Mysteries of the Tengu Road: Yamabushi, the Sublime Transmuter is now available!
Play a new base class, the yamabushi. They are masters of transmutation magic. There's also a new PC race, the daitengu (fey cousins of the tengu). There're also 3 new transmutation spells, a new weapon (the ring staff), and more.
Interesting...can you post an example of a revelation / contemplation?
Interesting...can you post an example of a revelation / contemplation?
Absolutely!
This one was one of the editor's favorites (from the path of the trying steel):
Internal Bleeding (Ex)—When you hit a creature, you can choose to delay the damage you deal. You can continue to do this each successive round that you hit the creature. Once the total delayed damage equals half or more of the creature’s total hp (minimum of 50 hp) and it hasn’t been killed outright, it must make a Fortitude save (DC 10 + 1/2 your yamabushi level + your Charisma modifier). If it fails, it dies regardless of its current hp. If it succeeds, it only takes half of the delayed damage. If you miss an attack before reaching the goal, the creature immediately takes all the delayed damage as if from a single attack. You can choose to deal the accumulated delayed damage at the end of your turn as a free action if it hasn’t already been dealt. You must be at least 15th level to select this contemplation.
I like it. The oracle is a great class to base this off of.
I only have two major gripes about it. The first is that the Trying Steel path seems a bit powerful (Transformation and Hobble in particular) and that combined with some of the Battle Oracle revelations (or even the Metal, that seems appropriate) it could be quite the juggernaut.
The second is that Maker's Hand seems unfocused.
Minor gripes: Force Bolt is weak. It also seems out of place. Perhaps adding +charisma modifier damage to it would make it better. I suspect it'd still be weak after that.
The Starry Eye also seems unfocused, but not as much as the Maker's Hand.
Things I liked:
Primal Dream sounds very fun. If I ever have a player who wants to play a shapechanger, I'm going to recommend this!
Razor Wind is also pretty cool. Maybe not super optimal, but I love the flavor.
It would've been cool to see a Path that focuses on Telekinesis. After finding perfection in themselves, they've moved on to projecting what they view as perfection outwards. Contemplations that would let you move just by willing it, ranged combat maneuvers, etc.
I like it. The oracle is a great class to base this off of.
Glad you're digging it, Cheapy! (Please, consider writing a product review.)
I only have two major gripes about it. The first is that the Trying Steel path seems a bit powerful (Transformation and Hobble in particular) and that combined with some of the Battle Oracle revelations (or even the Metal, that seems appropriate) it could be quite the juggernaut.
Transformation comes with a pretty steep cost in the spell slot (and you can't cast spells while transformed). I'm not sure that I would change much on this one, but if you feel it's too strong, I would recommend adding a "per day" limit, such as you can only burn a number of spells per day equal to your Cha modifier or you can only be transformed for a number of rounds equal to your yamabushi level.
For hobble, I would make one change in hindsight. It's built to emulate the Stunning Fist and Scorpion Style group of feats. As such, I would change the attempts per day to mirror that for Stunning Fist. (I'll add it to the errata sheet.)
The second is that Maker's Hand seems unfocused.
Minor gripes: Force Bolt is weak. It also seems out of place. Perhaps adding +charisma modifier damage to it would make it better. I suspect it'd still be weak after that.
The Starry Eye also seems unfocused, but not as much as the Maker's Hand.
Things I liked:
Primal Dream sounds very fun. If I ever have a player who wants to play a shapechanger, I'm going to recommend this!
Razor Wind is also pretty cool. Maybe not super optimal, but I love the flavor.
It would've been cool to see a Path that focuses on Telekinesis. After finding perfection in themselves, they've moved on to projecting what they view as perfection outwards. Contemplations that would let you move just by willing it, ranged combat maneuvers, etc.
The path of the starry eye represents just what you say--at least in intent. They can use telekinesis at will as a privileged spell if they choose; plus they have the gravity manipulation, force bolts, and such. Their focus is meant to be otherworldly: weird knowledge, telekinesis, and the like. New contemplations can certainly be added to refine a character's focus, though: some may take more of the knowledge and skill options and others may take more of the telekinesis and mental abilities options. This could be a future expansion product.
Those on the path of the maker's hand are intended to be elementally imbued weaponeers and weapon smiths.
Thanks for telling us what you liked and didn't like! Customer feedback is how we make better products. And there are more classes coming. :)
I must confess that one of my problems with reading over character options is that I tend to look over the spell portions, and rather at the abilities, so I overlooked the Starry Eye getting telekinesis.
I do plan on writing a review later, probably tonight.
Are the other classes you're working on going to be extremely focused on one school of magic? If so, I can't wait to see Illusion and Abjuration!
I look forward to it! :)
Some of the other new classes will specialize in other magic schools, but I'm not sure if we'll hit all of the schools. Almost certainly illusion; hadn't really thought about abjuration, but now that I am, it could be fun. There will be other classes as well.
Only two weeks late...my review.
Thanks for the review, Cheapy! If you play one, I'd love to hear how it goes.
Unfortunately, I already have quite the backlog of character concepts already! But I may throw one of these in as a NPC. A kobold of the Maker's Hand commanding an earth elemental could be a fun little mini-boss...
A kobold yamabushi? I am terribly pleased to hear that. :D
BTW, I encourage anyone with playtest results for the yamabushi to post them in this thread. These will help determine the need for any revisions and make the class that much more balanced. Thanks!