Disclaimer: This is a review copy sent at no cost to me, but that will have no effect on the quality of my review.
I open up the PDF and I notice two things.
1. The cover art is fricken amazing art and theme wise. He looks like a sneaky and dashing wizard just as the class describes.
2. This is definitely a one class PDF since the total page count is 10 pages.
Chassis
Looking at just the class chassis we have d8 hit die, 6+int skill points per level, impressive array of class skills, good reflex and will save, 6th level spell casting, and the ability to cast in light armor. I have yet to look at class features, but as a huge player of Bards I am used to using this chassis and I find it to match my perception of a sneaky wizard man.
Class Features
Weapon Proficiencies: Simple list of martial weapons appropriate for the class. Most importantly this includes short bow, short sword, and rapier.
Spellcasting: Arcanist style preparation off the Sorc/wizard list with Intelligence as the primary casting stat. Usually I’d be a little miffed that the class gets no discounted spells, but Arcanist preparation is a pretty big boon to counterbalance that. The spells per day are equal to a Bard and the Trickster has a spellbook. Additional strong class features help to offset the lack of discounted spell levels.
Sneak attack: Delayed progression that ends in +7d6. We’re all familiar with how this works in our individual games and I think it’s going to work well in the hands of a Trickster. Unfortunately this sneak attack still has the line restricting you from getting it if the enemy benefits from any concealment, unlike the Unchained Rogue.
Trapfinding: Also something we’re all familiar with.
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Forte class Feature: Chosen early and scales as you level. I can tell you now, several of them are absolute knock outs.
Acrobat forte: Almost saves you from ever needing a Mithril chain shirt, but does let you always count as having a running start, a higher chance of succeeding acrobatics checks, and more AC while armored. Some minor gripes here are that the bonus to acrobatics is a competence bonus and will not stack with the inevitable acrobatics item on your buy list and that the ability to ignore armor check penalty becomes obsolete as soon as you purchase a mithril chain shirt, something you will need when your dex reaches 20+. I would pick the other three fortes over this one.
Arcane Accomplice: My personal favorite. You get a familiar who gets an equal number of d4 sneak attack die and an expanded skill list. Eventually the familiar shares your teamwork feats and can interrupt their movement while delivering harmless touch spells. By itself this was already cool because familiars are incredibly hand to have around, then I realized all the fun combos with the familiar folio this Forte allows!
Beguile: A scaling bonus to spell penetration and DCs when an enemy is flat footed? Please and thank you. Feinting can grant me this bonus? Yes. It eventually lowers the action cost of feint and stacks with improved feint? Super yes. It’s self-evident how useful this forte can be for a Trickster who wants to combat cast.
Spell Pilfer: Ohh that dude is casting a spell! Yoink. So in response to seeing an enemy initiate the casting of an arcane spell you can ID the spell, then force them to make a save, if they fail they lose the slot/spell known for a period of time and you can use one of your slots to cast it! Later this can be used to nab higher level spells, but you can’t cast them. Yes this essentially interrupts an enemy’s casting and has a higher chance of success than forcing a concentration check. Yes this has a daily limit on usage.
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Crafty: Bonuses to skills off a list. It’s very useful for pumping your favorite Trickster skill through the roof.
Evasion: Also something we’re all familiar with and love.
Sneakspell: Similar to Spellstrike from the Magus, but it is limited only sneak attacks and the spell is lost if you miss. This has amazing synergy with the Beguile forte and gives the Trickster an opportunity to pair a strong damaging spell or a strong debuff spell with a weapon sneak attacks damage. Spells like Bestow Curse become a lot more valuable on a Trickster with this feature.
Bonus feats: Bonus feats every 6 levels that come off a list of useful feats. I’m in.
Uncanny Dodge: Comes in at level 8, but it’s always a nice thing to have.
Ranged Legerdemain: This allows you to sleight of hand or disable device from 30 ft away in exchange for a higher DC. Even though I don’t often use sleight of hand this class feature makes me want to put ranks in it and perform shenanigans.
Improved uncanny Dodge: Level 14 and protection from flanks is nice!
Filch Spell: Spend a move action to force another spell caster to give you control of their ongoing spell on a failed save? Yeah eat your own Dazing Ball lightning! Limited uses per day for a good reason.
Surprise Spells: Ok I love this feature and I already know someone out there is going to argue with me on the level of balance of this spell. It lets you add your sneak attack damage to any damaging spell you cast that hits a flat footed target. Yes that’s awesome and I love it. Yes this means you can sneak attack a fireball in a surprise round and no that is not broken. It means once or twice a fight the Trickster can feel almost as awesome as a Sorcerer who unleashes an empowered, maximized, spell perfectioned Fireball.
Improved Sneakspell: Makes it so you don’t lose the spell when you miss. I think 17th level is a bit late in the game for this feature to show up and I wish it came in between 9th and 14th since I’ve never had a game reach 17th level and this is a nice addition to Sneakspell.
Master Trickster: A combination of things that make a Trickster absolutely deadly when they sneak attack or sneakspell.
Class Description : How well do the class features actually match the class description?
-Silver Tongued Manipulators: I can sort of see this. The class only uses charisma for bluff and by extension feinting and the bonus from crafty can be applied to bluff. If this class ever gets an expansion I would love to see a “Bluffing Forte”
-Stealthy Combatants: Absolutely and painfully so. The Trickster has both reasons and means to gain the initiative and ambush on their enemies.
-Connsumate Explorers: Also absolutely. The Trickster fulfills the “trap finding, skill monkeying, purse snatching, hidden room finding, dungeon exploring” role expertly.
Conclusion
Really this class is pretty stellar. It does exactly what’s printed on the box and does it very well and even in ways I didn’t expect. The spell pilfer forte will definitely be a favorite at many tables and so will this class. The only legitimate complaints I have are that you can’t sneak attack in some of the most common environments of Pathfinder (since when are dungeons well lit?) because the sneak attack text comes from the core rule book instead of the Unchained Rogue and that the acrobat forte is significantly less useful than its peers. I do wish there were more fortes such as a bluffing forte, blinking forte, or phasing forte for the trickster and I hope that if this class shows up in a compiled publication Mr. Radle pilfers those ideas….
For a 2$ PDF that contains a pretty darn amazing class with very few legitimate issues I think it deserves a 5/5
This PDF contains alternate rules for the campaign world, 9 full classes, 5 Prestige classes, several pages of feats, some alternate rules for Paizo feats, and a lot of new weapons. This PDF also contains a lot of fun ideas that are generally well executed. Before getting into the nitty gritty I will say that I intend to use a lot of these classes as a GM to create interesting encounters for my party.
Alternate Rules
This section contains a number of cool alternate rules for your campaign such as trappings which gives your character’s signature item a little boon, similar in power to a trait. A large number of systems to simplify or spice up play are also included to help smooth out gameplay or to spice things up. Simple morale rules to give advantage and disadvantage as the fight swings back and forth are also included.
Classes
In general I found the classes contained to be clear and concise in their mechanics. Any classes designed for a specific role at actually quite good at said role and sometimes at things outside that role.
Adventurer
The Adventurer class is a very solid choice for someone who doesn’t know what they want in a martial. You get full BAB, d10 hit die, all good saves, and 6+ skill points per level as your chassis and an extensive talent system. Said talent system can do a lot for customizing your adventurer from dabbling in magic, giving you a chance to find old friends in every town, or even luck bonuses to various rolls. The most defining class feature for me is called “resourcefulness,” which allows the Adventurer to spend an amount of gold per level in town then decide what the gold was spent on at a later time, such as scrolls and magic items. Balance wise I don’t see this class being overly powerful, but some DMs could get an eye twitch over resourcefulness. Great out of combat utility.
Athlete
The Athlete is a pretty cool many talented sportsman turned face beating badass. The Athlete starts at d10 hit die, 3/4th BAB, good fort and reflex saves, and 2+int skill points per level. The Athlete is a little odd at first, but can be built very flexibly. You gain a sport at level one and every few levels after that which give you more weapon proficiencies, skill bonuses, and sometimes small combat bonuses that all scale with level. You get to pick sport positions every 5 levels, such as defender, which modify your class chassis (BAB, hit die, saves) or give you unique bonuses. The class has a pool of points similar to Ki called determination that can be spent on abilities based on your sport positions. The Athlete has several other supporting abilities that make the class into a very cohesive and well written whole, kudos to the designer. Its biggest flaw is that you only have 2 skill points per level when the description of the class makes you think it would have about 6 per level like a Ranger or Slayer.
Gladiator
My personal favorite in this release is the Gladiator, a martial so entertaining on the fields of battle the Gods of War can’t help but take notice. D10 hit die, good reflex and will, and 2+int skill points per level the Gladiator is ready to rumble straight from level one! Their primary class feature is that they turn every combat into a Performance combat due to deific audiences, which finally let me dust off the performance combat rules and remember that it offers minor buffs to your party and minor debuffs to the enemy. The Gladiator eventually gets a class feature to strengthen those performance buffs and debuffs. The Gladiator also gains upgraded combat maneuver feats every few levels that can do significant work toward leveling the playing field against targets that normally would scoff at combat maneuver attempts. The class also gets to pick from 11 different historical Gladiator styles with appropriate bonuses for each style! For brevity the class gets various other class features assisting its roll within combat, but that aren’t as center staged as the previously mentioned features. Gladiator has two problems I consider pretty serious though, all its class features are strictly combat based and the class gets a measly 2 skill points per level. I wish it had a feature capitalizing off the Gladiators fame or something.
Guardian
This is probably my second favorite class from the book. D10 hit die, good fort+will, 2+int skill points per level, and truly bad ass. The guardian is a shield specialist that’s ready to protect his allies by taking hits for them and making them sturdier. The Guardian can make opposed attack rolls against enemies to interpose himself between attacks targeting his allies, gets bonus movement abilities when the movement is used to directly help an ally, and has a variety of shield tricks to turn your shield into a powerful implement of protection and pain. There are two significant problems I found with the class though. First is that the Shield Trick Aggressive Shield has no limits on the number of times it can be selected, which can lead to a +10 bonus to attack and damage rolls by level 20 when shield bashing. In general this book has handled similar talents by letting them scale with level and having each pick of said talent affect a new type of weapon, which makes more sense both expenditure and balance wise. No reason a Guardian should out full attack a Fighter. The other problem is once again the 2 skill points per level on a class that wants more than two skills to function at its job.
Inheritor
The Inheritor is pretty interesting thematically. They call upon the spirit of one of their great ancestors to achieve the power they need to make their dreams a reality. D10 hit die, good fort+will, and 4+int skill points per level. They can channel their ancestor spirit to grant them numerous boons based off historical descriptions of their ancestor that include stat boosts, feats, class abilities like evasion, skill boosts, and even some unique features. This lasts for a minute per level and later for even longer, so after a few levels time management becomes less important. There are other class features that give more depth to the class, but the meat and potatoes, the ancestor spirit, is rock solid in providing a class foundation. The one problem I had with the class is the class feature legacy style giving you a second stat to attack rolls at 15th level, leading to an unnervingly accurate class when all other class features are considered. Depending on your build you can achieve a useful level of non-combat utility.
Tataued Warrior
My third favorite class in the book, despite some annoying shortcomings. D10 hit die, good fort and will save, and 2+int skill points per level. Tataued Warriors get powerful Tataus every level that give very cool benefits to the user. As the Tataued Warrior gets higher level he can get more powerful Tataus that do unique things for the player. Additionally the Tataued warrior gets Ranger spells, x/day self-hastes, and a Ritual Weapon that’s like a combination of Barbarian Rage and the Soulknifes Soulblade. The Ritual weapon may sound awesome, but I feel like what ended up being written crunchwise does not match the fluff description. In practice the Ritual Weapon has severely limited uses per day, fatigues you when you turn it off, becomes a non-magical club when off, progresses its enhancement bonus very slowly, and can only be a simple weapon. Everything about this class is awesome, flavorful, and fun except for Ritual Weapon which misses the mark significantly. Tataus can offer great out of combat utility.
Thane
The Thane exemplifies the combat style of “bigger than you” to bully enemies into submission. D10 hit die, good fort save, 2+int skill points per level, no armor proficiencies. In terms of offense this class is pretty solid, but on defense they are lacking to the point of liability. The two things billed as the primary defensive class features have too many holes to be useful in a traditional game since DR/magic is a formality after a certain point and a natural armor bonus that only works against things smaller than you while requiring 3 talents to be useable on things larger than the Thane. Additionally the Thane talents are gained every 4 levels, which is too slow for the benefit they grant and the omission of Feat: Extra Thane Talent in painful. A first level dip into something with Heavy Armor proficiency or Unchained Monk can help, but a 1-20 Thane build is unlikely to make it past the single digit levels.
Undying
Incredibly unique class that every DM should consider in their roster, but players beware. D8 hit die and still full BAB, good will save, and 2+int skill points per level. The Undying can, a scaling number of times per day, true resurrect itself the round after dying and unleash a powerful “Phoenix Art.” The Undying gets to choose from a pretty awesome list of Phoenix arts as they level and have several other class features supporting their playstyle. Here’s where things get messy though. They have a downside, -1/2 their level on several skill checks and on all non-fear mind effecting effects. All those jokes about Wizards mind controlling the fighter and having them slaughter the party are made manifest if you have an Undying on your party. I do agree that the class needed some downside, but I think this choice is a little too much of a liability. Perfect for NPCs though since this would make for both a unique encounter and makes the Enchantment specialized player feel like a boss.
Wrath
An Inquisitor+Rogue Hybid class. D8 hit die, 3/4th BAB, good reflex and will, and 6+int skill points per level. This class was kind of unexpected in this book as it’s the first and last class to have 3/4th BAB, but don’t let that fool you. The Wrath borrows Judgment from the Inquisitor, but makes it single target and unlimited use allowing a Wrath to always be combat ready. Aside from that the Wrath is mostly Rogue and unique class features that make the class have a unique play style that’s different enough to warrant this class. It has reduced sneak attack, no spells, no trap finding, has access to Rogue Talents and Advanced Rogue talents, the entry contains some new and powerful Rogue talents to choose from, and there is a variety of class features that really make the Wrath absolutely deadly in ambush situations. My favorite talent makes invisibility practically useless when a Wrath is around. Overall this class seems pretty entertaining to play and I’m planning to use one on my players shortly. This class can thrive in and out of combat.
Prestige Classes
I have never actually used a PrC in a game, but two of the PrCs in this book make me want to! All of them seem pretty interesting and allow a player to do something uniwque, but the Frog Knight and Bogatyr or the Dyimg light truly feel awesome! I wont go into specifics due to my inexperience with Prestige Classes.
Feats
This book has several pages of feats, with several running as supporting feats for the Guardian class. Many of the feats would be green or blue for anyone familiar with optimization guides. Also included is a "revised" Weapon focus->Greater Weapon Specialization line that is super cool! Really the only problem here is that the only class that got feat support was the Guardian. Feats to improve the out of combat roles for some of the classes or augment class features would have been welcome.
Weapons
A pretty large number of weapons are included, especially exotic ones! Most of the weapons fill a niche that hasn't been filled yet and are on par with Paizo weapons. Unfortuneatly there are 3 stand out weapons that I wouldn't allow my players to use, such as the Great Falchion which has the best features of a Great Sword and a Falchion. Aside from those three the weapon section is a very welcome addition to my roster.
Conclusion
The most important statement I will make about this book is: I'm glad I bought it. I do believe this book is worth 10$. There are numerous fun and exciting options sprinkled throughout the text, especially the alternate rules and Feat section. The class options are fun takes on classic ideas or completely original ideas. Most content within the book is completely functional and playable in most campaigns.
There is only two things that keep me from giving this book a 5/5 first is that 2 of the classes have such serious weaknesses that it's hard to look at their strengths, but that's already been covered in their individual entries. The other thing dropping the score is the lack of out of combat utility so many classes in this book have. If you don't have full casting you should never have less than 4+int skill points per level. One reason people pick Slayers and Cavaliers over fighters is because they want some way to interact with the world besides stabbing it. Additionally many classes don't have any class features that help them survive out of combat either. Something to make the Guardian good at helping others perform skills or better at looking out, something to let a Gladiators fame help him make friends, ect would have really been great features to put some power in the hands of the player outside combat. If I felt a class had good out of combat performance then I mentioned it in their entries.
Overall though I'm definitely happy with this book and would recomend to anyone looking to spice up their game.
More than enough information is included to implement Sergals into any campaign world. They occupy a unique niche in Pathfinder compared to Catfolk and Kitsune which are the sneaky and mystical anthropomorphic races respectively. Sergals are honest, fierce, and militant in life and have a real racial culture instead of hiding within the culture of another. This can all lead to unique role play opportunities within a group.
Side Note: All information in this book was green lit by the original creators of the Sergal race and culture.
Art
There are 9 pieces of art within this small PDF that don’t interfere with layout and provide a really good idea of how the race looks and various facial expressions. Also it has a baby Segal which is adorable. Art comes from the original home brewers of the race.
Racial Stats and alternate racial traits
Without giving specifics I found that the racial stats and abilities match the characteristics of Sergals as described in the Racial Overview. Sergals are have two racial arrays for the two major subspecies, Northern and Southern, have enhanced speed, some appropriate skill bonuses, natural attacks, weapon familiarity, and a set of alternate racial traits. Some tables for starting ages and sizes round out this section of the pdf.
My only gripe in the entire document is that the alternate racial trait replacing Weapon Familiarity is restricted to the Southern subspecies, so any Northern Sergals with martial weapon proficiency from their class won’t have an alternate racial option.
Gear
Included are three pieces of equipment. Two of which are variants of the Shotgun Lance commonly seen in Sergal artwork. The rules for the Shotgun lances allow for a versatile and cool weapon choice for any switch hitter proficient with firearms. The third piece of equipment is the awesome Sergal Style Ceramic Armor which sacrifices some of the protection of full plate for greater mobility. It’s the first heavy armor I would actually consider for a character that isn’t full plate, so it succeeds at being a viable choice for some builds.
Overall
This document is short, fun, and can very easily allow a DM to implement a new anthropomorphic player character race that sets itself apart from the other anthro races in both mechanics and lore. This is an 11 page PDF and I think it does an admirable job at building up the Sergal race, so I think it earned a 5/5.
Disclaimer: I am a friend of Michael Sayre, the author of this product. I originally read and fell in love with the Battle Lord before I knew his name, so any gushing I do about the class stems from legitimate enjoyment and not friendship.
The Battle Lord Class
I love this class for a lot of reasons. First and foremost is that it actually allows me to build a powerful fighting leader for any situation. I don’t have to spread my point buy thin touching all my bases, nor do I have to sacrifice the theme by going for a class that “sorta fits.” The Battle Lord is very adaptable and is very likely to come through for you if you’ve ever thought “I wish I could make a truly great leader of man who gets by with his wit and guts instead of with a spellbook and divine intervention.”
The Class has d10 hit die, a good Reflex and Will Save, 4+int skill points per level, and a pretty good list of class skills. I don’t believe the Battle Lord has a dump stat since each stat can lend you power in some way, but of your mental stats Intelligence will be key.
The class table has a lot of specific names on it, but essentially the Battle Lord has three class features.
Bravery: As Fighter, but it’s worth noting that Michael has written a pretty cool book that uses the Bravery class feature as a kick off point for some extremely cool feats.
Aura: This is your primary class feature. Essentially you have an aura radiating from your character that gets larger as the Battle Lord levels. The aura can be centered on yourself or thrown to an area you’re sending orders to, vocally or with hand signals. Auras are subdivided into Combat Drills and Noble Auras. Essential combat Drills give combat bonuses to those within and Noble Auras give out of combat bonuses. As you level you get access to a variety of Combat Drills and Noble Auras, eventually being able to have multiple active at once. You gain Combat Drills and Noble Auras on separate tracks. Some of the later level auras can do amazing things that many would find appropriate for a 15th+ level leader, like giving a speech so powerful and moving that people can’t help but respond in kind.
Specialty: Represent your special training. The base class includes Scout, Medic, Artilerist, and Soldier. You pick one at level one and as you level our Battle Lord gets pretty awesome features related to your specialty. You get stuff like adding your Int modifier to the stealth checks of allies within your aura or using heal checks to remove Diseases, Blindness, and other terrible afflictions or the ability to add your int modifier to CMB and CMD.
The Battle Lord is one of those classes that is simple to set up and play, but has a lot of depth for a proactive player.
Archetypes
This PDF contains 6 archetypes. Going over each one would be a bit much on my fingers, so I’ll summarize each. I believe they’re all pretty well balanced against a base Battle Lord though.
Cavalryman : Expecting a mounted Charger? No instead you get a horseman specializing in Sword and Pistol or 2xPistols. Honestly this is pretty refreshing and cool especially considering the historical context of this archetype.
Dual Specialist : This archetype essentially trades stacking Auras for having two specialties. This can make some pretty cool combinations that can really benefit the team and the Battle Lord themselves.
Eldritch Chevalier Replaces your Specialty and a few Auras with a slow progression of Wizard spells! You only get up to 5th level spells, so this isn’t a game breaker and actually ends up being about a match for a specialty.
Marine : A modified Scout specialty that makes you a very cool team player in the water. In a campaign where I expect a lot of water combat the Marine is indispensable. In a land based campaign it’s not worth it though.
War chief : Uses charisma instead of Int for specialty stuff. Combat Drills? Less tactical and more AM BARBARIAN (Rage Power sharing)! This archetype is perfect for someone who felt the Battle Lord was to civil and wants something more brutal.
Zealot: Uses Wisdom instead of Int. Gains channel energy and channel smite in exchange for some auras and aura range. Is more useful on a neutral deity since you can grab a negative energy channel for your channel smites. Will also probably be my archetype of choice since it’s very similar to the base class, but gives me a mechanical benefit for playing a deity worshipper (something I do in every campaign).
Feats
This section features a feat line similar to Eldritch Heritage to give players access to specialties. The requirements are appropriate for what it gives you.
A lot of teamwork feats of varying power. The standout to me being Frontline Shield Fighter, which utilizes a very good feat chain that a lot of players don’t know about and culminates in a super cool teamwork feat. I like a few more, but personally I find most of them to be a bit weak for my taste though.
Overall
If you want the perfect non-magical leader class then this is the book for you. In terms of content I think one well written class, 6 archetype, and a couple of pages of feats is more than worth the cost presented.
Disclaimer: This was a review copy, though that will not effect my rating.
I read through the adventure so I'd have an idea of what I'm going to do to my players and because it's generally never a good idea to run an adventure blind.
SPOILER ALERT
Presentation
It’s really absolutely stunning. The artwork, descriptions, and page layout is all superb and makes this product look super professional. The adventure is well organized and page flipping can be kept to a minimum while running it, which is a huge plus for me. The big handout pages in the back are pretty awesome to hand around the table as well!
Story
The story that the DM sees is pretty good, but I feel a little more could have been written in for the player’s benefit. They couldn’t do very well on the knowledge checks to actually know what’s going on, so by the time they actually got to the end they almost gave the Dusk Queen her shards and left. In the end they didn't because "The sexy goth Dryads are waiting for us..."
As I expected some of my group were not fans of the rail roading nature of the book. Some of them were pretty happy that it was a fun little romp that didn’t require too much initiative. As a DM having a linear story like this does have its perks though, so it was a nice break.
Encounters
Superb! I feel like each encounter really gave a lot of opportunities to shine to a variety of classes and gameplay styles! The last two encounters were pretty difficult, but in an interesting way.
I liked that the final encounter could be tweaked a little bit by having the Phantom Steed and Cat companion either come in later as back up or start in play. The choices in spells for the Dusk Queen herself were very good and her tactics were very sound. I think the final encounter was very memorable and that’s probably the most important thing in an adventure!
Atmosphere
The book had a consistent atmosphere and in the hands of a skilled DM could lead to some interesting results on the table.
Useability
This can pretty easily fit into just about any campaign for good, evil, or even neutral characters. The other GMs at my table and I agreed that this adventure is a great one shot. It has all the qualities we were looking for in that it can be completed in one or two sessions, has a cool little plot, awesome interactive descriptions, fun loot, and well done encounters. I would definitely look toward Marc Radle again when I need a break from tough GM preparations.
I give this little adventure a 5/5. This book is a nice romp through a spooky forest with a bunch of cool encounters to entertain your friends.
The Harbinger is the first class in the Path of War: Expanded Line
If you don’t know what Path of War is check out the review on my profile here
The Harbinger is a well-oiled machine dedicated to moving fast, striking weak points, and then getting to safety. It’s the first class in Path of War to fully take advantage of the new action economy granted by maneuvers and that’s super cool.
Disclaimer: A lot of Harbinger abilities have per encounter uses. Encounters are clearly defined in Path of War and this prevents spamming.
Explanation of Harbinger class and its features:
Harbinger has a d8 hit die, good fort and will saves, 4+int skills per level, and uses int as its initiation modifier.
Class Features:
Maneuvers: Will go over later
Ill Tidings: More speed and we all know that more fast is greater than less fast
Accursed Will: Helps alleviate some MAD by letting intelligence partially assist attacks.
Dark Claim: Your bread n butter. This is how you recover maneuvers and most feats for the Harbinger involve this feature. It’s used to tell your enemies that their souls are forfeit.
Dark Focus: Provides a slew of cool things over the course of your Harbinger career. Most important take away is that you pick one of your disciplines and this feature makes you awesome with it. Also I noticed a possible error in that the +1 competence bonus granted to the chosen discipline doesn’t stack with the competence bonus usually gotten from wielding a discipline weapon.
Grim News: Per encounter movement as a swift action. Later gives you movement types. If you pick flying you can grab Fly-By-Attack and become even more effective at hitting and running.
Massacre: Per encounter lets you get another strike out when you kill something. Useful if you’re engaging multiple targets.
Elusive Shadow: Extra AC and Reflex when you move around, helps incentivize mobility.
Sorcerous Deception: At Will Magic Aura. Useful for a variety of reasons.
Ill Intentions: One of the class features I have a problem with. Gives enemies a penalty to saves and skill checks when you flank. In regular Pathfinder flanking is dangerous, but Path of War has ways to make flanking easy, safe, and very effective. Also when combined with fly by attack it’s easy to get in and out of a flank danger zone.
Black Omen: Move as an immediate action which is great for when you end up in a dangerous position due to lack of scouting or after doing something risky.
Bleak Prophesy: Claimed Enemies are shaken. Huzzah! More save penalties! Though this one isn’t too big a deal since it’s a typed penalty and most parties already abuse the shaken condition anyway.
Tenebrous Reach: Until now everything has pushed Harbinger towards being a skirmisher, but this class feature lets you become a ranged combatant and avoid most dangers. For a class that was all about risk vs reward and mobility I don’t think this feature is inappropriate and gives too much safety.
Rumors of War: 17th level. It’s fly-by-attack, except for any type of movement. If you didn’t already take Fly-by-attack then yay!
Voices in the Dark: 18th level. Strikes on AoOs? How nice! Strong enough to deserve showing up so late.
Whispers of Atrocity: 19th level. Ignore immunities! Huge boon for all them awesome save based maneuvers.
Maneuvers: Harbinger has access to Cursed Razor, Shattered Mirror, Veiled Moon, and Primal Fury. Cursed Razor and Shattered Mirror are the new disciplines and the ones that synch up most with Harbinger’s kit. They basically play around with a bunch of curse debuffs and prove to be the most effective debuffing discipline available in Path of War.
Depending on battlefield conditions expect the Harbinger to bring DCs anywhere from 2-6 higher than an equal level wizard who took spell focus and greater spell focus. I speak of effective DC though since said Harbinger is actually lowering the enemy save, so the Wizard will benefit too! Your effects are generally a bit weaker, but due to the nature of maneuvers the Harbinger won’t run out of debuffs to fling. Level Appropriate enemies will struggle to beat a well-played Harbingers DCs, even with their best save.
Feats: This book has plenty of feats to support the Harbinger and while none seem overpowered they mesh so well with the Harbinger’s abilities that I expect most players to grab all they can fit into their build.
Archetypes:
Crimson Countess: Trade some mobility and debuffing effectiveness for a bigger damage focus.
Ravenlord: Trade some mobility and several situational effects for an intelligent bird animal companion that can initiate your maneuvers.
Conclusion: I really like this class. I want to give it a 5/5 just because it does so many things right and because it’s so close to being perfect. I can’t though because of some of the aforementioned features and excessively high DCs on repeatable debuffs.
If I allowed it in my game I would have to go in and do something to some of the class features I consider problematic.
This is definitely a strong start for Path of War Expanded and I hope all the other classes have problems as easily fixed as this one.
Overall I really like this book. I actually ended up liking the PDF enough that my brother and I are going to pitch in to get a print copy for our gaming group. Read on to find out why!
Disclaimer: I received a review copy of this book, but I have every intent to buy a physical copy when I can due to how impressed I was. I did not let the fact that I did not pay influence my review and I spent more time writing this review than I would have spent earning 15$ at work.
Classes
Up till now these classes have been covered pretty extensively when they were released solo, so I will primarily discuss the ones that don’t have solo PDFs available and some of the new options. In other words I won’t be covering the Battle Sion, Elven Archer, Shaman, Spell Less Ranger, and White Necromancer. I will discuss their new Alternate classes though. Also it’s worth noting that a lot of these class
options are very specialized and should probably be played in campaigns that would match their strengths.
Halfing Sling Master, Dwarven Crossbowman, Mystic Archer: These are all alternate classes for the Elven Archer.
I liked the Elven Archer already and these alternate classes give some options if you’re going for a theme. The Halfling Sling master offers cool incentives for sniping with its various debuffs while attacking with its precision damage, removes some feat pre-reqs to make slinging more viable, and most importantly makes the class both fun and viable. The Dwarven Crossbowyer is a good class as long as you’re playing a super dwarfey underground campaign since a lot of its cool features require stonework or caves. The Mystic Archer is mostly similar to the Elven Archer, but with its Terrain based features keying off Jungles and being allowed to any race. These classes all have access to the Elven Archer Spell List and believe me it’s an amazing spell list.
Savant: A heavy role-players naughty dream is how I would describe this class. The savant is a true love of storytelling to the point that they become their legends. The Knack and personae mechanic are so cool and would be a blast to role play too. Though the class requires a lot of prep work I found the mechanics themselves to be pretty easy to understand. I haven’t seen one in play, but the nature of the Savant’s class features make him ultra-versatile and capable of participating in just about anything. Additionally there is a small section with advice for playing the class that is very useful.
Skin Changer-Spell Less Ranger alt class: We all already know how dangerous a Pouncing Wild Shaped druid is right? Well let’s make it even deadlier, faster, and tougher. While not as versatile as a druid this variant Ranger is fully capable of reaching insane heights of damage with a Primary Natural Attack pounce/rake build. For a book that did so much right I think this is the one part it actually did wrong.
Theurge: d6 9th level caster who draws mostly from the Wizard and Cleric list, but can learn spells off the Magus, Witch, Inquisitor, and Druid list via scrolls. Uses both int and wis to cast spells and has low base spells per day for arcane/divine, but bonus slots for each list separately. This really rewards heavy mental stat investment by giving you oodles of spells, a better than average will save, and having decent DCs. They even get a feature to x times per day ‘fuse’ an Arcane and Divine spell that does both affects and reduces the enemy’s save bonus. The class is about on level with a decent Cleric or Wizard and won’t be replacing either anytime soon, but will give someone who loves the idea of a Theurge a viable option.
Archetypes
I speed read through this section, but I didn’t see anything that raised my initial alarms. The same attention to detail used in the rest of the book is present here and it’s awesome! Lots of archetypes that cover a variety of play styles. My personal favorite is the Grave Bound White Necromancer who receives a respected ‘Undead Companion’ that’s similar to an Animal Companion. I love the idea of having an undead companion, untainted by evil, who was so loyal that even death could not separate them from you
Feats
To go through each and every feat would be pure madness in a review. What needs to be known is that each class present in this book has feat support, there are a lot of feats appropriate for Paizo classes too. Several new, and useful, styles are added that are pretty cool. Most of the non-class specific feats are pretty average in power or usefulness. I probably wouldn’t touch about half these feats on any character I build, but for some specific builds they may see use.
The scaling feats and scaling feat creation guidelines are pretty cool though and help deal with some of the big problems for martials. Suddenly cleave+great cleave as one feat isn’t half bad or the Dodge+mobility+spring attack line. The creation rules explain how the scaling feats in the book were made and will help the GM use consistent internal logic when making new scaling feats.
Spells
To go through each spell would be madness, but I did read them and I can definitely say they are spells. Most of these spells read like stuff out of the Player companion series, as in they were flavorful and fun while being useful. In other words the best kind of spells! All the spells added because of the Elven Archer are my favorites and actually do a lot of stuff that Ranger spells don’t. Even though the Ranger gets a lot of the Elven Archer’s spells, he gets them at later spell levels. Overall it is a very strong section of the book.
Items and Magic Items
A variety of ‘mundane’ equipment including weapons, ammo, and alchemical gear are included.
The magic item section is short and only has one decent magic item. The rest either conflict with important items or cost too much for their use.
The legendary item section has three items and some guidelines for these scaling magic items. The example items are cool, but I think this section is more valuable as a guide by example for DMs who want to create scaling items for their players.
Tracking Sheets
Sheets primarily for Ranger, Druid, Shaman, Spell Less Ranger, ect use. Easy to read and has a section for everything necessary.
Conclusion
Honestly this book is amazing and worthy of being on just about any table. Despite having some overly strong and some less useful options this book is still amazing and I don’t feel it deserves lower than a 5. Honestly you're more likely to find broken, in either direction, material in a Paizo book.
Now that I have a physical copy in my hand I can give this book the review it deserves.
First I must say that the chosen page stock feels great and sturdy. The binding also feels decently sturdy. Definitely happy with the choices in material.
Like my last big review of a book I’m going to organize it using their own table of contents as a guide
For reference here is my old review from before I had time to write the full one:
Old review:
Strong Points:
Balanced
Unique ideas
Well executed archetypes
Fun feats
Well organized+good bookmarks
Weak Points:
That everything is so cool it may induce option paralysis
Classes
Ok don’t get freaked out here, but there are 14 full classes in this section. What’s interesting is the sheer variety, not just in role and unique features, but in the skill level involved in playing these classes.
Some classes have elegance in their simplicity and succeed at their role in a manner that is straight forward for the player. We all know that one player who likes his stuff simple, well that guy will find some stuff he likes in this book. We also all know that guy who loves looking at minutia within these sort of books and there are a few classes in there as well for him that will reward his keen eye with a unique play experience.
I’ve read and looked at all the classes and really haven’t found any of them to have outstanding balance concerns. I legitimately believe all these classes can have a room in a party and won’t feel like dead weight.
If I were to describe a ‘problem’ I found in the class section it would be that many of the classes are a supporting role, like half of them. Also there are no full casters. In the grand scheme of things that is not a problem since this book doesn’t exist in a vacuum and plenty of Paizo support goes to the creation of full-casters and non-supporting character roles.
To attempt to review each individual class would bloat this review, so instead I will list each class and give a short blurb on them. I found that each class succeeded with the definition of: Works as advertised and is good enough at their role to be competitive.
My class descriptions:
Battlelord: An officer of a chosen discipline who is a true leader of men. Full BAB combatant who is capable of buffing his comrades without using magic. If you want to make Leonidas, this is your class.
Conduit:This class literally eats/absorbs magic and uses it to power his butt whuppin. Can channel absorbed energy into a variety of roles, but without magic will not do much.
Demiurge: First page has a literal warning of how complicated it is. The Demiurge basically creates and destroys automatons that he commands to do various specific tasks.
Medium: An opportunity to play two classes in one. Primary mechanic is that the Medium has a spirit companion with separate class levels, but shares the same base stats, that you can ask for assistance from or trade bodily control.
Metamorph: Have you ever wanted to use the evolution point system on a character without running an OP Synthesist? Yeah this class is for you. There are a lot of choices in theme and even in stat selection! You get to pick your mental stat for the class abilities for example.
Mnemonic: The mental martial artist? Kind of hard to describe in a short summary, but this guy is a martial artist that can punch away spells/feats/skill ranks, copy EX abilities that he witnesses, and eventual even gains telepathic powers.
Momenta: The helper. This support class basically helps with everything. Some support spells here, some conditional bonuses for the allies there, tossing them a temporary bonus feat, throwing someone a sneak attack die, and various other fun abilities. If you want to play a slightly magical Samwise THIS IS YOUR CLASS.
Mystic: Admittedly my favorite class. You get a large Ki pool, pick an element, pick talents related to your element, and pick Ki Techniques (most are SLAs). May sound similar to the Kineticist, but this class plays significantly more like a martial artist. You get to pick from the standard Earth, Fire, Wind, and Water plus the Force element which is secretly Jedi, complete with Mind Tricks.
Pauper: Has two resource pools based on hope and despair that are used to augment the combat around them. Each has specific and general means of being obtained, so even with a jerk DM you are effective. Various other supportive abilities too.
Survivor: Tough and self-sufficient. Almost every class feature is focused on self-preservation or the mantra of “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” The survivor has full BAB and d12 HD and will be a brick.
Synergist: Builds off the positive vibes of success to create a tidal wave of pwnage through ally buffs. Another support class that is very effective at its job. D8 hit die and capable of assisting competently in combat.
Umbra: Born with a planar connection these guys draw upon the energy of that plane to do crazy stuff like overload an enemy’s muscles with positive energy, giving them a buff, but then having them take a serious debilitating stat condition. The powers provide some pretty different ways to combat your foes.
Warloghe: 1/6th caster with a lot of little abilities and fun flavor. Forms a symbiotic link with a minor evil spirit. Capable of inflicting various status effects and negative energy damage to all that oppose! Though notably squishy and requiring protection.
Warsmith: Completely not what I expected. This ain’t no tinker. This is a manly man blacksmith that creates and destroys all he sees on the battlefield! Fricken awesome!
Feats
Ok, now this section has a majority cool stuff. I saw very few useless feats, which is a very good thing! A lot of feats are those class specific ones that we’ve come to expect, the extra this and that or the improved thing. This is perfectly fine and actually pretty healthy for the book since it means all these classes have good support.
What else did I see? Feats giving generally unused combat styles more support. Stuff like imposing fear conditions just because you’re such a terror on your mount, three good combat styles, some more style feats for existing Paizo styles, and some teamwork feats.
Instead of giving us a bunch of general purpose feats to compete with build staples Amora Games went with feats that support previously underused styles in a way that can make them viable. This was a smart move because at this point doing anything else will either be a bad rehash of another feat or a straight upgrade.
Archetypes and Options
Ok, there are several archetypes for each class and to go through each would be madness. The archetypes do differentiate a lot. To name a few of my favorites we have Battlelord archetypes for military roles like Marine and Cavalryman, Mystic archetype that gets all the elements Avatar Style, Mnemonic archetype that eats thoughts and memories, and since the Demiurge is so mutable they instead opted to give you some premade Facsimiles.
I’d say the archetype section is a success because it gives you a multitude of new ways to enjoy each class without sacrificing balance.
Adapt, Overcome, Survive
Magical Contamination, Haunts, and Environmental Hazard.
The GMs guide and PRD explain what haunts are, so the Liber Influxus wastes no time giving us several pages of brand new haunts to spook out your players!
Environmental hazards give your players a different kind of challenge that’s less obvious and can make for fun stories.
Magical Contamination is to Pathfinder what radiation is to Gamma world. We all know radiation is fun, so magical radiation is magical fun! When spells start getting wonky the spellcasters in the group will get a chance to gamble. Cast and get a random benefit or cast and have your spell fail in a weird way, are you a gambling man?
My review is organized based on each chapter. The total PDF page count is 101 with 98 being content.
Chapter 1: Introduction
Some words from the authors and an introduction to the new subtypes introduced in the book.
Chapter 2: Specific Half Breeds
Includes explanations of the format, a multi-page entry on each race, alternate racial traits, and various charts detailing “at a glance” information.
Positives:
-How the races feel legitimate. They are not balls of stats thrown together; a lot of care was put into making each race believable and unique
-Well Organized. It’s easy to find what you want
-The majority of the races are well balanced to the Paizo races.
-There is art of each race
-Favored class options!
Negatives:
-A few races are a little too strong. This is most obvious in the Dreige entry which has too many strong and useful racial traits. EX
Quote:
benefit from a +2 bonus
on attack rolls, damage rolls, and saving throws made
against fey and outsiders with the chaotic and/or evil
subtypes. This bonus increases by +1 every 4 character
levels.
A few of the other races are also quite strong.
-Any other negatives I found are nitpicks that shouldn’t be mentioned in the review
Chapter 3: Making More Crossbreeds
TEMPLATES. Umm err excuse me. I love templates. This section has several CR raising templates that can be used to create new and interesting encounters. Some favorites include “Bipedal” which can be used to turn a simple Polar Bear into the mighty VOLIBEAR! Other fun templates are included too.
Positives:
-10 new templates, though 4 of those are Half-Elemental templates.
-They do a good job are realizing several monster concepts that the bestiaries and templates don’t cover
Negatives
-Nothing actually wrong here.
Chapter 4: Using the Blood
This section includes feats, 4 Prestige Classes, spells, and magic items.
Positives:
-Most of the feats are actually worth taking and work well to expand your characters ability to interact with the world outside of numerical boosts
-They can help you feel more crossblooded
-Includes a super cool feat called “Mixed Blood” that gives you a subtype and add-on such as dark vision. This useful for characters who only want to role play a distant relationship, want to try out some of this book’s material without using a new race, or who want to play a mad scientist who splices the traits from various creatures !
-The Prestige Classes have really cool themes. Two are 5 levels PrC that, depending on the build, will offer a lot of cool stuff to a half blood character. All the PrCs interact with the player and parties type and subtype, which usually includes Humanoids, to produce awesome effects.
-14 new spells. All of them fulfill different niches and many offer bonuses depending on the race casting them. A standout is “Strength in numbers” that gets progressively more powerful the more allies you have and works great for Kobolds or other small menaces.
-Magic Items include some cool weapon enchants that are priced as +1s and +2s, which is usually a negative for me, but in this case I think the opportunity cost is appropriate for the benefit. Various wondrous items offering boosts to skills that don’t yet have magical boosts or augmenting features found in this book.
Negatives:
-Some feats skirt the edge of what I consider allowable. One feat can be taken by certain subtypes to grant permanent fast healing.
-Personally I think some of these new and awesome spells are on too many spell lists. A lot of these spells are on literally all the spell lists, except Shaman and Bloodrager. Some of these spells fit Shaman quite well and should be transferred over.
Overall
I like the book a lot. For the most part everything is fun, cool, thematic, and balanced to the point I would allow it in the games I GM. A few things standing out as too good, a few cases where editing is needed, and some classes being overlooked on the spells section are what drop this down to a 4/5.
If you want to play a versatile, fun, and non-magical class this is for you!
Classes? Fun and varied. Each class covers a concept very well though one could argue they occupy a preexisting design space. I think these classes are more imaginative and fun for advanced players than similar classes. If you want a simple and effective character, these classes are not for you. If you want a versatile character that really rewards a crafty player then these classes are for you. One warning is that you should expect these characters to be significantly more durable and do anywhere from slightly to significantly more damage due to absolutely brutal full attack routines.
Maneuvers? With different maneuver selection you can make the same character feel like a brand new character. So mutable and fun. Maneuvers give a character a lot of options on turns where an initiator cannot full attack. Some standard action strikes are more effective than a full attack and are presently awaiting errata.
Feats? A lot of cool feats, though some seem a bit weak. Such as a feat for a +2 COMPETENCE bonus (The bonus type used by skill magic items) to Discipline skills.
Prestige Classes? Some seem are a bit too good. Dragon Furies get the two handed power attack bonus on main+off hand when 2-weapon-fighting and remove penalties to attack. Other PrCs grant significant spell casting while granting access to high level maneuvers.
Archetypes? Combined with the maneuvers the mutability lets you create many cool and unique combos. The archetypes for the Psychic Warrior and Soul Knife go a bit too far in increasing the classes ability to delete obstacles from the game.
Traditions? Very cool! They let you customize your character even further, but I don't like how some organizations steal some signature disciplines from the classes. A Steelfist Commando Warlord with the Wayward Path Tradition steps on a lot of the Stalker's toes for example.
Quote:
What are maneuvers?
Maneuvers are a system that allows a character to make special kinds of actions and attacks in combat. Swift action "boosts" that buff yourself for a heroic surge. Immediate action "counters" that let you react to your opponent. Standard action "strikes" that let you do unique attacks.
Quote:
What is a Martial Tradition?
Similar to a Cavalier Order, any class in this book can make an oath with an organization and as long as they uphold the oath they exchange one Discipline for the one offered by the Tradition. The Traditions also offer fun tools for DMs to sue to bring flavor, plot hooks, and assistance to their players.
Quote:
How is the power Level
Depends on the hands of a user. In the hands of a bad player these classes would likely find themselves underperforming or competing with a martial played by the same player. In the hands of an expert these classes will more than likely show a DPR on par with a Barbarian and will excel at having tools for almost any encounter that make them supremely versatile in the realm of martial characters. If you're using them in a campaign I highly suggest banning non-initiating and non-spellcasting competitors and starting above level 5. There is pending errata that may address the power level issue of the early game.
Quote:
Is it worth the money
I think it is. 3 classes, 11 Disciplines, feats supporting these classes, 11 archetypes, 6 Prestige Classes, and 6 martial traditions. ~157 pages of MEAT that is clearly written and fun.
I rated 3/5 stars because I disagree with the power level of certain feats(Discipline expertise), Prestige classes (Mage Hunter and Blade Caster casting free swift action spells), some of the more powerful archetypes, and most of these classes lacking a real weakness. Also because I feel that while Traditions and Archetypes give a lot of freedom in character creation that it dulls the unique aspects on certain classes and has certain classes stepping on toes. Additionally the math for DCs on non-Steel Serpent maneuvers seems dangerously low.
A lot a cool stuff, but some major weirdness. It feels like the people who wrote the classes, the people who wrote feats, and the people who wrote archetypes had minimal communications. Also feels like the people who wrote feats and archetypes weren't around in the respective feedback threads for the playtest. Too many oddities and unwritten things in this book makes me feel a little disappointed as I read.
Maybe SKR was right about the production schedule being too crunched and how trying to get this out by Gen-con constrained them a lot. I would have preferred this stayed another month in development and editing.
Gotta say that having it in my hand makes it even more impressive than the PDF I fell in love with. Now that I can't rely on PDF word search I am really impressed by the formatting in the book.
Everything is easy to find. When I have a question it's very easy to find an appropriate answer by perusing the ToC. The title "Ultimate Psionics" really applies as just about all the character concepts I could want as a Pdionic can be made from all the Base Classes, Archetypes, and Prestige Classes detailed!
The only downside was that my mailman stuffed it too roughly into my mailbox and it bent in some of the back cover's corner. The damage is pretty minor and impossible to see on my bookshelf, so I'm not getting too down over it.
The only singular problem with this book is that the pages are a bit more fragile than I would like.
Edit: After about a year of using this book on the table I can say that it still deserves 5 stars, excellent book.
