Hojas's page

I like this product, though it has some hiccups and less than stellar choices tossed in.

The overall idea is GREAT. It gives Fighters something they've lacked since day 1: Unique, interesting, and useful class features. The Fighter's entire class is +1's. +1 Feat, +1 hit, +1 damage, +1 saves vs Fear, +1 max Dex bonus in armor...oh and a -1 ACP thrown in there to throw off the pattern I guess.

Some of the ideas are simple things I've tossed around for use in my own games already (Adaptive Feat Training, Adaptive Weapon Training, and Greater Bravery are the big ones there), and I like those.

Others give better, stronger options than I'd thought of, and really like however. Fantastical Warrior being the best of the bunch (and Forest Guardian obviously thought so too...otherwise they wouldn't have made it a resource pool usable with so many other nuances. =)). Being able to nab some SLAs usable as a Swift a few times a day makes for a lot of extra utility in combat, and some out of it.

I do have a few minor gripes, however. Content wise the main ones are with Maneuver Specialist and the ones that require 20th level.

Maneuver Training's main sin is that it's BORING: It is simply a Bonus Combat Feat with no prerequisites, limited to a list of Maneuver Feats. Given that Compensative Specialization was printed in the same book to overcome the main drawbacks of nabbing Maneuver Feats anyway, it seems a lackluster option, though potentially useful.

Of greater concern (not really the right word but let's roll with it), with the exception of Without limits, which is a true, and very powerful capstone ability, none of the other 20th level Nuance benefits are really worth it.

Ultimate Warrior gives an Endure Elements effect (already available from Fantastical Warrior, and it lasts 24 hours anyway so it being permanent is a dubious benefit. Toss in that it's 50 gp for a potion of it and well...) and the effect of a Ring of Sustenance, along with another minor benefit. Essentially what I'm saying is an ability that requires 20th level should not be so easily replaced by a little over 2500 gold pieces. To put it in perspective, you're spending 10% of your available Nuances, for a benefit easily obtained by spending .003% of your total Wealth By Level at 20th...additionally compounded by most games ending at 20th (or more commonly, before) so waiting that long for it is unwise.

Ultimate Weapon Master is better, but is essentially just the other half of the coin that the Feat Martial Mastery (available at 16th) represents. It's useful unlike Ultimate Warrior, but barely.

Ultimate Veteran is a benefit that is wholly worthless for the majority of games. Aging is not something that generally comes into play, especially for martial characters like the Fighter (some benefit can be gleaned from being older on a caster), and is very similar to a Monk ability gained at 17th (which is often traded out for more useful abilities with the Monk Archetype equivalent to the Nuance system anyway).

But those are minor mechanical gripes in an otherwise solid book.

Final note, some of the abilities in the later"A Touch of Magic" section are oddly worded. It is written like an archetype, but doesn't make any sense that way. The archetype "replaces" abilities that are already ala carte (EX: Mystical Warrior "replaces Fantastical Warrior). It can be easily assumed that the intent is that the archetype "Removes the ability to select fantastical Warrior" or some other such wording, but the way it's written is clunky and bothered me on reading it.

However, I'm a person who can speak on the negatives much more easily than I can on the positives. Make no mistake: This is a good book. 95% of the options provided will make any Fighter player happy they have the option to take them, and the other 5% (with the exception of Ultimate Warrior) are at least not "trap" options. No option provided really makes you worse off for taking them, in other words, and provide good, balanced (on the Fighter chassis, and to a slightly lesser extent on classes with the ability to take Fighter Feats) alternatives to the boring "Bonus Feats are most of my class features" paradigm the Fighter has. 4/5, would likely rate it 9/10 on a 10 point scale.

Let's see if I can break this down into a few segments.

-Setting and Races
-Additional Rules and Equipment
-Classes
-Feats

Setting:

I'll be honest, going in I wasn't really looking for (or expecting) an actual setting for a game, even a framework. I thought this was going to be at most a bunch of guidelines for converting any existing setting into a Wuxia type setting (though that would be a good short supplement *hint hint nudge nudge*).

So I was pleasantly surprised when what I got was a flavorful, steeped in Asian (especially Chinese) myth analogues slice of fantasy. The gods feel like they could be real (and in some cases, unless I'm mistaken, ARE Chinese gods by any other name), the restricted races actually add to the setting more than it takes away (which is the usual in my experience), and the lower level of technology leads overall lends itself perfectly, and actually INCREASES variety in some ways (Jade weaponry is pretty cool, and wouldn't make much sense in even a "modern medieval" setting like Golarion).

The races are all very cool and seem like options people would actually want to play, which is great. Samebito are very cool, whether you picture them as actual shark men ala a Were-Shark or as Kisame-esque man-sharks.

Vanara get a much needed flavor overhaul. Wasn't a big fan of them as the default but this nudges them into being an interesting race with the regional divides.

Celestials I can honestly take or leave, the dynamic of them being revered by many because of their heritage is a neat switch from Aasimar, but otherwise, they're just Aasimar. Which I know is kinda the point, and is sorta what the Vanara are too, but it just doesn't do as much for me.

Guaiwu fill an interesting space in the game. Thematically, they're kinda like Orcs, but without the "Always Chaotic Evil" baggage, and mechanically they're an odd (but neat) fusion of Orc and Dwarf, and make for a great playable Half-Giant type race to any game, especially with their racial Feats that let them wield big weapons and such (my mind sings with the possibilities of a Guaiwu Titan Mauler).

Shishi are definitely the most unique of the bunch. I'm torn on whether to like them or be cold on them. On the one hand, they really do make it easy for GMs to introduce new characters mid campaign. Their appearance is cool, and mechanically they work well. However, I've never been a huge fan of a character who essentially has no future...with a lifespan of about 30 years a long term campaign is pretty much impossible, and so is "carry over" (using teh character in anotehr campaign down the line). Basically it bums me out that there's no possibility for a time-skip or anything of the sort where Shishi are involved, since their lifespan is about 1/3 of the other "short-lived" (read: Human lifespan) races. I understand that's kinda the point, but it still makes me a bit sad. Same with Salarians in the Mass Effect universe.

Additional Rules and Equipment:

The Wuxia code and Honor/Dishonor changes are interesting, but I waffled back and forth on whether I liked them or not. It's basically a Code of Conduct that makes sense, which is great, and I like that you can have a "good" character who is Dishonorable (the loveable Rogue being the example used, I think), because I'm not a big fan of alignment myself. I ended up saying "I like it" but every now and then something I can't quite put my finger on niggles at me about it, which may be that killing someone is almost always considered dishonorable, which seems odd to me.

Gestalting everything with a Monk is awesome. Always has been, always will be. Can't really give credit to you guys for coming up with it, but I can say you're cool for reprinting it, so there. =)

Bad dubbing is very silly indeed. Very silly. You should be ashamed for even coming up with it as a rule.

Thank you for adding it.

Alternate unarmed damage...wasn't the biggest fan at first until I read how all the Feats and other things interacted with it, especially the new Off-Balance condition.

I will say, I don't like that headbutting Sickens you. Headbutting is supposed to make you look like a badass, not be realistic, darn it.

The Wire Fu rules are really the star of the show here, however. That mechanic just MAKES it. It works well and kinda ties the whole thing together from a visual standpoint, instead of just a philosophical one as most everything else has to this point.

Favored Style...honestly not a fan of Favored Style as a restrictive mechanic, especially since it kinda pisses in the Master of Many Styles' cheerios to an extent (especially after the Fuse Styles Feat was added).

The rules for Mastering a Style, and what that thematically (and mechanically in the form of Feats and PrCs) entails are quite nice though.

New skill uses are always great, especially these ones for identifying techniques and Styles. Skilled fighters should always know what's about to hit them, in my opinion, and this makes that a possibility.

"Watch out, he's using Snake Style, and will be very hard to hit!" is something a martial artist should be able to recognize.

New item materials and magic weapon properties are great, but some seem a bit overpriced. A +2 bonus for something that siphons off Ki on hit seems a bit much from a player perspective, since it's kinda like poison...it really only works for crippling your opponent in future battles that day, which is not what PCs will generally care about.

Classes and Feats:

The new (well, one new and one new-ish) Sorcerer Bloodlines are great, though a bit odd. I'm not very familiar with Chinese dragons (or the Imperial Dragons presented in the Bestiary) so stuff like "Piercing breath weapon" seems off to me, though I'm guessing that's how they were presented?

Ki Bloodline is pretty cool. It works kinda like a Monk variant I came up with that works as a 6th level caster with Ki points. Definitely want to see how that works with Sacred Lotus Style.

Speaking of, new Style Feats are always welcome. Drambor seems thematically really cool with all teh flipping, and mechanically pretty good too. Gives a sort of pseudo-pounce-ish mechanic since if you can get next to your opponent with the free movement on Initiative you're gold.

Rattling Chain style is just awesome sounding.

A few gripes on the new Styles though, and some of the stuff in general, I noticed that the book seems to rely a bit on the reader having some of your other books which was sadly not the case on my end. I was waiting for Ninjitsu and Karate Styles to be presented among the Feats (since they were in among the Schools and Clans as favored styles) and was sadly disappointed when they were not. I assume this is because they were in another of your books, as is stated about some things.

Forbidden Techniques are great, especially the one that lets you "Push to the limit" and use Ki abilities after you run out at a cost.

But the real star of the Feats, I think, is the Qinggong casting and Metamagic Feats. Definitely worth it for someone who wants to be a "Caster who is not a caster", something like a Qinggong/Ki Mystic or Sensei.

Finally, the Prestige Classes.

Sifu is GREAT, besides one HUGE gripe I have about it...it only has 2+Int skills a level. Come on, this guy is supposed to be the Martial arts master, the old Mister Miyagi, Shifu (Kung Fu Panda) kinda guy...and he only has as many skills as the common Fighter? 4+Int seems like it'd be a must for something that is kinda like Monk+.

Jade Warrior is pretty much the greatest Paladin replacement ever made. This is the class that kinda sold me on the Honor/Dishonor instead of Good/Evil thing. I have a lot of problems with the Paladin. This class pretty much eliminates all of the,. Mechanically similar, thematically similar, but with a bit of Hellknight mixed in and a Code of Conduct that isn't back asswards. Kudos.

Wolong is a swing and a miss for me. It has some cool ideas (like the "Can take actions any time he wants" ability), but it just seems like something that people will rarely take, mostly because it doesn't give all that MUCH for a 10 level investment. Tactician (which you can get from Cavalier), some Exotic Weapon Proficiencies (mostly pointless since you'll rarely need more than one), only 3/4 BaB (when you'll probably only ever want it as a Samurai/Cavalier PrC anyway), AGAIN with the 2+Int skills (which is REALLY odd on a martial class with an ability like "Intelligence Behind The Blade").

The one dud in an overall amazing book, I'm sad to say.

Overall, 5/5 book. I'll definitely be utilizing most of this stuff in a future campaign. If I overlooked anything important, sorry, there's just so much crammed into this book I wasn't sure how to mention it all without just being "Yeah i like that".