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Dark_Mistress
(Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Adventure Path, Campaign Setting, Companion, Modules Subscriber)
DitheringFool
(Pathfinder Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Roleplaying Game, Campaign Setting, Companion, Modules, GameMastery Cards Subscriber)
At the price, I couldn't not grab this.
Here are my comments/review:
Overall the PDF is clean and uncluttered in a very simple two-column format and should print nicely. It's nine pages, seven of which are solid crunch with only a couple small bits of art. (One OGL license page, and one cover page.)
Wood Bloodline
Nicely themed. The bonus skill, feats, spells, and powers are all fitting and interesting. Balance is reasonable and the content fits with the core bloodlines. Abilities all revolve around animals and plants, giving an overall Druid-tinged feel to the bloodline without simply duplicating that class' abilities. The only thing I'd change is that the Bloodline Arcana grants a +1 bonus to Str and Con of certain summons per four levels, minimum +1. I would have the bloodline grant a +1 bonus, and have that bonus increase by +1 per four levels. That presents a smooth, linear progression instead of leaving you at +1 until 8th level.
Seer Bloodline
Again a nice theme and again the bloodline components are all appropriate. Nothing stands out as imbalanced or questionable. The abilities granted are unique and useful. Mostly this gives bonuses to divination spells cast and lets you dabble in all Knowledge skills.
Word Bloodline
This gives a sort of "true name" magic theme to the sorcerer and does so creatively. My only concern is that it may be somewhat stronger than most bloodlines. In particular, the Bloodline Arcana ability extends the duration of all spells with verbal components. This works out similar to an Extend Spell without any cost for round-per-level spells. Also, the Name of Things ability at 9th level allows you to temporarily redefine the magic properties of arms and/or armor. Being able to at-will alter a bane weapon for instance strikes me as huge. As well, the ability functions on equipment carried by your opponents (a save is involved). This could be abused to turn a legitimately dangerous weapon into a holy undead-bane construct-bane weapon that has no special benefit against your party. Bottom line is that this bloodline is fantastically creative and interesting but it might be a bit much.
Envy Bloodline
Clever. The abilities and bonus spells all revolve around the central theme of not permitting someone else to have that which you don't, magically-speaking. Some counter-spelling abilities, bonuses to dispel checks and the like are the common thread. There's even an amusing ability called Mine that lets you counterspell a spell cast near you and you gain that spell as a bonus spell for 24 hours. Powerful but it's controlled by how often you can use it.
Gluttony Bloodline
Again this looks fun, if a tiny bit comical. Bonus spells have a necromantic theme to them. Imagine a bloodline that encourages you to play a morbidly obese sorcerer by granting you a natural armor bonus due to your spare tire. You can treat anything material as food, and you get a bite attack. At 15th level getting Swallow Whole isn't balance-breaking but could be really interesting for a BBEG. I can already imagine a party of PCs stumbling into their half-elf nemesis' lair to find him munching on (live) goblins.
Greed Bloodline
Once more the abilities presented here are thematic and compelling. The general concept is one of keeping what you've got once you've got it and the spells reflect that by mostly being warding spells. I would personally interpret the Hoarde Life ability to grant its bonus to saves against normal damage from negative energy as well as the current ability damage, level drain etc caused by negative energy. A greed sorcerer faced with an evil cleric should hold onto his vitality just a smidgen more tightly than his companions. There's also an ability that lets you squeeze an extra magic item into one of a select few slots. Again, fitting but not overpowered.
Lust Bloodline
The abilities and spells granted by this bloodline have a compulsion/charm bent to them. The sarcastically named No Need to Fight Over Me ability is mechanically similar to a fusion of command and confusion but conveys nicely the bloodline's theme. There's a unique ability at 15th level named Wounded Beauty that makes your allies fight harder (presumably to save your precious [and oh-so-luscious] butt). Nicely written but the qualifying conditions are unfortunately vague, including if you "suffer from major damage". I'd house-rule that to be something like "at or beneath one quarter of your normal hit point total". As a capstone, at 20th level Splendor of the Gods effectively dazzles every 9 hit-die creature who ever comes within 30ft of you (and fails their save) for a few rounds. At 20th level maybe not terribly over-powered but certainly awkward. Good luck walking around a busy town. They're all swooning.
Pride Bloodline
This one's all about illusions. You get a free Extend Spell equivalent like the Word Bloodline granted but this one's only for illusions so it's probably reasonable. This is all about convincing other how awesome you are. As an example, Exaggerated Spellcasting at 15th lets you apply one of a handful of metamagic feats to a single spell you cast. Thing is, the targets all get an extra Will save that if they succeed at, the metamagic effect is nullified.
Sloth Bloodline
I could write some comments about this but I'm feeling kind of lazy. But seriously, this one's about summons mostly, as well as the idea that you can't be made to do that which you don't want to do. At 20th your capstone ability includes the idea that you can't be moved involuntarily. Period. Not even by gravity. My feeling is that this is probably the bloodline that was hardest to write and it shows. It's not bad per se but how do you make truly exciting powers about being a lazy adventurer?
Wrath Bloodline
Don't make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry. The phrase "your unarmed strikes are considered adamantine" appears in this bloodline's abilities area. This evocation-focused bloodline basically turns you into a walking item-sundering freak. Don't like the bad guy's greatsword? Reach out and break it in twain with your bare hands (which benefit from a nice inherent bonus to Strength that this bloodline also offers you).
Feats
Nine new feats. One lets you swap in a bloodline ability from a different bloodline. One (Hidden Heritage) kind of confuses me because it seems to be a somewhat weaker version of Extra Slot from WotC's Complete Arcane, for no readily apparent reason. Maybe I'm missing something. One lets you use your 1st-level bloodline ability more often. One emphasizes your freak nature by giving you a bonus to your Intimidate skill but at a cost. Nothing spectacular here but I don't expect much considering the nine billion existing feats that have been written. Coming up with something truly new is stunningly difficult.
The Bottom Line
Folks, it's $2. There's only one bloodline in the book that didn't impress me. The remaining bloodlines impressed me by a good margin. Special kudos to the author for using the seven deadly sins as a meta-theme for the themed bloodlines. I will happily include this in the materials my players are permitted to use (with a couple tiny tweaks).
I will unhesitatingly purchase further releases from these guys as long as the material is vaguely interesting to me. "Fantastic Bardic Music Instruments (Woodwinds Edition)" won't get my money but a similar source-book with Barbarian or Rogue abilities certainly will. Not the best $2 I've ever spent, but on other hand this $2 investment won't have me slathering medicated ointment on my naughty bits for a couple weeks to make those weird sores go away.
At the price, I couldn't not grab this.
Here are my comments/review:
You know if you are going to a long review like this, it is helpful to publishers that you also do a actual star review on the products pages. This helps other people know that it was a good product too with out having to search the forums.
You know if you are going to a long review like this, it is helpful to publishers that you also do a actual star review on the products pages. This helps other people know that it was a good product too with out having to search the forums.At the price, I couldn't not grab this.
Here are my comments/review:
If I had any idea what you were talking about, I'm sure I'd be happy to comply. So. Um. Any hints?
If I had any idea what you were talking about, I'm sure I'd be happy to comply. So. Um. Any hints?You know if you are going to a long review like this, it is helpful to publishers that you also do a actual star review on the products pages. This helps other people know that it was a good product too with out having to search the forums.At the price, I couldn't not grab this.
Here are my comments/review:
Go to the product page.
Then click on write a review.
Then write a review (400 words limit).
The thanks are seconded! Your review was well-thought out and showed you took the time to read the entire product. I couldn't have asked for more. (And I'm not just saying that because the review was positive.)
So if a third party publishered wanted to get in contact with you, how would that be possible?
Wow,
I had no idea there was even a thread about this!
Thanks so much for all your support, and for the awesome review!
I think we could do a Rakshasa Bloodline in the future and also the seven virtues. Those would be pretty cool.
I know the next product in this line will be about Paladins, and after that, I believe we're going to do rangers.
If you guys have any more suggestions, please feel free to let me know!
David Jarvis-
President, Gun Metal games (Formerly Reality Deviant Publications)
Go to the product page.
Then click on write a review.
Then write a review (400 words limit).
That explains it.
1} that link reflects this page.
2} "write review" is no longer visible to me, but I think I saw it when I first bought the product.
3} 400 words. My review - while verbose - is in excess of 1200 words. That likely explains why I went this way. I could cut out some style but there's no way it's coming down to 400 words.
But thanks for the input.
Go to the product page.
Then click on write a review.
Then write a review (400 words limit).
That explains it.
1} that link reflects this page.
2} "write review" is no longer visible to me, but I think I saw it when I first bought the product.
3} 400 words. My review - while verbose - is in excess of 1200 words. That likely explains why I went this way. I could cut out some style but there's no way it's coming down to 400 words.But thanks for the input.
Try this link.
Just below the picture on the left should be the product reviews section with a link to write your review.
As for the length, strip it down and add a link to your post in this thread. If you click on the time/date "stamp" on a post, the page reloads with the browser url as a link to the specific post. You can then copy+paste that url for your link.
I like the Seer bloodline in particular. I'm looking forward to the Ranger and Paladin supplements.
Do you guys think you might touch on races (Dwarves in particular)?
I'm thinking about converting my "Touch of Evil" Line over to Pathfinder, and continuing to release new supplements for it.
What would you like to see in a race book?
I like the Seer bloodline in particular. I'm looking forward to the Ranger and Paladin supplements.
Do you guys think you might touch on races (Dwarves in particular)?
I'm thinking about converting my "Touch of Evil" Line over to Pathfinder, and continuing to release new supplements for it.
What would you like to see in a race book?
I enjoyed the Dwarf and Gnome material in Races of Stone. It's always nice to see lower level stuff in supplements like low cost armor and weapon mods, ammo, alchemical items and race oriented spells are nice too. I liked racial substitution levels and the racial paragons. I'm also fond of 5 level prestige classes. Feats with racial flavor are appealing too.
I enjoyed the Dwarf and Gnome material in Races of Stone. It's always nice to see lower level stuff in supplements like low cost armor and weapon mods, ammo, alchemical items and race oriented spells are nice too. I liked racial substitution levels and the racial paragons. I'm also fond of 5 level prestige classes. Feats with racial flavor are appealing too.I like the Seer bloodline in particular. I'm looking forward to the Ranger and Paladin supplements.
Do you guys think you might touch on races (Dwarves in particular)?
I'm thinking about converting my "Touch of Evil" Line over to Pathfinder, and continuing to release new supplements for it.
What would you like to see in a race book?
Thanks for the feedback.
I'll definitely look into seeing what we can do about meeting your needs!
I enjoyed the Dwarf and Gnome material in Races of Stone. It's always nice to see lower level stuff in supplements like low cost armor and weapon mods, ammo, alchemical items and race oriented spells are nice too. I liked racial substitution levels and the racial paragons. I'm also fond of 5 level prestige classes. Feats with racial flavor are appealing too.I like the Seer bloodline in particular. I'm looking forward to the Ranger and Paladin supplements.
Do you guys think you might touch on races (Dwarves in particular)?
I'm thinking about converting my "Touch of Evil" Line over to Pathfinder, and continuing to release new supplements for it.
What would you like to see in a race book?
Thanks for the feedback.
I'll definitely look into seeing what we can do about meeting your needs!
Very cool!
Dark_Mistress
(Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Adventure Path, Campaign Setting, Companion, Modules Subscriber)
Excellent review, makes me kind of excited to get it... frankly, with still painful badly healed wounds from all the splatbooks that used to come out for 3.x D&D, I'm usually very hesitant about spending any sort of money on what could be a substandard product. Often the splatbooks threw in feats and alternate class options by the bucketload, without caring one whit for compatibility or balance with the existing core feats, spells and options. Anguish's review shows that this is probably not the case, so now I'm much more likely to take the plunge. Kudos!
As for those who wrote it, I'd dearly love to see some other bloodlines, ones that touch on the other magical races in our beloved world of Golarion, but currently have no expression. One reader above suggested a Rakshasa bloodline. I would also like to venture suggestions for a lycanthrope bloodline, a djinni bloodline, an efreeti bloodline, and perhaps something psionic-related... something with mental properties, some sort of ego attack, and likely based in enchantments and compulsions. Any possibility to see these things in the future?
I found there to be some interesting ideas in here, though some abilities' descriptions could certainly stand to be described more clearly. Also, there seems to be a certain lack of familiarity with how bloodlines are normally structured. For instance, both the Gluttony and Seer bloodlines' arcana don't directly affect the sorcerer's spell-casting in any way. The former grants a bonus on Knowledge checks and the latter an ability to gain sustenance by eating anything; which is fun and flavorful, but would better fit as bloodline powers rather than arcana.
All in all the price is right, but as with most things, you get what you pay for.
First off, these bloodlines are awesome!! The feats give new options that fit in perfectly in my opinion!
Question though under the Lust Bloodline, Desire and Pain Power, if I'm reading it correctly it's:
Daze for 1 round or inflict 1d4+1 for every two sorcerer levels?
What kind of damage is the Pain part, and do enemies get a saving throw against both parts of this ability (daze or damage)?