The Secrets of the Masquerade Reveler (PFRPG) PDF

5.00/5 (based on 6 ratings)

Our Price: $4.99

Add to Cart
Facebook Twitter Email

Let yourself be whisked away to the world of the fey!

The critically acclaimed masquerade reveler is a mysterious warrior that draws upon the primal powers of the realm of Faerie to gain a versatile assortment of abilities from her many masks, infusing herself with eidolon evolutions for a limited time. The basic concept is simple, but the customization can be intense. 

The Secrets of the Masquerade Reveler  contains everything you need to play a compelling masquerade reveler (barbarian archetype), whether you're a beginner or a veteran, including:

  • Over 101 prebuilt masks, including masks so you can emulate the iconic powers of every fey in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game (and beyond)
  • Powerful forbidden masks to unlock, including two masks specifically for Mythic masquerade revelers so you can experience the true power of barbarian pacts with the fey. 
  • Over 101 new evolutions specifically designed for masquerade revelers, so you can create a truly unique character. 
  • New feats and magic items for masquerade revelers and their allies to customize your character even further. 
  • Vignettes and witticisms from the world of Faerie written by Melusine, the iconic masquerade reveler, to enhance you immersion in this unique barbarian archetype. 

Author: Mark Seifter
Cover Artist: Sai Kayden
Pages: 35

Product Availability

Fulfilled immediately.

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

RIP0352E


See Also:

1 to 5 of 6 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | next > last >>

Average product rating:

5.00/5 (based on 6 ratings)

Sign in to create or edit a product review.

5/5

So what is a Masquerade Reveler? According to the fluff, its a fey inspired Barbarian archetype, but I'll tell you now that you will easily confuse it with an entire class. Throughout the whole thing I thought to myself, "Well, that's cool and all, but it doesn't have any other class features." and then I remember, "Oh yeah, it does barbarian stuff. Right."

Instead of raging the Masquerade Reveler spends it's rounds of rage wearing a mask. Each mask is a collection of eidolon evolutions tied to the theme of the mask. The mask themes are either fantastical or fey creatures or animals with each mask scaling from having 4 points of evolutions to 6 and eventually 8. You get 4 masks at first level and another mask every level after that. It sounds simple but it takes a lot of book keeping to know what masks you have and what each of the evolutions do. The sheer amount of different masks mean that you're able to have a lot of variety in what you do. There are even some Mythic Masks. The book also comes with a slew of new evolutions for eidolons and some feats to round things out.

Not much else to say. Its a straightforward product. That is probably the single best Barbarian archetype I've ever seen. It might as well be a new class considering the amount of options and the way that it just changes assumptions of the class. I'm willing to even say it is the best archetype of anything in Pathfinder. It takes the totem aspect of Barbarian and cranks it to 11. And on top of that it offers Mythic support and some nice evolutions for your summoner. Normal Barbarian should be embarrassed to even exist in the face of this archetype. I have no choice but to give it 5 out of 5 stars. It's just that good.


A versatile barbarian archetype who assumes the Masks of faerie monsters

5/5

Pathfinder introduced the concept of archetypes around 2010. They were largely alternate class features from the 3rd Edition days, although they became much more numerous and prominent. Over time they served as an alternative to prestige classes, covering everything from fighting styles, magical disciplines, even members of renowned organizations, all accessible from 1st level.

Third party publishers followed suit with their own ideas, but given the brevity of mechanics it's not often that an entire product is dedicated to them. But Secrets of the Masquerade Reveler is a worthy exception, detailing a Barbarian archetype who accesses a pool of Eidolon Evolutions while "raging" to represent alternate states of being. The concept is a person whose close encounter with the fey realms gifted them with the ability to assume the traits of entities and ideals by undergoing a trance-like state known as a Masquerade which replaces the base Rage ability.

While in this Masquerade, the reveler can don "Masks" modeled off of fey creatures and certain professions in the form of 4 to 8 Evolution Points per Mask based on class level. A Pixie Mask can grant flight and personal invisibility, the Sage's Mask can grant +8 bonus to most Knowledge checks, and so on and so forth. Masquerade Revelers gain one Mask per level, and potentially more with the Extra Mask feat. The base Evolutions are versatile enough, but the archetype has a host of new Evolutions specific to them such as Fey Magic which grants access to some illusion and nature-based spell-like abilities.

Although it is possible for a player to create one's own Mask, a healthy portion of the book provides many sample Masks, all grouped into types such as Fey, Gremlin, Forbidden, Beast, Mythic, and Tane Masks. These are not just flavoring: several new feats within this book grant access to Masks of certain types, and some Evolutions can only be taken with said types (such as quadruped abilities and Beast Masks). Even with the samples provided, one can see the Masquerade Reveler adequately serving a variety of roles: the Jinkin's Tiny size with Skilled in Disable Device and a later Dimension Door ability is a tailor-made scout, while the Dweomercat's Pounce ability is a welcome addition to any melee-focused character. And that's not covering the Tane Masks, who represent the most powerful of fey lords such as the Jabberwock which can grant flight, twin fire-based eye rays, and Huge size among potential other abilities.

In Conclusion

Although the Masquerade Reveler gains quite a bit by trading away standard Rage and its expansions, the class is at once versatile while not being game-breaking. The Masquerade ability is still keyed off of a rounds-per-day resource, so it doesn't have the long-term staying power of primary spellcasters whose effects can last for hours or even days. But access to flight, +8 for skills, tremorsense, radius auras, debuffs, Pounce, and many other abilities make it able to do a lot more things than most Barbarians and martials. The in-character fluff text and explanations of certain Masks and revelers is cool and provides inspiration for interesting character concepts. You can get a lot of mileage out of it as both a player and Game Master with the options provided.

For those interested in the mechanical side of things, I provide an in-depth look at the archetype and its many features in this thread.


To rage, or not to rage... its not really a question.

5/5

**This is my 3rd time attempting to review this book, so I am sorry if I just cut to the chase**

What can I say about this book that hasn't already been said. Like the other reviewers (and you after purchasing this book) I love this archetype. With this book we have, for the first time ever... a balanced tier 1 martial! This archtype allows the barbarian to answer the questions as to how he will breath underwater while torpedoing the Kracken; soar through the heavens with his greatsword in order to cleave the sun in two; fit through a keyhole; be a social butterfly; and talk with birds, bees, and trees in order to determine why the tricky-chicken crossed the road. All-the-while retaining the glorious d12 HD and rage powers! (along with several other little, but slightly less significant things).

The Masquerade Reveler initally the mighty power of your standard Beast Totem Invulerable Rager (I recommend grabbing the Mask of the Berserker first as it is basically Rage-light) up until you can grab a Tane mask because... when you Tane, you bring the pain. Zum beispiel: Imagine a barbarian Badgersnatch... now try to have pleasant dreams.

This archetype gives the barbarian near-limitless (rage rounds is actually a limit but we cant have our cake and eat it too, its just not allowed) amounts of versatility and creative license to the player.

I appologize for the following but CAPS lock in nessesary to convey the gravity of my next statement:

THIS BOOK IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO HAPPEN TO TABLE-TOP GAMING SINCE HOT GIRLS STARTED PLAYING... think on that, then buy the book and never look back.

Mark, thank you from the bottom of my raging heart.


Possibly the best Expansion ever, following one of the best Archetypes ever.

5/5

You know, I could go on for an hour about how I just spent a day making one of these, how much fun they look to play, how intuitive and imaginative the system is, how easy it is to use the pre-made masks and how cool it is that you can still make your own, and on and on and on. But when push comes to shove, there's really not a whole lot I can add that Endzeitgeist didn't already write, so I heavily encourage people to read his review and add a universal +1 from me to just about everything.

The one complaint I'd have is that a single feat was a bit confusing in how it's worded, but Mark Seifter was more than kind enough to come by and clarify it (on a Saturday even!) and it makes pretty good sense now, so even that's not all that big a deal. (The feat is Chimeric Masquerade and the explanation is on page 2 of the discussion, if you're looking for it.)

So yeah. Get this. Get it now. You will not regret it one bit.


An Endzeitgeist.com review

5/5

This pdf clocks in at 40 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page SRD, 2 pages of advertisement, leaving us with 35 pages of content, so let's take a look, shall we?

So, what is the masquerade reveler? In the time-honored tradition of Rite Publishing, we are not introduced to a bland exposition, but rather are immediately drawn into the material, as a reveler explains the very essence of what makes the archetype tick, relationships with others and the fluff in expertly written in character prose that is actually a joy to behold and read.

Now I didn't answer, so, again, what *is* the Masquerade Reveler? Well, on the one hand, the answer is relatively simple - "A Barbarian Archetype." On the other hand, nothing could be more deceptive, reductive and WRONG than this statement. Let me elaborate - in the realm of the fey (or Limbo, or the Plane of Dreams, or the Dark Tapestry, or, or...it's just a cosmetic reskin, really), things may seem fluid and everchanging, but there are those strange behaviors you can analyze, those strange unwritten laws which govern how things *work* - you know, the anti-logic of "Alice in Wonderland", the power of superstitions and traditions, of one's word. In realms of transformations, of changes, one has to adapt to survive and sooner or later, the very land will change you. Masquerade Revelers have adapted and learned to wear masks -not the literal kind that occupies a none-too-often used slot, but rather the metaphysical ones - the masks we show everyday to co-workers, family and friends, the constructions of one's identity taken to 11 by exposure to a strange realm and codified into something more extreme, something exaggerated that reflects the realm from which the hail and its strange geometries and power structures. Much like we use masks to survive in our daily lives, so does the masquerade reveler employ them - but, as is the wont with those aligned with faerie, the result is extreme.

"Stop rambling, explain!" Your wish is my command, dear reader. The masquerade reveler chooses a mask at 1st level and every class level after that Like the barbarian, the reveler can enter a second mode, but unlike the barbarian, the reveler her retains senses, may use all the int, dex and cha-based skills she wants, while still taking the penalty to AC. So what do those masks constitute? They consider different battle-forms - upon entering a masquerade, all effects of a mask kick in - and these would constitute of up to 4 evolution points for biped eidolons. Now you can imagine that I'm seeing a lot of crunch I have to take apart and this one's wording - well, it's rife with things to overlook, to not get right. The ability works. It's beautiful, really. Analogue to the base barbarian, at higher levels, the evolution point contingent for each mask is increased instead of getting the rage-upgrades and as a nice touch, higher level masquerade revelers may choose to maintain a limited selection of evolutions from the last mask she wore, adding some tactics and actual strategy to the mix. The capstone, which is aforementioned update as well as a fey apotheosis is nice, but falls behind the variety offered by masks.

Now, of course, the sheer amount of options feels staggering - and hence the pdf does something truly laudable - it provides masks, predefined. Approximately a gazillion of them. The respective masks come with 4, 6 and 8-point versions and are categorized in different types - take fey-inspired masks - Biloko masks, Baobhan Sidhe masks etc. Beyond these pieces of information, some of the masks require the masquerade reveler to be quadruped and for convenience's sake, the masks also come with a level that shows you when a given mask can be taken in its configuration. Masks inspired by Gremlins, by strange animals like Dweomercats,, just Theme-inspired ones, those of the forbidden traditions, yes, even those of a mythic bent - beyond the long, exceedingly awesome pieces of glorious fluff that introduce them, these classifications do so much in establishing a complex, cool tradition for these configurations... The masquerade reveler does not, like most archetypes, feel like it exists in a vacuum, but rather that it represents a vibrant, glorious tradition that is a crucial part of a given setting. Have I mentioned the powerful Tane-masks that have evolutions exclusive to them? And no, these cannot be taken by any masquerade reveler...

Beyond that, one could assume that the evolutions as a base line mean that the class does not get its own unique tools - one would be wrong, for beyond masks upon masks, the pdf offers a huge array (as in: over 50!) of special evolutions for the masquerade reveler, providing more fodder than you can imagine - from becoming tiny to STEALING THE SKIN of creatures, these evolutions wilder in so many of the most iconic concepts of deadly and cool tropes, it is simply bewildering. Additionally, these are balanced for the masquerade reveler, making the pdf not only state explicit caution when using these for evolutions of eidolons and at the same time being an instance where the DM is not alone with this beast - indeed, integration with fey, for example, would be among the covered topics. Want to blend in with light or get a red cap? Yes, such a red cap. It's in here. What about making shadow clones (and actually succeeding at making the ability work) or hair-based secondary attacks?

In such an environment, laden with glorious potential, the ability to make allies burn bright, but die young and the ties of that ability to the deadly gifts and mythic abilities for a thoroughly iconic take on the trope or even stealing the souls of mortals via fey skulls? A total of 9 different feats allow you to take masks associated with non-bipedal forms, get extra masks etc. Additionally, we also receive 3 new magic items - rather complex ones, like the double-sided Mask of Lost Identity that helps you disguise, but subverts your own identity. Or a shawl, that allows the dancer to store power in it via dancing a fey minuet. Or what about the stilettos that make the entering and exiting of a rage a gradual, rather than an instantaneous process and accompanies it with imagery most iconic?

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn't notice any glitches. Layout adheres to Rite Publishing's two-column full-color standard and the pdf comes with various pieces of gorgeous full-color artwork - original pieces I haven't seen before. The pdf comes fully bookmarked for your convenience.

Mark Seifter, as a relative newcomer, now works for Paizo. If someone asks me why, I can answer the question in just one double-click - by opening this pdf. The original masquerade reveler archetype in RiP's "Convergent Paths: Fey Archetypes" was excellent and this book makes it SO MUCH MORE. In my opinion, the Masquerade Reveler is the BEST BARBARIAN ARCHETYPE out there. Heck, there are next to no archetypes for ANY class that can stand up to it in its glorious fluff, its cool mechanics and the simply stunning imaginative potential. With a precision like clockwork, Rite Publishing and Mark Seifter blend mastery of crunch most complex with top-notch production values and concepts so high in style, so ridiculously awesome, were all pdfs like this, I'd hang up my hat right now and just be content. This archetype has more flair and feels more alive than most base classes I get to see. This pdf belongs into the library of all people who want to see what to expect from Mark in the future and what it takes to claim Paizo-status. I am of the staunch belief that our favorite game were better off, had we more archetypes brimming with potential like this, featuring such a grand unity of the mastery of fluff and crunch. This beast requires and demands to be recognized - it receives 5 stars + seal of approval and is a candidate for my Top Ten of 2014. There's a reason Rite Publishing is one of the big 3pps and this is an excellent reminder of why. This is a must-have, must-own beast of a book. Get it.

Endzeitgeist out.


1 to 5 of 6 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | next > last >>
1 to 50 of 93 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | next > last >>
Liberty's Edge Digital Products Assistant

Now available!


Hmm...gnot a gninja.

Thanks Crystal!


Huzzah!!


4 people marked this as a favorite.

*gibbers madly with glee at the prospect of reviewing this one*


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Endzeitgeist wrote:
*gibbers madly with glee at the prospect of reviewing this one*

So very seconded


1 person marked this as a favorite.

This needs a dot. I'm so hopeful though scared at seeing eidolon and barbarian in the same description...


2 people marked this as a favorite.
Endzeitgeist wrote:
*gibbers madly with glee at the prospect of reviewing this one*

Surrender to the madness! The more of yourself you lose, the more power you will gain.


2 people marked this as a favorite.
Aleron wrote:
This needs a dot. I'm so hopeful though scared at seeing eidolon and barbarian in the same description...

I hope you'll give it a look and maybe write a review for others out there who are hopeful and scared to see these descriptions together.

If you want to see some comments about the archetype itself (before she had all this new love with tons of brand new masks and evolutions), here's a few quotes that helped this new book come to be:

Endzeitgeist wrote:

And then - BAM! The Reveler. O.M.G. This one is so GLORIOUS. Seriously, this archetype ranks among my favorite for the barbarian - in ANY publication...

The third archetype herein would be the masquerade reveler - for the barbarian! And be forewarned - these revelers are nothing for players shying from the task of additional book-keeping. But oh boy is it worth it - instead of regular rage, revelers create so-called masks, which consist of 4 evolution points. For the purpose of which evolutions qualify, the reveler counts as biped humanoid with arms and legs. At each barbarian level, the reveler gets another masque, providing quite some versatility. Type of ability, effective levels - all of the complex questions such a system will perpetuate, are addressed - kudos! I did try to find an instance of less than precise rules-language and found none.

The abilities the reveler gets at later levels further enhance the awesome concept of masks...

The Reveler on the other hand - just wow! Two thumbs up for imho the best barbarian archetype out there.


I'm glad that this has finally seen the light of day!


So Is there anything missing or drastically changed about the Archetype since it was published in Convergence Paths: Fey Archetypes?

I must know if I'm missing out on anything by only purchasing The Reveler.


There are a few reveler-specific feats in CP: FA that are not in here (plus the Faerie Knight and the Laughing Man, and the new fey the Gancanagh, which receives a mask in this one), but this one has a full reprint of the archetype as well as tons of new goodies. The archetype is completely playable out of the box in CP: FA, but now that I wrote all these new evolutions and masks, I'd definitely want to have Secrets as a reference (fortunately, I wrote it, so I get it for free!)


1 person marked this as a favorite.

I just posted a review, beating Endzeitgeist to it.


thefortier wrote:
I just posted a review, beating Endzeitgeist to it.

But I'm really looking forward to what he has to say...


@thefortier - your review gives no star rating? I see you give it 4.5 in the text...


Oceanshieldwolf wrote:
@thefortier - your review gives no star rating? I see you give it 4.5 in the text...

Sorry. Corrected.


Thanks for the review thefortier!--I particularly like how it was thorough while also leaving a bit of mystery for the readers to discover some of the material themselves.


Huh, this is actually pretty close to the old Warshaper PrC from 3.5.


3 people marked this as a favorite.

So I bought this, because I'm looking for appropriately-themed goodies for my Kingmaker campaign, and yes. Yes, yes, yes. I'll definitely be throwing a Reveler or three at my players... Perhaps at the "Spring Feast" event created by user pennywit on these forums...

I'm not a good enough writer to give this a good review, but damn. An enthusiastic thumbs-up from me (some random user not a lot of people pay attention to)!


El Ronza wrote:

So I bought this, because I'm looking for appropriately-themed goodies for my Kingmaker campaign, and yes. Yes, yes, yes. I'll definitely be throwing a Reveler or three at my players... Perhaps at the "Spring Feast" event created by user pennywit on these forums...

I'm not a good enough writer to give this a good review, but damn. An enthusiastic thumbs-up from me (some random user not a lot of people pay attention to)!

Well, I definitely remember you from some of your other posts.

While it's true that thorough reviews like thefortier's for Reveler and Endzeitgeist's in general are certainly amazing, something shorter and expressive, even a review like what you posted there is absolutely appreciated as well (we just like reviews in general!).


Rogue Eidolon wrote:
El Ronza wrote:

So I bought this, because I'm looking for appropriately-themed goodies for my Kingmaker campaign, and yes. Yes, yes, yes. I'll definitely be throwing a Reveler or three at my players... Perhaps at the "Spring Feast" event created by user pennywit on these forums...

I'm not a good enough writer to give this a good review, but damn. An enthusiastic thumbs-up from me (some random user not a lot of people pay attention to)!

Well, I definitely remember you from some of your other posts.

While it's true that thorough reviews like thefortier's for Reveler and Endzeitgeist's in general are certainly amazing, something shorter and expressive, even a review like what you posted there is absolutely appreciated as well (we just like reviews in general!).

Yep, even just 4 sentence reviews are nice, since people don't always read the discussion pages :)


Crossposted from In the Company of Fey thread:

Ssalarn wrote:
Rogue Eidolon wrote:

Skill monkey was definitely one of the builds I intended for the reveler (and there's some interesting support for that build in Secrets of the Masquerade Reveler too!)

One of these days, I bet someone will make an all-Rite fey campaign with all PCs from the classes from In the Company of Fey and Convergent Paths: Fey Archetypes, and maybe a Taskshaper too for good measure (though whether or not that would step on toes would depend on the Reveler's build).

Cheapy laughed out loud when I said "Barbarian skill monkey", but frankly I think that d12 hit die, full BAB, and connections with the fey court are pretty much the standard by which we judge all future applicants for the skill monkey position in our group :P

There's nothing quite like a guy disarming a trap, picking a lock, and then swapping his masque out Bleach style to bust through the door with claws and fangs bared and eviscerate the enemy.

Skill monkey was actually the very first thing my group thought of when we saw the archetype. Natural attack options were like a distant second consideration when we started running out of ideas for masques to provide skills and abilities like flight and/or water-breathing.

I'm surprised he laughed out loud. We knew from the start that the concept was for a really McGyveresque character who can do the sort of thing you describe (with several analyses of the uses for utility and some sample skillish masks). Maybe you said it in a funny way :p Of course he's a solid dev, so his first concern was whether it could become some natural attack monstrosity, so I ran all the numbers in comparison.

Paizo Employee Design Manager

I think that on an intellectual level Cheapy got the idea of the Macgyver with masques, but I think the words "barbarian" and "skill monkey" may not have actually been put side-by-side for him before :P

Regardless, full BAB skill monkey was literally the first thing I thought of when I saw this archetype, and it was the first thing the other members of my group leapt to as well.

Definitely one of the best executed archetypes I've seen.


Ssalarn wrote:

I think that on an intellectual level Cheapy got the idea of the Macgyver with masques, but I think the words "barbarian" and "skill monkey" may not have actually been put side-by-side for him before :P

Regardless, full BAB skill monkey was literally the first thing I thought of when I saw this archetype, and it was the first thing the other members of my group leapt to as well.

Definitely one of the best executed archetypes I've seen.

Heh, I think most people might not expect a barbarian skill monkey to be an oxymoron! What I like about the final design in terms of being a skill monkey is that you can totally do that by building for it (take at least 1 rank in the trained-only skills, be mindful of skill points, get masks for it, etc), but it also doesn't overload you with baggage if that isn't what you want to do. It is what you want it to be. I have toyed with a few "barbarian face character" builds too, with high Charisma. While theoretically possible with the original CPFA, the ones I'm playing with now rely on some of the new evolutions in Secrets.

I'm still working on some ideas for reveler archers. One of my favorites thus far involves using Animated Hair to harry foes who decide they want to get in your face and mess with your archery. While the entangled condition isn't the most dangerous condition out there, the Dexterity-based DC is going to be hard to resist against an archer.

Paizo Employee Design Manager

Rogue Eidolon wrote:

Heh, I think most people might not expect a barbarian skill monkey to be an oxymoron! What I like about the final design in terms of being a skill monkey is that you can totally do that by building for it (take at least 1 rank in the trained-only skills, be mindful of skill points, get masks for it, etc), but it also doesn't overload you with baggage if that isn't what you want to do. It is what you want it to be. I have toyed with a few "barbarian face character" builds too, with high Charisma. While theoretically possible with the original CPFA, the ones I'm playing with now rely on some of the new evolutions in Secrets.

I'm still working on some ideas for reveler archers. One of my favorites thus far involves using Animated Hair to harry foes who decide they want to get in your face and mess with your archery. While the entangled condition isn't the most dangerous condition out there, the Dexterity-based DC is going to be hard to resist against an archer.

Ooh, I like that! Also happy to hear that you'll be introducing new evolutions, I was wondering how you were going to support a stand-alone document for an archetype that already pulls its moving parts from a robust subsystem.

Are you going to introduce them as eidolon evolutions, or as options specifically available to the Masquerade Reveler that he can choose instead of evolutions?


Ssalarn wrote:
Rogue Eidolon wrote:

Heh, I think most people might not expect a barbarian skill monkey to be an oxymoron! What I like about the final design in terms of being a skill monkey is that you can totally do that by building for it (take at least 1 rank in the trained-only skills, be mindful of skill points, get masks for it, etc), but it also doesn't overload you with baggage if that isn't what you want to do. It is what you want it to be. I have toyed with a few "barbarian face character" builds too, with high Charisma. While theoretically possible with the original CPFA, the ones I'm playing with now rely on some of the new evolutions in Secrets.

I'm still working on some ideas for reveler archers. One of my favorites thus far involves using Animated Hair to harry foes who decide they want to get in your face and mess with your archery. While the entangled condition isn't the most dangerous condition out there, the Dexterity-based DC is going to be hard to resist against an archer.

Ooh, I like that! Also happy to hear that you'll be introducing new evolutions, I was wondering how you were going to support a stand-alone document for an archetype that already pulls its moving parts from a robust subsystem.

Are you going to introduce them as eidolon evolutions, or as options specifically available to the Masquerade Reveler that he can choose instead of evolutions?

Excitingly, no need for the future tense even!--it's all in the product at the top of the page, with over 101 new evolutions, enough to design a mask for a whole lot of fey (pretty much all the Bestiaries and other Paizo products with fey are listed in the OGL section 15, since I generated masks for all of them).

There is a sidebar indicating that GMs should be careful before allowing these options wholesale for summoners, including some guidelines for conversion, since they were designed with revelers in mind, who get them for only rounds per day, not all day long (barring Become the Mask for an extremely limited number of points, which were part of my design paradigm; if something was too strong to have all day, I made sure you could never take it with Become the Mask by including prereqs or the like). In particular, in my opinion, no GM should allow any of the new evolutions that are Charisma-based close enough for a synthesist to even touch with a 10-foot-pole.

(then again, this archetype was sort of my version of synthesist in some ways from before synthesist ever existed, so it's no surprise that mixing and matching against the book's advice might lead to something too synergistic to the point of being OP)


If anyone is interested in seeing what the newest Paizo designer is capable of, this book is a great chance :)

RPG Superstar 2013 Top 8

Has anyone tried sending this PDF to the Kindle? Because I got a conversion error when trying that with the version I bought from another site, and I wonder if Paizo's version fares any better.


Anyone know if this has or will be getting the Hero Lab treatment?

I love the class, but it seems a lot to keep track of on just paper.


TheCSpider wrote:

Anyone know if this has or will be getting the Hero Lab treatment?

I love the class, but it seems a lot to keep track of on just paper.

If I recall, the usual Rite Herolab coder asked about coding this class in Herolab on the Herolab forums, and they basically told him he was out of luck. If you use prebuilt masks, I imagine it shouldn't take up too much space on your character sheet. One piece of advice is to write your masks on your character sheet, just the mask names (even if they're your own inventions) and then have a notecard for each mask with a quick rundown of the evolutions. It seems like it would make it a lot less messy on the sheet itself.

Hope that helps!


I have a player proposing this class for an upcoming Jade Regent campaign I'm GMing. We're in the early planning stages, and I feel very hesitant for both mechanical and RP/Flavor reasons to permit the class in the campaign, despite how delicious it looks (so yummy). I've asked my player to submit a more robust outline of how he sees this PC evolving, and also what his in/out of combat roles would be, for both party balance and "do you actually know what you're getting into?" type of reasons. As a GM, I tend to be cautious about when I allow someone to play "Probable Psychopath" in the context of an AP (as opposed to a homebrew). So far, I'm not seeing too many connections in the Jade Regent AP for fey involvement

If anyone has run/played Jade Regent and looked at the Masquerade Reveler in detail, please hit me up with your thoughts?
Perpetually Grateful!
Rabbit


Rogue Eidolon wrote:
TheCSpider wrote:

Anyone know if this has or will be getting the Hero Lab treatment?

I love the class, but it seems a lot to keep track of on just paper.

If I recall, the usual Rite Herolab coder asked about coding this class in Herolab on the Herolab forums, and they basically told him he was out of luck. If you use prebuilt masks, I imagine it shouldn't take up too much space on your character sheet. One piece of advice is to write your masks on your character sheet, just the mask names (even if they're your own inventions) and then have a notecard for each mask with a quick rundown of the evolutions. It seems like it would make it a lot less messy on the sheet itself.

Hope that helps!

The note cards are an excellent suggestion!


Darling_Rabbit wrote:

I have a player proposing this class for an upcoming Jade Regent campaign I'm GMing. We're in the early planning stages, and I feel very hesitant for both mechanical and RP/Flavor reasons to permit the class in the campaign, despite how delicious it looks (so yummy). I've asked my player to submit a more robust outline of how he sees this PC evolving, and also what his in/out of combat roles would be, for both party balance and "do you actually know what you're getting into?" type of reasons. As a GM, I tend to be cautious about when I allow someone to play "Probable Psychopath" in the context of an AP (as opposed to a homebrew). So far, I'm not seeing too many connections in the Jade Regent AP for fey involvement

If anyone has run/played Jade Regent and looked at the Masquerade Reveler in detail, please hit me up with your thoughts?
Perpetually Grateful!
Rabbit

I am running Jade Regent, and I put a masquerade reveler NPC into the game who has worked nicely so far. I admit that there isn't really any good reason for a reveler to be involved with the initial hook of a goblin hunt, but this NPC joined the caravan in between part 1 and part 2 (in a settlement in Grungnir Forest, she joined the caravan to escape a witch hunt). I also added some ice fey to Part 3 as additional potential encounters, and a reveler could easily see eye to eye with the mysterious kami (and Miyaro--I gave her the Realistic Likeness feat, so she also wears many masks) in Part 4.


Rogue Eidolon wrote:


I am running Jade Regent, and I put a masquerade reveler NPC into the game who has worked nicely so far. I admit that there isn't really any good reason for a reveler to be involved with the initial hook of a goblin hunt, but this NPC joined the caravan in between part 1 and part 2 (in a settlement in Grungnir Forest, she joined the caravan to escape a witch hunt). I also added some ice fey to Part 3 as additional potential encounters, and a reveler could easily see eye to eye with the mysterious kami (and Miyaro--I gave her the Realistic Likeness feat, so she also wears many masks) in Part 4.

That's all good news. I have a few other players pretending to be things they're not/pretending not to be things they are, which I dig in terms of the context of the AP. I think a lot of my big concerns are player-based: Does this person have the rules mastery, organizational skills, and RP chops to play the class effectively and not like, torpedo the party with OMGCRAZYPANTSTIME. Writing in some fey seems like a great idea if I get the impression that my player has a good grasp on his concept, and I love the idea of playing the party off of each other given that they've all got secrets like Laura Palmer up in this biz.

The archetype looks delightful, but for whatever reason I keep thinking it's more suited (PC wise) for a campaign like Kingmaker.

Ultimately, I hate telling players "No," unless I have really overwhelming reason to do. I will see what my player has to offer in terms of long-term vision and plan for his Reveler and go from there.

Any additional weigh-ins are, obviously welcome. But Rogue Eidolon's response helped a great deal.

<3
Rabbit


Even as the author, I agree that this archetype is not correct for every player. It's easy to say "Yeah, this is great for everyone!" but it isn't, and this book is part of my way of opening the archetype up to more players than before (since before you had to make all your masks on your own, which cuts off another section of players). I think that knowing your players and deciding from there is a wise idea--just the fact that you're thinking about that is a good sign that things will go well for your game.


Rogue Eidolon wrote:
Even as the author, I agree that this archetype is not correct for every player. It's easy to say "Yeah, this is great for everyone!" but it isn't, and this book is part of my way of opening the archetype up to more players than before (since before you had to make all your masks on your own, which cuts off another section of players). I think that knowing your players and deciding from there is a wise idea--just the fact that you're thinking about that is a good sign that things will go well for your game.

As a new GM, that means a lot. Thanks so much. (:3


Funny this got bumped.

I actually just purchased it a couple days ago and have since suggested it to the others in my group. While I admit I was worried, what is presented is very cool and from my theory-crafting thus far, something very decent balance-wise. If there is worry of that, it's easy to just put limitations on custom masks or taking the more powerful ones...though even they seem fine (the Tane ones taking a feat and 3 rounds of rage per round seems excellent to me).

In summary, I'm a big fan of this one. Good balance, awesome themes, and just fantastic execution. Myself and several others in my group are excited to try one, hopefully soon.

Thanks for making this!


Aleron wrote:

Funny this got bumped.

I actually just purchased it a couple days ago and have since suggested it to the others in my group. While I admit I was worried, what is presented is very cool and from my theory-crafting thus far, something very decent balance-wise. If there is worry of that, it's easy to just put limitations on custom masks or taking the more powerful ones...though even they seem fine (the Tane ones taking a feat and 3 rounds of rage per round seems excellent to me).

In summary, I'm a big fan of this one. Good balance, awesome themes, and just fantastic execution. Myself and several others in my group are excited to try one, hopefully soon.

Thanks for making this!

You're welcome! Consider putting your thoughts over on the other tab there as a review (really no more than what you've posted is necessary, and people tend to notice reviews more than posts in the product thread).

I think it isn't coincidence that this was bumped recently--Steve actually put it on sale for a bit now because of my new position at Paizo, so we'll likely see even more people picking this up!


Recently dowloaded the PDF and LOVE the flavor of the archetype (kudos btw for the creativity) I had some mechanical questions that I had difficulty understanding. Maybe someone can help me out.

Every level the reveler gets a new "mask" is this a physical mask? Or is this more of a new face reminiscent of increasing fey influence? If it is a physical mask is the reveler the one making it (in a mundane crafting sort of way) or is it more like a wizard who is understood to be developing spells and THAT is why (s)he gets a new one at level up?

Also, and this is the real question: I am a little confused as to how the mask wearing works (which may feed into the above question). Reading some of Melusine's vinettes it seems like she commands different masks to switch out while she is in combat? What type of action is that? (the only thing I could see was at 20th level you could switch masks as a standard 1/day?)
My current understanding is that: The mask is physical mask that must be secured to the face of the Reveler (which takes actions as per donning a mask) and that once the Masquerade has begun there is no changing of the mask you wear?

Thank you for your help :)


The mask is, as far as I can tell, not a physical object but rather a metaphor for the collection of evolutions associated with it. It is "worn" as part of activating your rage/masquerade, and takes effect in that same action, and can be dismissed by dismissing the rage/masquerade; forcing someone to spend an action on top of activating rage isn't something included nor intended in the writeup of the archetype.

There's a class ability that allows you to change masks mid-masquerade, but I forget where it's gained and don't have the book in front of me.

Designer

Orthos wrote:

The mask is, as far as I can tell, not a physical object but rather a metaphor for the collection of evolutions associated with it. It is "worn" as part of activating your rage/masquerade, and takes effect in that same action, and can be dismissed by dismissing the rage/masquerade; forcing someone to spend an action on top of activating rage isn't something included nor intended in the writeup of the archetype.

There's a class ability that allows you to change masks mid-masquerade, but I forget where it's gained and don't have the book in front of me.

Orthos is right about the masks being metaphorical. As to Melusine, I'm impressed by your attention to detail What's In the Box. Thefortier asked me the same question, and the answer is: Melusine is using one of the feats from Convergent Paths: Fey Archetypes. In order to provide maximum value in this new book, I wrote all new feats and didn't just reprint any of the old ones, but since Melusine appeared in CP:FA and was concepted with them, she has feats from there too.

The level 20 ability actually lets you literally switch an old mask for a brand new mask you didn't even have 1/day. It's a crazy awesome power!


2 people marked this as a favorite.

Hmm, I have the sneaking suspicion that Endzeitgeist likes this one.


2 people marked this as a favorite.
Will McCardell wrote:
Hmm, I have the sneaking suspicion that Endzeitgeist likes this one.

I have no idea why you would say something like that. None at all.


2 people marked this as a favorite.

And yes, I do like this one Caedwyr and Will! :D
As always, posted first on Endzeitgeist.com, then submitted to Nerdtrek and GMS magazine and posted here, on OBS and d20pfsrd.com's shop.


2 people marked this as a favorite.

Can't argue with that review. This is one of the coolest archetypes I've seen to date.

Shadow Lodge

I'm putting one of these bad boys (well, bad girl in my case) together this weekend, and should have a thorough review to add once I'm done.

Designer

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Endzeitgeist wrote:

And yes, I do like this one Caedwyr and Will! :D

As always, posted first on Endzeitgeist.com, then submitted to Nerdtrek and GMS magazine and posted here, on OBS and d20pfsrd.com's shop.

I really like paragraph #3 of the review. It gets at what it truly means to be a masquerade reveler and meshes perfectly with my own view of what the masks "are". Maybe Endzeitgeist himself has a little masquerade reveler in him?


Jeneva wrote:
I'm putting one of these bad boys (well, bad girl in my case) together this weekend, and should have a thorough review to add once I'm done.

Well, the iconic, Melusine, is female, so I guess that makes it 'girl' by default even!


2 people marked this as a favorite.

Thanks for the kind words, Mark et al. - the Reveler indeed is awesome: When gaming unobtrusively manages to say something profound about the condicio humana while providing superb, imaginative crunch and combines that with great prose - well, then you have me hooked.

And yes, I think that the class is just that - a look in the mirror not only for me, but for everyone who uses it - whether consciously or subconsciously. Especially true in our digital age.

So yeah, we all have the potential to be revelers - the question simply is whether we are fey-touched enough to unleash it. ;)


2 people marked this as a favorite.
Endzeitgeist wrote:

Thanks for the kind words, Mark et al. - the Reveler indeed is awesome: When gaming unobtrusively manages to say something profound about the condicio humana while providing superb, imaginative crunch and combines that with great prose - well, then you have me hooked.

And yes, I think that the class is just that - a look in the mirror not only for me, but for everyone who uses it - whether consciously or subconsciously. Especially true in our digital age.

So yeah, we all have the potential to be revelers - the question simply is whether we are fey-touched enough to unleash it. ;)

Thanks, that's quite a compliment! I think we do too. The revelers are just expressing a subtle part of our daily experience, but writ large, as fey are wont to do.

It's not often that I get to write something that's just, pure and simple, exactly what I wanted to write. Ever since I've been sitting on the reveler after I built a wordcount-shortened version for the first RPG superstar that had an archetype round in it if I made that round, I've wanted to put out the reveler. When Will offered me the Convergent Paths gig and said to pick a theme, I knew what it would be. And when youse guys loved the reveler and the reviews generally pointed out that building masks i hard, I asked him, "Think I should write an expansion for it? Lots of new masks and evolutions?" He said "May be too specific a product, ask Steve." And Steve immediately said "Definitely!" and set a date right then. At that point, I got to work on just the reveler and expand it out to include everything I wanted it to include, with nothing I wasn't completely excited to add (Steve and Savannah had a few ideas for sidebars and subsections, but they were always awesome additions—I mean, at least I thought the sidebar of reskinnings was pretty cool, for instance). I was kind of worried about the fiction because I'm more experienced in poetry and playwriting but not vignettes, short stories, and the like, but people seemed to have liked those. I think I did a better job on these stories than in, for instance, the opening story for Alistair in Reapers. Melusine's voice was just easier to reach.


Jeneva wrote:
I'm putting one of these bad boys (well, bad girl in my case) together this weekend, and should have a thorough review to add once I'm done.

So, how did it go last weekend? Don't leave us hanging!

1 to 50 of 93 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | next > last >>
Community / Forums / Paizo / Product Discussion / The Secrets of the Masquerade Reveler (PFRPG) PDF All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.