Joseph Wilson's page

Paizo has beautifully executed a fantastic introduction to the new edition of Pathfinder. Classic elements of both dungeons and dragons, but with the exceptional storytelling that Paizo is known for, and sets them apart.

I love the new format. The adventure toolbox is infinitely more useful and interesting to me than the disparate articles of the past. Give me more that I can use in the context of the adventure any day of the week. Stroke of genius.

Can't wait to run this and read the upcoming installments!

The Advanced Class Guide is full of innovative new classes, packed with flavor and fascinating new mechanics. From the Arcanist to the Bloodrager to the Investigator to the Swashbuckler, the ACG has new character options all of your players will be chomping at the bit to explore. Add in a host of archetypes, feats, and spells that intermix these new rules with the existing classes and base rules, and you've got an essential supplement to the Pathfinder RPG, and one that you will not regret spending money on. My most highly recommended Pathfinder rules supplement since the Advanced Player's guide!

Knights of the Inner Sea continues with the newly introduced Companion format that first gloriously reared its head with Varisia, Birthplace of Legends.

As it is in the 32-page Player Companion line of products, the focus here is on fully fleshing out your character's place in the world of Golarion, with any added rules content just a great added plus. In this case, the focus is on knights and knightly orders. Everything that you need to create a living, breathing character of this type is here. From Hellknights to Eagle Knights to Mendevian Crusaders and more, this book is packed with all the flavor you need to bring your knightly character's background, personality, and motivations to life.

There's even a beautiful 2-page spread detailing the myriad individual pieces of armor and horse barding to further enhance a players knowledge. There's rules for gaining and advancing a squire, along with archetypes specific to such an endeavor. There's new cavalier orders, Knightly Codes, spells, and magic items.

Need advice on how to use the countless rules that are available to you to narrow down your choices and make a nice, flavorful character? Check out the new "roles" feature, which will do just that.

These 32 pages are jam-packed with all the knightly flavor you could ever need to fit yourself right into the Inner Sea Region.

I am truly enjoying this book. One night with the pdf had me pretty confident that this hardcover would quickly become one of my most heavily utilized books. Having since received my hardcopy, that opinion hasn't changed. I can't help but pick it up and thumb through every time it catches my eye. Each time I open it, I come across some great new item that has me wondering how I'm going to work it into my current campaign.

The updated layout and organization are incredibly well done and easy to read. Something very important for a catalog-style book. It could have been very easy to get lost in all of the items. All of the great new art certainly helps as well!

From mundane to wondrous to legendary, this book is truly the Ultimate statement on your Pathfinder item needs. As far as I'm concerned, it is already indispensable!

As the subject reads, I found myself truly inspired by this book. As someone participating in the Skull & Shackles Adventure Path, the knowledge of the Shackles region found in this 64-page tome is indispensable. From fleshed out information on ports such as Port Peril and Quent, to amazing adventure backdrops such as Besmara's Throne and the Cannibal Isles.

An enormous bestiary rounds out the book, adding fearsome creatures such as the mighty lusca and the horrific Blood Queen. It also contains some great sea-dwelling undead options, seafaring NPCs, and a disturbing new 0-HD race, the kuru.

If you've got an adventure coming up on the high seas, look no further for some inspiration than this book. Highly recommended!

While I have enjoyed all of the Pathfinder Tales novels up to this point, I feel no hesitation in stating that Death’s Heretic is the strongest thus far. I already knew Mr. Sutter was a strong writer from his brilliant RPG sourcebook, City of Strangers, but writing a novel is an entirely different matter. Boy, did his talent shine through.

And this is not just a great RPG novel; Death’s Heretic is a great fantasy novel, in general. Mr. Sutter has crafted an incredibly deep, complex, and fascinating character in his protagonist, Salim Ghadafar. Through Salim, Sutter explores religious and philosophical subject matter rarely broached in fantasy with such depth and poignancy. The concept of atheists living in a world where there is proof of the gods’ existence is a topic ripe for exploration, but only if approached with the care and deftness of skill that we see in Death’s Heretic.

The mystery of Salim’s background is a constant driving force for the novel that interweaves seamlessly with the main plot involving not just the murder of an aristocrat, but the theft of his very soul. Salim’s investigation of this event, alongside the persona of the dead aristocrat’s daughter, brings the pair on a roller coaster adventure from the urban intrigue at the scene of the murder to the scene of the soul theft in the Boneyard of the Goddess of Death herself, and beyond.

Each character and exotic location is fully formed and has a deep connection to the story and setting. The subtle character moments are written with the same intensity and care as the action set-pieces. Question after question gets raised and then answered in increasingly creative and unforeseen ways. It’s a mystery and philosophical smorgasbord, the likes of which I had never come across in my years of reading the genre.

I implore you to give Death’s Heretic a chance, whether you’re a fan of Pathfinder, fantasy, or just good novels in general.

This card set has proven to be invaluable since I purchased it upon its initial release. I'm at the point now where I can't imagine running a game without having them at hand. They make the game flow so much quicker and easier without having to stop, flip, and research and try to remember what each condition does when it comes up. A player in a game I'm running becomes shaken, I chuck the shaken condition card at him, and we move on. It's wonderful!

Ultimate Magic has everything that I want from a book by that title for my Pathfinder game. Beautifully enhancing the magical aspects of the game, this book offers everything from a wonderfully realized new base class (the figher-mage styled Magus); to a plethora of flavorful archetypes for all of the Pathfinder core/base classes; to feats and spells; to new magical subsystems such as spell duels, binding outsiders, and more… And all of this is done in the typical, ultra-high-quality manner that Paizo has come to be known for. Certainly a wonderful supplement to sit alongside the Advanced Player’s Guide and Ultimate Combat.

Ultimate Combat has everything that I want from a book by that title for my Pathfinder game. Beautifully enhancing the combat-oriented aspects of the game, this book offers everything from a wonderfully realized new base class (the Gunslinger); to a plethora of flavorful archetypes for all of the Pathfinder core/base classes (including the ever-popular ninja and samurai); to feats, weapons, and spells; to new combat subsystems such as armor as damage reduction, vehicle combat, and more… And all of this is done in the typical, ultra-high-quality manner that Paizo has come to be known for. Certainly a wonderful supplement to sit alongside the Advanced Player’s Guide and Ultimate Magic.

This is a fantastic, ultra high-quality, professional product. It is the first output from Legendary Games, the new brain-child from Necromancer Games’ Clark Peterson, a man known for leading the way in terms of high-quality 3rd Party publisher quality.

I am a person who generally eschews 3rd party material, in favor of sticking to the core elements, first with WotC in the 3rd edition days, and now with Paizo for Pathfinder.

Clark’s return to the fold, with the reputation he comes with, has forced me to rethink this rule. Combine his pedigree with the talent he lined up for Legendary games, and it was a no-brainer. The people he has writing for him and literally the people who write the official Paizo products, including their stellar Adventure Path installments.

The Treasury of the Macabre does not disappoint. From the innovative use of the PDF format to the layout to the art to the writing, this is a top-notch product that was worth every penny and more.

The magic items present were designed to be easily inserted in a “gothic-horror adventure path” (aka Carrion Crown), but I have already found a home for a number of them in my homebrew Pathfinder game.

The flavor and creativity of the items is breathtaking, touching on all of the genres featured in Carrion Crown (ghosts/haunts, constructs/alchemy, werewolves, Lovecraftian Horror, vampires, and liches).

Favorites include the Sanguinary Torque (an anti-vampire necklace that turns the wearer’s blood to holy water), the Spinelash (a whip which deforms the victims skeleton, entangling them in their own bones), and The Horn of the Deep Ones (an instrument that will summon Skum to your aid, but runs the rist of transforming its sounder into one of the grotesque creatures).

Do yourself a favor and pick this up. It might as well be an official Pathfinder product. It’s that good.