Dreamscarred Press Introduces: Akashic Mysteries


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Justin Sane wrote:
While awesome, he seems... Off. Taking Essence burn to power abilities? Abilities based on how much un-burned Essence you have? It... kind of seems you could replace Essence with Power Points and, after fiddling with the numbers, still come out at the same spot.

I second the concerns that Justin had, though not through preference of power points. With the ever-changing size of the essence pool through burning and regaining points, the Pharaoh is going to have a lot of editing of defenses, temporary hit points, and other elements dependent upon his current Essence from round to round.

The shifting of Essence and the changing of numbers was already a hassle under the old Incarnum system (and caused one DM no end of headaches), so I wonder if there couldn't be a way to represent the same ideas that the Pharaoh has (which sound amazingly fun, don't get me wrong) with simpler mechanics that don't require recalculating as much so often.

By level 20, Temporary Hit Points, Armor Class, Will Saves, and Energy Resistance are all determined by the Essence pool, and burning it reduces everything. That's a lot of things to keep in mind, and I worry that forgotten math will make this class unwelcome at some tables.

~~~

On a separate question, how does the Pharaoh interact with "Improved Familiar?" Say a player doesn't like bugs. What happens if he takes Improved Familiar? Can you have a Mephit cling to your arm and take hits for you?

Paizo Employee Design Manager

So, thematically, the ability is intended to interact with shelled creatures. That being said, there's no real reason you couldn't petrify a mephit around your arm and reinforce it with akashic energy the same way.


Ssalarn wrote:
So, thematically, the ability is intended to interact with shelled creatures. That being said, there's no real reason you couldn't petrify a mephit around your arm and reinforce it with akashic energy the same way.

Well, if it's just about using another creature's natural defenses to supplement your own, I guess any old creature would do, yes?

What about the other familiar functions? Can the Pharaoh still meditate for Essence healing/maneuver recovery, and form wrist-slot veils with a not-scarab familiar?

Paizo Employee Design Manager

Elsidar Amhransidhe wrote:
Ssalarn wrote:
So, thematically, the ability is intended to interact with shelled creatures. That being said, there's no real reason you couldn't petrify a mephit around your arm and reinforce it with akashic energy the same way.

Well, if it's just about using another creature's natural defenses to supplement your own, I guess any old creature would do, yes?

What about the other familiar functions? Can the Pharaoh still meditate for Essence healing/maneuver recovery, and form wrist-slot veils with a not-scarab familiar?

If you're going to sub in a different familiar, it would pretty much have to accomodate those functions.

I really kind of feel like this is one of those things where the flavor and mechanics kind of need to inform each other to a certain extent; I really don't want to bake "Choose whatever familiar you want" into the mechanics, and I'd rather not explicitly forbid Improved Familiar options either, as there may be a lot of great reasons in character to select a particular familiar over one of the baseline ones. For example, if your pharaoh is actually a cruel Chelaxian noble who wants to wear a shield that looks like a hideous gargoyle with its barbed tail wrapping back around your forearm, but is actually your imp familiar kept close on hand, I definitely don't want to stop that. But I also don't want to be the one responsible for a GM asking his player to explain again exactly how they're wearing their owl or viper as an effective shield.

**EDIT** Ooh, although this does remind me that I probably need to elaborate on what kind of action it is to turn your familiar into a shield and back again in case you want to do cool stuff like drop your scarab at your enemy's feet while you're engaged in combat so it can start chewing away at him, or fling your imp after a fleeing opponent to hunt, spy, or poison him.

**EDIT 2** Probably worth clarifying also that the above statement is generally going to be in reference to multiclass characters as the Pharaoh is not an arcane spellcaster. I'm open to discussion about whether or not we want to add a line specifically stating that he uses his class level as his arcane caster level when determining whether he qualifies for Imp. Familiar and what familiars he qualifies for though.


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Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

The owl one is pretty simple.

"My owl familiar perches on my outstretched arm. Soon thereafter it starts to transform until all that remains is a buckler strapped to my arm with the image of an owl's head emblazoned on it."

Given time I think I could figure out something that could work for the viper, or most any other familiar come to think of it.


Viper wraps around forearm, transmutes into a gauntlet of spiraling steel with a snake's-head buckler covering the back of the hand and wrist.


Elsidar Amhransidhe wrote:

I second the concerns that Justin had, though not through preference of power points. With the ever-changing size of the essence pool through burning and regaining points, the Pharaoh is going to have a lot of editing of defenses, temporary hit points, and other elements dependent upon his current Essence from round to round.

The shifting of Essence and the changing of numbers was already a hassle under the old Incarnum system (and caused one DM no end of headaches), so I wonder if there couldn't be a way to represent the same ideas that the Pharaoh has (which sound amazingly fun, don't get me wrong) with simpler mechanics that don't require recalculating as much so often.

By level 20, Temporary Hit Points, Armor Class, Will Saves, and Energy Resistance are all determined by the Essence pool, and burning it reduces everything. That's a lot of things to keep in mind, and I worry that forgotten math will make this class unwelcome at some tables.

I have to second(third?) this. All the dynamic stat changes is going to get confusing. I have to say I really like the class, but changing stats on the fly often slows down things at the table, and/or leads to errors.

-Kcinlive

Paizo Employee Design Manager

HenshinFanatic wrote:

The owl one is pretty simple.

"My owl familiar perches on my outstretched arm. Soon thereafter it starts to transform until all that remains is a buckler strapped to my arm with the image of an owl's head emblazoned on it."

Given time I think I could figure out something that could work for the viper, or most any other familiar come to think of it.

I'll give that there are ways to fluff it, but really the creature isn't supposed to actually be changing shape; it's more like its body went super stiff because you plugged it into the akashic light socket that is your body. The familiar actually changing shape to that degree is a little more "arcane" than I'd prefer for the ability. Akasha is really meant to be very natural, and it has a kind of internal consistency to it. Magic changes the laws of the universe, akasha enhances or amplifies while working (mostly) within the framework of those laws. Even veils are generally constructs that mimic some kind of naturally occuring phenomenon (natural for a fantasy world anyway, where a certain amount of ambient magical energy is a baseline assumption).

Orthos wrote:
Viper wraps around forearm, transmutes into a gauntlet of spiraling steel with a snake's-head buckler covering the back of the hand and wrist.

I actually pictured a pharaoh using a cobra as a buckler with its tail wrapped around his arm and the hood fanning out as the protective surface of the buckler and thought that would be a pretty cool way of fluffing that.

Paizo Employee Design Manager

Kcinlive wrote:
Elsidar Amhransidhe wrote:

I second the concerns that Justin had, though not through preference of power points. With the ever-changing size of the essence pool through burning and regaining points, the Pharaoh is going to have a lot of editing of defenses, temporary hit points, and other elements dependent upon his current Essence from round to round.

The shifting of Essence and the changing of numbers was already a hassle under the old Incarnum system (and caused one DM no end of headaches), so I wonder if there couldn't be a way to represent the same ideas that the Pharaoh has (which sound amazingly fun, don't get me wrong) with simpler mechanics that don't require recalculating as much so often.

By level 20, Temporary Hit Points, Armor Class, Will Saves, and Energy Resistance are all determined by the Essence pool, and burning it reduces everything. That's a lot of things to keep in mind, and I worry that forgotten math will make this class unwelcome at some tables.

I have to second(third?) this. All the dynamic stat changes is going to get confusing. I have to say I really like the class, but changing stats on the fly often slows down things at the table, and/or leads to errors.

-Kcinlive

So, and I'm just spinning things around in my head, would a custom character sheet with a "quick gauge" for tracking your pool be somethign that would mitigate this in a satisfactory way?

I'm kind of thinking of offering free copies of both subscriptions to whomever could whip up the best custom character sheet for akashic characters in general....

Just spinning possibilities around at the moment. I like shifting modifiers and dancing on that narrow edge where you have to decide whether to keep or conserve your power.

The other possibility is that we change those class features into investable receptacles, bump the Pharaoh's Essence capacity, and go with the idea of the pharaoh investing Essence into his maneuvers as he prepares them to determine their effects and burning that Essence when the maneuver is expended. That'll make him less swingy but still kind of achieve a similar effect since he'll either need to burn multiple actions recovering that Essence or start shifting it from his other class features into his recovered maneuvers.


I have finished looking over the Pharaoh and I think it's very cool, though I may refer to it personally as the Solar cause a lot of the class just screams Exalted to me, especially the capstone ability, that is totally an exalts anima banner going totemic. I do have a question regarding the use of the familiar in regaining maneuvers. Why can you only regain 3 instead of a number equal to your initiation modifier like other initiating classes do?

Also will the Empty Pyramid discipline be getting format like the other disciplines, as I am not certain which maneuvers are boosts, counters, or stances. Lastly will the Pharaoh's stance progression be changed to reflect what other initiating classes will get in the compiled release of Path of War 1?


Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

Fair enough Ssalarn, then how about this alternate take?

"My owl familiar perches on my outstretched arm. It then sits and dips slightly forward while stretching out with its wings as its body hardens and feathers stiffen forming a makeshift buckler on my arm."


Ssalarn wrote:
The other possibility is that we change those class features into investable receptacles, bump the Pharaoh's Essence capacity, and go with the idea of the pharaoh investing Essence into his maneuvers as he prepares them to determine their effects and burning that Essence when the maneuver is expended. That'll make him less swingy but still kind of achieve a similar effect since he'll either need to burn multiple actions recovering that Essence or start shifting it from his other class features into his recovered maneuvers.

That would be pretty cool. Related question: will all Empty Pyramid maneuvers cause Essence Burn? With that remodel of the Pharaoh's class features in mind, there's some design space for maneuvers that recover Essence Burn, re-shift allocated Essence instantly, give temporary boosts to Essence receptacles, and so on.

Edit: I also really don't care about familiars, are there plans for an archetypes that trades it out for something else?

Paizo Employee Design Manager

Namaru wrote:

I have finished looking over the Pharaoh and I think it's very cool, though I may refer to it personally as the Solar cause a lot of the class just screams Exalted to me, especially the capstone ability, that is totally an exalts anima banner going totemic. I do have a question regarding the use of the familiar in regaining maneuvers. Why can you only regain 3 instead of a number equal to your initiation modifier like other initiating classes do?

That would be because he's still very much experimental and I needed a "test" number. That will likely change to initiator modifier in the near future.

Namaru wrote:


Also will the Empty Pyramid discipline be getting format like the other disciplines, as I am not certain which maneuvers are boosts, counters, or stances. Lastly will the Pharaoh's stance progression be changed to reflect what other initiating classes will get in the compiled release of Path of War 1?

Empty Pyramid will have a full list of formatted maneuvers. Currently he's just got the incomplete descriptive list. Remember, this is an incomplete, in process class being released crazy early as part of my thank you to everyone who's been coming in and contributing their feedback and reviews to the Akashic Mysteries playtest.

"Justin Sane wrote:

That would be pretty cool. Related question: will all Empty Pyramid maneuvers cause Essence Burn? With that remodel of the Pharaoh's class features in mind, there's some design space for maneuvers that recover Essence Burn, re-shift allocated Essence instantly, give temporary boosts to Essence receptacles, and so on.

Edit: I also really don't care about familiars, are there plans for an archetypes that trades it out for something else?

Yeah, I think if we go with that remodel we'll also be re-imagining what we want to see from some of those maneuvers.

There will definitely be archetypes and options for replacing the familiar. I think I'll also be adding a baseline bonded object / divine bond kind of feature that will allow the Pharaoh to select a weapon to use for recovery in place of the familiar. My thought was that he could a select a bonded weapon and apply a specific veil (like Armory of the Conqueror from the daevic list) and maybe store one counter separate from his normal readied maneuvers.


Ssalarn wrote:
My thought was that he could a select a bonded weapon and apply a specific veil (like Armory of the Conqueror from the daevic list) and maybe store one counter separate from his normal readied maneuvers.

The weapon moving by its own accord to protect its wielder? Awesomeness.


No worries Ssalarn, I caught your sarcasm earlier. Heka, the snake, kind of reminds me of the scarab familiar. It can be mobile and use some cool powers, or stiffen up, becoming gear.

As for more Daevic feedback:
I just realized that the Daevic is a 2+int skill point per level class. This makes it especially hard to play a Dominion Daevic for instance, when entering a political setting without dumping a lot of points in int (or rolling a good int).

Similarly, if the Desire Daevic wanted to get himself some nice dates, he would need to spend both his skill points on social skills, leaving him unable to sneak, steal, sense motive, or knowledge (local).

Also, Bluff is already a class skill for Daevics, so the Desire Daevic should get a different additional class skill.

Suggested fixes: Make the Daevic a 4+int skill point class or give the Daevic maximum ranks (up to their Daevic level) in the class skills provided by the passions.

Paizo Employee Design Manager

Adam B. 135 wrote:

No worries Ssalarn, I caught your sarcasm earlier. Heka, the snake, kind of reminds me of the scarab familiar. It can be mobile and use some cool powers, or stiffen up, becoming gear.

As for more Daevic feedback:
I just realized that the Daevic is a 2+int skill point per level class. This makes it especially hard to play a Dominion Daevic for instance, when entering a political setting without dumping a lot of points in int (or rolling a good int).

Similarly, if the Desire Daevic wanted to get himself some nice dates, he would need to spend both his skill points on social skills, leaving him unable to sneak, steal, sense motive, or knowledge (local).

Also, Bluff is already a class skill for Daevics, so the Desire Daevic should get a different additional class skill.

Suggested fixes: Make the Daevic a 4+int skill point class or give the Daevic maximum ranks (up to their Daevic level) in the class skills provided by the passions.

The Daevic was (and may be again) 4 + Int skills, I'm just nudging things here and there. I'm trying to avoid some of the negative press that the Path of War products have getting by making sure everything is lean, mean, and fit to be seen. Do you think that even with veil bonuses and the extra skill bonuses from the Passion Bond that he'll really still be too weak in the skills department? Put another way: do you think the Daevic would be better, worse, or on par with classes like the Cavalier, Paladin, Magus, and Gunslinger when it comes to out of combat facility? How much does that change with 4+?

(Also, I'll give Desire a new class skill.)


I think with the way the Daevic is set up now, it will be very good at the 2 or 3 skills the player will put ranks in. But when it comes to skills outside those 2-3, they will probably just use their ability modifier+whatever bonus their veil gives.
Also, a lot of the veils I find myself selecting end up being ones to help me out in combat. Some of them eventually phase out skills (Gorget of the Wyrm can make climb unneeded) but others are often combat modifiers like Daevic Aspect (competes with Essence of the Succubus, a great skill veil) and Heartsblood Caress+Lover's Tread are also great, but don't provide skill bonuses. Because of this, I don't often get skill bonuses on skills I don't put ranks into that are comparable to the DCs I might face.
Lover's Tread can totally be used in place of diplomacy, bluff, or other social skills for getting dates though.


I was looking over the Vizier again and was wondering something. Does the Vizier have a way to Detect Magic? I mean they have access to Analyze Dweomer and other similar abilities at higher levels, but I don't see anything about detecting magic. It's one of those spells/abilities that is pretty basic but at the same time vital. It's required to be able to use Spellcraft to identify magic items for example. That definitely seems like something the Vizier needs to be able to do.

It's very possible that I'm just blind and missed it in the description somewhere, but it's something I noticed.

-Kcinlive


It seems you edited your post, so I will reply again with a more detailed comparison to those other classes.

The cavalier in my experience playing one, and seeing others play one, is actually quite good at skills. All orders provide a situational 1/2 your level bonus to a skill. This is besides Expert Trainer, which can be incredibly useful depending on your campaign and also makes it easier to use Handle Animal to convince your mount that charging the undead monster is a good idea. Animal companions themselves can provide excellent skill bonuses (no player can jump like a horse companion, or have constant scent for amazing detection power).

Orders of note:
Sword: Half his level to Sense motive only when opposing Bluff.
Blue Rose: Half his level to diplomacy when mediating between two parties that do not include the Cavalier.
Staff: Can identify magic with his knowledge skills instead of needing spellcraft.
Shield: Half his level to heal checks.

All together, the Cavalier beats the current Daevic when it comes to out of combat power.

I can't argue that the Paladin is good at skills in any way. The current Daevic beats it for sure since it can gain bonuses in skills without putting ranks into them.

The Magi that my friends have played are often jacks of all trades, but only excel at dex and int based skills. Despite the 2+int, they end up with a lot of skill points like a wizard. Spells and cantrips have helped them a lot though when used creatively. Magus currently beats the Daevic, and I think it will give it a run for its money even at 4+int skill points.

Gunslingers are similar to magi from what I've seen in that they end up as jacks of all trades. They are better than most at perception though, if they are trying to get more grit. They don't have spells though. I think they would be more useful than the current Daevic out of combat in most areas. Obviously they can't beat access to Charm Person from Lover's Tread.

All together, if the Daevic was 4+int skill points, I think it would match the Magus, sometimes beat the Cavalier (depends on the order), trounce the Paladin, and beat the gunslinger (but not by a huge margin).

Paizo Employee Design Manager

Kcinlive wrote:

I was looking over the Vizier again and was wondering something. Does the Vizier have a way to Detect Magic? I mean they have access to Analyze Dweomer and other similar abilities at higher levels, but I don't see anything about detecting magic. It's one of those spells/abilities that is pretty basic but at the same time vital. It's required to be able to use Spellcraft to identify magic items for example. That definitely seems like something the Vizier needs to be able to do.

It's very possible that I'm just blind and missed it in the description somewhere, but it's something I noticed.

-Kcinlive

/facepalm

It used to be part of Eldritch Insight but got lost along the way somewhere apparently... I can't believe no one caught that before now. I'm gonna try and get it fixed before the release. Thanks for the catch!


With regards to the familiar, I would suggest something like a Pharaohs Bond to either an item or a familiar.

Face-masks and Rods are classic implements of rulership in Egypt and both would do well as bonded items.

Paizo Employee Design Manager

Andreas Rönnqvist wrote:

With regards to the familiar, I would suggest something like a Pharaohs Bond to either an item or a familiar.

Face-masks and Rods are classic implements of rulership in Egypt and both would do well as bonded items.

I was thinking something very similar.


Ssalarn wrote:
Andreas Rönnqvist wrote:

With regards to the familiar, I would suggest something like a Pharaohs Bond to either an item or a familiar.

Face-masks and Rods are classic implements of rulership in Egypt and both would do well as bonded items.

I was thinking something very similar.

That could be really rad. I am a little attached to the scarab myself though. Or at least it is attached to me.

Publisher, Dreamscarred Press

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By the way, the art for the Vizier is now up!

Paizo Employee Design Manager

Let me know what you all think. That's our iconic half-elf vizier with Dark Lord's Ring of Essence-Binding summoning up a servant while his feet are wreathed in the aura from Polar Snowshoes and a third veil glimmers on his brow.


The dude looks like a truly bad dude. Whoever this Joe Shawcross is, I think he nailed it. I am happy with his middle-aged look too. There are not enough iconics like that.

Paizo Employee Design Manager

Adam B. 135 wrote:
Ssalarn wrote:
Andreas Rönnqvist wrote:

With regards to the familiar, I would suggest something like a Pharaohs Bond to either an item or a familiar.

Face-masks and Rods are classic implements of rulership in Egypt and both would do well as bonded items.

I was thinking something very similar.
That could be really rad. I am a little attached to the scarab myself though. Or at least it is attached to me.

I love the scarab too. I was talking to Cheapy trying to figure out what I wanted to do as a recovery method for the Pharaoh and he goes "Well there's some Egyptian mythology tied to scarabs pushing the sun around and you've got Egyptian and sun themes in here so...."

And then I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

Paizo Employee Design Manager

Adam B. 135 wrote:
The dude looks like a truly bad dude. Whoever this Joe Shawcross is, I think he nailed it. I am happy with his middle-aged look too. There are not enough iconics like that.

One of my all-time favorite books is Winter Soldiers, by David Gemmel, a medieval fantasy story where a group of veterans is forcibly retired from the army they serve in but take on one last mission for their commander, who is also being pushed out the door. It's basically a story about a bunch of badass guys who are just over the hill staving off a Lord of the Rings style apocalypse. Where I'm going with this, is that old dudes are badass and I think adventurers who've obviously had some seasoning make sense and are a bit cooler. It's one of the reasons Quinn from the new ACG is probably my favorite iconic.


Well, it sounds like I should check out Winter Soldiers. I am pretty mad that my local bookstore got closed down, otherwise I could have the book today.

I am a huge fan of Black Company though. Not many young guys in sight in there.

Yeah, the Scarab probably makes the strongest case for the Pharoah. At least I think it does. Though if any part of the class were to be modular, I think the scarab should be it.

Paizo Employee Design Manager

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Adam B. 135 wrote:

Well, it sounds like I should check out Winter Soldiers. I am pretty mad that my local bookstore got closed down, otherwise I could have the book today.

I am a huge fan of Black Company though. Not many young guys in sight in there.

Yeah, the Scarab probably makes the strongest case for the Pharoah. At least I think it does. Though if any part of the class were to be modular, I think the scarab should be it.

Black Company is another great one. I think you may be aware of another project I'm working on for a different publisher that was inspired in part by that series....

Paizo Employee Design Manager

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Just thought I'd swing in and let you all know that layout is almost complete on the Vizier and we're planning on having both him and the subscription up in the very near future (like, probably closer to days than weeks, though I don't want to over-promise).

I'm going to tell you guys to buy the subscription if you're planning on picking any of these up anyways, not just for me (though I certainly don't mind getting paid ;P ) but because the more subscriptions we sell, the more art orders I get to place so we can get cool original art for things like the Gamla, Sobek, Suqur, Daevspawn, and all the other sweet akashic goodies like archetypes, magic items, and spells.

It also helps get everything positioned for us to roll right into the follow-up series and maybe plan crazy-wicked-cool art pieces like a suqur Pharaoh blocking a gnoll's flail with his scarab shield while ramming a javelin through his eye. Which only exists in my head right now, but could totally be real one day. Or maybe just getting ready to stab said gnoll since I know there's PG-13 clause in the OGL.


Man my wallet is yours.


I'm waiting patiently. Just say the word.

Paizo Employee Design Manager

Changelog:

Ability tags added to all Guru abilities.

Lucent Revivication updated to still require material component.

Devour Sin updated to note that Essence burn is not recovered if the target is immune to nonlethal damage.

Purify the Unclean clarified to be a free action taken before the modified attack.

Purify the Unclean clarified to only work in conjunction with gentle touch.

Wages of Sin update to note that the Sineater does not regain Essence if the target's save is successful.

Aether ties verbage cleaned up for greater clarity.

Aether infusion updated with an increased cost to the mirror image ability.

Leaf on the Wind updated to sync better with the normal increments used to determine falling damage.

Breath of the East Wind clarified to note that the alter winds effect moves with the vayist.

Chakra Disruption updated to note that a target cannot suffer more than one disruption at a time.

Sever the Flow updated to remove conflicting information in the description; this ability does not affect worn magical items.


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It all looks good on the Guru front. This new verbage for Aether Ties is very clear. I really wish I had more to say, but I can't find anything that I disagree with and I can't find mistakes. I guess this is a job for professional editors.

Nice job Ssalarn. Man, I wish I was DMing a game right now to use these guys.

Paizo Employee Design Manager

Ssalarn wrote:
Adam B. 135 wrote:
The dude looks like a truly bad dude. Whoever this Joe Shawcross is, I think he nailed it. I am happy with his middle-aged look too. There are not enough iconics like that.
One of my all-time favorite books is Winter Soldiers, by David Gemmel, a medieval fantasy story where a group of veterans is forcibly retired from the army they serve in but take on one last mission for their commander, who is also being pushed out the door. It's basically a story about a bunch of badass guys who are just over the hill staving off a Lord of the Rings style apocalypse. Where I'm going with this, is that old dudes are badass and I think adventurers who've obviously had some seasoning make sense and are a bit cooler. It's one of the reasons Quinn from the new ACG is probably my favorite iconic.

I had a serious facepalm moment when I realized that right after referring to it as one of my all time favorite books, I misquoted the name of Winter Warriors as Winter Soldiers.

I blame Captain America.


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Yeah, when we went to the bookstore to look for it we had some trouble. Fortunatly you also posted the author and we cleared it up! Wasn't in stock, so we gotta mail order.


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Winter Warriors is a fantastic piece. I can recommend all Gemmell books.


Andreas Rönnqvist wrote:
I can recommend all Gemmell books.

Especially the one where Druss has to come down off the mountain to help in a war.

Or the one where Druss has to come down off the mountain to help in a war.

There's also a good one where Druss has to come down off the mountain to help in a war (and it's sequel, where...)

I kid, I kid. I have a bunch of Gemmell on my shelves and they're not accidental.

That said, two words: Joe Abercrombie.

Paizo Employee Design Manager

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Anguish wrote:
Andreas Rönnqvist wrote:
I can recommend all Gemmell books.

Especially the one where Druss has to come down off the mountain to help in a war.

Or the one where Druss has to come down off the mountain to help in a war.

There's also a good one where Druss has to come down off the mountain to help in a war (and it's sequel, where...)

I kid, I kid. I have a bunch of Gemmell on my shelves and they're not accidental.

That said, two words: Joe Abercrombie.

Gemmel leaves me feeling like the world is the kind of place where good men can make a difference. Abercrombie makes me want to renew my concealed carry permit and live in the mountains, foraging out only long enough to obtain food and books while keeping a wary eye on everyone around me. They're both really good, but I find I'm at a point in my life where I prefer Gemmel's heroic high fantasy to Abercrombie's gritty "we're all just animals who f#%@ and kill and sometimes we've got good reasons for doing what we do". Maybe it's because I'm getting married and my mind just wants to be more receptive to positivity.

After we all had this conversation I actually had to go and pull my copy of Winter Warriors off the shelf and reread it; not only is it one of my favorite stories, I actually drew quite a bit of inspiration from it for some other projects I've been working on when my brain needs a reset from akasha. Sometimes you need to go look at the game from a different angle to re-stimulate the creative juices.

It also got me thinking about writing up an akashic monster that's created when a daevic's bond is corrupted and becomes parasitic instead of symbiotic, with the daeva literally devouring its mortal host and slowly replacing its biological matter with veils and akashic constructs... I feel like there's something cool there.


I think I will just try Gemmel then. I try to maintain a positive outlook. I doubt people would want a nurse with such a negative outlook on life anyway. Sorry Abercrombie!

And that parasite daeva sounds too cool to exist. I'd love to see some kind of mini bestiary in the akashic mysteries books.


Ssalarn wrote:
Gemmel leaves me feeling like the world is the kind of place where good men can make a difference. Abercrombie makes me want to renew my concealed carry permit and live in the mountains, foraging out only long enough to obtain food and books while keeping a wary eye on everyone around me. They're both really good, but I find I'm at a point in my life where I prefer Gemmel's heroic high fantasy to Abercrombie's gritty "we're all just animals who f$+# and kill and sometimes we've got good reasons for doing what we do". Maybe it's because I'm getting married and my mind just wants to be more receptive to positivity.

I hear you. Abercrombie's characters are so very, very flawed. There are no heroes. Just men who survive.

Quote:
After we all had this conversation I actually had to go and pull my copy of Winter Warriors off the shelf and reread it; not only is it one of my favorite stories, I actually drew quite a bit of inspiration from it for some other projects I've been working on when my brain needs a reset from akasha. Sometimes you need to go look at the game from a different angle to re-stimulate the creative juices.

Okay, okay, I just got off my lazy butt and checked my shelf*. Turns out I have that one. I'll re-read it after... uh... the two books I'm in the middle of and your vizier PDF.

*I've got a gaming room with something like twenty feet of bookshelf down one wall. I had to go to an Android book cataloging program because I've been also doing ePubs for a few years and when it comes time to buy physical paper books for the library, I can't tell anymore if I've got them by reading the back cover. I've bought too many only to find they're on the shelf, and had to give the dupes away. (I don't take books back... gifting them is a} my punishment and b} the right thing to do.) I'm at 598 random paperback/trade books, with one more shelf of those to go. This ignores my wife's collection, my non-fiction and reference stuff, and the bookshelf full of RPG materials.


Adam B. 135 wrote:
I think I will just try Gemmel then. I try to maintain a positive outlook. I doubt people would want a nurse with such a negative outlook on life anyway. Sorry Abercrombie!

Adam, if you've got time on your hands and a little coin to burn, picking up The Blade Itself is worth your time still. It's the first of a trilogy, but it's the best of his works. Reads very much like a well-written campaign log.

What Sslarn is talking about is that - for instance - one of the main characters is Logen "Ninefingers". He's the classic poster-boy for the barbarian class. He's this guy who honestly, truly means well. He's wise, circumspect, canny, but literally loses track of everything in a pitched fight. Friends? Foes? No, they're just... meat. So he's a guy who's got more regrets than he has friends, but is utterly, completely likeable. You really feel for this guy who clearly has a problem in his wiring. Logen can't be a hero because he's an inherent danger to those he might try to protect.

Most of the characters are sympathetic in that you can feel for them as people. They're not perfect, and none of them are shining examples of altruism. But they're written very evocatively.

Personally my biggest gripe with Abercrombie's work is that I (after something like seven books in his setting now) can't feel for the different factions. The Northmen versus the Union versus those other guys versus whoever else... they're all just men. The setting isn't Joe's focus... the people are, so I always get a sense of "it doesn't matter what side you're on, there are good people and bad people everwhere, so it doesn't matter".

Anyway, really, they're worth a try.


I am pretty jealous Anguish. That book setup you have is very similar to my own book owning goal. I have always wanted a massive shelf just for the books I have read and wish to read.

Though your gripe sounds appealing to me. I always love a character focus. Sometimes, the setting is not so important to me unless the characters spend a lot of time interacting with it instead of each other. I will check out my book store for The Blade Itself. Hopefully Barnes and Noble won't suck this time. In the mean time, I have Nemesis by Larry Correia to keep me occupied.


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Quick update.

I've been working on the Vizier PDF Jeremy sent me fairly casually since he's busy and was talking about a post-GenCon release. I am half done, just to give reference.

So far things have been reasonable clean aside from some formatting issues Ssalarn and I discussed. It's nice to have input that wasn't written by a room full of monkeys. I'm sure I'll be done no more than a week from now.


Reasonbly. Sigh.

Paizo Employee Design Manager

Anguish wrote:

Quick update.

I've been working on the Vizier PDF Jeremy sent me fairly casually since he's busy and was talking about a post-GenCon release. I am half done, just to give reference.

So far things have been reasonable clean aside from some formatting issues Ssalarn and I discussed. It's nice to have input that wasn't written by a room full of monkeys. I'm sure I'll be done no more than a week from now.

You're a champ my friend. Thank you.


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Can't wait to see this completed. Looks really, really cool.

Paizo Employee Design Manager

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The Ragi wrote:
Can't wait to see this completed. Looks really, really cool.

Thank you!

The .pdf for the Vizier should be coming out shortly after GenCon wraps, and I've got updates for the other materials that I'll posting shortly.

When the Vizer goes up for sale we'll also have a subscription option that will include the Guru, Daevic, and Prestige Classes and Archetypes, in that order.


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Now for the agonizing wait for Gencon to end. I can't wait to get that subscription.

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