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This is Kobold Press's fifth book in the New Paths series. This one marks a departure from the others as it does not present a new class for the Pathfinder Game (like the Battle Scion or Shaman New Path) or present a class variant (like the Spell-Less Ranger New Path). This books contains 7 archetypes for monks and 2 for ninjas, plus a series of new feats, new weapons and new ninja master tricks.

The book is 18 pages long and has 14 pages of content when cover, credits, OGL text and add are not counted in.

Before I continue I must say that I have some archetype fatigue because they have becomed what Prestige Class were to 3.5. Too numerous, sometimes fillers, some power creeps (with combos), some are just bad and we will never be able to play them all (sad panda). I feel the same with feats and would prefere sub-systems or alternative rules to archetypes and feats. So with that being said, how well does this book do?

The first archetype for monks is called Beast-Soul Monk. Yes, this is an archetype that deals with fighting styles named after animals, but with a twist. You get a animal companion right from the start in exchange for your flurry of blows and stunning fist abilities. Difficult trade off since those are very iconic abilities. Of course, you do get a very iconic animal in exchange for it. The animal must match you fighting style (e.g. crane, monkey, mantis), so the choice is limited. The matching combat style feats are added to the list of bonus feats the archetype gets. At later levels you can spend ki points to transform into your animal, using the beastshape spell. An interesting archetype, both for PCs and NPCs that does seem balanced and adds variety to the monk.

The second monk archetype is a racial archetype (Gearforged race) specific to Midgard, the Cloakwork Monk. The Clockwork Monk is proficient with light and medium armor (!), but still takes relevent penalties from wearing the armor. The first ability the Clockwork Monk gets is that it adds all feats with gearforged as a prerequisite to his list of bonus feats. This is interesting, but it is also the weak part of this archetype. You need other books from Kobold Press to get the full potential of this archetype (of course, Gearforged fans probably already have those). The Clockwork Monk gets bonus 2 hp at level 3. He also gets +2 hp for every feat with Gearforged as a prerequisite that he has. This replaces the still mind ability. Starting at level 5, while wearing light armor gained with a Gearforged feat, the Clockwork Monk can use flurry of blows, at level 11 he does not lose fast movement while wearing armor and finally at level 17 he doesn't lose his AC bonus while wearing armor. These abilities replace purity of body, diamond body and timeless body. All very interesting and powerful ablities. The crowning touch is the new capstone ability at level 20, inevitable form. I like this archetype, it would make an interesting NPC. Althought Gearforgeds are from Midgard's campaign setting, they can be used in any setting the GM wants them to be in. I suppose that the archetype could also be adapted to Eberron's Warforged or maybe even Golarion's Android race (Inner Sea Bestiary) with some work and imagination.

The third archetype is the Monk of the Compliant Style Rod. Translation, a monk specialized in combat with a staff (either bo staff or quarter staff). This is not a super flashy archetype or very original one, but it is very much an iconic one since staff masters are very present in kung fu flicks. I can see players wanting to use this archetype. Some of the feats contain in this book help support it. I like!

The fourth is Monk of the Glorious Endeavor. This archetype is essentially a way to get a monk to be specialized in one weapon (any, even exotic), but only one weapon. An interesting idea even if already tapped (e.g. the previous archetype mentioned here), but this one gives you more freedom to build your desired character as you get to choose the weapon. The problem I have is that the abilities gained are rather generic, numerical and thus boring. This archetype was a miss for me.

We then get a short box text for Darakhul Ghoul (Midgard campaign setting) monks. Essentially you get to combine two archetypes even if you usually could not, and get the Darakhul Hunger Monk. Pretty cool, but I am bias as I love Wolfgang Baur's Darakhul Ghouls. If you are not familiar with Darakhul Ghouls, just use a Ghast, a Ghast Lord from Minotaur's Monster Focus: Ghouls, the Dread Ghoul template from Green Ronin's Advance Bestiary or the Ghul template form Super Genius Game's Simple Monster Templates. I like!

The fifth archetype is the Monk of the Peerless Mountain. Flavor wise this is a monk that focuses on kicks. Mechanic wise, this is the monk that focuses on Cleave. Maybe this will be popular with some players. It depends on the games and the usual number of monster present in fights.

The sixth archetype is the Paper Drake Monk. Origami! This is mostly a defensive archetype, comparing the monk to a sheet of paper. The monk can "fold" himself, increase or reduce is size, get DR/slashing or piercing, stuff like that. The cherry on top is that the monk can transform himself in a paper crane swarm. Not a bad archetype flavor wise, but I'm not sure a lot of players will pick this one.

The seventh archetype is the Six Talismans Monk. This is a cool one! Talismans are basically a piece of paper with words on it that have magical effects when thrown or place on a creature. Plus the monk gets to use his Wis for UMD! I like this one a lot. Very flavorful and evocative. Just this archetype is worth the price of the book. This is probably because this is almost a new class that uses a new type of magic. This should get a sequel, a New Path book expending rules for talisman magic (like can I burn it off a affected creature?). There are three feats that support this archetype, but many more would be welcomed. Some magic items too. I do have a question about the wording of Greater Paper Talisman. Does this mean the paper talisman deals 3d6 + Wis points of damage when you take the feat for the first time or that it deals 2d6 + Wis points of damage? Still great addition to a game. I can't wait to drop this one on unsuspecting players.

Next we get four new master tricks for ninjas. Empty form and smoke demon are peticularely effective. You transform into mist (Empty Form) that can be inhaled, causing unarmed strike and sneak attack damage (smoke demon)!

Elemental Ninja is the first ninja archetype. You get the abilities specilist wizards of elemental school (Advance Player's Guide) get. Interesting, but I wonder if players will choose this one.

The second ninja archetype is the Mist Stalker. This one is a simple archetype that can be used to build a ninja that is reduce his miss chance combating in mist or fog and gains blindfight. Smoke bomb ninjas rejoyce! GMs too *evil laugh*.

Now we have 25 new feats. 15 of them are style feats, 3 feats per style that means 5 new styles total. I won't go over all of them just the ones that stand out. The Broken Mirror Style is the most evocative one. It is a style for ninjas who have the shadow clone trick or PCs that can cast mirror image. It is very cool, giving you extra clones and letting you make AoOs when a clone is popped. Nightwave Style is interesting as it is the underwater combat style. It gives you slashing damage with your unarmed strike, deals bleed damage and lets you hide in the cloud of blood (!) that comes with the bleeding. It is usable outside of water environment, but not at its peak efficiancy.

One-Inch Punch is a very iconic feats for kung fu fans and I think it delivers when it comes to the mechanics. You basically combine a Stunning Fist with a bull rush maneuvre. Ring the Bell is great, it lets you use Stunning Fist twice in a round. Ashame monks can only take it a level 11. The three talisman feats are good and compliment that archetype (one for increase damage, one to affect undead as if they were living creatures and one to make the damage half divine damage). I would like to see feats that are designed to hinder outsiders, undeads, maybe feys. Maybe a feats to target objects (e.g. seal a room or chest) or expand what the taslimans do (e.g. protection from evil, remove curse, etc). Like I said, this could fill an entire New Path book. Coiled Strenght is pretty cool. You get your Dex bonus to attack and damage rolls made with flails with the monk weapon quality and staves for those with Bo Staff Master and Quarter Master Staff feats! Combination Finish is a feat that gives you a bonus to the DC of your Stunning Fist for every prior hit you made this turn. Not a great one since it really is a "gambling" feat with a reward that is just meh if you pull it off.

Finally, we get 7 new weapons from the orient.

For a book I was curious about (love monks and ninjas), but not too enthusiastic about (archetypes are sort of meh for me) and mostly bought because I trust the quality of Kobold Press books, this was overall a good read with lots of elements GMs and players will happily glean from.

This is a quality book, like we expect from Kobold Press (this is why I support their Deep Magic Kickstarter). For 3,99$ you get your money's worth. I recommand this New Path, if only for the Six Talismans Monk archetype (that needs a full book!) and the Broken Mirror Style feats. They are very iconic and flavorful, not to mention useful. I do feel like there is some filler in the book though, and the Midgard focused racial archetype limited my appreciation. I give this book 4 stars out of 5.

Enjoy!

This module introduces a new type of staves to Pathfinder, the apeiron staff, and it is about time!

This 16 pages PDF begins with an intro about ape iron... I mean apeiron staves, their design philosophy and some of the reasoning behind them. We than get a lenthy, but useful and clear description of these complex items. I use the word complex with deference here. These aren't your mother's regular staves. We then have the apeiron staves, some new feats related to the staves and a word about interaction between apeiron staves, classic staves and the rune staves contained in The Genius Guide to Rune Staves and Wyrd Wands.

So how do these babies work?

Each apeiron staff has an effect that can be use an unlimited number of time. This effect can be augmented with charges the staff possesses. Staves will let you sacrifice a prepared spell/spell slot to further boost the effect. The staves recharge themselves by regaining one charge every day. You can also sacrifice one spell when you prepare/regain your spells to further recharge it. I hope I didn't forget anything.

So let us look at the staves themselves.

There are 21 apeiron staves in this module. The first one is the apeiron staff of defense. This one lets you give a +1 bonus to the AC and CMD of an ally (or two), protect an ally with blur, give a +2 circumstance bonus to saves and boost the AC of the target(s)against AoOs. A nice useful staff that doesn't sound too strong since all the effects only last one round. This gives interesting options to the character that uses this staff. I would like some clarification on the haze augmentation in relations with the aura of protection augmentation. If aura is used, does the second target also get the blur[/] effect?

Now for the apeiron staves of force. There are four of them, beginner, lesser, standard and greater. Basically, they let you use a variant [i]magic missile once every two rounds (except for the greater staff), with augmentation that increase damage, does radius damage, bull rush, trip or let you use them in the off round. Pretty cool, well designed and looks balanced. This seems to fill the required "it does damage" item and it does so with one of the most iconic spell out there. I do have a question. Powerful bolt says it can be used more than once, up to three times per use. Can I still use a second augmentation, say force burst, if I used powerful bolt three times?

Next in line is the apeiron stave of glory. It could have been named staff of tactics. This one lets you boost the attack roll, damage roll and CMB check of one ally, give it one extra AoO, let him move after a full-attack action, do combat maneuvre without provoking AoOs, give Blind-Fight and overcome DR for one round. Again a nice item that opens up new options for the user of the staff.

Now the staves of soothing. There are three of them, lesser, standard and greater. These staves lets you reduce the duration of conditions, give a bonus to attack rolls, give a bonus to saves vs a condition, heal damage and give temporary hit points. Useful staves and, finally, the party's "healer" gets an apeiron staff!

Staff of spectral hero, me bucko! An interesting one, you basically get to summon a specral ally and give it various boosts to its combat abilities. Not bad, not bad at all, but I would have prefered a more classic conjuration effect instead of another force effect. We did have four staves of force. But this is mostly a question of taste on my part. This staff is very nice.

I love this one, the beginner's apeiron staff. Unlimited prestidigitation, if light is cast on the staff's orb it doubles the radius and you can sacrifice a spell slot to cast any cantrip/orison you know (is this useful?) for only 350 gp. This is probably the most iconic apeiron staff of the module as it is designed for these low level adventurers who struggle just to see in that dark cave and want to impress the locals with cantrips. More of these low level staves would have been nice.

And now for the commander's apeiron staff or the apeiron staff of tactics II. This one lets you enchant a square and any ally that pass through that square gains a bonus to his attack and save rolls, you can give an extra move or swift action to an ally (neat!), increase the size of the enchanted square, give DR 3/- to those who pass through the square and increase the speed of allies. A nice item that doesn't just give bonuses and will challenge the user to find the best square to enchant for maximum result.

Now the blaze apeiron staves. You essentially do fire damage with the lesser, standard and greater version of the staff. This is the let down of the module. Basically three versions of a staff that does fire damage and a few other effects. With the caustic (acid) and rime (ice) apeiron staves, that also come as a trio, it all feels very repetitive. The 9 elemental staves take a lot of space. When you count the four force apeiron staves and the three soothing apeiron staves, that makes 16 of the 21 staves in this module. So we basically have 10 staff ideas in this module, even if there are 21 staves in it. For 3.99$ that is a bit low.

A little more variety would have been welcomed. An apeiron staff with a diviners theme could have been interesting. Maybe a staff that is more melee oriented for the magus (staff magus anyone?) or hex themed for the witch.

Ok, enough critiquing, I still need to mention the four feats at the end of the module. Apeiron Staf Initiate and Apeiron Staff Master increase the value of spell slots/prepared spells you sacrifice to boost your apeiron staff effects. Simple yet useful for an item that can be a defining element of a character. The next feat is Craft Apeiron Staff. Logical. It is neat that it morphes into Craft Staff at level 11. Finally, Piercing Apeiron Staff, get a +2 bonus to overcome SR with your apeiron staff effect. Cool.

At the end of the module we get two short paragraphs that discusse stacking apeiron staves, runes staves and classic staves. Useful and welcomed tips, but what is missing is advice on how to balance the staves and how to price homebrewed apeiron staves. Why? Because you will definetally want to make your own apeiron staff. The concept it that interesting! Advice on adding apeiron properties to a +1 quarterstaves, for example, would have been nice too.

These staves are a great idea and this is what staves in Pathfinder should have been from the start. I can't say this enough. Classic staves are just spell-in-a-cane, like wands, potions, scrolls, etc. Apeiron staves (and rune staves for that matter) are more than that, they have the potential to be iconic items that can help define a character.

All and all, I give 4 stars to this module. It would have been 5 stars if there would have been a bigger diversity of staves (maybe for apeiron staves book 2?). Clearly, this is a labor of love and I think they bring an original new element to Pathfinder. Enjoy!

This little module has some interesting focused arcane schools for universalist wizards.

The first one is the Arcane Researcher, and just this one made me feel I got my dollar's worth. Making it easier for wizards to research spells and giving them useful iconic abilities is pure fun and makes me want to play a bookworm again. It might not be for all tables, but it certainly is a must for games were down time is an important part of sessions. The one nit pick I have with it is this sentence "This ability replaces the fact that specialist wizards get bonus spell slots". I am not sure I agree with this reasoning, since it sort of comes out the blue and does not replace anything the universalist had. It is sort of an attempt to balance the universalist and specilists. I do not think it unbalances the school and it certainly fits the flavor of this focused school. A keeper!

The Beastbonded Arcanist is a nice idea, use your familiar as a spare spellbook. My problem with it is the lack of oomph of the abilities. This potentially iconic focused school is a bit tame. Maybe if the familiar could cast one spell written on it or affect one of the spells written on it in some way this focused school would have interested me more.

The Bookbonded Arcanist is the second iconic focused school for universalist in this module. Your spellbook is your bonded item. Of course! A great idea and the abilities in it are nice. This focused school could have benefited from two or three magical spellbooks. One of the perks of bonded items is that they can be enchanted and new ideas for magical books would have been a great addition.

Finally, the Spellweaver. The perfect focused school for those who have a GM that likes to counter their spells (or vice versa). This focused school is not as iconic as the Arcane Researcher or the Bookbonded Arcanist, but it is a useful and flavorful one. My only issue is that the abilities granted should have been limited to spells with somatic components. Maybe a metamagic feat that lets you add somatic components to spells would have been a good addition too.

All and all, for a dollar this acquisition was worth it. I give it 4.5 stars and recommand it players who like flavorful characters with useful abilities and GMs who might want to surprise their players with new options.