Mystical: Kingdom of Monsters (PFRPG) PDF

This revised edition of Mystical: Kingdom of Monsters clocks in at 206 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 3 pages of ToC, 1 page advertisement, 2 pages of SRD, 1 page credits, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 196 pages of content, so let’s take a look!

This review is based on the version 11-01, which is the most current one – NOT the one that reads “finished” at the end.

So what is this book? In one sentence: Pokémon for Pathfinder. As such, the book begins with a pretty concise introduction to be then supplemented by easy to grasp fast-play rules. These include the notion of “heart” – which represents a benefit to the monster’s stats based on CR faced. This captures, to an extent, how power-levels of characters in Anime tend to fluctuate with the challenges faced. The result of this rule is that lower level creatures have a higher chance of being capable of contributing in fights against more potent adversaries. Whether you like that or not depends ultimately on your own vision.

Anyways, the main meat, the nexus of this book if you will, would be the new Monster Trainer base class, and it was what provided a lot of the issues of the original version of the book. These guys can see the aura of a monster, which allows them to determine whether they can capture a given monster – this is concisely-presented: The creature can’t have class level, may not be summoned/captured or gained through feat or class ability; the monster’s CR must be equal or less than the monster trainer’s level – that should probably be class level. Creatures sans Intelligence score must btw. be awakened prior to capture.

Mechanics-wise, the monster trainer gets d8 HD, 6+Int skills per level, proficiency with simple weapons, all bows and the whip as well as light armor and they may cast trainer spells while wearing light armor sans spell failure chance. Spells? Yes, and this would be one of the mechanically most interesting features of the class: While monster trainers cast Cha-based arcane spells like a sorceror, of up to 9th spell level. They can only cast spells granted by their active monster and only if the trainer is high enough a level to cast the spell and uses the active monster as a channel of sorts – it is the origin of line of effect and sight. The latter is a bit weird, since RAW, the monster hunter still needs to cast the spell himself and line of sight of monster hunter and active monster are bound to be different.

The class also gets 3/4 BAB-progression and good Ref- and Will-saves. Additionally, each monster trainer may cast the capture monster spell at will and begins play with one monster already caught. This spell is crucial for the functionality of the class, so let me give you the details: It has a casting time of 1 standard action, a close range and targets one monster. The cantrip can be resisted via a Will-save, which is modified in the following manner: Monsters above 1/2 of their hit points receive a +5 bonus, +2 when above one quarter of the monster's hit points and SR, if applicable, applies. AT 9th level, the DC increases by +2 and the monster trainer gains Heightened Spell, but only for use with this cantrip. Weird: What if the monster trainer has the feat? Does the class ability override universal usability of the feat? This needs a bit of clarification. At 13th level, spellcasting is further modified: When resting, the trainer can choose a monster and may cast a spell of the monster from each of the spell levels available as granted by the monster, regardless of active monster. At 17th level, the monster hunter may catch a monster sans saves, SR, etc. – RAW, exactly ONCE. Not once per day or the like, ONCE. Additional levels beyond 17th allow for another use of the ability, but predicated on the release of a previous target.

Starting at 2nd level and every even level thereafter, the monster trainer gets to choose a spell that may now be cast regardless of active monster.

Monsters already captured cannot be captured again (no monster theft) and, as mentioned before, monsters with a CR higher than the monster trainer's class level cannot be caught against their will, though higher CR adversaries may be willingly caught – this is known as accepting a monster into her essence and the duration for the process takes time governed by CR. This works like copying spells, but does not take materials – so, does that include costs? I assume so, but I’m not 100% sure.

From the get-go, this makes me question what the in-game rationale for monsters with class levels not being able to be captured? I'd *really* need a reason, for if indentured slavery BEYOND DEATH to those pesky humanoids is all they can look forward to, I couldn't imagine a single intelligent monster NOT going for a class level (or, well, suicide if in a pitch…) as soon as possible. Big plus, on the other hand: A sidebar now mentions more powerful creatures (since the CR-system is more precise than HDs, but still not perfect) and templates in particular and explains why the captured monsters do lose templates while captured.

Deploying monsters in combat is, rules-wise, inspired by drawing weapons - you need a move action to call a monster, but do not require the BAB +1 prerequisite to do so. Monsters may be sheathed as a move action; a trainer cannot call upon a monster with a higher CR than monster trainer class levels in combat. This still makes no sense, for combats are a fluid, non-defined time-frame in-game; there ought to be a more salient way of explaining this…and there is. I mean…think of Pokémon and Ash’s issues when attempting to control critters with too high CRs. Why this is not represented here as a limit, I don’t know.

A monster trainer may only control one monster at a given time. A monster does not gain its own actions in combat, instead being directed by the trainer – this uses a telepathic bond with a medium range as the means of conveying orders. Recalling a monster immediately heals it fully and transfers the damage to the monster trainer – though this damage cannot kill the monster trainer, only reduce him to -1 hit points. The action economy of the 0 hp-threshold is covered, which is nice…but this still opens up a problematic question: What prevents monster cycling and infinite healing siphoning exploits? RAW, nothing. Since the monsters that are recalled are fully healed upon being recalled, the monster can soak damage, which is then transferred to the trainer. Trainer keels over. Healer buddy whips out that cure light wounds wand and there we go. The next monster can once more soak damage or have HP transferred to allies; then recall, keel over – presto, we have just upgraded cure light wounds to a better version of frickin’ heal. And yes, with a bit of creativity, you can make this an infinite healing exploit. As soon as level one. Yeah, the class desperately needs a limit regarding the healing of monsters here. This is broken. At 15th level, the monster trainer may recall and redeploy a monster as the same action and may instead assign damage to the new monster, exacerbating the issue.

On the plus-side, the commanding process of the monster per se now works better than it did before. It is important to note that improvement via monster growth has been hard-wired into the progression of the class – much like e.g. Pikachu in the series, favorite monsters thus retain their significance at higher levels.

First level yields Eschew Materials and the aura of a trainer is harder to discern. 2nd level yields favored enemy +2 against all monster types she has captured…which is unnecessarily gameable and favors diversified trainers over specialists. Why not make the number of types to which the bonus applies contingent on class level, with higher levels unlocking new ones and player agenda to select the switch? This is particularly relevant, since 3rd level unlocks empathy, which means that creatures that qualify for favored enemy also increase their starting attitude, with influence as a 1d20 + class level + Charisma modifier check that takes one minute. RAW, this stacks with the hard cap of Diplomacy, though that may or may not be intended.

Yes, 5th level grants the ability to share some senses between monster and trainer – the ability has been cleaned up. At 10th level, the trainer gets 3 + Cha-mod uses of charm monster as a SP, but only while no active monster is in play. The capstone nets 3/day shapechange into a fully grown monster – RAW, it’s Su, when SP would make a bit more sense here.

4th level unlocks the talents of the class, trainer perks. The ability RAW does not state when additional perks are unlocked – you’ll have to consult the class table for that. These include making a monster gain the benefits of animal companion at -3 levels; swift action boosts for the monster, having monsters manifest within 30 ft., natural armor sharing, etc. and the class can choose both evasion and its improved benefit and, at higher levels, stalwart. While the perks sport a few cosmetic hiccups, the list is significantly improved.

Speaking of improvements: While capture monster still does not note interaction with temporary hit points, we actually can catch monsters in downtime now, which is a definite plus. As a whole, I consider the monster trainer to be still stronger than most Pathfinder-classes, but the revision at least makes the base chassis work. The class can potentially be cheesed in some ways, but the improvement is significant and palpable.

A total of 6 archetypes are provided - the monster auror cannot channel spells through his monsters.

is broken as hell: When subject to a spell by a monster, he automatically learns it and even when not, he can learn a creature's spell, even ones that are not on his list – sure, usable only 3 + Cha-mod times per day, but…boy. And he may even learn spells that don’t directly target the auror on a proper Spellcraft check. It suffers from similar issues as the trainer, only exacerbated since it does not nearly pay enough for this power.

Monster Breeder replace spell familiarity and channel monster with either an animal companion or familiar, which do not count as monsters for the purpose of the active monster cap. The archetype also provides significant atk bonuses (and less significant ones to damage and AC) to monsters below his CR - yes, this means he's pretty much glass-cannoning via his pets.

Monster Gamblers or their active monsters can take up to -5 to a single d20-roll as a free action and grant it as a bonus to the other or use it themselves to the next attempt to perform such an action – and now, this is tied to action and target, which means you can no longer abuse the living hell out of it. The archetype also gets sneak attack and a 1/day reroll.

Monster Performers get limited spells (only up to 6th level) and bardic performance that can be maintained by the creature. Monster researchers get no proficiencies and d6, but better skill-checks and channel monster. Oh, and they get bonus feats like Augment Summoning, which builds on summon-themed perks.

Monster scouts would be the d10 martial monster trainers with 4 levels of spells and Monster Companion as a bonus feat at first level, while also gaining smite monster at 2nd level or the option to upgrade favored enemy analogue to the ranger. Ironic here: Since the archetype nets the favored enemy of the ranger, it actually RAW loses flexibility granted by the base class.

Next, we have a massive list of trainer spells by level as well as new ones - like Battlefield Adept, which grants you Dodge, Mobility and Spring Attack for while it lasts and it has this cryptic note: "If you can cast Battlefield Adept without preparing it first, you can learn feats with Dodge, Mobility, or Spring Attack as a prerequisite. Those feats can only be used while the spell lasts." Note something? Yes, any further prerequisites are ignored, meaning that any feat that has any of these in the prereqs suddenly turned wildcard. And yes, I understand how this is supposed to work, providing a spell-centric alternate and limited prereq-option. Still not a fan.

The level 1 blind-lock spell has been cleaned up, thankfully. We can also temporarily disrupt links.

The pdf does sport a toolkit for making regular monsters into monstorin as a race, i.e. Pokémon-like creatures. While certainly not perfect, it does do its job surprisingly well and provides such stats, handily, for each of the monsters - and yes, this book is chock-full with them. The race also comes with extensive favored class options for the race, with all Paizo-classes minus vigilante covered. The vast array of the critters and their available spells granted to monster trainers is interesting and while some monstorin end up as slightly lopsided on the physical or mental attribute side, the respective entries do sport some nice ideas and a vast array of downright cuddly Pokémon-style artworks that help visualize the creatures featured. It should also be noted that the guidelines here try to mitigate issues. We also get a racial archetype for a monstorin trainer – think Mewto, essentially. How much monsters are here? More than 122 pages. While the first section of the book, in the original, was a mess, the following, massive write-up of these creatures has been pretty nice and remains so.

The third chapter then provides more supplemental material regarding monster training: For example, there are feats that allow you to cast spells through allies at +2 level increase; granting a limited evolution pool to a monster is interesting and minor monster trainer tricks for non-trainers may be found. When making a monster attack as a full-round action, you can execute an attack as a free action, basically in a split flurry at -2 to atk. This stacks with the swift command trainer perk, which has a similar benefit – both of these have one issue, though: You get to rack up extra attacks rather quickly and the respective write-ups imho should prevent stacking with haste et al. The feat is also pretty much a no-brainer must-get level of powerful…it would make more sense as a class feature, particularly since it may be taken multiple times. Semi-autonomous monsters out of combat, etc. – there are some interesting tweaks here. Monstrous Cohort also deserves mention, it’s now broken in a different manner: "If your cohort is a monstorin or a monster that could grant spells to a monster trainer, you can direct it to cast those spells using your spell slots, as the monster training class feature. Doing so uses your actions, not the cohort’s, and your cohort can still act normally on its turn." LOL. Srsly? You don’t even have to strain to realize the issue here, right? I mean, your ally can suddenly double-cast? Put a cadre of folks with the feat behind casters and have them yelled at, suddenly double-casts?? *sigh* (And yes, this actually is an improvement in rules-integrity over what the feat did previously…)

The items provided here don’t all live up to the precision of rules-language required. Take this 140K item: “An orb of the master trainer is a consumable item that allows a monster trainer to capture a single monster without fail. The monster must still be one the trainer is able to capture.” Okay, how? Activation? Is a roll required? Does it not grant a save? That’s a non-entity of rules-language.

We also get alternate summon-lists, an amorphous eidolon base form and a few new evolutions.

The final section of the book, which provides an all too brief glimpse at the eponymous kingdom of monsters, alongside random monster tables for respective environments is interesting- and the writing here is really nice. The level of passion that went into this is also mirrored by the copious indices: Monsters by CR, by spell granted and even those not covered in the book (up to Bestiary 4) provide page upon page of handy information. Kudos!

Part II of my review can be found here!

[Update: 6/11/2015] Since I last posted there was an update to the PDF clearing up language, adding some material and some changes to how things work. So how does this affect my feelings about the product? Well the changes are;

The function of losing life equal to the damage the recalled monster has taken is actually in the document. Something I knew but is somewhat of an important limiter. It means you can’t start catching a bunch of low CR creatures and use them for trap triggering. It also makes collecting monsters with spell-like abilities to make a sort of Schrodinger Wizard effect a risk. This does include what happens when a monster is recalled, specifically how it heals, clearing up some things.
The wording is less explicit about calling a monster being once per encounter and changing it to one at a time during battle. The situation is slightly more ambiguous but miles better than ‘per encounter’ which avoids a few silly interactions that can leave the trainer unable to switch monsters when they start with a monster already out, not to mention general complications that come with per encounter abilities that have the possibility of functioning outside of combat.
There’s a new sidenote that describes how to handle spells gained from monsters outside of the book referencing a new table that equates Bestiary monsters to monsters in the PDF for the purposes of spell lists. The sidebar also gives permission for the GM to restrict monster abilities that are obviously too powerful so the Trainer can’t capture a genie and start getting infinite wishes or something like that. There are some guidelines, mainly restricting SLA unless it's of a spell level that the Trainer can cast using the FAQ’s method of determining SLA spell level. Its a reasonable means of dealing with it but as a whole I don’t like the solution over outright restricting monsters capturable differently because at it’s heart it’s a GM fiat restriction and I hate it when products make me do work.
Without monster calling being a per encounter situation a lot of things stabalize and the rest of the clarifications make it so that I’m less likely to make judgement calls when players are using the class. There class still needs a lot of GM attention for my tastes for products but it has moved to being mostly functional without GM interference save for the GM judgement calls for powerful supernatural or extraordinary abilities as those aren’t really tied to any kind of progression. This moves the product up a star with my same general warnings and praises.
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Mystical: Kingdom of Monsters, introduces us to the Monster Trainer base class. Monster trainers hunt down monsters and catch them using a zero level spell that permanently imprints the monster in their aura. The class itself is built on a d8 HD, ¾ BAB, bad Fort, good reflex, good will, 6+int skills per level chassis. It also gets 9 levels of spontaneous arcane casting but doesn’t actually have a spell list other than it’s capture monster spell. In order to get spells the Monster Trainer needs monsters that give him a spell list.

The description of how monsters are captured and how they work after is a lot too short and not descriptive enough for my tastes but the general idea is there; Essentially you first find yourself a monster to catch. You get one for free at character creation so you have a bit of help. The monster you want to catch has to have a CR equal to or lower than your level, not be mindless and not have class levels. If the monster can be caught you can cast the Capture Monster spell. Since it’s a cantrip the will save on it is going to be fairly low, thankfully its a spell so Heighten Spell works but you can also increase the DC by reducing the monster’s hit points or giving it a status ailment (not really a fully defined parameter.) Once the creature fails it’s will save it is now a part of you and can be summoned from your aura. You can catch as many monsters as you want but you can only summon one at a time and only one per encounter. I also found out from the forums (not in the pdf yet) that if a monster is recalled you take damage equal to the amount of damage on the called monster. but this can’t reduce you to negative HP. When you have a monster out you can cast any spell that it grants you and even cast spells through the monster itself.

Every even level you add a spell granted by a monster you’ve caught to your spell list so that you can cast it without calling a monster. You get monster empathy, much like animal empathy. You can use your active monster’s spell-like abilities and later supernatural and then extraordinary. ( I feel like this is backwards in terms of power but whatever.) You get talent-like trainer perks every 4 levels, and a Dominate Monster spell like ability. Monsters you’ve caught also give you Favored enemy of it’s type. Each level you get a chance to advance a monster you’ve caught into a higher CR creature that’s related. And that’s the real relevant abilities.

The class itself is a bit hard to really grasp. Catching monsters and using them to fight is definitely a focus but because of the casting and there is definitely a lack of combat focus. Taking damage from your downed monsters and sharing your monster’s action economy means that you don’t have the same advantages of having an eidolon, animal companion or summoned monster. You have proficiencies with all bows but you’re feat starved so there’s not much you can do about that, especially since you’re going to need Heighten Spell. Disregarding that with 9 levels of casting getting into combat is going to make you as MAD as the Monk. When you hit the table there’s a bit more versatility by having different monsters but in a lot of situations calling a monster can be a liability. Essentially you produce 2 targets for the same HP pool and half the action economy. If you focus on your gimmick Favored Enemy and getting spells from your monsters will help you out without needing to summon anything. Being a full arcane caster with some monster abilities makes the design a bit conservative and have about one too many nerfs to really shine.

One thing you’ll notice is that Monsters don’t grant spells. Well in this book there are over 150 monsters that do add spells to a trainer’s spell list. Which is the beginning of part of this class’s problems. You can’t really start playing an adventure path with this class and hope for the best or your spell list will suffer. Sometimes thing go too well and you can gain spell like abilities that you have no business having, like a 9th level Wish. The class doesn’t really play nice with the rest of the game and takes direct GM support, GM fiat and house rules to function in a normal game. There’s also the business of calling monsters being encounter-based. There are ways to make assumptions to widdle out how this works in game but as written encounter limitations means the inevitable questions of how this works out of combat, why on earth it it happens in the first place when you can call and recall in combat, and the nature and definition of what an encounter is in the first place. There is also an issue of trying to make a Trainer at a level other than level 1 since part of your growth in power depends on actively catching monsters which are not defined by your wealth by level or anything like that. Then having any number of creatures means a ton of book keeping if you want to catch a lot of monsters.

If you can’t tell, this product allows you to play a pokemon-like campaign. It has all the tools to do so. You get a bestiary of 150+ (mostly)cute monsters to catch, that are all nicely bookmarked and referenced by spell they grant, CR and random encounter tables. Each group of monsters even comes with racial traits for a new Monstorin race that is essentially a Monster-tiefling/aasimar. Personally I think it comes off more like a blue mage from Final Fantasy but that’s just me. The Monster hunter functions in it’s own little universe but just isn’t a very solid class. The Monster catching rules are good enough but deployment and use is too wonky and it is very easy to come up with an incredibly shoddy trainer or abuse an exploit when it interacts with bestiary monsters. Luckily in playtesting I found that a few house rules and restricting what the trainer can catch more can salvage the class and make it more agreeable to the system as a whole. Unfortunately to me it needed too many house rules and GM fiat to really reach anything past 3 stars, particularly since it seems to be missing some rules and doesn’t define or mention some of the hard limits of things. I needed to check the product forum for clarification on more than a few rulings.

Fortunately it doesn’t fall into useless garbage because it does come with a cute bestiary, a realistic framework for a pokemon/monster hunter campaign, a race with around a hundred sub races and a class that tackles a very difficult subject and almost comes out of it alive. This product has too many small but glaring problems to really rate it highly but I like too many things about it to rate it too badly. Plus anyone that gets it will likely look beyond its problems and easily house rule or play a campaign where these aren’t issues so I’ll give it three stars. I love it and will recommend it as a resource but mechanically there are a lot of holes. Patchable holes but holes nonetheless.

Mystical: Kingdom of Monsters is a 180 page supplement primarily built around a new class it introduces, the Monster Trainer. Along with the Monster Trainer class, this 180 page .pdf includes archetypes, new spells, and over 150 monsters both new and familiar that the Monster Trainer can capture and tame. Let's dive into the meat of this thing-

The Monster Trainer is a 3/4 BAB, 6 + INT skill, 9 level caster who captures monsters and utilizes them in a symbiotic blending of man and beast. Does 3/4 BAB, good skills, a pet, and 9th level casting seem a bit much? It did to me at first too, but it make a lot more sense as you dig in to the class and mechanics.
The Monster Trainer doesn't have a spell list of his own; instead, he gains knowledge of spells determined by his active monster and casts them as a sorcerer of his level. This generally means your spell list is much more limited than a true 9 level caster's, and is dependent upon the monster you're currently using. The bond between the trainer and his monster is also more limited than that of standard pet classes, since the Trainer must spend his actions to command his monster.

If some of this is starting to sound pretty familiar, that's not a coincidence. The supplement was inspired by Pokemon and that influence can be seen in both art and mechanics. The art in this supplement is beautiful, and tip-toes carefully down a line blending traditional fantasy art styles with more anime-esque art. Truthfully, I was pretty skeptical when I stumbled upon this, saying something to the effect of "Pokemon for Pathfinder? Pffft!" Turns out, I shouldn't have been so dismissive. When I went to see what kind of train-wreck had evolved from that concept, I was stunned to find a mechanically elegant, beautifully illustrated, and excellently fleshed out supplement with all the rules necessary to either graft the subsystem onto your home game's world or to enter the world of the Kingdom as laid out in the supplement.

The monsters are my favorite part, and honestly, I've spent as much time ogling the art and mechanics of the various monsters as actually playing with any of them. There's 150 critters laid out within, with everything from low level "companion" monsters (think starter pokemon) to high level beasts from the Bestiary like the glabrezu, updated with appropriate companion stats and abilities. The large array of low level monsters is excellent, giving the class a huge level of replayability. You could play a melee focused monster trainer, a trainer who focuses on blasting and/or utility with just about any element, a healing focused character, a buffer... If there's a role in the game you want to play, there's probably a class feature and monster combination that will allow you to fill it.

One of my favorite things about this supplement is how well it plays with other classes. The shared action economy and limit of calling one monster per encounter means that you aren't taking up any more table time than any other player, and the game presents several options for advancing your monster, keeping your initial companion relevant through all levels of play. The two main methods of advancing your monster are either through monster "growth" (think evolution), or through spending one of your class features (called Trainer Perks) to allow your companion to advance as a druid's animal companion. This is especially nice for groups where the GM may be inclined to let a player try the class out, but doesn't want to have to make extra allowances in his campaign for the player to capture new monsters at every level.

All in all, I was beyond pleasantly surprised at the quality and execution of this supplement. The class is well balanced and very interesting, the concept is fun, the mini bestiary is surprisingly extensive, and everything about the supplement serves to bring it to life in a way that is extremely fun and enhances any game without getting in the way or intruding on the established parameters of a current campaign. I have to highly recommend this to anyone who's interested in running a pet-based class that is better balanced than the Summoner and has more variety than the traditional animal companion classes. It's also a great source of possible inspiration for GMs looking for something a little different for their next home game.