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Dire, Devilish Deeds (1 of 4): Arcineum Devaneas 1
AAW Games
Thilo G.
[Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 05/15/2015 10:05:29
An Endzeitgeist.com review
This first installment of the Dire Devilish Deeds-saga clocks in at 37 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page ToC, 1 page SRD, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 32 pages of content, so let's take a look!
Now this reviews discusses a module and thus does sport SPOILERS. Potential players should jump to the conclusion.
Still here? Only DMs left?
All right, this module's theme, in the immortal words of Monty Python's flying circus, would be "And now for something completely different." So this module is uncommon in more than one way - first of all, it is for "any level." If you're like me, you'll be thinking "WTF, how is this supposed to work out?" - well, to explain that, I have to discuss the basic premise of this saga. Ever wondered what demigod-powerful adventurers might do once they survive a campaign, kill their foes, etc.? Well, in the case of Olemus Multa and Maaginen Jekku, a drow sorceror and a svirfneblin druid of nigh unprecedented power, the answer is "to engage in philosophical banter on the supremacy of divine or arcane magic." To settle their friendly dispute, they extend (concealing their nature to avoid racial prejudice) a kind of "invitation" to the party - whether via strange shops, aromatic teas or the like, the PCs are drawn into the dispute of the two powerful adventurers. The two individuals have set up demiplane-like gauntlets to test the wits and power of adventurers, with the first one herein being a forest-like maze. Now here's the cincher, though - the PCs won't be fighting in their usual forms, at least, for the most part - archways and the very nature of this gauntlet will transform them into various shapes and e.g. pit them in colobus monkey form versus fiendish dire rats. And yes, that stats are provided.
Now if you're like me, you'll be skeptical here - after all, death thus can become a pretty possible thing; however, the adventurers do not aim to kill people; they can, and will, return dead PCs back to life and word of recall etc. all help making this not an exercise in frustration, even though the enforced polymorphing may rub some players the wrong way. If you manage to get over this initial trepidation, though, the angle of the saga remains a very fresh one. It should also be noted that this transformation is complete - with the notable exception of still allowing for communication between the PCs, it does not allow for magic items, spells, etc. and thus deviates from how such magic usually works - thus breaking essentially how polymorph spells work. So yes, your PCs are stuck in the stats of the creatures they transform into. Reversal does carry over HP and suggests a percentile representation - took 30% damage? So did your regular body. I'm not a fan of this, since it is more time-consuming than it ought to be, but handwaving this shouldn't be too difficult for the DM either. While my first impulse is to complain about that and yes, if you are particular about that, be warned of it, but here, I won't complain. Because this module is pretty much NOT about the combat challenges.
What do I mean by this? Well, this is pretty much closer to Quest for Glory or King's Quest than to similar RPGs. This is essentially a point-and-click-adventure as a module - complete with puzzles. Yes, puzzles - and interesting ones. The first is pretty simple: A floorboard with gems, wherein no gem should cross lines with another one. If this sounds opaque, rest assured that a visual representation of the challenge, also coming with a solution for the DM, makes the puzzle pretty apparent. Now the benefits reaped from its completion help getting the party through the deadly gauntlet.
The second puzzle also has an awesome visual representation - the letter "S" carved into the head of a stone snake, its body leading down to the next letter of the word "serpentine" - now the PCs need to deduce in how many continuous ways the word can be spelled via this contraption. Again, a gorgeous visual representation helps here and provides an edge for the polymorph challenge ahead - transformation into black bears versus lemures.
The next test provides a grid with 5 skull-fields that represent undead foes. 5 noble warriors seek to vanquish them - alas, the undead detect too much life force concentrated on one field. Thus, the tokens for the warriors need to be placed on the field, their steps on their way to the individual undead they are sworn to destroy traced...and all of that without any warrior crossing each other's path. And the PCs SHOULD definitely defeat this puzzle, for the polymorph challenge puts them in the bodies of apes and pits them against HELLHOUNDS. Yeah, without the puzzle's boon, they will require lady luck on their side...
The final puzzle depicted herein would be a field of numbers, ranging from 1 to 9, carved into a tree stump. They need to be arranged in such a way as to make the number in the second row twice that in the first and that in the bottom row three times that in the top row. Now if this puzzle looks impossible at first, one needs to be careful in re-examining the wording here - it does work. And yes, once again we have visual representation of the puzzle and its solutions For the solution, they receive the most benefits so far - and they'll need them - for the final challenge sees them face fiendish giant wasps in the scaly hides of a deinonychus. Each challenge, btw., nets a wooden letter that is part of the final puzzle, the way to leave the gauntlet, which is depicted in Arcineum Devaneas II.
The pdf comes with a gorgeous map of the gauntlet, including a player-friendly version.
Editing and formatting are very good, I noticed no significant glitches. Layout adheres to a beautiful full-color two-column standard and the pdf comes fully bookmarked for your convenience and with ample gorgeous artworks.
Okay, this module will not be for everyone. And it imho requires Part II for a basic conclusion. But know what? I ADORE THIS MODULE.
If you're like me, you've run A LOT of modules, read even more. I've NEVER run a module like this. In the beginning, I said that this was more like "Quest for Glory" than regular modules and there's a reason for this - beyond the ample puzzles provided, each combat essentially is a puzzle. They can be won by brute force and luck, yes, but in the end, the fights require more brains than brawns - this is no "optimize to win"-scenario, it is one that tests the mental prowess of your players. Better yet, the module does not penalize failure in admittedly stacked environments and does not require the completion of the puzzles herein. Their visual handouts render running them very easy and the combat itself is neat as well.
The premise of the narrative set up is fresh as well and what could be considered "shoehorned" actually works superbly thanks to the diverse hooks - one is bound to work for just about any group. Still, one thing remains - the module *does* somewhat cheat - the polymorph-effects work pretty much in non-standard ways here and the rules-rationale for HP-carry-over etc. is clunky at best, the deviation from how polymorph works is jarring - in this regards, the module is far from perfect and requires that you accept the premise.
Now Stephen Yeardley's "Dire, Devilish Deeds" requires an open mind, yes, but it is more fresh wind in design, premise and execution than I've seen in ages. And its unique set-up also means that the instances in which the rules are bent are not there to arbitrarily create difficulty or shoehorn one room/hazard to work (something I LOATHE) or worse, penalize characters by randomly stripping away powers. The change in rules instead exists to propel the narrative and make the basic premise of this array of challenges work - it's not a cop-out, it's a narrative enabler for something that would not have worked in the default frame. Without this change, the whole set-up, the whole story, would not work. If this kind of thing does bug you, please detract a star from my final rating.
If this saga can maintain the level of awesomeness exhibited herein, we'll have an instant classic on our hands. The first module elicited a sense of jamais-vu from me and turned out to be a thoroughly tantalizing trip. This is superb and captivating and while the premise sports some rough edges, if you tackle it as it's intended to, I guarantee that you will not have ever played something like this. This module is a breath of fresh air, a glorious example for the versatility of our system and a rebuke to the claims that only a limited number of playstyles or module-types work within a given system. I adore this module. It is well worth a final verdict of 5 stars + seal of approval and. Now the series imho requires owning at least 2 modules, unless you want to scavenge the puzzles/polymorph challenges, so I'm going to hold off for now regarding declaring this as a candidate for my Top Ten of 2015, but if the other parts hold up, this is exactly what I consider them to be.
If you've been feeling the "been there, done that"-blues, if you want a change of pace, if you want to reward innovation and if you enjoy challenging the smarts of your players, then this should be considered a must-buy module - get it. We need more modules that dare to deviate from the tired old formulas.
Endzeitgeist out.
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Village Backdrop: Edgewood
Raging Swan Press
Thilo G.
[Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 05/15/2015 10:03:39
An Endzeitgeist.com review
This installment of RSP's Village Backdrop-series is 10 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page advertisement, 1 page editorial/ToC, 1 page SRD and 1 page back cover, leaving us with 5 pages of content, so let's take a look at the settlement
Edgewood can pretty much be considered a village akin to Arrowhill - it is a somewhat isolated town, though not excessively so; it lies at the edge of the woods, and it is subject to woes - but yet, this village is completely different. The settlement has the trademark level of detail of the series, sporting a market place, settlement statblock, rumors, naming conventions for villagers and the like, etc. - and its statblock immediately shows a difference from Arrowhill, namely, the status of the village. Unlike the besieged frontier's town, Edgewood mysteriously seems to be impervious to political upheavals, natural disasters, etc. - the village hence has become pretty much wealthy and, in fact idyllic.
Then, there is the ex-paladin, fallen for the murder of 3 people, after transforming exactly ONCE into a werewolf. There is the culling. Every year, 3 people die in bizarre attacks of wild animals, seemingly chosen at random. This culling is what makes up the central angle of this village - a case of "death for you, life for my crop"? An ancient curse? A strange conspiracy? All of these may be possible and certainly, from strange monuments to other theories, quite a few of the individuals herein have their own ideas of what is behind this culling - do the bees, for example, know more? Coincidentally, the local bee keeper seeks to expand into establishing a 13th hive. Not any hive, the 13th. A good supernatural mystery, a good horror story - both have in common that they evoke subtle themes and potential meaning - they must provide a sense of meaning that sends the minds of the investigating players wandering, that makes them put together pieces. This pdf is chock-full with exactly these symbols, these subtle nudges. The pdf's mystery also remains valid due to not one, but multiple sample ideas for the resolution being provided and due to making components like e.g. "resurrecting victims" a concise part of the evoked mystery - the cleric and the revived person actually died soon after...
This is one damn glorious adventure - no, I'm not saying "backdrop" or "supplement" - I'm saying adventure. With 15 minutes of work, any DM worth their game can run this as a tantalizing module full of interesting characters.
Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn't notice any glitches. Layout adheres to RSP's smooth, printer-friendly two-column standard and the pdf comes with full bookmarks as well as a nice map, of which you can, as always, download high-res jpegs on RSP's homepage. The pdf comes in two versions, with one being optimized for screen-use and one to be printed out.
The Village backdrop-series has an insanely high quality-standard. Know what? Mike Welham, one of the designers I expect to always expect nothing short of excellence from, once again perfectly delivers here. I absolutely ADORE this village backdrop. This is a superbly compelling, tantalizing supplement that is suffused with subtle nods that send a creative mind spinning in possibilities - the pdf is subtle and less explicit than most and is infinitely better off for it - whether a strange curse, fey shenanigans, lovecraftian horrors, tainted bloodlines or just planar wagers gone awry, Edgewood supports a vast array of exceedingly awesome storylines. To the point, in fact, where the settlement inspired me to the point where I have to decide which of the countless ideas I'll run with. This is more inspired than most full-blown mystery modules and is ultimately better, more inspiring, than the couple of pages have any right to be.
This is my favorite Village Backdrop so far. It's so inspired, I'm hard-pressed to find words to emphasize how damn good it is, even in a series this devoted to excellence. My final verdict will clock in at 5 stars, + seal of approval and also renders this a candidate for the Top Ten of 2015. I'm not kidding when I'm saying that this is a soothing balm for any DM looking for a perfect, customizable mystery to slightly customize and run.
Endzeitgeist out.
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Encounter Pages III [PFRPG]
Purple Duck Games
Thilo G.
[Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 05/15/2015 10:01:34
An Endzeitgeist.com review
This installment of the Encounter Pages-series has somehow fallen through the virtual cracks of my HD - so let's finally get this review started! The pdf clocks in at 23 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial/ToC (including CRs for the encounters), 2 pages fo SRD, leaving us with 19 pages of content, so let's take a look!
We've all been there - we haven't had time to prepare a module; the shopping trip has become a grind; a wilderness trek has become boring. We know the feeling, when the general mood at the table tilts away from "this is awesome" to "tired/bored" - the easiest way to reassert focus, most of the time, is just sprinkling an encounter in. So this is what this supplement provides.
The encounters themselves do sport a rather interesting set-up - beyond their title, they sport the total EL and XP gained, the environment in which they take place and then go on to describe the general situation, the hook of the encounter, if you will. Beyond the basic hook, each of the encounters sport one or more complications - take e.g. an assault by debt collectors: Complication-wise, the encounter can be modified to sport unresponsive watchmen, downright corrupt ones and even smart lookouts - so yeah, there is some variety herein. The encounters themselves sport, obviously, the statblocks required to run them.
The complications either tend towards complexity or in some cases, represent escalations of how an encounter can be made more challenging. I generally do like these complications, but their execution is not always as refined as I would have liked some plug-and-play-encounters to be - while, for example, the former example of the debt collectors sports functional complications, the ones required for another encounter do require some work. I would have liked the pdf to do for the DM - as far as I've understood the premise, these encounters are intended pretty much as plug-n-play and any work a DM has to do diminishes from the chance of the encounter being used.
In a mine that has broken into the labyrinth of a minotaur, the PCs ought to clear out the dangerous foe. For one, we do not get DCs for Survival regarding the labyrinth, which is somewhat of a missed chance. The complications suggest introducing low CR-traps, but do not specify sample traps -a few lines with a unique one would have been nice here. Now no DM should be pressed hard to just select traps, granted, but still - having them available at one glance would have been nice. A similar point can be brought up regarding another complication, which suggests adding the half-fiend template to the minotaur. Now, once again, I can easily add the half-fiend template to a creature without even consulting the books; at this point, I've done it so often, reverse-engineered so many statblocks with it, that it has become literally no bother for me. At the same time, though, I think at least a micro-statblock with the relevant stats modified would have made the encounter more plug-n-playable, especially since e.g. pyromaniacs based on street thugs do just that. Perhaps provide one or two unique pieces of equipment along the way?
The encounters themselves, by necessity as non-specific as they are, do also sport treasures and suggested rewards that tie in nicely with the overall theme of each encounter - for yes, I think one can speak of themes here: Most encounters tell a short story that can be unearthed by clever PCs. When e.g. an undead flame spirit erupts from a source fire, the PCs can find a cursed staff of fire which proved to be the doom of said wanna-be-thief turned flaming monstrosity. Now handing in the cursed staff to its rightful owner not only yields a better reward, it can also be used to launch new adventures.
When the supplement provides such micro-choices in spite of the obvious limit in which it operates, I very much enjoy it, as it shows the promise of author Derek Blakely. Now while not every encounter reaches this level of coolness, there are stand-out ones herein - take Sardock the paladin, essentially shell-shocked veteran of too many bouts with the darkness, who has developed a Hydeian personality that is an antipaladin: The poor guy has had his magical therapy botched and now, it's up to the PCs to take down the antipaladin - alive, so the righteous man locked within his own body can be saved. I adore plots like that. Ambushes by demonic bar wenches, doppelgängers - yeah, there are some great concepts here as far as encounter-premises go. The statblock builds also sport some interesting choices, like e.g. a babau-possessed aasimar or a death knight that needs to be bested in 1-on-1 combat - at least if your DM is as sadistic as me and uses the complication. ;).
My favorite critter herein, though, would be a unique wood giant who can polymorph those touched into trees -one with faces that can still talk or cast verbal spells, but yeah. That guy is awesome and I really wished we got a whole module from this premise!
Editing and formatting are pretty good, I didn't notice any grievous glitches. Layout adheres to Purple Duck Games' two-column standard and the pdf sports some neat pieces of full-color art. The pdf is fully bookmarked for your convenience.
Derek Blakely knows how to portray some cool set-ups in these encounters and the builds are also pretty solid. I did enjoy this supplement for the small stories told and the diversity of the challenges provided and hope to see more from Derek in the future - the talent is there! In fact, quite a few encounters herein do feel rather inspired - unique, even. At the same time, however, I do feel that this pdf is hampered by the format imposed on it:
The encounters, for one, feel sometimes like they could have used a page or more per encounter to shine - for example, to get back to the first example: The observing thug as a complication, who may report back and get the PCs into trouble - no Stealth DC, no Perception DC to spot. Some encounters could have used sample DCs for non-violent solutions/trains of thought.
And then here's the elephant in the room - the encounters sport no terrain peculiarities; no blazing storms, no obstacles, no ravines etc. A couple of years ago, that probably wouldn't even have caught my attention, but since Raging Swan Press's encounters tend to sport just that level of detail, a level of detail that makes them more memorable in set-up and rules-repercussions, I couldn't help but feel like this pdf did not realize the full potential that's here. A good encounter is equally set-up, participants, complications and backdrop and the backdrop component herein is sketchy - by design, yes, but to an extent where it becomes noticeable. The stories of the encounters and how they are crafted can be considered worthwhile indeed. That component ranged from awesome to ok, but the "miscellaneous component" of encounters falls a bit flat - it's like getting a great dish with some of your favorite spices, but realizing salt and pepper is missing. Mind you, this is not a bad encounter-collection - it is inexpensive and sports some rather cool ideas...but it also falls flat of what it could have easily been. My final verdict, hence, will "only" clock in at 3.5 stars, rounded down to 3 for the purpose of this platform.
Endzeitgeist out.
[3 of 5 Stars!]
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Demon Cults 3: The Cult of Selket
Kobold Press
Thilo G.
[Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 05/14/2015 03:38:08
An Endzeitgeist.com review
This installment of Kobold Press' Demon Cults-series clocks in at 15 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial/ToC, 1 page advertisement, 1 page SRD, leaving us with 11 pages of content, so let's take a look!
So, what is the Cult of Selket? Well, if the gorgeous cover was not enough of an indication, the cult is a kind-of Egyptian-themed cult, wherein the dread assassins of the desert scorpions execute those that dare to violate the divine mandate of Selket's clergy - preferably via poison and a semblance of "divine retribution." The cult's cadre of leaders receives full statblocks - from the deadly current (multiclassed, btw.) leader of the desert scorpions to the eternal guardian (a nasty divine guardian gynosphinx, complete with sample riddles!) to the Daughter of Selket herself, the builds are nice to see and feel a tad more diverse than in previous installments of the series - good!
Now if you've been following my reviews of the series, you may have noticed that I'm a huge fan of the exceedingly numerous and detailed hooks provided, which generally are enough to utilize the cult in question for more than one module and potentially craft a whole campaign from it. This pdf's hooks are no less diverse and intriguing, with the sidebox detailing the cult's workings in Midgard falling in no way behind the great writing of the hooks - but the pdf does go one step beyond: What if your PCs actually work for the cult? Yup, while not as detailed as the massive array of hooks, the pdf actually manages to cover some basic points for the DM and present some concise orientation points. And honestly, I haven't run a campaign like that and would love to. Nice to see this series going the extra mile here!
Speaking of which - we also receive a special kind of CR 5 mummy, which is not only poisonous, but should also offer a nasty surprise if cocky adventurers should try to set it ablaze: Toxic fumes. Yeah, I *like* that. We also get stats for a scorpion swarm and a greater swarm summoning spell. A bracer that can net limited tremorsense and quickly apply poisons and two cool new traits are also part of the deal, as is the vermin subdomain of the animal domain - while I have seen the concept of the vermin-friendly caster implemented via other means, the absence of such a (sub-)domain option is welcome here, though, when compared to even the traits, this constitutes the one piece of crunch I wasn't that intrigued by.
Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn't notice any significant glitches. Layout adheres to a modification of Kobold Press' beautiful 2-column full-color standard, with the borders evoking the theme of the gorgeous front cover. The pdf comes fully bookmarked for your convenience.
Jeff Lee's Cult of Selket brings the series home for me - for the first time, I read a Demon Cult-installment and thought "Yes, I want to run these as is." Whereas the first two installments were certainly good supplements, this one feels just a tad bit more lovingly crafted - from the sample riddles to the builds to the supplemental crunch, almost every component of this cult feels like is has been polished to a shine, with little tidbits added here and there to make the whole thing feel more complete. If you've been doing this whole reviewing shtick as long as I have, you get a sense when a designer goes above and beyond, when heart's blood oozes from the page. This is the case here. You find all those small, optional bits that inspire, that make a difference between a good file and a great one. This is the best Demon Cult-installment so far and well worth of a final verdict of 5 stars + seal of approval.
Endzeitgeist out.
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Pirate Codex
Legendary Games
Thilo G.
[Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 05/14/2015 03:35:41
An Endzeitgeist.com review
This massive supplement clocks in at 34 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page how to use AP-plug-ins, 1 page ToC, 1 page SRD, 2 pages of advertisement, 1 page introduction, leaving us with 26 pages of content, so let's take a look, shall we?
The very first page herein sports a table of thematically fitting characters provided, conveniently linked to d20pfsrd.com within the pdf to bring you directly to their respective statblocks at a simple mouse-click, where applicable. Beyond that, the handy table sports the class/race information as well as the CR for the respective character, with those ranging from the CR 1/4 drunken fisherman to the CR 16 gunslinger (buccaneer).
So, in case you haven't noticed - this is pretty much a statblock book, a massive collection of diverse builds, an expansion for e.g. the NPC Codex with ample characters that fit perfectly the nautical theme - and from Freeport to Razor Coast to Skull and Shackles and Savage Tide, there are A LOT of massive sagas in which one can use these guys. Need an artillerist or cannoneer? In here. And no, not via variations of the same stablock: Cannoneers e.g. use the gunslinger (siege gunner)-build, while the artillerist instead is an expert/fighter multiclass. In case you're wondering, btw. - yes, this supplement is ACG-compatible and sports swashbucklers and shamans amidst the builds it presents.
"But EZG," you say, "We also want non-standard builds!" - well, what about triton sea-witches? A goblin grenadier? Dual-archetyped Barbarian/Gunslinger rum-runners? Perhaps you want to hire an undine watersinger? Yes, there is quite some versatility to be found and even a new weapon, the belaying pin, can be found within these pages. The Slave Pit Master with its multiclass of brawler and maneuver master monk also should be considered pretty interesting and swashbuckler/warpriests of the Red Mantis in all but name (due to closed IP) should be considered pretty cool, and PCs will remember a nasty piece of hippocampus-riding half-elven cavalier...And yes, this is as good a place as any to mention that familiars, animal companions, etc., when available, have also received full statblocks - kudos!
Some of the statblocks come with tactics for the beleaguered DM and while not required for the simpler builds, providing short pointers for the truly time-starved DM would have been the icing on the cake in my book.
Editing and formatting are top-notch, I noticed no significant glitches. Layout adheres to the beautiful 2-column full-color standard of LG's Shull & Shackles plug-ins. The pdf comes fully bookmarked for your convenience and the pdf's artwork is gorgeous full-color, though fans of Legendary Games may known some of the artworks from other publications. It should also be noted that some pages sport some blank space to avoid spreading statblocks over multiple pages - one might complain about that, but I don't - why? Because I'd rather have a book that is easy to use than one that looks perfectly seamless.
Jason Nelson, Matt Goodall and Linda Zayas-Palmer deliver one of the humble, yet incredibly useful books that end up being used a lot here. This codex of NPC-stats is thoroughly humble and still impressive. Fans of the ACG will certainly appreciate the supporting builds that are found herein, while groups that have banned this book still get ample bang for their buck -in my book, this pretty much is an all-win situation. This codex provides just what the time-starved DM needs - statblocks for all those NPCs you don't want to make - for the deckhands and artillerists, the ship-mages and similar supporting cast, leaving all that precious time to properly optimize the nasty BBEG you planned to use as a villain...
Ultimately, the pirate codex is a truly useful, nice book of humble statblocks. While personally, I would have prefered to see more complex statblocks and archetype combos, the overall balance between single-class and multiclass builds is nice and diverse. Having tactics for the more complex of builds would have been nice, but is not required, obviously - personally, I can run them as is without much pondering and for experienced DMs, this is pretty much a plug-and-play NPC-book, but less experienced DMs could probably use some guidance. Now remember that this is pretty much me complaining at a very high level - this is a nice collection of stats and thus, my final verdict will clock in at 5 stars.
Endzeitgeist out.
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Mini-Dungeon #006: Abandoned Shrine
AAW Games
Thilo G.
[Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 05/14/2015 03:34:20
An Endzeitgeist.com review
This pdf clocks in at 2 pages and is a mini-dungeon. This means we get 2 pages content, including a solid map (alas, sans player-friendly version) and all item/monster-stats hyperlinked to d20pfsrd.com's shop and thus, absent from the pdf.
Since this product line's goal is providing short diversions, side-quest dungeons etc., I will not expect mind-shattering revelations, massive plots or particularly smart or detailed depictions, instead tackling the line for what it is. Got that? Great!
This being an adventure-review, the following contains SPOILERS. Potential players may wish to jump to the conclusion.
Still here?
All right!
What formerly was a shrine devoted to a cult of assassins and their foul deity, now hosts an array of nasty gang members and their ogre boss. The complex itself is pretty straightforward and would be rather conservative in its own place. However, blending skeletal champions and remnants of the cult with the new gang-inhabitants makes the dungeon feel interesting and less predictable. A simple haunt and a unique trap as well as modified equip for the hyperlinked stats render the mini-dungeon more diverse than the basic premise would lead you to believe.
Editing and formatting are very good, I noticed no significant glitches. Layout adheres to a beautiful 2-column full-color standard and the pdf comes sans bookmarks, but needs none at this length. Cartography is full color and surprisingly good for such an inexpensive pdf, but there is no key-less version of the map to print out and hand to your players.
Brian Wiborg Mønster delivers an interesting little mini-dungeon, which, on paper, may look none too impressive. In play, the small dungeon felt more dynamic than I would have expected and the brief statblock modification shorthands render this one pretty much plug-and-play-ish, beyond even the other mini-dungeons. Still, this is, concept-wise, slightly less intriguing than similar installments in the series. My final verdict hence will clock in at 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 for the purpose of this platform.
Endzeitgeist out.
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Heroes of the Middle Kingdoms
Purple Duck Games
Thilo G.
[Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 05/13/2015 05:04:20
An Endzeitgeist.com review
The third gazetteer/player's guide for the unique setting of Porphyra clocks in at 65 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial/ToC, 3 pages of SRD, 1 page blank, leaving us with a massive 59 pages of content, so let's take a look!
So, we begin this player's guide with a page of fluffy introduction, sporting a significant sample day in the middle kingdoms - which is a smart choice: Perry Fehr's capability to craft believable vistas is by now well-documented and the customs he describes could have been taken straight out of "The Golden Bough", spliced with some fantastical elements. Moreover, this short paragraph actually makes it possible for you to properly portray the land in a unique manner - with common sayings and customs, this section reminded me of a less gritty homage to the witcher-novels. Indeed, that is not only a minor theme - the humans inhabiting these lands have come from a world somewhat akin to hours (plus magic), wherein non-human races are a matter of myths. This humans have so far enjoyed the new place they have been stranded in and are currently known as athelings - who receive a slight power boost over regular humans: They get +2 to a chosen attribute and +1 Wisdom (and should specify that this can't be stacked - otherwise, we get a bit of a lopsided take; personally, I would have preferred a second +2 and a -2 for streamlining with other races...), +2 to Sense Motive, grant animal companions, familiars etc. +2 to an attribute of their choice, +1/2 level to a chosen Craft or Profession check, +1 skill rank per level and 3 interesting racial traits -one of which nets you +1 to initiative and Stealth checks as long as you don't wear medium/heavy armor or too expensive clothing. Btw.: That one is the only of the atheling traits that misses the "trait bonus" specification - but consider that a minor nitpick here.
The cool Avoodim race, which I've reviewed in the Fehr's Ethnology-series, also is featured here, though weirdly, some bonuses granted by the race no longer are racial bonuses and now are untyped. On the plus-side, some of the traits had their wording slightly streamlined and expanded in their usefulness. A new ethnicity provided herein would be the Geralites, archon-blooded aasimar that count as both humans and outsiders - which is cool, granted. Alas, there is the issue of reviving them - can they revived as easily as humans or do they require the increased resources that reviving outsiders usually takes? They receive +2 to Con and Wis, darkvision, +2 to Sense Motive and Intimidate and may cast continual flame 1/day. Apart from the resurrection hiccup, a neat variant! The traits are nice, with none of them sporting an issue beyond some not specifying the "trait" bonus type.
Now the second main species of the middle kingdoms would be the psionic catfolk called Qi'tar, also first presented in the Fehr's Ethnology-series - and nice aga6in, we have slight improvements - the unique, unarmed slash-n-grab attack now provides proper clarification regarding the interaction with monk attacks - were I to nitpick it, I'd say that it should specify that the attack counts as an armed attack and thus does not provoke AoOs, but that much and the fact that it behaves like a natural attack make that pretty much clear. Now if you're like me and liked the concept of the Qi'tar, you might enjoy the new variant provided herein, the Qi'tar known as "The Silent Ones" - these receive +2 to Dex, -1 to saves vs. illusions and enchantments, +2 to saves vs. transmutation and necromancy (spells and effects, I presume), may reroll a save once per day, get +2 to Bluff, Diplomacy and Sense Motive, proficiency in a weapon of choice and the aforementioned savage attack, which, alas, oddly is lacking the monk-interaction caveat. So far for the races - now let's dive into the place for good, shall we?
The Middle Kingdoms, fully mapped in awesome full-color, are depicted in full detail -and form plenty of massive options for just about any type of gameplay; times are a-changin' and as corruption and dissent spread, revolution is in the air and rigid old world clashes with a desire for change to reflect the new world - but what if the status quo, at least when compared to quite a few fantasy worlds out there, actually isn't that bad? well, then we have interesting topics of change versus stagnation - with the codionic knights and their taboos being also detailed in interesting ways. The settlements, fully depicted, make use of more than the basic statblocks - indeed, they are quoting Skortched Urf' Studios' settlement types and provide more means of making settlements distinct and unique. Now not only do we receive a cool plethora of settlements with full settlement statblocks, no, they ALSO sport, once again, copious amounts of in-game prose that is just as inspired as the one that introduced us to the middle kingdoms in the first place. Want to know how great this prose is? What about an epic poem/song that introduces us to Nachtburg (btw. a correct name! For once, not a butchered German settlement name! YEAH!)? Last Sunday, I sang that song by proxy as a bard, so yes - it does work out - kudos! Another settlement sports excerpts from the Fourth Code and know what - there are modifications and changes of the respective settlement statblocks, modified for specific uses, herein, rendering the settlements even more unique. Even within this whole series, wherein the write-ups have been pretty much inspired, this whole chapter blew me away - from a massive necropolis to the unique settlements, these places just feel alive and provide more fodder adventuring potential than you probably require -take e.g. the circle of wit-puzzlers, where people use magic and minds to challenge another with riddles, of which no less than 12 sample ones are provided - yes, glorious.
Now I'm also a big fan of the status-mechanics used in Midgard and this supplement provides something similar - orders and knights with associated fees, minimum level requirements and tangible bonuses associated with them - not only that, but said orders provide tangible, significant rules-benefits. While surely not suitable for every campaign, the very concept is damn intriguing and I certainly hope to see more of the like in the future - it makes sense and mirrors well the medieval sentiment of a god-given right regarding exceptional people and the nobility. Public servants and priests in equal parts, the 10-level Sanctae Credon PrC offers d8, 4+Int skills per level 1/2 BAB and will-save progression and 8/10 spellcasting progression as well as full channel energy progression. The PrC, as shepherds of the people, constantly increase the range of channel energy, which, while powerful, can in practice turn out to be a double-edged sword (and hence can be considered powerful, but still manageable). They also receive leadership bonuses, stipends and options to use the silver keys that are part of their office as slot-less scarabs of golembane - oh, and at the capstone, they become essentially the pope for the chosen deity, who may excommunicate other clerics and strip them of their power. And yes, the PrC has more going for it - but quite frankly, I love it. When Perry Fehr works carefully, he can create awesomeness and this one pretty much feels like a capital P prestige class, one that can perfectly be fitted in within the context of hierarchical beliefs and one that definitely should be considered one of the more flavorful PrC options out there. The capstone alone immediately made me come up with a massive campaign idea focusing on intrigue, subterfuge and the battle for the title. Oh, and yes, sample character included.
The codionic knight archetype for the paladin are slightly more martially-inclined, emphasizing the protection of others and receiving bonus feats in lieu of mercies as well as an aura of menace - a simple, yet flavorful archetype - I like it, though on the nitpicky side, one ability that obviously is SP from the text (even specifically saying "as a spell-like ability") is declared as Su. On the plus-side, they do receive a cool sample character. The equally simple conscript fighter archetype is solid, but beyond minor skill/feat options, they do not offer that much and have one rules-set that can be exploited - they receive automatic proficiency with all weapons they start the game with - you know what that means - let's buy all those exotic weapons you can! Granted, this will not break the game, but some limit would probably have been appreciated. The flagellant cleric archetype gets proficiency with whips and spiked chains and do not wear quilting, increasing their armor check penalty (and they have an armor-limitation) - but they change their channel energy progression AND receive DR et al and even a barbarian's rage - but only the vanilla rage and they pay for this bonus with one domain. The Holy Fool archetype is intended for the BARD, not the cleric, as the pdf, specifies, and can be seen as a pious bard. Solid, though it does have some very minor hiccups in the rules-language. The Psychocenturion is another such simple, yet flavorful modification of the base class and the same could be said about the Rememberer druid, who is tasked with remembering the home world once lost and thus focuses less on an ecosystem, but more on history and the transcendence of magic, with a focus more on the domain chosen. Now fans of dragonlance and e.g. Dragon Age may also enjoy the flavor of the sanctioned wizard, an officially sanctioned caster of magic that pays for the increase in prestige with taboos - nice, especially since the archetype is free-form enough to tailor it to just about any culture. Like it! Speaking of which - there is an archetype that deals with sorcerors by attaching a magical shackle to them, forever condemning them to servitude to their master. Silent Brothers are silent monks that are hard to faze and get a debuff resistance. Turnsleeves are honest people by day, nondetection-using rogues by night.
The reliquary bloodline is all themed around items (fitting, since its theme is the stewardship of a benevolent or malevolent item) - a thematically awesome bloodline, which does sport some issues - the idea of a bonded relic that does not fail or can't be moved unless you will it, for example, is pretty cool, but the bloodline fails to specify how such a bond can be created. Three solid sample inquisitions are also provided. It should be noted that each of the copious archetypes mentioned above comes with a sample NPC. Over all, this chapter provided flavorful archetypes, which, while not reinventing the wheel, provide interesting, cool options - but also suffer from mostly cosmetic deviations from the default rules-language - while not problematic to the point where it would make RAI ambiguous, I still wished these components had seen a little bit ore polish - not much, mind you - they are all functional.
The book provides an array of feats - which range from "interesting" to "okay" up to "not perfect" -Using Knowledge (religion) in lieu of Intimidate to intimidate evil creatures would be one example, whereas once per day doubling of the number of creatures in your psionic collective feels like very situational, but in said situations, slightly too powerful. It's a matter of taste and campaign, though - I just wished it had a more conservative scaling mechanism and more uses per day instead to make it more viable in the long run. Once per round immediate action aid another actions also can be considered rather powerful for certain builds, but also interesting. Gaining an extra ring slot is also within the realm of possibility. Where there are Qi'tar, there also are new psionic powers - one power allows you to redirect AoOs to adjacent creatures - which is cool. However, the augment makes me believe it ought to discharge, which the power itself does not specify. On the other hand, powers that provide interaction with mass-combat and armies? Heck yeah, pretty cool! Overall, these powers are pretty neat.
Of course, new spells can be found as well - though e.g. the aspect of the horse has some issues - immunity to fatigue for a second level spell feels excessive. That being said, simpler and faster ceremonies and a brand that makes a target count as evil, at least temporarily, is pretty nasty and offers quite a bunch of roleplaying potential - but can also potentially make paladins et al. even more versatile and powerful. Other mark variants for temporary alignment modification also can be found and further enhance the theme of the marks and the problematic topic if scapegoats. The coolest spell herein, though, would be one that reflexively delays the effect of damage-dealing spells or SPs after saves have been rolled - once the duration elapses, the effect hits you with maximized force and no, you can't avoid the hit. Yeah, this is pretty awesome, as are the mechanically pretty conservative spells that emulate UMD - here, the details make them interesting - the divine version requires a church warrant, the arcane one consumes a holy symbol. Love that!
Now, we also receive exceedingly immersion-enhancing mundane items and a significant array of magical items, extending from weaponized pitchforks to artifacts, which contain exceedingly lethal tools once used to enslave the qi'tar as well as the digits (or yes, appendix!) of long-gone saint to oliphant's horns, the artifacts are pretty evocative and fit the themes of the middle kingdoms perfectly. Now I should mention another thing, something most player's gudies fail to do, but what helps immensely when indirectly characterizing a given region - lists upon lists of available good, all neatly collected for your perusal, with weapons sporting stats, good sporting Craft DCs etc. - beyond atmosphere, these are exceedingly convenient.
Editing and formatting are pretty good, but not perfect - while generally, both the formal criteria and rules-language are functional, especially the rules-language could have used some polishing to get rid of the numerous none-standard wordings herein. While this would usually elicit my usual complaint-tirades, this supplement is pretty much unique in the fact that apart from the very scarce exception, the language still retains full functionality, in spite of its liberal handling of rules-semantics. Layout adheres to a printer-friendly two-column standard and the pdf sports both nice full-color artworks and full-color cartography. the pdf also comes with excessive bookmarks for your convenience.
So, this is pretty much the best player's guide I've read in quite a while. Perry Fehr and Mark Gedak have a storyteller's gift and his talent of making believable, organic settings and cultures bespeaks a mind basking in possibilities. While this region of Porphyra is relatively "normal", conservative even, it sports all the tidbits that make such a region come alive and feel distinct - in fact, when compared to just about any quasi-medieval chivalry/religion-themed examples I've read in alternate history settings etc., this guide blows its competition out of the water. I've read MANY such supplements and none managed to elicit this level of immersion. The crunch, with its high-concept emphasis on supplementing a realistic, believable society also enforces this. At the same time, the crunch, though, does sport an array of deviations from rules-language defaults - almost never to the extent of being problematic, but still - the impression I got was one of a supplement that "sweats the small stuff" - to the point where, would this be only a crunch-centric book, this would have crashed down to 3 stars, perhaps lower.
But within the context of world-building this awesome, I couldn't bring myself to bashing this book for what is functional, in the end. Still, I really, really would have loved this book to go the extra mile and purge the rules-language deviations.
I *love* this supplement. I was grinning from ear to ear while reading this and even as a scavenging box, this supplement is downright inspired and can be used to make one's setting come to life, to add this added level of detail and great concepts. The simple, yet very flavorful archetypes, the way in which conflicts between the divine and arcane, between the law and tradition and the changing times - how all of this is set up is just gorgeous, creative and fun. Were it for only the ideas herein, the world-building, I'd be recommending this in the highest tones. Alas, the small glitches, while not bad on their own, simply kept on accumulating - to the point where I can't recommend this book as highly as I'd like to - if proper rules-language and -syntax is important to you, this book will make you cringe and hence, I can't rate this 5 stars. If not, though, then you'll find inspiration galore within these pages. My final verdict will hence clock in at 4 stars - but this is one is good enough to be one of the rare examples, where I will still slap my seal of approval on this book - the ideas and world-building are simply too good.
Endzeitgeist out.
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Village Backdrop: Arrowhill
Raging Swan Press
Thilo G.
[Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 05/13/2015 05:02:15
An Endzeitgeist.com review
This installment of RSP's Village Backdrop-series is 10 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page advertisement, 1 page editorial/ToC, 1 page SRD and 1 page back cover, leaving us with 5 pages of content, so let's take a look at the settlement
Arrowhill is a frontier's community - isolated near vast forests, it is not a first-generation frontier's town. In fact, its very name is a constant reminder of the past -on the village's hill, the forest's last dire bear fell, pierced by arrows, rendering the village relatively safe...until, one fine day no longer than 13 months thereafter, the serpent reared its head - a half-elven druid who demands cruel, but predictable tribute, has even since watched over the community, keeping it safe from the dangers of the wild, but at a steep price...
Arrowhil, on the formal level, sports all the trademarks of the series - from a village statblock to a marketplace-section, notable locations and folk and information on villager dress, nomenclature and mannerisms, there is a lot to be found herein. Now the adventure-potential of this installment could seem like it is pretty much standard at first glance - nature vs. culture, right?
Well, depending on your tastes, the issue may be another - from apothecaries brewing love potions for unknown targets to the grumbling dissent against the politics of the harsh mayor to the strange, changed behavior patterns of the serpent and the increasingly erratic demands, a sense of palpable paranoia and distrust cloaks the village - oh, and yes, I could spoil what's going on, but where's the fun in that? Let's just say that neither the boring ole' cliché, nor some obvious, ritualistic-looking red herrings really amount to the truth. The dynamic of the village is rather pronounced and the copious components and details can be easily used to further complicate the basic plotline.
Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn't notice any glitches. Layout adheres to RSP's smooth, printer-friendly two-column standard and the pdf comes with full bookmarks as well as a nice map, of which you can, as always, download high-res jpegs on RSP's homepage. The pdf comes in two versions, with one being optimized for screen-use and one to be printed out.
Mike Kimmel's Arrowhill is a concise, believable settlement that pretty much presents one of the most tired stories imaginable, one that has been done hundreds of times. Only, it doesn't -in a pretty clever twist, quoting the cliché is used as a red herring. While this supplement does not bring a twist to the narrative that I have not seen before,, the sheer number of little details, red herrings and potential for the DM to expand the plot-line can make this village's issues actually unique. All in all, I enjoyed arrowhill much more than I expected to, considering the premise and it is definitely more clever than many similar takes on the tropes evoked - a fine candidate for a final verdict of 5 stars.
Endzeitgeist out.
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Vathak Grimoires: Echoes of the Final Heartbeat
Fat Goblin Games
Thilo G.
[Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 05/13/2015 05:00:08
An Endzeitgeist.com review
The second Vathak Grimoire clocks in at 10 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page ToC, 1/2 a page blank, 1 page SRD, leaving us with 5.5 pages of content, so let's take a look!
The Echoes of the Final Heartbeat, firstly, would be a new, dread grimoire - and one that has a more evocative and distinct (and more detailed) fluff-introduction than the first installment of the series, with the grimoire's grim origin story providing a first and rather interesting hint at the things to come - written in blood to the point of complete self-destruction, this tome indeed is the dread testament of its creator. So, can the spells herein stand up to this grim legacy?
Before we take a look, you should be aware of the layout and formatting of the spells being significantly superior to the last installment, with a better presentation overall - kudos! Now onwards to the spells:
-Bloodletting Blade: +1 bleed damage with weapon, stacks with itself, but not other bleed damage inflicted. Pretty cool and since bleed usually does not stack, one can conceivably assume that the stacking damage supersedes the regular bleed from other sources once it has surpassed its potency. I would have prefered to see that explicitly stated, but that is me being a nitpicker.
-Bloodhungry Haze: This one is confused - it conjures forth a haze of vapor that drains the damage of the creatures within - I really like this. However, the damage does not work - this is a 5th level spell and it specifies it scales the 1d6 bleed damage up by +1d6 per caster level, up to 4d6. So how do you cast 5th level spells without being 4th level? Oo Worse, the spell once specifies that it deals CON-damage. 4d6 ?? WUT? That's quite possibly insta-kill for many characters! Plus, it's BLEED. Öh, something went wrong here. This spell obviously went through some revision that has not been properly implemented. The concept is cool, but as written, this is ridiculously broken and needs some refinement.
-Bloodsoaked Soil: Exceedingly powerful, high-level terrain-control spell that provides negative levels when crossing affected squares and doubles as a buff for undead. I really love the imagery here and the benefits are significant,. but requiring a save per affected square feels like it can bog down gameplay rather nastily - I'd advise for an increased DC when crossing multiple squares in one round instead, with each square making the DC harder. Just my 2 cents, of course!
-Feast on the Fallen: Gain fast healing depending on the amount of creatures dying or suffering from bleed damage in the area. Cool!
-Life Siphon: Minor debuff to foes, receive half hit points as healing of the damage the target receives. Nice one.
-Soulshackle Curse: Level 9 Curse that allows you to shackle someone to his/her body upon death, forcing the target to become an intelligent undead, who ahs a hard time resisting your control. True names make it more potent. Cool!
-Temporary Animate Dead: Animation of recently deceased foes for 1 round/level. Weird, but interesting lesser version of undead animation...oh, and it allows targets to be revived. Nice when your fighter-meat-shield bit the dust and you don't have the funds for a proper resurrection.
-Unholy Blood: When the target is hit by the right damage-types for sufficient damage, sprays of negative-energy-infused blood hit the foes.
-Vampling's Demise: Add Vampling's Death Throes ability to target. Requires access to the vampling creature.
The pdf also provides the new Siphoning Spell metamagic feat. At +2 levels, these spells net you spell level temporary hit points for every creature injured by the spell, equal to the unmodified spell level, capping at + your maximum HP temporary hit points. Powerful when fighting mooks, but the +2 spell levels are hard to swallow - which is good, for otherwise, this would be broken. Still, I wished this had its effect not determined by the number of creatures affected, but that's a design-aesthetic gripe and will not influence the final verdict.
The pdf closes with the fully-depicted stats for the eponymous level 18 necromancer grimoire, including a backlash boon that allows for reflexive negative energy damage when your blood is spilled.
Editing and formatting are much better than in the first Vathak Grimoire - the presentation is more concise and apart from one spell, I noticed no significant glitches. Layout adheres to a gorgeous two-column full-color standard with glorious full-color art. The pdf comes fully bookmarked.
Jacob Trier gets almost everything right -while I would have preferred slightly more fluff, the spells herein are concise, cover gaps in the rules and generally provide a concise array of magic centered on the topic of blood and mortality, without delving too deep into the themes of vampirism. I've seen a lot of the concepts of this grimoire before, granted, but the overall execution of every component is a step up for the series. While not perfect in every way, this constitutes a definite step forward for the product line - My final verdict will clock in at 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 for the evocative concepts of the spells.
Endzeitgeist out.
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Little Red Goblin Games
Thilo G.
[Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 05/12/2015 03:44:41
An Endzeitgeist.com review
This supplement clocks in at a massive 65 pages of content, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page SRD, 2 pages blank, leaving us with 60 pages of content, so let's take a look!
Wait, one note before that - this pdf comes with a second version that provides a 2-page layout, but for the purpose of page-count, I opted for the one-page version. Got that? All right!
So this book kicks off with a definition of what "gonzo" is - in short, it is an experiment in testing out the malleability of pathfinder, of providing weird ideas, in being somewhat bonkers. It also aims to retain the functionality of the system and maintaining enjoyment for everyone - hence also the first chapter, which defines a core aesthetic for the campaign and provides some rather sound advice for DMs - not only when using this book. Fun fact - the very first example of what this book is about is actually something I ran - a massive 80s-metal-inspired dungeon crawl with Blue Öyster Cult's "Veteran of the Psychic Wars" in the background - theme and music conspire to make the game more immersive. Other sound advice herein pertains the "anything 20/1"-concept, which translates to awesome successes...and failures at tasks - and why not? I've been using exactly this in quite a few of my games for great effect. Gestalting is also touched upon (no WuXia sans monk-gestalt, righto?), as is the importance of terrain. The one thing I'd disagree on would be the "few and easy names" - then again, I have a private board for my group, including an ever-growing compendium of names, places and factoids.
The first new base-class herein would be the Craven - these guys get full BAB-progression, d10, 2+Int-modifier, good fort-saves and all proficiencies - a martial class in the traditional sense. The class, however, also is an expert-appraiser and suffers from its greed - the craven has a hard time turning down bribes and consuming valuable objects. Optional physical change, which include money-signs in the eyes and the like can also be added for an extra-level of weird. Mechanically, the craven can sacrifice up to his class level in gold to add a similar amount to the weapon damage roll of a single attack. At later levels, each such attack also spawns a wooden coin (a so-called discount token), which can be used as a substitute gold piece to power craven abilities.
Beyond that, he may consume gold by flinging it as deadly weapons at adversaries (scaling in level, btw.), eat it to heal himself (thankfully with a scaling, daily cap) and of course, receives quite a bunch of fitting enhancements regarding the acquisition of money - from the illegal to the legal venues. Higher level cravens can prevents death by paying hefty fees. The capstone nets him the midas touch and an array of talents allow for solid customization options that include using discount tokens gained. The class also sports platinum as a material for weapons etc. and certain class features interact with this precious material. Whether or not you like the craven very much depends on whether you as a DM wish to have very tight control over WBL - the craven can literally eat a party's funds and requires a cooperative group; conversely, in campaigns with an abundance of funds, the craven's commerce-enhancing abilities can prove to be too powerful; the balancing via gold just begs to be abused like crazy, with both healing and damage bonuses being ultimately less expensive than via similar one-use items. I get that, it's kind of the premise of this class, but it does render this class very experimental Other than that, his mechanics are rather solid and, when handled with care, this guy can work as a pretty interesting, cool addition to a given group.
Next up would be the 10-level PrC Living Bomb: d8, 2+Int, 3rd level arcane spells prereq, 3/4 BAB-progression, 1/2 fort and will-save progression, 7/10th spellcasting progression, d8 HD. The Living Bomb gets a class feature that is indeed odd - they can combust spontaneously character-level times, dealing damage die in fire damage -equal to the HD used to power the explosion. A barbarian 1/wizard 5/living bomb 2 may for example use the class feature 8 times per day. Now each explosion is tracked separately and also adds the Int-modifier to damage- 1d12 barb 1/day, 1d6 wiz 5/day, 1d8 Living Bomb 2/day. Got that? Well, the more PrC-levels you have the more dice you add - at 3rd level and every odd level thereafter, the amount of damage dice available for each of the explosions is increased by +1. I like this ability and generally, its wording is very concise - though I still had to read the ability 3 times to properly get it - a terminology for the explosion die etc. would have helped here, but that's not my gripe with this one. The ability takes a standard action and isn't that powerful. However, it is a readied omni-evasion: "The living bomb is also reduced to dust as if by disintegrate. At the start of the living bomb's next turn if he is alive he reforms and is staggered for 1 round." This allows you to avoid just about anything with it - dragon's breath, etc. And this would be too strong, wouldn't it also eat the readied action. Also, technically, the reference to disintegrate is wrong here - the living bomb only takes a few hit points (minimum, btw.) damage and does not take the massive damage assocaited with disintegrate. Technically, when you are disintegrated, you also are dead, which clearly does not apply to the Living Bomb, so while the ability is clear in its intent and mostly concise, it could have been slightly clearer still.
Now what's rather interesting is that the combustion leaves the living bomb staggered - and the energy build up is not strictly voluntarily. Indeed, these guys receive eruption points by using Empower Spell or by being subject to crits. Upon surpassing a threshold, they explode (painfully, I might add), unless they release the pressure before. Other than this, the living bomb is a specialist of making the most of Empower Spell - not only do the class specializations potentially get rid of the level-increase, they can also significantly increase the potency of the metamagic feat. Additionally, higher level living bombs may elect to deal cold damage with explosions, draw others closer with spontaneous implosions and add spontaneous combustion effects to creatures reduced to 0 HP (sans the whole disintegrate-thingy). Shaping the blast is also possible at the cost of power and mundane enhancements for disabling devices and creating alchemical explosives are also covered by the PrC.
The Living Bomb is very complex in its mechanics and if you haven't noticed by now - the AoE-potential of these guys is SICK. A properly made character with this PrC is DEADLY - not per se due to the explosion/implosion tricks (though the chain reaction can be the ultimate mook-sweeper), but rather due to the Empower Spell-increase in potency. Now granted, 3 levels of spellcasting is a hefty fee, but I still maintain that you should be very careful about allowing this guy - the PrC is not per se broken, but it CAN be broken and provide some very nasty war-mage AoE-sweepers. On the other hand, it allows for an actually unique character concept/build far beyond what most PrCs can accomplish. So yeah - impressive, but, like the titular explosives, living bombs need to be handled with care.
D8, 3/4 BAB-progression, 2+Int skills, good will-saves and simple weapon/light armor proficiency - the mime base class does not, at first, look too impressive. Mimes also loose progressively the ability to create sound - later, they do not produce any and can even extend their silence to objects touched. Perhaps that's my own thing, but I suddenly see creepy mime-serial-killers making an appearance in my campaign... This communication breakdown allows mimes to communicate surprisingly fast and well with their charades...a benefit that does not extend to other PCs. At 2nd level, the mime receives character level + cha-mod masquerade points, which constitute the resource of the class.
They also choose a masquerade, with an additional one being unlocked at 5th level and every 4 levels thereafter. Each masquerade unlocks e.g. new class skills or proficiencies to be added, bonus feats and often, enabling tricks that help other characters - the rogue-inspired masquerade, for example, can increase the damage of other characters in a sneak attack-y manner. The interesting thing here is that the effects all deviate rather significantly from just copying the base class - which is the awesome part. Now where things get really odd is with neutral energy - mimes can channel the utterly absurd neutral energy - it provides temporary hit points and using it requires an odd gesture or the like as a swift action. If this gesture is repeated by an affected creature, the creature is healed for this amount. If not, the creature instead takes damage equal to the amount of temporary hit points left. This AoE-swift-action-control trickery can be significantly more interesting in play than on paper - especially if you're using a lot of 3pp classes that utilize swift actions. Now where I have an issue would be the peculiarities of the wording and scaling of the ability - regarding wording, temporary hit points usually are not "destroyed" and a couple of strange rules-semantics choices made the ability more opaque than it ought to be. Secondly, the amount of temporary hit points is equal to the Performance bonus of the mime - and we all know how easily skills can be blown through the roof. Why not adhere to a more linear scaling of e.g. twice the ranks +3 for the class skill bonus? Would prevent undue escalation...then again, seeing this book, undue escalation may exactly be the intent here, seeing how the capstone also uses the total perform bonus...
For added complexity, mimes may at later levels combine multiple of these masquerades at once.
Mimes also receive a significant array of talents to choose from for further customization options. Walls of force can also be created, alas without specifying the action required. Temporarily duplicating combat feats in action is also pretty awesome, especially seeing how later levels do not require the mime to meet the prereq...
The Mime was a surprise -IRL, I do not like them. Other people consider clowns creepy, I always considered mimes worse. They give me the heebie-jeebies. This class, though, can be one of the most hilarious enabler-classes you can imagine - from the charade to the mocking, enabling tricks, a mime is a fun addition to a given table, alas also one that could have used slightly better streamlining in some abilities and rules semantics.
At d10, 4+Int, full BAB-progression and good ref-saves as well as uncommon weapon proficiencies, the next base class, the Punk, is in one word, awesome. Indeed, mechanically, the class may be one of the best choices for gestalting and certain high-flair concepts - why? Because these guys are melee-centric, yes - but their focus is very much on the vertical: They are masters at moving out of range after attacking, can expertly launch themselves into the air and deliver devastating attacks from above. They also learn significant parcours-tricks and can combine them with their fighting style and increasing base speed into a surprisingly fun class - oh yes, tagging, bonuses versus lawful outsiders etc. are all part of the deal, but even if you loathe the fluff, you actually get one awesome, mobile melee class here that can pull off unique stunts - like air-juggling foes, leaving impact craters when crashing down, etc. Even if you strip away the delightful fluff, this class pretty much makes for an awesome mobile fighter addition, including remaining in the air for short bursts - in game, this made Devil May Cry-style antics rather easy and played exceedingly well. This class is awesome and my only gripes would be some minor rules language hiccups - when an ability that only allows for attacks from above, for example, specifies " The punk may only make an attack delivered after
falling or jumping from a higher surface.", that may easily be misconstrued as a terrible restriction, when it pertains only "such an" attack, a "gravity gain" attack. Conversely, while it is clear that the ability means to say that the punk can execute an attack after falling on a foe, provided he has the action to do so, the pdf does not explicitly state this, rendering action economy slightly more opaque than it out to be. Conversely, the ability to launch 5 foot into the air on a successful attack should provide the caveat that this is not a 5-foot-step and that it does not provoke AoOs - the interaction here did cause some initial confusion at my table. Still, seriously, try this one - it can be exceedingly fun to play and provide "See what I did there"-moments. Two thumbs up, my favorite class from LRGG so far!
The penultimate base-class herein has the most badass illustration I've seen in ages (full color, more than one page viking/black-metal dude with a guitar that deserves being called a weapon...) and receives d10, 2+int, full BAB-progression, good will-saves and may utilize instruments, a bunch of which are provided, as weapons. A rockstar's message increases in potency from cosmetic to significant and they may use perform in lieu of a skill, depending on their genre, with possibilities being pretty much endless. Someone has clearly been playing Brutal legend, for, as a standard action, rock stars may deal sonic damage to everything around them - via two abilities, rock-out and solo. Both look pretty much identical at first, but the combination possibilities with other class abilities differ - planning the two becomes important later in the class when the sequence of abilities used in a combat changes the benefits granted.
They may also substitute their perform check for AC as an immediate action while wielding an instrument - generally not a fan of this since it leads to minmaxing the skill and competing throws - personally, after some quick math, I'll houserule that as a fixed value of 15 +Perform ranks + 3 + cha-mod for faster combat and less enticement to min-max the skill. The class also receives talents that allow the rockstar to essentially become larger than life and yes, the class also features a kind of second form with the stage persona and the capstone (how could it be any other song? "The Show Must Go On")allows the rockstar to pretty much ignore all impediments but total annihilation to continue playing - just because he's lost both arms does not mean he can't play the guitar anymore. Kudos to anyone who got that Metalocalypse-reference and groaned. What can I say - I've played brütal legend thrice, am a goth and metalhead...how can I not like this class? The rockstar is solid, versatile and cool - I just wished he had a bit more exclusive talents, but I guess we can't have it all.
The final class herein would be the Toon, aka "Who framed Roger Rabbit?" - the class. Toons get d10, 2+int skills, full BAB-progression, good will-saves and AC/CMB-bonuses that scale up to +5. Proificency-wise, they are proficient with all simple and improvised weapons, but with no armors. The toon may prestidigitate at will...and should. Why? Because the resource that powers his antics is laughter - by spending this resource, he can do all the Warner Brothers tricks you can fathom and do the impossible - however, pointing this out actually requires the toon to spend more laughter. The toon also becomes more and more like a caricature and can take ridiculous high falls. Also cool would be the gutterspace - whether its deep pockets or something similar, a toon can bring forth the oddest of items - with a chance of instead getting something rather odd. Other than that, an array of combat feats etc. make sure he can dish out nasty damage. Solid one, though the resilience factor of toons could have used more representation - as written, the class is pretty squishy.
The supplemental feats for the classes contain the obligatory +x limited resource class ability-array as well as e.g. more control for rock outs, options to stun devils in musical contests or reduce the speed of foes instead of dealing damage via rock out or solo. Pretty solid.
Editing and formatting, on a formal level, are very good. Considering the imaginative, unconventional mechanics herein, the rules-language is also much more concise than what I've seen in "easier" mechanics. Layout adheres to, as mentioned, a 1 or 2-page standard and the pdfs come fully bookmarked for your convenience. The artworks are mostly in full color, original and awesome.
Scott Gladstein, Thomas Lee Hornyak Jr, Christos Gurd, Dayton Johnson, Caleb Alysworth, Jeremiah Zerby - gentlemen, the acclaim Gonzo has received is pretty much well deserved. This is, indeed, at least in my book, the most refined Little Red Goblin Game-pdf I've reviewed. The rules-language with its eclectic concepts and innovative twists on the rules does not lazily recombine existing pieces, instead opting for something new with each and every class - and I love it for that.
At the same time, though, some of the classes herein can turn pretty problematic - the Craven in the context of WBL-deviations and the Living Bomb in particular can work superbly for some games, while being utterly broken in others, so careful consideration is in order here. Now at least partially, that's a system-inherent issue, granted, but it does remain one.
Now the surprise of this book would be the Punk-class - I expected to hate it and instead love it to death, with a fitting reskin, this becomes in a fixture in my games and in the context of WuXia et. al, this will work just as well and might constitute a great alternative to monk-gestalting. Indeed, I'd seriously consider this class one of the best gestalt-options I've seen in a while. So yeah, people, I love this!
Now granted, I am biased towards the Rockstar and adore the concept, but kept on wishing its interaction and sequential gameplay reached the level of complexity supported by Interjection Games-composition magic - I will probably make a crossover class at one point. Nothing wrong here, mind you, just me preferring things a bit less straightforward...and the class essentially already has the sequential nature built in, so that shouldn't be too much of an issue.
So all's fine and dandy? No, there are, as mentioned above, several minor issues in the rules-semantics that weigh heavily when used with the more complex of options herein - but then again, I honestly prefer innovation over perfection.
And there is the layout. The font used, a typewriter-style old-school font, makes reading this book harder than it ought to be...and it cheats. The font has no italicization/bolding and while class abilities are red and blocky and easy to distinguish, the lack of italicization for spells etc. has been excruciatingly annoying for me. It makes reading so much slower and required more concentration to read the class abilities - there is a reason for the formatting convention and this flaunts them. Especially when providing complex concepts like this book does, the nonstandard layout and formatting can make understanding some abilities harder than it ought to be.
So yeah, there you have it - the thing is disliked most was the font. The rules-issues, where present, still leave the RAI pretty much obvious. Now that being said, if you want an easy, quick conventional book, then this is not for you - this book is one of the most experimental books I've seen for PFRPG and I applaud its guts!
Do I recommend this? Heck yeah! Even if you just are looking for abilities and ideas to scavenge, this provides both in ample spades. While not every class is for every game, just about all of them could be reskinned to some extent and introduced to most settings and a distinct joy is evident on the pages - plus, I really enjoy the fact that none of the classes took the easy way out. Not one class herein could be mistaken for another class or archetype - they are resoundingly distinct.
No, this is not perfect or for everyone, but it is an exceedingly fun, innovative book - and while its font, glitches and slight balance-concerns here and there prevent me from rating this the full five stars. In fact, were I to rate pdfs only on their formal properties and not also for the benefits of their imagination, this would probably fare less well - Gonzo is pretty much a a diamond that still needs to be polished. I'll still settle for a final verdict of 4 stars - while I firmly believe that the concepts herein deserve my seal of approval, the execution of the complex mechanics sports a tad bit too many hiccups for that and, depending on your personal preferences, you may consider the blemishes that are there to be more serious than I did. When adapting these classes for your game, you will probably need to do some minor tweaking here and there - at least I'd suggest doing so.
Still, in the end, I'll take courage and innovation over retreading anytime and I encourage you to reward the designers for the unmitigated joy that oozes from these pages, for the high-concept ideas, by checking this out...
Now excuse me, I have a certain Devil May Cry-style class to reskin for the upcoming Hell's Rebels AP...
Endzeitgeist out.
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Underworld Races: Vestraadi
AAW Games
Thilo G.
[Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 05/12/2015 03:41:48
An Endzeitgeist.com review
This installment of the Underworld Races-series clocks in at 19 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page ToC, 1 page SRD, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 14 pages of content, so let's take a look!
As has become the tradition with this series, we open with the extensive history of cataclysmic events that have shaped the unique underworld of Aventyr before we delve into the unique fluff and description of the new race featured herein - now those fleshy tendrils on the sides of Oxolotls, the ones that make them look a bit like Mudkips? Now think of a white, humanoid, massive creature with those things all over the body, a slightly lopsided, sickle-shaped head and three-fingered, multi-digit hands and you have the nightmare fuel that is the appearance of the mysterious vestraadi. And yes, I am not going to spoil the few tidbits about them shared herein in the racial history - mainly because there is more mechanical ground to cover than in just about any Underworld race-book so far.
Vestraadi receive +4 to Wis, +2 to Con, -2 Cha, are aberrations, have a land speed of 20 ft. and a swim speed of 30 ft. blindsight 40 ft in water, 5 ft on land, scent, are constantly under detect poison, have a cold resistance 5, can breathe air and water, always treat Stealth and Perception as class skills - and they are Blind. As such, they may be immune to gaze attacks and sight-based illusions, but also are susceptible to sound-based effects and illusions due to their acute hearing. Now usually, I'd be complaining about the +4 Wis here - but unless you use the following rules, the vestraadi only receive +2 here.
What rules? Well, fans of daredevil may be familiar with the sonar idea - well, that's exactly how the vestraadi see the world. Unless suppressed, they constantly ping their environments, thus perceiving other vestraadi and their environments (though they can suppress this for hiding etc.) - this has a range of 240 ft. - moving objects are harder to fix - the vestraadi can designate character level + Wis-mod to automatically identify. Whenever a vestraadi's turn hits, the aberration may detect creatures in 30 ft range with a Perception-check versus 10 + size modifier + Stealth-check or the object's attribute modifier (e.g. Str-mod for thrown weapons) - the vestraadi gains blindsense against such targets, but on a 1, something goes wrong. As a swift action, a vestraadi may make a second such roll at +2 to Perception against targets he can blindsense - if successful, they are treated as being seen via blindsight until the beginning of the vestraadi's next turn. Against objects not so perceived, the vestraadi is treated as flat-footed, with the range increasing over the levels. The higher the level of the vestraadi, the more additional effects are added - from detect magic at 5th level to arcane sight at 20th level. The downside is apparent - the detect-effects may knock them out as per the default rules of the spells, so that constitutes a design flaw in my book. Soooo...this looks clunky, doesn't it? Lot of rolling? Complex? Yeah, it honestly kind of is - however, at the same time, I playtested this system and in the hands of a capable player, the delay is minimal - and renders the playing experience utterly unique - the vestraadi play like no other race I've ever played or DM'd for - they at once are superb in the perceptions and utterly sucky. They are truly unique and I applaud the race for making this work!
The FCOs of the Vestraadi are interesting -from granting mounts swim speeds to some dark tapestry-ish themed options, the feel well-balanced and partially even innovative. From corals that help scent-based navigation to slime that makes weapons harder to disarm, the mundane items are neat.
Racial feats include 3+Wis-mod rounds discern lies, detecting diseases, +4 dodge versus attacks not perceived via sonar, +1 AC versus attacks perceived by it, nigh perfect sound mimicry or significantly boosted intimidate-effects - unique bonuses and thankfully none that render the whole raison d'être of the race ad absurdum. The magic items provided, which include a bow that allows the wielder to project his perception to the point of impact, greasing boots and deadly whips, can be generally considered well-crafted and unique as well - but relatively powerful.
Now among the spells, I am not sold - an immunity-ignoring 2nd level charm, for example, is not gonna happen in my game, with the same holding true for the even worse greater version. A level 4/5 AoE spell that deals CL x d8, max 10d8 30 ft. burst damage AND decreases movement in the area by 20 ft AND penalizes ranged attacks by -8 is too much. A spell that weaponizes the tendrils on their bodies also does not work as intended and generates utter confusion - they make autonomous AoOs as if they had Combat Reflexes - but what if you have the feat? Do they stack? Do you have to perceive the targets? Can both you and your tendrils execute an AOO versus the same target? If your tendrils drop a foe prone, can you execute an AoO against him? This spell is a mess.
Finally, we are introduced to the Vestraadi Argus racial paragon class - at 5 levels, these watchers receive +3 BAB, fort and ref-saves, + will-saves and increase their sonar range by up to 100 ft. The class nets d8, 4+Int skills and proficiency with the whip. The class also increases scent-range, provides for limited perception-rerolls, 3+wis-mod deathwatch and arcane sight per day and later can see through solid material, even metal up to a certain thickness. The capstone also nets 3/day true seeing. An okay watchman-class, I guess.
Editing and formatting are good, I noticed no significant glitches beyond the minor bolding issues. Layout adheres to AAW Games' two-column full-color standard for the Underworld Races-series and the pdf comes fully bookmarked and with copious amounts of gorgeous, original full-color artwork.
The Vestraadi are one of the most innovative races I've seen for Pathfinder - I have literally never seen a race attempt anything like it and that makes it inherently awesome to some extent to me. Mike Myler's sonar mechanics are honestly much better than I expected them to be and in playtest, the vestraadi played utterly, stunningly unique - literally a different experience from ANY race out there. Now yes, a player must REALLY know the perception, scent, blindsense and blindsight-rules by hard, otherwise it bogs down gameplay...but if that is ensured, these guys rock incredibly hard.
While I LOATHE the detect effects, their overloads also need to be addressed and some of the supplemental content, quite frankly, requires a nerfing/rebalancing. However, I still urge you to check this out - it is the most unique race I've seen in ages and when cleaned up, it has the potential to become one of my all-time favorites - consider this a seal-of-approval-in-waiting. As provided, the pdf is still flawed. And yes, the paragon PrC isn't *that* impressive beyond being the ultimate detector. But still - the vestraadi are a glorious race that, once this pdf's rough edges have been polished off, will take their place as one of my all-time favorites. And yes, I'm going to scavenge the hell out of the sonar (daredevil ninjas, anyone?), replace the detect effects with something more to my liking...and cackle with glee. It should also be noted, that a fellow, blind gamer was involved in the creation of the sonar-rules and quite frankly, I really, really like how this mechanic provides a totally unique experience that deserves to be added to one's game.
I'm postponing the verdict. Why? Because, quite frankly, with the flaws, I should rate this down to 3. I can't. I love it too much. I have always rewarded imaginative creativity over mechanical perfection and thus, my final verdict will clock in at 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.
Endzeitgeist out.
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Path of Shadows
Ascension Games, LLC
Thilo G.
[Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 05/09/2015 05:42:57
An Endzeitgeist.com review
This freshman offering of Ascension Games clocks in at 81 pages, 1 page front cover, 2 pages of editorial, 1 page ToC, 1 page SRD, 1 page back cover, leaving us with a massive 75 pages of content, so let's take a look, shall we?
Disclaimer: This book went up in my review-queue do to me receiving a dead tree copy and not having to print everything out. My review's verdict was in no way influenced by receiving this copy.
Ah, shadow magic - scarcely a concept in 3.X has been so prominent and yet so utterly ill-defined and mechanically sucky. Thankfully, 3pps have a knack for singling out such systems and then developing them -take a look at Radiance House's Pact Magic, Interjection Games' Truenaming or Dreamscarred Press' Akashic Mysteries, for examples. In the meanwhile, Interjection Games has provided us with two classes, which, in theme, oscillate between light and darkness, the edgewalker and the antipodist, but that's it, to my knowledge. One massive issue of the original shadowmagic was its exceedingly restrictive nature and the balancing just...well. Not working, at all.
So can this pdf remedy this much maligned, but utterly stylish power-source? The pdf kicks off with a massive introduction, including explanations for the reference abbreviations used and then dives into the Nightblade base class - the nightblade receives d8, 6+Int skills, proficiency with simple weapons, longsword, scythe, rapier, short sword, shortbow and spiked chain and light armors, but not shields. Shields and armor heavier than light incurs arcane spell failure chances. Nightblades also receive spontaneous spellcasting via Charisma of up to 6th level, drawn from their own spell-list. The class also receives 3/4 BAB-progression and good ref- and will-saves. Evasion is gained at second level and this level also provides access to the so-called shadow surge - this is an expendable resource that can be gained as a standard action that provokes attacks of opportunity. Several nightblade abilities require the expenditure of a shadow surge - think of it as the class's analog of the psionic focus. with the additional caveat that a nightblade may expend shadow surges to reroll Stealth checks - for actually competent sneaking. At 8th and 17th level, the nightblade can store +1 surge, so that's a deviation from psionic focus. Abilities like increasing darkvision (with worthwhile alternate benefits if you already have it!), hide in plain sight at 8th level (where I can stomach it!) and yes, dimension door hopping - with caveats for feat-qualification etc. High level nightblades may see perfectly in the dark and when they cast shadow conjurations etc., they increase the real component of their shadows.
At 3rd level, the nightblade receives a nightblade art, +1 every three levels thereafter - think of these as the nightblade's talents; when applicable, the save scales via the plus half level + cha-mod-formula. Now while you can get combat and metamagic feats via these talents, they actually provide very unique benefits for the discerning gamer -benefits that significantly deviate from rogue talents etc. and help enforce a unique identity - while effects like full speed stealth plus miss chance upgrade for concealment gained from darkness to total concealment-levels, increases to touch attack AC and higher level options to expend shadow surges to attack against touch AC would pretty much all be options I'd somewhat expect a shadow-themed character to be able to pull off. On paper, attacking versus touch attack by expending shadow surges may look pretty nasty, but the 1/round limit imposed by action economy and the need to regain shadow surges means that this option is powerful, but thanks to the level-prereq and the requirement for set-up, in game actually worked rather well. It should be noted that tank-y creatures, dragons and similar creatures with bad touch ACs should take heed around nightblades, but that is something that is just as true for magi and similar characters, so no balance complaints there.
However, beyond these more conservative ones, there are some talents that can be considered ambitious from a mechanical point of view: Take force teleporting foes or shifting shadow/darkness-related spells from target to target - these are not simply concepts to translate into crunch, much less crunch that is concise enough to withstand my nitpicking of terminology and looking for loop-holes. Kudos where kudos are due - I consider tackling such complex options in a freshman offering, with this level of competence, nonetheless, an impressive feat!
Obviously, now, the defining feature of shadow magic back in the day was the structure of paths, which required some planning, yes, but also provided a feeling of organic development. Nightblades must select a path at 1st level - but within each path techniques loom: One is gained at first level, one at 5th and every 5 levels thereafter -these can be likened to the linear gain of order or bloodline abilities. They are also more than just the addition of techniques - each path comes with a path power, modifies the shadow surge to sport additional options AND modifies the list of available nightblade arts by adding exclusive arts to the list available, providing an element of player agenda that is absent from the linear ability progressions of cavaliers, sorcerors etc.. So yes, the choice of one of the 5 paths is the most important one for the nightblade and radically changes the way in which the given classes play - this extends to the point where the paths offer a more distinct variety in playing experience than most archetypes offer over the base classes they modify. It should also be noted that e.g. path powers scale in their potency and the paths also determine the capstone ability gained.
So what are the paths about? The path of the Bloodied Chain offers the option to conjure forth umbral shackles that entangle creatures, while also adding fear-based effects at higher levels - i.e. you receive some rather powerful and unique terrain-control options. The theme of fear-based debuffs also is represented in the shadow surge ability, which allows you to extend the fear-based conditions on your adversaries. This and the fear-themed techniques gained render this path a good friend to Dreamscarred Press's Dread-class; in my playtests, the two worked together as a nasty double-team that could actually offset the lack of a primary melee class. And no, I do not consider this one to be broken, though combining the dread's immunity-breaker with the nightblade proved to be very efficient. It should also be noted that intimidate can cause full-blown "frightened" as a condition for this path. The exclusive arts here provide for some awesome visuals - beyond detecting fear, adding bleed damage to the umbral chains at 9th level or centering the chains on the nightblade, rendering the effect mobile at 15th level.
The second path, the path of the darkened fortress, can be likened to shadow magic's kind-of-but-not-really magus, blended with duelist-tricks: For example, weapons can be conjured forth and enhanced with special abilities, but they remain shadowy. The shadow surge can be used as an immediate action for a significant self-buff that starts as being applied only to a single attack (GOOD!) and then scales up to lasting a turn at 10th level. The path abilities net you arcane bond, but with a variant - both object and familiar-choices can be blended with your form - which can be rather significant in the context of infiltrations. The path also helps with the crafting of magic items, allowing the nightblade to ignore progressing amounts of spell prerequisites. Fortification-style effects are also part of the deal and high level nightblades with this path receive their own pocket dimension in the plane of shadows. The arts available allow for the extension of weapon qualities and also sport e.g. the option to enhance the bonded object/familiar with unique benefits. Extending the ability to create shadow armament to ranged and dual weapons should also be considered pretty interesting, especially since the latter (one playtest candidate, btw.) sport a balancing mechanic that is simple, yet efficient.
The path of eternal night provides you with a means of creating a short-range energy vortex of negative energy that may not heal, but frighten undead. The shadow surge use here requires a standard action to enforce a reroll of a d20, but can only target a creature once per 24 hours. The path abilities of this rather sinister path allows the nightblade to destroy creatures that are dying and use them to power himself - think of it as a powerful, death knell like effect. This ability would be very strong, especially since the action economy scales and goes down from standard action to swift action - however, the smart choice of a daily limite rendered this a viable ability in game. Interesting would be an immunity not gained by most classes - the path renders immune to negative energy damage, which renders these folks exceedingly effective at killing hostile clerics - interesting! The path also sports an option to make a foe's shadow rise up against the adversary. The arts allow for additional means of enhancing corruption, with e.g. damage upon leaving the aura etc. All in all, an interesting path as well.
The path of the ravaging void gets a very interesting path power, which allows you to change the energy type of energy spells - which is pretty much an awesome trick and though it extends to supernatural abilities, the wording covers those. So far, this has been pretty much a homerun, but alas, the shadow surge herein imho can require a more distinct scaling mechanism - the shadow surge is a ranged touch attack with a range of 30 ft. that deals 1d6 cold damage, +1d6 per 2 levels +cha-mod. While the damage itself is not impressive when thinking about the fact how shadow surges etc. eat actions, the scaling feels a bit off still - perhaps I'm spoiled by Interjection Games' ethermagic, but as far as warlock-y blasts go, this, while not bad or broken due to the limited range, could have imho used some more versatility. The path techniques provide elemental resistances and allow you to suffuse your elemental spells with shadow energy, adding debuff effect insults to the elemental injury - I really like this idea-wise! Now where things become very interesting would be the option to expend spell-slots to duplicate elemental energy damage dealing spells, which, however, only remain partially real. A handy table spares you making calculations or the like, so kudos. All in all, this can be considered the battle mage among the paths, with severe distortion effects that play well with damage-casters and psionics.
The final path would be the path of the twilight veil and I LOVE the path power - based on HD of the target, the spatial distortions caused by the shadows can provide devastating debuffs to the target creatures and 2nd level nightblades of this path can additionally turn invisible via shadow surges. Where the ravaging void is the sledgehammer, the twilight veil would be the scalpel - several illusion-themed techniques and arts allow for serious customization of illusion tricks. Furthermore, the power-enhancing arts are pretty cool here, allowing you to affect creatures usually immune to your distortions. This is kind of the oddball, the one among the paths that imho requires the most investment, but in the hands of a capable player, it may very well be the most rewarding - the exceedingly nasty distortion power can cover somewhat the terrain control and the almost unlimited invisibility are powerful indeed when handled correctly. Why am I not shrieking for the nerfbat? Easy - the invisibility can't be stacked/prolonged, keeping the character from staying out of sight ALL the time. Still, this enables a nasty guerilla style gameplay that has found its fans at my table. The class also sports FCOs for aasimar, dhampir, drow, fetchling, tiefling, wayang and core races.
The next chapter is devoted to a plethora of archetypes and new class options with shadow magic, obviously, as a unifying theme. Alchemists can e.g. modify their body to benefit from the nightblade's enhanced concealment efficiency or craft bombs that duplicate effects of darkness and better sight etc. are part of the deal. There is also an antipaladin who receives a potent, scaling aura of darkness that allows himself and his allies to see through the, later damaging blackness. Barbarians can choose from two totem power trees (and an unaligned one), wherein an already existing bite is enhanced or add str-damage to her attacks while also receiving defenses versus certain conditions. Both have in common that they require certain build types and enhance them and both, to me, feel a bit on the strong end - dice increase + crit x3 for a bite via one rage power is a tad bit too nasty in my book, especially seeing how this also nets full Str-bonus when using bites in conjunction with other natural attacks...And yes, I do have such a claw/bite-barbarian in my game and if they do not need one thing, then it's a way to deal even more damage...
Shadow priests channeling darkness instead of regular energy, bloodragers with a new custom bloodline, anti-disease lunar guardian druids - all pretty solid. The stygian striker magus can be envisioned as the nightblade crossover - less frontlines, for skirmishing (with evasion etc. and modified saves to back this up) and the monk archetype provided is also one that should be considered relatively solid, with ki allowing for more flurry attacks. Oracles can suffer from a curse that makes people forget them and choose a new mystery, while paladins can opt to channel light to dispel and suppress all those nasty effects. Rogues may wilder in nightblade arts and shamans may choose the new darkness spirit.
Nightblades, thankfully, also can join the archetype-fun: Caster/summon-themed Dark Conjurors, a more martially-inclined one (thankfully with path restriction to avoid warlock-y abuse),a rogue-crossover with sneak attack et. al and an infiltration-specialist can also be found. Finally, there is an archetype that pays for the access to two paths at once with a crippled progression of the shadow surges, paying for an increased array of options with less on-the-fly-flexibility and spells.
Fans of shadow-themed races like fetchlings and wayangs may enjoy the feat-section particularly - there are quite a few racial feats for them to set them apart, with generally a fitting theme of shadows, darkness-enhancing, etc. - modifying a summon-list's half-celestial/fiendish creatures to instead be shadow creatures would be an example here. Overall, these feats felt solid, but didn't blow me away per se. Good craftsmanship.
The spell-chapter does provide a cool rules-clarification for spells utilizing the shadow of the caster and provide, obviously, a significant means of providing shadow/light-control. Interesting for other classes - there are spells herein which interact with e.g. shadow surges, making the latter not just an isolated class feature. Interesting would be terrain control spells to confine targets in e.g. areas of darkness, while shadowy wings that can also be used to attack foes and furthermore, allows for channeling 1/cast - nasty and versatile, but I like it. From the ageing capstone, there are other interesting effects - for example, a complex spell which alters an illusion to allow for the execution of quasi-real attacks via the infusion of shadow stuff - as such area attacks, attacks, energy etc. are covered with unique benefits. There are also lunar prophecies or the option to conjure forth the all-consuming maw of the nightwave. Ways to suppress extraordinary senses would also be an interesting move for spells. However, there also are minor modifications/improved versions, like e.g. a darkness/cold-based variant of flaming sphere. Shadow-based necromancy spell-duplication is also covered, as are chaotic overlaps between planes. I also like the concise definition of shadow length for attacks on a shadow, which reflects its damage to the origin of the caster. A new spell-class to summon evil, horrific creatures also can be found herein. There is also a highly complex class of spells that allows for the conjuration of umbral servants for the nightblades, which essentially act on their own after a nightblade's turn -these are fun, allowing e.g. a called magician to freely apply metamagic to certain spells cast close to it, etc.
The final chapter provides ample new magical weapon/armor qualities and specific items - with artworks depicting them that are downright inspired and rank among the best such I have ever seen in any given supplement - WOW. The twilight reaver scythe looks so badass, I just NEED to show this picture to my players, even without knowing that it's a +2 cold iron keen greater umbral scythe that allows for surge storage on crits...
The pdf also sports a handy two-page index and artist-credits.
Editing and formatting are excellent - I noticed no significant issues while reading this - none. The 2-column full-color layout used in this book is GORGEOUS. I mean it. This is one of the most beautiful roleplaying book I've seen any 3pp produce, an impression also underlined by the GLORIOUS original full-color artwork by Jasmine Mackey, Bryon Oshihiro, Danielle Sands, Al Savell, Nicoleta Stavarache and Trevor Verges - the artworks, from vistas to spells to characters adhere to a glorious style that is uniform and concise. I am not engaging in hyperbole when I'm saying that this book, in visual, aesthetic quality, could have been a Paizo-book. It's that beautiful. The pdf comes fully bookmarked for your convenience, but I'd sincerely advise you to get this in print - unlike quite a few PODs, there is no big chance of an errata invalidating this book. This book looks better than quite a few kickstarted books I could name. Yes, THAT beautiful.
What a furious first offering! This is quite frankly the best first offering of crunch I've seen a novice designer produce in ages. Last year saw plenty of adventures of newcomers providing an extremely high quality, but new crunch tends to require most designers some time to get right. Well, this is Ascension Games' first product and it does NOT require any leniency on my part. Author (and layout/editor!) Christopher Moore seems to not only be able to edit his own texts, quite a feat, imho, he also provides a level of professionalism with regards to rules-language one sees scarcely, almost never among novices. The language is so precise, it can be considered on par with the errata'd, good Paizo-books. Beyond that, this pdf offered a level of system-mastery and a level of awareness of obscurer rules I quite frankly almost never get to see. While I have some personal gripes against one component or another herein, none really hold up on a professional level and boil down to personal preferences; number-wise, including extensive playtests, this book held up admiringly well. Few books can claim to withstand this level of deep scrutiny to such an extent, especially considering the level of interaction with obscure and complex elements among the design elements. I was positively surprised to see all of this - but where the book shines most is with the material that takes chances and provides things to do that no other spell or system can achieve - it is the unique effects, which stand out and while I absolutely adore the coverage of just about anything one could ask for in sucha context, I still would have loved to see even more of the inspired, unique effects that can be found herein.
Remember, this is just me being an utterly spoiled bastard of a reviewer - this book is, without engaging in hyperbole, up to the level of crunch-mastery exhibited usually only by established, experienced crunch-masters and blends this with production-values out of this world, visually more on par with Paizo than what you'd expect from a 3pp, much less a new one sans a KS providing the funds. This is a hugely impressive book that catapulted Ascension Games to the landscape of my table and to my radar; I can't help but be excited about the things to come and more such supplements and I certainly hope we'll see more material for the Nightblade - the class is inspired and fun and clearly, its potential is not yet tapped. My final verdict will clock in at 5 stars + seal of approval, given without the slightest hesitation, falling short of becoming a candidate for my top ten of 2015 only by a tiny margin. Still, this is thoroughly, exceedingly, impressive. Congratulations to the Ascension Games-team - you have impressed a jaded reviewer.
Endzeitgeist out.
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Vathak Grimoires: The Drowning Ceremony
Fat Goblin Games
Thilo G.
[Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 05/09/2015 05:36:21
An Endzeitgeist.com review
This supplement clocks in at 11 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page ToC, 1 page SRD, leaving us with 7 pages of content, so what do we get here?
Well, we get a brief fluffy introduction and then, the content provided within the dread pages of the eponymous grimoire, which doubles as a depicted level 15 universalist spell book. As a preparation ritual, the caster can elect to take wisdom damage to gain +2 caster level checks per damage taken.
So, what can the unique spells do?
-Accelerate recovery: Reduce the number of rounds a negative condition measured in rounds lasts. Simple, fun, awesome.
-Erosion: Massive damage versus stone, damage versus earth elementals and similar creatures
-Drowning Gaze: High-level spell that allows for a gaze that inflicts drowning while focused on a character. Powerful, but okay at this level.
-Hydrophilia: This spell must be cast in sight of a body of water, which then proceeds to attract the target - go into the water... Like it.
-Stinging Water: Scorching ray-clone that deals 1d6 less damage, but inflicts 1 point of con-damage instead, which can be negated with a save. Should specify the damage type it inflicts; Untyped is too strong. Bludgeoning would be the default, I think. Other than that, I'm fine with this.
-Summon Void Parasites: Has a layout glitch that puts the header at the very bottom of the previous page; summons a rot grub swarm reskinned towards being an outsider...which would generally be a cool idea. HOWEVER, outsiders have different racial traits etc. than vermin, so just slapping the outsider-type on a rot grub swarm does NOT work. We need stats, which renders this...nonfunctional.
-Temporal Surge: Okay, this spell has a good idea - it allows you to perform additional actions and makes you take damage for them, which scales up fast and hard. The spell also gets it right to prevent means of evading the damage. The thing is - the spell-level, even at level 6, is too low for the number of creatures it affects and the damage is ridiculously low - you can outheal this with cohorts...easily. Note that this spell breaks the action economy for potentially a whole adventurer party, acting as a huge amplifier in power. The idea is good, the execution not bad, but oh boy, this spell is very, very broken. Even as a personal spell, it would be too strong, arguably in certain situations, it is stronger than time stop. This thing needs to be torn down and redesigned from the ground up.
-Tentacle Growth: Has a layout glitch that puts the header at the very bottom of the previous page; Grants you slots for holding items and also provides a reflexive disarm.
-Throes of Terror: Level 8 spell that lets you burst into outsider tick swarms (same stat-complaint as above applies) with disease quality. Your body reforms when you've drained enough Con to equal your own score. Cool idea!
-Toxic Breath: 30 ft.-cone of insanity mist. Solid, but bland.
The pdf also sports two new feats - Flux Spell, which adds +2 spell levels and allows you to roll numerical effects (but not saves or opposed rolls) twice. The second one would be Molting Spell - at +1 spell level, this one is pretty cool: It increases the numerical effects of a multi-round spanning spell by +50% in the first round, but reduces them to the normal level for half the duration thereafter, then decreasing the effects by 50%, mirroring a theme of degenerating power in rules. I do love this concept, though the wording could be slightly more concise - the intent is clear and the feat functional, though.
Editing and formatting are good on a formal level, though the aforementioned layout-hiccups with spell-names are annoying. Layout adheres to a gorgeous two-column full-color standard and the pdf comes fully bookmarked for your convenience. The full-color artworks provided are awesome, as we've come to expect from fat Goblin Games.
Jason Keeley's Drowning Ceremony is an interesting offering - some of the spells herein are pretty awesome, inspired even and the general concept of the series is cool. However, at the same time, there are massive balance-concerns with one spell that pretty much redefines BROKEN, some spells feel a bit filler-ish...and honestly, this supplement left me a bit disappointed - why? Because we don't actually get the drowning ceremony. We get a spellbook and crunch, but a good grimoire, in my book (haha), requires more. With a name and concept this evocative, where is the awesome, dark background story, the lore-checks to research it, where is the slow corruption that comes from using it? The theme and topic are so evocative, but apart from an all-too-brief introduction, the book, to me, remained less of an unique entity, more like a series of thematically-linked crunch. Especially in the context of horror, it is not the mechanics that work alone - the fluff is of tantamount importance and here, this is the second flaw of this pdf; I honestly believe that LESS spells (kill the uninspired variants...), but some unique fluff instead would have really helped this book come into its own. As provided, this remains the quintessential mixed bag, falling short of its awesome premise. Don't get me wrong, this isn't bad, but it could have easily been awesome. My final verdict will clock in at 2.5 stars, rounded up to 3, because the good concepts do deserve to be acknowledged..
Endzeitgeist out.
[3 of 5 Stars!]
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Genius Adventures: Night of the Starbird
Rogue Genius Games
Thilo G.
[Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 05/08/2015 12:21:57
An Endzeitgeist.com review
This Genius Adventure clocks in at 29 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page advertisement, 1 page editorial, 1 page SRD, leaving us with 25 pages of content - quite a bunch, so let's take a look!
This being an adventure module, the following contains SPOILERS. Potential players should jump to the conclusion.
All right, still here? Even in the remotest of locations, PCs have a propensity for trouble - and so, they happen upon a complex devoted to the Astronix, a being or deity sacred to many an avian race, and not on any day, but on the most sacred of nights, the Night of the Starbird. Why is this important? well, for once, the legends speak of this entity being in charge of keeping the stars in the skies - oh, and yes, massive treasure, of course, accompanies this. Now here one has to know about the massive knowledge of author Stan! regarding Japanese and Eastern mythology -and indeed, the fully provided myth of the Astronix is depicted in a detail and way that rings TRUE; as many of you may know, studying and analyzing mythology and its resonant themes ranks among my many hobbies and the Astronix's myth qualifies as believable, organic by the hard standards I have, so yeah - kudos for that.
It should also be noticed that, while this module features Tengu, the respective characters with their fly speeds deviate consciously from PFRPG's standard for the race in an endeavor to bring them closer to the mythological roots of the race and build on the atmosphere of the module - it is one such tengu on the trails of the Astronix, separated from the rest of his expedition force, who now crashes down in front of the PCs, wrestling with a gargoyle in mortal combat. Once the creature has been dispatched, the tengu (or the notebook on his corpse) can provide the clues for the exceedingly well-hidden door to the dungeon crawl that makes up the main meat of the module:
And indeed, the module breathes an interesting spirit - the guardian gargoyles are nigh-unkillable, courtesy of the eternal-template and after the perilous climb, dungeon-exploration follows - but in a dungeon especially designed for avian folk - the vertical dimension is pretty well integrated into the module. Indeed, from murals to doors, the level of detail provided, often with rules-relevant DCs to glean more information or interact, are rather massive.
Indeed, the writing here and its implications reach a level of coolness seldom seen in any module - and the challenges the PCs will face not only sport this depth, but also resonate with the mythi in uncommon challenges - what about e.g. symbolically helping Astronix to sweep the stars in place while the ever emboldened mythical phoenix tries to fry them? Indeed, from an artifact orrery that also doubles as a kind of hazard/puzzle to arrogant aellar honor guards, the challenges are diverse - literally every encounter has at least one unique component, not only in crunch, but also in fluff - what about e.g. all turning black - while also getting rid of the floor?
What has this to do with the tengu mentioned before? Well, turns out that the tengu are anything but faithful of Stronix, with the leader/sorceror seeking to transplant his mind into the semi-divine mythical being - so let's hope the PCs choose the right side in the chaos and manage to prevent the villain's step-by-step ritual; 5 move actions - a hard timer to beat, even for capable groups!
The ending, in either way, breathes the spirit of myths - whether the PCs will have to face a deadly CR 15 mythical being with the mind of a foe or just witness the rise of the avian entity, perhaps as the first non-winged folk, the climax still has my players talking - quite impressive for such an inexpensive module!
Editing and formatting are very good, I noticed no significant glitches. Layout adheres to a printer-friendly two-column standard and the pdf's cartography is solid. The maps do not come with extra player-friendly versions, which constitutes a detriment in my book. The module comes fully bookmarked for your convenience.
Stan! is an industry-legend and if you want to know why, read this. I'm not kidding when I'm saying that this module can be considered a superb offering for any group with even the slightest inclination towards an old-school feeling of the mythical, the strange - this module can be seen as an homage to the way in which Eastern mythology is crafted and to the old-school - all while also featuring a level of detail one usually only sees in Raging Swan Press modules (Sights and sounds? Yup. Tactics? Yup. DCs and details galore? Yup.).
Where RSP's modules usually are subdued and feel very much kind-of-realistic, this one breathes the spirit you'd expect from high-fantasy Japanese fantasy in the traditional sense; not the subdued horror of Kwaidan, but rather the blaring glory in the traditions of the myths of e.g. Amaterasu and Susano-o. This module is high concept in all the right ways and constitutes one of those glorious surprises - my only complaints would have been that this module would have benefited from vertical maps, but with the extent of detail provided, a DM can truly bring these FANTASTIC vistas to life - and no, the module does not require an Eastern backdrop to unfold all of its glory - the beautiful thing about myths like the one PCs can partake herein would be the universality they exhibit. They resound. They touch. Their images stay wish you.
This is a beautiful module and the exceedingly fair price offsets the missing maps for me. This is a glorious module and well worth 5 stars + seal of approval - get this awesome little module.
Endzeitgeist out.
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Mini-Dungeon #005: The Soularium
AAW Games
Thilo G.
[Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 05/08/2015 12:17:21
An Endzeitgeist.com review
This pdf clocks in at 2 pages and is a mini-dungeon. This means we get 2 pages content, including a solid map (alas, sans player-friendly version) and all item/monster-stats hyperlinked to d20pfsrd.com's shop and thus, absent from the pdf.
Since this product line's goal is providing short diversions, side-quest dungeons etc., I will not expect mind-shattering revelations, massive plots or particularly smart or detailed depictions, instead tackling the line for what it is. Got that? Great!
This being an adventure-review, the following contains SPOILERS. Potential players may wish to jump to the conclusion.
Still here?
All right!
The Soularium is pretty uncommon in that it does not represent a classic dungeon, but rather a cult's dread operation disguised as a charity - what at first looks like a benevolent organization, quickly turns out to be the soul harvesting operation of a nasty quasit and his faithful cult - including and alignment seeing statue and pretty concise defenses - conceivably well--crafted for such a small module and sporting actual traps and the like herein.
Editing and formatting are very good, I noticed no significant glitches. Layout adheres to a beautiful 2-column full-color standard and the pdf comes sans bookmarks, but needs none at this length. Cartography is full color and surprisingly good for such an inexpensive pdf, but there is no key-less version of the map to print out and hand to your players. Stats, as mentioned above, obviously are hyperlinked to the SRD.
Rory Toma's Soularium is an interesting, fun sidetrek with cool defenses, nice ideas and a solid cartography to boot. There is not much to complain about here - hence, my final verdict will clock in at 5 stars.
Endzeitgeist out.
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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