Monsters of NeoExodus: Cerebral Assassin is part of the support for the NeoExodus D20 fantasy setting by Louis J Porter Jr Design providing monsters and enemies linked to that setting, this volume was written by David Caffee. It is a seven-page product (six after OGL) with an easy to read layout and the only art being the very nice full color cover piece (of which part is used for the character tokens included at the end of the product) with the last two pages being a sheet of tokens and a record sheet.

Cerebral Assassins are horrific creatures created in the distant past by a mentalist led cult but something went terrible wrong . . . the cult was destroyed by its own creations who then scattered to the shadows. Possessing dangerous psionic abilities they indulge their sadistic quest for power.

Cerebral Assassins have considerable psionic powers -including the ability to cause peoples’ heads to explode, honestly- and are highly resistance to magic, but they are sub-par physical combatants and comparatively fragile and vulnerable to damage.

In addition to the standard Cerebral Assassins (CR 8), a Cerebral Assassins Paragon (CR 11) is also provided as an additional dangerous foe who also has the ability to psychically track a victim or thing as well as a wider range of psionic abilities.

The Cerebral Assassins is horrific and dangerous but the imbalance between their offensive powers (massive) and resistance to magic (strong) combined with weak melee abilities and poor armor class will make them difficult to use on a mechanical level. Additionally, it may be difficult to find a place for such creatures in a campaign.

Monsters of NeoExodus: Cerebral Assassin is the latest pdf for LPJ Design's NeoExodus, A House Divided setting. This 7 page pdf contains the write-up for a single monster, the cerebral assassin, a new monster for NeoExodus, and includes several miniature counters and blank monster stat cards. This product is one of several in the Monsters of NeoExodus line of products, and is compatible with the revised d20 core rules.

The product comes as a single pdf file. The first page doubles as a cover and features some fantastic art for the cerebral assassin. Unfortunately the pdf never states who the artist is, but the work presented is of a very high, vivid and rich quality. The overall presentation is similar to all the other products in the NeoExodus series. While I can understand that in the pdf industry smaller pdfs generally sell better than larger ones, it would've been nice or would be nice in the future, to see a complete collection of NeoExodus monsters, rather than receiving them piecemeal. Writing, editing and layout are all good, and the author David Caffee has done a good job, even with the stat blocks, although there are a couple of minor errors or incomplete mechanics in there. Generally, the quality of the presentation is in line with other products in the series, which is high for short pdfs.

The cerebral assassin is a psionic creature with a lust for power and a thirst for vengeance. They are a race of intelligent and manipulative creatures often found in the employ of powerful villains where they can fulfil dire service for them. The pdf provides a good background description and establishes a credible origin and motivation for these nasty creatures. I couldn't help but feel that they are similar to a very familiar tentacled creature from the d20 core rules, although with a slightly different flavor and a few new abilities.

Speaking of abilities, the creature possesses a number of psionic abilities but none of these compare to its powerful brain blast. This ability literally allows the cerebral assassin to blow somebody's head apart if they fail a saving throw. Given the creature's CR of 8, a lot of level 8 characters are going to be blown to bits when facing this creature (in most instance a 70% fail chance for characters with a poor Will save). While it's balanced by a limited number of uses over time, it could mean a couple of easy deaths for a number of characters in a single combat. The Will save required appears artificially high as well, with no indication as to which ability it's tied to, or if there's a racial bonus as well. Facing 2 of these creatures is exceptionally deadly.

In addition to presenting the cerebral assassin, the pdf also presents the cerebral paragon, a tougher and more deadly CR 11 version of the cerebral assassin, with broadly the same range of abilities, though improved on its smaller and less deadly cousin. Cerebral assassins make for good villains, and can easily integrate into a city environment. They make excellent assassins, and deadly combatants - quite a serious challenge for a party of adventurers. The wonderful art is presented in counters at the end of the pdf, along with a few small monster stat cards for the DM to fill in an use during the game.

Monsters of NeoExodus: Cerebral Assassin is a good, well presented pdf that features a new monster, the cerebral assassin. While this monster is for the NeoExodus campaign setting, no actual information is provided on what role or ecology or niche it fills within the fantasy punk setting. While this means it's a useful creature for any campaign, more information on using this creature in NeoExodus might've been useful. I suspect that the piecemeal approach to constructing the setting makes it difficult to tie things together. While on the surface this class looks original, it's very similar to other creatures published in other works, and hence loses a lot of its originality and appeal. Overall, though, it's a fair monster, fantastic art, good presentation, and decent short pdf.