Pathways #3 (PFRPG) PDF

This free e-zine is 49 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page of SRD, 1 page editorial and 16 pages of advertisement, leaving 30 pages of content, so what do we get?

After a rather nice editorial by Dave Paul, we get the quite cool wrathful template that enables you to create creatures consumed by the desire for revenge and outbursts of rather uncompromising wrath. The CR 15 sample-creature (an angel), can be seen on the cover and comes with lore-sections etc. - Hugo Solis' artwork comes as a one-page spread and is disturbing to say the least - a nice fusion of great design by Steven D. Russell and nifty artwork!

The next article by Jonathan McAnulty offers 3 feats that enhance crafting and information on the channeling (as per the excellent secrets of the divine channeler) of the construct and toil domains.

Master of haunts T.H.Gulliver presents us with Kalil Tamar, ghost antipaladin (CR 17) and his neat statblock as well as 4 cairn field haunts the dread apparition uses to soften up his opponents. They range from CR 1 to 7.

Michael Welham's Synergixxiks, weird insects that can form colonies and combine their strength and add individual qualities to their merged form and were easily among my favorites in Pathways. From CR 2 scouts to Cr 6 bombardiers and CR 7 commanders, these make for disturbing foes the players will be sure to remember.

Creighton Broadhurst, of Raging Swan offers you a little encounter with an ogress - a nice encounter ready to drop into your campaign.

Of course, we also get an interview, this time with From Shore to Sea's/Sunken Empire's excellent designer Brendon Hodges - informative and cool!

Some reviews by Dark Mistress, Shane O' Connor and yours truly of some of the best files 3pp have to offer are next.

Finally, we get a short 10-question interview with illustrator Malcolm McClinton.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are very good, apart from my misspelled name and one glitch that omits my name, I didn't notice any glitches. Layout adheres to the beautiful new full-color 2-column-standard set in many RiP-products nowadays. The content you'll find herein is top-notch and adding the fact that this pdf is free, it's essentially a no-brainer. Free pdfs, especially of such a high quality (featuring even a beautiful full-color piece of original art) should definitely be supported and if you're even remotely intrigued, give it a shot. My final verdict will be 5 stars.
Endzeitgeist out.

Pathways 3 is a free gaming resource by Rite Publishing.

First off is an article on how players can help their Game Masters by David Paul – Oh yes, I need to subtly introduce this article to my players.

Free Game Goodies!

Do I need another creature template? Yes please! This is the Wrathful Creature Template by Steven Russell and Matt Banach complete with a fully stat blocked CR 15 outsider of Righteous Fury: Roggziel of the Ire, with background information, tactics, motivations, lore and an interesting ability that will surely have your players howling. “You are right to fear me, and if you be mine enemy, you are right to despair.” Brr… Remind me not to misbehave. I wouldn’t want this thing after me. What is the difference between sinful wrath and righteous fury? Is this a little close to crossing the line for an angelic being? I say that every devil was an angel once. This is Tolkien’s viewpoint as expressed in his works, the concept that nothing ever begins as evil. This provides GMs an interesting tool with which to tinker in your own campaign. Also the illustration by Hugo Solis is really fantastic and makes you want to duck and hope he is not coming for you.

More cleric subdomain goodness - Laboring for the Gods: Clerics of Artifice, Constructs and Toil by Jonathan McAnulty contains the justification followers of these types of deities may have. Fully described are doctrines, new feats for followers who possess certain domains. There are also descriptions of sacred tomes and texts, some for flavor and others that give more than just information. In addition there are channeling effects for the Construct and Toil subdomains that utilize supplemental rules from The Secrets of Divine Channeling by Rite Publishing and Jonathan McAnulty.

Next on the list of goodies are more haunts to trouble your players. Malevolent Manifestation by T.H. Gulliver includes Kalil Tamar, an individual introduced to us in the +30 Intelligent Magic Items supplement, and his haunt minions which he uses to “soften up” individuals he intends to destroy. Fantastic stuff, Trevor! Keep it coming! My players and I will thank you.

Part 2 of Michael Welham’s article on the creatures known as synergixxik (your guess is as good as mine as to how to pronounce that tongue twister) looks a lot like the real world insect known as the Walking Stick, as evidenced by the picture provided. But this is far nastier than our real versions that eat only leaves and such and are harmless to people. Included are a number of stat blocks of different and increasing difficulties that will make your players check every twig and run screaming in terror from them. Lovely stuff, I can’t wait to use this on my own players.

Finally for gamey goodness comes an article by Creighton Broadhurst of a rather large female huntress and her pets. Teamwork is the key here and the more the merrier, for her, though perhaps not so for your players’ PCs.

Interview Goodness -
Twenty Questions with Brandon Hodge explains how he organized the creation of Open Design’s excellent Sunken Empires and other awesomeness he has created. The one question that Steve neglected to ask Brandon is does he realize how much his research and writing skills totally rock? I do mean that and not in a fan girl screaming sort of way… well… perhaps just a little. It is interesting reading on how Brandon came up with the concept of psychic mana, vril, and the source for his ideas on underwater fantastic technologies. It makes me want to track down a copy of Dweller on Two Planets by Frederick Oliver myself.

What follows next are a series of reviews of different Pathfinder compatible game materials by well-known reviewers.

Lastly is a 10 question interview with Malcolm McClinton, the artist who produced the absolutely gorgeous image on the cover of Sunken Empires by Open Design.

Did I mention this is free? I am sure I did. How can anyone pass this up? Surely everyone will find something here of use or to fan his or her own creative flames.