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An Endzeitgeist.com review
This FREE pdf is 14 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page back cover, 1 page editorial, leaving us with 11 pages of content, so let’s take a look!
Th pdf kicks off by introducing us to a new magical quality called “mirrored” that does not increase an item’s magical bonus, but only its base price. For every plus the weapon has, it gets 13 charges and upon using a spell-like ability, the weapon loses one of said charges. Every 13 charges that are depleted cost the magical item one of its +1 enhancements. This additional power is considered as being an item incorporated into the weapon price-wise. Furthermore, when two mirrored weapons clash, both abilities are activated without depleting a charge – otherwise, the activation is dependant on activation triggers that vary by weapon. Finally, mirrored weapons net bonuses when nearby allies also wield mirrored weapons and count as cold iron for the purpose of DR.
The first item provided is Cyrekksi’s Mirrored Spear, a +2 spear that protects the wielder with 1d4+2 mirror image upon botching an attack. These duplicates last 8 minutes or until hit.
Marizz’s Mirrored Club is a +2 club that may, upon striking a foe with a DR of a specific type, up to 2/day cast versatile weapon with a duration of 8 minutes – per se a cool idea, but does versatile weapon apply to the strike that prompted it or to the next one? Also, the charges of this one are unrefillable in contrast to the mirrored spear – a somewhat odd decision: Either make them all unrechargeable (would make sense to me) or make them all rechargeable.
The final weapon provided is the shortsword of enlarging diminishment, a +1 keened[sic!] shortsword (should be keen) – when wielded by a gnome or halfling, the sword may 1/day affect foes subject to a crit with reduce person, while the wielder benefits from an enlarge person. Unfortunately, the DC of this very specific ability is fixed at DC 14, meaning that the weapon will stop being useful fast.
The final 6 pages are devoted to providing versions of the items for 3×4 index cards and 4×6 index cards.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting is good, but not perfect – I noticed a couple of different minor glitches. Layout adheres to a full color standard with a parchment-style background that renders the pdf not particularly printer-friendly. Each weapon comes with its own artwork – and when taking into account that this pdf is FREE, the quality of them is actually rather nice. The pdf has no bookmarks, but at this length needs none. More significant is the absence of a proper SRD, which might prove to be problematic in the long run for the company.
This pdf actually offers some nice magical weapons with uncommon mechanics and solid fluff to back them up, though the club could use some minor clarification and the short-sword’s fixed DC and very specific activation conditions mean that that one becomes mostly useless fast, though it’s concept is ok. Personally, I prefer scaling DCs that keep items relevant.
That being said, while not perfect, author Mike Myler has created a solid pdf for FREE and even if you don’t use the items, at least you get some artworks to show players – all in all, this is a solid offering that is FREE and as such is definitely worth a read and the space on your HD. My final verdict will clock in at 4 stars.
Endzeitgeist out.
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Publisher Reply: |
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Thanks EZG! We're still working out the kinks and will continue to try our best to comply to the proper licensing rules, In the future we'll get the hang of full compliance with every publication and now that my team's workload has shifted (my chief format designer is nearly done with an update to our first book, The Clockwork Wonders of Brandlehill) I'll crack the whip and make sure the SRD makes it into this document correctly. Your critique is excellent (as always) and we love the feedback! Thank you for taking the time to give us a review, we really do appreciate it! |
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An Endzeitgeist.com review
This supplemental pdf for the Machinesmith-class is 9 pages long, 1 page editorial/SRD, 1/2 a page advertisement, leaving us with 7 1/2 pages of content, so let's take a look at this!
This pdf kicks off with two new types of greatworks, the first being the converter, which fluff-wise converts latent energy into effects that duplicate a limited array of spell-like abilities. Converters get 1 +1/2 class level + Intelligence charges - at least that's what the pdf specifies. Which makes me doubt whether this is correct - usually, we'd be looking at an addition of the intelligence MODIFIER - adding the whole stat is something completely different and hopefully just a glitch. From at will powers that don't use charges to those taking up 3 at the fourth and final greatwork update, the converter allows for access to spell-like abilities running the gamut from dancing lights at will to implosion for 3 charges. What's rather odd is that implosion takes up as much charges as telekinesis and reverse gravity, two power-wise rather inferior spells. Also, getting telekinesis at 20th level is too late. On a nitpicky side, the spell discordant blast has not been italicized in the pdf. I don't know, the curve at which the powers become available feels a bit off.
The Converter also gets 4 new augmentations that allow converters to assimilate limited amounts of energy, increase DCs by 1 and may, as the coolest of the abilities, shape one 10 ft. cube per two levels, allowing for really cool ways of modifying non-instantaneous energy effects - walking literally through forest fires, for example or creating holes in roaring blizzards conjured by hostile forces. The final one allows that at 12th level even as an immediate action for double charges.
The second Greatwork would be the Mobius Suit, which is obviously inspired by one particular Mr. Tony Stark - based on an armor, the suit grants armor-bonus and can use its charges (of which it gets 1/2 class level + int modifier) to gain either DR 1/- or energy resistance 5 to one chosen energy for int-mod rounds - essentially, the suit has charge-powered abilities that become progressively more versatile. More's the pity that the basic ability of the suit fails to specify whether it can be used multiple times at once - could e.g. a machinesmith grant him/herself 5 resistance to fire for 4 rounds and on the next round also get 5 resistance to cold for a second expended charge or can only one effect be in place at once? This becomes especially relevant on the first upgrade, which suddenly nets DR 2/- and energy resistance 10. Does the Machinesmith still have to specify which type of energy? I assume so, but the wording is ambiguous. The suit also grants proficiencies with armors and up to 4 integrated gadget-slots as well as the option to retain its AC versus firearms, increase AC versus crit-confirmation rolls and use swift actions to temporarily gain access to evasion for a ref-save.
The Mobius Suit also gets 4 new augmentations, which allow for enhanced str-and dex-based skill checks, lift as if under the ant haul spell (which the pdf fails to italicize), supercharge the suit for a massive +6 bonus to Str and Dex at the cost of 1 hour of not working (cool) and use charges to extend the duration of integrated gadgets.
After that, we're off to 14 new gadgets. We get one to launch snapdragon fireworks over multiple rounds (again, lacking italicization), create temporary Resilient Spheres, Defensive Shocks, temporarily suppressing machinesmith gadgets and dazing constructs (sans save), add firearms to turrets and create a power gauntlet-like device -at least in theory. EDIT: I botched. Impact Knuckles do specify what they're supposed to do, though the entry lacks italicization of the spell effect they duplicate
He may also duplicate the Polypurpose Panacea-spell via an injector, create proximity mines that duplicate blast glyphs and shout non-lethal restraining cables at opponents, enhance the invisibility cloak to follow up with displacement (Imho a great idea!), duplicate excavations via sonic diggers, the battlemind link-spell via tactical communicators (though construction options to widen the network from two presumed participants would have been nice), get a beacon that makes hitting illuminated foes via turrets faster and more reliable (nice!) or suspend him/herself in temporal stasis.
We also get 4 new tricks (though the header faultily calls them techniques): Caustic Refuter stuns those affected by Axiom or counter-science, Drone Expert improves all created constructs (including the pocket army), increase your to-hit prowess with your tools and recycle prototypes (i.e. his/her spells): Upon using a prototype, the machinesmith may for one round change one of his prepared prototypes of the same or higher level into the one he just used.
Next up are two archetypes: The Gadgeteer, who sacrifices his/her greatwork for more spells and a focus on being faster at creating magic items and commanding/enhancing drones. The second one, the Wonderbuilder, does essentially the exact opposite, sacrificing part of his prototype spells for a secondary greatwork (and later even a third one), but at the cost of never having his primary greatwork reach upgrade 4.
The pdf also provides us with 6 prototypes to revisit the topic of drones, which had been scrapped from the original class-pdf. Two of the prototypes allows you to grant limited mobility to your turrets or grant them climb speeds respectively, while the other 4 create small assisting drones - at level one drones sans combat capabilities, at 3rd level conjure up swarms of nauseating drones, create at 4th level spying drones to track foes and provide visual feedback and at 5th level finally create deadly extermination drones with melee and ranged attacks. My only gripe with this one being that it does not specify what action a reload of the ranged weapon is and how much ammo the drone gets. Other than that, the concept of drones has been quite adeptly been salvaged.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are not that great - apart from nitpicky issues like non-italicized spells, the pdf also suffers from a missing sentence in one of its gadgets. All in all, this feels like it could have used another pass at editing in order to properly unleash its potential. Layout adheres to LPJr Design's beautiful two-column standard for NeoExodus and we also get an additional version that is slightly more printer-friendly. The pdf features a beautiful new piece of full color artwork and is fully bookmarked for your convenience - nice! The pdf also comes with spell-deck cards of all the new prototypes - very nice if you use them, especially for the very fair price!
I love the Machinesmith-class to death - it has seen some justified support by Super Genius Games and Rite Publishing and deservedly so - the class rocks hard and is a great treat to play. Unfortunately, much like the first iteration of the class it's based on, this expansion by Wendall Roy suffers from several issues - nothing too significant, but quite enough to drag down the actually REALLY cool, glorious concepts. Without glitches, I'd gladly give this 5 stars - but as provided (and I didn't mention every glitch), I can't for the life of me, rate this higher than 2.5 stars, rounded up to 3. I'm hoping for a revision I can rate higher and truly recommend.
Endzeitgeist out.
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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.
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An Endzeitgeist.com review
This pdf is 4 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page SRD, leaving us with 2 pages of content, so let's take a look!
The Universalist Wizard has always been problematic - they have gotten the short end of the stick for quite a long time and this pdf seeks to remedy that via 4 options, all of which come with a short fluffy introduction before getting into the crunchy bits.
The first new option would be the Arcane Researcher: Replacing Hand of the apprentice with the ability to research spells much faster makes for a nice first ability - especially if you e.g. feature categories of spells that require research because they simply are not openly available. Metamagic mastery is replaced with a rather AWESOME ability that will provide a godsend for some wizards - spells the arcane researcher has researched himself can be prepared by him/her without having access to a spellbook. Some nasty surprise for authorities/slavers who thought that keeping the spellbook away would be enough to neutralize the caster... Finally, at 13th level, they get +1 DC for their researched spells.
The Beastbonded Arcanist can inscribe a limited amount of spells on to the hide of his/her familiar, making the familiar a type of backup spellbook. Beyond that, the familiar can aid you for +4 instead of the regular bonus and at higher levels automatically succeed at helping you. At the higher levels, as long as your familiar are with 30 foot and conscious, neither you or your familiar can be flanked/flat-footed. Neat one!
The Bookbonded Arcanist gains a spellbook that never runs out of blank pages as a bonded item, but requires bonus spells you have to be inscribed in the pages of the book and not some other spellbook. Furthermore, the bookbonded arcanist may ignore the cost of sepia snake sigil when casting it on the book and the book ignores damage caused by runes on the book itself, rendering it impervious to the deadly security measures you may wish to implement. At higher levels, the arcanist may even teleport the bonded spellbook to the hands of the arcanist - awesome!
The final new option would be the Spellweaver - nimble fingers allow the spellweaver to add his dex-modifier to Spellcraft DCs, increase the casting time to also increase the caster level a limited amount of times per day and later even the DC of your spells.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are very good, though there's an instance (Aforementioned Sepia Snake Sigil) of a spell not being properly italicized in the text. Layout adheres to Interjection Games' elegant 2-column b/w-standard and the pdf has no bookmarks, but needs none at this length. The artworks included are thematically fitting stock-art.
This pdf is interesting in that it FINALLY offers some unique options for universalist wizards - all too long we had no cool distinct options for them and this pdf remedies this short-coming rather well, with especially the Bookbonded Arcanist and the Arcane Researcher feeling VERY wizard-like in style, marrying great crunch with good ideas - and the former WILL be popular at my table, since I'm one of the bastard-DMs that like to target Wizard spellbooks - and drench them, burn them, cut them to pieces - you get the idea. The only one of the options that slightly falls behind its potential is imho the slightly unfortunately named Spellweaver (there's already a skill-based casting-class by Misfit Studios...) - while solid in its approach and featuring an elegant, easy to grasp mechanic, this one feels like it could have used an additional ability, something slightly more distinct.
Since this is complaining at a high level and since this pdf comes with a very fair price-point, I'll settle on a final verdict of 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5 for the purpose of this platform.
Endzeitgeist out.
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This pdf is 61 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page ToC, 1 page author's note/dedication, 1 page SRD, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 55 pages of content, so let's take a look!
The first of Michael Tumey's Haiku of Horror series of supplements details a bath house and as such, since in Western culture they are not that common, we kick this supplement off with an introduction on the concept of bath houses that essentially takes the basic concept from Japanese culture and introduces the audience to Kaidan's particular take on the concept as well as providing concise lists of prices. Throughout the supplement, terms ranging from the distinction between "onsen" and "sento" as well as "tatami" are explained in concise boxes that not only help immerse into the given setting while providing some additional knowledge and bits of trivia that may broaden your horizon if you are not that familiar with Japanese culture.
Now this does not mean that this is some dry textbook, mind you - instead, we are introduced to the Autumn Moon bath house, fully mapped in gorgeous full color on 4 full-page maps. The house itself gets a room by room description and after that, a fluffy summary of the current servants/attendants introduces us to a basic net of allegiances that represent the social dynamics of the house.
Here are some SPOILERS. Players should jump to the conclusion.
A tragedy has befallen the bath house and ever since then, the place is haunted: An attendant called Kana has met an end most foul: The young beauty (and secret witch-in-training) sought to escape the bonds of her servitude and find love in one fell swoop. Enjoying a secret wedding ceremony with her betrothed, the chaste maiden set out to commemorate her marriage with her beloved. This act was, unfortunately, misinterpreted by the bath house's mistress and former proprietor of Kana. Thinking her subordinate was conducting prostitution under her roof, the rage at the humiliation and loss of face prompted her to use her brush and drown both poor Kana and her beloved. Said dread secret is still tied to the place, Kana's pillow book (=diary) is still hidden in the bath house and at night, her ghost is still roaming the place.
Speaking of ghost: We don't get only one incarnation of her, but rather a massive array of 5 (!!!) versions of the build, spanning CRs from CR 6 to a whopping CR 22. Beyond that, she is not a regular ghost, but rather uses the new, also featured Yurei no kami (grappling hair ghost)-template, at CR +3 and even 4 new haunts (one of which has a very minor formatting glitch) as well as a new curse, the Ju-on - a grudge, in case you're not familiar with the movie. We also are introduced to traditional Kaidanese marriage gifts, since they are relevant for properly dealing with the spirit.
/SPOILERS
In addition to the content, we get 33 pages featuring the map of the bath-house to cut-out and use with miniatures as well as high-res versions of the gorgeous maps.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are very good, though not perfect, I didn't notice any significant glitches. Layout adheres to Kaidan's bamboo-lined 2-column full color standard and Mark Hyzer's stellar b/w-artwork complements the excellent maps well indeed. The pdf comes fully bookmarked for your convenience.
This essentially is both a map, a mini supplement of a nice location, some complex stats and finally, a sandboxy mini-adventure/ bare-bone-style red herring to be inserted into a campaign, all in one - whether you want to use it as a diversion, blow it up to full-blown adventure-status or just use it as a backdrop, this bathing house has something to offer - and at a very fair price to boot! That being said, as the first installment, I think there's some room for improvement, namely the environment of the place - whether it is the hardness of the wall, slippery floor or similar minor DCs and details that make places come to life - the bath house, as awesome as it is, could use some small bits and pieces like this to make it feel a bit more organic: Locking doors, vortexes (including swim checks) etc., perhaps a page from the pillow book - in short, some action for the skills (perhaps using one set of DCs for each intended level range) would have made this even better.
As written, we still get a cool location oozing flair and some VERY creepy imagery and crunch for a very fair price. Nevertheless, I feel like this misses the highest echelons by a slight margin, making me settle for a final verdict of 4.5 stars, rounded down to 4 for the purpose of this platform - still, a recommended purchase if you're looking for some easily inserted horror, though!
Endzeitgeist out.
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An Endzeitgeist.com review
This module is 58 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, ½ a page ToC, 1 page SRD, leaving us with a total of 54 ½ pages o content, so let’s take a look!
First of all: If you run this module DON’T SHOW YOUR PLAYERS THE COVER. The crew of adventureaweek.com has done quite some research and taken a jumble of different obscure versions of the traditional fairy-tale and blended them together – that being said, they will not necessarily realize they’re playing “Snow-White” – unless you tell them, which I discourage.
This being an adventure-review, the following contains massive SPOILERS. Potential players should jump to the conclusion.
All right, still here? Morsain is a nice little town in the Klavek Kingdom and as such had to pay quite its share of massive taxes – but the town’s fortunes might change soon, as Prince Ruhtin, 4th son of the king, plans on marrying the drop-dead gorgeous daughter of Morsain’s leader, one beauty called Lumi Valka Valtatytar. The wedding between the two is to happen soon and via one of the various hooks, the PCs find themselves employed as additional security for the festivities and the module hence kicks off with a security sweep of the gorgeously mapped castle’s 3 levels. Weirdly, the PCs also find traps – a gazillion of them, progressively harder to disable. By now, they should have the sneaking suspicion that someone is gaging their abilities and plans something – but what?
During the lavishly-detailed festivities, Lumi is promptly poisoned and the PCs may try to determine how the poor girl suffered from the strange catatonic fit by researching the intricately complex multi-component poison she inadvertently ingested – a master-poisoner is obviously at work here. Thus, the PCs, after some questioning, will be on guard duty – only to have swarms of bats and larger dire variants attack and try to make off with the unconscious Lumi. There’s a potential for a neat chase here and it is developed – as is the chance that the PCs manage to stop the bats.
If they do, she’ll recover and be kidnapped right from under the prince’s nose – in the guise of a PC. One man named Wilhelm Jacob as the perpetrator will be found by the PCs – and perish – poisoning himself – unfortunately, he has handed her over to a rider already – using a magic item as well as a clever plan, it is highly doubtful he will be caught by even clever PCs – and I love it if characters actually act smart. The woodland chase for the rider, beyond his misleading horses and falls trails, should be nailbiting – not only due to a rather complex table of obstacles and encounters.
Worse, the huntsman, beset by dwarves, escapes the woods – sans Lumi, her trail going cold for now. Suffice to say, the prince is not particularly pleased. Finding the true identity of the huntsman, the PCs have to capture and surprise the man in his fully mapped cabin. And then, suddenly, albino centipedes pop up, summoned by some eldritch force, to kill the servant now turned liability. Mysteriously, the huntsman seems to have some ties with the castle, notably its catacombs. Upon solving a puzzle-lock, the PCs may encounter more of the weird centipedes in the again, fully mapped catacombs of the castle. Upon thwarting an assassination attempt on them, the PCS will have to prove at least partially their diplomatic mettle and convince the prince they are not responsible for all the misfortunes – thankfully, the Attendant Queen seems to have located Lumi via a scrying device and offers to teleport the PCS to the location: An offer they should be glad to take, since the atmosphere at the castle has turned quite frosty towards them…
Of course, the spell doesn’t send them to Lumi – but to some other place the PCs will not particularly appreciate – and thus, this module ends with a cliffhanger to be continued in part 2.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting re top-notch, I didn’t notice any significant glitches. Layout adheres to a printer-friendly 2-column standard with color-coded boxes for skill/combat/etc.-boxes and white background, rendering the module rather printer-friendly. The artworks range from nice b/w-pencil-drawings of the characters to fitting stock art and the cartography, as always with AaW, is formidable. The module comes with player-friendly high-res versions of all the maps. The pdf comes fully bookmarked and extensively uses nested bookmarks for maximum convenience – Two thumbs up!
When I first heard about this module, I face-palmed – with fairy-tales being as popular as they are for adaptations right now, everyone and his aunt seem to have a new, grim, dark take on the tropes, often failing miserably. *cough* movie *cough* I grew up with the original, rather bloody version of the story and honestly, never could stand most adaptations out there. And then, there is the fact that fairy-tales often make for bad, railroad adventures with clichéd plotlines and cardboard cut-out characters.
Snow-White is none of these things. Even without the mythological yarn that suffuses this adventure’s theme, we get a rather interesting module that breaks multiple conventions of how modules usually play out – from the opening to finish, we get intrigue, uncommon encounters, smart adversaries that actually act as befitting of their Int-score and most of all: A plot that is many things, but neither predictable, nor linear. The chase, the research – all ties in together nicely and makes the PCs actually work for their progress, while still having the chance of not leaving a stupefied group behind.
Yes, Snow-White is an expensive module when looking at the page-count – but authors Stephen Yeardley, Jonathan Nelson and Will Myers have created a yarn that dares to be different, offers something for all kinds of players and is refreshing, innovative and exciting to boot, resulting in one of the finest modules AaW have so far produced and in me being on the edge of my seat, looking forward to seeing whether they can maintain this level of quality in part 2. An exciting, unconventional module that works best when used by a DM with a bit of experience, Snow White Part I deserves a final verdict of 5 stars + seal of approval.
Endzeitgeist out.
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An Endzeitgeist.com review
This installment of the Dungeon Dressing line is 13 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page advertisement, 2 pages editorial, 1 page ToC/foreword,1 page SRD, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 6 pages of content, so let's take a look!
So...seriously? Doom Paintings? Painting generators seem like an endeavor that is futile from the very get-go, but author Mike Welham has time and again shown his talent for compelling supplements, so what exactly do we get?
Well, in case you didn't know - a doom painting is one that depicts the final judgment, end of days etc. - with a part depicting heaven and another depicting hell. Obviously, most settings don't feature trademark Christian iconography and this from the get-go, puts the supplement in a disadvantageous position. Why? Well, if you're like me and grew up in a country predominantly influenced by book religions, you'll probably won't see it immediately. Think about it, though: What Manga and Anime taught me, is that from an outsider's perspective, from the perspective of another belief, not only can the church's history dark spots be damn creepy, the whole Christian religion can feel rather disturbing and its iconography is rather inspiring when trying to craft portents and organizations.
The installment's first table contains 40 entries and each entry is rather lengthy, depicting one type of duality - from a Janus-like being, murals leading to either ice of fire and more complex entries: Take for example a hag shrouding a room with a blanket and subsequent people, with blankets over their heads, not realizing that the room is stuffed with corpses. Yeah. These paintings tend to also feature some rather nice, disturbing imagery here and there, though without becoming explicit. There is also a painting showing a hidden path through some kind of elemental purgatory (including a Perception DC) and several triptychs are also featured.
Now this would not be the dressing-series, were it not for an additional table, this one sporting a total of 64 entries of details to modify the paintings further - whether by scribbled warnings on the back, weird places where the paintings can be found or by composition: One of the paintings is made up out of tiles that are currently jumbled, whereas others feature hidden sheets of paper or are held aloft by clockwork butterflies (!!!). Of course, paintings with magic mouths and screams emanating from them also feature among these modifications, which come with several pieces of rules-information in the case of more complex entries. Take aforementioned clockwork butterflies - we actually get Ac, hardness and hp for them! Nice!
The final 2 pages of the installment are devoted to 5 new traps covering the grounds from Cr 2 to 13 and coming with Raging Swan Press' trademark trap-complexity, i.e. not simple one-round traps, but multiple rounds/effects and non disable device means of bypassing some. Take aforementioned elemental path - essentially, if you choose this painting and combine it with the elemental path trap, you get a whole dungeon room/mini puzzle - and that, my friends, is awesome. There is also a rather nasty painting of combined spell-like abilities that makes for a twisted variant of the painting-sucks-you-in-trope. Or take a painting of a beggar, which blesses the generous and punishes the stingy? Oh, and there's a VERY unpleasant hallway trap here as well - each, btw., tied to a specific doom painting, as befitting of this installment's topic.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting, as we've come to expect from Raging Swan Press, are stellar - I didn't notice any glitches. Layout adheres to RSP's printer-friendly 2-column standard and the pdf comes fully bookmarked and in two versions, one optimized for screen-use and one to be printed out. The piece of b/w-artwork featured is familiar to those who have checked out Shadowed Keep of the Borderlands and still is awesome.
I'm honestly impressed - author Mike Welham has managed to create what, by the first impression, could have easily turned out to be a massive failure. Instead, we get extremely inspiring dressings that evoke wonder and make a DM come up with rooms, puzzles and even whole plotlines, supplemented by nice traps and DCs here and there. From the easy to integrate entries to the interspersed entries of weirdness, this installment offer something to the down-to-earth gritty faction as well to aficionados of the weird, all in a superb example of the art of concise writing: How much has been crammed in these pages is impressive and has me clambering for more - I wouldn't mind a direct sequel. My final verdict will hence not surprise anyone - 5 stars plus seal of approval. get this - it's perhaps the best installment of the series so far.
Endzeitgeist out.
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Publisher Reply: |
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Thank you very much for this review. I'm absolutely delighted you enjoyed Dungeon Dressing: Doom Paintings as much as you did! |
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An Endzeitgeist.com review
This pdf is 47 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial/ToC, 3 pages of SRD, leaving us with 42 pages of content, so let's take a look!
Without any introduction or wasted space, we are introduced to the new Medium base-class that gets d8, 4+Int skills, 3/4 BAB-progression, good will-saves, proficiency with light armor and simple weapons, as well as spell-like abilities of up to 6th level - and you'd be outrageously gasping by now since they cannot be counterspelled - but: A rather interesting balancing method is being used - a medium can only maintain one spell-like abilities at once, with a new ability immediately ending the first. These abilities also get aligned later and count as spell for item activation purposes starting level 2. The spell-like abilities can be each used 3/day and their governing spellcasting attribute is charisma. At first level, the medium also chooses an influence - but more on that later.
Mediums gain spirit guides that may use guidance on their behalf whenever s/he enters a trance and detect spirits, which include undead, fey, invisible, outsiders and also use this ability to notice and analyze haunts and even keep them from attacking - which is great since they are mostly untapped regarding class abilities. Starting at 3rd level, the medium also gets perhaps one of the most complex and well-executed abilities I've seen in quite a while - Séance. Mediums may call spirits and souls of creatures into their bodies to tap their knowledge and bargain with them planar ally style - including a max HD-table per level.
Now Influences, as I've mentioned before, are important: Mediums may choose from 11 influences that include diabolical forces, angelic hosts, restless souls, elemental forces or seelie and unseelie courts. Each Influence nets the medium a bonus language, a selection of trance covenants and spell like-abilities and a different capstone ability (yes, one for every influence) and also recommended, but not prescribed spirit boons.
I need to address Trances. Mediums may enter a trance that lasts 4+Cha-mod rounds +2 per medium level after the first. While in trance, mediums get +4 to Con and Cha as well as access to the covenants and spell-like abilities associated with her/his influence and may use his/her spell-like abilities associated with influences once per trance without counting against the daily maximum. Essentially, the trance can be considered a caster's equivalent of a barbarian's rage (and no, they are not compatible) and trances do have some restrictions to maintain balance.
Now regarding favored class options... WOW. Blues. Half-Rakshasa.Duergar. Fehr's Ethnology-races. Psionics Unleashed-races. Remarkable Races from Alluria Publishing. And even ARG-races ALL COVERED. Wow. Just wow. 2 pages CHOCK-FULL of favored class options. This goes above and beyond. Nice!
Now have I mentioned spirit boons? At 1 st level, 3rd level and every 4 levels after that, the medium may choose a spoken invocation to gain the benefits of one of (unless I miscounted) 44 (!!!) spirit boons, which include things you'd expect like reading minds and telekinesis and implanting geas, absorb wounds of others via stigmata, add essentially add what amounts to metamagic-like, yet thoroughly unique effects to your spell-like abilities, which include ignoring the miss chances of incorporeal adversaries, prolong them etc. Have I mentioned the option to put psychic shackles on spirits and chain them in your mind, turn incorporeal, possess foes (also only limbs - quite cool!), heal ability damage and raise the dead? Yes - the options are varied and damn cool.
A new spell lets you expel spirits and then, we're off to the topic of covenants - Depending on the strength of the spirit called, a covenant requires the expenditure of money, with access being also predicated on a tree of 5 progressively more expensive feats - though advice for alternate progressions are given as well if you're not sold on the approach. Finding covenants is not only an opportunity for spending character resources, but also for roleplaying and entering covenant examples are provided alongside comprehensive lists of covenants by strength. Covenants are depicted somewhat akin to feats - the power-level of the covenant being included in brackets behind the name, followed by a short fluff description and then the benefits as well as a comprehensive list of patrons that can grant the respective covenant. Dark Arcanas, Archon Wards, the option to temporarily rip someone from death's grip, turn into elemental body II, gaining living illusions as companions, tap into your patron's abilities, manifest blades from the very heavens, immunity to ageing, mitigating dazing and stunning down to being staggered, gain a gaze attack that detects thoughts and may stun those that meet your gaze, cast foes down to the very hells - all these are just the tip of the ice-berg.
The pdf also features advice on creating new covenants as well as guidelines for non-monetary tasks for entering covenants.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn't notice any significant glitches. Layout adheres to PDG's printer-friendly 2-column standard and the interior artwork is far beyond what the humble cover would make you believe - we neat full-page full-color artworks, multiple of them, and I have seen none of them in other publications before. The pdf is fully bookmarked with nested bookmarks for your convenience, making navigation easy.
Damn. I'm stupefied. Seriously, honestly stupefied. This class and its material rank for me as one of the most complex examples I've seen so far and it takes a bit of effort to properly get this material and appreciate it. And then, slowly, the potential, the vast friggin' potential of this class and its covenants sink in. Harry Dresden-style deals with fey? Check. Haunted by visions of hell? Check. Scions of the Heavens? Check. Champions of the elemental forces? Ditto. We essentially get a feat-style-ability-suite-style-class COMBINED with unique spellcasting COMBINED with talent-based abilities COMBINED with domain/bloodline-like abilities COMBINED with modes à la rage. And all elements interconnect. Yes, you could just extract the covenants for any class. But oh boy would you miss out.
This may be no class for beginners, but it is G-L-O-R-I-O-U-S. Complex, mechanically innovative, customizable. Oh boy. It's been AGES since I've been this excited about a class and it marries author David Nicholas Ross' mastery of crunch with great production values and we get perhaps one of the best classes, perhaps even the best I've read so far for PFRPG. Yes. That good. Do me a favor, do yourself a favor - get this. The class and covenant magic is so modular, it practically screams to have its already impressive array of abilities further expanded. Even if you're only remotely interested in good crunch, get this. If you want a class with complex customization options that marries these with massive roleplaying potential, get this.
This is worth every cent thrice. At least. This is the new gold-standard for class-design against which all other classes will be judged.
My final verdict would be 6 stars, if I only could - hence, 5 stars + seal of approval and a high chance that this will feature on my Top Ten of 2013-list.
Endzeitgeist out.
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An Endzeitgeist.com review
This pdf is 4 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page SRD, leaving us with two pages of content, so let's take a look!
The pdf kicks off with 4 new feats for Wayang:
-Dissolution's Chosen: Resistance 5 to negative energy, use the dissolution's child racial trait 10 rounds per day.
-Dissolution's Aspirant: +10 ft base rate and full benefits of the light and dark racial trait while using dissolution's child.
-Dissolution's Ascendant: Constantly gain the benefits of the light and dark racial trait - suppressable as an immediate action. There's a glitch here, the text calls teh racial ability "light and shadow" instead of "light and dark".
-Shadowy Sprint: +10 ft movement when starting a movement in an area of dim light.
Wayangs may now also chose from one of three new traits, Dissolution's Disciple allows you to flicker for 2x character level days after being slain, always reincarnating into a wayang when raised via reincarnation while you flicker. You may also ignore size-penalties to intimidate or get +2 when checking versus cha-based skills.
There also are tow new alternate racial traits, one allowing you to blend with shadows better for a 30% miss chance and the other allowing you to see 5 ft. even in magical darkness.
The race's archetype is for the monk class, the so-called marionette: Evoking a creepy and rather evocative style, marionettes are a creepy kind of monks that uses a style reminiscent of the eponymous dolls - getting e.g. a 5-foot step at the end of movements of at least 20 ft., slow falling even without adjacent walls, limited access to whirlwind attacks and a high level ability that dominates a creature's body as if dancing to the marionette's strings. I really, really love this iconic archetype!
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are very good, I didn't notice an undue amount of glitches. Layout adheres to Abandoned Art's 2-column no-frills standard and the pdf has no bookmarks, but needs none at this length.
This pdf is what the series should be about in my opinion - feats and traits that develop racial abilities and add to the uniqueness of the uncommon base-race - and the monk-archetype is simply awesome - weird, uncommon and oozing flair. While the glitch I encountered could have been avoided, I thoroughly enjoyed this pdf's blending of crunch seeping style and interesting racial options - and even sans the Wayang, the monk archetype alone makes this pdf worth the low asking price. My final verdict will hence clock in at 4.5 stars due to the glitch, but still rounded up to 5 and studded with the seal of approval due to the archetypes' awesomeness- anyone looking for a monk-archetype that is DIFFERENT, go check this out!
Endzeitgeist out.
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An Endzeitgeist.com review
The latest installment in the Urban Dressing-series is 15 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page advertisement, 2 pages editorial, 1 page ToC/foreword, 1 page SRD and 1 page back cover, leaving us with 8 pages of content, so what do we get?
Being a kind of temple-generator, this installment kicks off with a list of general appearances and characteristics - a total of 100 entries spanning two pages cover humble stone buildings,rose-scented airs, a smell of mildew and similar basic characteristics to expand. The next table, though, is where it gets interesting - once again, with 100 entries, though this time, each entry is devoted to a domain and provides e.g. silken scarves associated with lust, banners of nations for glory, dead flowers for decay etc. as domain-appropriate-decorations - glorious and something that could use even further expansion by offering yet more dressings for the respective domains - two thumbs up for this table.
On the next page, we get 3 individual tables with 20 entries each: One for donations (good), one for tithing (neutral) and one for sacrifices. (Surprise: Evil!) Nice!
Table D, though, is imho even better, providing a short run-down of service components, fixtures and temple-areas as well as providing you a 20-entry table on celebrations/festivals that can happen, from birth to death to sacred festivities. Neat!
The last two pages are devoted strictly to a quick fluff-only clergy-in-a-hurry generator that works by first determining gender, then names via one of 20 d20 lists, races (common and uncommon) position (and a small box on titles) as well as 20 clothing, accessories, mannerisms and rumors about them. Again, if you use different nomenclatures for different races, this is completely useless in the name-department and takes up space I would have rather seen being devoted to more content for the temples.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn't notice any significant glitches. Layout adheres to RSP's 2-column b/w-standard and the pdf comes fully bookmarked and in two versions, with one being optimized for the printer and one for screen-use.
I'm torn on this one - on the one hand, I absolutely LOVE the table that assigns features by domains, the sample sacrifices and the quick festival generator. On the other hand, I consider the clergy generator's names just as useless as those featured in the installment of Traders and Craftsmen - as soon as you use different nomenclatures for different races, these lose all usefulness. Finally, I think that the pdf could have benefited from different temple-base structures - essentially the respective temples contained herein lack distinct shapes like "tower", "cathedral", "fortified monastery" and remain relatively ill-defined in general shape. For me, this is a mayor issue that massively detracts from the overall appeal of the file.
What the pdf does right, is does gloriously right. What it doesn't do right...well, you get the idea. Depending on whether you want these features, this pdf could be a 5 stars-file for you or partially failing to live up to your expectation. So while, depending on what you're looking for, this might exactly be what you, I have to take this lack into account as well and in combination with the issues with the clergy-names consider a final verdict of 3 stars to be fair for this installment.
Endzeitgeist out.
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Publisher Reply: |
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I'm glad you liked some of the document and you can rest assured we've got the message about the random name generator. I'm pretty sure, Brian is planning something different for later instalments.
Thanks for the review! |
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An Endzeitgeist.com review
This pdf is 26 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page SRD, ~11/2 a page blank, leaving us with 21 1/2 pages of content for this new base-class, so let's take a look!
Mechanically, Puppetmasters get d8, 6+Int skills per level, proficiency with blowgun, bolas, daggers, handaxes, nets, whips, light and heavy crossbows and light armor, not incurring any spell failure chance while wearing it. They get 1/2 BAB-progression, ggod ref and will-saves as well as access to arcane spells of up to 6th level, cast spontaneously via Cha. Puppetmaster gain a VERY interesting roleplaying ability - doublespeak allows them to speak class-level minutes per day and have different creatures hear different things, choosing between the two layers his language carries for each creature, allowing him e.g. to parlay with foes while discussing preventive-strike strategies with his allies. He also starts game with a workshop that greatly increases his prowess when creating dolls and puppets when he's in it. Puppetmasters are also excellent manipulators, gaining bonuses that improve on Bluff, Perform (Puppetry) and other puppet-related skills. The defining characteristic of the Puppetmaster, though, would be his Font of Wonder, a pool that starts off at 6 and goes up to a whopping 215 at 20th level.
These points can be used to specialize in one of three different broad areas of expertise: Animisn, Marionettes, Rod Puppets as well as into miscellaneous areas. Puppetmasters gain access to one of these basic traditions at first level and may later pay 10 wonder point to gain the base access to one of the other areas, with further abilities/specializations costing additional wonder points. Each level, they may reassign one of their powers, though unwise choices may have unpleasant consequences, prerequisites no longer met resulting in a permanent negative level, making careful planning of these points of tantamount importance.
Let's start with Animism: Upon choosing this path, the Puppetmaster gains int-mod wonder points to be spent exclusively in this category, but more importantly, they gain a doll-companion - Pinoccio gone bad if you will. And yes, that means they could create dolls that could serve as a mount. If such an animated doll is destroyed, it can 1/day be restored to half hit points via the Craft (Puppet)-skill at 5 x level HP per day, with each HP requiring 1 round of repairs. Furthermore, unlike traditional companions, they require investment of more wonder points to level up, but if you invest up to 118 wonder points at 20th level, you get attributes of 30, 18,14,10, 10 to assign as well as 30 skill points. Animated dolls have up to +5 saves and 3/4 BAB-progression. Beyond these basic ways to advance the prowess of the doll, the dolls are also different depending on the base material they're crafted from, with textiles being e.g. faster to repair, but resulting in a starting Int of 8 (and one skill point less), while Ivory puppets get more skills per HD, but actually cost 50 sp per point of repair. Bone, clay, horn, plant husks, porcelain, way and wood are also possible materials, all with benefits and flaws - kudos! A total of 45 (!!!) customization options to invest your wonder-points are provided, costing between 1 and 14 points and ranging from minor natural armor and the varying armor proficiencies to pincer, tentacle, talon etc. attacks and even sneak attack, pounce and complete magic immunity, the puppets counting as supernatural beings. Now unlike the often rather creepy summoner eidolons, puppet-customizations often are restricted to themes, making it e.g. impossible for a puppet to get both pincers and tentacles at the same type and requiring a base-form of the puppet that reflects creatures that conceivably could make use of the ability - a imho great way of blending fluff with crunch to ensure balance. By paying Puppetmaster level times 4 points, they may also bring an abandoned (due to refunding of powers etc.) doll back to life, which is a nice idea indeed, as is that the dolls remain active for a short while after the Puppetmaster has died, making room for dramatic roleplaying opportunities and interesting hooks.
The second discipline is completely different and grants dex-modifier wonder points - masters of marionettes. Holding a marionette requires one hand, manipulating it two hands - but what can they do? Essentially, they can force a creature of the type depicted by the marionette to make a will-save or be subject to his machinations: he can force the creature to do make an attack on his behalf, with d20 + Puppetmaster class level + dex-mod being rolled instead of the creature's own. While conscious actions like power attack, arcanas or vital strike cannot be applied to the attack, passive bonuses like from weapon specialization still apply. Being underwater and its penalties to manipulation are covered, but NOT whether the subjects can be manipulated into attacking themselves. That's a flaw in my book. Generally, though, these abilities can be put in two categories: Abilities that allow the beneficent manipulation of allies to grant them rerolls, usurp mind-control (or make sleeping characters act as if awake) or offensive, with iterative attacks of controlled creatures, forcing movement (for better or for worse), manipulate allies into casting spells and even make them stronger/grant them the ability to fly or breathe water via his mystic puppets. Overall, a VERY interesting take on an uncommon buff/debuff-focus.
Finally, puppet masters get the option to employ rod puppets to tell stories, some of which require two rod puppets or rod puppets of a specific type. One hand is required per puppet. When taking up this profession, the Puppetmaster gains cha-mod wonder points and the effects of the story target all creatures within 30 ft that can see or hear him. In order for them to work, the puppet master has to succeed at respective story-checks, i.e. d10 + class level + cha-mod. The high teh ten-digit of the check, the greater the respective benefits. Ranging from 4 to 15 points in required wonder points, the myths and stories are perhaps closest to bardic buffs, though e.g. the interesting 1-in-20-chance to not expend spells, spell-like abilities and X/day-abilities that even takes shadow jump and similar abilities into account and some of the others are distinct enough to make these stand out sufficiently.
Finally, there are miscellaneous ways of spending wonder points not aligned with the 3 disciplines, granting enhancements to dolls, more spells known, a backpack to stow and retrieve puppets faster, gain a synergy AoO with his puppets and carry a tiny workshop around that shrinks them - and yes, rules for falling out/being inside while the replica is shaken are covered!
The pdf also covers the Puppetmaster's spell-list as well as options for having to still learn the craft, stats for non-animated puppets, craft DCs and required materials as well as the option to create puppets that are beyond masterworks, remarkable puppets.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are very good - though I stumbled across a wording during my lecture of this pdf, the class is mostly concisely phrased and thankfully unambiguous in its rules, though careful reading is admittedly required due to the complex nature of the class. Layout adheres to Dreadfox Games' parchment-style background in beige with its b/w-thorn-borders and the full color artwork depicted on the cover is neat. We also get 2 b/w-pencil drawings that are original as well. The pdf comes with full bookmarks and e.g. the spells are bookmarked in a nice unobtrusive way to d20pfsrd.com.
Now granted, this class is not for everyone. The Puppetmaster can easily be considered wonky if in the wrong hand - but he could also be creepy as hell, beneficent, tragic - the concepts are wide in scope and the execution rather professional. Make no mistake, this is an advanced class if I've ever seen one, making the summoner pale in comparison, not in power, but in options. While the wonder pool could have used a slightly more concise explanation on how it works, after you got the hang of it, it indeed is a cool resource that offers a wide flexibility between pets, manipulation and buffing, making the Puppetmaster a class that will result in widely varying playing experiences. The mechanics and the concepts used by this class are complex, but also rewarding in the benefits they grant as well as in the style of the respective abilities - if you've ever played Metal Gear Solid 4 and considered Screaming Mantis creepy - well, here's the chance to play something akin to that!
Mechanically and balance-wise, this definitely is one of the most interesting classes I've seen come out of PFRPG and one that strays quite a bit from established class designs - and is better off for it. The one thing I'd criticize is the lack of true capstone abilities for the respective sub-crafts, but in the end, that is a minor flaw. So, apart from minor complaints about more concise wording all's great? Yes. Yes, indeed. The Dreadfox lead-designer Reid Stewart has learned to take environmental factors into account (though I would have loved to see these influencing puppets based on material) and as a pdf that introduces the base-class, this works very well. So much so, in fact, that I'm not even missing archetypes or supplemental feats. The class is varied enough to work for now without them and provide a plethora of different gaming experiences. The price point, when compared to e.g. the Ritualist, is also more in line, offering about twice as many options as that one. While still not cheap at 5 bucks, the class is one that should be considered worth the investment if the idea remotely intrigues you. I'll even go so far as to ignore the minor hick-up that fails to specify whether manipulated creatures may attack themselves and use the default "reroll save at +4-solution" established by enchantments. My final verdict - due to the minor hick-ups here and there and the price-point 4.5 stars, but still gladly rounded up to 5 this time.
Endzeitgeist out.
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An Endzeitgeist.com review
This module is 35 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1/2 page ToC, leaving us with 32 1/2 pages of content - and a missing SRD that needs to be included in the pdf. EDIT: SRD has been added.
This being an adventure-review, the following contains SPOILERS, so potential players may want to skip to the conclusion.
Still here? All right! The PCs are recruited by a weird gnomish bard called Terrence Threncewell on behalf of a weird little gnomish settlement called Brandlehill, which is well-known for its weird clockwork contraptions. It should be noted that DM's who have an issue with fluff get a LOT of very detailed exposition - almost 3 pages are devoted to the recruitment of the PCs before they meet the Dwarven trademaster of the town, one Orin Hardtack who wants a grippli-town removed. Grippli-town? Yes, for Brandlehill's clockwork wonders are reliant on rare swamp herbs from the Zeranoth swamp and aforementioned grippli-tribe has mostly become hostile due to as of yet undetermined reasons.
The grippli waste not much time an attack soon - in numbers and the PCs will have to slug through quite a massive bunch of these froggy fighters -including the fact that the humanoids will try to flank the PCs en masse. The fluff also mentions a healing-impeding paste, though that one does not feature in the stats - an unfortunate disjoint between fluff and crunch here. After the attack, the PCs may follow the frog-people into the swamp to meet a grippli ranger called Ralka tells teh PCs about the sickness of the grippli's leader and the fact that the apprentice has ordered the attack - there is something wrong with the tribe...
Ralka escorts the PCs to the village (where btw. a section italicized as a flavor-text is none - a mayor layout/formatting glitch there) - where they will realize that the water-supply of the grippli has been tainted - probably by the ambitious former apprentice. The grippli are rather unhelpful and seek to drive the PCs out of town. Weirdly, on the following two pages, layout changes to a superior 2-column standard only to revert to the one-column standard before. They can find the remains of a fallen half-orc ranger, who not only returns as a ghost, but also suffered from a demonic disease. With the proof, they can expose the apprentice upon a return to the grippli-village - after killing more grippli. Alternate solutions like diplomacy etc. should have been included here - not to speak of stealth...
The corrupt apprentice, though, has fled to the Harhoa Cave, where he makes a final stand with a demonic frog, guarded by grisly trophies and traps. Upon dealing with the evil-doers, the PCs may return to Brandlehill to choose one of 3 clockwork wonders. The first, a grapple launcher, is a ranged weapon that hits foes with grab and damage as well as having the potential to halt falls - unfortunately rather overpowered. The second, a triple-shot crossbow makes up for that by being too weak, whereas the third, which provides bardic performances in a box, actually is interesting - though ALL items lack crafting-information and proper item-statblocks.
The magic item, Cyrkssi's Mirror Spear unfathomably follows the proper formatting, as does the magical Troll Wig-net. The pdf also features all the stats for the characters featured herein - but the statblocks lack italicized spells. The final three pages are devoted to neat 3 maps of beautiful full-color maps with grids.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are ok, though not perfect - especially formatting is problematic, with DCs and rules-relevant information having to searched for in the text due to a lack of proper highlighting. Layout mostly adheres to a one-column standard, which bloats the page-count of the module and is not particularly comfortable to read - with the inexplicable exception of two pages. The pdf is not bookmarked, which is a massive comfort-detriment. The pdf does come with two versions, one being more printer-friendly. The artworks, while original, are with the exception of the cover ugly - the artist can draw inanimate objects well, but fails with regard to characters/monsters. The battle-maps provided are beautiful, but the lack of keyed maps to place traps and adversaries makes running the respective combats rather difficult. It is also unfortunate that we don't get a map of Brandlehill.
This module has quite some potential for being weird, funny and grotesque - and squanders it as it suffers from a myriad of beginner's mistakes: From the weird layout to the rather abstract battle situations, we have quite an array of potential problems. Environmental factors in battle? Mostly underdeveloped. As are the respective locations. It's weird really, how a module with such a massive array of fluff text can remain so abstract in combats and environments, failing to give measurements, exact dimensions etc., which render properly running the module much harder than it should be. Beyond that, the massive array of fluff often is not properly separated from non-fluff text, which is faultily italicized, whereas many formatting peculiarities like a lack of italicized spells render the statblocks less polished than they ought to be.
And then there is the railroad factor - there is zero possibility to jump off the rails on this one - the fluff text assumes actions on part of the PCs, which is a grand no-go and essentially the module not only lacks skill-DCs for navigation and non-violent resolutions, but is very stringent in its linearity. Since the origin of the problems the PCs face turns out to be rather obscure and esoteric, the ONE Chance to analyze the problem may be easily lost on the PCs - whereas they are railroaded to the source of the problem without any chances of doing research/information gathering. The alternate resolution including a full-blown annihilation of a settlement is introduced and never followed up on and the clockwork wonders are all over the place regarding balance. One substance is never given stats though the players should by all means also be afflicted by it. Alternate means of succeeding like stealth are touched upon, but sans DCs, guidance etc., rendering this module unfortunately an unfulfilling railroad.
This module has potential - its locales and characters are colorful, its ideas are not bad - but the overall execution is deeply flawed - as much as I love the battle-maps, they are abstract and the DM is left with figuring out where what is. Lack of environmental factors, alternate means of resolution, no bookmarks, sloppy formatting and the overtly railroady structure when combined with minor issues here and there unfortunately means I can't rate this even as mediocre - in fact, were it not for the interesting magic items, well-crafted maps and nice local color, I'd bash on this module even more. As written, my final verdict for this module will clock in at 1.5 stars, narrowly rounded up to 2.
Endzeitgeist out.
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Publisher Reply: |
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Endzeitgeist, thank you for pointing out the dearth of mistakes we made here on our first publication! After talking with my designers we've agreed to implement a plethora of changes. Customers who have purchased this item should look forward to an improved, revised version that expands on the original content (in both story and game master direction) that will bring a previously lacking professionalism to our first product. Thank you for your honest critique! We truly appreciate your feedback. Sincerely, Mike Myler |
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An Endzeitgeist.com review
This pdf is 4 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page SRD, leaving us with two pages of content for new hexes for the witch-class, so let's take a look!
The pdf kicks off with a hex that is very specific, but in line with mythology - it allows the witch to become a living bridge across a given gulf. Teh second hex is rather cool, allowing a witch to animate her broomstick as a scaling animated object. Also rather cool: Witches can attune themselves to the echoes of souls perished and be assaulted by their unfinished business (think Blackwell Games), helping her dealing with sinners. Witches may also gain a minor DR, shroud creatures against divinations by making the casters of divinations suffer from unpleasant visions or curse adversaries to need twice the amount of sleep.
Witches that dabble in herbalism may enhance their prowess when using the heal-skill and heal additional hp - but foraging/tools are required, making this especially useful for settled characters/NPCs. Witches may now also properly paint pentagrams to increase her caster level checks - for a price. Pyretechnics is a hex I'm not comfortable with: Rendering a witch at first immune to natural sources of fire and later gains even resistance to the element. The issue is: What constitutes natural fire? A forest fire? A chimney's fire that engulfed a whole mansion? The rather ill-defined term means that I won't consider this one for my campaign, though per se I like the fluff. Also: Not sure whether the intended pyre-resistance and cosmetic "burns" the witch gets are enough - what about the threat of suffocation from the rising fumes? At least in my game, pyres and burning areas have a real risk of suffocation...
There's also a hex to curse the witch's adversaries with increased surcharge and social penalties and a hex to tell fortune's granting a 50-50-chance to grant the target creature a bonus or penalty to its rolls. Taking on established witch-lore, witches may now also survive longer when submerged and even breathe water and walk across it at higher levels. Iconic and cool - I really like it! Finally, there's a hex to create zombies.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn't notice any significant typos or the like. Layout adheres to Interjection Games' black-bordered, printer-friendly 2-column standard and the 1 piece of stock-art seal feels like it belongs to the pdf - nothing to complain. It should be noted that the pdf is excessively hyperlinked to d20pfsrd.com for your convenience. The pdf has no bookmarks, but needs none at this length.
The hexes herein vary in quality, but only slightly - generally, the concepts covered are solid and achieve with a solid grasp of the rules what they set out to do - even when it comes to more complex topics, which is a definite plus. While personally, I handle herbalism as per Necromancers of the Northwest's stellar pdf, I can't complain about this hex. Munchkins will have to look elsewhere, btw. - generally, the hexes are well-balanced and if in doubt, are rather on the lower end of the power-scale. While not all of the respective hexes are great or awesome, there are some herein that definitely make shelling out the fair asking-price well worth, though aforementioned pyretechnics-hex, while cool in concept, imho needs some clarification and thus costs the pdf some of its star-potential. In the end, I feel justified in rating this offering 4 stars - a solid buy for witches and especially if you want to represent some heretofore uncovered tropes in witch-lore, then this pdf will have you covered.
Endzeitgeist out.
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An Endzeitgeist.com review
This installment of the 100%-Crunch-line is 23 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page advertisement, 2 pages editorial, 1 page ToC/foreword, 1 page advice for reading statblocks for novice DMs, 1 page SRD and 1 page back cover, leaving us with 15 pages of content, so let's take a look!
The pdf kicks off with a nice table that allows you to get an impression of the statblcoks at one glance before we get a short run-down of the orc race (and the racial modifiers) before we get into the statblocks, kicking off with non-combatants like orc young, females etc., starting at CR 1/4 before providing basic combatants. Archers, berserkers (superstitious barbarians), blood priests, warriors, hurler barbarians etc.
Following RSP's tradition, we also get adepts and experts (torture-specialists) as well as progressions of the hurlers as well as polearm specialists, battle oracles and thankfully, also statblocks that utilize multiclassing: At CR 2, we for example get the barbarian (breaker)/ fighter (two-handed fighter) or thug rogue-builds. We even get a fighter (tactician) and battle scout/snipers as well as an orc wizard with the advanced template focused on blowing the opposition to smithereens.
At the highest CR in this book, we get 2 CR 7 orcs, one being a rogue (thug)/fighter/assassin and the other being the polearm master/thug.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn't notice any glitches. Layout adheres to RSP's 2-column b/w-standard and the pdf provides two versions - one optimized for screen-use and one optimized to be printed out. The pdfs come fully bookmarked for your convenience.
This installment of the 100%-Crunch-line is a solid, very "orcish" installment of the series, with many barbarian-builds (including rage-stats) and multiple archetypes that make for cool builds as well as an antipaladin. However, I consider some of the builds to be slightly less interesting than they could have been - the absence of a witch and sorceror are slightly baffling to me, when a wizard is included. Honestly, I would have expected one of them, as they feel more in line with what is "orcish" than the bookish wizard-class, but perhaps that's me. I should probably also mention that there's no druid-build in these pages, but due to the presence of the battle-oracle and the adept, I'm willing to let that one slip.
So is this worth the low asking price? Yes, ultimately it is - it is not a perfect collection of statblocks, missing imho two classes that would make for a very orcish feel, but the builds per se are interesting. While I would have enjoyed slightly less direct progressions, at this fair price point, I can still recommend this pdf - especially if you combine it with the stellar "Orcs of the Eternal Zenith"-TRIBES-supplement. My final verdict will hence be 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5 for the purpose of this platform.
Endzeitgeist out.
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Publisher Reply: |
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Thanks very much, Thilo. I enjoyed this review very much ;-) |
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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.
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