JGray's page

I should start by saying that this is a perfectly serviceable stand-in for the Cleric class. It does an excellent job of creating a holy class that doesn't feel like a warrior draped in holy robes. Rather, the priest feels like someone you could meet running a temple or on a pilgrimage.

However, I think there was a missed opportunity here. Because the book was so short, I feel that it is rather mechanical. Like many religious based classes, the priest captures mechanics just fine but in a sterile way. It doesn't really offer vehicles for expressing or feeling the beauty of religion, the joy of a hymn or the power of devotion. The archetype for the priest comes close but the short formatting unfortunately doesn't allow them to more properly explore it.

The beauty and joy of religious expression can be captured through mechanics and roleplaying. The obediences and monument devotions presented by Paizo, for example, in various Player Sourcebooks do a wonderful job of bringing forth the spirit of religion while also offering mechanical support to encourage the roleplay of it by players.

I wish Priest had done more to capture that as well.

The benchmark of any product is this: is it something that can be used in a game.

Not only can Forgotten Core Feats be used, I believe it will be essential in my campaign. I would not be surprised if, by sixth level or so, each of my players had selected at least one feat from this book.

Of special note are the feats which deal with skills: giving you more skill points and giving you more class skills. Like archetypes, these feats will allow your player to better customize your characters and create book smart fighters or wizards who like to free climb in their spare time. Gorgeous.

When evaluating a gaming product I ask one question.

"Can I use this in my campaign?"

With Advanced Archetypes, I can say yes. There are several archetypes in the book that I feel I can steer players to with confidence. And others I can use to surprise players who believe they already know an NPC's abilities based on their class.

I am fond of the Avatar archetype for Cleric because it makes use of deific obedience - in my opinion, the obedience feats are one of the most unique and delightful aspects of Pathfinder. They make religion feel like more than a choice of alignment and domains.

The Far Hand Adept takes one of my favorite ideas - building a character around a single, often overlooked ability - and running with it. Specifically, it turns the Far Hand spell into telekinetic combat.

The Spellscorn Fighter resembles the Templars of Dragon Age (without the drug addiction).

The Wild Experimenter turns bombs into wild magic. As a fan of the rod (formerly wand) of wonder, I approve.

There are some opportunities that I feel could have been better exploited. For example, I believe the Sanctified Sorcerer could have used their bloodline to better commune with a deity and make use of obediences and boons while the Monster Chronicler Investigator could have done something neat with allowing harvested monster parts to enhance extracts, bombs and mutagens but didn't.

Overall, I recommend this as a fantastic source of easy to use archetypes all in one place.