The following review was originally posted at Roleplayers Chronicle and can be read in its entirety at http://roleplayerschronicle.com/?p=32274.

He’s just a good ole’ boy trying to gain glory. When he isn’t fighting gladiatorial battles in the Coliseum, he passes his time in a tent made of animal hides plying his trade as a taxidermist. His unintended slight of the Kahn has led to his possession of a cursed weapon. What’s not to like about this guy?

OVERALL

Yet another solid product for Rite Publishing’s Faces of the Tarnished Souk. With Jubal D’tirn, I felt like he was a little closer to a normal person than many of the other faces in the Tarnished Souk (if such a thing is possible). I see a guy who isn’t bad at fighting, but made a simple mistake that could cost him his life. It’s funny, but we all know someone similar to Jubal: a person who isn’t completely out of the game, but if one little thing had happened differently they might be on top of the world.

RATINGS

Publication Quality: 7 out of 10 I’m going to ding Rite Publishing on this one, because at this stage of the game there is no reason they should have editing problems. I know no one is perfect, but if I can catch some editing mistakes, then someone else in the food chain should have done the same thing. The cover art for this book is great and because of the small amount of actual pictures, I wasn’t as turned off by Rite Publishing’s use of the reverse white and black or what I call the photo negative quality in the pictures. I am still not a fan of Rite’s extensive use of stock art, but by presenting it in this manor they gave a few pictures a second lease on life. The graphics for the Enraged Giant Hellhound were actually saved by the reversal of white and black.

Mechanics: 10 out of 10 I often complain or at least mention how complex some of the NPCs from the Tarnished Souk are. With this product, I tried to put that aside and look at Jubil as a plot device and what he could do for me as a GM. When I shifted my previously narrow view, what I was able to see was a versatile and modular NPC that, for some reason, seemed even more real than some of the other faces from the Souk. There is quite a bit of good advice on how to integrate Jubal into your game and ways to use his powers. I would have loved to have even more information on good ideas for making Jubal come to life, but in no way did I feel like I was left hanging.

Value Add: 9 out of 10 Souk tested, player approved. Because of the folksy vibe I got from Jubal, he really could be used as an interesting NPC, especially at his lower levels. His story is compelling and with minor tweaks I could see Jubal as the taxidermist in a town or even a decent sized village. Some of the magic items introduced in this supplement are really interesting and would add some real excitement to most games.

Overall: 9 out of 10 Editing problems aside, Jubal D’tirn, The Fool’s Champion is one of those NPCs you kind of love to hate. I actually don’t think he would be a bad guy to hang out with. I would rather not be on the receiving end of his sword, even if it is cursed. I could see Jubal being the kind of recurring character that would produce tons of plot hooks and dynamic interactions. This supplement is worth the money don’t be a fool, be a champion and learn more about Jubal D’tirn.

This installment of the FoTS-series is 15 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 2 pages of advertisement, 1 page SRD, leaving us with 10 pages of content, so let's check this out!

Following my format for the series, I'll first take a look at the supplemental crunch introduced in the pdf: We get 3 different simple templates, the Giant Creature (CR +1), the Enraged (CR +1) and the Combat Clairvoyant creature (CR +1). Now Jubal is a Jotun, a race that is infused with elemental blood of the giants and unleashes, over the levels said power, growing further and further. A cool class that first premiered in "In the Company of Giants" and which can be found in its revised version in RiP's latest compendium "In the Company of Monsters", though all the pieces of information to run Jibal are in here. There are 3 new feats included in the deal, granting "Aspect of Air", which represents Jotun-powers stemming from cloud or storm giants, "Crushing Volley" allows you to use combat maneuvers a limited amount of times per day to make combat maneuvers with thrown stones, while "Power Throw" allows you to use your Str-mod instead of Dex with thrown weapons.

There also are new magic items in this pdf, for example the triple-toss dagger, a throwing dagger that turns into multiple weapons when thrown and adds a couple of different properties upon throwing, a class of cloaks that duplicates beast shape-effects, a ring made of a vast array of other rings (with their powers) and a new artifact, the Fool's Blade. It is said blade that can enlarge and enrage (as per the templates) the wielder and, while a powerful blade, it also carries a curse...

We also get a new archetype, the Primagus- which is rather awesome - a spontaneous version of the magus-class, this rather complex archetype also gains limited access to some barbarian-like rage abilities, which is a rather cool addition to an already useful and cool archetype. Better yet, the archetype comes with alternate rules that make it even more versatile, allowing you to trade in some of its powers for bloodline abilities or oracle mysteries, making this archetype even more versatile and one of the best I've seen for the magus. If you're rather an adherent of SGG's spontaneous gish-class by Marc Radle, the excellent Vanguard, you should still check this out, as it features some neat ideas to potentially modify this class.

Now, Jubal D'tirn starts as a Jotun Paragon 6/primagus 1 (CR 7) and becomes a Jotun Paragon 6/Primagus 6 (CR 12) and his final CR 20 incarnation adds further 6 Primagus levels as well as the combat clairvoyant-template. Now Jubal is a character that should come off as not necessarily an opposition to the PCs - dreaming of glory in the amphitheatre and a triumphant return home, the Jotun taxidermist is on full route to becoming the next champion of the amphitheatre and comes with a plethora of hooks as well as dreamburning information.

Conclusion: Editing and formatting are very good, though not perfect: I noticed some minor glitches. Layout adheres to RiP's old, rune-bordered two-column b/w-standard and the piece of cover-artwork is neat. The pdf comes with nested bookmarks. Jubal D'tirn is an interesting character in that it finally provides a gladiator-champion for the PCs to encounter as an ally, though an unreliable one out for his own glory. The Primagus-archetype is one of the best anywhere for the magus-class and its extremely modularity should ensure that it alone is worth the low asking price. Jubal as a character is more straight-forward and less far-out than e.g. my all-time favorite, Nameless Nil, but he still is an interesting build, though perhaps not as complex as I'm accustomed to by the FoTS-series. This, combined with the minor glitch here and there, make me settle for a final verdict of 4 stars for Jubal.

Endzeitgeist out.

There is a wealth of material here, even if you don't use the Coliseum Morpheuon... and if you do, here's a fine character to add into the mix!

Jubal D'Tirn is typical of many who throng the streets scraping together a living whilst hoping for success in the arena. He's a jotun (cloud giant) which gives him some advantages, and over and above that he's harnessed the death power in the bones of the fallen... even if his excuse for gathering them is his day job as a taxidermist, immortalising those defeated and slain with his art.

A colourful character indeed and one about whom many a plot could be woven, never mind having him just around as part of the rich tapestry of the place, or indeed any place you care to put him. Several excellent plot seeds are given that will pitch your characters into involvement with Jubal, and no doubt more will occur as you read through the descriptive material or the three stat blocks (at CR7, CR12 and CR20) given for him. Perhaps your characters will have occasion to visit his tent - workplace and residence both - or it may be that some rogue magic animates some of his work just as they happen to be walking past!

And there's more... A Primagus archetype that mixes the magus core concept of a magic-wielding warrior with the abilities of a sorcerer, innate magic rather than that studied for. A few feats suitable to cloud or storm giants, or anyone tapping into the elemental power of air. Some magic items and templates you can swirl into your mix - the Combat Clairvoyant Creature, the Enraged Creature and the Giant Creature... and a beautiful illustration of an Enraged Giant Hellhound, which I hope never to meet outwith the pages of this book.

Jubal is a well-rounded character, a real personality to add to your alternate reality, worthy of becoming a permanent fixture not just a one-off opponent. Add him in, you won't regret it!