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Real Scroll 4: Gear Barrage (Pathfinder RPG)
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 06/20/2014 03:28:31

An Endzeitgeist.com review

And now for something completely different - today I'll take a look at Kobold Press' Real Scroll-series, which portrays one spell per installment in a lavish, hand-crafted calligraphy.

Each of these pdf is 4 pages long - 1 page front cover, 1 page SRD/editorial, 1 page regular text of the spell and 1 page for the real scroll calligraphy version of the spell.

These reviews are not about content - they are about aesthetics and as such, much more so than my regular reviews, I invite you, the reader, to take these as just that - my personal preference and opinion regarding these. Got that?

Great! It should be noted, that the scrolls don't contain arcane gibberish, strange runes or glyphs or the like - they contain the spell's description and rules, rendered in lavish calligraphy - and that's it. whether these are worth it for you as a customer depends very much on how excited you can get about beautiful calligraphy, here rendered by Kathy Barker.

4 is all about Gear Barrage, with a lot of swirly, brown lines at the top and bottom of the spell, each of the brown lines ending in a turquoise dot and spirals adhering to a similar schematic denoting the respective lines of the mechanical information for the spell.. The spell's title is the star here - with turquoise letters and brown borders of said letters, the title is just a beauty to look at. The borders of the scroll this time around are brown. While the embroideries and spirals of the text this time around rank among the best I've seen in the series, this scroll also suffers from there just not being that much text - the scroll features significantly large borders, with the text being not perfectly centered and more left-aligned, lending to an impression of the scroll being simply not that well-used - larger letters, more pronounced embroideries, something like that could have made this one truly stand out. 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.

Now If you enjoy artfully crafted calligraphy or have tried your hand with it yourself, if you're an aesthete, then these will be worth the asking price indeed. If you're just out there for the crunch, then you might want to skip these. Personally, I hope the series continues - for I'm convinced that RPGs ARE art and crossovers/crosspollinations of different types of artistry tend to result in favorites of mine. I know I'm looking forward to when I can hand out a scroll of fireball to my players and watch their astonished faces!

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Real Scroll 4: Gear Barrage (Pathfinder RPG)
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Midgard Bestiary (13th Age Compatible)
by John C. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 06/04/2014 03:24:04

You can see from the product description above that you're getting a lot of stuff when you buy this. Creatures, playable races, Icons... The creature descriptions (it somehow doesn't do them justice to refer to them as mere "monsters") are full of adventure hooks, setting fluff, what you're going to find on the corpse when you loot it - or what it's likely to pull out and use against your players.

Gearforged alone are worth the price of entry. I love the idea of a pseudo-steampunk mechanical race. Bits of them remind me of the clockwork mages touched on in the Sha'ir's companion for Al Qadim, bits of them of Cybermen. The beauty of them (and of just about every creature in here) is that you're instantly filled with ideas on how you can use these things in your game.

If you're playing a campaign set in Midgard and want to see what all the fuss over 13th Age is, buy it! You've probably already got the Bestiary and this will give you an excellent comparison - the "Oh, so that's how that works in 13th Age!". If you're playing 13th Age, buy it - our own Bestiary is (at time of writing) still a few weeks away - your game can only benefit from the information in here. If nothing else, it gives you an idea of how you might change the icons should you wish (Perhaps the icons of Midgard are the ones ruling the world when you travel back to the 10th Age...)

Midgard is fast-becoming another Freeport. This Bestiary is available for multiple rulesets and I sincerely hope it's not the last of the Midgard products to receive such treatment.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Midgard Bestiary (13th Age Compatible)
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Advanced Races 7: Centaurs (Pathfinder RPG)
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 05/24/2014 10:10:34

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This installment of the advanced races-series is 17 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial/ToC, 1 page advertisement, 1 page SRD, leaving us with 13 pages of content, so let's take a look!

As has become a tradition with the series, we kick off by examining the customs, tribal lands and culture of the race in question and as has been the custom, the prose is glorious - author Karen McDonald explains different breeds, customs and lands and vivid prose, including sayings and teachings and a concise look at general psychology of the centaurs, their relationship with other races, all in the context of the delightful Midgard-setting - but can the rules back this up?

Centaurs get +2 to Str, Wis and Con, -2 to Int, are large, get a base movement of 40 feet, darkvision 60 ft., run as a bonus feat, count as having the mounted combat feat for purpose of skill prerequisites (but may not use ride to avoid damage to their equine halves), but strangely get +2 to ride-checks and attack rolls when charging. They also get +4 to CMD versus trip and -4 to stealth due to being quadruped and they also get +2 to craft (bows) and heal. I know. Here I go again. Soooo, as quadrupeds, do centaurs use quadruped rules to determine carrying capacity? Why do they have the ride-check bonus? Where is the size, height and weight-table? Worse: Undersized weapons ability, anyone? As large creatures, these centaurs, unlike those in the bestiary, can use large weapons. The variants are medium, so that doesn't extend to them, but still.

Next up would be traits - Status-bonuses when interacting with fey are nice, but where things get weird would be with Born of two hordes-trait - this allows you to take to traits that are assigned to specific hordes - which per se is fine. It does specify, though, that this breaks the rule that one can take no two traits from one category. Yeah. Here's the cincher - the traits universally lack categories - they all just are "traits". While assigning (combat) or (faith) and the like should not overexert anyone, it's still quite an oversight. On the cool side, we get a trait that offers the option to choose a raccoon-dog as a familiar or a dire weasel as an animal companion, with full stats for either...AND including the familiar bonuses/mini animal companion statblock! Two thumbs up, Mrs. McDonald!

We also are introduced to 7 new feats for faster movement, secondary hoof attacks or even a trample attack. two feats deserve special mentioning - one lets you increase casting time x2 in exchange for +2 to CL and the other lets you 1/day recall a spell you've already cast as a swift action, but only of a level -1 of your currently highest available slot. Both have in common that their wording is relatively concise, but also that they have the [magical]-feat-descriptor that to my knowledge, doesn't exist. Still, not a reason to bash on these, even though one feat (+1 atk, damage, skill+ ability-checks and caster level checks in forested environements) feels like filler.

We also get 3 archetypes - the Green Witch (guess for which base-class) can increase or decrease the fertility and productivity of areas by pronouncing blights or blessings and instead of a 4th level hex, gains the ability to use the equivalent of summon nature's ally,s caling up with her levels. On the nitpicky side - I assume they follow the default hex-rules, since both abilities lack information as to what action they require to activate. Explicitly stating that they count as hexes would have been prudent. A lost chance - blight/blessing SCREAMS Kingmaker-style kingdom-building rules - some precise rules for use of the abilities in that context would have been awesome.

Fighters may opt for the Oyun Wrestler archetype, who doesn't get proficiency with shields and heavy armor, but instead improved unarmed strike and the new iron hooves feat at first level. They also get scaling dodge bonuses and may treat hooves as primary natural weapons and finally, they become excellent in tripping foes. Okay, if rather weak archetype - can't see my players choosing this one.

Oracles may opt for the path of Redegiver, who may communicate with equine beings and perform a special kind of augury by galloping alongside equine hordes - while again, none too strong, a very interesting, flavorful archetype that drips roleplaying potential.

We also get 4 new spells - let's start with the cantrip: Thundering Hooves lasts one round, requires a swift action, and increases your movement by 30 feet when charging. When taking the run action, it multiplies speed by +2, so x6 movement instead of x4. This is too strong for a cantrip. Also, the cantrip refers to itself as gallop in the text. The level 1 version lasts longer, but why cast it? A thrid spell extends to multiple targets and a fourth targets multiple creatures as well as allowing them to ignore difficult terrain.

We also get 4 new magic items, like enchanted apple brandy(!!!) and a GREAT belt - one that lets the centaur take human or equine form. For 10K, this is a MUST-BUY for all centaur PCs who want to climb ladders and be less handicapped when dungeon-delving. Depending on your campaign, I'd honestly haggle with the DM whether this couldn't be dished out as starting equipment with teh character being in debt to...someone. (D'unhdunhduuuuunh. My players are too smart for that, but maybe you haven't traumatized yours to that extent...)

Horseshoes of lightstepping (and their greater cousins) would also be rather awesome - they make the centaur lighter. Alas, we have no idea what a centaur weighs... We also get 4 rather awesome mundane pieces of equipment.

On the final page of the book, we get two variants of centaurs with the elf/deer-hybrid Alseids (+2 Dex and Wis, -2 Int, low-light vision, +1 DC against Old World-spells, trackless in woods, quadruped, spears/shortbow familiarity, +2 to perception and stealth) and the onager-based Oinotaurs, who get +2 con and either +2 Int, Wis or Cha, -2 Dex, lo-light vision, Gang Up as a bonus feat and count as having mounted combat prerequisite-wise, +2 to a knowledge skill of their choice and all knowledge skills as class skills, familiarity with short swords and halberds and the usual quadruped bonus versus trip and the increased speed.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting, while not perfect, are much better than in the last installment and overall can be considered good. Layout adheres to Kobold Press' beautiful two-column full-color standard and the pdf comes with gorgeous artworks, though fans of Kobold Press will have seen them before. The pdf comes fully bookmarked.

So Centaurs are a tough sell on me as a player race, mainly because their size and anatomy poses problems with many obstacles that standard modules tend to presume - e.g. climbing ladders or crawling through tight spaces. The belt herein gets rid of these issues and for that item alone, anyone even remotely intrigued in the concept should take a look. It should also be noted that the crunch herein is free of any truly greivous, glaring glitches and that the wording is much more concise than I expected. I haven't read any supplement by Karen McDonald before and she did a good job indeed, one well worth keeping an eye out for. That being said, the lack of an age, height and weight table is particularly irksome when taking a look at two of the magic items that address said weight-issue. I can't fathom why the table wasn't included. The second serious hickup would be that, beyond the centaur (and oinotaur) being slightly too powerful for my tastes, the former doesn't get the undersized weapon quality. This is a serious oversight that should be rectified.

All complaining aside, this is the best advanced races-supplement since Ben McFarland's take on the Darakhul, on par with the installment on Ravenfolk and well worth a final verdict of 3.5 stars, though, due to glitches, I'll for now round down to 3 for the purpose of this platform.

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
Advanced Races 7: Centaurs (Pathfinder RPG)
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Deep Magic (Pathfinder RPG)
by Adrian S. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 05/22/2014 22:10:40

'Deep Magic' is a truly spectacular book, reminiscent of the grand sweeping epics that were the HERO product line. In many ways, this is what a Tome of Magic should be - that is, a huge collection of options that add not only vast amounts of new spells to the game, but also tons of story ideas for future campaigns. 'Deep Magic' succeeds in abundance on both counts.

This review has taken a long time to write simply because writing this piece after the first reading would have been a grave injustice to writers. This is a book that requires a clear head, and plenty of time, and should not be tackled lightly. The depth of explanation, the possibilities arising form the spells and societies and even the broader concepts all need time to slosh about in one's head before use. In all seriousness, a DM could purchase any 3.5 core rulebook, pair it with this tome and and a manual of monsters and be very content for a long long time.

You'll find a huge range of new spell types and lists from 'Dooms of the AntiPaladins', 'Minotaur Magic', 'Ring Magic of the Reaver Dwarves', 'Ley Line Magic, and my personal favourites 'Clockwork Magic' and 'Ioun Stone Magic'. These are but a taster of the full breadth of information in the book. It is very clear that the writers were involved in deliberate re-imagining - taking core ideas and then weaving additional layers of interest into each idea. The writing displays consistent conceptual strength backed by an extremely readable style. Given that this is 378 pages of (essentially) new ideas and rules a constant danger would be to overwhelm the reader by taking a textbook publishing approach to this subject. I can assure you that nothing is further from the truth. The artwork is of a likewise high standard and works in near seamless unison with the text to provide evocative emphasis and story inspiration. I could well imagine printing out some of the images and using them as the basis for NPCs in my next campaign.

The level of usefulness of this book cannot be understated. I would imagine that any DM would get a strong return on investment, as there are simply to many good ideas to use in a single campaign (although you would be excused for trying to fit it all in). This volume receives one of my somewhat rare five star ratings as I simply cannot think of any way I would have improved on this offering.

A must have for all DMs.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Deep Magic (Pathfinder RPG)
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Wondrous Items 1: Armor Made from Monster Hides
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 05/15/2014 07:37:38

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This pdf is 7 pages long, 1 page front cover, ~1 page SRD/editorial, leaving us with 5 pages of content, so let's take a look, shall we?

So...items from dead monsters? Yes! No, seriously, this seems to be the series for me. Me? Because my players get next to no readymade treasure. They want a magic item, to craft magic items? Here's the formula - go hunting those wyverns, collect those plants etc. And yes, that works and makes the PCs VERY protective of their favorite pieces of gear!

These now would be armor-pieces that aren't magical per se - pricing-wise, light armors cost +400 GP, medium +700 GP and heavy + 1000 GP, +500 GP per special ability/additional quality - quick and dirty, but kind of fitting according to my math - not perfect perhaps - but, in my not particularly humble opinion regarding this case, you're doing something wrong when trying to buy these anyway.

But what do we get? Well, 9 light armors. And the first one, assassin vine rope armor already sounds rather iconic and does something rather cool - counter-grapple, I.e. upon someone trying to grapple you, the armor gets a grapple-check against the target. Oh boy, where do I start? A) I assume, this is no action - does it interrupt the grapple attempt if successful? B) Does the armor count as having the grab-quality or the improved grapple-feat? If no, the attempt provokes an AoO - could this AoO be executed against the armor or also against the wearer of the armor? This would in turn modify the grapple-check with the respective damage as penalty... Either way, both would still be considered grappled. All of this notwithstanding...upon a success, both attacker and defender would get the grappled condition, with the attacker being (unless changed as per the rules) in the position to become the controlling grappler. Problem here being, that such a check would require a standard action. How would that interact with the armor? Could the armor's reflexive grapple become the controlling grappler, allowing the wearer to potentially control the grappled character and benefit from this on his/her next turn? Or do armor and target count as different grappling entities? This armor's idea is so cool, but oh boy do we need some clarification here!

Gnarlwood leaf armor allows the wearer to better hide in forested areas and also nets a DR 1/versus two of the basic weapon damage types - nice! Hell-hound leather armor with fire resistance, moon beast hide armor, a kilt made from unicorn leather or an armor made from vampire roses or a kython's hide - the latter two dealing damage to targets that want to hit the wearer with certain attacks. Kython's hide being essentially the more badass version of armor spikes (and not that useless), while the vampire rose armor can heal you - 1 point per 1d3 the armor nets you. This armor fails the kitten-test - take a bag of kittens along, rub it on the armor, instant, near infinite healing! Needs balancing...

We also get 8 medium armors - with cold-resistance and petrification-resisting amphisbaena scale armor, fly-check enhancing cloaker-mail, resistance-granting kirirn-armor - quite cool. Or what about an armor laced with disenchanter bones, which once per day suppresses magic weapon qualities upon being hit? The latter is a cool concept - but the lack of save against it is nasty. Also - how does this explain bows losing their enchantment upon shooting an arrow at the target? Should probably just be melee weapons...or needs clarification re ranged weapons. Gorgon Hide armor automatically petrifies the first weapon that hits it on a given day, netting it the fragile quality - interesting...however, it would be nice to know how to reverse that one - flesh to stone probably doesn't cut it and the results for the magic item economy could be rather serious. Still, compared to earlier gripes, that is a nitpick.

We also get 4 new heavy armors, whether armor made from a witch tree or the pelts or aurumvoraxes, these are universally cool - nothing to complain here. It should also be noted that wearing a shield archon's mortal remains is a damn fine entrance for villains...oh, and that each entry comes with DCs to harvest the raw materials.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are very good - I didn't notice any significant glitches. Layout adheres to Kobold Press' beautiful two-column full-color standard and the pdf comes with full nested bookmarks - nice!

Designer Jeffrey Harris has created a neat first installment of a series I am bound to love - it just aligns perfectly with my own tastes and mostly, the respective armors work smooth, well and are simply iconic and cool - and then there are the issues. There are quite a few glitches herein and items that would require caveats or clarification - while in the minority, these do weigh heavy on the little supplement and drag down what would otherwise be me going full-blown gush mode. I sincerely hope we'll get a lot more of those, perhaps even a full-blown BIG BOOK! For this first installment, at least as long as the ambiguities haven't been cleared, I can only settle on a final verdict of 3.5 stars, rounded down to 3 for the purpose of this platform.

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
Wondrous Items 1: Armor Made from Monster Hides
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KOBOLD Guide to Magic
by Paolo P. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 05/14/2014 10:09:01

First premise: I'm almost halfway in reading this book. My intention was to review the book after reading it cover-to-cover but it's taking me too long and I want to give a quick review in the meantime to share my thoughts with other buyers. I'll come back after finishing the book to give my definitive rating about it.

Second premise: I played a D&D Wizard character for 12 years, porting it from 2nd Ed. AD&D to 3.5 D&D as the campaing evolved. Magic is my dearest topic when it comes to gaming and as a GM I have a sweet spot for the argument, to the point that all of my efforts ever went in the direction of "bringing magic back into magic". This is not a trivial effort for an amateur like me, taking into account I'm probably not a good GM, nor a good game designer. But I had years to dissect the problem and I matured a polyedrical point of view. Maybe what follows won't apply to each and every reader, so please take into account I'm very demanding when it comes to magic in games.

MY TEMPORARY REVIEW:

So, two stars. For a Kobold publication? REALLY? Sadly yes.

I read both the "Complete KOBOLD Guide to Game Design" and litterally devoured the "KOBOLD Guide to Worlbuilding". Both are, IMO, must reads for any GM or GD, from wannabe to pro. This is not the case with this new issue of the series. I won't go deep into details until I'll finish the reading. What I think sums up as follows:

  • 99% of what I've read so far ends up in... nothing. Essays almost always pose a question and don't responde it. It seems that even skilled game designer can't give anything for sure (in game terms) when it comes to magic. There are a couple of noticeable exceptions (an essay by Ed Greenwood and one about secret magical societies which is very very good), but for the rest it seems the "Shoulders shrugging festival".
  • Some of the essays are way under level if you compare them to other KOBOLD products. There is one on divine magic that I can't just read through to the end. I can't make heads or tails out of it and I got bored to death. Personal taste maybe but I didn't even got to understand what the scope of the essay was. Period.
  • There is redundancy. OK, this is not bad "per se", since different points of view on the same central topic could be interesting to read, given they are actually different. And given they ends up in useful, practical advices for the reader. I already read three different essays in "how to bring back magic into magic" (which comes down to: when you have to give magic a structure to it like a tool, is there a way to recover the sense of wonder and the unexpected?). Actually it seems to be no real solution, but I had to read a lot of blurbs to find out that "I can do anything or nothing... who knows?". The Greenwood essay actually ended up into something but the solution boils down to "throw in some ancient magic that doesn't obey the system rules and go with it". Mmmh... It could be a starting point, but it's been widely ab... ehm... overused.

As I told, I could be too unforgiving, but after two weeks of reading I'm bascially muscleing my way to the end instead of enjoying a great reading. It may be me.

I'll be back to fix this blurb (and give more precise indication on what I found interesting and why) when I'll reach the end. In the meantime I beg pardon to the KOBOLD crew. I love you guys, and you always did a great job. I know this is not an easy topic to cover but I expected a bit more.



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
KOBOLD Guide to Magic
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New Paths Compendium (Pathfinder RPG)
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 05/07/2014 00:11:15

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This massive compilation of the New Paths-series, including quite a bunch of new content), clocks in at 130 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page ToC, 1 page SRD, 1 page advertisement, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 124 pages of content, so let's take a look, shall we?

So, from the get-go - I did reviews for the arcane paladin-class, the Battle Scion, the Spell-less Ranger, Shaman, White Necromancer, Monk/Ninja and Gunslinger-installments of the series, so if you're interested in a direct breakdown of these, please take a look at the respective reviews. I will, though, mention the new content or fixes. I also did not review the elven archer-pdf (simply because I don't have it), so that one will get its breakdown. Got that? Great!

So let's take a look at the elven archer, shall we? A racially restricted class (only elves and half-elves may apply), it gets d8, 6+Int skills, proficiency with simple and martial weapons, light armors, bucklers, full BAB-progression, good ref- and fort-saves, prepared divine spellcasting of up to 4th level with wis as governing attribute and track/wild empathy at first level. Beyond that, the class adds so-called precision-damage, +1d6, against foes denied their dex-bonus within 30 ft., increasing this by 1d6 damage every 5 class levels. This damage also applies when flanking with the bow, which becomes possible at 16th level.

Eleven archers are bow specialists and at 2nd level, get a bonus feat (another one every 3 levels) and count as fighter-levels -3 for purposes of feat qualification. They also get a creature type à la favored enemy at 3rd level and gets +2 to several skills pertaining them, as well as +2 to damage and atk against them. This bonus scales up to +6 - but choose wisely, for the archer may choose only one such target! Beyond that, these archers may hide in natural environment sans concealment, ignore specific difficult terrains, leaves no trails, can track faster and later even no longer provoke AoOs with the bow in melee. Beyond that, the elven archer at 9th level learns to temporarily enchant arrows and imbue them with special magical qualities. The class later also learns to deal more devastating shots against stationary targets by taking aim - though this only becomes available at 13th level. Now the class also comes with 3 alternatives for other races.

For example, the halfling sling master, who is rather similar to the elven archer, but instead of bonus feats, the alternate class gets a special trick to perform with the slingshot at 5th level and every 6 levels after that. Trick shots include ricochets and detrimental conditions that can be exchanged for precision damage - sans saves. OUCH. They also get rapid reload for slings. They also are more stealth-focused.

Dwarven Crossbowyer can ignore partially armor, shield and natural armor bonuses, carry more equipment, get a favored terrain and essentially get the elven archer's bonuses in forests instead in caves/earthen environments. The final variant, the mystic archer, has no race restrictions. They are rather similar to the eleven archers (minus the foresty/stealthy components), but at 5th and every 6 levels after that, they may choose from a special array of tricks. All in all, solid, if a bit conservative classes.

Next up would be a new class, the savant. The class gets a d8, 4+Int skills per level, proficiency with simple weapons and light armor, 3/4 BAB-progression, good fort- and will-saves and they start game with 3 knacks and expand that up to 8 at 20th level. Savants may assume a persona for 3+cha-mod minutes per day. A persona is just the name for a given combination of knacks. Some of these are spell-like abilities that duplicate arcane or divine spells and follow the usual restrictions regarding these forms of magic, including DCs - in stark contrast to the regular DC, which clocks in at the expected 10+1/2 class level+cha-mod.. Embodying a persona is a full-round action that doesn't provoke AoOs. The knacks allow the savant to temporarily gain access to proficiencies, items, +4 (scaling up to +8) bonus to attributes, spells (limited in level by the savant class level), skills, racial tricks (like scent or swim speed) and even temporarily boost his BAB. Now as if this kind-of-jack of-all-trades-style ability wasn't enough, a savant also has a notebook - by observing certain happening, he may enter specifics on equipment, feats, races etc., gaining power literally as he observes and travels - much like the emulation of abilities in Rite Publishing's Taskshaper, this means a DM ought to tell the player in question in detail to very carefully keep the books regarding this notebook. Now another interesting thing here is that the savant needs to observe at least a minute and then get to noting this fast - and there's a daily limit on what he can jot down, so some planning involved as well.

Later, the savant also gets advanced knacks with natural attacks, healing (also negative conditions), apply metamagic etc. further increasing the options available. They also learn to conjure forth so-called avatars of legends - essentially cohorts with access to knacks that can be summoned, but which remain only as long as concentration si maintained - cool! The savant later also learns to combine knacks into a so-called hyperbole, , switch knacks etc. and finally, the savant may even share knacks with allies and as a capstone, maintain concentration on their avatars as a move action. All in all, the savant may be a book-keeping intensive class, but also a rather rewarding spinner of tall-tales jack-of-all-trades-style class - that is also sufficiently different from Drop Dead Studios' Dilettante! Kudos for a smart design here! We also get advice for playing the character, as well as a sample character and 3 sample avatars of legend - neat! All in all, one damn fine example of great design, an iconic idea properly realized. Kudos, two thumbs up, great work!

The Spell-less ranger also gets a variant class herein, the skin-changer - this one's interesting: Learning to change into the forms and animals and specializes in better natural attacks. No animal companion, though, and a different list of talents. The skin-changer also gets natural armor etc. - per se a concept none too complex in what it tries to do, but remains very evocative in its versatile options - the variant class remains one of the more iconic ones I've seen and makes for a great addition - once again - fine work indeed!

The next new class would be the theurge - d6, +Int skills per level, 1/2 BAB-progression, proficiency with simple weapons, good will-saves and prepared spellcasting -arcane spellcasting via Int and divine spellcasting via Wis - both from first level on. A Theurge gets a spellbook and a prayerbook and the latter requires the divine spells to be learned similar to arcane spells - from scrolls or levels. However, a theurge may wilder in e.g. druid or inquisitor spell-lists. Which leads me to a massive issue: Not all spells are available for all classes at the same level, making for possible cherry-picking (not only content, but also level-wise!) here, not to start with VERY powerful class-exclusive spells....Think Paladin, Inquisitor, Druid, Magus, Witch...ouch. Yes, there may be costs etc. While first, slots are distinct from another, starting at fourth level, arcane spells may be prepared via divine slots and vice versa, but at a penalty level-wise to the spell prepared, i.e. second level spells need to be prepared as third level spells etc. The capstone gets rid of this minor penalty, though. At 5th level, theurges may cast two spells at once - one arcane, one divine, both imposing a -4 penalty to saves 1/day +1/day 6 levels after that. They also learn to cast a select limited array of spells as SLs. So, I'll be frank here - this class is OP in my opinion. Being able to wilder in any classes spell-list, cherry-picking any exclusives sans penalties or limits is very powerful. A full caster that can cast both divine and arcane spells is a cool concept, but this class drops the ball hard regarding the balancing of spell-levels and spell-lists - there ought to be some kind restriction here.

And yes, the amount of spells cast (which never increases above 2 arcane + 2 divine per level (+ bonus spells via Int + Wis) is severely restricted. It means every spell needs to count. But for a class which may pick the best of the best of ANY casting class, with this amount of flexibility, that also means that every cast WILL count. Which brings me to another issue - I get that the general restriction on spells-slots is there for balance. I'm not sold, though, that it'll make for a particularly fun playing experience. Sure, once you hit out your crême de la crême spells, you'll own the game...but what about the other time? Unlike most other classes, the theurge has nothing but spellcasting. And you don't have enough spells for proper utility tricks, proper buffing, proper debuffing - essentially the class is geared very much toward being flashy super-spell nova-heavy. Which you may like, but personally, I think the class would have been more rewarding with more casts per day and a more restricted balancing via spells known. I was not sold on the class concept and playtesting it at level 4, 12 and 16 didn't help either - mainly due to 2 things - theurges at higher levels can be superb crafters - with access to ALL spells and the option to learn just about every spell, these guys can craft like crazy. They may also use just about every spell-in-a-can-item conceivable by virtue of their all-encompassing spell-lists, which means that theurges in game probably will resort quite a lot to wand/staff-slinging when not casting their flashy super-spells.

It's a glass pumpgun (also re buffs/debuffs) - two devastating shots and empty. Personally, I'd be not keen as a DM to structure my adventures to "empty" the super spell-arsenal of the theurge or to play one, trying to keep my super-ammo for the big bad boss. Now all of this sounds negative, but the class per se is not a bad design, it does have its niche in which it will excel superbly. While I'm not sold on the place in a regular adventuring group, I do think the theurge will work superbly in 1 on 1-adventures and small groups - especially if the DM modifies adventures accordingly, groups starved for players get essentially divine and arcane in one class without resorting to gestalting - so yeah, the theurge has its niche, though I maintain it could have been more versatile in its use.

Of course, we also get new archetypes - the elven archer gets the Royal Guardian, a more urban Night Watch-style archer and the Plains Rider, a mounted archer. Apart from that, all the archetypes you'd expect from the base-pdfs can be found herein. It should also be noted that the archetypes have been mostly cleaned up re typos in the originals etc. - nice to see.

In the next chapter, we get a whole slew of traits and feats - also fodder for the new classes, with feats to improve the savant's avatar of legend, leadership for animals - I've covered a lot of these in former reviews. Unfortunately, not all gripes I had with some have been fixed. Take Eagle Style: Upon a successful dirty trick, you can substitute making the target mute for your regular effect. Doesn't sound so bad? Well...no duration. The muteness is, as written, PERMANENT. Yes, this one was broken in the original and is still - but it should be noted that overall, cases like this remain the exception, rather than the rule. Generally, the feats herein can be considered worthwhile additions, with some of the more esoteric style-trees especially coming to mind.

Marc Radle's scaling combat feats from Gygax Magazine #1 are also included herein - and while I still consider them a good idea, I still think it would have been nice to have a note detailing handling the chain balance-wise - it's a slight shift - not a big one, but it exists. It should also be noted that, since the original inception of the idea, TPK Games have released two pdfs of scaling feats, covering the whole core-book and the APG, so if you plan on using scaling feats, make sure that it's clear which system you're going to use.

The spells herein provide rather iconic options - whether conjuring forth Rivers of Moonlight, weaving deadly magics into your arrows/bolts/sling-stones, cast cool bone-themed spells or rain fangs down upon your foes. All in all, a nice array of casting options. We also are introduced to a total of 7 weapon types, various pieces of equipment and magic items and also the 3 legendary items (the level-scaling variant, not the one from Mythic Adventures), depicting the regalia of Gax the Great.

The book concludes with sheets - for animal companions, arrow tracking sheets, favored enemies/terrain, prepared spell tracking sheets, spirit guide, summon monster-sheets and even a wildshape-sheet make for a massive array of neat sheets that will prove to be useful.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are very good - there are next to no glitches in this massive compilation, which is quite a feat at this length. The pdf comes with a relatively printer-friendly two-column full color standard and the artworks in full color are neat and numerous and original/former cover illustrations - all in all, a beautiful book. The pdf comes with massive, nested bookmarks, making the book easy to navigate. I can't comment on the physical book, since I only own the pdf.

Designers Marc Radle, Ryan Costello Jr., Crystal Frasier, John Ling Jr., Jerall Toi, Wolfgang Baur, Matt Blackie, Charles Lee Carrier, Chris Harris, Stu Logan, Nicholas Milasich, Mitch Radle, Vincent Colon Roine, Justin Sluder and Michael Timpe have crafted a massive crunchy book full of (mostly!) awesome classes, several of which had player characters in my current campaign. The Savant is a glorious class, the theurge - well, as you've read, I'm not 100% sold on it, but oh well. The archer-classes are nice, if a bit conservative and linear for my tastes. The other classes - well, check the respective reviews for those.

The supplemental information and crunch provided also falls within this spectrum - mostly, the content herein ranges from good to awesome, but here and there, we can find a piece of crunch that could have used some streamlining. On the downer-side, I REALLY expected favored class options, at least for the Midgard and Core-races herein for the new classes and their absence is a bit of a let-down.

How to rate this, then? The New Paths Compendium is a nice resource, if not a perfect one and while the book can be considered mostly awesomeness, the few rough edges standout all the clearer. In the end, my final verdict will clock in at 4.5 stars - with e.g. savant and fixed typos etc. pointing towards the 5, theurge and the few flaws pointing towards the 4. In the end, I will round up due to the majority of the content being problem-free and the good outweighing the slightly problematic by quite a bit and my general maxim of in dubio pro reo.

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
New Paths Compendium (Pathfinder RPG)
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Deep Magic (Pathfinder RPG)
by Richard H. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 04/25/2014 15:02:28

I was very impressed with the Deep Magic product overall. The spell content was great and will provide rare spells for the players to discover. The book also provides ideas and concepts for various magical forms, such as ley lines and glyphs.

The production quality of the book was also impressive. The hardcover is solidly constructed. The layout includes sample magical tomes, background materials, and game suggestions amidst the spells.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Deep Magic (Pathfinder RPG)
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Deep Magic (Pathfinder RPG)
by Chris K. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 04/24/2014 02:24:11

Look at that page count there...378 pages. If you you are a magic user of any type, there will be something in this book for you. Rune Magic, Ioun Magic and much more. IMO this is one of the best products Kobold Press has ever published. Seriously, the chapter on new spells alone would be enough to fill at least two other books!

My only negative comment about it...it's going to take me a looooong time to read and process all the new toys i have to play with :-p



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Deep Magic (Pathfinder RPG)
by Bradley M. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 04/22/2014 15:03:56

I have been reading through this book off and on since it was released and I have been greatly enjoying it. The added versatility has made the game much more enjoyable for me and given me many new options that I have been wanting for a long time. My personal favorite of all the new spells is Heart Skewer.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Deep Magic (Pathfinder RPG)
by Chris F. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 04/17/2014 16:03:48

Deep Magic is an amazingly innovative beast of a sourcebook. Deep Magic boasts almost 400 pages of extremely thorough content, including hundreds of new spells, dozens of new ways of wielding magic, several innovative new schools and subschools of magic, as well as pre-generated spellbooks you can toss into your campaign as treasure. Kobold Press has always had really high production values, but the art in this PDF is among the best I've ever seen, from them or any other company.

I hope there's a POD edition of Deep Magic coming soon- I want a copy of this on my bookshelf. CHRIS



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Midgard Tales (Pathfinder RPG)
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 04/16/2014 07:45:02

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This massive adventure anthology is 198 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial/ToC, 1 page backer-list/ToC, 1 page SRD, 1 page advertisement, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 192 pages of content, so let's take a look!

Midgard Tales...an anthology with the goal of creating adventures to talk about. Not only are these supposed to be exciting, they are supposed to resound with the stuff of mythology, of being iconic in the truest sense of the world. This anthology is one massive book and thus, I will not go into as many details regarding the modules as usual, instead giving you a short heads-up regarding the respective modules. Also: I was a backer of this on kickstarter, but did not contribute in any shape or form to it. Got that?

Awesome! The following thus contains SPOILERS. Potential players should jump to the conclusion, mostly because, believe me, you don't want this spoiled.

Tim Connors kicks off with the weirdest, most glorious 1st level module I've read in quite a while: Set upon the infinitely delayed Great Old Ones in eternal struggle, the PCs awake in "Atop the Warring Blasphemies" in essentially a nest...of one weird, semi-cthulhoid dragon-like being. Escaping from their predicament, the PCs have to navigate the gigantic bodies of the old ones and the politics of the weird goblin-tribes that worship and live among them. Worse, there actually are pulpy pieces of technology that keep the aura of bloodlust emitted by the huge creatures in check. Navigating the strange vertical settlements, shooting ballistae at adversaries, climbing, betrayal - this is one damn furious first module for any campaign and should be considered a true gem - it's only downside being that it will be hard to trump this tour-de-force.

Next up would be Morgan Boehringer's "Curse of the Witchkeep". Intended for 2nd level, the PCs are introduced to the village of Loshtadt in the Krakovan hinterlands. Intended as a horror adventure, a sense of desolation suffuses the area. And indeed, a dread curse has fallen upon the xenophobic settlement - biological time is passing exceedingly fast and this amplified ageing process may actually hit the PCs as well. Beyond this curse, not all is well - the village suffers from a powerplay between the lady of the area and the deadly cult of the harbinger, and at night, fear of the "night beast", which is in fact an eidolon, reigns. Undead witchwolves roam the countryside and in order to break the curse, the PCs will have to infiltrate the local keep's dungeon and put an end to the powerplay and deal in a great puzzle-combat with a semi-sentient orrery. Have I mentioned the antipaladin that may actually not be the worst possible ally or the other factions involved in the power-play? This is relatively complex and one of those deceptive modules that don't look that awesome on paper, but running it actually works exceedingly well and remarkable. Again, two thumbs up!

The next module, Ted Reed's "On the Fourth Day, We Kill Them All", for level 3 characters...is downright glorious. You may know that I have a soft spot for stories in the northlands, but all too often, the issue is that the authors don't get the mindset. Well, Ted Reed does. Set against the backdrop of a feud at a Þing, i.e. the kind-of-somewhat-democratic meetings, the PCs not only get to embark in simply superbly fun mini-games that breathe social flair and fluff, in order to persevere, they have to explore a fortress once swallowed by a living glacier and return, triumphantly, with an army of lost ancestors to prevail in a gambit for power. Have I mentioned the diverse political intriguing? Even if you don't like the Northlands, this module remains among the apex-modules in iconic imagery and things to do and should be considered a must-run masterpiece. I bow to the author! If all modules were this good, I'd be out of reviewing.

Chris Lozaga's "Bloodmarked of White Mountain" deals with a village under a strange curse - it seems like the dread ghost folk have bloodmarked a whole village to fall victim to their depredations, sending the whole village into a deep, unnatural slumber. What are the ghost folk? Essentially inbred, white face-painted orcs that ignite in white fire thanks to their strange customs and alchemy upon being slain. In order to lift the curse, the PCs will have to unearth the traumatic history of a hermit, climb a dread idol of the white goddess and finally enter an abandoned mine and defeat the ghost folk in their own environment. Sooo...this is the first module herein I consider good, but simply not that awesome. Yeah, orcs in Midgard are rare and the ignition-upon-death angle is nice...but I can't help but feel I've seen this exact plot before. Feeling more like a post-apocalyptic module, I was reminded of some classics of the genre (brownie-points if you can recall them). Now don't get me wrong - this still is a very good module, but in direct comparison, it somewhat pales.

Module number 5, Michael Lane's "Dawnsong Tragedy" (also for level 3) see the reappearance of a fabled yurt in the Rothenian plane...and the potential for sinister influence. Entering the yurt, the PCs find themselves trapped in a demiplane-style environment, requiring them to defeat a coalition of 3 agents of gods most foul, who, as it turns out, were responsible for the disappearance of the yurt. Each comes with its own, deadly environment and minions, making for a fun romp through uncommon areas. While there is not much going on beyond combat in the respective areas, their iconic layout helps make this module remarkable. Somewhat similar to Legendary Games' "Baleful Coven", this module is great, but not as 100% iconic as I would have liked. Primarily, I think the respective areas of the adversaries could have been a bit more far-out and feature some more unique terrain features. What I do really enjoy is that the respective areas are presented as hexes, though going full-blown hexploration, including random encounter tables, weird weather etc. could have made this very good module into a true legend.

Matt Hewson's "The Tattered Unicorn" (again, for level 3), kicks off with an unicorn ghost herding the PCs toward the village of Astig, where further issues ensue. Delving into the social dynamics of the small place and trysts long gone, the PCs have to find out, what has happened to the unicorn... and during the investigation, also manage the dynamics between a nymph and her forlarren sister as well as prevent a bound demon from being released by the mastermind of the unicorn's demise. All in all...an okay investigation. It's background isn't too special, the means of research not that pronounced, the plot ultimately somewhat simple. It's one of the modules where your PCs are most likely to stumble across the solution without getting all the details. Also: The final ritual, while called incantation in the text, does not get a full incantation treatment, which is somewhat of a pity. Now don't get me wrong, this module isn't bad in any way, but it also could have used more research consequences/pieces to put together. The threat promised by the set-up isn't really followed up on and while timeline etc. help, overall, it is a rather simplistic scenario for an investigation.

Ben McFarland's "To Resurrect the Steigenadler" (intended for level 4) is a whole different beast: When a bone-storm downs the airship the PCs boarded to traverse the wasted west, not only do their actions determine whether NPCs survive the crash, they also find themselves beseiged by mad cultists, terrible beasts born from insanity and in an area that simply is one of the most iconic, deadly ones in Midgard. In order to make the ship once again rise to the skies, brains, brawn and stealth are all required in a tale of survival, madness and consequences. Breathing the flair of the wasted west, this module is superb and ranks among the finest crash-landing scenarios I've seen in quite a while - once again, one of the legends and befitting Ben McFarland's superb resumé.

Erik Freund's level 5 module, "Masquerade", takes a different approach: Two-star-crossed lovers on different sides of a war, a forced marriage looming...realize something? Yes, this module is essentially "Romeo & Juliet"...much like some other modules I've read. But don't skip! Why? Because it is distinctly NOT "Romeo & Juliet" - the player characters first have to brave the seedy underbelly of Capleon for legwork and to acquire an elixir that is supposed to put Seletta, the Baron's daughter into a coma. In order to deliver the elixir, the PCs have to infiltrate a masque ball (complete with a SUPERB mini-game between Exposure and gaining enough clout to approach Seletta) - upon delivering the assassination attempt, a wild chase resumes, the after math of which is depending on the PCs managing exposure versus subtlety. Trying to retrieve her comatose body by breaking into the cemetery, the PCs finally have to flee the city and intrude into a realm in-between of Hellraiser-like madness between pain and insanity to finally face an ending that may be resoundingly triumphant or just as heart-rending bitter-sweet as its literary inspiration. The premise made me groan, the execution is so utterly ultra-glorious, though, that I can simply only slow clap to the ambition of the author. One legendary, smart epic indeed and one of the best modules I've read in ages.

Mike Franke's level 6 module "Whispers in the Dark" is more conservative in the ground it treads by having the PCs explore creepy mines and finally brave the derro-incursion beneath Breccia. Overall, a weird little crawl that, much like the second module, doesn't read as exciting on paper. However, Mike Franke seems to have a gift for fusing encounters and traps into a cohesive whole that works surprisingly well when run, creating an atmosphere beyond the sum of its parts.

Next up would be a module by the master of the macabre, Richard Pett: "Sorrow", for level 7 characters. The module kicks off with the PCs being invited to a "royal" wedding in the backwater town of Twine. As tradition will have it, the King in Rags, a debased Dark fey-lord is out to take the lord's daughter to claim his prize for services rendered in the past and thus, the PCs get to participate in a forced marriage-ceremony, where dancing with baccae, succeeding at fey-tasks and generally breathing the palpable sense of dark fantasy grit is tantamount - even before the lord tries to kill the King in Rags, thus sending his whole county into the fey's domain, where in a race against time, the PCs have to do some hasty hexploration to track down the King in Rags before the entity can consummate his marriage...potentially dealing with former brides and similar fey creatures and only, if they can stop the king's mantle of living crows from stopping their best attacks. The master of horror and dark fantasy at his finest, on par with the legendary "Courts of the Shadow Fey" in delightfully evil dark fey-flair. Another legend!

"Among the red monoliths" by Brian W. Suskind (level 7-9) caters to my preference of shades of grey morality - the city of Bourgund is a radiant place and when the PCs arrive there and have items confiscated, they probably will be rather grumpy, with those white knights mumbling something about primal giant slaying...and they'd better. The order of white knights has fallen victim to the very human sin of hubris and an ally of the most uncommon kind, the dread church of Marena, may all that stands between the city and utter destruction. In order to prevent the immortal primal guardians from escaping the monoliths that litter the city, the PCs have to help the dark cult get their hands on various items and finally, conduct the rite...which adds another issue...it requires human sacrifice. Shades of grey are not for every group, but this module makes a great stance for a module that does require adventuring on the darker sides of morality. As soon as the constantly regenerating giants get free, that ought to be rather clear. Uncommon and a type of module I haven't seen before in commercial publishing and surprisingly in line with how my campaigns tend to run, this one is rather fun, though players who see everything as black and white might disagree.

Thankfully, Brian W. Suskind also gets another module to show off his versatility as an author with the "Five Trials of Pharos", intended for level 10 characters. The premise is as uncommon as they come - Mharot dragon Yiraz invites the adventurers alongside some competing teams to embark on a race to 5 trials, each of which requires the solving of mundane, riddle-like instructions and ultimately is designed to realign ley-lines towards one nexus. The race comes with a vast array of different challenges and the symbolic power of the respective challenges also resounds properly. After a glorious, breathless race, the PCs will even have to save their draconic patron, who has been duped and thus had her body taken over by a grisly, legendary dragon/aboleth hybrid thought long-since perished. Yes. EPIC FINAL BATTLE indeed!

The final module, "The Stacks Between" is penned by no other than Crystal Frasier and takes place in our favorite clockwork-city of Zobeck, to be precise in the legendary, teleporting library Bibliolethe, last repository of so much lore of the reviled Stross family. Entering the precipice on the trail of a vanished mage, the PCs have a scant few 10 hours to navigate bound azata and their contractual obligations to a bound contract devil, avoid the groundkeeper and golems, navigate a cool puzzle-floor and finally defeat the spirit and madness of the library's former master, split in twain by the dread artifact that is responsible for the Bibliolethe's planehopping - if the shadow fey or former victims turned dread undead don't get the PCs first! Success may actually return the legendary library to Zobeck! Gloriously wicked, dark dungeon, somewhat reminiscent of Frog God Games' super "Black Monastery", but unique enough to exist alongside it.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are one of the unfortunate weaknesses of this book and one reason it did not score even higher on my Top Ten list of the best of 2013 - from bolding errors, wrong page-headers and typos to even map-glitches, one more thorough editing pass wouldn't have hurt this one. Layout adheres to Midgard's two-column full-color standard and is gorgeous. The same holds true for the extremely evocative, cool b/w-artworks throughout the book that convey so much better the darkness and grit of these modules than the deceptively light cover implies. The pdf comes fully bookmarked for your convenience.

Speaking of artwork and maps - there is a second pdf that contains look-see-handout versions of the superb artworks and maps and while I'm not a big fan of non-KS-backers paying extra for them, I wouldn't complain, after all the maps are awesome. Or rather, I wouldn't complain, for the second gripe I have is that, once again, we get no player-friendly maps of the places, not even in the extra, for-sale handout-pdf! That's NOT cool - had I paid extra for handouts, I would have at least expected to have the maps sans letters, creature-markers etc. So yeah, that was the second factor that brought this down a notch. On the plus-side, the hardcover I got from the KS is a solid beauty with good paper and solid craftmanship -it certainly looks awesome and production values are top-notch here!

Now don't get me wrong - I've been at my top-notch complaining level throughout the whole review - there is not a single bad module herein. Not one. There isn't even a mediocre one in here. the worst I could say about any given module in this anthology would be that a module is just "good". But how is the ratio? 7 of these modules, on their own, would have me gush, grin and heap superlatives on them. 7.

That's more than 50% A++-modules, of which, I guarantee that much, you won't be disappointed. Add to that that the other modules all occupy slots at the higher echelons, never dipping to mediocrity, and we have an anthology that succeeds at its lofty goal of proving modules that players WILL talk about. That, ladies and gentlemen, is superb density regarding quality and sheer narrative potential. Have I mentioned that most modules herein coincidentally also make simply good reading material? To cut a long ramble short:

This anthology is well worth its place on my Top Ten of last year and 5 stars + seal of approval.

Endzeitgeist out.



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[5 of 5 Stars!]
Midgard Tales (Pathfinder RPG)
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New Paths Compendium (Pathfinder RPG)
by Corey D. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 04/04/2014 04:45:08

One thing I love most is that occasional 3rd party piece of material for my favorite role playing game to come out and sweep me off of my feet. Kobold Press has definitely made that happen with their latest book, New Paths Compendium. I myself have been following their New Path character releases for some time when I stumbled onto their Spell-less Ranger class they released a couple of years ago. While I myself may never play some of the written characters, that does not mean they are not well written or mechanically stable, it just different strokes for different folks people. However I must say that all of their classes to this date have impressed me nonetheless and offer a wide range of options. Since we are discussing the classes, I will go ahead and start breaking down my review chapter by chapter.

Chapter One of the book opens up with a full-page art depiction of each character along with their class descriptions and some flavor to boot. There are seven new classes in the book and they are as followed: Battle Scion, Elven Archer, Savant, Shaman, Spell-less Ranger, Theurge, and White Necromancer.

1) The Battle Scion or the “arcane paladin” as per Kobolds description is a neat mesh of Paizo’s Magus and Paladin classes. The Scion carries a full BAB with the ability to launch a Force Blast that grows in power with level, can enhance their weapon like the Magus, along with a few other nice abilities.

2) The Elven Archer is a class based on the iconic image of elves being read about in fantasy novels, which meant a forest dwelling, bow wielding elf. The class plays much like an archery Ranger with a long-range sneak attack ability that scales with level along with an arrow enhancement ability. Kobold has done a fine stand up job by not limiting us with having to actually be an elf if you do not want and can instead opt out by trying out their variant archer designs. These are the Halfling Slingmaster, Dwarven Crossbowyer, and Mystic Archer and they all play similar to the Elven Archer but they have their own unique ability and flavor.

3) The Savant easily has the greatest versatility to ever be laid out in a character. There has never been a truer form of a jack-of-all-trades character than the Savant. The Savant is a character who adopts various persona by using knacks written in their notebook. Knacks can range from weapon proficiencies, to spellcasting, to skill knowledge and come together in unique custom combinations to create the personae the Savant feels is necessary to meet any situation that encounter. This is a class that requires A LOT of prep time and recommends that you have multiple persona written out ahead of time so you will not slow the game down, making it harder on the GM. There really is so much to this class that I find it to really explain without giving away most of its details.

4) The Shaman in a nutshell is a Druid with healing powers. The Shaman bonds with the spirit of an animal that takes a physical form when summoned and acts as an animal companion. The Shaman is also a spontaneous caster using the druid spell list which gives a great option for those who enjoy spontaneous casting, because I know I do.

5) The Spell-less Ranger is easily my favorite class written by Kobold and it was the class that got me interested in the New Paths characters. This class takes all of those iconic Ranger characters such as Aragorn and Robin Hood and makes them playable because magic was not something those guys used…ever. The Ranger gains a few new toys in exchange for losing his spells but the important ones are Stealth Attack, which is essentially a Sneak Attack against favored foes or while in favored terrain, and Ranger Talents. Ranger Talents play much like Paizo’s Skirmisher archetype’s Talents, but these are actually worth losing spells for and are balanced well with a few particularly good choices. There is also a variant for this class that was released with this book called the Skin Changer and it is one that I have been wanting to try out so badly. This variant trades out the favored enemy, combat style, and animal companion of a Ranger with the ability to essentially wild shape into that animal instead that scales like a druid so it actually feels pretty balanced and a ton of fun if you are into playing a shifter without contracting a terrible were- disease.

6) The Theurge is an amazing spellcaster that allows you to cast divine and arcane spells right from the get go, without having to make that climb into Paizo’s Mystic Theurge prestige class which typically took at least 10 levels to get to and the character feels gimped the entire way there. Well fear no longer, because the Theurge can do that from level 1 and can even cast two spells at the same time given that one is arcane and one is divine. Their only downfall is how many spells per day they can actually pull off but then again, if they could cast all day like other classes, then it would be broken and probably banned from tables so I find it very balanced in that fact.

7) Finally to wrap up this chapter we have the White Necromancer, which is not bad per se, but it is probably my least favorite of the six. Essentially this class is a “good” necromancer that studies life and death instead of exploiting it for their own nefarious purposes. If necromancy is your cup of tea, then this class has a lot to offer. At first they cannot cast “evil” necromancy spells as well as a necromancer and this costs them two spell slots to do so which can make tough goings, but later down the road this is negated. They have a pretty decent spell list that consists of a mix of cleric and wizard/sorcerer which rounds out their arsenal.

Chapter Two contains the Archetypes section of the book. In it, eight classes are given new archetype options. Some of them are the New Path classes: Battle Scion, Elven Archer, Shaman, Spell-less Ranger and White Necromancer, while the other three, the Gunslinger, Monk, and Ninja, are some of Paizo’s own.

1) The Battle Scion features two new archetypes. The first is the Bonded Scion, which lets him take an Arcane Bond, though it must be a weapon, and improve it further. There are also a few sweet abilities that go along with it. The other one is called the Force Blaster and it does just that, removing the focus from mainly melee, and instead opting for a blaster type role that boosts the Scion’s force blast capabilities.

2) The Elven Archer got two new archetypes as well. First is the Royal Guardian, which removes the wilderness feel, the Elven Archer brought with him and instead incorporates him into a more societal class by taking on things such as social skills and useful urban environment abilities. Second is the Plains Rider, which is essentially an Elven Archer with a mount and some abilities to go along with it. Not a lot of crazy cool things going for it but it is more options, and that is never a bad thing.

3) The Gunslinger got quite a few new options in this book and scored seven new archetypes, and honestly they are some of my favorites in this book. First is the Black Hat, which carries a really fun “gun witch” feel. The archetype gets abilities that debuff opponents, cause mechanical malfunctions, and still pack the full wallop of toting a gun in PFRPG. Next is the Black Reaver, which is in fact a Barbarian archetype, but it being the only one, would have been a waste of space and ink for unnecessary text. This archetype gives a Barbarian the Amateur Gunslinger feat and various deeds that work with firearms. Really there is not much to say on this one. The next one though steps up it’s A game for sure. The Coilgunner is an archetype that drops the traditional firearm, and instead expands into the science and ancient artifacts side of guns. This archetype uses a coil gun rather than a standard firearm, which essentially can fire two types of ammunition. The first is the standard projectile like other guns can fire, but the classes deeds can change that up and allow a Coilgunner to overcharge their guns and hurl bolts of electricity instead. The only real problem with the class is it is dependent on a cooperative GM to gradually help you keep it upgraded by implementing other lost technologies into his/her campaign, otherwise I can see this archetype falling behind. The Futurist is a Witch archetype but totes firearms which are a really cool option. The Futurist can enchant their bullets with hexes thus causing the creature to take the effect of the hex along with the damage, which is awesome. They also give up their patron/familiar for some really cool effects. The Gunfighter is next on the list and is a Fighter archetype. This one like most Fighter archetypes, allow the Fighter to focus more on guns and thus gain additional abilities for them. If you like feats and guns then this option is for you. The Hellfire Preacher is a Cleric archetype and is full of broken faith flavor. This Cleric archetype is one who is on the edge of renouncement of their faith so in exchange for a weakened connection with their deity, they are granted firearm usage and a really nifty smite ability that looks to be pretty strong but is only applied to one attack. Finally in the Gunslinger department, we have the Noble Shootist and this one is a Gunslinger archetype. This is the personable Gunslinger with social skills to boot. This one seems pretty fun if you are into the whole bravado feel that a Gunslinger can have.

4) The Monk, like the Gunslinger got quite a few options to play with. First is the Beast-Soul Monk, and the first thing I thought when reading this was “Altered Beast” from the 90’s arcade games. This archetype scores the Monk and animal companion and allows them to later transform into their animal companion so it’s like a wild shaping monk with no spells. Next is the Clockwork Monk, which is a racial archetype for the Gearforged race. This is one of the only classes I cannot truly review just due to the face I have never really read up on the Gearforged class itself. But the archetype itself seems very strong. The Monk of the Compliant Style Rod is the bo staff monk that people enjoy playing. If you are a fan of the bo or quarterstaff then this option is for you. Next is one of my favorite Monk archetypes, and that is the Monk of the Glorious Endeavor. This archetype is all about focusing on one weapon of the users choosing and is given appropriate monk abilities that make that one weapon better. Personally I have always loved the flavor of the wandering swordsman in nothing but robes and a katana on his side and a ki pool attached to such a character just gives it so much flavor. It’s just a great archetype and even gets to use feats the affect unarmed attacks with their chosen weapon…Stunning Weapon!!! The Monk of the Peerless Mountain is the kicking monk. Finally an archetype that focuses solely on using their feet, and I must say, they can be quite effective. Focusing on the Cleave feats to deliver their main source of damage opens up new possibilities for Kobold to expand on other feats like this and expand them through a class. The Paper Drake Monk is next on the Monk’s archetype list. This is a monk whose martial arts style revolved around origami and the form the paper itself takes. All in all it is a pretty cool archetype. I feel like I saved the best for last, or I guess I should say Kobold Press did, but we have the really cool Six Talismans Monk. I feel like this is a monk archetype straight out of an anime. The Six Talismans Monk is an archetype that takes pieces of paper known as talismans, and attaches various effects such as exploding fire damage, hold person, and flesh to stone, and slaps them onto an opponent who then takes the damage or effect. If anyone is familiar with the anime Outlaw Star or even Naruto, it is easy to see there are semblances in place that are quite noticeable.

5) The Ninja got two new archetypes in this book and both are as follow. First is the Elemental Ninja, who essentially takes on an element like fire or water and they gain abilities like a wizard of their elemental school would. It’s a fun option that is there for sure. Secondly is the Mist Stalker who gets certain bonuses while standing in fogs, gases, or mists. This is almost a must if anyone wanted to focus on striking from forms of concealment. I hope in the future we get some more Ninja archetypes, because even though these are pretty cool, I have a strong appetite for more.

6) The Shaman is next on the list of classes with archetypes. First is the Elemental Shaman which allows the shaman to form a bond and wild shape with an elemental rather than an animal which is great since I typically prefer elementals to animals personally. The Primal Shifter is next on the list, and this archetype focuses more on the wild shaping factor. The Primal Shifter takes diminished spellcasting in exchange for extra wild shaping goodies. Later they perform a ritual dance that takes their wild shaping even further with really strong buffs that cannot be missed. Finally we have the Witch Doctor who takes diminished wild shaping in exchange for spells and abilities that focus on healing and the undead.

7) The Spell-less Ranger only has two options this time as well but both of those options are absolutely fantastic. First is the Dual Style Ranger who can only take a single Favored Enemy but in exchange can take up two combat styles and the Ranger gets free feats for both styles at the appropriate level. The other archetype is the Companion-Bound Ranger, and they only take a single Favored Terrain in exchange for a very strong animal companion. The companion comes from the Druid companion list and even levels with the Ranger like a Druid’s companion does. This leads to a very strong animal companion for a Ranger. I personally run a Spell-less Ranger in a campaign that has sadly halted due to life getting in the way but I must contest that this is easily my favorite 3rd party class I have ever toyed with and actually play using BOTH archetypes due to them stacking and I must say it was a blast while I was playing it.

8) The White Necromancer is the last of the classes to get archetypes. The first of two new archetype options is the Necrotic Healer. This archetype focuses more on the healing aspect rather than the summoning and controlling of the undead. The Necrotic Healer is seen as a “self-sacrificing” character that strives to ease the pain of others and divert it into them. The other archetype is the Grave-bound, and this one is pretty cool. The Grave-bound take on an undead companion that varies from ghosts and zombies to mummies and vampires and they gain new abilities as the Necromancer gets stronger. It’s a really cool aspect on companions that has not really been toyed with much and has earned my seal of approval.

Chapter Three is the Feats and Traits section of the book. Kobold has released a good 20 pages worth of feats and traits that should not be passed up on. There are plenty of options in the book that relate to a bunch of the new classes that have been introduced in this book. Feats and traits are not something one person can really review on since like any good food, game, or gadget, they are built for taste and not everyone will like every little thing detailed. One thing I can hit on however is at the end of the chapter, Kobold introduced scaling combat feats which essentially allow the user to take one feat such as Cleave at a higher prerequisite than normal and when the users BAB reaches a certain number, they then gain the effects of the next feat in the chain. This is great for those who do not want to take every feat in a chain to be effective and allows a character to expand and try other new feats. I know personally this is great because typically when I plan out my builds, the first 12-15 levels are planned out to a tee for maximum survivability and I never get to toy with other flavorful feats.

Chapter Four is the spells section. Like feats and traits, there is actually not a lot I can talk about without giving away information involving specifics, plus there is that whole certain spells are not for everybody thing. I can say this however, you will not be disappointed.

Chapter Five is the Magic Items and Gear section. Kobold added seven new monk weapons to the list and gave us some new arrow and bolt options which are pretty cool. We got five new magic items and for the most part they are pretty cool as well including a collar for your animal companion that acts as armor. Finally the last section talks about three legendary magic items and base rules for making your own legendary magic items. There is a write-up on those three particular items and the requirements to attune said items to a character of your very own. That section alone had me wanting Kobold Press to do another companion piece that focused on legendary items such as these and maybe included stories of how those owners reached legendary status. It was only two pages of the book, but I felt it was the most open ended section of the book that had me craving more.

Chapter Six is the final chapter of the book and it is the tracking sheet section. From animal companions to prepared spells tracking sheets, there are plenty of sheets for any character. Some of the positioning feels a bit weird on a few of the sheets, but they really are streamlined to minimize the number of sheets needed to run your character effectively.

So all in all my experience with Kobold Press’s New Paths Compendium is nothing but positive. This is easily the best 3rd party book to come out in the last little bit and I strongly recommend anyone interested in anything mentioned in this review to give this book a shot. You will not be disappointed at all. I cannot wait to read and hopefully review the next book produced by them. My hat is off to Marc Radle for leading this book to perfection and with the help of an amazing staff.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
New Paths Compendium (Pathfinder RPG)
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Wondrous Items 2: Helmets & Shields from Monster Hides
by Megan R. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 03/26/2014 13:29:05

Whether you are after a unique item for your combat wardrobe, want to know just what to do with the remains of the last creature you slew or have designs on a profitable sideline selling helmets and shields, this might prove of interest.

First up we get straight to the bottom line: how much do monster hide helmets and shields cost? Important for both buyer and seller, or even if you are finding the raw materials and want to know how much to charge the craftsman who wants them. Or of course, if you are dividing the spoils of an adventure and include stuff you can make helmets and shields out of.

Next are three feats: Monstrous Aspect, Taxidermic Crafter and Terrifying Trophy. Interestingly, only Taxidermic Crafter is for the would-be craftsman, the other two are for people who choose to wear items made from monster bits, enabling them to draw on them to gain special powers. This might at least get some people think about getting such items...

The next section looks at different kinds of helmets and what you need to make them. A few completely developed examples are given, but the main strength is giving you the tools (game mechanical tools I mean, not craft ones!) to design and make a helmet out of whatever monster parts you can obtain, and deduce appropriate special properties or characteristics. Finally, shields get the same treatment.

Perhaps this is a rather specialist niche area. Many characters won't be particularly interested. But even if they don't want to start crafting or commissioning monster hide helmets and shields, they could make interesting items to fill out a treasure horde.



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[5 of 5 Stars!]
Wondrous Items 2: Helmets & Shields from Monster Hides
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Midgard Tales Map & Art Folio (Pathfinder RPG)
by Megan R. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 03/14/2014 10:57:17

If you are running Midgard Tales and like showing your players what their characters see, grab a copy of this...

It's packed with maps, floorplans and illustrations apposite to each of the Midgard Tales adventures - each one occupying a full page (so no trying to hide other things when showing the players something) and unlabelled so that nothing is given away.

The plans are particularly useful as many of the complexes visited in the course of these adventures are of unusual shapes and prove quite tricky to describe in words. What is it that they say: a picture's worth a thousand words?

The illustrations, in a range of different styles, will also help you bring various scenes and characters to life as the game proceeds.

OK, you don't need this to run Midgard Tales, but using it to effect has the potential to enhance your adventures with some quality visuals.



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[5 of 5 Stars!]
Midgard Tales Map & Art Folio (Pathfinder RPG)
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