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At first, I thought this was A grade material, as my original rating was 5 stars. However, as I looked into this, the A quickly changed into a B. This is still a fantastic book. But minor errors moves it into the diamond in the rough territory. First is the matter of heroic effort. Heroic effort is their attempt at a limited use per day system.
Some abilities are put under three categories. Focus, which is just a toggle, and only one can be active, but the other two use heroic effort, and it reads, and I quote, "You can spend a number of uses of heroic effort per day equal to 3 + your total level in all custom classes." Note the word all. as far as I know, no official class does something like this, and for good reason. You need to encourage sticking with a class, or else you're asking for someone to build a min-maxed abomination, specially made to do way more than anyone should. In addition, there is sustained effort. Sustained effort is merely heroic effort, but traded to gain points into another pool as a free action(One heroic for two sustained). It is a pool specifically for abilities that last more than one turn, like focus, but requires one sustained effort each turn to keep going.
Okay, again, never seen any official class do that, and in addition, I quickly just made a system that made sustained effort useless. It hasn't been tested, but I did a little thought experiment that was something like this. "Double the heroic effort pool, and make all existing abilities that use a use of heroic effort double cost, and make all sustained effort abilities use one heroic effort point per turn." Although I can not prove this without testing it, why not do that, instead of dealing with two pools? That's my only major complaint, although there is one minor complaint. I have tried to make a class, only to find that an ability I am looking for that is mentioned in the list is not explained in the part it should be. This only happened to me once, but it's something to look over, to make sure everything is in there.
But now, the positives. The book gives almost everything you need to make many different classes, especially hybrid classes(classes that are made with abilities of existing classes, not the hybrid classes they mention in the book that will be available in the full version), since most of the more basic class abilities are in the book. It explains how good a spell-caster's highest spell level should be with his Hit Die, It explains that a lower Hit Die equals more abilities, and it explains the basics of how to make the general four types of class, Arcane, Divine, Martial, and Skill. It has the basics, and I can't wait for the finished product this Fall. Even though it is a preview, it's still good enough to make classes right now.
I really want to play their example class too. Other than it's lack of a unique level 20 super ability(which Pathfinder almost prides itself on), It looks like a fun class to play. I may not be a veteran of the game this was made for, but I know customization potential, and this looks like it will keep you busy for hours. Fix the problems I mentioned, and you have something I feel everyone who enjoys the game will love.
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