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Faces of the Tarnished Souk: Dread Captain Miraxa, Queen Corsair of the Slumbering Sea (PFRPG) $2.95
Average Rating:4.3 / 5
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Faces of the Tarnished Souk: Dread Captain Miraxa, Queen Corsair of the Slumbering Sea (PFRPG)
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Faces of the Tarnished Souk: Dread Captain Miraxa, Queen Corsair of the Slumbering Sea (PFRPG)
Publisher: Rite Publishing
by Mike F. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/08/2014 20:49:50

For the sake of full disclosure: I received a free copy of this product in exchange for promising to write a review.

Dread Captian Miraxa: Queen of the Slumbering Sea

This is an 18-page black-and-white supplement. It presents the title NPC at three different challenge ratings: CR 21, CR 14, and CR 7. It also includes several additional items in support of the character: A new race (the Draken), complete with full alternate favored class options; 5 character archetypes; 9 feats (most of which are "horrifically overpowered" feats, which are essentially monster templates); and 4 magic items (one of which is presented in standard, lesser, and greater versions).

I chose this character as a potential additional NPC for my Skull and Shackles game. I did not realize that the character was going to be built around the "horrifically overpowered feats," which kind of rub me the wrong way. As monster templates, I can see their value, but I usually prefer my NPCs to be built around normal class options. I was also not that big a fan of the new Draken race.

Those complaints aside, the character's background and personality are very interesting. I can very much envision how to run this character if I chose to introduce her in my campaign. However, there's enough about the design philosophy of this character that doesn't sit well with me that I'd end up redesigning her significantly-- and if I'm going to do that, I might as well design my own character.

Overall-- interesting character that relies on some new rules I'm not fully on board with. This character would not easily plug into my game, but would do well in a game whose GM has more of an "anything goes" attitude that I do.

Overall: If you're looking for a very unusual pirate captain for your game, this is a decent choice.

Good overall, but doesn't knock my socks off.

3 stars.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
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Faces of the Tarnished Souk: Dread Captain Miraxa, Queen Corsair of the Slumbering Sea (PFRPG)
Publisher: Rite Publishing
by Aaron H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/27/2013 08:06:36

The following review was originally posted at Roleplayers Chronicle and can be read in its entirety at http://roleplayerschronicle.com/?p=32275.

Faces of the Tarnished Souk meets Pirates of the Caribbean in the best possible way. Dread Captain Miraxa would add all sorts of swashbuckling goodness to any seafaring campaign. On dry land, while still effective, she isn’t nearly as cool. Miraxa is a bit of a departure from the normal fare for the folks over at Rite Publishing, in this case the risk paid off.

OVERALL

It wasn’t just the fact that Captain Miraxa was a pirate that made this product stand out from the usual stable of characters that comprise the Faces of the Tarnished Souk, the amount of ancillary information included in this supplement made me want to take to the seas with much quickness. The information about Miraxa’s ship was great and there is some really good source material here.

RATINGS

Publication Quality: 9 out of 10 Not much new to say, Rite has the brand established for the Faces of the Tarnished Souk series and between the borders of the pages, the clear typeface and even the cover art, anyone looking for the products know what to look for. The cover art was good, not great but good and I knew I was looking at Miraxa right away. The stock art in this supplement was hit and miss as it normally is. Fortunately there is pirate stock art out there; however most of it is not geared towards fantasy settings. While historically accurate in the real world, most of the art felt wrong for this setting. Some of the art would be great for a game like 7 seas, but not here.

Mechanics: 10 out of 10 Because the folks at Rite Publishing went a little out of their comfort zone with this product, you would think there would be growing pains, but there were not. The rules for the use of Horrifically Overpowered feats need to be read several times to really make sense; in fact I found it best to read them out loud to myself to ensure I got them right. Even with the personal need to re-read those rules several times, in the end they make sense and what do you expect from a feat that is horrifically overpowered. Rite Publishing took the time to give good solid explanations for the magic items and weapons that are included in Dread Captain Miraxa, and these weapons and items feel much more alive because of it.

Value Add: 10 out of 10 I actually believe this product has as much, if not more, use in other settings than it does in the Tarnished Souk. I understand there is a sea and interesting things happen there, but where this product would really shine is a purely nautical campaign. The good captain fits quite well in this setting, but boy imagine having to deal with her on the Sea of Fallen Stars!

Overall: 10 out of 10 The inclusion of information about Captain Miraxa’s boat combined with interesting weapons and magic items would have made this product good enough. Captain Miraxa is unusual (even for the Souk) and her cold blooded (pun intended) approach to her business makes hers a ship I would not want to pass in the night. This is a great product and even if you are running a game that has nothing to do with the Tarnished Souk or the Coliseum. Buy this product it will not leave you lost at sea.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Faces of the Tarnished Souk: Dread Captain Miraxa, Queen Corsair of the Slumbering Sea (PFRPG)
Publisher: Rite Publishing
by Thilo G. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/23/2012 14:29:37

This installment of the FoTS-series is 18 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 2 pages of advertisement and 1 page SRD, leaving 13 pages of content, so let's check this out!

All right, as per my standard for reviews of the FoTS-series, I'm first going to take a look at the basic additional crunch: We get the determination armor quality, the smashing weapon quality, 3 versions of the magical eyepatch of awareness and an enchanted spyglass. Two traits are also part of the deal, as are 9 feats, which also show that the character will be a deadly challenge for all but the best of PCs - why? Much like the last FoTS-installment, Miraxa's build utilizes "horrifically overpowered" feats from SGG's Guide, making her not only a gestalt, but also a master of skills and capable of using magic. Miraxa also utilizes multiple archetypes: Two generic ones, the physical exemplar and the spellblaze, which could be applied to any class, and we also get the Titan Mauler and the Sea Reaver archetype for the barbarian and the pirate archetype for the rogue.

If the cover was not ample clue for you, Miraxa is not a regular humanoid, but rather belongs to the race of the draken, a true-breeding race born from half-dragons - the race is btw. fully detailed and gets 2 to Str and Con, -2 to Cha, dark and low-light vision, 2 to all saves, natural weapons and a bonus on linguistic checks. They also come with 7 alternate racial traits as well as favored class options for all Paizo-base-classes but ninja and samurai and a racial feat that takes one of your characteristics and improves it, granting you for example vestigial wings/improving them to functioning ones etc. I like the race per se, but it should not be used for PCs - Draken are more powerful than the standard races. The entry also misses the age, height and weight tables necessary for character creation.

Onwards to Miraxa: The corsair's least powerful CR 7 incarnation already utilizes 3 HO-feats, which with her enhanced stats, increase her CR by 3. Much like the last FoTS-installment, these changes are transparent and make it rather easy to analyze how a given incarnation was built. Her CR 14 mid-level incarnation already sees her CR improved by 5 via these additional tools and has her already looking like a dreadful foe to behold, though her CR 21 high-level incarnation, including her deadly Morningstar Keel Breaker - where unfortunately I have a gripe - the stats of her morningstar are omitted, though I gather it's supposed to have the new smashing quality.

Her character, dreamburning information also make a nice twist - while she is hardened and tough , she also has a very good motivation - she is actually with child and hell hath no fury like a mother's! She could be both a deadly foe or an awkward ally - from villain to ally, she is very versatile in both character and build.

And then there's the coolest bit of additional content - the Impending Doom, a mithral-plated dreadnought with multiple cannons and multiple means of propulsion as well as deadly siege engine-class cannons - fully stated and featuring advancement options for the vessel. Great to see these stats supplement the concept of a corsair queen!

Conclusion: Editing and formatting are very good, though the omission of Miraxa's signature weapon irks me. Layout adheres to RiP's classic b/w-2-column standard and the pdf comes with fitting pieces of stock art as well as bookmarks. I'm a big fan of Miraxa as a character and her build is solid to say the least - she's a complex, cool, versatile and deadly fighter and her vessel is the icing on the cake (though I would have loved ships for her lesser incarnations as well). Usually, she would be a supreme candidate for 5 stars, but the lack of stats for her signature weapon is a major bummer for me. Thus, due to the lack of the weapon's stats, I'll be forced to consider her as "only" a good buy, resulting in a final verdict of 4 stars.

EDIT: The signature weapon has been added to V.2 - 1 star!

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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