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Organized Play Member. 5,464 posts (6,280 including aliases). 44 reviews. 1 list. 1 wishlist. 2 Organized Play characters. 14 aliases.



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Don't just look at the stars above (more to the story)

3/5

The main reason I gave this three stars is not due to the work put into this. Not only is the original concept a pretty good one when it first appeared in The Book of Iron Might, but the work to update and extract the OGL material into this product is pretty good as well.

Its a good, general construct race that doesn't require quite as much backstory as a certain other living construct race. That having been said, I guess I'm still of the opinion that I'm very leery of introducing a construct PC race. If I had a player that wanted one, I'd certainly offer this one up for use.

On top of the fact that living constructs can be a touchy subject, there is the fact that the race can be highly customized. This is both a plus and a minus. For someone that just wants to play a "golem," it might be a bit much to see all of the options at one time, although with a little digging its pretty obvious what are the best choices for what type of character you are going for.

So, to fully explain my three stars, I'd have to say that its more a matter of thinking that this race might need to be carefully introduced into a campaign for what it is, rather than the quality of the work involved. Not only is the design work solid, but its a fun read.

Give it a look, but if you are the type of GM that doesn't want too many "non-standard" races running around, know that you may need to be careful with how often you throw these around or how much access you let your players have to these guys.


Its a kind of magic . . .

4/5

I really like this class. I think the only real quibble I might have, and this speaks to the kind of games I run, is that I'm not that hung up on barring PCs from using the undead, so a lot of the work on the "breathless" template is kind of a long winded work around for the types of games I would run.

Other than that, this is a fun alternate class that works really well if you want a dedicated necromancer instead of a character that is a wizard first, and a necromancy specialist second.

The spell list is tailored to make it less of a blaster, and much more of a character that plays with life forces. Since the list is tailored for this class, you really have to work within the "Death mage" concept, instead of falling back on standard wizard spells in combat.

It is a d8 medium BaB class, which at first glance seems a bit over the top for a caster, except that as a "necromancer top to bottom," you are going to be doing a lot less controlling the battlefield and a lot more specifically targeting opponents and bringing combatants into the fight, so the HD progression doesn't feel out of place in that light.


Its good at doing what it is suppose to do . . .

3/5

I picked this up because I am actually becoming quite a fan of the Genius Guides, especially the classes. In many cases, they serve as better versions of 3.5 ideas, well integrated into Pathfinder RPG rules.

These guys carry on the tradition of doing a pretty good job of feeling like they are working within the Pathfinder RPG rules, although they are a little complicated compared to most of the official classes that have come out.

I'm not sure this is a "must have" class niche for the game, and this is coming from a guy that spent a lot of 3rd edition as a player running Mystic Theurges. I guess the divine/arcane spellcaster, to me, almost feels more satisfying to pull off when you have to work at it.

Don't let the above fool you though. This isn't a bad class. Its really an interesting idea, and if you don't mind the slightly more complicated mechanics to juggle the concept, there is nothing game breaking about either the power level or even the "fluff" of the class.

I guess, given that I'm used to having to work a bit harder to make the concept work, and the fact that the Mystic Theurge is part of the Core rules, this one still feels like a "its well designed, but I'm not compelled to use it" class.

Obviously what you want out of your spellcasters in your campaigns is going to influence your opinions on this, and if I ever ran a smaller group with someone wanting to have divine and arcane access from the beginning, I do "trust" this class enough that I'd consider letting someone run one.

I'm just not excited enough to "promote" the class to someone that isn't already looking for something like it.


What's in a name?

4/5

I really liked this class. My biggest complaint is that I'm not a fan of the name "War Master," but hey, if I used this, I'm free to just replace the "official" Marshal with this class.

Essentially my biggest problem with classes that have attempted the same niche in other products have to do with the fact that the class doesn't have much to do when its not making others better at what they do.

Other classes like this one have almost come across like bards without the spells, i.e. they just get to buff and modify others, but they don't really have much to do themselves.

The fact that the War Master is a full BaB class which can take a hit and wear some decent armor, as well as giving the class some talents with which to customize their abilities, means that these guys become more interesting than just someone that moves their allies around like chess pieces.

To be fair, buffing and coordinating your allies is still a pretty big part of the class, so if you just want a front line character, you may not find much to like in these guys. But if you want a "buffing" class that can still decide to wade into battle and hold their own in hand to hand combat, take a look at this class.


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Great idea for a potential campaign tool . . .

4/5

While I don't know about allowing this into a campaign as a blanket option, or letting a player use it without carefully integrating the "race" into the campaign, this is a great tool to use for a campaign.

I don't know what more to say, other than that it seems to be a really balanced, flavorful way to deal with letting a character come back as "not quite dead" and move on with a campaign, and there is plenty of support for the concept in the PDF.

Between the really interesting options this presents you with for a campaign, and the price, it really can't hurt to take a look at this and add it as a potential option for your campaign.


Great, well priced utility item for GMs and Players

4/5

Like a lot of the utility items that this company puts out, this PDF does exactly what it says, and does so at a fairly good price. If you are playing a summoning character of any kind, this is a good investment, and I really like that the stats even include the bonus for augmented summoned monsters.


I'm a sucker for cold magic

4/5

I agree with the premise in the beginning of this article, that cold magic could really be expanded. I still have some things that I'm wondering about, after having read through this.

I love the idea of a spell that creates rough terrain, but I'm not sure that the level is quite right. I'll have to think about it, but its a great idea.

I'm pretty sure the avalanche spell has a typo, in that it mentions the avalanche affecting characters as if it was Bull Rushing with a CMD of X + X . . . I'm pretty sure this is suppose to be a CMB instead, but its a minor typo, unless I'm really misunderstanding the spell.

I really like the cold bloodline for the sorcerer, but I'm not sold on the cold specialist wizard, perhaps because I'm still wondering if there will be an official option for elemental wizards, and if there is, I'd like to see how they look first before I can judge how this would stack up.

Overall, again, for the price, this is an excellent buy, even if you don't end up using everything out of it.


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I liked it, but I'm not sure I'd use it

3/5

The good?

Its well thought out, and very evocative in the writing department. It feels very much like a Shaman class should.

The bad?

If you aren't a fan of alternate systems being added to Pathfinder RPG, i.e. a class that does spellcastery things without matching up with the standard way of producing these effects, you probably won't be a fan of this class.

That isn't an indictment of the quality so much as a caveat concerning what kind of content you may want to let into your game.


Probably not fair, but I'm not a fan of cute

2/5

Between the artwork and some cute references to holiday specials, this just wasn't my thing. I had a hard time getting past the jokes and the artwork to use this.

If you have a higher tolerance for cartoon artwork and holiday themed jokes, the work that went into the actual stats seems to be pretty solid.

I'm not sure if I'll give them another shot on monsters, as I'm assuming that this was an intentional wink and a nod. Hopefully other "themes" will be more serious.


Good solid class with only a few issues.

4/5

In the grand scheme of things, I didn't quite like this one as much as the Dragonrider, even though they get the same star rating.

That having been said, I really like these guys. Pretty interesting take on the assassin, and I like how the Deadly Focus and Greater Deadly Focus reward you for picking a target to kill and work similar to a paladin's smite or a cavalier's challenge, so that the assassin has something to do as far as narrowing down a bad guy and locking him down (gods help the poor guy that has an assassin, a paladin, and a cavalier on his back at one time).

The supernatural shadowy thing is fun to play with, and the different talent trees are useful for making this fit specialized themes (i.e. ninja shiriken thrower FTW).

Overall, I'm pretty happy with this purchase, and this looks like a solid class, and a good "base" assassin.

The only real problem I think this class has is that the bonus damage from Deadly Focus does seem a little light compared to smite, sneak attack, or challenge, until Greater Deadly Focus kicks in, and it requires the assassin have a wisdom bonus that doesn't do much else for the class.


I actually wish I could give this a 3.5

3/5

I like this class. I like this better than the Duskblade or the Hexblade. I think this does what its suppose to do pretty well. Oddly, there were a few things aesthetically that bugged me about this, however.

First, I'm not really sure that it adds anything to the class to make it a prepared caster with a limited list and then further limit how many spells the class can actually learn at each level. Its just feels complex for no real extra purpose.

Second, I was kind of distracted, and not in a good way, with some "inside jokes" in the naming conventions of the class and its lore, i.e. "Gesh," "Soul of the Spellblade, "Hexsword," "Dusk Knight," which all kind of nagged at me by sounding like in jokes for 3.5 fighter/mage PrCs and Base classes.

Third, I don't like the class being named Archon. I know I can call it what I like, but calling it an Archon, which already has a definition in Pathfinder RPG, just kind of rubs me the wrong way.

Despite these problems, I like the class. I'm not completely convinced that there needs to be a base fighter/mage class instead of a PrC that facilitates the "build," but if there is to be one, I like this one better than a lot of them.


I was wavering on this one.

3/5

I'm squeaking this one in at a three, mainly because of the value of the book. There are a lot of logical feats that make sense, but a lot of them are a bit too complex for what they actually do.

For example, I like the feats that add some extra effect to acid, fire, cold, or electrical spells in exchange for a boost in DC, but the spells that add extra spells based on a theme are kind of a mess.

Also, the feats that allow you to pick up the "other option" for the "bonds" of various classes is kind of nice, but the examples are a bit awkward (for example, the druid picking up a domain as well as an animal).

I'm wondering if it wouldn't make more sense to break out adding, for example, the individual "bonds," for example a separate feat allowing a bonded mount, or a familiar, and leave out the somewhat clunky way of expressing a "less than optimal" sacred weapon, domain, or bonded item.

All in all, its interesting for the price, but I was hoping for a bit more clarity and polish. The production values are nice though.


I really, really wish I could give this 4.5, maybe 4.75

4/5

I'm such a pain, but its really, really hard for me to give a product five stars.

That having been said, I really like this product, and for the price its an amazing product. Really nice production values, to begin with.

The dragon mount is presented in a consistent manner with Pathfinder animal companions, and follows a lot of Pathfinder conventions, and on top of that, the class fills a fantasy niche that has yet to be touched in Pathfinder, and in a way that it starts out right from 1st level.

Give it a look. For the price, even if you don't want to use it, it might not be a bad idea to see how well you can put together something using Pathfinder RPG conventions.


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Lots of good ideas, not quite as many good executions . . .

3/5

I have to admit, I was more interested in the class concepts in this book than I have been with some of the other 3rd party books I've read for Pathfinder, but the execution on many of the classes, including some of the potentially interesting classes, just falls short, to the point of not really being able to figure out how to implement them.

Overall, its not a bad buy to pick up and sort through what might work for you, but be aware that, while it seems like there are a ton of good ideas, there are also lots of places where a good editorial pass would have fixed some problems.


More solid monsters.

3/5

Much like the first two volumes, there are some solid, "your PCs haven't seen this before" monsters in here, and its not too bad for the price of the book.

Still, taken as a whole, you should probably read through the volumes of this series and pick and choose the ones that feel the most compelling. Without any "must haves," you may not want to spend too much on utility or novelty monsters to throw into the campaign.


Much like the first volume, some decent monsters

3/5

Decent monsters, not the greatest I've ever seen, but useful for what they do, and again, not bad for the price and to have something to throw at your PCs that they aren't expecting.


Okay book o'monsters . . .

3/5

None of these monsters seem inspired, or like something I would have to use, and they don't particularly follow a theme, but at the same time, they aren't bad monsters, and it never really hurts to throw some monsters at your PCs that they have no idea about.


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Its a little bit confusing . . .

3/5

I want to like this, and the price isn't bad (and gained it a star over what I would have normally given it), but at the same time, this product feels really close, but doesn't quite fire on all the right notes.

Mechanically, its not a bad product, but some of the class concepts seem like a really big stretch to actually be separate classes, and almost seem more like an experiment in trying to build new classes with existing class features. The result doesn't quite feel compelling, but it doesn't feel bad, if that makes any sense.

I almost think this might have been a more interesting supplement if more of it has been rewritten as alternate class features for existing classes, not unlike Unearthed Arcana's alternate class features, but geared towards Pathfinder RPG features.

Check it out if you don't mind experimenting with your handful of dollars.


Sure, its all realated to one monster, but for the price . . .

4/5

The ideas for mimic related monsters are really interesting, and the new monsters, including the huge freaking mimic, are really cool and make me want to use them.

Even if some of it is kind of situation, that's all mitigated by an awesome price. If anyone is interested in mimics at all, its worth the 2.00.


Still a little situational for the price

2/5

While some of the classes, especially the voyageur, are interesting, and might trip some player or GM's imaginations, I can't help but think that I don't want quite as many "alternate" versions of what Paizo has coming out officially. If you really don't like the Paizo versions, I guess this might be worth checking out.

Also, the NPC classes are interesting, but how much you value having new NPC classes will probably vary.

The PrCs really don't do much for me as far as "needing" to have PrCs.


Again, a really nice utility product

4/5

The only complaint I have is that, while I don't mind listing optional rules for monster knowledge skills or DCs, I wish the "default" DC had been used instead of one of the optional one presented.

Other than that, its great if you are having a hard time with how much you want to give away depending on a given check, and I really, really hope someday they expand this to some other Pathfinder monsters in non-Bestiary products.


Excellent utility product

4/5

Really nice utility product, and an excellent buy for the price. Its a bunch of cards, with conditions on them. If you expect anything other than this, well, don't, but honestly, its great for what it does.


Not a bad book, but not a great one.

2/5

There are some interesting bloodlines and spells in this book, but I'm not sure for the price that this is worth a little bit of inspiration, and I have to say, most of the book doesn't grab me.

Part of why I look at a lot of Pathfinder compatible books is to see how well I can move onto fully Pathfinder material from 3.5. In order to really get that feel of replacing old material. This isn't really imaginative or inspiring enough to make me push old 3.5 material out of the way.

Overall, its not a bad product, but you should really think about how much you want to mine arcane material before you purchase this product.


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Its not a bad product to take a look at.

3/5

If you aren't like me and tend to allow or disallow things on a pass/fail basis, but are willing to pick and choose what you want to put into your campaign, you will most likely be able to find a lot of use to you in this book. For me, I tend to like to say that a source is all in (perhaps with a few minor caveats) or just avoid the complication of adding a new source to the campaign.


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Another case of four stars not telling the whole story . . .

4/5

This book, like the core rulebook, is gorgeous. Not only that, but it has most of the OGL creatures in it, updated to the Pathfinder rules as well as some interesting and logical tweaks.

The only real gripe I have is that, while I understand why it was done, I didn't like that some classic creatures were turned into templated versions of the core version of the monster (I don't know you you need to have separate stats for heavy war horses, but it just doesn't sit right, to me, to have them be "advanced" horses, for example).

All of that having been said, call this one a 4.75, but I'm just too much of a pain to give up a five star review.


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