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Did you know that Necromancers of the Northwest puts out free Pathfinder content Monday through Thursday nearly every week? What's more, did you know that YOU can have a voice in what kinds of content they put out? Right now, NNW is actively looking for your input on our 2018 lineup. So, if there's something you want to see, take a few minutes and fill out our survey here: https://goo.gl/forms/74uGHMIbXnQIs0h92

In the text of the spell antimagic field, it states that "Certain spells, such as wall of force, [i]prismatic sphere, and prismatic wall, remain unaffected by antimagic field." While it calls out those three spells in particular, the phrasing of the statement indicates that they are example, and not necessarily an exhaustive list.

Looking at those three particular spells, none of their descriptions mentions that they are unaffected by an antimagic field: that information is only included on antimagic field's description. The only connections I can see between these spells are 1) they are all powerful "wall" spells, and 2) they are resistant to being dispelled by dispel magic.

It seems unusual to say "certain spells" unless the intent was specifically to be vague, and allow GMs a certain amount of wiggle room: if it was something inherent to the spells, it seems like it would be worth mentioning in the spell's descriptions, like how it says that they can't be affected by dispel magic. Similarly, since this spell itself wouldn't be updated when future products came out, and any future spells that would be immune to an antimagic field would need to have that information included in their descriptions anyway, the vagueness doesn't seem to be to intended just to allow for future spells, either.

With all of that in mind, how unreasonable would it be to houserule that antilife shell falls into the category of certain spells that are unaffected by antimagic field? It's also a powerful "wall" spell (a higher level than wall of force, in fact), although it lacks the resistance to dispel magic.

For those of you who may not have heard, Necromancers of the Northwest is currently running a Kickstarter campaign for an upcoming book: The Traveler's Guide to the Elemental Plane of Fire, to allow us to commission high-quality professional art for the book. Any fans of Planescape or other extraplanar adventures will want to take a close look, as our goal with this project is to bring some much-needed love and attention to the other planes of existence.

I won't bore you with all the nitty-gritty details, but, as usual for a Kickstarter, the better the campaign goes, the more impressive the finished book will be. If you're interested, take a look for yourself.

As is our wont, we celebrated the release of this book with a series of related articles, including a prestige class designed for the wisdom-inclined, several feats pertaining to the more obscure Knowledge skills, to make them more appealing, a handful of magic items fit for a sage, and, of course, a selection of sagely spells, which anyone considering buying this book may be interested in perusing, as they're 100% free.

For those of you who are curious and would like a bit of a sample, be sure to check out this article on www.necromancers-online.com, which shows off one of the ten unique bloodlines in this book, and gives a good idea of how these bloodlines are different from what you're used to.

Also, be sure to check our website for more additional, supplementary content relating to these bloodlines.

So, I'm looking to start running this campaign in the near future, and I'm pretty excited, but I was struck by the slightly odd twist in the first adventure of making Waldsby a "mirror" of Heldren.

For one thing, this feels like it was originally meant to take a larger role, but was cut down for whatever reason. It is vaguely explained that they are the same "due to being connected by a leyline" (for all the good that explanation does), and, other than having a similar layout, the same statues, and those two long-lost twins, there doesn't really seem to be much point in making them the same.

At the same time, my group is a lot less invested in the Pathfinder campaign setting than I am, and so they probably wouldn't mind if everything in the adventure that currently takes place in Irrisen instead took place in a mirror fey world (winter court, anyone?) or an alternate reality, or something to that effect, which I think might be more fun and allow me to play a bit more with the similarities.

Long story short, I was wondering how other people are handling these twin villages. Are you playing the similarities down, and just removing the connection altogether? Running it as-is with a weak connection and weaker explanation (in my opinion), or trying to expand the connection into something more noticeable and relevant?

Did you know that Necromancers of the Northwest also has a variety of free content on our website every week? In fact, in celebration of our release of Ancient Warriors: the Vikings, we have a whole week devoted to additional viking content. So, if you're on the fence about picking up Ancient Warriors: the Vikings, why not swing by and get an idea of the quality of content you'll find within?

Necromancers of the Northwest is proud to announce the release of our latest product, A Necromancer's Grimoire: The Wonders of Alchemy. This 40 page .pdf provides over 100 new items, and gives you a reason to want to put ranks into Craft (alchemy). From the back of the book:

Alchemy Like You’ve Never Seen It Before!

While alchemy has long been a major staple of the fantasy genre, it has never been a particularly powerful or even relevant ability in 3.5 or the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. The items that can be created with Craft (alchemy) tend not to be worth the effort once one gets past the first few levels of the game (and even before that their value is questionable). The alchemist class has almost nothing to do with Craft (alchemy), and its extracts don’t feel alchemical so much as they do like spellcasting by another name. For years, players who wanted a character who toiled away crafting mad concoctions and brewing strange potions had to accept that such activities would never be of any real use in the game.

A Necromancer’s Grimoire: The Wonders of Alchemy aims to change all that, by providing a huge assortment of new things to make with Craft (alchemy), and introducing a new approach to the skill that greatly increases its relevance. This book introduces two new kinds of alchemical substances: infusions, which are alchemical concoctions that permanently alter the physical makeup of those who use them, and serums, which are potent alchemical substances that can be pumped directly into a subject’s blood, and whose effects can be stacked for greater efficacy, but which carry a risk of negative side-effects if too high a dose is taken. Beyond that, the book contains 50 new alchemical wondrous items (mainly in the form of elixirs, oils, and tonics, but with a few others as well), which can be crafted either through the normal process for wondrous items, or through a new application of the Craft (alchemy) skill.

So, whether you’ve always wished that your alchemy was a little more magical, or if you just want over 100 new poisons, wondrous items, serums, and infusions, this is the book for you. From the creators of Advanced Arcana and Secrets of the Witch, this book will ensure you never look at a potion shop the same ever again.

The whole thing is available right here on the paizo website for only $2.49, so don't wait. Check it out today.

Necromancers of the Northwest is pleased to announce the release of Codex Mechanica: On the Creation of Fabricants, available now for $3.99 from the Paizo store. From the back of the book:

Flesh is Weak, but Steel is Strong

For centuries, man has had a fascination with the idea of mechanical sentience. Archmagi and master sorcerers have experimented at length with homunculi, golems, and other construct servants, trying to create a machine with true human intelligence. With the invention of the fabricant, that day has finally arrived.

Fabricants—construct creatures designed to simulate specific humanoid races—are fully sentient, and possess their own free will. Further, they can be augmented and customized through a wide range of mechanical upgrades, making them stand out as the premier choice in artificial life forms.

Codex Mechanica: On the Creation of Fabricants contains all the information needed to create and play a fabricant character, with models for a variety of races. It also introduces the iron warrior class, a base class for fabricants which focuses on providing an extensive array of modular augmentations, called upgrades. The book provides over 80 of these upgrades to choose from, as well as over 20 feats, which allow you to fine-tune your fabricant, and maximize its potential. Finally, the book also introduces the iron magus prestige class, which blends mortal magic with timeless steel, and allows non-fabricants to gain the benefits of upgrades and eventually become full constructs themselves.

From the makers of Liber Vampyr: Secrets of the Blood and A Necromancer’s Grimoire: Marchen der Daemonwulf, Codex Mechanica: On the Creation of Fabricants brings construct characters to life in your game. You’ll never look at golems the same way again.

Necromancers of the Northwest is proud to announce the release of The Blackshire Mercenary Company, available now for $2.49 from the paizo store. From the back of the book:

The Ebon Vault: Orbs of Power introduces orbs as a proper magic item type, with 50 all-new orbs for use in your game. Each orb serves as a focus for the spells the wielder casts, like a lens that allows him to make those spells more powerful, or have additional effects. These orbs range in price from 8,000 gp for the simplest of enchantments to a handful that are actually minor artifacts, giving a wide range of power and cost, and ensuring that every spellcaster will find an orb that fits his needs.

The book also contains guides and tips for GMs on how to incorporate orbs into their games, as well as support for the four artifact-level orbs, giving GMs a rough idea of how much value these magic items are worth, so that even though they can’t be bought in the bazaar, you know how powerful it is, and how much treasure it should be replacing, and generally making these artifacts more user-friendly.

From the makers of Advanced Arcana and The Ebon Vault: Secrets of the Staff, this book finally brings magic orbs into their rightful place in the magical arsenal of the arcane-inclined. If you think magic orbs are cool (and who doesn’t?) this is the book for you.

Necromancers of the Northwest is proud to announce the release of The Blackshire Mercenary Company, available now for $2.49 from the paizo store. From the back of the book:

The Blackshire Mercenary Company is a guild of mercenaries with a reputation for getting things done-no matter how dirty they may need to get their hands in order to do it. A popular and wide-ranging guild, they have chapter houses in dozens of cities, and are an excellent, reliable, and affordable way to go about hiring mercenaries, especially for unsavory causes.

This book contains a full set of membership rules for PCs who are interested in joining the Blackshire Mercenary Company, providing a framework for what kinds of rewards-and obligations-they can expect from their membership, and what it takes to get ahead in the guild. The book also provides information for hiring Blackshire mercenaries, including a pricing guide and the general terms of service under which the company's contracts operate, providing clear guidelines for this previously quite nebulous service. The book also contains a number of sample Blackshire mercenaries, who could be hired by the PCs, or serve as quest-givers, mentors, rivals, or even arch-enemies.

Finally, the book introduces the Blackshire exemplar prestige class, which provides martially-inclined characters with a number of secret guild techniques for combat, some of which are impressive feats of daring-do, and others of which are more in the line of "fighting dirty."

If you've ever wanted to see a "fighter's guild" in your game, look no further than Necromancers of the Northwest Presents: The Blackshire Mercenary Company.

Necromancers of the Northwest is proud to announce the release of their second 3.5/Pathfinder supplement, Into the Armory, which is available as a free download here.

From the back cover:

"Don't go into battle unprepared!

This Sourcebook for the 3.5 OGL and the Pathfinder® Roleplaying Game contains cartloads of new weapons, armor, and other equipment for DMs and PCs. In addition to these tools and treasures any adventurer would kill to have, this book also contains rules for Quasi-Magical items, a new class of semi-magical utility designed to both provide useful tricks for clever players, and to provide fun and exciting adventures. Finally, the book provides a set of optional variant rules for using siege weapons, and a number of exciting new siege weapon enhancements designed to enhance your game whether you use the variant rules or the original ones."

Necromancers of the Northwest is a small, third-party publisher that focuses primarily on producing content for 3.5/Pathfinder. What's really special about Necromancers of the Northwest, however, is that all of our content is available to the public 100% free of charge!

Our first book, Liber Vampyr, is a 90-page .pdf which attempts to re-examine the way vampires are handled by Pathfinder and the 3.5 OGL. Far more than a list of variant monsters, this book contains three new base classes, three new prestige classes, an exciting new system of "blood magic", and a dizzying array of feats and vampiric abilities. You could take my word that this fun, innovative tome has the power to radically alter the way you view bloodsuckers, or you could just go pick it up yourself at www.necromancers-online.com. After all, it's free.

While you're there, you may also want to check out our articles, as we have something new on the site every day Monday through Friday.