The PDF version ($10.95US) of Strategists & Tacticians by Ryan Costello, Jr. is now available at DriveThruRPG/OBS and Your Games Now, and it will be available soon here at Paizo.com!
In about 2 weeks, the print edition will be available here at Paizo.com and also at Indie Press Revolution. Look for a pre-order announcement soon.
Robert
4WFG
Well how soon is soon for Paizo? :)
As soon as it is reviewed and approved by the Paizo staff. Hopefully tomorrow. :D
This line took my mind to a place I am sure you didn't mean for, but it made me laugh.
New combat maneuvers allow you to throat hostages, sever limbs, choke your enemies, or take advantage of a free off-hand.
LOL! No, not quite what was meant. :D
It is also available via Print-on-Demand at Lulu.com.
Robert
4WFG
I read throught the PDF last night, and thought it was pretty damn good. Ryan should be proud of this one.
PDF now available here at Paizo.com!
I thought the Righteous Rager was interesting, the Landshark had some definitely great touches, the Butcher seems like serious bad news for anyone who opposes them, and the Armor Bonded had a kind of anime / cyborg feel to it.
I dunno ... I'm a bit skeptical on this. After all, how can you believe a lying bastard?
;)
I dunno ... I'm a bit skeptical on this. After all, how can you believe a lying bastard?
;)
I think you already made this joke. I know someone did.
But seriously? Very good book if you're in a combat-heavy campaign. Good book to have in any event.
I dunno ... I'm a bit skeptical on this. After all, how can you believe a lying bastard?
;)
I think you already made this joke. I know someone did.
But seriously? Very good book if you're in a combat-heavy campaign. Good book to have in any event.
It probably was me. I know it's b(eco)ming cliche, but I tend to recycle. :P
I'd love to check it out. Other than what I got in the Haiti bundle a little while ago that I just got around to downloading everything yesterday, I've yet to actually review a 4WFG product. Despite positive reviews on other content, the price point isn't quite where it's at for me to make the jump yet. Perhaps soon. :D
Paizo should have print copies in their warehouse sometime on Friday. Hopefully they'll have them listed for sale by Monday.
Robert
4WFG
Paizo should have print copies in their warehouse sometime on Friday. Hopefully they'll have them listed for sale by Monday.
Robert
4WFG
Great!
Congrats to Ryan! He has been talking about his project for so long on 3.5 Private Sanctuary & Know Direction podcasts, so now is the time to rejoice! I already purchased my PDF copy, and I will eagerly devour its pages in the next minutes. (This is a metaphor, I am no manuscript-eating maniac) :-)
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I already purchased my PDF copy, and I will eagerly devour its pages in the next minutes. (This is a metaphor, I am no manuscript-eating maniac) :-)
I'm glad it's a metaphor, or you'd need to explain to me how you devour PDF pages. :)
Thanks for the support, martzgfx. Let me know what you think when you're done.
Congratulations Ryan!
Very much want to grab this, but I'm waiting for the print edition... I think ().
Congratulations Ryan!
Very much want to grab this, but I'm waiting for the print edition... I think ().
Print copies should be in the Paizo warehouse today. Hopefully they'll have them listed by Monday.
Robert
4WFG
Many thanks to Kvantum for the 4-out-of-5 stars review!
This release has favourably impressed me re: other 4Winds' releases.
Great!Paizo should have print copies in their warehouse sometime on Friday. Hopefully they'll have them listed for sale by Monday.
Robert
4WFG
Print still isn't listed here at Paizo yet. Hopefully soon.
Robert
4WFG
Print edition is now available here at Paizo.com!
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Ordered the print edition now that its available here at Paizo, and I have to say I'm extremely surprised with the product, in a good way.
Its one of the better third party products I've seen for Pathfinder, and I especially liked the feats and Combat Maneuvers sections of the book.
My only wishes from the product are the the art and presentation. I wish there was more art in the book, and the quality ranges from "Good" to "Clip Art." I know first hand that Art = Expensive, but a kid can dream, can't he?
I have a question about the open content in the book: reading the open content statement at the beginning, it seems to be... extremely broad. Could you clear up which sections are open content?
Ordered the print edition now that its available here at Paizo, and I have to say I'm extremely surprised with the product, in a good way.
Its one of the better third party products I've seen for Pathfinder, and I especially liked the feats and Combat Maneuvers sections of the book.
My only wishes from the product are the the art and presentation. I wish there was more art in the book, and the quality ranges from "Good" to "Clip Art." I know first hand that Art = Expensive, but a kid can dream, can't he?
I have a question about the open content in the book: reading the open content statement at the beginning, it seems to be... extremely broad. Could you clear up which sections are open content?
Thanks for ordering! We appreciate it!
As for the open content, essentially any text that is not a proper name is Open Content in S&T. All of the class options, new classes, alternate classes, feats, spells, prestige classes, combat maneuvers and prosthetics are Open Content.
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My only wishes from the product are the the art and presentation. I wish there was more art in the book, and the quality ranges from "Good" to "Clip Art." I know first hand that Art = Expensive, but a kid can dream, can't he?
Glad to hear you're a satisfied customer, Perram. But I'm surprised to hear the art didn't meet your expectations. As art director, Hugo managed to stretch the art budget extremely far without, in my opinion, compromising on the quality. When we were budgeting S&T, I dared not dream that each prestige class would receive an iconic, but Hugo managed to get that and more.
As for the open content, essentially any text that is not a proper name is Open Content in S&T. All of the class options, new classes, alternate classes, feats, spells, prestige classes, combat maneuvers and prosthetics are Open Content.
I didn't even realize. Good for you, Robert. Books like S&T are made possible by the Open Game License and yet so many third party publishers shy away from returning the favour and opening their content. I think this is 100% the right decision.
There's very little that we at 4WFG produce that isn't Open Content. There are a few things here or there, but really we keep a lot open because it's things like the OGL allow us to even operate. Kind of makes you want to say "gamers of the world unite" or the like.
Sean
4WFG
As for the open content, essentially any text that is not a proper name is Open Content in S&T. All of the class options, new classes, alternate classes, feats, spells, prestige classes, combat maneuvers and prosthetics are Open Content.I didn't even realize. Good for you, Robert. Books like S&T are made possible by the Open Game License and yet so many third party publishers shy away from returning the favour and opening their content. I think this is 100% the right decision.
I'm glad you pointed out the irony. ;)
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My only wishes from the product are the the art and presentation. I wish there was more art in the book, and the quality ranges from "Good" to "Clip Art." I know first hand that Art = Expensive, but a kid can dream, can't he?
Glad to hear you're a satisfied customer, Perram. But I'm surprised to hear the art didn't meet your expectations. As art director, Hugo managed to stretch the art budget extremely far without, in my opinion, compromising on the quality. When we were budgeting S&T, I dared not dream that each prestige class would receive an iconic, but Hugo managed to get that and more.
I didn't even realize. Good for you, Robert. Books like S&T are made possible by the Open Game License and yet so many third party publishers shy away from returning the favour and opening their content. I think this is 100% the right decision.
As for the open content, essentially any text that is not a proper name is Open Content in S&T. All of the class options, new classes, alternate classes, feats, spells, prestige classes, combat maneuvers and prosthetics are Open Content.
Ignore this -> Hugo's art are actually my favorite pieces, I'm just spoiled by Paizo's art and layout, I admit. <- Ignore this.
I think I'll retract my earlier comment about the art, having gotten home and given the product another once over it is actually rather well filled.
The image of the wizard with the flaming sword near the footnote in the Prestige Classes section was throwing my perception of the rest off the art off.
The image of the wizard with the flaming sword near the footnote in the Prestige Classes section was throwing my perception of the rest off the art off.
Keep in mind that he's supposed to be cartoony. He (the Forgetful Wizard is his name) actually appears in all of our books, and is a bit of a mascot, but not intended as "serious art".
Robert
4WFG
I didn't even realize. Good for you, Robert. Books like S&T are made possible by the Open Game License and yet so many third party publishers shy away from returning the favour and opening their content. I think this is 100% the right decision.
Generally, our Open Content statement is modeled after Paizo's, and refers to anything not a proper name, not a trademark, not trade dress, etc being Open. It's less cumbersome than listing everything that is Open Content. On the rare occasion something has not been Open (as with the Flying Feather in Gear & Treasure) it is specifically designated as being Product Identity.
But, yeah, we try to do as much Open Content as possible, just like Paizo. That's what allows us to be a 3PP, so we have to repay the favor.
Robert
There's very little that we at 4WFG produce that isn't Open Content. There are a few things here or there, but really we keep a lot open because it's things like the OGL allow us to even operate. Kind of makes you want to say "gamers of the world unite" or the like.
Sean
4WFG
I actually imagine that Albion Armitage's Astounding Arsenal will have the most closed content of any of our products, simply because of the number of proper names and place names in it.
The image of the wizard with the flaming sword near the footnote in the Prestige Classes section was throwing my perception of the rest off the art off.Ah, that's the Forgetful Wizard, 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming's mascot. He finds his way into every one of their releases.
The image of the wizard with the flaming sword near the footnote in the Prestige Classes section was throwing my perception of the rest off the art off.Keep in mind that he's supposed to be cartoony. He (the Forgetful Wizard is his name) actually appears in all of our books, and is a bit of a mascot, but not intended as "serious art".
Robert
4WFG
JINX!
But, yeah, we try to do as much Open Content as possible, just like Paizo. That's what allows us to be a 3PP, so we have to repay the favor.
Very commendable of you. :)
Looked thru my pdf today. Wow. This may be 4Winds best product yet and thats saying something
Looked thru my pdf today. Wow. This may be 4Winds best product yet and thats saying something
Wow! Glad you like it!
Looked thru my pdf today. Wow. This may be 4Winds best product yet and thats saying somethingWow! Glad you like it!
The art work was the best yet for one of your products. I liked most of the Prestige classes and the feats. The alternate class features were generally OK same with the spells. Nothing leaped out at me as being either uber-cool or bad.
I absoultely loved the schooled bard. Its an excellent class.
And the book has that 4 Winds whimsy that is present in your other books
Nice job!
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But so far from what I have read I would rated it as the second best 4 wind product. I still like Luven's better.
That's my overall assessment, too. Needed a bit of balance work on the feats and some of the PrCs needed another pass through editing for typos and such. In terms of feats, I don't like the "add a second stat's bonus to Initiative as well as Dex" ones - makes a Monk with a +14 init at level 10 too easy. Then there's another little thing that bugs me - there isn't one of those feats for Charisma. Are Sorcerers just supposed to always go last in a campaign that uses this book?
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In terms of feats, I don't like the "add a second stat's bonus to Initiative as well as Dex" ones - makes a Monk with a +14 init at level 10 too easy. Then there's another little thing that bugs me - there isn't one of those feats for Charisma. Are Sorcerers just supposed to always go last in a campaign that uses this book?
That came about after seven years of only one option to fill the "misc modifier" space next to Initiative. I thought there had to be something that can make a character quicker to react beyond just Improved Initiative. I didn't go out of my way to neglect Charisma, it was just the only one I couldn't work out the flavour for. Maybe "show a bit of leg"?
Although there is the chance that a player dedicates all his 10th level Monk's feats to building a +14 init, that sounds like a really boring Monk to play to me.
...some of the PrCs needed another pass through editing for typos and such.
A typo here or there is unavoidable, but you did call it out in your review too. I'd be surprised to hear that there were that many typos that got past me and Connie. Can you be more specific?
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Although there is the chance that a player dedicates all his 10th level Monk's feats to building a +14 init, that sounds like a really boring Monk to play to me.
Ryan, all you would need to pick is Improved Initiative and Battlefield Intuition. Starting stat array of 12 Str, 15 (17 with racial +2) Dex, 13 Con, 10 Int, 14 Wis, 8 Cha, means just a human monk 1 with Improved Initiative and Battlefield Intuition could have a +9 Initiative modifier at 1st level. Add in 1 Dex increase from levels and the 8,000 gp for belt of Dex +2 and a Headband of Wisdom +2 could give you an Init mod of +12 as early as 5th level (10,500 gp total gear) technically, but 6th (16,000) or 7th (23,500) might be more realistic. The 62,000 gp worth of gear at level 10 would let this monk increase the belt and headband to +4 each, giving you the +14 init mod, for just the price of two feats
If you really want to take things to the absurd, you could look at a 20th level monk with +4 inherrent bonuses to Str, Dex, and Wis, and all 5 of his level up points added to Dex, along with +6 enhancement bonuses to those three stats. 12 Str +4 inherrent +6 enhancement = 22, 17 Dex +5 levels +4 inherrent +6 enchancement = 32, 14 Wis +4 inherrent +6 enchancement = 28. For the price of three (adding in Muscle Reaction as well as Imp Init and Battlefield Intuition) of his 11 total non-bonus feats, this human monk could have an initiative modifier of +30!
...some of the PrCs needed another pass through editing for typos and such.A typo here or there is unavoidable, but you did call it out in your review too. I'd be surprised to hear that there were that many typos that got past me and Connie. Can you be more specific?
OK, let me go through class by class, and give you a more thorough version of my reactions to each one as well.
Armor Bonded - I like this one, I just kind of wonder why you didn't put the grafts at every even level like rogue talents, spacing out the other class abilities accordingly. The way they're split right now it almost feels like two closely related 5-level classes. There aren't any specific typos I can see, just things where more of a clarification needed. The armor bonus from Girth as it is written now wouldn't stack with the bonus from the armor that the Armor Bonded is wearing. Maybe shift this to a natural armor bonus, or else spell it out more specifically as an increase to the existing armor's bonus. The Metal Veins graft might be a bit problematic in some campaigns, too. I recognize the pseudo-warforged kind of thing you're going for, but that short of a description is just setting GMs up for trouble down the road. If it's just simply changing the PC's type in return for half effectiveness of healing spells without any of the other benefits and/or drawbacks of the Construct type, it's better to spell it out than just leaving it up to the GM to assume one way or the other. Also, you might think about having the Wings grafts grant Fly as a class skill.
Blood Caster - a well-done blood mage, but still just another blood mage. We've seen several versions of this one before, although I do like the hp as mp idea. Just less likely to be used by a spontaneous caster who already has more spells per day than a wizard or other prepared caster. No typos of note.
Butcher - I'm not so sure how I feel about the severing of limbs as a matter of routine in combat, but I would think that a severing attack would have to do damage as well as cutting off a limb. Maybe adjust it to nonlethal damage from the severing hit, then Numbing and Painful Sever stack on top of that (?). Anyway, no real typos, but I think you might want to up the DC of Dazing Slice to 10 + Butcher class levels + Int mod, otherwise most monsters at CR 13-14~ish will be able to easily make that save. (I'm assuming a Fighter 5/Rogue 2 as a start to the class with a 14 or so Int, so only a DC of 15 with the original DC calculation, vs. a 19 with mine. This is all AFTER you beat a CMB vs. CMD check - it's going to be hard enough to trigger the monsters even having to roll the save after all.)
Crowd Displeaser - Funny idea, I like it. There's definitely a typo on the table, though - you're still using the 3.5 good progression for the Ref save. Also, with the DCs for the various Displeasing Performance abilities, you need to decide on the exact wording. "1/2 crowd displeaser's level" isn't really specific enough. Do you mean 1/2 character level or 1/2 class level, and if the latter I again might recommend adjusting it to full class levels so there's an actual chance of the abilities coming into play.
Daredevil - I like this one a lot. Only real critique I might make is that from what I've seen "Parkour" is the more commonly used spelling for the sport/physical discipline/artform of free running, not "Parcours". No typos I noticed.
Expert Fighter - I really don't get the purpose of this class at all. Why take this class over the same number of levels in Fighter? An extra combat feat vs. Bravery +1 and Armor Training 1. I mean, I can see how some character builds might benefit, but why a whole new prestige class for it? It just feels like a mechanical shift masquerading as a prestige class, to be totally honest. No typos of note, though.
Holy Striker - I LOVE this one. Thank you for finally, FINALLY giving the 3e D&D and Pathfinder universe a Fighter/Cleric hybrid PrC that actually has flavorful class abilities and isn't just "full BAB and caster levels". I don't think it's quite as useful as you claim, though, to Cleric/barbarians, cleric/rangers, or cleric/rogues - too few skill points to easily keep up with both base classes' skill demands, plus I would expect either rage, favored enemy or terrain, or sneak attack progression, respectively, to truly make a cleric hybrid with these classes viable. (Though you do negate my cleric/barbarian argument later on it the chapter.) No noticeable typos, though I might wonder if Godspeed is usable a few too many times per day. Perhaps 1/3 class levels/day instead of 1/class level/day? Quickened spells are a very powerful tool in the hands of PCs, and think of how much damage a Holy Striker with the Destruction domain could do.
There, that's the first half. I'll get to the other 7 classes in a second post, assuming the boards don't eat this one.
pointing out a lot of things that aren't truly "typos"
As the editor of this product, I feel I have to say something here. A typo, as defined by Wikipedia, WordNet Search 3.0, and Merriam-Webster Online, among others, is a typographical error, such as in spelling, due to a slip of the hand or fingers of the typist, or other mechanical failure. "Or" when "of" is intended, or "43" when "42" is the correct number, is a typo.
Nothing that you've pointed out so far in your breakdown of Chapter 2, prestige class by prestige class, is a typo. Something that you think could be worded better is not a typo.
The Reflex save progression on the crowd displeaser is at most a design flaw (though I'm assuming Ryan intended it to be the way it is). A typo in that table would have been something like a Ref save of +3 at level 4, +4 at level 5, and back down to +3 at level 6.
I'm not sure how "1/2 crowd displeaser's level" is not specific enough. Any other class feature in the core rulebook is worded that way; for example, the DC on the cleric's channel energy ability is stated as "10 + 1/2 the cleric's level + the cleric's Cha modifier". If the class name is stated, it refers to the levels in that class; if it says simply "character level", then you would use the full character level.
"Parcours" is the original French spelling from which "parkour" is derived. Using that spelling is not a typo.
I realize I may be sounding anal and/or defensive here, but when a review is put out saying there are "unfortunate typos" in something, but there actually aren't, that gives the reader of the review a false impression of our product. Granted, your review is otherwise glowing, and we greatly appreciate it! And if you had simply said, "I don't like the way some things were worded," and given examples, that would be just fine - that's your opinion, and I won't dispute it. But saying there are "unfortunate typos", when there aren't (at least none that you have pointed out, and if you do find an "if" instead of "it" that made it past Ryan, Robert, and myself, I don't consider that unfortunate), whether as a simple matter of incorrect semantics or an attempt at brevity (I do realize you're limited in reviews for word count), is something I have to take exception to. :-)
Connie Thomson
4WFG
...some of the PrCs needed another pass through editing for typos and such.A typo here or there is unavoidable, but you did call it out in your review too. I'd be surprised to hear that there were that many typos that got past me and Connie. Can you be more specific?OK, let me go through class by class, and give you a more thorough version of my reactions to each one as well.
Those aren't typos.
Well, then how about the BAB progressions for the Pikeman, Righteous Rager, and Roughhouse? They're all
1 +1
2 +2
3 +3
4 +2
5 +2
6 +3
7 +3
8 +4
9 +4
10 +5I'm assuming you meant them all to be full BAB classes, but something got mixed up in copy/paste and then never caught in editing.
That is a valid error that indeed should have been caught in editing the original manuscript (which I just checked, and that's where the error lies) and wasn't caught by either Robert or me. We will consult with Ryan on what he intended it to be and will make changes for the PDF and future printings.
Thank you for pointing that out!
Connie
4WFG