It took me a long time to con myself into buying this one. Reincarnation and all that goes with it are at odds with decades of experience and practice. I firmly believe the Golem hacked up a substandard choice, poorly thought out and with far to complex a backstory for its brief appearances in the library.

This solves almost every problem, shortcoming and glitch I originally found with the races, per PF.

How and where the race reincarnates is 'storyboarded' for illustration, avoiding a chart or other mechanic. I found this disquieting the first read through, but realized it is part of the whole. The concept of how the race congregates dodges any mechanic as well, just indicating the newly reincarnated knows. I almost wanted a better explanation of the entire Karmic Ladder system, but realized that would be too much. I also realized I was really getting into the 'spirit' of the text.

I could have kept the now excised text no longer above, but It was happy drivel, void of use or thought. Racial mechanics are thoroughly explained, giving in depth knowledge as to the individual feature to the cold, bare stat box. Alternate traits are a bit too focused, but reinforce to Karmic quest for truth a min/max like myself finds hard to go with. Feats and intriguing Archetypes follow, still not my cup of tea but I don't play Gnomes or Half-Orcs either. The Guru has possibilities though.

The tome is not as crunchy as I would have preferred initially, but having read through it twice and begun chewing the details, it is the strong support for actually roleplaying the core of a race I wished for so long, rather than the lone outsider most players have come to want. Here is so much juicy RP goodness that I could enjoy nuances for a long time. Far too used to racial descriptions being a few precious paragraphs, I find the far more 'in depth' approach oddly satisfying. It's not the mere you 'get a bonus to x of y', but the background that generates the choices.

Being the home-brewer that I am, a number of Alexander Augunas' specifics just do not work, but the very Fluff gave me enough extra cloth to cover campaign specific tweaks, without serious changes. The race falls disturbingly outside my comfort zone even now, but that strangely has forced me into beginning a third read in as many days. It also annoys me that this kind of rich background is not only possible, but wasted on a fringe race. I can see several past players really drawing the vitals of RP with this one and now fear that I shall have to add Kitsune to the Campaign.

Alxander Augunas, please work on a more mainstream race!

Bought this to find out about Everyman products.

1-17 pages, the stock 'Cover-ToC-OGL' and a get to know where we're going page that turned to be very useful.

2-Only 13 pages of content for $4? Not looking good. Part one was a ominous 2 pages total for a supposed redo of the mess that has been skills in the game for 40 years.

3-Starting with an internet bump of Fighter skill bonus from 2 to 4, the system splits into general skills and grouped skills based on themes. A chart shows the distribution, points, etc. All clean and clear enough for campaign specific home ruling nuts like me. Stunningly tight and spare of useless words on two pages. My Friday night group had their characters converted for a 'playtest' in maybe 10 minutes. At the end, they informed me that this was to be the skill system from now on. I think that qualifies as a win. Not really worth the coin, but an incredible start.

4-Favored Class bonuses came next, listing a horde of races. This was good as I have a lot of races in game and want to make real differences in game. Divided into four groups (universal [I would have had to use 'Everyman'] Class, Race and Companion), they are well laid out for clarity and easy reading. My only problem is lack of my knowledge of sources! A note on each would have helped, as I am intrigued by several Races just by their Favored Class bonuses! A touch over 9 pages and nigh worth the whole $ by itself, if just to show me how to set it up for my game. My player copy got cut up and taped into at least 5 playerbooks. A second win.

5-The last 2 pages are stuffed with 4 feats, a very good blurb on 'story' feats and some very good insights into multiclassing. I only have a single player of that mind, but that can always change. Several players are bullish for story feats, so the Blurb may have me willing to try them All want 'kewl' feats the break new ground for players and found all 4 feats to be such. One allows companion critters to share Favored Class bonuses without breaking the game, a second involves an interesting relationship with a foe and the last two work with leveling up in great ways. I'm going to recheck them, but see no glaring problems. Lets make it three wins.

The layout works with the lean style, the font is solid and page colors easy to ponder over. The text is spare, no annoying stuffing and vague comments, though there are a few examples of how to. The 'Skills' title caught my eye, but the main body of the work (9/13) could be called a collection of Favored Class bonuses, something fewer people realize needs work. The last two pages are not filler, but serious add-ons normally tucked into side bars. Having them separate is a style choice, but gives you time to mull on what went before and get a better grasp. The lack of footnotes on the Races is nitpicky in the extreme on my part, but a comment on the boards is how I found Everyman and this nicely done work. The pdf market is small and Everyman suffers from being a small fish in a small pond, cross promotion can only help.

As everyone left, I passed out 'how much would you pay' cards, tossing the 2 high (I'll find it free on the internet) and the low (gushing '$$') cards. most thought about $5 - 6, only the second cheapskate saying $4, with all wanting any follow up done. A solid buy on many fronts,not only in new material and the reorganization and collecting of material, but in producing a solid skill rearranging.

Pages: 17 (cover, title, 13 of meat, wasted two on OGL) Artwork: adequate, not distracting, but not Michelangelo Font: not sure of type, but easy to read

This is one of those things that will quickly sneak into the 'How could we ever do without this?' book. I dropped two of them on the party last night and they were well received. Now the Sorcerer wants to reset as a Spellstaff Channeler and the Bard is trying to con me into letting her make a 'staff flute' (think the blind teacher from Circle of Iron).

All charts are spare, but clear. Finding their exact combat mechanic was a bit difficult, but that may just be my dyslexia. The base models are fragile, but upgrades can fix that. Expanding options is a good part and can be easily revisited in a supplement or a new edition.

There are several Traits and Feats that enhance Staff usage and flesh out the play. One, EWP – Spellstaff, is the foundation on which the use is based.

There are several archetypes for use: Bard, Sorcerer, Cleric, Witches, Wizards: even Fighters. None seem over powering, but I was easily able to tailor a campaign specific archetype. It finishes with a number of plot hooks and a very helpful FAQ.

If you would like a reasonably easy to control magic item, this may be a great addition to your game. I was going to only give a 4, but the enthusiastic response of my players convinced my rating. 5

As I am used to having a spell point system and am finally shifting my game to full PF, I started looking for the ideas of others, pilfering the best concepts for ideas and then systems to achieve what I've wanted for nigh four decades.

With a name like Asparagus Jumpsuit, I had initial misgivings, but I've wound up buying several of their pdfs over time, so I was hopeful when I saw this title. I was not disappointed with what I got.

At only 12 pages, the Spellpoint Codex, I expected tight rules, but was stunned that virtually everything fit on a single page! Yes, one page! There's a too-useful cheat sheet on Metamagics that is almost worth it by itself (I printed out a couple for use in our game and that were helped me a lot, but really helped the party Wizard. There are seven pages of charts that are effectively redundant, a you're told the How of doing your own. They are helpful though and a happy and professional touch. A cover page, a title page and one for the boiler plate are the only waste material.

In terms of play, the Wizard loved the versatility of the class freeing her from prepared casting's greatest burden, something two other players of Wizards (other GMs) loved. Two real downsides were pointed out, but neither came up, well not really:

1) Spamming Spells: Detect Magic was expected to be heavily used, but she wound up being the party archer with MM. A single spell dealing 4 'arrows' with no chance to miss could have resulted in a lot of pain, but she only had one 'second round' all night. If her hubby were playing the Wizard, he would have exploited that flaw.

2) Scaling Spells: In the above example, the Wizard was casting a 1 pt spell at a level 8 damage grade. In my previous game's incarnation, we ran spells at the level they can be initially cast, costing more for greater effects. This system suffers the same weakness.

So, I'm dissing the system? Not really, just pointing out pot holes for others to watch for. This is a massive increase in roleplay opportunity as it allows a player's imagination freedom. The biggest logical fallacy torpedoed is the nonsense of 'forgetting' a spell upon casting it. Yes, I am one of 'those' guys!

Simple? Yes! Our mechanics shy Wizard had the system down by the first encounter and the rest of the player by game end.

Flexible? Very, no more agonizing choices pre-game and recriminations by other players kibitzing post-game. Anything that defuses turmoil over play is a good thing.

Tracking Spell Points? She solved with a graph sheet with one per box, 'Xing" off the requisite points as she went.

Game Flow? We lost more time as people commented about the system. And we dodged the 'why didn't you take X spell' nonsense that plagues our version of Monday Morning Quarterbacks.

I was not truly happy with this product, but the speed of play and happiness at the 24 hour diner after are not to be discounted. The tight rules are inspirational, the 7 pages of charts are very helpful and the Metamagic feat list is just too helpful. All in all, the players loved this and that is always a good thing.