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Great review, KTFish7! I'm currently skimming through my copy and once I have some rather unpleasant reviews out of the way, I'll do that one as well. ^^ Tales of Zobeck [3.5] and Streets of Zobeck, Imperial Gazetteer and the Ironcrag Gazetteer for 3.5 cans till be bought and are all worth every cent - While I have only missed the first two ODs, I still curse not knowing about them. So...yeah. I know how you're feeling. I've been giddy and anticipating this particular book for quite some time! This is gonna be awesomesauce! In case any one of you fine ladies and gentlemen are interested in a Spelljammer-like book (which might work well with Distant Worlds), Clockwork Gnomes have a kickstarter on the way that could use some of your love. The link to Sailing the Starlit Sea is here. Note: I'm in no way affiliated or associated with Clockwork Gnome Publishing, I'm just someone who would love to see this particular Kickstarter get funded. Thanks for your attention and apologies if my post annoyed you. See you round the boards, EZG Hmm, posting about a kickstarter when you haven't released any other PFRPG-compatible products yet seems a bit courageous. I'd suggest giving people a sample of your quality first, release some files, say who the authors are etc. Just my 2 cents - I wouldn't back a project like this without a clue on what to expect... My players made the hydra-sage (I amped him up to Cr 20) contemplate several philosophical questions (A vast array of knowledge and social skill checks) on the ethics of eating sentient food and then diverted him with a discussion on table-manners long enough to squeeze the necessary information out of it: The location of Necromancer Games' Temple of Justicars Spoiler: from the classic "Demons & Devils".
in truth the Pit of Despair - Paladin's gonna have a hard time I have thrown a player off my group and refuse to talk to any player I catch cheating. It's stupid, destroys your own fun and is unfair with regards to the other players. Once the adventure is done, though, I tend to hand it out to players so they can see how I changed the basic module. Another one of my players did tell me he read a certain module in advance and separated his in-and out-game knowledge. Plus, I did modify the adventure very much, so no harm done there. Just my 2 cents. "It came from the Stars" is focused on weird ideas and fully funded. You can still join it, though. "Sailing the Starlit Sea" is still in the financing process and is the Spelljammer-like supplement ShadowcatX referred to. Hope that helps! Skeeter Green wrote: I have to ask others to take in mind the big issue End has with the BBEG is story related. Yeah, it is, but it also makes his unique ability rather ineffective and I'm a sucker for deadly boss-fights. :) My main griope and the reason for "only" 4 stars is that the hamster-style set-up and special nature of the dungeon isn't utilized to its maximum capabilities. It's still a great module! Chuck Wright wrote: *releases the Dart Grippli's to seek out Endzeitgeist* So that were these froggy squishes under my dread juggernaut. MUAHAHAHA!!! Skeeter Green wrote: End, if I ever catch you at PaizoCon or anywhere else, the first round is one me, and we can discuss reviews!!! I'd love to and perhaps, if the stars are finally right, I may be living and working in the US of A next year, so Paizocon suddenly seems much more likely to happen. :) Currently released alternate magic-systems:
Other than that, be sure to check out SGG's archetypes in Beyond Bloodlines and New Arcane Discoveries - they offer rather interesting alternate systems and point-based wizards and sorcs, respectively. Oh, and Psionics Unleashed by Dreamscarred Press is still a great "magic"-system :) Mor Aldenn is a City of Mages with an old-world feeling published by Headless Hydra Games. NeoExodus by LPJr Design is a rather far-out setting with cyberpunk/sci-fi-topics transported to fantasy. Rite Publishing's upcoming Questhaven: City of Adventure-project features a city ruled by adventurers. That are the ones I can quote from the top of my head, though 2 of them are cities. Whole worlds can be restrictive in their appeal, as they demand a certain commitment. (Though that might change with the "Sailing the Starlit Skies" and "It came from the Stars"-Kickstarters...) You're welcome! Once the updated version is up, I'll go through it again and if some of my concerns have been taken care of, upgrade my review accordingly. I try to support product upkeep. The basic system is a great feat of crunch-design - Kudos for creating this and updating something that complex to PFRPG! You're definitely someone to watch! Since it's not available here (which should be rectified...), my review of Children of the Wyrm This pdf is 32 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page blank inside of front cover, 1 page ToC, 1 page back cover, 1 page blank inside the back cover, 1 page SRD and 1 page advertisement, leaving 25 pages of content, so let's check out this offering, shall we? We all know that dragons can produce offspring and that half-dragons exist as well as that many a sorceror draws his power from his lineage. But what in-between? How does the transition from clearly draconic being to dormant power happen? This pdf kicks in with a discussion of exactly that by introducing the term "legacy" and discussing the transition from 1st generation legacy half-dragon to draconic legacy sorcerors of up to the 30th generation. Starting at the beginning, the first complex template we get is for the legacy half-dragon (CR +3), which includes natural attacks for 3 sizes and 10 different draconic inheritances. Draconic inheritances include breath weapons (which are always part of the package) and 3 different sample legacies (bronze, silver and gold) à 3 recommended abilities that include luck, faster flight and similar gifts. A CR 7 sample character is included to illustrate the application of the template. After that, we get the Quarter-Dragon (CR+2) complex template, again with natural attacks by size and 5 draconic inheritance options, again including breath weapons and 3 inheritances we already know from the half-dragon. However, the quarter-dragon must use an inheritance to gain access to a breath-weapon. Wings aren't included in the package either and thus one inheritance can gain access to them. There's a formatting glitch that reads "half-dragon" instead of "quarter-dragon" in the breath-weapon entry. We get another sample character, this time a rather complex one - a CR 13 quarter-dragon ninja! COOL! One step further down the lineage, the greater draconic legacy creature-template adds +1 to the CR (minimum 2) and gains either a breath weapon, or one of 3 possible draconic inheritances, which we at this point already know from the other templates. There's a formatting glitch that reads "half-dragon" instead of "greater draconic legacy creature" in the breath-weapon entry. Greater draconic legacy creatures don't get a bite, but only claw attacks. We get a sample NPC at Cr 10 this time a sorceress. Finally, there's the lesser draconic creature (CR +1, minimum 1), which can't get access to breath weapons, but to one of 3 draconic inheritances and natural claws as weapons. Again, we get a sample character, this time a rogue at CR 8. Finally, there a kind of minor template, the draconic legacy sorceror - essentially, the template/page describes how sorcerors of draconic bloodlines and the templates in this book interact and how being a half-dragon AND a draconic bloodline sorceror enhances the power granted by one's lineage. We also get 6 feats, ranging from being more agile flyers to gaining an elemental aura, additional draconic inheritances, additional breath-weapon uses and a 1st-level feat that bumps you up one step on your lineage as well as the ability to add energy damage to your weapon. We also get 6 sample traits that include improved natural healing and graceful aging. On the magic item-side, we get a lesser hat of disguise, the hat of racial purity, that disguises one part of your lineage. The Staff of the Dragon is an ok staff with thematically-linked powers and the ring of draconic presence can frighten foes. Finally, we get an optional one-page table on which characters generated with this pdf can roll d%s to determine cosmetic features that set the character apart like a snout, vestigial wings etc. Part 2 of the pdf is rather interesting - it includes information on pregnancy with draconic children of all varieties as well as rules for the rather difficult birth and labor. While only a short section, it comes with a variety of tables for the different kinds of draconic beings introduced in this book and is the most innovative and, in my opinion, cool and unique chapter of the pdf. Conclusion:
My second gripe with this pdf is that there is no racial option that truly caters to draconic player characters, as all of the templates add at least 1 to the CR. While depending on the player's options you use this might not necessarily upset your game, the options presented herein are more powerful than standard-races. That means players looking for a PFRPG-variant of the Dragonborn won't find one in these pages, which is a huge pity, as I think that the potential to create such a being is definitely here and within the capabilities of authors Talon Dunning and Shane O'Connor. If you don't like Half-Dragons, this pdf will probably not change that. What it does, though, is put them into a context within the overall setting and thus make them less vacuous. Even better, the quality of the overall production and the price make this a rather interesting book to make the by-now predictable half-dragon more versatile. I fully expected to despise the book personally and approached it on my reviewer-perspective. Surprisingly, I did enjoy what I finally read and consider this pdf a worthwhile investment for DMs seeking to spice up draconic characters in their game. If the pdf was longer and featured all draconic bloodlines and more inheritances (perhaps even unique ones for different age-categories) to choose from, I'd immediately score this 5 stars. As written, I still consider this book a good resource with afore-mentioned minor shortcomings, thus my final verdict will be 4 stars. Also reviewed on DTRPG, on RPGaggression and sent to GMS magazine. Endzeitgeist out.
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