The wily rogue is known for its ability to use deft hands and a smooth tongue to weasel one's way out of any situation. But for some of these bandits, thievery and subterfuge can only take one so far in the harsh real world. Putting those talented hands to new training and new tactics helps put a whole new spin on the roguish craft.
Tides of War: Rogue/X is a series of feats that will allow your rogue PC to blend more seamlessly with a variety of other classes. Many of these feats are designed to be taken as early as character level 3rd. Each of these feats is compatible with both the standard rogue as well as the unchained rogue.
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This pdf clocks in at 6 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page SRD, 1/2 a page blank, leaving us with 2.5 pages of content, the first of which, however, is devoted to the introduction to the subject matter at hand - which would be feats for multiclassing rogues.
I assume you're probably all familiar with multiclassing in the first place, what do these feats do?
-Balancing the Craft: When preparing spells exchange either one hex for a rogue talent you don't have or vice versa; you have to meet the prerequisites. The wildcard flexibility offsets some of the issues with multiclass rogue/witch characters. solid.
-Channel Shift: At the start of the day, you may reduce sneak attack bonus damage to increase channel energy by +1d6; once you reach +2d6 channel energy, you may reduce it to increase sneak attack damage by +1d6; as soon as both reach +3d6, you may move 2d6 around this way. This feat is generally nice idea-wise, but personally, I'd value a channel die higher than a sneak attack die, in spite of it being a limited resource.
-Devious Empathy: Use wild empathy to lie to animals. Cool idea...but not sure if it's worth a feat, considering the penalties that still apply and the pretty circumstantial benefits.
-Dextrous Focus: When making a Dex-enhancing mutagen, you may increase the Dex-bonus by +2, but if you do, you also increase the penalty to Wisdom by 2. Nice!
-Energetic Precision: Expend 1st level bloodline or domain power daily uses when successfully using sneak attack to add +1d6 damage and change the damage caused to the type of your bloodline/domain. I like this, quite a lot in fact, though it should probably read "limited use bloodline or domain power" as a caveat versus non-limited abilities that cause energy damage. I'd also be more comfortable if this actually specified the types of energy, but ultimately, that's more of a cosmetic gripe.
-Enhanced Magic Talent: Replace the minor magic rogue talent cantrip with a 1st level sorc/wiz spell. If you gain major magic as a rogue talent later, you gain a 2nd level spell instead of the 1st level spell. For a FEAT? So, I have to waste one or two rogue talents AND a feat for one lousy 1st level spell? Some sorcerors may go for that, but it's a sucky deal for them. Not starting with wizards...
-Inspired Precision: Add +1d6 plus your bardic performance's morale bonus to all precision-damage dealing attacks by you or your allies while you're remaining bardic performance. The feat should specify that allies have to be affected by bardic performance; RAW, allies beyond reach can be affected.
-New Levels of Daring: Whenever you use Acrobatics or missed by enemy attacks and more than 2 attacks of opportunity miss you, you gain 1 grit or panache. When an attack hits you that round, you don't regain grit. You can only do this either Cha (panache) or Wis (grit) bonus times per day. *Reviewer puts away the bag of kittens for now...*
-Sneaking Glance: As an immediate action, if a target of your glare is denied Dex to AC and is hit by an ally in melee, you may add your sneak attack damage - 1d6 to the attack, usable Cha-mod times per day. Interesting mesmerist-crossover here.
-Trickery over Training: Add Extra Rogue Talent to the fighter bonus feat list.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are very good on a formal level, good on a rules-language level. Layout adheres to Flying Pincushion games' two-column full-color standard and the pdf sports solid stock art. I am not a fan of the final page's half-empty state - some sort of stock art (or more content) would have made that look less...empty. The pdf has two bookmarks in spite of its brevity - nice.
Frank Gori's multiclass feats for rogues vary in power and coolness a bit; the witch-feat, for example, completely outclasses the sorc/wiz-feat. and there are some minor hiccups in the finer points of the rules-language. That being said, for the low price-point, this still has something to offer for the discerning roguish dilettante. My final verdict will hence clock in at 3.5 stars...and while I consider quite a few feats herein pretty solid, they feel a bit less streamlined than in the magus-pdf. In the end, I consider this a mixed bag on the slightly positive spectrum of things, but still have to round down for the purpose of this platform.
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this product for the purpose of this review.
I usually don't multi-class and I'm not a huge fan of the Rogue either. The feats contained within this PDF actually had me thinking of trying out some multi-class rogue builds, which is something I normally wouldn't consider. If you play a Rogue and multi-class, I suggest that you pick this up. It's cheap and and I think there are some fun feats for your multi-class Rogue too.
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this product for the purpose of this review.
This is a 6-page, full-color PDF, although only a page and a half of it is actually content. The Class/X line is designed to make multiclassing easier on characters, by allowing them to blend more efficiently. For example, the Channel Shift ability lets you reduce Sneak Attack damage to increase Channel Energy damage/healing for the day, or vice versa, up to a maximum change of 2d6, while Balance the Craft lets you swap a Rogue Talent for a Hex you don't have (or vice versa) for the day, so long as you meet the prerequisites for the ability you're getting. Basically, they all enhance your flexibility, although you'll get the most out of each option if you have a good idea of what you'll be facing that day.
Note that most of these abilities generally aren't limited to specific classes, per se, but to class abilities that several classes may share. Compatible class abilities (and their normal class) include:
-Bardic Performance (Bard)
-Bloodline (Sorcerer)
-Bonus Feats (Fighter and, like, tons of other classes... XD)
-Channel Energy (Cleric)
-Domains (Cleric)
-Grit (Gunslinger)
-Hexes (Witch)
-Mutagen (Alchemist)
-Painful Stare (Mesmerist)
-Panache (Duelist)
-Wild Empathy (Druid)
So if you plan to multiclass with any of those, you may get some real value out of this PDF. It's not meant for anyone else, of course. It's a very solid product overall, it's affordable, and I think it does exactly what it sets out to do. If multiclassing your rogue is on your list of things to do, this is worth picking up.
Yep, you all know the deal here, this is where I thank Chris in a fun way, make a robot joke, and offer three free copies of our newest Tides of War series, Rogue/X Feats for the non-monitary price of honest reviews.
No but seriously, thanks Chris, and get the reviewer copies while they last!
LOL Rednal, you sniffed us out, basically a companion book this is, very keen of your sir, I will send out a copy of ToW: Rogue/X Feats to the same email as the ItB: The Rogue book, thanks for the review sir!
Thanks so much for the review Rednal! I'm so glad you liked it! XD
Yes, indeed, I designed these to interact with the base class and the corresponding class features. Like if you were a druid with a domain, you could take both Devious Empathy and Energetic Precision.
Or if you took an archetype of a non-Alchemist class that grants you Mutagens, you can take Dexterous Focus.
The book also makes accommodations in the event an archetype published later grants some of the class features to another class, like a fighter that gets hexes, for example.
One last free copy, all you need to do is write an honest review, and it is not like we are going to correct it with red pen, we remember THAT teacher from 5th grade too, the meanie ;).
The best way to do a review is just to share your honest feelings about the product. Tell us what you liked, mention anything you didn't like, and let us know whether or not you think it's a good value for the price. ^^
Last copy for DragoDorn, a PM with your preferred delivery email is all I need, and like Rednal says, go with your gut and be honest, works every time.
