[Amora Game] Bevy of Blades

[Amora Game]

Bevy of Blades contains 4 classes designed by Brian Moran.
Each of these classes centers on the summoning and use of a specific blade and the quarks that go with it.

The Aether Blade forms his weapon from the raw magic around him. His force of personality allows him to produce a myriad of with different auras. The ability to meld his blade with an item, also allows for him to bond with a wand, staff, or rod.

Light shining upon all things is always mirrored by a darkness. Pulling from its effects the Shadow Blade uses this shapeless form to her advantage. Able to strike unexpectedly from the shadows, she learns shroud secrets of the past and conjurers dark revelations.

Nature calls to rangers and druids to protect and serve the wilds, while a Verdant Blade is a blessed champion of nature. Given the secrets of the woad weapon, she discovers various types of seeds that can grow into different effects. Fused with nature, she is able to temporary create makeshift items and harness the power of a treant.

With his sanguineous sword, a Vital Blade draws his power from his own blood. He gains the ability to store excess blood to form a blood pool, which in turn fuels natural born talents. Harnessing his blood allows the vital blade take advantage of the many options granted from his weeping weapon ability.

This product will contain 4 Martial classes with the unique ability to use specialty weapons in new ways, archetype for each of the new base classes, feats, and even favored racial trait options.

Coming to digital stores this week.

[Brian M Moran]

Woot! It's finally here.:) Thank you so very much for posting this product notification Greg (aka Amora Game).

Now that we have that out of the way I would like to introduce myself. As you already know my name is Brian and I am the author of the above mentioned book. Greg has done an excellent job in summarizing the contents. However, if there are any questions please feel free to ask and I will try my best to answer them.

Cheers
Brian

[The Ragi]

You're a blue + yellow expansion away from a super sentai group.

What are the mechanics like? Pool point, daily powers, or something more exotic like maneuvers or incarnum?

What kind of blades are available to be summoned? Everything slashing, maybe some of the piercing? Or is it more of a unique weapon, instead of a mystical version of a regular one?

[Brian M Moran]

The Ragi wrote:

You're a blue + yellow expansion away from a super sentai group.

Thanks for the chuckle.:)

The Ragi wrote:

What are the mechanics like? Pool point, daily powers, or something more exotic like maneuvers or incarnum?

It's a mixed bag to be honest. Vital blades use a pool while aether blades gain some daily powers as well as aura-like affects. As far as exotic goes ... well lets just say that one class (read Verdant Blade) is capable of implanting seeds into victims struck by their woad weapon.:p

The Ragi wrote:

What kind of blades are available to be summoned? Everything slashing, maybe some of the piercing? Or is it more of a unique weapon, instead of a mystical version of a regular one?

The creation of the personal weapon is different for each class. However, the Shadow Blade does not "summon" a weapon, instead he imbues his weapons with the powers of darkness and shadows.

Also, please note that there is a 5 page preview located here.

Cheers
Brian

[Amora Game]

And BoB has arrived here on Paizo.

[Insain Dragoon]

No review yet, but I had a small question about the Verdant Blade and Vital Blade.

Canvas of Cuts on Vital Blade is a bonus to natural armor while Arboreal Armor on the Verdant Blade is an enhancement bonus to natural armor. Is it intentional that they grant different kinds of bonuses? The difference in wording makes the Vital Blade benefit from Canvas of Cuts+an amulet of natural armor while the Verdant Blade cannot benefit from an Amulet of natural armor.

Also the Shadow Blade's Hide in Plain Sight option comes in at 16th level while most Hide in Plain Sight abilities from Paizo and other 3PP come in between 7th and 11th level. Most campaigns don't last till 16th level, so it would be super cool if it could be dropped to at somewhere in the 7-11 range.

[Brian M Moran]

Insain Dragoon wrote:

Canvas of Cuts on Vital Blade is a bonus to natural armor while Arboreal Armor on the Verdant Blade is an enhancement bonus to natural armor. Is it intentional that they grant different kinds of bonuses? The difference in wording makes the Vital Blade benefit from Canvas of Cuts+an amulet of natural armor while the Verdant Blade cannot benefit from an Amulet of natural armor.

Whelp ... I have no idea how I managed to miss that one! Good catch Insain Dragoon. Canvas of Cuts should be an enhancement bonus. This will be revised.

Insain Dragoon wrote:

Also the Shadow Blade's Hide in Plain Sight option comes in at 16th level while most Hide in Plain Sight abilities from Paizo and other 3PP come in between 7th and 11th level. Most campaigns don't last till 16th level, so it would be super cool if it could be dropped to at somewhere in the 7-11 range.

I recall in my playtests that the ability was originally available at 12th level. However, it made for a potent combination when combined with fullplate a greatsword and a meanstreak a mile long.;) I would absolutely understand if folks wanted to lower the requirement (lets say to 12th level) for their own games. This also keeps the ability more inline with the ranger (another stealthy full BAB class) which also gains Hide in Plain Sight albeit at 17th level.

Cheers
Brian

[Insain Dragoon]

In Dreamscarred Press publications the Cryptic gets it at 10th, the Shroud Marksman at 7th, and the War Soul Soulknife can get it at 8th level.

Drop Dead Studios gets it at 10th for Fey Adept (while close to dim light).

Rite Publishing and Mark Seifter's Masquerade Reveler can do it as early as 5th level.

This isn't a complete list, but I believe that other 3PP have classes or feats to access Hide in Plain Sight significantly earlier than 17th level. Many would consider this class feature to be the class feature to be effective at stealth since without it sneaking becomes near impossible in many cinematic situations.

Paizo isn't the only stick to measure your materials by since the third party market has a will completely separate from the first party market, but even Paizo seems to have realized how important this feature is as the Slayer can get access to Hide in Plain Sight at 10th level using Slayer Camouflage. If they made an Unchained Ranger I wouldn't be surprised if HiPS got moved up to level 10-12.

-------------------------------

I really like the classes presented in this book :) Also I like that the archetypes offer a different style of play for each of the classes. If I were to add anything it would be either some new spells for the Verdant Blade or a couple discounted spells since the Druid list 1-4 isn't renowned for its strength. Also Bloodrager style caster level would be a nice little boon since the most useful Druid spells are all about their long duration.

[Brian M Moran]

Insain Dragoon wrote:

In Dreamscarred Press publications the Cryptic gets it at 10th, the Shroud Marksman at 7th, and the War Soul Soulknife can get it at 8th level.

Drop Dead Studios gets it at 10th for Fey Adept (while close to dim light).

Rite Publishing and Mark Seifter's Masquerade Reveler can do it as early as 5th level.

This isn't a complete list, but I believe that other 3PP have classes or feats to access Hide in Plain Sight significantly earlier than 17th level. Many would consider this class feature to be the class feature to be effective at stealth since without it sneaking becomes near impossible in many cinematic situations.

Paizo isn't the only stick to measure your materials by since the third party market has a will completely separate from the first party market, but even Paizo seems to have realized how important this feature is as the Slayer can get access to Hide in Plain Sight at 10th level using Slayer Camouflage. If they made an Unchained Ranger I wouldn't be surprised if HiPS got moved up to level 10-12.

I can understand what you mean Insain Dragoon. You've made an excellent point. However, in this case "the" main schtick of the class is the ability to move around and stealth while wearing heavy armour. I believe that this has been accomplished. The Slayer obtains it earlier due to it being a hybrid class. When these classes were originally created hybrids didn't exist so I measured their overall power to the base/core classes. Obviously this was only to try and gauge the relative strength of each new class.

In truth this has piqued my spidy senses. I will speak of this to AG.

Insain Dragoon wrote:

I really like the classes presented in this book :) Also I like that the archetypes offer a different style of play for each of the classes. If I were to add anything it would be either some new spells for the Verdant Blade or a couple discounted spells since the Druid list 1-4 isn't renowned for its strength. Also Bloodrager style caster level would be a nice little boon since the most useful Druid spells are all about their long duration.

Very happy you like the classes. Just an FYI, the Verdant Blade might be getting a slight update. Going to tweak it slightly in order to better align it with my vision of what the class should be.

Cheers
Brian

[Amora Game]

"Brian Moran’s Bevy of Blades is an interesting pdf in that it shows a capacity to handle pretty complex concepts." - Endzeitgeist

Congratulations Brian, you have your first Endzeitgeist review with us here at Amora Game!

Review on his site. Knowing his mod op, it will be posted tomorrow here on the Paizo, OBS, and then OGS.