyzing how likely a race is to turn. Silver dragons are the most likely good dragon to turn evil. Red dragons are the least likely evil dragon to turn good. Green dragons that turn tend to become neutral. This further separates the dragon types from each other and from D&D dragons.

Darkly Funny

Writer Mike McArtor has no problem exploring evil. In fact it is his strength. Although he does a fine job defining the good dragons, the humour he conveys emphasizing the deeds and behaviour of evil dragons makes for far more entertaining reading.

It could be argued that jokes undermine the cruelty of the acts. What that argument fails to acknowledge is that looking at the amusing side of evil gives readers a better perspective of how evil thinks. Rare is the person in the real world that does not see humour in what they enjoy. Although it may be arrogant to assume that all intelligent creatures in a fantasy world operate the same way as we do –in particular creatures with genius levels of intelligence and wisdom like Dragons- applying human standards to fantasy creatures lets readers better relate to them.

Sample Encounters

At the end of every entry is a fully stated out dragon with backstory provided to run an encounter straight out of the book. Although mostly epic level encounters, there are a few midlevel encounters as well. At a glance this may seem like page padding. Remember that dragons as presented in the Monster Manual require some assembly. Having a few dragons to plug and play in a campaign saves a DM prep time. Unless that DM has access to the Draconomicon, where a sample dragon of every type at every age category is provided.

There is variety between the encounters. Metallic dragons are not always allies in need and chromatic dragons are not always rampaging though cities. For example, Spravilvost the bronze dragon is disguised in human form during encounters until his humanoid friends are threatened. Misunderstanding and underestimating can make for a fun encounter.

Low Points

Writing and Editing Issues

The introduction begins with a quote from The Hobbit, which the text reflects on in the first person from the point of view of someone in the real world with an interest in fantasy. Within a couple of pages, the text gives second person advice about not using the term “breed” around dragons from the point of view of someone that lives in fear of actually being eaten by dragons. There is no clear indication of when the switch in point of view takes place.

Narrative voice is the kind of issue that goes unnoticed in a gaming sourcebook when written well but disturbs flow when written poorly. It is more easily forgiven in a typical splat book because the options are more important than pace or immersion. However, the Pathfinder Chronicles series focuses on fluff. In a fluff book, this inconsistency should not happen.

In addition to this confusing voice, the subheadings are indistinct and the boundaries not respected. Each dragon entry starts with a quote, followed by an introduction, then ecology and society, hoard and home, campaign role, on Golarion, names, and then a sample encounter. It is fine that the quote and introduction share information. It is not fine that every section repeats what came before. A more subtle and appropriate technique would have been to refer back through sections instead of presenting old information as though it was new.

The worst incidence is the repetition between ecology and society, and hoard and home. The two sections are so similar the book seems to have no idea what information goes where. Almost as bad, the campaign role section is basically the introduction again.

Billboard

Previously, “revisited” meant the fluff was reinterpreted from how it appeared in the Monster Manual. Here it seems to mean pointing out the previous Pathfinder books that have already covered this material so that readers can go elsewhere to get the whole story.

Asking a reader to reference Gods and Magic for more information on dragon gods in Golarion is acceptable. Both Gods and Magic and Dragons Revisited are part of the Pathfinder Chronicles series and likely have the same audience. However, “this book assumes passing knowledge of, or access to, the “Dragons of Golarion” section of Pathfinder #4, and some terms and proper nouns originate in that book… For more information on draconic history, see Pathfinder #4: Fortress of the Stone Giants.” Pathfinder #4 is part of an adventure path, an entirely different type of series and it should not be assumed that someone who purchased Dragons Revisited also purchased that adventure path, nor should it be assumed that they are willing to buy a book in the middle of an adventure path to get the full history of dragons in Golarion. If Dragons Revisited is not about the history of dragons in Golarion, then what is it?

White Noise

This is not the first book to look at dragons more closely, nor is it isn’t the closest look. In fact, dragons are the single most explored creature in the 3.5 OGL. Each type has already been so well defined that Dragons Revisited has to fight common metagame knowledge to justify its existence. But a DM that wishes to use dragons as presented in Dragons Revisited instead of the Monster Manual can not simply tell his players to “forget everything you know about dragons”. Some dragons have had nothing but a facelift. Others had everything below the skin reimagined. Condolences to the DM that tells its players “forget some things you know about dragons, I just can’t tell you what.”

Juicy Bits

Unlike in other Pathfinder Chronicles sourcebooks, there are no additional chapters with related crunch or tips on running a campaign that uses the information. The occasional feats that are presented are too specific and nothing special.

Personal Experience

As a DM, I have run every colour dragon at least once. As a player, I have encountered almost every dragon one way or another. Dragons Revisited does not make me rethink how I play dragons or make me want to try something new with them. The only exception is the white dragon because of the redneck-parallel Dragons Revisited implied.

Overall

With the existence of the Draconomicon, I can not recommend Dragons Revisited. The writing is too weak by Pathfinder Chronicles standards, the worthwhile content too sparse, and the subject of the book has been done better. Dragons Revisited proves too late that in the expansive library of 3.5 sourcebooks, dragons do not need revisiting.

If You Liked This Book…

The Draconomicon is just a better book. It goes into the physiology and psychology of dragons and looks at the ten dragon types in more depth than Dragons Revisited.

Classic Monsters Revisited actually takes something old and makes it feel new again.

Date Released: March 2009

Date Reviewed: July 2009

Download 3.5 Rules Checklist.pdf

How It Works

The 3.5 Ruleset Checklist assumes you are going to use the 3.5 core rules and the Pathfinder RPG as your two main sources, but there is space left to fill in additional sources of your choosing.

Here is an example of a gaming group filling out the 3.5 Ruleset Checklist together. Jonathan, Skip, and Monte look over Table 3: Races and Classes. The first item on the list is Dwarf. They all agree to use the 3.5 core rules version of the dwarf. So, they put an X or a check or a sketch of a dwarf in the box below 3.5 core rules. In the space below dwarf, they write 3.5 Player’s Handbook page 14, which is where they can find information on the 3.5 core rules dwarf. Next is the elf. Again they all agree, they all want the Pathfinder version of the elf. So they mark off the box below Pathfinder on the elf line and write Pathfinder RPG rulebook and the appropriate page in the source space.

The smooth sailing ends there. Jonathan likes the 3.5 halfling. Skip and Monte like the Pathfinder halfling. They could just say majority rules and leave Jonathan to pout in the corner, but Monte has a more social solution. They will use both. The 3.5 halfling will be the predominantly urban version of the race called townsies and the Pathfinder halfling will be the glade-dwelling version of the race called hobbits. So they check off both 3.5 core rules and Pathfinder. To clarify, Monte writes a shorthand note in the comments section. 3.5 = urban townsies, PF = forest hobbits. Conversely, he could write “See additional page” in the comments box. He would then attach a note sheet where he outlines his idea in full. He then shorthands both sources in the sourceline and moves on.

Things get dicier when they get to the classes section. Neither Skip nor Monte likes either 3.5 or Pathfinder version of the bard, but they both want the class in their game. Jonathan mentions an awesome variant of the class he found online. The three agree. So at the top of the page, after 3.5 core rules and Pathfinder, they add a new source, “internet”, which they check off in the bard line. Below the bard, they write the URL of the site they found their preferred bard on.

Once the table is complete, the three men are ready to roleplaying, confident they have created the 3.5 blend that best suits them all. They also had the foresight to write in pencil, just in case they change their minds or a new option comes out they want to explore.

Publisher: Malhavok Press  

Optional and evolved rules for 3.5 brought to you by one of the fathers of the edition, Monte Cook.

Expectations

Monte Cook admits he is not the rules guru some might expect him to be, saying he has trouble keeping track of which versions of rules he revised ended up being published, not to mention he was not involved in turning 3.0 to 3.5. However, he gets the intentions of the rules having co-designed the philosophy and therefore can see areas of improvement for the game. I expect good rules and great insight.

At a Glance

The cover aesthetic is an interesting thing. The central figure is off-centered and framed by an asymmetrical shape with defined edges and round corners. It is chaotic yet visually appealing. Within the frame is a vicious sort of wizard, presumably Malhavok the D&D character Monte Cook named his company after. The design of the character as well as his layer project power and evil, but also thought. The outer frame is a blood red archaic calendar with a combination of printed and hand drawn details. At a glance this is a very pleasing cover that stands out next to most third party material. Upon closer inspection, it is very strange.

 The interior is black and white with sparse artwork. However, the layout makes use of white space and a few consistent elements to make even generic pages interesting. First of all, there is a piece of the calendar from the background of the cover along every seem. Second, the page banners have a thin line that curves at the end of the even pages. Third, the lines are spaced out slightly more than usual for a sourcebook. Anyone interested in self-publishing that is hesitant because they can’t afford much art should use The Collected Book of Experimental Might as a learning sample.

Highlights

Great Fluff

Often overlooked in third party material, Monte Cook shows how flavour text can be as important as rules text. He could have explained the rules for Grace hit points versus Health hit points and left it at that. Instead, he goes into detail about the difference between the two hit point categories, why one heals faster than the other, and the concept’s roots in fiction. With a few extra paragraphs, he addresses criticism about hit points that date back to first edition and even Mike Mearls admits 4e could have quantified better.

Staying Alive

Design notes in the magic section offer a brilliant insight into a heretofore unnoticed problem with all the resurrection spells: A millionaire is immortal. How can an adventure feature an assassination plot be the least bit intriguing when a few thousand gold solves the problem? This can be added to the usual complaints about players brushing off the fear of ultimate consequences because the ultimate solution is a few rounds away.

The Book of Experimental Might not only addresses this problem, but it is wise enough to address all the ramifications of addressing the problem. Simply removing most resurrection spells would lead to a very lethal game. Instead, old rules are modified and new rules are added to create a system of handling death that is both better balanced and more reasonable.

As mentioned about, hit points are divided into two categories: grace and health. Grace hit points heal at a rate of one per minute of rest, meaning characters that take the logical few minutes between fights are rewarded. A new special action in combat is the “take a breather” which works similar to 4e’s healing surge, only using the Grace hit points rules and with a few more options. Characters also start with more hit points. Save or die spells have been modified to typically deal 10 damage/caster level. Still significantly lethal, but with a chance to survive, especially with the new Disable, Dying, and Dead rules that tie a character’s survivability to its Constitution score and modifier.

An added benefit of these new rules is that a cleric character need not be so worried about using up all its spells in case of emergency healing or resurrection.

There is still one resurrection spell, however it’s near epic level, takes days to cast, and has a chance of failure. The Collected Book of Experimental Might makes death nearly permanent, the way it should be.

Fighters Unleashed

It has been said that 3.5 fighters are weaker than they seem. Monte Cook apparently took that criticism personally. A chunk of rules address fighters first, other warriors second, and non-warriors third. More feats, new feats, double feats, uber feats, and fighter disciplines all work towards improving the versatility and abilities of the fighter. What’s surprising is few changes had to be made to the fighter class itself to accommodate all these options. Although they are heavily tied to another optional rule -that all characters should get a feat a level- these options can be tweaked back to the 3.5 feat every three levels formula or to the Pathfinder feat every other level formula.

Low Points

Bad Crunch

The Collected Book of Experimental Might was created for Monte Cook’s home campaign and therefore certain casualness is expected. However, roleplaying rules are very much tied to vocabulary. So when a rule just says “level”, is it referring to class level? Character level? For someone who believes players should skim the rules and then go with the flow this isn’t a problem, but just believing players should be that way doesn’t make them that way. Ambiguity in vocabulary can and has lead to arguments around gaming tables for as long as dice have been rolling. The Collected Book of Experimental Might’s loose vocabulary does nothing but encourage such arguments.

Interlocked

This is not Unearthed Arcana. The Collected Book of Experimental Might options are designed as an alternate system, not as separate alternate rules. Some rules can be taken piecemeal but many are balanced with the understanding that all options will be used. Some of these options on their own drastically change power levels, like taking the rules that make killing a character harder but keeping all the rules that make bringing back dead ones easy. Before splicing ay one idea into your game, see if you need wire cutters to get it unplugged first.

Feat Problems

46 pages of this 140 page book are dedicated to feats. This may seem like a good thing, especially with the proposed feat a level rule. The problem is that the entire list of feats from the Player’s Handbook is reissued with a little tweaking to accommodate the new feat boosting and fighter bonuses. This could have been resolved more efficiently with an equation for applying these boosts and bonuses, most of which are fairly formulaic. Not only would an equation have alleviated the need to reprint so much Player’s Handbook content, but it would have meant that non-core feats (and feats that appear in the Monster Manual) could be used just as readily.

This sea of feats drowns the few Player’s Handbook feats that have been otherwise changed as well as any new feats. And there are a number of new feats, some of which are excellent additions to the 3.5 rules. They are just hard to find.

Juicy Bits

The advent of Alternate Class Features meant many wizards and sorcerers said good-bye to their familiars. After all, not every famous wizard of fantasy fiction had a familiar and most players forgot everything about their familiar except the bonus it grants. The Collected Book of Experimental Might keeps the familiars optional, thanks to Wizard Disciplines, but also removes their physical aspects. Described as “an extension of your own soul given quasi-real substance in the real world”, this is the best representation of familiars ever.

As mentioned at great length already, the rules for Grace and Health are so useful and well thought out, they are worth the book’s purchase.

The magic chapter does what the feats chapter should have done: It applies a formula (even a loose one) to convert existing rules to fit the Collected Book of Experimental Might’s options (in this case spell levels 1-20 instead of 0-9). As a result, the entire Player’s Handbook spell list is not reprinted and some of the new spells can stand out. Spells such as: Escape Death, a wonderful escape route for reoccurring villain casters; Fires of Hell, for evil clerics looking to burn away their good enemies; and Nonesuch Spell, an easier-to-manage version of antimagic field.

Personal Experience

I have not had a chance to implement many of these options yet, but I have personally felt robbed by a character returning from the dead too easily, have seen too many familiars stuffed in a bag and forgotten, and have suffered as a cleric who is the only means of healing the party.

Overall

My favourite purchase from the last year, and that includes the Pathfinder RPG beta rulebook. I will not use every option in this book, but there are enough really good ideas in here to be worth my purchase. Some of the rules hint at 4e retro fit, which works on some occasions –like a 3.5 version of the healing surge- and fails on other occasions –like feats that operate x times per day and force a brief condition, usually stunned, onto an opponent. Since these rules are optional, this is the best way to add the 4e dynamics you like to a game run using 3.5 rules, with no commitment to 4e mechanics or the dynamics you dislike.

If You Liked This Book…

Unearthed Arcana is the only official Wizards of the Coast sourcebook dedicated to optional rules for the 3.5 system.

The Pathfinder RPG (in Beta as of this review) is the entire 3.5 OLG system updated and enhanced.

Monte Cook’s current endeavour, Dungeon-A-Day uses the 3.5 rules but can easily be converted to support the Collected Book of Experimental Might options.

Date Released: March 2009

Date Reviewed: May 22, 2009

Publisher: Wizards of the Coast

 The great wedge that divides 3.5 purists and completionists: Is owning a 3^rd edition book worth more than ignoring a gap between the core Monster Manual and Monster Manual III?

Expectations

 This could have been the worst collection of monsters to see print, it would eventually find a place on my shelf. However, I would say I had high hopes for the Monster Manual II. It was released less than a year before the 3.5 revision so surely Wizards of the Coast designers already understood some of the problems 3.0 had.

At a Glance

 The cover is weird. Photo-realistic membranes and fangs look like a curse has brought the book to life. However, the orange orb they surround looks inorganic, even a little mechanical. It is not one of the better full cover prints, but it does evoke an emotion. It gives me the willies.

 The overall quality of the interior art is high. Almost every illustration conveys the relative power of the creatures and a few ways they can probably kill you. For example, victims of the Flesh Jelly are embarrassed to death.

 From an artistic point of view, the Jahi uses misdirection well to hide a monster in plain sight. The piercings and tattoos on the smiling lady’s face draw the eye away from the eel-like ghosts around her neck. Not only is this creative composition, it fits with the abilities of this incorporeal undead.

 One final mention goes to the Monster of Legend. This minotaur is clearly more dangerous and more intelligent than the average minotaur, with extra horns and stoic posture. It brings to life one of the more abstract templates in the book.

Highlights

 High Level Monsters

 Something that was missing from the core Monster Manual was a variety of high level challenges. After 16^th level, players had little to fight but dragons, NPCs with character levels, and mid-level monsters with templates. Monster Manual II introduces almost 30 creatures of a variety of types with Challenge Ratings that range from 16 to 28.

 Cornerstone

 Monster Manual II houses many classic fantasy monsters and recognizable Dungeons & Dragons beasts of the past. Is a campaign run using only the core Monster Manual really complete without the banshee or phoenix? And where would the underdark be without Hook Horrors, a monster with a history that dates back to 1^st edition and that played a prominent role in the Dark Elf trilogy.

 The more Monster Manual sequels were released, the stranger some of the entries got. At least the Monster Manual II was there for those important monsters that did quite make the core Monster Manual cut.

 Near Core

 It makes sense that the first Monster Manual would need more low level creatures because it is the first monster book players and Dungeon Masters use. And although it is missing some pretty iconic creatures, it needed some room for creatures with Dungeons & Dragons flavour. However, it failed as a core rulebook because it did not offer what any player would need at any level. But if you were to combine the first and second Monster Manuals, you would have a selection of monsters of varying type, size, and challenge rating that can truly be considered core.

Also, Monster Manual II is better supported and more often referenced that any other non-core book. Many of its monsters have been made into D&D Miniatures and received ecology articles in Dragon magazine. Other sourcebooks talk about Monster Manual II like you are expected to own it. A lot like a core rulebook.

Low Points

 Not 3.5 Core

 The problem with a book that is practically a core rulebook is that it is as important as a core rulebook without being treated like a core rulebook. MM II monsters are not open game content, which means more than it may seem. These monsters are not in the SRD or in DM tools. Game designers can only support these monsters in official Wizards of the Coast releases, which are no longer forthcoming. Some MM II monsters do have D&D Miniatures but 3^rd party companies can not make them. So DMs that want a full Abeil city have to customize or improvise to get these bee people on their tabletop.

 Its importance in the 3.x sourcebook library makes it more frustrating that it is not a 3.5 sourcebook. Gamers are hobbyists and hobbyists tend to suffer obsessive compulsive tendencies with their hobbies. Despite being fairly compatible without raising a finger, fitting in visually, and with an errata Is available to download for free, it’s a 3^rd edition book in a 3.5 library, something that is harder to get over than it maybe should be.

Repetition among Monsters

If you love animal-like and big-like monsters, this is your dream book. If you accept the occasional animal-like and bug-like monster but feel that turning everyday critters into big bad beasties is lazy design, brace yourself. A lot of MM II entries are visually derivative, with descriptions even pointing out the specific Earth creature the monster resembles. Although there exist some fascinating animals and insects in our world, a little more creativity would have been appreciated. No sourcebook needs two giant sharks and a giant whale.

 The other sin of repetition is in the monsters’ abilities. Too many are given the improved grab, with many of them given swallow whole or constrict as combo abilities. Having the same ability repeated like that means different combats will feel the same even with a variety of monsters. Improved grab is a particularly annoying ability to see so often because it is tied to grapple.

 Compendiumed

 A lot of MM II’s content can be found elsewhere. The entire introduction is lifted from the first Monster Manual even though that is a core rulebook and therefore something you should already own. Most of the templates were reprinted in Savage Species. Some of the monsters were also reprinted elsewhere, like the Thri-Kreen in the Expanded Psionics Handbook.

 Juicy Bits

 Darktentacles may suffer from improved grab/constrict, but it still has enough other abilities that make it a fun monster to use. It’s tremorsense and high sneaking skills make it a nice pop-up encounter, like the swamp has come alive.

 Speaking of terrain brought to life, the corpse gathered is a fantastic epic threat. Instead of fighting a graveyard full of undead, PCs can fight a graveyard. This gargantuan creature tosses undead minions out of the mud on its back, all while trying to suck PCs into an early grave.

 Legendary Animals are a very intriguing concept. Not just advanced versions of animals or more grizzled like dire animals, these are rare specimens with a greater purpose in the universe.

 Linnorm are prehistoric dragons from an age before dragons came in all the colours of the rainbow. They are ancient and nearly abandoned by evolution, so obviously the few a PC might encounter are epic threats.

 The Razor Boar and Scorpionfolk may not stand out for their design, they do stand out for their inclusion. These creatures appear at the end of the book, out of alphabetical order, with a sidebar explaining why. They originally appeared in Necromancer Games’ The Creature Collection. These OGL creatures from a 3^rd party source were reprinted as part of a community building initiative by Wizards of the Coast. This was possibly the highest profile advertisement any 3^rd party OGL material ever received.

Personal Experience

 This book was purchased after moving to Windsor. As of this writing, I have not had a chance to use it. But I have big plans.

Overall

 Get over it. Whatever stigma you have against owning this book, I had as well. Once I got the chance to flip through the pages I saw how valuable the Monster Manual II is to DMs. I not only expect to use MM II monsters in many of encounters when I return to active gaming, I can see myself altering my entire world to include some of the races with detailed societies.

If You Liked This Book…

It’s a book of monsters. Try the Monster Manual, Monster Manual III, Monster Manual IV, or Monster Manual V, as well as the Fiend Folio or Savage Species . 

Date Released: September 2002

Date Reviewed: March 2009

Sorry if this inconveniences anyone, but we look forward to seeing you on the forums!

Publisher: Wizards of the Coast

This often overlooked sourcebook is branded a campaign option: Not an entire campaign setting but not a traditional splat book. Ghostwalk, like the spirits the book features, exists somewhere in between.

Note: This is a Review Written by Ryan Costello, migrated from the previous version of our website.

Expectations

For most reviews, I try to remain objectionable. However, there is a very specific reason Ghostwalk ended up on my shelf. Here is the story:

I was DMing an adventure where a PC died, the third character this player lost in a few months. A PC swashbuckler (from Complete Warrior), had been dominated and turned loose on the party. His first target was the party’s monk. When the swashbuckler knocked the monk down to negative HP, I assumed he would leave the unconscious target and move on to a new threat. The problem was the monk had the Die Hard feat, which meant he remained conscious as long as he was above -9 hit points. So the swashbuckler’s player apologized and knocked the monk below -10, killing him.

Rather than asking the monk player to roll up a fourth character, I decided to take the Die Hard feat a creative step further. I proposed the player continue to play the monk, only as a ghost that haunted the PC that killed him. The player liked the idea a lot, and by the next session I owned the sourcebook I thought would do the job: Ghostwalk.

Did it do this job?

At a Glance

Ghostwalk has the prettiest cover in the Dungeons & Dragons library, all editions included. It conveys the book’s theme while retaining its integrity as a piece of classic fantasy art. The various levels of contrast have to be appreciated: Consider the dirty, shadowy skeletons fading into the brown background compared to the radiant ghost in the colour that pops. Both undead, but one is mundane and evil, the other is matchless and good. Consider the simple barbarian barely noticeable against the background compared to the awestriking ghost warrior even the skeletons turn to acknowledge. It sends the message that without this new sourcebook, you are just playing a generic fantasy role playing game. Bringing the cover home, the grey border compliments the brass trim and the Dungeons & Dragons logo in the same way the spots of gold compliment the ghost’s shades of blue.

Art Director Dawn Murin spent as much effort on the interiors as the cover. The chapter headers are unlike any other D&D sourcebook and yet feel perfectly appropriate. Two dwarves in gold armour, one living and one ghost, guard a purple arch that leads into a gateway of light. They look great, emphasize the theme, and make Ghostwalk stand apart visually.

The interior artwork is at least up to par with any given sourcebook Wizards of the Coast published during their 3.X years. Three samples I particularly enjoyed are found in the spells section. Jeremy Jarvis depicted a ranger under the effects of a Bottomless Hate spell, page 50’s appropriately named Snarl. The oversized arm and shin guards give the ranger’s armour a unique aesthetic, as does the shades of brown that leave the impression of the elven equivalent of camouflage. Most impressive is the expression on his face. Rarely do we see elves that are even angry. Here Jarvis effectively conveys an even more visceral emotion, hate, with steam to emphasize that there is magic bringing this elf to a boil.

Just opposite, on page 51, is Ron Spencer’s Disguise Undead . Besides being conceptually clever, the devil of this piece is in the details. The women on the illusion side of the artwork has a mom quality that makes you want to ignore the truth that she is a decaying, sword-wielding, pin-riddled undead abomination.

Regular readers of the sanctuary know of my affinity for the bard class as a concept. Page 55’s Incorporeal Disharmonics illustrates why. Who says a bard can’t look awesome? The tense muscles and screaming face make the harp believable as a weapon against ghosts.

Highlights

Options for Ghost Characters

All undead in Dungeons & Dragons are evil according to the undead type. While this applies smoothly to most such creatures like vampires, zombies, and mummies, this definition does not offer enough wiggle room for ghosts. True, there are plenty of stories of hauntings where restless spirits turn their supernatural powers against mortals, but there are just as many stories of noble ghosts refusing to leave the material world behind until they have settled their unfinished business. Patrick Swayze in Ghost. Casper. Even Jacob Marley from A Christmas Carol returns to Earth to try to do right by an old friend. Don’t forget the souls of the lost looking out for their living wards, like the spirit of Obi-Wan Kenobi from Star Wars, or Mufasa from The Lion King. Before The Book of Exalted Deads introduced the Deathless, non-evil spirits, no sourcebook tackled the idea except Ghostwalk.

Ghostwalk does not simply brush up the ghost template and call it a ruleset. There is depth to these rules without simply making them complicated. With six different paths of ghost powers (The Corrupter, the Dominator, the Haunt, the Poltergeist, the Shaper, and the Traveler) and two different classes for ghost characters (Eidolon and Eidolancer), players have dozens of combinations they can explore, each supported by feats tied to the different paths. A campaign could feature multiple ghost PCs, each fulfilling a different party role.

Running typical ghost encounters can be difficult for a DM because of the paper work. Ghosts have the ability to manifest or remain ethereal, and have different abilities and defenses tied into both forms. To run a campaign that features ghost characters smoothly, these complications had to be simplified. One innovative solution is ectoplasm, the goo which ghosts are made up of. It grounds the idea of ghosts and provides a tangible concept that rules like wounding and healing ghosts can be tied to.

Some Decent Stuff in There

This title was the best summary I could conceive to capture the quality of the rest of the options in Ghostwalk. There is no single category of options that glows. Outside the options for ghosts, there are some good feats, some good spells, and a good prestige class or two. The monsters are all more than okay. So despite a lack of stand out options and a lot of reprinted material, Ghostwalk offers enough to warrant picking it up during a character creation session.

Canned Adventures

Normally I consider this kind of material to be unwelcome filler. I have no problem with canned adventures sold on their own but generally disapprove of their inclusion in standard sourcebooks. Since Ghostwalk is not standard, it is somewhat forgivable. Somewhat.

There is value in these adventures beyond simply giving a gaming group everything they need for a few months of game nights. DMs looking for maps of dungeons, temples, and other lairs of adventure are spoiled by the Adventures chapter. The adventures vary in length, level, and featured villains. Instead of just loading the book with ghost adventures, there are classic monsters like minotaurs, carrion crawlers, and ettercaps used as well that tie into ghosts. Since Ghostwalk never saw additional releases or support in other sourcebooks, perhaps including this material covered ground that would have been left up to the DM otherwise. Or perhaps the support never came because the material was already covered. Who is to say?

Low Points

What is the Logic?

The most obvious choice Ghostwalk makes is to feature ghosts prominently. The most questionable choice Ghostwalk makes is to cast the yuan-ti as the mortal enemies as ghosts. In what annals of ghost mythology are anthropomorphic snake people mentioned? The campaign material attempts to explain the connection but it does little to justify dedicating options to yuan-ti in a book about ghosts.

Beyond that, a lot of this content does not fit the theme of the book, even the expanded theme of ghosts versus snakes. Ghostwalk separates itself from all other sourcebooks by introducing the concept of playable ghosts, so the majority of the options should be reflective of this. Ghosts being incorporeal undead, additional feats that tie in with incorporeal creatures and undead are also acceptable. Yuan-ti are featured prominently, so although it is hard to understand the logic behind them as prominent villains, it is easy enough to understand options for the book’s prominent villain at least.

Some options not only do not fit this theme, they outright contradict it. What purpose is there in including a spell like Hunter’s Mercy, for example, a ranger spell that increases the odds of scoring a critical hit with a bow. Undead are immune to critical hits. Many other options are just irrelevant, like the Fast Wild Shape feat. Furthermore, these are not even original options. Both above examples are reprinted from previous sourcebooks, with credits listed for where to find the original content. Why steal from another recently released sourcebook is the material is irrelevant or worse?

Shows its Age

Ghostwalk is 3^rd ed. It is painfully 3^rd ed.

Third edition releases generally require some tweaking for 3.5 players and DMs to make the most of the content within. The actual mechanical changes from 3 to 3.5 may have been minimal but players used to reading 3.5 rules find the occasional reference to outdated rules hurts the flow of their reading and the absorption of information. Although there is a free web enhancement for converting the Ghostwalk rules to 3.5, this sourcebook is guilty of more than just outdated rules. It was designed with an outdated philosophy.

Since the release of this sourcebook, the game designers at Wizards of the Coast learned how to communicate rules with greater clarity and brevity. Most obviously, if Ghostwalk was a 3.5 supplement, they would have never reused the word “ghost”. That word already had rules assigned to it and having new rules supersede the existing rules can cause confusion. They would have been more likely to use a disambiguous term like spirit for clarity’s sake.

The writing lacks the brevity that makes crunch text clear. Consider this excerpt from the spell Unmovable Object: “You gain a +10 bonus to resist a bull rush (this bonus does not include the +4 bonus for being “exceptionally stable,” but exceptionably stable creatures do get that bonus in addition to the bonus from this spell)”. By 3.5, this clunky phrasing would have been rewritten as “You gain a +10 bonus to resist a bull rush, which stacks with similar bonuses, like from the exceptionably stable racial ability.”

There are technical glitches like the new ghost template. First of all, there are allusions to these rules early in the book, in the player’s section, but no referral and nothing concrete until the monster section. Second, even by 3.5 it has never been clear how a PC gains an acquired template. Is it taken like a class level? Added immediately? What about the level adjustment? The Ghostwalk ghost template is easier to apply because it is only level adjustment +1 instead of the +2 of the Monster Manual ghost template, but how does a player handle this sudden pull ahead of the rest of the party? These vague and complicated rules leave a lot to be desired.

Too Much Campaign, Too Little Option

Ghostwalk could have focused exclusively on how to use the existing D&D rules to recreate classic fantasy scenes of ghosts returning to right wrongs or avenge their deaths. Instead Ghostwalk introduces us to the city of Manifest, a bordertown between the Material and Ethereal planes. Rather than building Manifest as an option for DMs that might find the city interesting –and it is interesting if you are looking to implant a pre-generated city into your campaign world- a great deal of rules are tied specifically to this city. There is even a rule that ghosts are drawn by a calling to go to Manifest, railroading an PC ghosts away from whatever plot lines the DM had in place already.

Aside from a city that takes away from the usefulness of the book by being more important than it should be, Ghostwalk introduces entire countries. Between the chapters on the City of Manifest, the Ghostwalk Campaign, Countries, and Adventures, 118 pages of a 223 page book are campaign-centric. If you wish to use many of the options introduced in this book, you are forced to accept Manifest or to create house rules. That leads to the question, if you are going to create house rules to play as ghosts, what do you need this sourcebook for?

Juicy Bits

The Eidolancer, the class for casters that rise as ghosts, progresses nicely and creates a character that retains almost all existing spellcasting ability and adds progressively improving ghost abilities through ghost feats.

Shellcraft Manakin is the kind of item a DM can plot an entire string of adventures around. It is a medium sized ventriloquist dummy that a ghost can possess as though it were a human. A gang of ghosts could be building the reputation of a masked man that turns out to be many models of one dummy. The PCs could think they are hunting a construct only to have the cloak dropped and the ghost run amok, or they could destroy the manikin and the evil ghost swears revenge and haunts them.

What can I say about Bonerattle other than I love when I can feel the effects of the spell while reading it. Attacking a person’s bones makes me uneasy, which makes this an effective spell.

Diamond Eye Circlet is a simple magic item that grants the wearer at will detect undead. A nice spell in a can item that is good for low level characters.

Personal Experience

The story I told, about the PC ghost? I had such a hard time understanding that the new ghost template on page 163, between two campaign-specific chapters I had no interest in, had to be applied so he qualified to take Eidolon levels that I scrapped Ghostwalk almost immediately and just used the ghost template in the Monster Manual. This template proved brutally effective when combined with Monk abilities and the character ended up dominating the sessions. It was a short stint that was fun for a while but the novelty wore off.

Overall

After the adventure I’d bought it for ended, Ghostwalk warmed my shelf. When we would play away from my apartment, it never came along. And when my collection of sourcebooks became wider than the shelf, it was demoted to the back room shelf. If I had already reviewed it before moving, I would have sold it second hand instead of going to the effort of packing it.

It is sad that this book did not deliver on expectations, and that the Campaign Option series did not improve it’s format and see more releases. There could have been follow-ups about playing lycanthropes, or winged characters, or clay golems. There was not.

Ghostwalk too often it strays too far from the theme that sold me on it. Far too much importance is given to cites and cities, restricting the value of the material I wanted. With apologies to writers Monte Cook and Sean K Reynolds, this book is a mess. Such a pretty mess, though.

If You Liked This Book…

The only other sourcebook in the Campaign Option series is Oriental Adventures. This book is not yet reviewed, I am simply making its existence known.

During 3.5’s heyday, there was a new series of books more akin to what I would have liked from the Campaign Options series. The Heroes of series (Heroes of Battle and Heroes of Horror) are about the genre setting, like a military campaign or a horror campaign, without forcing a pregen world on the readers. Again, these books have not been reviewed.

There is a prestige class in The Book of Exalted Deeds for playable ghosts. It is not extensive rules but for someone looking for an alternative to Ghostwalk, this is it.

Date Released: June 2003

Date Reviewed: February 2009

  A different kind of setting than Frostburn or Sandstorm, the first two sourcebooks in the environment series, Stormwrack adds depth to adventures on the high seas.

Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
Date Released: August 2005
Date Reviewed: December 2008

Expectations

The only vehicles that come into play in the typical Dungeons & Dragons game are boats. Oceanic travels are a great way to change settings and conjure images from iconic tales. I am not surprised Wizards of the Coast released a sourcebook on this topic. I am surprised it took them this long to get it out.

At a Glance

What is the opposite of a fish out of water? Maybe a deer in open sea? That’s what Vadania, the PH Druid, looks like on Jeremy Jarvis’ cover of Stormwrack. Along with Hennet the sorcerer, Ember the monk, and Gimble the bard, she is being dragged under be a new monster, the tentacled Scyllan. This is a very dynamic cover with great details. Hennet surfs on a chunk of ice, most likely one he conjured given that there is no indication of winter weather or an arctic climate anywhere else on the cover. Broken planks of wood floating nearby, the only explanation for the landlubber characters being so far off shore. The Scyllan looks terrifying enough to make any player gasp “no!” and any DM cry “Yes!” The heavy rainfall and crashing waves add to the hopeless feel of the scene. It is not a perfect cover. The wetness effect of the clothing is questionable, for example. However it does a great job bringing Stormwrack’s content to life.

The theme of doom continues almost immediately inside. On page 8, Franz Vohwinkle’s Water Hazard features a panicked character that does not know how bad he has it. Bleeding from the head and trying to force open a door in a room filling with water is terrifying enough, but the large skeleton –a creature with no fear of drowning- poised to swing his sword right behind him makes matters distinctly worse.

After that, there is not much to get excited about. A string of bland and often disproportionate image follow that fail to capture the imagination. Some of the monsters, like Fred Hooper’s Echinoloth, are interesting. Beyond that, however, Stormwrack is visually uninspired.

Highlights

Well Conceived, Well Designed

The section on Narrative Naval Combat starts by basically suggesting that the best way to handle ship to ship combat is to have the PCs board or get boarded and proceed with traditional round by round combat. This may seem like a cop out, but it is actually very insightful. The player and the DM both know how to run combat in this way, so this will ensure the combat goes smoothly. The characters are most likely designed more for this style of combat and less for manning a portion of a boat and so players will get to use their strengths. Finally, this is more personal, as it puts the fate of the combat and the PCs’ lives in the players’ hands.

However, after this suggestion is made, Stormwrack does outline rules for ship to ship combat. These rules are a mix of traditional D&D combat thinking and tabletop miniature game. There are even phases to the turn. This is effectively the best compromise between realism, flow, and player involvement. The rules are extensive but they have to be. They break new ground, and quite nicely. In a high seas campaign where as much time is spent in ship to ship combat as melee, a gaming group that gets to know these rules well can play 3.5 in a whole new way.

Along the same lines, Stormwrack includes one of the wisest sentences ever printed in a D&D supplement: “Since Stormwrack has the luxury of exploring this topic at greater length than the Player’s Handbook, the information given here supersedes the information presented in the Player’s Handbook.” What makes this so wise is the acknowledgement of its application. The core rulebooks were designed with simplified rules for all situations in mind. Too many supplements lose sight of this and attempt to expand on these summarized rules without overriding them. Stormwrack realizes that these summarized rules are fine in games that only occasionally come across these situations, but when games are regularly focusing in on an obscure area of D&D, it is better to replace the summarized rules with weightier rules.

Player Options

Stormwrack could have simply thrown a few aquatic races at the players and called it a day. Instead, this sourcebook introduces three new races –the aventi, darfallen, and hadozee- that fit into more than just aquatic campaigns, and expanded on one classic aquatic race, the acquatic elf. The aventi are basically humans that trade their bonus skill points and feat for a swim speed and the amphibious extraordinary ability. Maybe not as versatile as a bonus feat, but also not an ability that can be purchased with a feat. The darfellan are wonderful anthropomorphic killer whales that are as wonderful for their advantages (a natural bite attack) as they are for their oddities (common is not an automatic language). They have a few abilities that will not come up very often in non-aquatic campaigns, but on the plus side, they get a strength bonus with no level adjustment. The ape-like hadozee are mechanically an anomaly for Stormwrack, since they have a glide speed but no swim speed. However, their backstory as a wanderlust race with a tendency to find themselves on boats greases the fit. The one peculiarity to this race is that they are portrayed as chatty and curious, yet they have a Charisma penalty. The final race, the aquatic elf, is probably the least flexible as they can not survive indefinitely out of water. However, Stormwrack is the first opportunity to spotlight the least explored elven subrace, and there are feats that increase aquatic elves out-of-water survivability.

In addition to these new and expanded races, there are new subraces for some of the other PH races, and advice for incorporating the rest of them into an aquatic campaign. Seacliff dwarves take the typically aquaphobic race and spin them, replacing the usual dwarf setting of underground caves with a more sourcebook appropriate setting of underground caves near water.

Although there are no new base classes introduced, Stromwrack does to classes what they did to the PH races: it adapts them to the book’s theme. They are minor changes but important for fitting the classes into aquatic environments. Any class that previously had Fast Movement now can choose to apply their Fast Movement bonus to their swim speed, assuming the race has a natural swim speed. Seaborne Monks are less likely to encounter water than high peaks to fall from, so slow fall can be replaced by water step. Again, these are not monumental changes, just the necessary tweaks to make the classes more relevant in a campaign that features a lot of water. Extra points for including a few base classes introduced in the first Complete series.

What You Need to Know

Fantasy roleplaying games often take for granted what a player needs to know about the technology and landscape of the time period it emulates. Non-history buffs are as likely to know common jobs in medieval times as they are to know names and purposes of a ship’s crew. Not only does Stormwrack cover nautical terms from stern to bow, but it also takes into account how sailing would be different in a world with magic. When seafaring roles are outlined, actual roles like pilot are listed alongside roles that would logically exist in a standard Dungeons & Dragons setting, like Ship’s Mage and Windsinger.

The balance of history and fantasy achieved in this sourcebook sets it above similar attempts by third party publishers to capture high fantasy on the sea.

Low Points

Heavy on the Vocabulary

While it is good that the book presents everything a player needs to know, what a player needs to know essentially amounts to learning the vocabulary of an entirely different hobby. Unless you know boats going into a game that makes heavy use of Stormwrack, there is a glossary of terms to learn. Unfortunately, there is not actually a glossary included in the book, a would be handy tool for both DM and player that was sadly overlooked. To add to the confusion, much of the vocabulary is homonyms of existing D&D terms, like bow, heel, and yet another meaning to the word roll. As these words are actual nautical terms, the game designers can not be expected to change them for the sake of clarity, but it certainly complicates something that is already complicated.

Who Is This For?

As usual for the Environment series, this one sourcebook is a hodgepodge of player-centric options and DM-centric options. A DM that wants this book to use Stormwrack as a campaign setting must declare “beyond this points there be monsters”. Obviously in a game where characters can polymorph into and summon monsters there is value in providing players with access to new monsters, but Stormwrack even includes four mini adventures. The chunk of pages dedicated to these adventures could have been used for a character sheet for boats (which the amount of rules that govern them justifies), the above mentioned glossary of terms, more prestige classes, or –if we must have DM-centric options- more and more variety to the monsters. Which brings us to:

 Repetitive Monsters

 A clean half of the more than twenty five new monsters introduced use either improved grab or some other special ability that is resolved through grapple. Since all of those creatures are either aquatic or amphibious, this logically leads to encounters where PCs can be dragged into water (or out of water, depending on what the PC breathes) and drowned. On the surface this sounds dramatic, but as the most logical tactic of the near majority of the monsters in Stormwrack, it gets repetitive. Remember how scary it was in Star Wars when Luke Skywalker gets pulled into the murky water in the trash compactor and disappears? He could have drowned, he could have been eaten, dragged away to some unknown, inaccessible place, who knew? It was scary. Now imagine if that happened in every other fight scene in the Star Wars franchise. It quickly loses its impact. Also, were D&D players really demanding more rules that married grapple with drowning, the two most bloated rules in 3.5?

 There are some good monsters. There are even some great monsters. I would love to run a combat against a Scyllan, the cover monster. Unfortunately, anyone that hopes to run a seafaring campaign is severely limited by the variety of aquatic monsters at their disposal, even when including the Monster Manual and all it’s sequels.

Juicy Bits

 I would have paid the price of admission for the darfellan alone. It is wonderful to find a race that combines rules, backstory, and appearance in a way that still captures the imagination and yet is self-explanatory. Summing them up as killer whale people brings home everything that is good about them without simplification. Even better, they are the first race in D&D to incorporate the clicking noise of many African races (typified as an !) as a syllable of their language.

 The harpoon is a simple weapon that manages to do what the weapon it is based on does and bring a new and simple mechanic to the game.

 Why transmute flesh to stone when you can turn Water to Acid? True, you can not use the spell to affect water that a living creature –even an elemental- is made up of, but it is still a nasty spell that makes for a nice booby trap.

 Another spell, Wave Blessing, is important for any game where characters in heavy armour seriously risk falling into water deeper than they are tall.

 Electric eel hide is my favourite kind of option: it is deeply seeded in the flavour of the sourcebook it is introduced in but presents rules that are still relevant in campaigns that have nothing to do with that flavour. Electric eel hide is a viable option in any campaign, even one set in the desert (other than justifying where one would find electric eel hide in the desert).

 Personal Experience

 When I was running games at Quantum Cards, I decided one of the campaigns would be set on the high seas. Stormwrack became as important as the core rulebooks, although I took the sidebar’s advice and skipped the ship-to-ship rules in favour of boarding combats.

 I have played in a campaign that featured a quest overseas. The time spent on the boat was a nice change of pace from the typical landlocked adventuring I was used to.

 Tina played a darfellan barbarian when we played the Red Hand Of Doom. She was a fun and effective character that even got to shine when, unknown to us at character creation, we reached the chunk of adventure set on a river.

 Overall

 I knew I liked Stormwrack, but rereading it for this review made me realize just how well made this sourcebook is. It covers a popular side of fantasy roleplaying extremely well. I love the philosophy of design, presenting advanced rules and simpler but less realistic alternatives, and introducing options that make sense in this context but work outside of it.

 Even though a lot of pages are wasted, in my opinion, on canned adventures, the sheer amount of information crammed between the covers is impressive.

 If You Liked This Book…

 You might want to flip through some of the other books in the Environment series.

Fantasy Flight Games’ Mastercraft Anthology features a reprint of their own take on seafaring rules. Worth a look if you are not satisfied with either option Stormwrack presents.

If you like advanced rules, I recommend Unearthed Arcana .

Publisher: Myth Merchant Press

Expectations

Steve Muchow contacted me by way of our message board in response to our podcast comments on DM screens. Before opening the PDF, I expected this to be about DM screen sized. I was surprised to find a 34 page document. Bigger than expected, but hopefully more useful than the cramped and awkward charts on the DM screen.

At a Glance

No art to speak of per se, but it is worth noting the page layout. With only a few text-heavy pages, the majority of the document has nicely spaced charts breaking up the word chunks.

Highlights

Fits on a Page

In the introduction, it is speculated that one of the reasons grapple is 3.5’s black eye is because it is spread out across multiple pages needlessly. A compelling argument.

The SORD streamlines rules, restricting them to a single page as often as possible. For example, there is an entire page dedicated to Armour Class, outlining how to determine AC, touch AC, and flatfooted AC. How modifiers affect AC in melee and at range. When a character is flat footed. The variety of common (read: OGL) armour. Dexterity and size modifiers. Everything armour related.

This makes referencing rules unbelievably easy. As long as you know what category what you’re looking for likely falls under –such as Conditions, Spell Casting, or Mounted Combat- you can find what you are looking.

Repetitive  

How can repetitiveness be a highlight? Because the SORD is not meant to be read cover to cover and enjoyed as a single rulebook. In the example above, I mentioned that Dexterity and size modifiers are on the armour class page. They are also on the combat page, the grapple page, and anytime such information is pertinent. Each page is designed as a self-contained reference sheet, therefore information that affects multiple aspects of the game appears repeatedly, as it should.

Malleable

Rarely… okay, nowhere else will you find a game designer’s personal e-mail address included in the sourcebook, encouraging players to contact him with comments. As a PDF, the SORD can be altered over multiple versions based on feedback from users. You can reach Steve Muchow with comments at steve@mythmerchant.com

Low Points

Redundant

How is being repetitive good and redundant bad? The content is repetitive. The existence of the SORD is redundant. The concept and content are very similar to the Wizards of the Coast released Rules Compendium. Moreover, many of the rules issues the SORD aims to clarify are simplified in Paizo’s Pathfinder or, more commonly, reworked in such a way that makes the SORD inaccurate.

Not every 3.5 player will be switching to Pathfinder and not all of them bought the Rules Compendium. The SORD is a cheaper alternative to players that have not done either.

Strange Bedfellows

 Saving Throws, Actions, and Damage Reduction are bundled together on the same page because they physically fit together rather than thematically. Players accustomed to reading vertically will find themselves occasionally confused. On the Initiative page, Readying to Counterspell would seem to come before an explanation on Readying Actions. Again, this is a reference guide and not a sourcebook, so some flow problems are acceptable. However, someone that wants to know more about Damage Reduction might be confused when they can not find it in the Damage section.

Clarity Issues

What does “Most full-round moves only allow a 5-foot step” mean? It’s the final bullet in the Movement Basics but does not make much sense grammatically and contradicts the actual rules of the game. Combined with about a type-o a page and some inconsistent shorthand, the SORD unfortunately commits reference tool cardinal sin on occassion.

Juicy Bits

The Conditions page is concise and complete, a great tool.

The Initiative page provides not just rules but also an interesting Initiative Tracker and a suggestion to laminate the page so that it can be written on and dry erased.

Personal Experience

I have only read the SORD, not having the opportunity to use it yet. That said, I expect it to be extremely useful when I do introduce them to my game.

Overall

The SORD is more than I expected. Do not underestimate how useful it is to have rules contained on a single page, and how impressive it is that the pages waste so little space. Sadly, even though clarifying Grapple was one of the SORD’s inspirations, it is still complicated no matter how it is laid out. Since grapple is not the only complicated rule in the game, the other pages of the SORD are extremely useful.

If You Liked This Book…

The Rules Compendium works in much the same way as the SORD.

Date Released: July 13, 2008

Date Reviewed: October 1, 2008

$4.95! Before you can even tell what game this sourcebook is for, you know the price. Mastercraft Anthology collects material from the extensive Legends & Lairs line of d20 OGL sourcebooks.

Publisher: Fantasy Flight Games

Expectations

 I expect to get more than my five bucks worth. What I fear is that I paid for an advertisement for other sourcebooks with nothing to show for it. The book wears no masks. It admits the material within is a sample of the Legends & Lairs line. Dragon and Dungeon magazines were not much more than advertisements for Dungeons & Dragons, and I loved those publications. Cartoons from the 80s, like GI Joe were criticized for being half hour toy commercials, and I’ve embraced those commercials whole hearted. Here’s hoping Mastercraft Anthology can compare.

 At a Glance

 Soft cover. Black and white interiors. Aesthetically, Mastercraft Anthology reminds me of the early 3.0 WotC sourcebooks like Masters of the Wild. That’s appropriate, since this is a 3.0 sourcebook (more on that later).

 I really appreciate the cover. The colours and style are high quality, the magic wheel in the centre is intriguing, with ruins and a dragon icon all leading me to wonder just what this item might be used for. Behind it is a variety of art pieces that can be found within, a nice tool to intrigue gamers judging books by their cover. There is no denying the yellow price tag out pops the rest of the cover, and the way it looks like a sticker means I’m sure many others have tried to peel it off. Fortunately, for anyone that wants to know what great secrets hide beneath, the first page is a black and white reprint of the cover without the balloon. There’s a foot and the rest of a shield.

 The artwork within is high quality. It is shaded to be printed in black and white, always better than a colour image turned black and white. The sample luinous, owner of the obscured foot and shield from the cover, demonstrates the power of a black and white image. Without reading any description, anyone can immediately see that this is a race whose skin radiates light. The clean, shadowless skin stands out even against the white of the page. Bonus, this female luminous is an A-cup, an extremely rare size of breasts in fantasy artwork. Sure, the armour doesn’t protect everything it could, given that the race’s prominent feature is its skin, this is forgivable.

 The legendary class profile pictures are all excellent illustrations that could be used as a portrait of any rogue character. Picking a favourite was hard, but I have to go with the Jack-of-Knives. Not only is it a very dynamic image with nice emotion expressed on his face, but the amount of knives they manage to fit onto this character is impressive.

 On page 80, you’ll believe a familiar can cry. A heart broken toad is moments away from tears as it sits on the chest of its master, right next to the arrow that killed him.

 Finally, there are the traps. The last twenty pages of the sourcebook are filled with diagrams of traps, explaining their mechanisms and offering transparent looks into these devious devices.

 Highlights

 Variety

 There are races and classes and feats and spells. New rules, new ideas, and oh the traps. What looked like a quick read turned out to be so densely packed with options, it took longer to read than the average Wizards of the Coast sourcebook. Sure, there’s maybe a dozen pages that are not reprinted from another source, but at least you go into it knowing that. Unlike when the first Complete series came out and neglected to mention a big chunk of the content was originally in the Miniatures Handbook and the softcover 3.0 sourcebooks.

It would be wrong to say there is variety and end there. There’s variety at speed dating, that doesn’t mean there is anything worthwhile there. I would estimate that half the options are decent and a quarter are bad (more on that later). That leaves a quarter of really good content. Legendary classes are a unique alternative to prestige classes that allow players great customizability. Although there are some aspects to the rules that I disagree with, like solo questing as a prerequisite that reminded me of what I disliked about Weapons of Legacy, it’s nothing that a few house rules can’t take care of.

I always appreciate rules that translate staples of fantasy fiction into functional mechanics. Faith Ceremonies bring to life rituals where multiple robed casters combine their powers to greater effect.

Good Advertising

Ever seen a movie trailer that really excited you, then saw the movie and thought it was absolute garbage, with the few decent moments ruined by months of seeing them in the trailers? Well I haven’t seen any of these movies, but these trailers have me interested in watching a few if I get the chance.

Continuing the metaphor, ever seen a movie trailer that you remember enjoying but can’t remember what it was for or who was in it? Masterwork Anthology names its chapters after the books the material was originally found in, and includes an image of the sourcebook’s cover in the chapters’ introductions.

One of my worries was that each entry would mention material not reprinted in Masterwork Anthology. That there would be hidden shilling within the shilling I’d signed on for. Like they might present rules for a Taft Rider prestige class, include all the rules for what that character can do while riding a Taft, and then tell you to go buy the $40 Taft handbook to know what a Taft is. I only noticed one instance where a rule is referred to in another sourcebook, and it felt more like an accident than a nefarious plot.

Format

Normally I would criticize a book that contains both player-centric options and DM-centric options, asking Who Is This Book For? This book is for people curious about 3^rd party material but too cautious to buy a full priced sourcebook. Because Mastercraft Anthology is a buffet, it needs a mix of player and DM material. However, the editor made a wise and subtle choice to include all player options in the first part of the book and DM material in the second part. So if a DM wants to run an adventure on the high seas or trick out a monster using the Experimental Creatures rules, or maybe spring a really sneaky trap on the players, he can still lend out the book to his players and instruct them not to read past page 87. Players always listen to their DMs, right?

Low Points

It’s Complicated

Not all of it. Of the 25% of bad material I estimated above, most of that would be good ideas executed badly. Ideas like the schools of combat. Rules for fighting academies would normally be welcome, if they did not take up so much of a character’s in-game time, cost it XP and provide basically a second set of feats, making it a lower level character overloaded with options.

The entire Seafarer’s Handbook reads like a miniature game shoehorned into the d20 system, but too specific and without enough compromises between reality and rules. Adding a rule for every aspect of boat movement and combat does not recreate the experience of being a sea captain. More like being a sea captain’s accountant.

3^rd Party 3.0

Two terms that strike fear in the hearts of 3.5 loyalists. This is a 3^rd party production. It is not as polished as most WotC offerings (Complete Divine excepted). It does not have WotC’s production value. It also makes references to lore that has nothing to do with WotC’s mythology.

Being 3.0 rather than 3.5 has more setbacks than just needing to ignore references to the ambidexterity feat. This is older material, from before years of evolution of the game. For example, the Faith Caster is what we would call a new base class, but the game calls a variant class. Some of the rules and options are redundant now, even if they came first. Rules like swarms of humanoids can be found in the Player’s Handbook II. Many of the prestige classes are similar to ones we’ve seen since. I give Fantasy Flight Games credit for being ahead of their time, but I will usually choose a WotC released option over a similar 3^rd party option that came first.

Format

“Wha?!”, you say. Wasn’t format one of the highlights? It is, if you design your characters from the bottom up. If you start with a concept and are looking for something specific, like a feat or prestige class, Mastercraft Anthology’s format makes it difficult to find what you want. There are only prestige classes for certain character themes, feats are not all in the same chapter, etc.

Also, the new races are some of the weaker options in the book, so it is unfortunate that this chapter starts the book. Maybe they were emulating the Player’s Handbook , it doesn’t make the races any more interesting or any better a choice to open with.

Juicy Bits

The Enhanced Familiar feat is a nice way of bumping up a familiar’s potency.

Spellbook Mastery is another handy feat for Wizards, increasing the number of spells learnt every level.

Burrowing Bony Digits is the best kind of Necromancy spell: A clever one.

Dig is a simple utilitarian spell that any wizard with an aversion to manual labour might have created. Its secondary use as a weapon against creatures of the Earth type is a nice touch.

Titan’s Strength really excited me when I first read it. The spell provides a significant effective strength bonus to lifting, carrying, and dragging without increasing the Strength modifier. If something really heavy needs to be moved, this spell does the trick.

Personal Experience

I have not used any options from this book. Truth be told, when I was moving, this book went in a pile with a couple of second edition sourcebooks I hoped to sell second hand. How much I expected to get for a book with $4.95 on the cover, I don’t know. At the last minute, I decided to take it out, at least to review. That’s when I discovered I’d judged this book too harshly.

Overall

The positives of the format outweigh the negatives, I would say, and make the most sense from Fantasy Flight Games’ point of view.

Since this is an elaborate advertisement for the Legends & Lairs series, the best way to judge it is based on how many of the books in the line I would consider buying. Path of Faith looks like it has the options I found missing from Complete Divine, the Monster’s Handbook has some potential, and I feel like the Traps and Treachery books are a godsend. I would consider Spells and Spellcraft if I wasn’t already up to my neck in spells thanks to the Spell Compendium. I might pick it up anyway. Path of Shadows intrigued me enough to pick it up if I ever saw it, I suppose. That’s more than half the books advertised. I would say Mastercraft Anthology does its job.

If You Liked This Book…

Wow, where to begin? Most of the options are similar to the first Complete series. Better nautical rules can be found in Stormwrack. Some ideas touched upon in the Monster’s Handbook chapter are comparable to Savage Species. And of course, any options you liked are expanded upon in the other Legends & Lairs sourcebooks.

Date Released: 2003

Date Reviewed: September, 2008

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Most warriors brave enough to risk their lives fighting monsters are smart enough to know plates of metal withstand claws, clubs, and magic better than a thin layer of skin. There are those that choose lighter armour, like leather or at most a chain shirt, but these warriors generally feel that strapping giant chunks of metal to ones body compromises their natural quickness. Why dress to withstand any blow when you can dress to avoid most blows and hopefully withstand the rest?

There exist a few warriors with absolutely no interest in armour. They dress minimally at all times, and extend their lack of modesty to the battlefield. Women wear impractical strips of leather and chainmail bikinis. Men wear fur loin clothes and possibly a belt if only to hang their sword off of. This naturalist attitude is not as unintelligent or impractical as it may appear, at least not to those that pull it off. These few physical pinnacles are so chiselled their exposed bodies protect them through sheer awe better than any amount of armour ever could.

Although Barbarians get the most out of this prestige class, any warrior class can be an Adonis. Clerics with access to the Strength domain may consider taking the Adonis prestige class to please their god. Multiclassing sorcerer/warriors greatly benefit from the Adonis’ combination of a high charisma and no armour check penalty. Charismatic rogues occasionally become Adonises, although this prestige class works better with smash mouth melee combatants than stealth-based tacticians.

Hit Dice: d12

Requirements

To qualify to become an adonis, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.

• Base Attack Bonus: +7
• Ability Score: Cha 16+
• Skills: Intimidate 10 ranks

CLASS SKILLS

The Adonis’ class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Listen (Wis), Ride (Dex), and Swim (Str).

Skill Points at 1st Level: (4 + Int modifier) ×4.

Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4 + Int modifier.

CLASS FEATURES
All the following are class features of the adonis prestige class.

Weapons and Armour Proficiency: An adonis is proficient with all simple and martial weapons but gains no proficiency with any armor or shields.

Dense Muscle: Not only is a statuesque body unbelievably attractive, well defined muscles provide a thick layer of protection. When unarmored, add your Strength bonus as an armour bonus to AC.

Powerful Presence: You gain a +1 bonus on Diplomacy checks. This bonus increases by +1 every three levels thereafter (+2 at 4^th level and +3 at 7^th level). This benefit applies only when you are wearing no armor, and can be seen.

Enchanting Body: Beginning at 2^nd level, your unarmour body is treated both as manufactured armour and natural armour for the purpose of spells and effects that enhance or improve either manufactured armor or natural armor. Your body can be enchanted in the same way as masterwork armour, although this requires a great deal of patience on your part.

Intimidating Physique: Beginning at 2^nd level, you gain a +1 bonus to Intimidate checks. This bonus increases by +1 every three levels thereafter (+2 at 5^th level and +3 at 8^th level). This benefit applies only when you are wearing no armor, and can be seen.

Damage Reduction: At 3^rd level, you gain damage reduction 1. Subtract 1 from the damage you take each time you are dealt damage from a weapon or a natural attack. Every three Adonis levels thereafter (6th, and 9th level), your damage reduction rises by 1 point. Damage reduction can reduce damage to 0 but not below 0. This damage reduction stacks with damage reduction gained from other sources (such as the barbarian class feature).

Poetry in Motion: Typically a warrior entering a wild combat frenzy is off-putting and frightening. As an adonis, the fluidity of your movements turns this violence into a sight to behold. Beginning at 3^rd level, when you rage, you temporarily gain a bonus to Charisma. This bonus is equal to the bonus to Strength and Constitution gained when raging (+4 when entering a rage, +6 when entering a greater rage, and +8 when entering a mighty rage). Note that Poetry in Motion does not actually grant the rage ability. It improves the rage of adonises who already have the ability.

Awe Striking: If there exists universal beauty, an adonis sees it in his reflection. Beginning at 5^th level, you add your Charisma bonus as a shield bonus to AC. This benefit applies only when you are wearing no armor, and can be seen.

Force of Personality: Beginning at 7^th level, you gain a +4 bonus to saves against effects that damage or drain Charisma.

Physical Peak: Beginning at 10^th level, you add your Charisma modifier to weapon damage rolls and to attack rolls made to confirm critical hits.

Favourite fantasy monsters are given a Pathfinder Chronicles pedigree. But is it worth paying close to twenty dollars for a 63 page monster book featuring only ten monsters, all of which are in the Monster Manual and are part of the OGL?

Expectations

Pathfinder Playtest fever has me excited about Paizo Publishing as a company, but before the Pathfinder Beta ’s release, I’d only ever downloaded (through Paizo.com ) Pathfinder material. Everything else they have published independently has been tied into the Pathfinder adventure paths or been part of the Pathfinder Chronicles campaign setting about Golarion, the world in which all Pathfinder adventures take place. Finding a Paizo release generic enough to be used unmodified in my game sold this book for me. If it was even remotely useful, my expectations were met.

At a Glance

Part of Paizo’s reputation for top quality production can be attributed to the stunning full colour art they include in everything they publish. I know they recycle artwork, and normally I only comment on a book’s original pieces. Because I am not familiar enough with Paizo’s past releases to say what art appeared where previously, for this review I will proceed as though everything is new.

Andrew Hou’s cover artwork is very fun, a pack of goblins gleefully overtaking a single giant, possibly an ogre. The shame and disbelief on the giant’s face expands the events of the image.

Paizo showed how they could make the familiar new and exciting again with their take on goblins in the first Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rise of the Runelords. The sadistic little buggers on the cover let anyone who missed it up to now know that these aren’t your daddy’s goblins. Unless you daddy’s goblins are Gremlins. Then they’re a lot like your daddy’s goblins.

The cover isn’t perfect. The title of the book is a small star off to one side where one might expect hyperbole about how will Spiderman get out of this one. The title of the book definitely plays second fiddle to the Pathfinder Chronicles banner. I understand Paizo wants to get the Pathfinder name out there, build brand recognition, but throwing the name on everything they produce this side of the Game Mastery line can get confusing.

Inside the artwork is almost universally top notch. The monsters have been given a face lift that rejuvenates their look while emphasizing their defining features. Gnolls are depicted one step closer to hyenas, bugbears are creepy stalkers instead of hulking grunts, and orcs have never looked so barbaric.

Not every update is completely successful. Hobgoblins look extremely generic, but not in an appropriately military way. They are ordinary monsters. Trolls look plant-based, like wound roots. Interestingly there is mention of a troll variant called a Moss Troll that is described as “more plant than giant”. I would be impressed if an artist could fit more plant elements into the troll design.

Highlights

Wonderfully Written

It is rare to find a role playing game sourcebook so short on rules. For a book such as this to be worth a glance, it needs good writing. Classic Monsters Revisited has the best writing of any rulebook I have ever read. I do not make such a statement lightly. I was so immersed in the racial entries that I was caught unawares whenever I came across feats or items. The superb writing rekindled my interest in beasts I thought I knew.

Take the minotaur. The classic mythical minotaur was a single creature, the half-bull son of King Minos, not a race. Although the Greek minotaur was wholly tied with the labyrinth, generally the D&D minotaur race dropped this association. Classic Monsters Revisited brings it back. The Pathfinder minotaur lives in a maze that it uses as its hunting ground for sport. At night it leaves its home to drag someone in so it may spend the next week, month, year stalking this victim.

The bugbear is another wonderful example. Shortly after describing the bugbear’s gruesome habit of cutting off victims’ ears and stringing them to a necklace, there is mention of how bugbears get depressed any day they do not kill anything and pout while clutching they necklace of ears to their chest. I rode the prose like a subway from shocked to sympathetically amused.

An incredible amount of detail fits into each entry, exploring numerous facets of the lives of these creatures. I felt I got to know and understand their various evil ways of life without feeling like I’d just put down a copy of National Geographic.

Most impressive is that this was not the work of a single highly talented writer. This was developed and contributed to by a full writing staff. Maybe they each rose to the occasion. Maybe an alpha designer brought out the best in all the others. However it was accomplished, the writing is to be applauded.

Variants

Each chapter is about a familiar monster. After going into great detail about the typical examples of the race, a brief entry towards the end introduces significant variants. In just a couple of paragraphs, the origin of the variants, some flavour about them, and then rules for employing these variants in a game are outlined. Even the simplest variants, like the forest dwelling ogre variants the Shaggras, clearly have a lot of thought behind them. What’s more, these variants are unique to this publication, separating it from a talk-heavy version of the Monster Manual.

Important to the OGL

Editor-in-Chief James Jacobs reminds us in his introduction that the SRD was designed as a rule aid, not to provide information about those rules. A new player without access to the Monster Manual would know nothing about orcs beyond a stats block and physical description. Classic Monsters Revisited fills in the blanks between stats and character for these creatures better than even the source material.

Low Points

99% Fluff

Each of these monsters has a full page stats block, but it is just a reformatting of the SRD information. So the bulk of the crunch in this book is already available elsewhere.

This book does not have lots of rules for your character or campaign. It emphasizes ideas over options. However, there is that 1% crunch that Paizo dangles just in front of crunch-hungry gamers. This is not to make such people salivate, they are not cruel. Generally the rules are race-specific. Just not all of them. Buying Classic Monsters Revisited for these few rules is like buying Magic of Incarnum for the pleasure of reading.

Campaign Specific

Every chapter contains an “In Golarion” section. These are not longer than half a page and provide little more than geographic information about the creatures. If the campaign specific material stayed in this designated area, everything would be fine. Unfortunately, mentions of Golarion creep under the fence and into other sections at their leisure. Not enough to ruin a chapter, but enough to annoy readers uninterested in Golarion.

Short

If you measure the value of a gaming book by its page count, this is undeniably one of the least valuable books published. It is shorter than an issue of Dragon magazine, back in that publications paperbound golden age. Even taking into consideration how dense the pages are with text, the book is short. When Paizo can sell the 410 page Pathfinder RPG Beta rulebook for $24.99, seven dollars more than this 64 page book, it is hard to argue that this is an expensive skinny book.

Juicy Bits

There aren’t many rules to talk about, but most of those that made the cut are pretty juicy.

The Slate-Stalker Bugbear variant has a brilliant supernatural ability. They can turn invisible to all but one creature. What is scarier than suspecting there is some deadly threat nearby? Being the only one that actually sees the threat.

Minotaur’s Charge is a feat that lets a charging character initiate a bulrush for free. It is a logical idea with an extremely simple mechanic, it is a wonder no one thought of the feat before. Extra points for tying minotaur into a rule with bull in the name.

Pummel is a special ability of the degenerate ogre that acts like rend but with bludgeoning weapons. Again, how did no one think of this before?

Not everyone would call this a juicy bit, but I love The Goblin Song.

Personal Experience

Before one session of my home campaign, I read the chapter on lizardfolk. I had to include lizardfolk significantly in my next session. After that session, I read the chapter on minotaur. I had to devise an entire story arc in my campaign around the PCs caught in a minotaur’s labyrinth. In those two sessions, I included almost every creature in Classic Monsters Revisited and that is not a coincidence. The only creature I did not fit in was the troll, possibly because I hadn’t finished reading its entry yet.

Overall

This is the best a book like this could be. If you are interested in getting into the heads of your villains and enjoy a read while you’re doing it, pick up Classic Monsters Revisited. This is not even a suggestion, you have to. If you could live without a book that’s heavy on context and light on mechanics, there is very little for you here. Pick it up anyway.

If You Liked This Book…

Wizards of the Coast released the Races Of series that adds depth to the PH races is ways similar to how Classic Monsters Revisited adds depth to the MM races.

One more time in case you haven’t clicked on any of the many links in this review to the Monster Manual.

Date Released: April 2008

Date Reviewed: August 22^nd, 2008

An infamous book in the 3.5 library, it was highly advertised and eagerly anticipated. Almost as soon as it was released, it was discarded. Where did Magic of Incarnum go wrong? Is it as bad as all that?

Expectations

I was caught up in the hype when Wizards was pushing Magic of Incarnum on their website. Any time I’ve taken this one off the shelf and flipped through it, I’ve given up early. Now that I am going to force myself to read this one cover to cover, I hope that somewhere inside I will find something worthwhile.

At a Glance

If you can find a better looking cover, please point me in that direction. Magic of Incarnum’s cover is alive with energy, with mesmerizing blue bolts emanating from a vial of pure incarnum. That vial is secured inside a jewel encrusted metal containment unit. Clearly this is a great power source. The circle patterns on the hinges and corner guards are unique, and the colour scheme really comes together. If only you could judge a book by its cover.

Incarnum is blue. Many incarnum powers and feats are named after blue shades: azure; cobalt, midnight, etc. As a result, vibrant uses of blue link almost all of the artwork in Magic of Incarnum. This book is full of original artwork and is truly stunning. The first illustration we see is on page five, Arstor the Pentifex Monolith by Wayne Reynolds. There is a short story on the opposite page about him that I believe was included because the artwork was so inspiring. When I found his figure in the Unhallowed D&D Miniatures set, I immediately recognized him even though I had never used an option from Magic of Incarnum. Artwork that leaves an impression.

As will be discussed later, Incarnum’s rules are not easy to follow. The artwork does the best job it can showing what the rules are trying to say. Like on page 65, we see a Halfling by Franz Vohwinkel with several soulmelds (more on those later) bound (more on that later) to her chakras (more on those later). In this case, the crystal helm, bluesteel bracers, and airstep sandals. What is great about this illustration is that the soulmelds (seriously, more later) are clearly items of great power without looking like magic items. Magic items traditionally are jewel-encrusted and absolutely fabulous. These soulmelds (just wait, I’ll get to it) are simple in their design but stand out because of the alien material they are made of.

Halflings seem to be useful tools for demonstrating how Incarnum works, because there is another Halfling, this time illustrated by Chris Trevas, on page 165 that is an example casserole. She has a crystal helm soulmeld (more later) bound (more later) to her head chakra (more later). She has an adamant pauldron soulmeld (more later) shaped (more later) but not bound (more later) to her shoulder chakra (more later). And she is wielding a magic bow. Her helm looks like an actual item whereas her pauldrons look like creations of energy. The first step in using a soulmeld is shaping it, which makes an ethereal blue apparition in the shape of a piece of armour or a weapon but clearly a creation of magic. The second step is binding the shaped soulmeld to a chakra, which gives the item weight and body. This illustration lets you see the difference.

Highlights

Conceptually Original

Incarnum is one of those few new ideas that is both completely new and fits perfectly into Dungeons & Dragons. It is a power that is forever around us, that special kinds of adventurer can tap into and forge special equipment from, even physically alter themselves to improve their combat prowess.

Where the idea gets dodgy is when you start talking about the power of souls. Using souls as a power source is not a fresh idea. It has been around D&D for a long time, and has always been evil. In fact, the Book of Vile Darkness suggests it is one of the most depraved of evil acts. How then can Wizards hand us a sourcebook that talks about using the energy of souls alive, dead, and not yet born and tell us there is nothing evil about it?

Think about it this way. Essentia is a soul’s fuel. Essentia is not a soul in the same way gasoline is not a car. Using Essentia to shape soulmelds is like using gasoline to boast a fire. The act of using it is not harming cars and is not specifically stealing from cars. The difference is that Essentia is recyclable, hence it is the soul energy of those not yet born. Funny enough, I had this entire car metaphor in my head before my recent trip to Mexico, where I found out essencia (note the ‘c’) is Spanish for gasoline.

Binding a soulborn uses recycled Essentia, Essentia that once belonged in a soul. Good meldshapers (the term that describes anyone with even the smallest pool of Essentia or ability to shape soulmelds) say “May I?” to the souls that used the Essentia they are about to tap into. Evil meldshapers do not, and this is called necrocarnum, which goes back to what the Book of Vile Darkness was talking about.

Incarnum Peripherals

There are classes built around the use of Incarnum, but it takes a dedicated and patient player to go that route. However, any player can find something useful for their character in Magic of Incarnum without having to marry the sourcebook.

Incarnum feats are easy to understand and easy to use. They provide a bonus comparable to other feats, but this bonus can be boosted by investing Essentia into the feat. Each Essentia feat you take increases your essential pool by one. So if you only ever take one Incarnum feat, you can use it like any other feat. If you happen to take two or three, you can use each to their minimal abilities or you can maximize the potential of one of them.

The racial substitution levels either take a non-Incarnum race and add an Incarnum twist, or take one of the Incarnum races introduced and emphasize its non-Incarnum potential.

There are two types of spells included in this book: spells that affect Incarnum, which are mechanically necessary; spells that you can invest Essentia into, which are a great idea, provide another use for Essentia, and open up a ton of multiclass options.

Finally, there are the Prestige Classes. What’s amusing is how much easier it is to learn the prestige classes without Incarnum class prerequisites than it is to learn the base classes this book introduces. The Incandescent Champion, Incarnum Blade, and Spinemeld Warrior are great starting points for anyone intrigued by Incarnum but intimidated by the base classes.

Incarnum Character Sheets and Essentia Tracker

There is only so much room on a character sheet. Generic sheets are usually fine, but they are just not built for out-there concepts like Incarnum. Thankfully, Wizards of the Coast included a new character sheet designed specifically for Incarnum characters, and a special sheet to help track where your Essentia is invested. Absolutely necessary, considering invested Essentia changes from round to round. Wizards even had the forethought to suggest sliding a counter along the sheet rather than circling and erasing every round.

Low Points

Complicated

Incarnum. Essentia. Soulmeld. Chakra. Shape. Invest. Bind. Meldshaper. These are the new terms you have to memorize in order to understand the options presented in Magic of Incarnum. Which reminds me: Incarnum is not magic, so disregard the title of the book that introduces this complicated idea. Disregard it completely, because the word “Incarnum” is hardly used inside the book. It is a name for the concept without any mechanics attached to it.

Here is a glossary that hopefully will make reading this review easier:

Incarnum: The name given to the entire concept of using soul energy in non-evil ways to make yourself more powerful. Much the same way “magic” describes spells and casters.

Essentia: That which fuels souls and enhances the power of Incarnum. If you are familiar with the Expanded Psionics Handbook, Essentia is your power point reserve.

Soulmeld: Items fabricated through soul energy that can be enhanced in a multitude of ways.

Chakra: A Soumeld must be tied to an area of the body. The areas of the body that can have Soulmelds are called Chakras. They match up (mostly) with the areas of the body that magic items can be worn on, ie hands, brow, shoulders, etc.

Shape: The act of creating a Soulmeld around a Chakra.

Invest: Investing Essentia into a Soulmeld can improve the effect or unlock a new effect that can be improved through Essentia investment. Incarnum feats and Incarnum spells can also be improved through the investment of Essentia. So can magic items. The investment of Essentia is the basis of Incarnum.

Bind: Binding a Soulmeld unlocks its greatest effect, which can be improved by the Essentia invested in the Soulmeld. A Soulmeld can be bound to the Chakra it is shaped over.

Meldshaper: Anyone that can do any of the above is a Meldshaper.

Microsoft Word badly wants me to believe that the majority of the above paragraphs is misspelled. Well Word, like you, will have to bear with me because there is more.

All three classes have heavy alignment restrictions, because the use of Incarnum is heavily tied into a character’s soul. Conceptually this makes sense, but it never pays off. Instead it is just a fact about Incarnum that confuses an already confusing system. There are virtually no Soulmelds with an alignment descriptor, in particular Chaotic and Lawful. There are a slew of evil Soulmelds, but most of them also have the Necrocarnum descriptor, which is evil by default. In fact, there is virtually no purpose to any of the descriptors. Of the nineteen descriptors mentioned in the introduction to Soulmelds, four are not even used. There are no Soulmelds with Air, Death, Earth, or Water descriptors. A large majority have “None” listed as the Descriptor, another extraneous detail bloating the rules.

Maybe Magic of Incarnum would not be so complicated if the order of the chapters were rearranged. Instead of starting the book with a chapter on races, which are only loosely tied into the book’s theme, and then chapters on classes and character options, which are magnificently useless without an explanation of how Incarnum works, the book’s first chapter should have been the basics of Incarnum. The introduction does go into Incarnum’s important concepts, but does not offer enough information to understand the class abilities of the base classes in chapter two. Truly, chapter one should have been “All About Incarnum” where it combs through every detail a player needs to understand, using as many metaphors and examples as it takes. This isn’t Wrath of The Dragon Gods over explaining the difference between arcane magic and divine magic, this is Magic of Incarnum underexplaining Incarnum.

Poor Race and Class Choices

There are four new races introduced, three of which can be described as human-like. Not humanoid, human-like. Azurins are humans born to human parents that have tapped into an Essentia pool that changed them in the womb. They look exactly like humans except their eyes glow. Rilkans look exactly like humans wearing scales like forearm guards and chokers. Except they aren’t wearing these scales, they actually have them. Put them in a long sleeve turtleneck and there is nothing non-human about their appearance. Even though they have the reptilian subtype, they have human faces and really are one of the most human looking non-human races ever seen in a D&D manual. The Skarn are the other most human looking non-human race ever seen in a D&D manual, although they are at least somewhat alien. The Skarn have hooked spines jutting from their calves, forearms, and along their (appropriately enough) spines. You know the blades sticking out of Batman’s gloves? Just like that.

There is only one visually different race and that is the Dusklings. Like a cross between Yoda and Dr. Zaius, Dusklings are savage humanoids that are naturally tied to Incarnum.

The Azurin backstory works pretty well and helps bring Incarnum into a campaign, but it would have been much more interesting if it was a template that could be applied to any race without racial Incarnum abilities. Speaking of races without racial Incarnum abilities, the Skarn and the Rilkan are barely tied to Incarnum. Why are they even in this book?

Then come the classes. The Incarnate, the Soulborn, and the Totemist. The Incarnate is technically four separate classes because of its strict alignment restrictions: Good Incarnate, Evil Incarnate, Lawful Incarnate, and Chaotic Incarnate. All useless. It is designed like a primary caster, which just serves to prove how different Incarnum is from Dungeons & Dragons’ other magic systems. There are only two offensive Soulmelds on the Incarnate’s list: Dissolving Spittle and Lightning Gauntlets. One is a ranged touch attack, the other a melee touch attack. Combined with the class’ limited weapon proficiencies and poor base attack bonus progression you are left with a class that can not do much in combat.

A lot of the Incarnate’s other Soulmelds give bonuses to skills, so it could be argued that the Incarnate is diverse in that respect. Except that it only gets a couple of skill points per level, so these do not so much boost the class’ skill use as make up for its otherwise lack of skills. And since Soulmelds are chosen at the beginning of the day, there is virtually no flexibility. If the Incarnate expects to be on a boat one day and climbing a mountain the next, he can choose his Soulmelds accordingly. If he expects to be boating and climbing the same day, he has to compromise.

The class really is pointless. It gets surprisingly good armour proficiency, which combines with defensive Soulmelds to create a hard target. Sadly, its d6 Hit Dice means it is no meat shield. Some Soulmelds allow it to heal, but only itself until fairly high level. It can’t fight, it can’t buff, its abilities are utilitarian but only to a point. Before 7^th level, the class can only shape four Soulmelds, and since it basically needs Dissolving Spittle and Lightning Gauntlets shaped, an Incarnate can barely explore the depth of its Soulmeld selection, the most vast of Magic of Incarnum’s three classes.

The Incarnate is not a poor man’s sorcerer. It is not even a poor man’s warlock, from Complete Arcane. It is a poor man’s bard.

The Soulborn (not to be mistaken for Soulmelds) is like a paladin that substitutes religion with Incarnum. Except that it barely gets any Soulmelds or Essentia, or Charka Binds. Level four is a huge tease. Because of the nature of Incarnum, you can shape any soulmeld on your list. So upon reaching level four, a Soulborn player can now read the entire Soulborn list, discovering the variety of Soulmelds at its disposal, how investing Essentia into these Soulmelds improves them, until ultimately they are bound to Chakras and live out their full potential. Upon reading this entire list, they must then pick one single Soulmeld, which they can not invest any Essentia into for two more levels and much later to even dream about the weakest of the Chakra binds.

It is like a young boy being told that if he eats healthy he will grow big and strong and may one day win an Olympic medal. But right now that young boy does not have that medal, is not big and strong. He is faced with a plate of vegetables and is asking himself if it is at all worth it.

The third and final class introduced in Magic of Incarnum is the Totemist. This is a fine class that is well balanced and provides the player with enough access to Soulmelds to have a good time. The flavour is nice, tapping into the Incarnum of the wild and mimicking the abilities of animals and familiar D&D monsters. Really, if you are interested in playing an Incarnum base class, the totemist is your only option.

Unsupported

Virtually no other sourcebook even mentions Incarnum, with the notable exception of Dragon Magic, which provides four new soulmelds (see above). On the one hand, if you want to play an Incarnum character, you have everything you need in one spot. On the other, this is basically it. Good luck convincing your DM that your homebrewed soulmeld (see above) isn’t overpowering.

Juicy Bits

The Blink Shirt is a great Soulmeld that is versatile, logical, and easy to understand. Shaping it taps into the incarnum of blink dogs and lets the character use dimension door at a limited range as a standard action. Investing essential into it increases that range. Binding it lets the Totemist use the blink spell, or use dimension door as a move action. It has a small thematically tied variety of powers that are not overpowering but extremely useful.

Cerulean Sandals almost make the Incarnate and Soulborn classes intriguing. A single Soulmeld that provides the meldshaper with the ability to walk on water, increase land speed, and fly.

Totem Avatar is a hefty Soulmeld for combat-oriented Totemists. It gives bonus hit points right off the bat, and can be bound to a wide variety of chakras, each offering a different combat-useful option, like damage reduction or natural weapons.

The spell Incarnum Arc is a versatile cousin of lightning bolt. A single casting allows several rounds of bolts, the damage of which can be increased through essential investment.

Warlocks (from Complete Arcane) gain a versatile new invocation. Drain Incarnum not only does as the name indicates, if invoked on a target without an essential pool, it deals Wisdom damage.

If you are intrigued by Incarnum but (rightly) unimpressed by your class options, the Incandescent Champion prestige class might be for you. It has a fast-growing Essentia pool, and a series of easily understood class features that offer useful abilities, like bonus to melee attacks, fast healing, a ray attack. Getting this prestige class so right but the similar base class Soulborn so wrong is very unfortunate.

Normally I complain or begrudgingly accept monsters being included in non-DM geared sourcebooks. For example, I accept that not having any Incarnum-based monsters in the game would be unfortunate, and shoving a bunch into a Monster Manual would impose Incarnum on gamers that might not be interested. So fine, a monster chapter belongs in Magic of Incarnum. What I did not expect is to fall in love with one of these monsters as, potentially, a playable race. The Soulfused Construct is a template that brings a construct to life through Incarnum exposure. There is something about the description of these confused, simple creatures that defy nature that makes me want to play one. Like playing the Frankenstein monster as portrayed in Monster Squad, a hopeless oaf that maybe gets attached to another PC and acts as their pet.

Personal Experience

When DMing at Quantum Cards, one of the players bought Magic of Incarnum and multiclassed his rogue with Totemist. A rogue with dimension door is a very interesting tactic without the drawbacks of a sorcerer’s frailty.

Unconvinced that the Incarnate was as useless as it seemed, I built one and progressed it through six levels. Against all odds, I even managed to roll two natural 18s during character creation. The end result? A useless and dull class.

Overall

The content of Magic of Incarnum can be divided into two categories: awesome and awful. I would say that the awesome outweighs the awful two to one. Unfortunately, the awful options are mostly the more basic choices and stuffed into the start of the book. There are repercussions of this. Because the Incarnate class is so terrible, all that class’ Soulmelds, half of the total Soulmelds in the book, will never see use.

The reality is this book will never see as much use as other sourcebooks because, more than any other, it requires a DM that understands the rules and a player that will not abuse them. One overused Soulmeld or debatably interpreted rule and an entire gaming group can be soured on the entire Incarnum concept. Which is a shame.

If you have this book, give it another chance. Pepper in a few Incarnum feats, maybe an Incarnum spell, to demystify the concept. Then try a prestige class. And if you get good enough, play a Totemist. Fun can be had with this book.

If You Liked This Book…

There is no getting around the similarities between Magic of Incarnum and the Expanded Psionics Handbook . Give it a whirl.

Many of the Totemist Soulmelds enhance natural weapons and natural armour without actually granting either. If you want to explore races that can employ these bonuses, flip through Savage Species .

Date Released: September 2005

Date Reviewed: August 2008

Dungeons & Dragons is at its best when its versatility is streamlined. Savage Species takes most creatures from the first Monster Manual and offers them as playable races.