Pathfinder Player Companion: Disciple's Doctrine (PFRPG)

Disciple's Doctrine is an interesting idea for a Player Companion. The major faiths in the setting have received tons of attention through hardcovers like Inner Sea Gods, campaign setting books like Inner Sea Temples, and lots of Player Companions like the "Faiths of . . ." series. But Golarion also has a lot of smaller, unorthodox quasi-religious organisations that are fascinating to read about. The inside front cover contains a one-paragraph summary of the groups covered, along with an iconographic symbol for each (some of which are seen for the first time here). The inside back cover reproduces the cover art (sans logos), and it's a pretty cool scene.

The first few pages of the book consist of a table of contents, rules index, introduction, and a section containing six new traits that could be taken by adherents of any of the doctrines in the book. They're all on the weak side, with one ("Dogged") being particularly ridiculous (once a day when you roll a natural 1, you get a +1 bonus on one roll in the next round!).

The main purpose of this 32-page softcover is to cover twelve of these groups. Each group receives two-pages of dedicated material that summarises the group and its members' activities. Each section then introduces one or more new class options, such as an archetype, spell, investigator talent, etc. I'll go through the groups relatively quickly:

* Concordance of Elements: A major extraplanar organisation dedicated to maintaining balance between elemental forces. This featured heavily in one season of Pathfinder Society, and the entry here incorporates that storyline well. The section contains a new monk archetype (the "elemental monk", which looks good--especially plane-shifting!), a new ranger archetype (the "elemental envoy" which looks fairly minor in effect), and a new ranger fighting style ("elemental" style, which adds a few new feat options).

* Cults of the Failed: I really like the idea of this one for some reason. The Cults of the Failed honor and remember (but don't worship) those mortals who attempted the Test of the Starstone to become divine but failed. History celebrates winners, but it's kinda fun to read about losers too. The section contains a lengthy new Medium archetype ("Vessel of the Failed"--I like the concept though I don't know enough about Mediums to understand the game effects).

* Esoteric Order of the Palatine Eye: This group rose to some prominence in the Doomsday Dawn adventure for the PF2 Playtest. Ostensibly dedicated to enlightenment and knowledge of the occult, the summary here is done well as I can't tell how legitimate it is--it looks like a cross between a learned society of academics and a ritual-heavy secret society like Freemasonry. The section contains a new Occultist archetype ("Esoteric Initiative") and some new Magus Arcanas ("Book-Bound", "Circle of Order", and "Tabris's Step")--they look okay, but not great.

* Harbingers of Fate: This interesting group has the idea that if some ancient prophecies were forced into occurring, then the famous "Age of Lost Omens" wouldn't have occurred and Aroden wouldn't have died; "history" would be set on the correct course, and the "Age of Glory" would instead manifest. The section contains a new focused arcane school ("Prophecy") and three new prophecy-related spells. These tend to involve a lot of GM discretion, but could be fun in the right hands.

* Hellknights of the Godclaw: From a sociology of religion perspective, Golarion is noteworthy for surprisingly little polytheism or syncretism. One exception is the Hellknights of the Godclaw, an order that worships a pantheon of five deities and fuses their teachings into a unique doctrine. It's interesting, and I could see playing a PC of the faith. There's a new warpriest archetype ("Fist of the Godclaw") that's a bit "meh", but the three new litanies included are cool.

* Magnimarian Mystery Cults: The Varisian city of Magnimar is known for the influence of small cults dedicated to worshipping the demigods known as empyreal lords. Some of these empyreal lords have become quite popular to fans of the game (like Arshea), and some of them have more information in other books. This section contains a new Cavalier Order ("Order of the Monument") that doesn't have very useful abilities (and would be hard to play in most campaigns where travel is a thing). The section also has variant channeling powers for worshippers of several different empyreal lords, but their flavour rarely fits well.

* Oracular Council: I haven't seen much about this group elsewhere--it's an organisation in Po Li (in Tian Xia) that uses numerology for divination and decision-making. You could easily make a character tasked with investigating foreboding portents and the like. The section includes an oracle archetype ("Divine Numerologist") that fits really well with the theme and has some cool abilities. There are also several new numerology-themed investigator talents that are okay.

* Prophecies of Kalistrade: People say the pursuit of money is America's religion, and if so the Prophecies of Kalistrade would find a firm footing in the country. Material rewards come to those who follow the strict dogma taught by this faith, and they have very distinctive clothing and customs. There's a new psychic discipline ("Superiority") which is very good, and then three solid new spells.

* Razmir, the Living God: All Hail the Living God! My favourite of the bunch, so much so that I've made a missionary priest of Razmir an important NPC in my Curse of the Crimson Throne campaign. Razmir is the only deity that cares enough about humanity to literally live among them, and he's brought peace and enlightenment to Razmiran, the land named after him. Any blasphemies to the contrary are despicable lies. The section contains a new ninja archetype ("Mask of the Living God") that unfortunately isn't very good (and ninjas don't get stuff offered to them very often!), but the new arcanist exploits look very useful.

* Sangpotshi: A philosophy that permeates the cultures of Tian Xia, Sangpotshi is steeped in the concepts of reincarnation, karma, and fate. It's one of those almost meta-religious belief non-systems that can easily squeeze within and among the tenets of more formal faiths. There's a fairly bland new spiritualist archetype ("Seeker of Enlightenment"), but a class I would never expect to see here, the vigilante, receives several good new talents.

* Shoanti Shamanic Traditions: The nomadic, tribal Shoanti peoples have received a lot of attention in some Paizo APs and books, but the brief summary here is still useful. The section contains a new archetype for skalds ("Totem Channeler") that's okay, but the new faith trait ("Aspect of the Quah") is overpowered for a trait--even though it only applies to hunters and substitutes for one of their animal focuses.

* Tamashigo: This is essentially animism, a belief that all things (animate and inanimate) contain spirits. The section contains a new samurai archetype ("Ward Speaker") that is interesting but really depends upon the presence of shrines for viability. There are also two new bardic masterpieces.

The book ends with four pages of equipment, magic items, and occult rituals. I thought this section was really well-done, as many of the items are flavourful and worthwhile. I particularly like the charlatan's cape, which makes it much harder to identify the caster's spells.

Overall, Disciple's Doctrine is a fun book and a recommended buy. When you think you've seen it all and have run out of character concepts, there's surely something in here that will spark your imagination. And compared to many Player Companions, the class options presented in the book largely strike the right balance in terms of flavour and usefulness.

The Monk, Ninja, and Spiritualist archetypes are the standouts here. Monk gets a style-switching elemental setup that’s pretty cool, Ninja gets an archetype (rare in itself, and you now have a non-Tien flavor option), and Spiritualist gets the largest skill bonuses I think I’ve seen, giving them a flavorful skill monkey option. The Ninja is penalized too much for not wearing a mask, which is rough with UC Rogue overshadowing it. The book has nice talents for various classes (Investigators can whip up extracts at combat-viable speeds, and Vigilantes get sizable knowledge bonuses) plus bloodline-esque options (Wizards get a Divination subschool that is powerful without being must-have, good for replacing the base school with, and Psychics get a discipline with discounted reach metamagic). Overall, enough stuff that I’ll solidly consider on the relevant classes for me to give a five-star rating.

One cool thing worth noting is the minimalist options. Medium and Occultist both get archetypes that don’t replace much, but subtly change things about the class. Neither is something I’d probably use much, but it is something I’d like seeing more of.

The last reviewer seems to have misunderstood the power of a trait. The only thing I might consider overpowered is the Spiritualist’s large untyped skill bonuses.

Good flavor text, solid art, and a lot of little cool things.

An Archtype for Oracle, Ranger, Monk (works with vinalla and unchained), Occultist, Warpriest, Ninja, Spiritualist, Skald, Samurai, and Medium.

Arcanist exploits, Bardic masterpieces, a Warpriest blessing, Investigator talents, Magus arcana, Occult rituals, a cavalier Order, a psychic discipline, a few new Variant channels, some Vigilante talents, some cool new spells, and a few Magic items.

Like most companion books, there are a few gems, several non optimal (but interesting) options, and a few clunkers that are laughably bad. Overall I like this book. 4 out of 5 stars.