As a GM it can be a struggle coming up with interesting, unique NPCs on the fly. Fortunately, help has arrived. "Rival Guide" offers a total of 40 NPCs, each fully developed with a background, unique personality, illustration, and stat block. A few of the NPCs are low-level, but for the most part they skew towards the mid- and high-level range. Each of the ten parties is well conceived, and as a GM I can easily see uses for every one of them - to put it another way, there are no flops here. So whether you want to throw a group of unique baddies at your PC, or just need stats for, say, a high-level Hellknight, you'll find what you need within.
And while the NPCs are the book's focus, there's a lot more here than just 40 stat blocks. Inside you'll find 8 new spells, 10 feats, and 19 new magical and alchemical items, poisons, and drugs. These new rule elements help make each of the "rivals" unique and interesting, but are also useful by themselves. Need a cool spell for your jungle druid? Try sheet lightning. Want to really baffle your PCs? Let them find Chomper, an intelligent bag of devouring.
There are also 2 new templates, but unfortunately neither really impressed me. I don't like how the Alchemically Invisible template functions, and the Haunted One template strikes me as unneccessary, as it could easily be accomplished through roleplaying alone. Ironically, the two NPCs afflicted with these templates are among my favorites. Oh well.
This is one of those resources that a GM will keep coming back to, time and again. It's an incredibly versatile product, and for that, easily earns five stars.
This adventure focuses on the PCs exploring an ancient, ruined city. Which is precisely what they were doing two adventures ago in "City of Seven Spears." Thankfully, the underground city of Ilmurea feels far different than its counterpart in the world above, which means there's little chance players will be feeling much deja-vu.
The primary adversaries in "Thousand Fangs Below" are serpent people, and the PCs will be slogging through a small army of them. Fortunately there are a variety of other enemies such as morlocks, gugs, drow, intellect devourers, and daemon-spawned urdefhan to keep things feeling fresh. There are also several opportunities for diplomacy, intrigue, and shady alliances here, leaving sneaky or socially inclined characters with plenty of chances to shine.
I would also like to compliment the maps in "Thousand Fangs." The cartographer did an excellent job with Ilmurea, and the serpent people's fortress (the titular Fortress of Thousand Fangs) is well done. It's essentially an enormous, coiled, hollow stone snake - really cool in other words.
There are four new high-CR monsters in the bestiary. Three of the beasties come from African mythology, while the fourth is the mysterious herald of the magic god Nethys. All four monsters were unique and interesting.
Speaking of Nethys, he gets a full write-up in "Thousand Fangs" as well. The author, Sean K Reynolds, is known for his excellent treatment of deities, but I found this article to be among his weaker pieces. Nethys came across as a bit bland. Yes, I understand that he encourages his followers to learn/create/use magic, but to what end? I thought the previous look at nature deity Gozreh, back in "Race to Ruin", was a much more intriguing piece. Oh well.
To round out "Thousand Fangs," we have a gazeteer of Ilmurea - the city in which this adventure takes place. There are some great adventure hooks to be found here, and a creative GM could keep his players occupied for many hours exploring this nifty set piece.
All in all, this is a well done penultimate adventure.
This adventure had some definite strengths and weaknesses. One of its strong points was its non-linear flow: the GM is presented with a series of related events to run as he pleases and in no particular order. This allows for the adventure to develop in an organic manner, as opposed to forcing the PCs down a particular path. Also, the manner in which the party deals with these events usually has an impact later on, further adding to the realism. There are no dungeons per se in Twice-Damned Prince. This made me a bit leary at first, but the author pulls it off quite well.
Now for the bad. While all of the adventure's events are solid and well presented, few of them struck me as particularly interesting. With the exception of the two main antagonists and a tiefling monk, I found the NPCs bland and uninspiring. For example, many of the enemies in this adventure are, not surprisingly, rogues. Why, then, did the author decide to make the vampiric Thesing a rogue as well? Why not a bard or sorcerer? It would fit his character thematically, and make for a much more interesting fight than yet another backstabbing thief-type.
Another annoyance came in the form of the fame point system. Specifically, Twice-Damned Prince adds a new type of "points" called popularity points, which must be tracked separately from fame points despite being very similar to them. This seemed unneccesarily complicated.
The article on the archdevil Mammon was fantastic, easily as good as Sean K Reynold's best Deities of Golarion articles. You even get a ready-made 20th-level high priest of Mammon who would make an excellent villain should the GM wish to continue this campaign. The bestiary has some intriguing high CR entries, though like past CoT bestiaries, the illustrations are mediocre. The Catastrophe article presents a great set of rules for running disasters such as floods and fires.
All in all, Twice-Damned Prince is a solid adventure that falls a bit short in flavor and comes with some great supporting articles. I'd give it 3.5 stars if I were able.
But I really enjoyed this adventure. The theater aspect is presented as most social encounters are: a series of skill checks. The level to which the DM and players wish to ham things up is entirely up to them, and while roleplaying is certainly encouraged, it isn't necessary. And of course, the "Sixfold Trial" isn't just any old play... it's a murderplay. Which is to say, when actors die on stage, sometimes it's for real. For parties who absolutely refuse to participate in the play, an alternative option is provided.
Richard Pett gives us an intrigue-laden dinner party for the second part of this adventure, and ends with a great dungeon. The dungeon is spooky and filled with numerous cool effects that will keep a party guessing. It also continues CoT's "shadow" theme nicely.
The Sixfold Trial gives plenty of chances to foreshadow future events for the PCs. For example, numerous NPCs introduced in these pages will be reappearing later in the adventure path, granting PCs a great opportunity to form relationships with these individuals early on.
DMs will appreciate the effort made to keep them informed and in the loop. Lots of background information is provided, and perhaps more importantly, the author makes sure to note which NPCs are expendable and which have future roles in the adventure path. The DM is also given an ample head's up on what's coming in future CoT installments.
The article on the goddess Iomedae is solid, and the bestiary has some interesting beasties. I particularly liked Paizo's answer to the death knight, the graveknight. While clearly inspired by the death knight, this undead warlord manages to be a unique and interesting monster.
All in all this is a great adventure, and proof that Paizo is listening to its fans.
I own all the Pathfinder Chronicles books, and this one is my favorite so far. The "Revisited" line is as strong as ever, offering original, creative stories for some of D&D's most memorable beasties. As with its predecessors, Dungeon Denizens Revisited is rules-light, though what rules we have are certain to spark anyone's imagination; for example, there are feats for making creepy, ooze-friendly druids. The bulk of the book, however, is "fluff". And boy is it ever... fluffy.
I liked the mimic chapter the most. The author has given these formerly two-dimensional menaces a complex lifecycle, as well as a psychological impetus for sitting in a dungeon looking like a treasure chest. For the first time ever, we even get to see what a mimic looks like in its natural form! (Ugly as sin, if you're wondering). I also enjoyed the cloaker entry, wherein the creepy bat-things are revealed to be worshipers of HP Lovecraft's "Mythos". There are plenty of cool cloaker variants as well, including ones covered in dangerous symbiotic mold and primitive cloaker/manta ray halfbreeds. Heck, even the gelatinous cube (and to a lesser degree, oozes in general) gets some much-needed love. Ever wonder what happens when you toss alkali on acid-based slime dudes? Well now you'll know.
Not all the chapters are gold. The owlbear and bulette, for example, seemed lacking. Perhaps I'm biased, as I was never a huge fan of either monster to begin with, but I doubt it; I still don't like rust monsters, but I enjoyed their entry nonetheless. These chapters are by no means bad, mind you. They just don't measure up compared to, for example, the purple worm or roper. (Fans of Nicholas Logue will not be disappointed by his take on the roper, btw).
The illustrations range from adequate to awesome. I particularly liked the baby gelatinous cube. It somehow manages to be cute, even with the human skull suspended inside.
All in all, a fantastic product. I can't wait for the next installment.
The guide to Osirion is well written, has cool illustrations, and lots of ideas for adventures. However, there were a few key things I wanted to see, that never materialized. First and foremost, I would have really liked a map of Sothis, Osirion's capital city. You get a writeup of the place after all, so the lack of a city map seems to be a sore oversight. Another problem I had, was the inclusion of three Osirion-specific deities... except their alignments, favored weapons, and domains are not listed. Again, this is a real problem for me; why invent new deities without giving any concrete information on them? My final gripe is the lack of info on the elemental spirits of Osirion. They are alluded to several times, yet very little of substance is said about them. The genies and elementals appear to play a vital role in this land, yet we are told next to nothing about them.
The bad stuff aside, I did really enjoy this product's offerings. You get a list of several neat locales, with all the spinxes, lost and forbidden pyramids, and evil mummy kings that you can handle. There's also some great, distinctly Egyptian-flavored necromancy spells (seal your enemy in canopic jars? Yes please!), a prestige class to scare the crud out of any would-be tomb robbers, and a great write-up of Osirion's ruler. There's a section of new feats, but none of these impressed me.
All in all, I'm glad to have this sourcebook, but wish there was a bit more in the way of vital info and a few less adventure locations.
*EDIT: I decided to give this 4 stars instead of 3. I forgot that this book was meant primarily for players, rather than DMs, and was looking looking at it from the wrong perspective. For player's, it's great.
If there's one thing Paizo excels at, it's making products that feel familiar and classic, while at the same time being new and original. Guide to Absalom is no different.
The massive realm stacks up quite well to the great fantasy cities of past days, such as Waterdeep, Sharn, and Greyhawk City, yet it manages to have its own unique flavor. A melting pot in the truest sense, Absalom's citizens come from all parts of the world, and the place is by no means a classical, European-style setting. In fact, it feels quite a bit more like ancient Greece or Rome, with a native population of harpies, minotaurs, and centaurs, gads of political intrigue (et tu Hugen?), and even a legendary labyrinth that (may) exist beneath it.
The Guide covers a gamut of locations, from mighty cathedrals and fortresses, to kite shops and clockwork centipede-ship-classrooms. We even get an old fashioned Running of the Bulls... except with less bulls and more gorgons. And while there must be a hundred interesting places to every one detailed, we still have plenty of info to get a feel for the metropolis.
My only problem with GtA is that none of the NPCs are given stats or alignments. I suppose this gives a DM more flexibility when it comes to customizing the city as his/her own, but I personally like having an idea of a given character's morality and power level. That small complaint aside, for being a 64-page sourcebook, GtA is an excellent tool for any DM.
“Skeletons of Scarwall” is my favorite entry in the Curse of the Crimson Throne path so far (“Seven Days to the Grave” now officially being my second favorite). It’s a site-based adventure set entirely in the titular Castle Scarwall, an eerie, brooding place packed full of all sorts of goodies. Undead are the most plentiful bad guys here, but there’s a handful of other critters to keep things interesting.
Designed in the style of gothic horror, Skeletons of Scarwall takes its cues from classic films such as Dracula, and classic D&D adventures like Castle Ravenloft. Its winding halls, elegant yet creepy décor, undead guardians, and occasional “boss monsters” also reminded me very much of the classic Castlevania video game series. Speaking of bosses, there’s a nastily iconic surprise towards the end of the adventure that will be sure to strike fear into any veteran player. I won’t ruin it, but let’s just say that fans of the classic “Tomb of Horrors” will be pleasantly surprised.
My only problem with “Skeletons” was its map. A few of the rooms are incorrectly numbered (room 38 is labeled 28, room 26 is labeled as 24), while other rooms aren’t marked on the map at all (22 and 29). Furthermore, secret doors don’t show up on the map. That’s a little too secret for my taste. These are relatively small mistakes however, and considering the sheer size of the castle, not unexpected.
My favorite part of Pathfinder 11, however, is the article on Zon-Kuthon. The author pulls no punches here, giving us an unflinching look at the god of pain and his sick worshipers. As a big fan of Clive Barker, I can see his influences all over the Midnight Lord. Fans of Hellraiser will rejoice, especially when they see Zon-Kuthon’s illustration; the dude could practically *be* Pinhead. It’s a shame, then, that this article was smaller than that of the three prior gods. I would have loved to see a Kuthite prestige class...
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