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Tripod Machine presents an exciting bundle of new character classes for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Play a tough corsair, a powerful gladiator, or an inquisitive scholar. Eleven new classes bring classic archetypes to life.

Also available by print-on-demand from Lulu.com

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Product Reviews (5)

Average product rating: ****( ) (based on 5 reviews)


*****

Best product out there for the money. Period.


This is a work of genius. 11 base classes for less than 5 dollars... all of which are exquisitely balanced, cleverly designed, and able to fill valuable roles in any campaign, PLUS several awesome feats like Martial Strike and Improved Sniping AND some brand-new weapons that'll shake up any campaign. Why this isn't one of the highest selling items on the site is beyond me. I've bought the thing 8 times in all, counting the POD copies at Lulu.com I've got for everyone at my game table. I cannot recommend this product highly enough... brilliance like this needs to be encouraged. Buy it now!



****( )

New martial base-classes for PFRPG


This pdf consists of 52 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page ToC, 1 page SRD and 1 page back cover. This leaves 47 pages of material.

The pdf kicks off with one page of Introduction and a how-to of using the rules.

The pdf introduces 11 new non-spellcasting base classes for PFRPG. The classes are presented with their respective tables on a separate page, bear that in mind with regards to the page numbers.
Without further ado, here are the classes:

-Beastmaster (d12, 4+INT-mod skills, good-BAB, good fort and ref saves): A light-armored barbarian-like class without rage but with animal companions and DR. Basically lets you play the savage warrior that e.g. was raised by animals. (4 pages)

-Bounty Hunter (d10, 6+INT-mod skills, good BAB, good fort and ref saves): Basically a ranger/rogueish tracker of convicts, can capture people alive, has sneak attack etc. However, one of the signature abilities, Dangerous Game, is the 10th level ability. I would have liked to see that ability earlier. (3 pages)

-Corbie (d10, 4+INT-mod skills, good BAB, good fort save): Professional, grim soldiers, survivor-mercenaries, they are get some dirty tricks (rogue fighting tricks) and some luck-based survivor-abilities. I love this class – it made me want to play it or design NPCs with the base class. (3 pages)

-Corsair (d10, 4+INT-mod skills, good BAB, good fort save): a rather unusual take on the pirate base-class, this one does not go the swashbuckling route, but rather for the brute force approach. I wouldn’t play one, but I’d use the class to design NPCs. (3 pages)

-Gladiator (d12, 2+INT-mod skills, good BAB, good fort save): This class is a rather mobile fighter with gladiatorial fighting styles à la ranger as well as some “Shrug-it-off” abilities. The class also features some information on Gladiator types and matches. Nice bonus information. I wouldn’t play it, though: 2 skills per level are not enough. (4 pages)

-Hunter (d10, 4+INT-mod skills, good BAB, good fort and ref saves): Basically the Sniperclass of the bunch – Ranger-abilities à la favored enemy, sneak attack, tracking, terrain, etc. Basically what all the elven snipers always do in literature. I like the class and I’d use it for NPCs.

-Knight (d10, 4+INT-mod skills, good BAB, good fort save): Actually a nice take on the mounted warrior, gaining some nice psychological powers and having a big selection of tricks, among others a DR against dishonorable attacks. Cool class if you want to drive the concept of the knight home. I can see myself using this class.

-Martial Artist (d10, 2+INT-mod skills, good BAB, good fort and ref saves): The Martial Artist is a mobile, but fragile heavy hitter with some monk-like ki-abilities and a ki-pool. While it’s an ok class, it didn’t excite me.

-Scholar (d8, 6+INT-mod skills, medium BAB, good ref and will saves): Easily the most versatile class in the bunch, I doubt that you’ll see two scholars that are exactly alike soon after you’ve implemented them into your campaign. You can basically pick bits and pieces of other classes like sneak attack, minor magic, proficiencies etc. and stitch them together. I really like this jack-of-all-trades class. Don’t expect a hyper-intelligent book-worm-skill-monkey, though. (5 pages)

-Scout (d8, 8+INT-mod skills, medium BAB, good ref save): The one scout behind enemy-lines character class, this one is different from the hunter in its more hit-and-run/scout approach and made me think of Rambo – probably because of the overpowered targeted strike-ability that gives you +1d6 bonus damage per 2 levels of the class whenever the scout uses the attack action. (4 pages)

-Spy (d8, 8+INT-mod skills, medium BAB, good ref and will saves): Another very versatile class, this is what you’d expect of a spy in a fantasy setting – rogue talents, nondetection, several tricks of the trade to choose from. Nice class to play. I’d also use it to design NPCs in an intrigue-heavy campaign. (4 pages)

After that, we get 34 new feats (4 pages), most of which are nothing to write home about. One kind, though, really got my attention: Minor/Major medical miracle lets you save a comrade that has just been dropped to below -10 HP with the heal-skill, which is awesome for people like me who disallow raise/resurrection spells in their home game without an epic quest to resurrect the fallen character.

Finally, we get 2 pages containing 3 new armors and 6 new weapons as well as a table of starting wealth by class. The warbow seems to be overpowered and too strong for my tastes, dealing a whopping 2d6 damage and using composite bow-rules.

The editing is ok, I didn’t notice glaring typos or the like, formatting could be more efficient, though – while one page for the character’s table makes it easy to read, it also means a lot of blank space, which is not perfectly economical and leads to a lot of blank space. We also have a lot of white space on the first and final page. The b/w artwork ranges from ok to fair and quite, frankly, I didn’t expect one picture per class for the price.

Conclusion:
You get A LOT of new material for the price of not even a bus fare. Unfortunately, not all of the classes are equally appealing – some of them just scream “cool concept, I’d go for that” like the Corbie, while others like e.g. Gladiator and Corsair left me rather unimpressed. If you are a DM and are just plain sick of building standard fighters, this file is perfect for you. If you want more versatility for your non-casting NPCs, this is a great resource for a bang-to-buck-ratio that is almost impossible to beat. If you are a player and contemplate a “different” fighter, go check it out. However, there were some rules that seemed a bit powerful and most of the feats didn’t grip me at all. The weapons seemed to be a bit more powerful than what I like to see in my campaigns.

My final verdict is 4 stars. I’m looking forward to seeing the next book by Tripod Machine.



****( )

Some non spell casting classes.


My review won't fit so I am posting it below as a forum post.



*****

Don't let initial impressions fool you...


At first glance when I read through this PDF, I was underwhelmed. It seemed like a mediocre little book of modified core classes, just little meaningless tweaks to abilities here and there, swap this for that, blend these two classes together, etc.

Then I sat down and really worked with the material here. The eleven new classes, (or about 22 cents a class) are all non-magical, with the partial exception of some of the Scholar's abilities, and those are only if they are chosen, so this book makes for a great counter to those who feel the Advanced Player's Guide will go overboard with caster classes.

I can't give it the in-depth review it really needs here, because the genius in the classes only comes out with time spent working with them, statting out characters, seeing how they compare to core classes, and recognizing just how the changes all counter-balance one another and the new options they bring to the gaming table.

And did I mention it's only 2.39, people? Half the price of a latte, in other words. It's certainly worth 239 of your gaming pennies.



***( )( )

Its a little bit confusing . . .


I want to like this, and the price isn't bad (and gained it a star over what I would have normally given it), but at the same time, this product feels really close, but doesn't quite fire on all the right notes.

Mechanically, its not a bad product, but some of the class concepts seem like a really big stretch to actually be separate classes, and almost seem more like an experiment in trying to build new classes with existing class features. The result doesn't quite feel compelling, but it doesn't feel bad, if that makes any sense.

I almost think this might have been a more interesting supplement if more of it has been rewritten as alternate class features for existing classes, not unlike Unearthed Arcana's alternate class features, but geared towards Pathfinder RPG features.

Check it out if you don't mind experimenting with your handful of dollars.


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