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An Endzeitgeist.com review
This pdf is 6 pages long, 2/3 of a page front cover, 1 page editorial/SRD, leaving us with 4 1/3 of a page content, so let's check this out!
The SGG-take on the Fighter with talents is justifiable popular and this pdf essentially offers NEW fighter talents (versus those based on archetype-abilities) for the talented fighter - talents, which, btw. you could relatively easily convert into feats.
Unless I've miscounted, we get 23 new basic talents for the fighter, which include several talents that come only into play on a critical hit: Much like 3.5 Sword & Sorcery Advanced Player's Guide's extensive critical hit tables (oh, how I love them!), these talents allow you to reduce the critical hit multiplier by 1 (e.g. from double damage to only regular damage or from triple damage down to double) and apply a secondary effect to your attack, with e.g. Fat Lip providing a hefty fort-save or a chance to lose any verbal component featuring spell following the hit, dealing damage to both foe and armor, temporarily exhaust foes, forgo a crit to net +4 to crit-confirmations for a minute (high crit-builds will like this) or make the target provoke an AoO from all creatures threatening it.
Gaining access to a cleric/oracle orison (and as a follow-up, 1st level spell), +2 to atk for AoOs and number of AoOs per round, using dirty tricks 1/round in place of a regular melee attack, getting a better aid another, gain nice bonuses to CMB when using Stand Still or a physis that keep the fighter in shape at advanced age categories as well as increased healing and stowing items more efficiently.
13 advanced talents allow you to gain evasion, punch foes into the throat or disable limbs(on crits - no speaking for 1 round/penalties depending on the limb), answer grapple, disarm and sunder attempts with AoOs, demoralize foes when using a firearm for the first time in combat, may use a melee weapon attack in lieu of an acrobatics-check to move through threatened squares or get improved accuracy when handling siege engines.
Finally, we get 3 new grand talents: An advanced rogue talent, regular damage in addition to combat maneuver-effects and the chance to sever limbs on crits make for three interesting potential capstones.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are top-notch; I didn't notice any glitches. Layout adheres to SGG's 3-column full-color standard and the artworks featured are nice. The pdf comes fully bookmarked with nested bookmarks by page - nice to have, even at this relatively short length.
There's a reason why I dubbed Owen K.C. Stephens "Grandmaster Crunch" - and this pdf is a great example why. The man delivers. Where my one gripe with the talented fighter essentially was that I would have loved more unique talents, this delivers. While organization of the respective talents is still a matter of tastes, these talents are glorious additions to the talented fighter, at a price that is more than fair. Combine that with the fact that none of the talents feel unbalanced or too weak and we have a straight recommendation at 5 stars plus seal of approval.
Endzeitgeist out.
| Classement: | | [5 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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An Endzeitgeist.com review
All right, you know the drill – 4 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page SRD, 2 pages content, this time detailing 6 feats for Jesters, so let’s check them out!
-Combat Juggling: Allows you to juggle multiple objects to treat them as if you have them ready in your hands – Alchemists will love that one indeed!
-Distract: Use Bluff or Perform to allow other creatures to use stealth versus the target, even if circumstances would normally forbid that. Seen that concept done before several times, not too impressed.
-Hideous Humor: Use Perform (Comedy) to demoralize foes and allows you to ignore the +4 save bonus creatures would get against Hideous Laughter that are not of your type. Also allows you to stack durations of Hideous Laughter-spells. Neat – though the spell is not italicized in the prerequisites.
-Play the Fool: Allows you to disguise your actions as incompetence/clumsiness/bumbling and allows you to thus get away with some nasty stuff without necessarily antagonizing opponents. Neat!
-Quick Ready: Ready up to 2+Dex mundane items per round as if via quick draw. EXTREMELY useful, cool feat.
-Tools of the Trade: When using sneezing powder, alchemist’s fire, brewed reek etc., you can make the DC 8 + 1/HD + dex-mod – great feat to keep these tools relevant over the levels - I wholeheartedly approve!
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn’t notice any significant glitches. Layout adheres to SGG’s 3-column landscape standard and the pdf has no bookmarks, but needs none at this length. I really like the nature of these high-concept feats, especially since I consider the trickster to be underrepresented.
While juggling has been done in the Gallivant archetype for the bard (in Class Acts: Bard Archetypes) by Abandoned Arts, both approached complement one another and fit their respective niches. Overall, these feats felt interesting enough to warrant a buying-recommendation, though I’m not blown away by all of the feats – distract feels a bit like filler to me. Nevertheless, the other feats are extremely useful and often downright genius and hence I feel justified in rating this Bullet Point 4.5 stars, rounded down to 4 for the purpose of this platform.
Endzeitgeist out.
| Classement: | | [4 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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An Endzeitgeist.com review
This pdf is 14 pages long, 2/3 of a page front cover,1 page editorial/SRD, leaving 12 1/3 pages of content, so let's take a look!
I'll come right out and say it: I don't like the fighter-class. There. I get the appeal of many feats/the master-of-arms angle, but the base-class, since 2nd edition really, bored me terribly. Armor Training, weapon training, weapon specialization - I get their appeal and their mechanical raison d`être but personally, I always considered the class oh so boring. PrCs, archetypes and e.g. the revision of barbarian, ranger, paladin and monk classes, as well as the addition of inquisitors and cavaliers have made vanilla fighters all but non-existent in my game.
Now an issue, as the pdf acknowledges, is that fighters, to expand their options unlike other classes are often locked down to archetypes, which deprive the class to some extent of the flexibility at which they are supposed to excel at - enter the talented fighter as a proposed solution to this conundrum. The talented fighter gets full BAB, good fort-saves, d10, 2+Int-skills per level, proficiencies of simple and martial weapons as well as all armors and shields. The talented fighter gets a talent at every level, may select advanced talents at 10th level and grand talents at 20th level. Now if you do want to take bonus feats, rest assured that the pdf offers a talent that grants a bonus combat feat and armor training/weapon training, bravery etc. I.e., if you want the abilities associated with the base fighter, you can still go that way - only that now, you actually have much more options.
All in all, the pdf thus provides a vast array of talents and going through them would bloat this review to unpleasant lengths, so let me give you a run-down of what to expect: First of all, we have a lot of talents that essentially are scavenged from archetypes, breaking them down and allowing you to essentially cherry-pick e.g. abilities from the mobile fighter archetype, the tower shield specialist, the crossbowman or the roughrider - just to name a few. Feel free to look them up and think about whether picking a few of the archetype abilities wouldn't make for a valid decision. Essentially, the talent-based approach allows the talented fighter more versatility in that it makes these exclusive abilities generally available. Now not all of the talents in here are based on archetypes and grand talents/advanced talents e.g. include capstone abilities of archetypes or talents that have multiple prerequisites.
The pdf also offers advice on how to utilize talents from e.g. the witch hunter or armiger-classes and alternate class features of SGG-classes as talents and increase the usability of this alternate fighter even further.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting of this latest revision are top-notch, I didn’t notice any glitches. Layout adheres to SGG’s 3-column full color standard and the pdf comes fully bookmarked with nested bookmarks that group the talents by letters. Whether you prefer the alphabetical array of talents or whether you would have enjoyed a grouping by styles/archetypes they’re derived from is ultimately a matter of taste, though I maintain that bookmarks would have served very well as an alternate means of grouping the talents – e.g. with a bookmark for crossbow-related talents and nested bookmarks beyond that one for the respective talents associated with that combat style.
How do you rate a pdf that is comparatively unimaginative in the bits and pieces it provides? Turns out, in this case, quite well – for the Talented Fighter is smart in that it does not aim to reinvent the wheel – it doesn’t have to. Instead, it takes existing concepts and streamlines them into a presentation that is thoroughly different from what you had associated with them into a form that is ultimately bigger than the sum of its parts.
The talented fighter takes my least favorite base-class and takes quite a bunch of archetypes/abilities to make the overall class simply more in line what I’d consider compelling class design, opening quite an array of formerly exclusive archetype abilities to the class and thus giving the fighter some exclusive toys to play with – a much overdue decision, at least in my opinion. Now is this the apex of originality? No. But is this a great way of breathing life and fun into the fighter class? To this question, my answer is a resounding “Yes!” Hence also the reason why I’ll gladly give this pdf a final verdict of 5 stars, omitting my seal of approval only since the alternate means of organizing the talents would have made for the superb icing on the cake. I strongly encourage you to check this out and make the fighter more singular and up to date.
Endzeitgeist out.
| Classement: | | [5 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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Very, very cool idea! Well worth a buck for anyone running a modern day, high-tech military or agent Savage Worlds game.
| Classement: | | [5 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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An Endzeitgeist.com review
The final installment of the anachronistic adventurers-line is 19 pages long, 2/3 of a page front cover, 1 page editorial/SRD, leaving 17 1/3 pages of content, so let's take a look!
Rules-wise, the Sensitive gets d8, 7+Int skills, proficiency with simple weapons, good will-saves, 3/4 BAB-progression. Over the course of the 20 levels, they may choose from 6 sensitive talents and from 4 limited talents - these are also sensitive talents, but the selection is more restrictive. At first level, the Sensitive gets the Intuition ability, which allows the class to class-level + wis-mod times per day substitute a intuition check (d20+ class level+wis-mod+3) for the skill-check they'd usually make, making the class potentially quite formidable in the skill-area. The aforementioned talents span a range of 22 different ones that allow a sensitive to have an animal companion, a reverence of an object that translates to favored enemy-style bonuses, gain improved defensive fighting capabilities, may act in surprise rounds, may take 10 in chosen skills even while under duress, add wis-mods to a variety of rolls, have an augury-style gut feeling, gain improved uncanny dodge and better aid another, be a pacifist (which translates to a penalty to lethal attacks, but bonus damage when dealing non-lethal damage at higher levels), realize when afflicted by negative conditions, spells etc.
Among the more interesting talents, we get trivia for the learned jack-of-all-trades, which allows the sensitive to know obscure and helpful pieces of information, coming with a fitting short table of sample DCs and pieces of information to allow the DM to properly judge the difficulty of information gleaned thusly. My favorite ability, though, would be Body Language: By succeeding at a sense motive check versus 10 + target's HD + Cha-mod or 10+bluff bonus, the sensitive knows what the respective target will do this action and may use a readied action to preemptively take a standard, move, swift or free action, acting before the target. VERY cool, that one!
As with other Anachronistic Adventurers-pdfs, we also get a selection of anachronistic archetypes that can be applied not only to the sensitive, but to all classes in the line. These are chosen at first level. We get first the Esper, who is particularly adept at using the new psychic powers (more on those later). The second is the Profiler, who may take the measure of his foes, thus gaining bonuses to social interaction. 7 talents provide exclusive additional benefits that include being able to read animals, assess creatures by deeds and not by interacting with them, expertly fool creatures into believing he has strange powers, glean the true desires of those subject to his reading. The archetype unfortunately also features an alternate version to read body language, duplicating detect thoughts - unfortunate because it is called like the same ability of the base sensitive class - different names would have helped keep the abilities apart.
Finally, the Volur archetype gains penalties to BAB, but also access to spells of up to 6th level and may choose a spell-list at first level: Bard, cleric/oracle, inquisitor, druid, magus, sorceror/wizard or witch can be chosen. They cast these spells spontaneously via charisma and depending on the class, their spell-selection is restricted by e.g. not being able to learn hex-modifying spells etc and thankfully also specifies which type of spellcaster the respective Volur counts as.
It should be noted that adapting classes not from the base-rules and using SGG-archetypes is covered as well.
Beyond these, we are introduced to psychic abilities - available to both base class and especially to e.g. espers. Psychic abilities take standard actions unless otherwise noted, provoke AoOs, and when interrupted, require a DC 20 concentration check to properly activate. Characters that otherwise would not have a concentration check use 1d20+HD+wis-mod. Psychic abilities put a strain on the user and each time the user fails a check, he incurs stacking penalties and may fatigue the user. The abilities per se, 7 to be precise are interesting in their mechanics - they are based on respective skills. Distant Viewing requires e.g. a Perception-check and can be used to see far away creatures and objects - with a complex barrier making spying into secluded areas still complex. Dowsing for materials, mesmerizing others, seeing creatures in the ethereal plane or otherwise concealed, a very limited psychokinesis - the options are neat. Gleaning knowledge from objects via psychometry (gold for investigations) deserves special mentioning, in no small part due to the synergy with distant viewing and a limited telepathy is also among the cool powers. The pdf also features a feat to gain access to a psychic ability and provides information on making the supernatural psychic abilities extraordinary to e.g. properly set them apart from psionics.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn't notice any significant glitches. Layout adheres to SGG's 3-column landscape presentation and the b/w-artworks, while stock are very well-fitting. The pdf comes with no bookmarks, which is a detrimental factor for me.
I like the Sensitive and its ideas - the talents are complex and intriguing, the archetypes interesting and well-crafted and especially the psychic powers are smart: Without invalidating psionics, they deliver a more down-to-earth take on extra-sensory perception and abilities that fits very well with not only "gifted" characters, but also could conceivably work well in a modern/post-apocalyptic context or even a CoC-based game. Kudos for not dividing the market and instead doing something that feels mechanically distinct. That being said, this is also perhaps the Anachronistic Adventurers-pdf that feels like it's slightly less involved than it could have been - essentially, the mechanic foundation of the class is very similar to e.g. the Daredevil, which per se is nothing bad. But e.g. the doubled talent-names hurt it slightly.
Furthermore, I couldn't help but feel that a slightly tighter focus on the psychic powers, with more of them and a more pronounced access for e.g. Profilers etc. to them might have made this even better. Now don't get me wrong - I still very much enjoyed this pdf and consider it a good buy indeed - the psychic powers alone are glorious and can be scavenged to grant interesting abilities to characters. It's just that this nagging feeling wouldn't stop, this distinct impression that more interesting talents (like the first body language...)instead of the more straight ones would have made the class more distinct. On the Presentation-side, I also felt that some highlighted base concepts (perhaps in bold print) among the psychic power-rules could have made them slightly easier to comprehend - while complaining at a high-level, I can't help but feel that e.g. the psychic frequency-topic could have used some further elaboration - in the powers-description it is briefly touched upon as a concept with regards to the psychic powers, but a concise definition of it, whether it can be blocked, modified etc. - is not there. A pity since per se the concept could have imho carried several interesting abilities to find out peculiarities about the missing person x etc. -Especially relevant since the write-up does not specify a degradation of this imprint over time, making it possible to read ancient artifacts, but also hard to hide from - after all, who'd expect something like that?
In the end, I consider this installment both great and slightly below what it could have been - a tighter focus on psychic powers, with perhaps more mundane options for not-necessarily-psychic sensitives like the Profiler, could have improved this further. As it stands, it is still a very good buy, clocking in at 4.5 stars, rounded down due to aforementioned minor issues and the lack of bookmarks to 4 for the purpose of this platform.
Endzeitgeist out.
| Classement: | | [4 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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All right, by now you know the drill: 3 pages of pdf, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial/SRD, 1 page content, this time for 8 feats for animals, so let’s take a look!
The feats are:
-Bloodhound: When tracking by scent, you get +4 to survival. When tracking creatures with hp damage or a bleeding wound, you get +1 to melee attacks versus that foe. Weird, though, that bleed is specifically mentioned – does incurring any form of bleed damage, even if it’s to attributes, not require hp damage?
-Empathic Beast: Animal/familiar gets the alignment of the owner.
-Great White: You are a white animal (-2 to stealth in any environment but snow and ice), but +1 to all saves and +1 hp/3HD. Nice one!
-Homing Sense: Use survival to find, tortoise-style, your way home. You return home to your master’s abode when left unattended for 24 hours and may even take your unconscious master with you. VERY iconic feat!
-Mighty Beast: When adjacent to one who trained you for one trick, that being gets +4 to intimidate.
-Sly: +6 tricks when trained, +3 when untrained. Neat!
-Soothing Companion: When within 15 ft. of you, your master gets +2 to will-saves versus emotion or fear-descriptor spells and +2 to fort-saves versus environmental damage and disease.
-Timmy is down a well!: Learn to distinguish multiple names and learn to convey special meanings via bluff-checks. Awesome!
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are very good, though not as extraordinarily crisp as I’m used to by SGG. Layout adheres to a 3-column landscape standard and the pdf has no bookmarks, but needs none at this length. Yes! This pdf offers feat for our favorite companions to make them more distinct, matter more and even play pivotal roles in e.g. investigations – just leave e.g. an animal with the Timmy-feat at an inconspicuous location to find out whether those guys over there are talking about killing you. Full of cool ideas, these feats are all killer, balanced and fun and should come as a godsend to each player that wants more customization and options for their favorite pets. Final verdict? Easily given and glad five stars, omitting the seal of approval only because not all of the feats are up to the mind-blown category.
Endzeitgeist out.
| Classement: | | [5 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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The fourth genius guide detailing spell variants is 14 pages long, 2/3 of a page front cover, 1 page editorial/SRD, leaving us with 12 1/3 pages of content, so let's take a look!
The pdf kicks off with a list of spell variants by classes that also gives us the necessary pieces of information to run these variants and properly use them and from the get-go one has to notice two great innovations I wholeheartedly applaud: Number 1 would be that the respective spell variants are numbered so reviewers like yours truly don't have to do all the counting. ;) More relevant for you, though, would be the fact that there are quite a few spell variants that are exclusive to certain classes - whether to witches, summoners, alchemists or inquisitors -only sorcerors and wizards and clerics and oracles share the same spell variants. Why is this a good thing? Because it serves to distinguish the different classes more from one another, making them vastly more distinct and resulting in a less exchangeable gaming experience - so kudos for that! I hope to see this trend continue in future releases!
That out of the way, the spell variants often as a consequence feature a more restrictive availability than their base spells that has to be fractured into balance concerns and which I'd wholeheartedly recommend you to adhere to. Better yet, the tighter focus on classes allows for the spell variants to work in unusual ways - take for example adapt: As a ranger's variant of the jump-spell - it applies to acrobatics, swim and climb-checks, but only in favored terrains. I really, really love this interaction between magic and class abilities and it adds a whole level of coolness to this pdf-collection. But not only are some of the spells directly referring class abilities for cool snyergy-effects, we also get spells that are modified towards specific abilities: Take e.g. the Antijuju Field, which works like a basic antimagic field, but only for hexes and hag magic - accessible exclusively to the witch and inquisitor classes.
Beyond that, there also are spells in here that may be considered much more interesting in their imagery than their base spells - take Brass flask, which allows you to counter spells as per dispel magic and bottle them up for a limited time in a brass flask to unleash the countered spell on your foes. There are also some interesting modifications like Celestial Hunter, a variant of sanctify armor that works exclusively while in wildshape and even a spell that lets you highjack control over artificially-created demiplanes. On the funny side, there's a gender-swapping spell in here and gaining evolution points in addition to the rage-spell's benefits is something the arcane casters will surely appreciate.
That being said, not all of the spell variants hit the nail on the head and suffer from the format/their implications. Take the Youth-spell, which is a variant of raise dead and removes 1d6 years, allowing the recipient to cheat death- indefinitely, in theory. For a total of 7K gold once every few years, you can now stay young forever! WHAT? Introducing this spell would mean that just about ANY good adventurer of a significant level could postpone death, never mind the mayors/nobles of empires and cities - introducing this spell to a campaign would result in a vast array of godkings walking the earth. NEVER gonna happen in my game. A second variant with which I have a bone to pick would be detect murder - a variant of detect magic that shows whether a target has been killed with malign intent. The thing is - what qualifies as "malign intent"? Is loosening a brick in an archway that subsequently kills Lord British malign intent or just an accident? Where does the term begin, where does it end? What if you bake a bread from rat poison and put it somewhere where anybody could eat it - and someone dies, though you intended to use it to kill those pesky pugwampis plaguing the kitchen? Does that qualify as malign intent?
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are very good, though I noticed a couple of instances of minor glitches, like "Scorching ray" not being italicized on page 9 or non-core-rulebook spells sometimes mentioning their origin books and sometimes not. Nothing gamebreaking or truly hindering, though. Layout adheres to SGG's 3-column full color landscape standard and the artworks are neat indeed. The pdf comes without bookmarks, which is a major bummer comfort-wise and makes finding the respective variants a tad bit harder than usual. While navigating this pdf, I also found a recent trend in pdfs would have vastly added to this pdf's comfort - if the spell variants were hyperlinked to their respective d20pfsrd-basics, this pdf would be infinitely more accessible and require less book swapping.
That being said, this is still complaining at a high level, for many of the spells herein actually do very interesting things and the class-specifics/mechanics-interactions make these variants more intriguing than many full-blown spells I've read over the years. While not all of the spellls rock, the majority of them do and while some base spells don't rank among my favorites, I won't hold that against the rather neatly crafted majority of variants herein. In the end, I would have swallowed the two problematic variants and still granted this my full-blown recommendation, were it not for the combination of slightly-above SGG-level glitches and the lack of bookmarks and hyperlinks. Thus, I'll omit my seal of approval and settle for a final verdict of 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5 for the purpose of this platform.
Endzeitgeist out.
| Classement: | | [5 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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There’s something of an implicit understanding to the Pathfinder rules; we all take it for granted that the rules are finely-tuned for game balance. Now, certainly it’s true that the game does make an effort to maintain balance, but there’s a corollary that if we mess with things too much, what balance the game has achieved will begin to fall apart. What I enjoy about The Genius Guide to Spell Variants Volume 4, from Super Genius Games, is that it helps to remind us that that assumption isn’t true (or at least, isn’t as severe as we sometimes think).
A fourteen page book, the fourth volume of Spell Variants opens with a discussion of making variant spells, and the formatting used herein. Class spell lists are given, before we move to the variants themselves. Fans of the previous books will find the same style of presentation used here, as each spell is numbered for where it appears among the 110 given in this volume. The variant spells themselves are presented only in terms of how they differ from the original spells (which are always referenced in the descriptive text).
If this makes the book sound prosaic, then it’s only because I’m not doing the contents justice. When you have a spell like Wall of Molten Tar, a sixth-level sorcerer/wizard spell that acts as a Wall of Iron that deals damage as per a Wall of Fire, there’s some great innovation going on. Of course, a few seem to be questionable in their utility, such as Antijuju Field, which only blocks hexes and the magic of hags…but apparently witches are okay.
The occasional error also managed to creep in, mostly in the form of some spell names being unitalicized, and the rare grammatical error. For the most part though, the book is fairly free of technical issues.
Overall, the fourth volume in the Spell Variants line lives up to the high bar set by its predecessors, giving us dozens and dozens of new spells, all without the huge presentation that would normally come from making full descriptive blocks for each; by referencing existing spells and making the necessary changes, class spell lists can be massively expanded without nearly as much effort, or text. See how a few small changes can go a long way in The Genius Guide to Spell Variants Volume 4.
| Classement: | | [5 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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All right, by now you know the drill - 1 page front cover, 1 page SRD, 1 page content, this time going for 6 anachronistic armors!
We kick off with two types of ballistic vests and from the get-go, both feel not only different, but actually use rules in a way that is befitting of their anachronistic origin, making them feel distinct from diverse enchanted medieval means of keeping alive: Since modern armor is made mainly to protect versus bullets, these anachronistic pieces of equipment sport an increased AC-bonus versus firearms and more importantly, don't have firearm attacks being resolved as touch attacks versus these armors - interesting take for these armors indeed. On the light armor side, we get two versions of ballistic vests.
Reinforced ballistic armor is also interesting as a medium armor, since it does not hamper movement with regards to charges and run maneuvers. The other medium armor, the Ceramic Armor, also sports an interesting rules-options - if the armor is damaged, its armor-rating is reduced. I actually really like this simulationalist approach and use it in my home-game as a house-rule for all types of armor, but repair DCs in an anachronistic context would have been appreciated - can the blacksmith do the job or do you require a potter or some other profession? Also, as a medium armor, shouldn't it reduce movement to 20 ft or is this superior speed part of the armor's rules?
On the shield side, we get riot shields and tactical shields, with riot shields working especially well versus improvised weapons and allowing for the dealing of non-lethal shield bash damage sans incurring the usual -4 penalty. Unfortunately, the shield fails to specify whether it counts as a heavy or light shield for purposes of base shield bash damage.
Tactical shields hamper firearm attacks just like the armors and count as heavy shields that feature lights mounted and a viewport. Nothing to complain here!
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are very good, apart from the ceramic armor's glitch. Layout adheres to SGG's 3-column, landscape presentation and the pdf has no bookmarks, but needs none at this length.
I really, really like how the armors herein feel distinct in crunch and application from standard PFRPG-fantasy armor and the overall ideas featured make them valid options without being overpowering. Gunslingers most definitely will hate these! ;) That being said, the lack of information on the riot shield combined with the ambiguity in the ceramic armor make it impossible to rate this short pdf the full 5 stars. Instead, I will settle for a solid 4 stars.
Endzeitgeist out.
| Classement: | | [4 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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Anachronistic Adventurers: The Daredevil is part of Super Genius Games’ Anachronistic Adventurers (3rd in the series) framed around the idea of people from modern(ish) worlds carried away into a fantasy world. The Daredevil represents the most adventurous of the adventurers, people who rely on raw cussedness and luck to get the job done and survive. While framed around the modern person in a fantasy world, it works as a pure adventuring class as well. It is full of good, solid ideas for those who like these sorts of characters.
The Daredevil gains an ability called dauntless surge which allows them to gain situational bonuses, they also gain talents and bonus feats to reinforce their adventurous theme. They get to choose an archetype (and can use others drawn from the other Anachronistic Adventurers products), the one included here are: Escapist, Secret Agent, Masked Adventurer, and Occultist (with rules for ritual magic). A few new feats and rules on progress levels (for cross-world adventurers) round out the product and giving the class a wide range of options.
| Classement: | | [5 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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This pdf is 17 pages long, 2/3 of a page front cover, 1 page editorial/SRD, leaving us with 15 1/3 pages of content, so let's take a look!
This pdf kicks off with multiple ways on how to integrate the relics into you campaign, offering an option for DMs (like yours truly) that prefer fewer, but more powerful magic items and a sequence of feats, if you prefer so, to unlock the powers of these relics. Relics as templates or as assumed treasure are also possibilities to introduce them into your campaign. One of the headers in this part features a formatting-relic, btw.
Analogue to the first supplement of the series or the concept of Purple Duck Games' critically acclaimed Legendary-series, these relics are magic items that grow in power with your character's progression. Unlike the legendary-series, though, these relics gain a new ability every level, from 1 to 20. The relics covered again, like in the predecessor, take inspiration from real-world mythology, with e.g. Draupnir, Óðin's Ring that can actually produce gold and offer massive insight-themed bonuses or Svalinn, the shield which in Norse mythology stands before the sun.
But there are also relics not tied to Norse mythology - Like Darkkenhael, the first set of dragonhide armor ever made or the golden Kavacha-armor that is based on the armament of the tantric deities. or the lokanaut, the trickster's ring or the Myrmix, armor of legendary charioteers/champions that would become known as archons.
The pdf also provides DMs with all the tools to create relics for their campaign, featuring powers by level guidelines for light, medium and heavy armors, shields and rings, all step-by-step, level by level.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are very good, though not perfect - from minor formatting errors to a missing space here and there/punctuation glitches, there are several small and unobtrusive minor glitches. Layout adheres to SGG's 3-column landscape standard and the full color artworks, while in some instances seen in other SGG-books, is awesome. The pdf has no bookmarks, which is a minor bummer at this point.
This installment of the Relics-series is imho slightly superior to its predecessor, though still not approaching the fluff usually provided in the legendary series. The DiY-kit to make your own relics is an AWESOME expansion of the first pdf in the line and the fact that relics get something every level is still awesome. But much like its predecessor, in direct comparison with PDG's offerings, we get much less relics. In essence, this is a very straight sequel and the gripes I had against still are there - the relics get no lore-sections, we get less than in the legendary-series etc. However, where this one is vastly superior to its predecessor is in the amount of DiY-relic creation tables: 5 versus 2 in the predecessor. These ensure that this pdf is more useful than its direct predecessor, offering much more tools for the DM to play with. My final verdict, hence, will due to the lack of bookmarks and minor glitches, be 4.5 stars, but still rounded up to 5 for the purpose of this platform.
Endzeitgeist out.
| Classement: | | [5 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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This pdf clocks in at 18 pages, 2/3 of a page front cover, 1 page SRD, leaving 16 1/3 pages of content, so let's take a look, shall we?
This is the book that almost broke SGG's 1-product a week-stride and it has been in development for a LONG time - justifiably so, as e.g. I recall Mongoose Publishing's rather ill-fated take on Chaos Magic back in the 3.0-days. That being said, I loved the chaos mage in 2nd edition and one of the most memorable characters of my campaigns during that era was one, so I was rather pleasantly surprised to see the crunch-specialists of SGG tackle this particular field. After a short introduction on the basics of chaos magic, we are introduced to a central concept to this particular brand of magic, so-called chaos surges.
Chaos Surges are the result of a chaos mage failing a concentration check or new spells, closely emulating other spells and are determined by the type of targeting of the attempted spell and the surge effect. A d20-table is rolled to determine the modified target and the surge effect does not consume material components, foci etc. required, though the spell that prompted it still consumes them, if applicable. A spell created by a chaos surge cannot be dismissed by the caster. Depending on effect, area, target and you-type spells are covered and the chance for the DM to get creative is also part of the basic options for chaos surges.
A new type of spell-descriptor is introduced as well, the bedlam-spell that can be enhanced, but at the chance of potentially resulting in a chaotic surge - great to see that this avoids confusion with the already existing [chaos]-descriptor. The spell-lists by classes are properly organized and provide new material for all classes, though druids admittedly get the short end of the stick and summoners are completely left out. A total of 18 new spells are part of the deal, allowing chaos mages to make blades anarchic (and confusing enemies for short periods of time, if cast with chaos magic). Bewilderment ranks among the more interesting spells as well, rendering you immune to mind-affecting effects, but at the cost of confusing you. This page also features the rare Super Genius Games-glitch - the spell's header is not bold, instead a part of the prior spell's text is and there are a couple of words in italics that shouldn't be. Cursing foes with failing on any natural 1 on a d20 roll is also rather neat. 9 of the spells are devoted to chaos surges for the varying levels.
The Chaos Surge spells are meaty indeed - they offer you the chance to cast a spell you know of the spell-level of the surge or lower if you succeed at a concentration check of 11+ caster level (retaining the risk and properly scaling with your levels) -the surge transforms into the desired spell. You may even, at DC 16+caster level, try to e.g. cast a second level spell via a level 1 chaos surge! The level 9 version even allows for the use of level 7 and below spells you do not know! You can also incite movement, cancel morale bonuses and aiding one another and teamwork (Loss of Order is such a great spell!), conjure up chaotic maelstrom clouds, massively hamper spellcasting, force foes to reroll and take the lower result and duplicate rod of wonder effects.
Beyond spells, we also get two new archetypes that differ from traditional archetypes in that they are not class specific: Bards, Inquisitors, Oracle, Magi, Clerics, Summoners, Witches, Sorcerors and Wizards may e.g. pursue the path of the Chaos Mage. The central mechanic of this archetype is overcasting - they may cast spells at lower spell levels than they'd usually be if they succeed at a concentration check of 10+caster level+ original level of the chaos spell+ difference between original spell level and spell level used to cast x5.Ona failure, the spell can manifest at half power or manifest as a chaos surge. prepared spellcasters may furthermore opt to unprepare chaos magic and replace one chaos spell with another chaos spell, whereas prepared spellcasters can use overcasting only when they have depleted their resources of a given spell level. The second archetype, the spellstorm, represents the unbridled power latent in the character and allows them to enter a casting-enhancing eldritch fury - though at the potential of creating chaos surges while in the mode. A total of 12 fury powers, analogues to rage powers in how they work, are also provided and allows for knowledge of the type of chaos surge effect a cast will entail, improved accuracy etc. The editing here is also not as tight as I've come to expect from SGG, as the respective entries refer often Stormspell, potentially confusing readers. I also noticed a reference to the barbarian base-class, a remnant of cut-copy-pasting.
The pdf closes with a new hazard, the Zone of Arcane Ataxia, a more limited wild magic zone that makes the magical energies harder to control. 10 variants of this zone with respective DCs to control the magic are provided. The pdf also features extensive advice for DMs regarding the introduction of chaos magic and how to balance it.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting show that this pdf did not have the luxury of a second pass at editing, sporting numerous glitches that are atypical for releases by SGG and could have been easily avoided. While they never reach a point where they make the rules harder to understand, they remained a distraction throughout my lecture of this pdf. The pdf adheres to SGG's 3-column landscape layout and the mostly full color artworks are dazzling in their beauty. The pdf comes fully bookmarked.
I may be the wrong guy to review this pdf, since I admittedly have a positive bias to Chaos Magic - I love the concept, and moreover, I absolutely adore the execution: Chaos Surges rock, make combats more exciting for the characters and if you're like me and once had a character succeed at a series of dice-rolls that had a about a 1: 10000000000000000-chance to work in his favor, then this is the book for you.
If your group still talks about legendary rolls of the bones like that and if you want to add a sense of unpredictability to your magic, then this is a REQUIRED purchase: It adds a sense of wondrous danger to magic that I enjoyed in 2nd edition's chaos magic take, but with MUCH more concise rules. I LOVE this pdf to death. Concept, execution, all awesome - though perhaps not for every group. If your players are afraid of characters dying due to chaos surges, of potentially friendly fire or if immature and dangerous uses by the chaos mage player would crop up, then this could be problematic - as the pdf acknowledges. I maintain, though, that in the hands of a mature group and moderately skilled DM, this pdf can bring tons of fun and excitement to your game. Were it not for the uncommon amount of minor glitches, this would be a straight 5 star + seal of approval file, but as provided, I can't go there, as much as I'd love to, forcing me to settle instead for a final verdict of 4.5 stars, rounded down to 4, but still with my seal of approval. This is one glorious supplement that manages to tackle a topic that is extremely hard to balance design-wise and succeeds at that nigh impossible task.
Endzeitgeist out.
| Classement: | | [4 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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A lot of gamers forget (or quite often never knew in the first place) that the dividing line between fantasy and science fiction used to be far more permeable than it’s generally considered to be today. Indeed, high-tech-versus-magic remains a sub-genre of its own today, though usually moreso in fiction than in role-playing games. However, we do still see technology creeping into our fantasy in tabletop RPGs, with all of the results that come from getting peanut butter in our chocolate.
#1 With a Bullet Point: 6 Anachronistic Armors, by Super Genius Games, is a product that dives directly, albeit briefly, into this genre mashup. As the title suggests, it provides Pathfinder statistics for six kinds of armor (actually four kinds of armor and two shields) from contemporary Earth.
I had some reservations about this product before I looked at it. I was dubious that the author would simply assign statistics to these armors and shields that would put them on an even keel with standard Pathfinder defensive equipment. That would, in my mind, have defeated the entire point of making these anachronistic armors different – after all, contemporary armor and shields are supposed to be better than older ones, usually in terms of their level of protection versus their weight and bulk, and so just making them have parity with their “medieval” counterparts would have defeated the purpose of statting them at all.
Of course, these guys are called the Super Geniuses for a reason. Author Owen K. C. Stephens saw right through my initial concerns, and did indeed make these armors different, in a way that made them unique and desirable without being overpowering.
The key here is that, for the armors, the bonuses they grant against firearms are much greater than against other kinds of weapons. Indeed, not only does its AC bonus increase, but it makes the attack roll be normal, rather than a touch attach. That’s a HUGE benefit! One of the shields (the tactical shield) offers similar benefits; only the riot shield is not as effective against firearms, but does gain modest benefits against improvised weapons (as well as attacking with it).
That said, there were a few minor quibbles I had with the product. The ceramic armor, for example, apparently has an error in it in that, despite being medium armor, it doesn’t seem to reduce the wearer’s speed rating; there’s no text about that, so I presume it’s in error. Moreover, the armor has a drawback in that its ceramic plates can lose their protective value when damaged; I don’t disapprove of this level of simulationism, but rather wish that there was even a single sentence about what sort of Craft check it would be to make new plates – presumably it’s Craft (armorsmithing), but the DC would presumably be different (since you’re not remaking the entire armor).
That said, some small issues with one armor out of the six here is still a very high bar! Given that the product surprised me by dealing with the issues I was concerned about, and how small its few problems are, I can’t give this less than five out of five stars. If there’s any sort of way your PCs can get access to equipment from other times and places, they’d do far worse than to pick up some anachronistic armors.
| Classement: | | [5 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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If you intend to mess up your timelines good and proper, so that either fantasy characters find themselves in the present day (either 'real world' or the future self of their own campaign setting brought forward in time) or a few modern people somehow end up with at least some of their kit in an alternate fantasy past, this might be of use to you. (And it does happen, I ran a modern game in which the characters ended up scampering around Conan the Barbarian's world, being transported from 20th century Miami... but that's another story!)
Anyway, what we have here is the sort of kit a modern SWAT-team trooper might have: two types of ballistic vest, ballistic armour, ceramic armour and a couple of riot shields. Who knows where they might turn up? And be quite puzzling to your average fantasy character, to whom armour means leather and metal, and it keeps swords and arrows away from your person, not bullets. Each item has been carefully considered from the standpoint of the Pathfinder ruleset, and statistics assigned. It might have benefited from a little more consideration as to what mediaeval weaponry will do to your 'bullet-proof vest' - most of us have a fair idea of how well it protects against firearms but less concept of what would happen if someone clobbered you with a bastard sword when wearing one.
That aside, get this if you are planning a cross-over, or indeed are using the Pathfinder ruleset in a modern setting.
| Classement: | | [4 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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This supplement to the lauded Spellpoint-system by SGG is 14 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial/SRD, leaving us with 12 pages of content, so let's check this out!
This is an expansion to Houserule Handbook: Spell Points and as such requires the former to properly work. I'm going to assume familiarity of the "Core"-spellpoint book in this review. So let's check this out!
Alchemists were originally intentionally excluded from the spellpoint system, but the fans have spoken and thus, we herein get an "extract"-point version of Spell Points for the alchemist. He also gets a spell-point infusion variant. Beyond that, this pdf sets out to cover some of the more peculiar issues that sprang up from the spellpoint system: Magi spell-combat had lost the option to use metamagic feat-modifications in conjunction with spellcombat. This is rectified, by allowing for the expenditure of 1 point from the arcane pool to cast a modified spell as a standard action instead of the full round via a new arcana.
The issue that sprang up with handling archetypes with diminished spellcasting is also addressed by providing concise guidelines to calculate spellpoints for them. Other classes with spellcasting access like the ones provided by SGG and other 3pps are also covered with multiple rules: From analogue-progression with existing classes to a complex formula for more esoteric classes with unique progressions, this should have your needs covered, even if the formula used is complex and might require some tweaking since no single formula was used to create the original spellpoint-rules.
It should be noted, that Prestige Classes that grant spell-lists are thus also covered, as are multiclass characters. Essentially, the pdf advocates keeping separate spell point pools for different classes and while it points to the Spell Point Feats short supplement, I can't as of yet comment on that, since I don't own this one and thus can't comment on the Eldritch Blending feat.
We also now may opt to create 1/4 of a spell point per level as an universal favored class option as well as favored class options depending on races that cover the standard races - minus half-orcs, but plus orcs. Many of them use domain-mini-pools to modify your existing spell pools. We also get 13 class-specific favored class options that are interesting, albeit more complex in their benefits that what I'm accustomed to - prepare for slightly more extra-work regarding these.
The pdf also provides us with new Spell Point feats: Eldritch Insight allows you to spend spell points to enhance your wis-based skill-checks and wis-checks and there are two more such feats that essentially do the same for Int and Cha-based skill and ability checks. There is also a class of feats that begins with "infused" that allows you temporary access to a magus arcana, a 1-point evolution that is not "skilled", a bloodline feat or a revelation. Other Infusion feats allow you to spend spell points to enhance class abilities, with one class of feats allowing you to e.g. boost a judgment, performance or wild shape by +4 levels. Alchemists may increase their splash weapon damage via magic, whereas clerics may now opt to improve their channeling in range and effectiveness and for the price of 5 spell points, heal living AND damage undead (or vice versa) for 5 spell points. Witches may in an analogue increase the range of their hexes and damage or, for 5 spell points, use their hex a second time on a character in 24 hours that has already been affected by said ability. Finally, the metamastery feat allows you to ignore the increased casting time of metamagic spells when using the spell point system. Am I correct in assuming that this feat, when taken by the magus, would render the new arcana moot?
The pdf closes with new rules: Overcasting is one of the cooler aspects of the spell point system and to prevent especially high-level abuse, it can no actually be lethal if overdone: When casting with no spell points available, the character may actually die. As an additional option to conserve spell points, casters may now also opt to cast spells with numerical values at 1/2 caster level and effectiveness at a 1 point lower spell cost. It is also mentioned that a feat might be in order to keep balance for this ability and I get why: Casting e.g. a fireball would cost 4 spell points, dealing up to 10d6 damage. Now if you want to wear down players with waves of weaker foes, 10d6 may be overkill, whereas 3 spell points for 3x 5d6 would net a 4th 5d6 fireball and yet another wave vanquished. Granted, eldritch dissonance helps combat the potential issue, but still I feel I can't properly judge the repercussions of this option sans extensive playtesting. Somewhere in the back of my mind, my DM-alarm tingles, though.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn't notice any glitches. The pdf adheres to SGG's 2-column mostly b/w-standard and the pdf comes thankfully fully bookmarked with nested bookmarks. It also features quite an array of b/w-stock art, which, while not wrong per se, feels a bit more dominant than in other SGG-pdfs, with quite a bunch of space devoted to it, eating up approximately 2 pages of the page-count.
I really like the idea of the spell point system and SGG's original book has had some time to settle by now and it mostly works as intended. While, since the original pdf multiple issue cropped up in play this pdf neatly addresses and fixes them. That being said, this pdf covers some of the more problematic issues that have sprung up and addresses them in SGG's trademark crunch-competence. The feats to further make spell points more versatile definitely seem intriguing, though the arcana/metamagic mastery-conundrum remains puzzling to me.
By all accounts I should love this pdf and its options and yet, it left me with a sour taste in my mouth. It took e some reflection as to why and I've come to a conclusion: It's the same phenomenon as with Mass Effect 2.
Said game is one of the best scifi-games I've ever played - AFTER you buy all the DLCs. Before that, it's story is barebones and lacks crucial hooks and details, rendering the overall experience good, but definitely not up to the awesomeness it is when experiencing the game with its add-ons. Now while functional as intended and fair for the price-point, the original spell point system, much like mass effect 2, succeeds at what it sets out to do, but leaves some intangible rest to be desired. Something similar could be said about the spell point system.
Mechanically sound, I still maintain it is a great system, but honestly, about 1/2 of the content herein should have been part of the original offering. Don't get me wrong, I completely get the laws of demand and supply and that the waters had to be tested - still, options for archetypes, PrCs, diminished spellcasting, guidelines etc. - are not optional. They are not expansions. They are what should have been part of the core-system. That component of the pdf, essentially, is a patch. A patch that has some new content included, content that is nice and evocative and solidly designed, but still a patch. And in contrast to e.g. the massive collector's edition patch of the Witcher 2, it is one you pay for. Yes, I opted to judge this pdf for its new content, but still, a sour taste in my mouth remains and a distinct, nagging voice in the back of my head keeps telling me to rate this down to the abyss. I really, really wished SGG had postponed the original spell-point system, included these fixes/class options in the beginning and then made this a book where the feats and component rules truly are optional.
As written, about half of this pdf is required in my opinion if you all out adopt the Spell Point system and it still has some rough patches at higher levels, but remains still the best option for point-based spellcasting so far I've seen for any iteration of a d20-based game.
That being said, to me as a person, this feels like a patch with some DLC-content I have to pay for. As a reviewer, I can't let that influence me too much, though, and thus will settle on a final verdict that only partially reflects my personal grievance with this pdf and also take the great new content into account, for a final verdict of 4.5 stars, rounded down to 4 for the purpose of this platform due to the bitter taste this pdf left in my mouth and will probably leave in the mouths of others as well.
Endzeitgeist out.
| Classement: | | [4 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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