Pact Magic Unbound, Vol. 2 (PFRPG)

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Lure more spirits to bargain for their power!

Continue your journey into the rituals, power, and dangers of pactmaking. You can scribe a few seals, but are you ready to bargain with devilish Forash, the Prince of Spirits? Call upon Kaylos, genie Master of Wishes? Or tangle with Jörmungandr, He Who Circles the World? You will surely need their aid to defy inquisitors, battle spirit-touched monstrosities, and shake off pact maladies that warp the soul. Your reward is your sanity and perhaps some scraps of lore, occult spells, and rare magic items made for intrepid binders like you.

Inside this 104-page guide, you will discover:

  • Thirty-two more spirits to bind, from 1st through 9th level, including more favorites drawn from the original Secrets of Pact Magic and Villains of Pact Magic.
  • More options for occultists.
  • Eight archetypes for non-core base classes such as the alchemist, gunslinger, and inquisitor, a powerful binder foe.
  • New uses for skills and more occult feats.
  • Spells, cleric domains, and subschools for binders and their foes, including exorcists.
  • Magic items such as occult armaments and wondrous items.
  • Esoterica: pact maladies, character traits, and the spirit-touched template

For use in your Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Requires the use of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook, published by Paizo Publishing LLC, and Pact Magic Unbound Vol. 1, published by Radiance House. Benefits from other Pathfinder RPG products by Paizo Publishing LLC.

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Print Edition:

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Ships from our warehouse in 11 to 20 business days.

Are there errors or omissions in this product information? Got corrections? Let us know at store@paizo.com.

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An Endzeitgeist.com review

5/5

The second Pact Magic-book is a whopping 107 pages long, 1 page front cover, 2 pages editorial, 1 page ToC, 1 blank page, 1 page SRD and 1 page back cover, leaving us with 100 pages of content - so let's take a look!

So, how do we start? Well, essentially with class options for all non-core classes - from exorcizing bombs to spirits in a bottle (i.e. poor pacts via mutagens), we get two damn cool discoveries for the alchemist as well as the occult chymist archetype - who gets diminished alchemy to pay for access to spirits. As a cool drawback, the alchemist develops an addiction to one chosen constellation, getting penalties when not bound with a spirit of said constellation - it should be noted that slowly, the penalties of this addiction can be overcome. Cavaliers may choose from two new orders - the order of the Occult Eye and the Order of Saelendrios - whereas the former would be dabbler in the occult, teh former are devoted to the eradication of pact magic, following in the footsteps of a particular order from Tome of Magic - only with vastly superior rules and proper benefits! Of course, Cavaliers also get a new archetype, the Pactsworn Knight - essentially a cavalier with binder capabilities - here the synergy between bound spirits and cavalier abilities is formidable, allowing the cavalier to e.g. challenge a foe and treat it as the favored enemy of his bound spirit(s). Occult Avengers are Gunslingers that live only for revenge - and thus use pact magic to hunt down their respective marks - while bound to spirits, their two exclusive deeds allow them to act as superb trackers of adversaries.

No other class is as predisposed fluff-wise to opposing pact magic as the inquisitor and hence the class gets a new anti-spirit inquisition. The occult abolisher is hence also a specialist of combat against pact magic - whereas the occult sadist pays for binding spirits and a painful touch (i.e. an antipaladin's touch of corruption -PLUS cruelty later!) with slightly diminished spellcasting, while the Pact Protector is just the opposite - a protector of spirits and occultists that has a glorious idea - instead of solo tactics, it allows for teamwork-feat synergy between practitioners of pact magic instead of the regular solo tactics! Glorious and elegant! The Magus may now opt for the Sibyl archetype - using essentially a pact magic's equivalent of spell combat, these beings can also use arcane strike to replenish the expended abilities of spirits and later even quickly exchange spirits!

Of course, Occultists also get a new archetype, the Occult Scholar - these scholars get access to a revelation from the lore mystery, but also are barred permanently from one constellation, unlike the other archetypes, which more often than not choose a particular constellation alignment and prohibit the respective binding character from binding opposed spirits. We also are introduced to new binder secrets - for example one that allows you to redirect abilities that have been saved against to other eligible targets! Echoing abilities (for increased cool-down), affecting incorporeal creatures, a spirit alarm-system, particular efficiency against favored foes and even a way to heal oneself by temporarily suppressing spirits. The occultist also gets favored class options - including ones for all those ARG-races! Oracles of the Spirit Realm mystery can learn via a revelation to bend targets into greyish mockeries of themselves, cloak you and your allies from the unwitting eyes of mortals and whisper maddening, confusing whispers, reincarnate those perished by virtue of your connection to the spirit realm and even untether your very soul from your body! The Spirit Medium comes with a custom curse that represents the continuous onslaught of spirits, worrying away the medium's will and subjecting them always to the influence of spirits. Have I mentioned that they may bind spirits (d'unhhhh) and also gets an actually functioning Ouija-board.

Summoners may now add minor granted abilities to their eidolons or have them steal minor abilities! Archetype-wise, summoners may now opt for the Spirit Caller - these beings essentially replace their eidolon with vestigial spirit companions that can easily be suppressed and further enhances said companions - damn cool! The Spirit Drudge Witch has the familiar exhibit/suppress the sign, making for a rather unique situation roleplaying-wise - depending on the constellation chosen, the archetype also gets a neat array of different bonus spells, but also prohibited constellations.

Chapter 2 kicks off with new uses for established skills and new feat: Ability-sharing via teamwork-feats, increasing binding DC for a higher effective level, minor access to low level domain powers, occult spells modified with metamagic that automatically succeed at their concentration-checks for +2 levels, having a reserve spirit, partially ignoring DR of favored foes via the expenditure of grit, more control on monstrous aspects - these feats are surprisingly, all killer, no filler!

Next up would be new spirits - 31 of them! Fans of the original "Secrets of Pact Magic" will rejoice here - for not only do we now get full legends for more of the respective spirits! Forash the mule-headed demon and e.g. Marat, who may have been either an intelligent construct with a story that is an interesting twist on the old Pinocchio/Gaining of sentience-trope, the first of the gearforged or a similar case would be two of the old favorites that have been updated here - much like the first Pact Magic Unleashed, the mechanics and their application to Pathfinder are vastly superior to the original D&D 3.X-iteration - Alexander Augunas is having a roll here. Even Milo of Clyde, the cynical detective, originally appeared in Villains of Pact Magic, makes a return here - and awesomely so: You may as an immediate action convert regular damage into non-lethal damage, but only if you're not immune against the former: Awesome to survive uncommon threats and possibly even survive what otherwise would be a TPK! Other favorites like Lord Foxglove IV, the exchequer of the stole purse or Cornelius Button, the dual-minded gardener of dreams or the grisly tale of Ethaniel Midnight, the sadistic torturer that not even hell wanted to accept - all of these and many more can be found herein.

To my delight, the rather complex "spirit" of Circe's 32 runes has also been upgraded - in a rather interesting way: instead o simply gaining access to some spells depending on the runes chosen (in addition to the other benefits), the spirit now makes a distinction between upper case and lower case runes and the spell-like abilities they grant, adding another dimension of tactics to the fray when choosing runes. As a minor fly in the ointment, I would have loved to see the visual depictions of the original runes in this book as well - but that's just me being obsessive about runes and symbols, I guess. The Primordial Titans, Merickel, Hero of False Destiny - many of these have been updated, but it should be noted that unlike most updates from 3.X, these often come with new, revised and thoroughly changed/streamlined abilities, often not even being the same level as their original iterations - so yeah, even if you do own the original books, this one provides so much more than even a diy-conversion in line with PU 1 would offer - and that is what makes a great update, at least for me! Now originally, the spirit known as Overmind was rather broken - it is my utmost pleasure to report that the spirit's power to jump forward through time is still there, though now balanced by a higher level! The tomb of the immortal god-king Septigenius Maximus is featured fully mapped - by the way, this one allows you to gain a gaze attack that can transform adversaries into salt, granite...and even gold!

Not all spirits herein are simply conversions, though - take Al'akra. Also known as the Tall Man. if you're not shuddering at least slightly by now, go watch "marble Hornets" on youtube. I'll be waiting.

....

....

...

Back? Yeah. Want paranoia-inducing powers, terror and spatial blending at your disposal? All possible! Damn cool! Speaking of which: Especially Midgard-aficionados should have a very wide grin upon reading of the option to bind FRIGGIN' JÖRMUNGANDR as a level 7 spirit! Synchronizing wounds with foes, control water, raining poison from the skies - this is incredibly awesome and makes for a damn cool addition to the plethora of spirits available! Now what happens when Alexander Augunas' preference for Kitsune meets with Lovecraftiana? Yith' Anu, a trickster/body-snatcher kitsune/Great race of Yith-hybrid that not only allows you to emulate the mind-swapping gambits of said kitsune and erase the memories of others - instead of vestigial companions, you can get extra bodies into which to swap! What about making a pact in what is essentially Lamashtu in all but name, allowing you to summon deadly, powerful spirit-touched monsters and even heal yourself by drinking the blood of the freshly slain. As an adversary, the wolf-headed, extremely potent Worglord, first of the Hero constellation, is also tied in a rather interesting way to aforementioned mother of monsters.

Next up would be new spells - but first we are introduced to the new [occult]-descriptor as well as the aging-necromancy subschool as well as 3 new cleric subdomains - since this review already is rather lengthy, I'll skim over these and just say: Awesome, cool - no complaints. Among the magical items, we get new qualities, exorcism bells - and thoroughly unique items like lenses that may store and copy information - or what about the orb of soul binding, which is a massive 100 pounds heavy!- oh, and we get gnostic tomes, which include the information to bind spirits - nice to offer them as treasure!

Chapter 5 is titled as esoterica and adds an "occult" background to... *drum-roll* the easy character background generator from ultimate Campaign! Hell yeah! Now that is not only useful, it's awesome! Of course, we thus also require new traits, of which we get 16 and yes, we even get 4 new drawbacks to accompany these! Finally, we get Pact Magic's spellblights, so-called pact maladies - essentially supernatural afflictions that can result from Pact Magic.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are excellent, I didn't notice significant glitches, only minor ones and few to boot. Layout adheres to a 2-column b/w-standard that is both elegant and nice to look at. The b/w-artworks are raw and convey well the unique feeling of pact magic and the respective spirits all come with depictions of their seals, which is something I consider thoroughly awesome - having players draw the seals themselves is a fun means of immersion, by the way. The pdf comes fully bookmarked for your convenience.

Pact Magic Unbound 2...is essentially Pact Magic's APG - not only in support of the non-core-classes, but in the vast array of new options, the smart conversions, the quality of the new material - this is a completely non-optional expansion for the awesomeness that is Pact Magic - not only do the respective rules go beyond lame spell-like abilities and instead offer some truly unique things to do that no other class covers, it also irons out many of the glitches old spirits had in their former incarnation and simply adds so much more to the fray. While not all spirits have legends, we get more of them than in PU 1 and the tie-in with Ultimate Campaign's char-generator is a blessing indeed. Mechanically more than solid and creative and expanding the lore of Pact Magic with thoroughly awesome new spirits and options, Pact Magic Unleashed Vol. 2 is a superb book in just about every way, with great production values and awesome content - If you're looking to introduce Pact Magic into your game, get it along Pact Magic Vol. 1 - the two books combine to give you a much richer experience that allows you to make Pact Magic a vital, cool component in your gaming world - so bring a sense of the occult to the table and bind the friggin' Tall Man/Slender Man/Operator! Final verdict? 5 stars + seal of approval + candidate for my top ten of 2014 since I didn't get review done in 2013!

Endzeitgeist out.


Awesomeness!

5/5

This book is fantastic. :-)

I'm happy to see that there are archetypes that are both pro and anti pact magic within the same classes (eg. cavalier, inquisitor).

There are occasional editing errors, BUT: the only real drawback IMO is that with the increase in the number of spirits, it's getting harder to decide which are my absolute favourites (which will only increase in difficulty when volume 3 is released)! Shakes fist in good-humoured fashion! ;-)

Seriously, well done Alexander and Dario. I very much look forward to volume 3!


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Webstore Gninja Minion

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Now available!

Contributor

Thanks Liz, and praise be to Sara Marie, today has finally come!

For those of you who are inevitably wondering, yes. We will be offering a print copy of this product in the near future. How soon, I can't say exactly but I do know that we're planning on offering a print/PDF combo as we did with Pact Magic Unbound, Vol 1.

The main reason we've released the PDF copy before the print copy in contrast to Volume 1 is that we realize that it took us a while for us to publish Volume 2. Its hard for me to believe, but Volume 1 was published over a year ago now! If we waited until the books were printed, the realistic truth is that this product page wouldn't have likely been placed until December, and Dario and I didn't want to make our fans wait any longer.

That said, we know that the aforementioned print/PDF combo was immensely popular and Dario and I are working on a solution while we get the print copies together. We have some ideas, but we're going to need to speak with the fine folks of Paizo before I can say much more. So stay patient, but know that we don't plan on making our print/PDF customers wait until December to get their mitts on this product!

To those of you who may have purchased this already, thank you! We hope you enjoy Pact Magic Unbound, Vol 2; we worked tirelessly to make sure it was filled with the same innovation and respect for the system's source material as the original product was. Pact Magic Unbound has more of everything you've come to love from Radiance House's Pact Magic Unbound series; more archetypes, more feats, more spirits, more spells, more legends, and more things you didn't ever realize that you wanted.

— Alexander "Alex" Augunas


Welp, i'll look forward to the print or print/PDF bundle when you have 'em available.

Thanks for the heads up!


Super excited for this. Will definitely pick up the bundle.


Bah! I really want this, but I'm over my gaming budget as it is. This is sadly going to have to wait till next month. :[

-Kcinlive

Silver Crusade

I will for sure by the print/pdf bundle when it becomes available. Loved the first volume. Looking forward to the second.


HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Contributor

Orthos wrote:
HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

OH HAI MARK!


Who's Mark? =)

Contributor

Orthos wrote:
Who's Mark? =)

You haven't seen The Room?

You lucky, lucky duck.

Contributor

Thanks to the GNinja for updating our product page with the ability to preorder the print edition and our popular Print & PDF bundle! I don't have an estimate on when the printed copies will be in stock, but we're working on getting them as fast as possible and I'll be sure to keep everyone updated with the latest information regarding their journey to the Paizo Warehouse.

With this in mind, we do have some time (maybe a week or so) before we're able to start printing for technical reasons. To that end, I challenge our readers to ask as many questions as possible and try to drudge out as many questions as possible from the book before the print copy ships. The sad truth about being a two-man band is that errors happen, and this is a perfect opportunity to point any misspellings or unclear text out so that we can take care of it before the book is actually printed. If you help us out, I'll figure out a way to include you in the shout-out box on Page 2 of the book, both printed and PDF versions. (Right now I believe that the coveted 'Thank You!' spot is held only by Spencer Sheetz, Liz Courts, and John Reyst, so it is quite the prestigious location!)

Of course you don't HAVE to bring errors to our attention. My gamer friends absolutely LOVE when they can use Grammar Nazi Alex's own products to point out his shortcomings. ;-)

Contributor

Also, before the inevitable questions, yes. We adjusted our pricing on the product a little bit. Dario and I try to offer our products at a fair and reasonable price, and with the holidays fast approaching we didn't want our fans to feel discouraged from buying something that they had been waiting a year to purchase from us on account of our timing.

If you're one of the awesome people who purchased our PDF at its original price, I've asked Liz to send you something as our way of saying, "Thanks for being awesome!"

The Exchange

Seems to be a problem with ordering the pdf/print bundle to an international (UK) address.

Contributor

Wintergreen wrote:
Seems to be a problem with ordering the pdf/print bundle to an international (UK) address.

I don't know much about that.

I would e-mail Paizo's customer support and see if they can help you out.


Hopefully any feedback isn't too late. this is from my first quick read through

Milo of Clyde- his vestigial companion replaces "Pistol proficiency". I assume that should be Lead Slinger.

Al'Kra- Infectious Despair:The callback to the Shatter Defenses Feat seems unnecessarily confusing (at least it was to me). Perhaps just have it make the target flatfooted (either universally, or just to the binder)

The Nieva Nieces- as written you only have a 25% chance of binding the one you "choose", so the better strategy would be to name the one you don't want and just plan on a 22 DC. Perhaps if you make it "Odds/Evens" (50%) or even better yet any number BUT the one you call (75%) you end up with more control (and actually picking the one you want) but a chance of the wrong party slipping in.

Jehotek- Capstone: does the healing occur only if the target is within the Fire from the Heavens area (My guess as to the intent) or can you just wave your hand once a day and heal the appropriate targets as a separate ability (RAW)

Kandisha- Curse of Kandisha. Should their be a limit to how many curses a target is under, or can you layer all of them on a single target with enough time?

Lord Saruga- Saruga's Curse. Is it only a polymorph effect if its temporary? As the first part ("Like a reincarnate spell") is not normally a polymorph i would read it that way, however as part of the second you also include the dispel information which would then imply only the temporary version is dispelable.

Rasputin -Whip Mastery: Should it also grant proficiency with whips (and maybe scorpion whips)?

The Beast that Births- Capstone: As I read it, you can summon one creature from the Summon Natures Ally IX List for four turns, or if you want multiples it functions *as* SNA V- so either 1d3 from SNA IV or 1d4+1 from SNA I-III, and I'm unclear if they last Binder Level turns or 4. And I'm not sure if that is the intent.

The Worglord- Defy Destiny: not italicized


Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

Hi

I am from UK and tried to order print/pdf bundle and had same problem as Wintergreen.

The issue is that Paizo do not have a shipping cost associated with the print part so order cannot be completed. I do not know where the issue lies with Paizo or Radiance House. I presume it is Paizo who sets the shipping costs. I have sent an email to customer service. I do not know whether Alexander (Augunas) you are able to help with this as us loyal UK customer really want this, and until sorted cannot get the pdf either as whole order not go through.

Thanks in anticipation.

Contributor

Thaine Hepler wrote:
Hopefully any feedback isn't too late. this is from my first quick read through

Nope. We haven't printed the book yet. Dario is in charge of printing, and he's away in London this coming week.

Quote:
Milo of Clyde- his vestigial companion replaces "Pistol proficiency". I assume that should be Lead Slinger.

Correct.

Quote:
Al'Kra- Infectious Despair:The callback to the Shatter Defenses Feat seems unnecessarily confusing (at least it was to me). Perhaps just have it make the target flatfooted (either universally, or just to the binder)

Referencing Shatter Defenses allows us to save some space. That's really the only reason that the book does so. I'll see if I can make this fit instead:

Shatter Resolve: Creatures suffering from fear affects caused either by [ABILITY 1] or [ABILITY 2] are flat-footed against your attacks.

Actually, that will probably fit. Is that any clearer for you?

Quote:
The Nieva Nieces- as written you only have a 25% chance of binding the one you "choose", so the better strategy would be to name the one you don't want and just plan on a 22 DC. Perhaps if you make it "Odds/Evens" (50%) or even better yet any number BUT the one you call (75%) you end up with more control (and actually picking the one you want) but a chance of the wrong party slipping in.

Yup. The nieces are not fair and they're fairly easy to manipulate with reverse psychology. They are a pair of sheltered 15 year old children, after all!

Quote:
Jehotek- Capstone: does the healing occur only if the target is within the Fire from the Heavens area (My guess as to the intent) or can you just wave your hand once a day and heal the appropriate targets as a separate ability (RAW)

Targets need to be within the affected area of fire from the heavens. I'll see if I can make the wording clearer.

Quote:
Kandisha- Curse of Kandisha. Should their be a limit to how many curses a target is under, or can you layer all of them on a single target with enough time?

As written, there's no limit. There probably should be, however. As you might have noticed, I don't have my book open in front of me at the moment, but limiting it to a single curse seems fair while possibly reworking the Capstone Empowerment to allow a creature to be affected by a number of different curses equal to your Charisma bonus at once. I'll only change the capstone empowerment if the old one was boring, however.

Quote:
Lord Saruga- Saruga's Curse. Is it only a polymorph effect if its temporary? As the first part ("Like a reincarnate spell") is not normally a polymorph i would read it that way, however as part of the second you also include the dispel information which would then imply only the temporary version is dispelable.

It is an instantaneous effect (like reincarnation) that has a specific dispel condition (unlike reincarnation).

Quote:
Rasputin -Whip Mastery: Should it also grant proficiency with whips (and maybe scorpion whips)?

Nope. Rasputin is a performer and he believes that one should never give up all of their tricks to a stranger. He's sort of a dick like that. (See his Legend for more.)

Quote:
The Beast that Births- Capstone: As I read it, you can summon one creature from the Summon Natures Ally IX List for four turns, or if you want multiples it functions *as* SNA V- so either 1d3 from SNA IV or 1d4+1 from SNA I-III, and I'm unclear if they last Binder Level turns or 4. And I'm not sure if that is the intent.

I'll see if I can make it clearer, but all creatures summoned persist for 4 rounds. You CAN use Summon Nature's Ally IV to replicate lower-level spells as per the spell's usual rules, however, exactly as you noted.

Quote:
The Worglord- Defy Destiny: not italicized

Some great catches and questions here! Keep'em up! Let's make sure we SWAMP Dario when he returns.

Contributor

Johncolossus wrote:

Hi

I am from UK and tried to order print/pdf bundle and had same problem as Wintergreen.

The issue is that Paizo do not have a shipping cost associated with the print part so order cannot be completed. I do not know where the issue lies with Paizo or Radiance House. I presume it is Paizo who sets the shipping costs. I have sent an email to customer service. I do not know whether Alexander (Augunas) you are able to help with this as us loyal UK customer really want this, and until sorted cannot get the pdf either as whole order not go through.

Thanks in anticipation.

I would imagine that this is a combination issue on both of our parts. Paizo is likely unable to lock in a shipping and handling cost because they don't have our book on-hand and therefore cannot calculate how much it would cost to ship it to you internationally.

Sadly, there isn't much I can do to help you out. My recommendation would be to e-mail Paizo Customer Service and see what they can do to help you out.


Wondering when the bundle will be available for Brits!

Webstore Gninja Minion

Alexander Augunas wrote:
I would imagine that this is a combination issue on both of our parts. Paizo is likely unable to lock in a shipping and handling cost because they don't have our book on-hand and therefore cannot calculate how much it would cost to ship it to you internationally.

Correct. We have a "best guess" when we provide shipping estimates for preorder products, and the weight and dimensions are adjusted accordingly when we receive the book in our warehouse.

Alexander Augunas wrote:
Sadly, there isn't much I can do to help you out. My recommendation would be to e-mail Paizo Customer Service and see what they can do to help you out.

Please do this! As I said, there's not much we can do to adjust the shipping rates until we have a firm idea of the product dimension.

The Exchange

Liz Courts wrote:


Alexander Augunas wrote:
Sadly, there isn't much I can do to help you out. My recommendation would be to e-mail Paizo Customer Service and see what they can do to help you out.
Please do this! As I said, there's not much we can do to adjust the shipping rates until we have a firm idea of the product dimension.

Thanks Liz. Will do that.


Have done so also.


Finally! XD


Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

Hi

I have emailed customer services about it 3 days ago and had no reply yet. What is the turn around time usually to hear?

If anyone from UK hears any news can they post here?

Thanks

Contributor

Johncolossus wrote:

Hi

I have emailed customer services about it 3 days ago and had no reply yet. What is the turn around time usually to hear?

If anyone from UK hears any news can they post here?

Thanks

Remember that CS is bogged down with the Great Golem Sale right now. Liz has some comments above; Dario and I are working to make sure Paizo gets the print copies as soon as possible.


Well, I can't order the hard copy cause of the 'shipping rates' issue. I guess I'll only get the PDF. I guess I did it to myself for not waiting, huh...


But it's okay cause the pdf's gonna need errata anyway so I might as well wait & hope the hard copy gets revised & stuffs before I get it, right?

Contributor

InfernosReaper wrote:
But it's okay cause the pdf's gonna need errata anyway so I might as well wait & hope the hard copy gets revised & stuffs before I get it, right?

Since I have to wait for Dario to get back to the states before we can print it anyway, yes. Anything big that's found that needs fixing or clarification, I'll take care of before we print it.

The Exchange

1 person marked this as a favorite.

Paizo Customer Service have been extremely helpful and put my print/pdf bundle through. Very impressed with their service.

Contributor

Wintergreen wrote:
Paizo Customer Servvice have been extremely helpful and put my print/pdf bundle through. Very impressed with their service.

There's a reason they're the best in the business! ;-)

Enjoy Pact Magic Unbound, Vol 2 and Happy Thanksgiving to all of our State-Side fans.


Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

Wintergreen - how did you get that through?

I got reply back from them, which said problem with pdf bundle checkout. they said try in few days. still not work. their answer seems different to the shipping cost issue. wintergreen did you get it through via email or phone communication?Also took 11 days to reply which for customer service even with golem sale seems long time.

Any tips greatly appreciated.

Thanks


What's the final revelation for the Spirit World Mystery?

Contributor

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Bardess wrote:
What's the final revelation for the Spirit World Mystery?

... crap. That's a pretty darn big catch.

For now, use the Final Revelation from Paizo's Occult mystery, which I've reproduced below:

Quote:
Upon reaching 20th level, you become one with the spirits. You become immune to death effects, exhaustion, fatigue, nausea effects, negative levels, and sickened effects. You can cast astral projection and true seeing once per day as spell-like abilities without requiring material components. Should you die, you rise again 2d4 days later as a ghost.

This error will be corrected before we print the book. We have a nice little block of space there too, so the real trick will be getting it in there without having to change too much else around on the Oracle page. Right now, I'm thinking of something like this:

Your essence becomes forever intertwined with the spirit realms. You are immune to charm and compulsion effects, death effects, negative levels, and possession (such as magic jar). Once per day as a full-round action, you can deal 4 points of Wisdom drain to yourself in order to add any one spell from the Cleric spell list to your list of spells known. You retain access to this spell until the next time you regain your spell slots.

The real question is whether or not that'll fit in the space we have!


Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

Bump, esp. to see if Wintergreen can give us any advice on getting this for us in UK.

The Exchange

Johncolossus wrote:
Bump, esp. to see if Wintergreen can give us any advice on getting this for us in UK.

Paizo customer service processed my order and put the print version into my sidecart to come with my next subscription order.

Contributor

Dario is back from his trek across Europe and we're making the changes listed prior in the thread to the book. We'll be uploading the book for printing and (hopefully) it will arrive in Paizo's Warehouses in 10 to 14 days. We are waist-deep in holidays, though, so trying to predict printing and shipping is a murky business.

Not too much longer, folks! Thanks for your patience. Here's a list of the changes that will be in the printed document and the updated PDF. Final wordage might be slightly different (especially for Jehotek and Kandisha, as their changes are somewhat long), but this will give you the spirit of the changes if nothing else.

Vol. 2 Errata:

Spirit Realm Mystery (Chapter 1, Oracle)
Add the following to the end of the Mystery:

Final Revelation: Upon reaching 20th level, the oracle becomes immune to charm and compulsion effects, death effects, negative levels, and possession (such as magic jar). Each day after regaining your spell spells, add one spell on any divine spellcasting class’s spell list to your list of spells known until the next time you regain your spell slots. If the spell has multiple levels, use the highest.

Milo of Clyde (Chapter 3, Spirit)
Milo’s vestigial companion incorrectly states that it replaces a granted ability called “pistol proficiency.” It should replace “lead slinger.”

Al’kra (Chapter 3, Spirit)
Replace “Infectious Fear” with the following:

Infectious Fear: Creatures suffering from fear effects caused by inspire terror or paranoid chill are flat-footed against your attacks.

Jehotek (Chapter 3, Spirit)
Replace Jehotek’s capstone empowerment with the following:

Capstone Empowerment: Your allies are immune to damage caused by fire from the heavens. Once per pact, you can spend a swift action to have fire from the heavens heal any allies within its area for a number of hit points equal to your binder level.

Kandisha (Chapter 3, Spirit)
Replace curse of kandisha with the following:

Kandisha’s Curse: As a standard action, you inflict a dreadful curse onto a humanoid creature within 30 feet, chosen from the list below. A successful Will save prevents the curse. This curse is permanent but a creature may only suffer from one of Kandisha’s curses per binder at once; inflicting a new curse ends any existing ones.

Replace Kandisha’s Capstone Empowerment with the following:

Capstone Empowerment: When using Kandisha’s curse, you may curse a target with a number of separate curses equal to your Charisma bonus (if any).

Beast that Births (Chapter 3, Spirit)
Replace BtB’s Capstone Empowerment with the following:

Capstone Empowerment: When using birth horrors, you can instead summon 1d4 creatures from those listed by summon monster IV or lower, functioning as summon monster V. All creatures summoned persist for 4 rounds and possess the spirit-touched template.

Worglord (Chapter 3, Spirit)
Italicize the following granted abilities: defy destiny (minor) and stuff of legends (major).


Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

Hi Alex

Through the help of Paizo services, i got your book. Still absorbing it but really enjoy it.

Just a couple of questions:

1) It maybe just me but i not really understanding the capstone for the Beast that Births......the major ability is a single summon nature ally IX creature with the spirit template but if you capstone you get 1d4 markedly lesser creatures (ie SM iV or V). To me this seems a lessening of the power? I may not be seeing something here.....

2) Did the anima aspects get cut? For Pact magic 3? You did put an alpha of it on your facebook page.

Cheers

Contributor

Johncolossus wrote:
1) It maybe just me but i not really understanding the capstone for the Beast that Births......the major ability is a single summon nature ally IX creature with the spirit template but if you capstone you get 1d4 markedly lesser creatures (ie SM iV or V). To me this seems a lessening of the power? I may not be seeing something here.....

That's one of the abilities that'll be fixed in the print copy. (Expect an update from Paizo with a download soon(TM)!) Basically, you get to summon 1d4 creatures from the Summon Monster IV list or lower. All of the monsters you summon have the spirit-touched template and persist for 4 rounds.

Whether or not that is powerful is a matter of personal opinion; I think the ability to pop in 1d4 creatures whenever you want is pretty strong, personally! It might need wordage to bump it up to 1d4+1, however, in order to make sure that you ALWAYS get at least 2 creatures from it. I sounds pretty reasonable; let me see if I can get it in before the final errata is pushed.

Quote:


2) Did the anima aspects get cut? For Pact magic 3? You did put an alpha of it on your facebook page.

Yes.

The reason it got cut was that NO ONE liked that Alpha. It got a lot of negative feedback, so I took my anima concept back to the drawing board and hammered out something better. Something much, much better. One might argue that I went overboard because the animal rewrite doubled the section in size, so I had to drop the anima rules for other content. Thus Chapter 6: Esoteria was born! Which is okay, because Chapter 6 is my favorite in the entire book. It is creepy and unsettling; everything a Pact Magic game SHOULD be!

You'll have to wait for Volume 3 for the Anima rules, but rest peacefully knowing that Volume 3 is literally being designed around the Anima System in the same way that Volume 2 was designed around supporting the Advanced Player's Guide and Ultimate Magic/Combat classes.


Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

Hi Alex

Many thanks for answering!

The reason I ask about the power level, is that at the stage when you have 9th level bound spirits, 4th level summon monsters even though there maybe 1d4+1 will not be that effective in combat whereas clearly a 9th summon nature ally will be even though single. Obviously for non combat issues having 1d4+1 maybe much more useful.

Obviously a normal summon nature ally 9 can be used to get 1d4+1 7th level creatures. I was wondering why 4th level version was chosen, say rather than 5th or 6th?

Please do not take above as criticism....it is meant to be discussion and debate. Binders were one of my favourite 3.5 classes and I think between the 2 books you and Dario have done a great job getting the binder into pathfinder, and getting all those excellent spirits out there.

Cheers

Contributor

Johncolossus wrote:

The reason I ask about the power level, is that at the stage when you have 9th level bound spirits, 4th level summon monsters even though there maybe 1d4+1 will not be that effective in combat whereas clearly a 9th summon nature ally will be even though single. Obviously for non combat issues having 1d4+1 maybe much more useful.

Obviously a normal summon nature ally 9 can be used to get 1d4+1 7th level creatures. I was wondering why 4th level version was chosen, say rather than 5th or 6th?

The reason a significantly lower-level cap was chosen is that birth horrors can be used at will. There's no spell slots to worry about at all, and in some respects, the "only lasts four rounds" thing is a boon because when you summon a new set, they're all back at full health.

That isn't to say your monsters will necessarily last the full 4 rounds in combat, but as far as capstones go, the ability to summon up to five other creatures to fight with you every 4 rounds is something the summoner can't do. And that's what this power is really competing with; the summoner's spell-like ability that does the same thing at roughly the same level. That's the reason this ability can't summon multiple monsters at the full level at will; if it did, it would be strictly better than the summoner's summon monster class feature. And the occultist is designed as a jack-of-all-trades; individual abilities should never clearly outshine another class's features.

Hope that clears this up!

Dark Archive

1 person marked this as a favorite.

Bundle pre-ordered! Love your work Alex! I'm currently writing a handbook on the Occultist from PMU1 (70+ pages and counting!) and after that is released, I'll be glad to incorporate info from the new spirits/archetypes as well!

Hopefully I can convince more people to check out your awesome work :)

EDIT: I've started going through the PDF and the new spirits are AWESOME!


We probably shouldn't use Summoner as a basis for power comparison. It's like if someone made a wizard that specialized in summoning, gave it a beefed up animal companion, and then downgraded it's spellcasting & tried to supplement it with that summoning class feature that's basically worth a Sorcerer bloodline powerset.

Also, I think we really need some numbers clarification on that Beast that Births capstone. Exactly how many can you actually summon at once? If I'm literally only able to summon multiple things as if using a single casting of Summon Nature's Ally V, then I might as well never do it. The creatures won't be useful in most combats you'll be facing around that character level(unless you like hunting Goblins at lv 17+). You pretty much drop any or all of them with the average damage from a fireball.

So, please tell me it's not just the 1d3 Summon Nature's Ally 4 creatures or 1d4+1 even weaker creatures. The summoner can't do their summoning at will, but it can do better often enough to get him through the day, assuming he doesn't just spend the lower level spells for the same effect. Hell, it could actually summon stuff that might make it to 4 rounds instead of being easily killed in the first round or 2.

Contributor

InfernosReaper wrote:
We probably shouldn't use Summoner as a basis for power comparison. It's like if someone made a wizard that specialized in summoning, gave it a beefed up animal companion, and then downgraded it's spellcasting & tried to supplement it with that summoning class feature that's basically worth a Sorcerer bloodline powerset.

I agree with you that the summoner isn't perfectly tuned balance-wise, which is why I went with the decision to avoid making an ability that was strictly better than something the summoner gets. Even without its capstone, birth horrors is extremely close to being this. If you want to house rule, do so and let me know how it turns out! Could be helpful as I start writing Mythic granted abilities ....

Quote:
Also, I think we really need some numbers clarification on that Beast that Births capstone. Exactly how many can you actually summon at once? If I'm literally only able to summon multiple things as if using a single casting of Summon Nature's Ally V, then I might as well never do it. The creatures won't be useful in most combats you'll be facing around that character level(unless you like hunting Goblins at lv 17+). You pretty much drop any or all of them with the average damage from a fireball.

It does exactly what it says it does. I see nothing weak about summoning 2 to 5 extra targets for your enemies to waste their actions on; in terms of offensive power, an unmodified summon monster spell is better. In terms of action economy, I'd be inclined to say a capstone empowered birth horrors is better because you can pop out more monsters as many times as you want each day with no penalties on your part. The limitless uses is not something to scoff at; even if one summoned creature dies a round, you can just will them back into existence on the very next round. Even sooner if you have Rapid Recovery. If they all die on round one, then with proper positioning that could end up being a good number of attacks that were allocated towards "phantom resources;" depletable resources that aren't really gone.

Quote:
So, please tell me it's not just the 1d3 Summon Nature's Ally 4 creatures or 1d4+1 even weaker creatures. The summoner can't do their summoning at will, but it can do better often enough to get him through the day, assuming he doesn't just spend the lower level spells for the same effect. Hell, it could actually summon stuff that might make it to 4 rounds instead of being easily killed in the first round or 2.

See my above note. Also, I wouldn't expect newly birthed horrors to be THAT competent in a fight! Again, if you disagree, feel free to house rule it to whatever you want at your table. I think the capstone is fine (and strong at that) as written.


Managed to order the bundle! :)
After calling customer service just now, the issue was solved on Wednesday. So if you are still having difficulties, remove it from your shopping cart, and re-add the bundle option!

Contributor

Alright, update time!

Book is being printed now: with the impending holiday, our best estimate is that the Paizo Warehouse will have the physical prints (and lots of them!) in two weeks; probably during the first week of the new year.

If you haven't gotten a notification about our updates to the PDFs, look for them in the next day or two when Dario gets around to it.

Happy Holidays everyone, and thanks for being patient while we sort ourselves out!


Is there any plan to allow character generator software like PcGen access to this or older material?


Well it's OGL, so if somebody is interested in making the dataset I'll make sure the publisher is okay with it. :)

hint, hint, nudge, nudge . . .

Contributor

Henry Harden wrote:
Is there any plan to allow character generator software like PcGen access to this or older material?

Not currently.

While I understand what people love programs like PCGen, someone has to make the files. Neither Dario nor I have the technical know-how required to make PCGen files, and even if I did, I could write those, or I could write a new product. Its an uneasy choice complicated by the fact that we simply don't have the skill set required to make it happen.

I was able to learn the (most) coding required to get Vol. 1 up on the d20pfsrd.org site, but that isn't difficult stuff. I don't know the first thing about PCGen.

Nylanfs wrote:

Well it's OGL, so if somebody is interested in making the dataset I'll make sure the publisher is okay with it. :)

hint, hint, nudge, nudge . . .

If someone came to us and asked for our permission to write the files, you can bet we wouldn't say 'no.'

I imagine we'd want to review everything before publishing the files, but I can assure you that we wouldn't turn down anyone who offered to expand our audience.


For those that might be interested here's some beginning video's for making pcgen datafiles.

Here's some indepth text based classes.

And here's our discussion group devoted to helping people make their own data files for home games or otherwise.

Contributor

Quick errata that won't make it into the print book (sadly):

On Page 99: The bonus provided by Heir to the Occult only applies to Major Granted Abilities.

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