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Cool ideas for turning the druid into something more customizable, based on choosing a Circle (kind of like a Domain) and a Bond (where you can get Wildshape, Animal Companion, or some other options).
Unfortunately, I keep encountering instances of bad editing: text that seems to be missing, text that was probably from an earlier draft of the ability, words that seem to have had their positions swapped in a sentence. I don't really feel like trying to finish reading until at least one update.
UPDATE: Errata has been released, though not incorporated into the document itself. With this, the product rises to passable.
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The Ranger finally becomes cool:
Favored Enemy is replaced by Quarry, letting the class choose a single individual in as little as a Move Action (or Free Action, if interacting with them for at least 10 minutes), removing the need to predict how common a type of enemy will be in the game.
Wildspeak give the Ranger a continuous ability to speak with animals, and the type of creatures it works against increases with level to the point at which they can talk to rocks.
Woodland Stride becomes Relentless Stride to let the Ranger Climb and Swim faster, and eventually run along the water's surface or a wall.
Covert Nature allows you to disguise your scent (as well as other things).
Stillsense lets you detect people by air vibrations.
Thilo G. is right about one thing, though: this class has a lot of stuff, perhaps too much of it at early levels. I actually like that: I never gave the Ranger any attention before this product, and would drop the class without it. But there are better products out there if you're not interested in the type of power fantasy the previously-mentioned class features can provide.
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An interesting premise for a Lost World setting: put it in the past, peopled by humans who have been stranded there by mysterious aliens trying to figure out why they (the aliens) went extinct. Dinosaurs, "degenerate" and weird variants of human, bronze age civilizations, and swords, sorcery, and super-science.
Be aware, however, that occasional use of the "capture women for breeding purposes" and "slave brides" tropes come up. Also "child sacrifice". While consistent with the lurid nature of many of the early-to-mid-20th-century inspirations, it's not something I want someone reading to be unprepared for.
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A welcome simplification that removes the need to gate weapon access by making damage based on class and adjusting that by how many advantages/disadvantages a weapon has. The document even provides a table of existing weapons converted to the new system, as well as addresses subclasses and racial features that grant or modify weapons. There's even a page for what damage to assign to what sorts of enemies.
I'm particularly drawn to this product because it provides a way for characters who can only use natural weapons to stay on-par.
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Creator Reply: |
Thank you very much for this wonderful review and rating! Good adventuring, and may your weapons never fail you! |
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You can read everything you need using the preview, and you might as well: nothing in this is a revelation in Pathfinder 1e race design.
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I like what it's trying to do. I like the art.
But why not develop a point system for building and balancing races and then use the ancestry/culture split to illustrate how that system works?
Though you have to take my review with a pinch of spice: I don't play 5e, so this was never going to be a perfect product for me.
EDIT: After exploring other 5e ancestry products, I can't recommend this book. It's not that the book itself is bad, it's that there are much better alternatives out there.
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Replaces some of the non-shapeshifting class features of the Sphere Shifter (endurance, gaining languages, immunities) for even faster application of shapeshifts to themselves. Also gains the "you shapeshifts last longer" features sooner. Capstone makes shapeshifts essentially free.
Also includes 5 more Bestial Traits for increased shapeshift trait limit, gaining Stalwart or Evasion by changing size, free Total Defense or Feint when shifting, a Spheres of Might combat talents for spell points.
Ends with an alternate version of Elemental Transformation which only gives you 1 element per time taken, but gives you different grantable traits based on which element you select (though for three out of the four one of those is Air/Earth/Water Mastery, and only Fire gives Resistance). Also it seems to be written in a different format from how Tranformation talents have previously been; signs of a rewrite for Ultimate Spheres?
Overall a good product for $0.99: it did something that needed doing and has some extra bits.
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A nice collection of interesting and different objects and object quirks. I'm especially impressed by the Bulky and Delicate lists as it's a slight touch of realism, though the gold piece amounts can slightly ruin the feel (I can't fault a D&D-intended supplement for that).
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Not as impressed by this one as I was in Wizard's Tower: I kind of feel like 20 Desert Dressings and 20 Uneventful Days were too similar. And while it might not need to be a strike against this product I wish this wasn't as focused on sandy deserts: maybe one extra article on 20 things to run across in a Sonoran-type desert.
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I love weird details. Mundane stuff doesn't excite me to explore or tell stories.
So Wizard's Tower is a pretty perfect product: you get all sorts of weird details that just beg for going a little bit further. Magic stuff to happen and tickle the senses, features and knick-knacks, a few gruesome things, and some interesting books. I can certainly see these having value beyond the standard tower of a lone mage.
One Last Thing: It should be noted that 20 Things To Find In A Necormancer's Sanctum is also printed in "20 Things #16: Neocmancer's Lair". This is neither good nor bad, but if that sort of thing annoys you now you know.
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Creator Reply: |
Thank you for the review, Jeffrey! I'm glad you enjoyed 20 Things #3: Wizard's Tower! Good luck with your game! |
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This is a sorely needed update to Nature in terms of the Classic Four Elements. It could be argued that Weather was supposed to take up that slack, but that takes time to get going. This allows for the sort of instant "air bending" that feels truer to having an Air element.
Basic package gets you "cooling breeze that blows away gasses", "instantaneous strong gusts", and "purify air". There's some rules text about needing to make Magic Skill Checks to affect various weather severities.
Talents gets you:
Absorbing Inhalation: Do the Superman trick of just breathing in harmful gasses.
Air Ball: Create a platform of wind to ride on (no flying).
Air Geyser: Fling someone upwards.
Air Leap: Jump better because winds assist you.
Air Support: Boost movement.
Airlord: Raises how severe weather can be before you have to make a check to use your abilities.
Buffeting Winds: Use wind to mess up melee and ranged attacks against you.
Create Air: Self-explanatory.
Feather Fall: Basically the same as the spell.
Steal Breath: Not asphixiation, but makes breath-related stuff impossible or harder.
Wind Blades: Create an area with winds so hard they do damage.
Advanced Talents:
Whispering Wind: Send verbal messages up to 1 mile. For 2(!) spell points and being "advanced" this doesn't seem all that game/setting-breaking.
Updated Content: this mostly deals with updating previous options to include Air versions.
Nature Sight: Apparently they decided to stick a new (spirit) Talent at the end of this product. Each Nature package has it's own version, granting a special sense (though often limited from standard versions) plus the ability to ignore certain kinds of cover, particularly against being with a corresponding elemental subtype.
I mostly wrote this review to mention one oversight: there is nothing in this document updating the Wind Warrior (Expanded Options) to fall in line with the other X Warrior Elementalists. Even as unnecessary as it might seem one would think it's so minor they could have easily thrown it in with the other Updates.
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It should be noted that this is about wights only and not general undead. That's my fault for expecting too much, but I wanted to mention it so it doesn't happen to anyone else. The product does seem a little light compared to some of the other offerings in the "In The Company of" series.
It's a great product otherwise: I think the modification of the undead type is good for use in homebrew, and the cavlier archetype makes me smile after having rode skeletal horses in World of Warcraft.
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My earlier review:
A poster on the ENWorld forums recommended this to me after I expressed a desire for point-buy systems.
I checked it out and found it a bit too wrapped up in D&D conventions (class skills were mentioned), still having a "progression" base for some of its elements (apparently you bought your spell progression rather than individual spells and levels), and not entirely dedicated to a "build your own" approach (the "companion" ability simply mentioned using existing progressions).
I don't think it's a document for fulling branching out into point-buy from standard d20, but it might be useful to those who want a system for building their own classes.
UPDATE: After taking more time to look at this product I admit what I said before was hasty and ill-thought. While I can't say it's perfect — and it's certainly a lot to learn and work with, more than some people may be willing to put up with — it's definitely trying.
What makes it feel clunky at first is that rather than try to design a point-buy system that stands on its own the designers stick to backwards compatability with 3.0 and 3.5 D&D as well as d20 Modern, and then add further options. The entire work becomes a toolkit. A full toolkit, which you can choose from to suit your desired play experience. It's just staggering the amount of options available, one should really just download it — especially since it's free — and see for themselves.
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As described by it's creator, Autumn Arbor is to Green Ronin's Freedom City as Gotham is to Metropolis. It goes into great detail on the various personal problems that face each of its characters, immediately placing the tone closer to grim and gritty than 4-color. There are some truely dispicable villains here, and some heroes who are trying to be Silver Age noble even with the weight of their real lives on their backs. The setting, for a superhero world, is suprisingly realistic.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Disappointing<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Disappointed<br>
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Creator Reply: |
Thank you for the review. Sorry the tone did not fit your storytelling needs. However, to not quote out of context as to the tone, the actual description, which contained the analogy above by one of its creators in a thread started by customers asking questions concerning Freedom City versus Autumn Arbor, can be found here: http://www.atomicthinktank.com/viewtopic.php?t=22493&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0 at the official M&M forums under the M&M Settings category. |
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I started pen-and-paper RPGs with D&D, and have worked my way through rules for a couple of systems (though my actual gaming experience has been limited). Only d20 really captured my interest, either because the others don?t have the feeling of super-fantastic abilities or where presented as too sterile.
During this time I came across OVA. I immediately liked the cover artwork, but the description of the system did not inspire me to confidence, and even the preview didn?t inform me. I put it on my wish list, dropped it, and then just kept wandering around. Eventually I decided to visit the publisher?s website. I looked over the free downloads such as the brief descriptions of the provided abilities, but it was the character sheet that sold me: It?s one page. And about half that page is space for flavor information.
Once I saw that I realized that this had to be the simplest system I?d ever come across. By then I knew that the most fun of role-playing was when the rules weren?t needed very much. Games got bogged down whenever complexities came up, and creating characters took an hour.
Every die roll uses one mechanic: 2d6 + Md6 where M is a modifier based on any abilities (positive aspects) and weaknesses (negative aspects) (and yes, there are rules for what happens if M is a negative number) against a target number decided by the GM. Take the highest number or the highest total of more than one of the same number.
Abilities and weaknesses are anything your GM will allow you to define about your character, from simple physical traits to how wealthy you are. The most complex things are special moves, anime-style named attacks, but this is only due to having to pick special effects and defects of the move (known as perks and flaws). This determines how much Endurance the move drains. Endurance is used as the spendable resource to power special moves, some super abilities, and extra dice (referred to as ?drama dice?) when you want the outcome to be especially heroic. Health is the amount of damage you can take, and both it and Endurance may be substituted for the other when the first runs out. There are three different versions of character creation presented, but these are simply ways to limit the characters to make them interesting.
The rest of the rules are simple: there are a few combat options, environmental hazards such as falling and drowning, and a tiny piece on recovery. None of this takes up the tedious pages that exist in other systems. There are simple rules on how experience points factor into the OVA system. Anything else is either one of two things: discussion of what an RPG is (most of which is a GM section that has some fairly standard sections and some quite wonderful sections) or sample PCs and NPCs. The latter truly sets OVA apart from other documents: even a short description, a stat block, and a piece of minimal art brings these people to life more than just letting the rules sit around until someone comes up with an idea. The sample PCs might be anime clich?s, but they show how even clich?s can be transformed into unique identities. Certain abilities (such as hobby) and weaknesses (such as fear and soft spot) have descriptors that reveal even more about the character, and show how a personality can be part of the rules.
Some notes for GMs:
This system is going to require you to adjudicate whether or not an ability is too good. The method for determining how ?tough? and opponent will be is called out early as an estimation. The simplicity of the system could be exploited if not checked.
Some notes for players:
This is a system for skill use and not heavy tactical combat or number crunching.<br><br>
<b>LIKED</b>: It?s so simple it could probably be taught online as you go.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: While I don?t have a problem with 37.85 MB, other people will. There should be a non-art or low-art version available for separate purchase so that people with lower bandwidth and memory storage can handle it. Also the handling of negative dice modification is odd and do not seem logical.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>
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