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To some Gnomes are the go-to fey folk but sometimes they don't cut the mustard because they are too normalized in the rules and don't have much crunch to match their fluff of fey origins. So I picked up In the Company of Fey when I wanted a race for a homebrew setting where fey people are important but wanted their fey-ness to be a huge part of the race.

The product delivers in a big way. It sets up a lot of fluff and mysticism (like many of Rite Publishing's other race products) Gives alternative racial traits, favored class options, race feats, archetypes and even a paragon class to make you more fey-like. There's a lot of love and detail given to this product and allowed me to introduce a fey race that had all the magic and mystery without overwhelming other races. It inspires characters and concepts and is a lot of fun. Five stars.

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Wanted to add a bit as I revisited this product after using it for a new campaign.

My general impression of the First Folk was ‘other elves’. Not necessarily in a bad way though. They’re a medium race with +2 to Dex and Cha with a -2 penalty to Wis. They get some defenses against illusions. When healed they get some extra HP, even when healing naturally, barring damage from cold iron. They can pass as humans much like Kitsune and can see through other hidden forms. They also get effectively low-light vision. This seems flavorful but unexciting but their alternate racial traits are very interesting making them basically a totally different race. This means that they are very variable.

The race comes with a racial archetype for Rite Publishing’s Taskshaper (appropriate) and Witch, some racial feats and also it’s own racial paragon class. The paragon class feels like a more streamlined Taskshaper in the sense that it’s a non wildshape shapeshifter. It does quite a few things but how well it stands up being a ½ BAB class with a lot of combat options and no spellcasting. Not that I don’t appreciate that it’s not a spellcaster, instead having its own slew of abilities. The abilities themselves feel like witch hexes. In fact a number of them could have been witch hexes. But keeping to themselves they serve to generate a fae flavor

Given that elves in Pathfinder and Dungeons and Dragons are very Tolkienized I have a hard time envisioning them as they are often described or relating them to elf lore I’ve read. I guess overall they’ve been demystified by being a core race. If I were to replace elves I’d replace them with the first folk here. They are variable and mysterious as elves seem. I am somewhat disappointed that they aren’t the tiny winged fairy type of fae but I am digging the more elvish type flavor. Although calling them ‘other elves’ is a bit unfair. Unlike the Eladrin in recent D&D publications these aren’t just a mere palette swap because they come from the faewild, they are oozing with flavor and mechanical diversity and like always with Rite Publishing the first person fluff brings things out and makes you really feel the race while keeping them mystical and mysterious.

Since I was compelled to use this in a recent campaign because they fit way more than elves do, both mechanically and flavorfully, I feel good about this product. I’ll give it 5 stars out of 5. Rite Publishing always puts so much care into their race books making them instantly mean something to a setting and make them capable of being unique voices that can be put in any world and this product is no different.

Nothing new to add because other reviewers covered this product in great detail.

I have a lot of love for Kobold Press' products and it starts with New Paths Compendium, my first Kobold Press purchase. This book fills in a lot of mechanical gaps and adds a lot of flavorful options that I use constantly. If you want to add meaningful options to your game from new classes that just 'fit' and options that expand your Gunslinger, Monk and others you need this book. Five stars for being such a huge boost to my games.

Some of these feats definitely push the envelope for power but considering what they help they are very welcome to me. There are a ton of feats in here that I don't think I'll be able to game without anymore. Not to mention that there is a lot of content for the asking price. Five stars for being a lot of bang for the buck and options ranging from neat to inspiring entire builds.

If you want players to play fighters you need this book. This is the kind of book that inspires weird builds that actually work and bring a lot of choice and power to a class that doesn't have a lot of exclusive class features to it's name. There are so many feats that bring to life styles and builds that I wouldn't otherwise be able to build and has a lot of late game fighter feats that make fighters true murder machines at later levels. Five stars.

I've had this PDF for a while. I use it but it has never been seen as a mandatory feat book that has really juicy options. However that does not mean that there are bad feats here, in fact I like quite a few of them, just nothing game changing or amazing, and that's just my preference for feats that get stuck into every single campaign you run so I won't really hold that against it.

If you want to get some neat options then this pdf is for you and I have used some of the feats repeatedly so it is useful just not indispensable. That said if you like taking feats for flavor I'm giving it four stars. Not necessary but incredibly nice to have.

There are a lot of bad things in this book. There are also a lot of good things in this book. Its pretty tight and concise making it a pretty dense book in terms of content. It opens up about as much class content as Ultimate Magic or Ultimate Combat. Its a fairly generic and unnecessary book bringing only a few inspired options along with a ton of option bloat. Overall for the price it expands potential list of choices without breaking the game and I see myself selecting quite a few of them so it rounds out at about four stars. Nothing special but nothing to sneeze at either and brings a lot to the table for a decent price.

I love the idea of making food matter more for gaming but to some extent I don't feel like this book exactly delivers. It gives a lot of fluff that I've used in a lot of games but not too much crunch and the crunch that's there never gets used in my games.

On one hand I use the menus and food by region a lot but not much else. It has some great discussions about fluff but you won't be reading this too often or using too much out of it. I'm giving three stars to reflect this.

Other reviews have detailed this very well so I'll keep this short.

This is a simple pdf with almost a dozen new classes. They're mostly mixtures of other classes making them somewhere between alternative classes and hybrid classes from the Advanced Class guide. Your milage may vary as they aren't terribly robust classes that do anything new but since none of them are spellcasters they can make nice additions to your player's options. For the most part I feel like I could recreate the general theme or mechanics with existing options; Well except for the Scholar class.

The Scholar introduces nothing truly new but it has a lot of ways it can go and works out as a jack of all trades non-caster that really works. It even has the option of getting a few spells making for the dabbler that some bards try to be but their focus on spells and performances prevent them from truly achieving. Really the pdf could have been worth the price if it were just about the scholar and some cool feats.

Oh yeah the feats. The feats range from standard support for the classes in the book to gamechanging support for non-casters. Rogue and Dex melee strikers get two feats that bring them up a notch while not being truly unbalanced. Seriously some of the feats have become staples in my games.

I was going to give this four stars because most of the classes are things I wouldn't take but the scholar class and a good chunk of the feats are good enough for the price which overcompensates for the price leaving me to put it up to five stars.

Have 5 stars.

Seriously this is just really good for a GM. Its more than a bestiary or a compilation of templates, or an NPC book. Its all three. In fact its more considering that the templates are often very involved. This massive book effectively multiplies the entries in all the bestiaries and NPC codexes saving me a ton of trouble and making for incredible encounters.

This review reiterates a lot of my opinion I posted in the forums with some tweaks to reflect the changes I've seen in the final book.

So this book introduces 14 new classes. There are other things but I'll spend a lot of time on the classes.

Battle Lord

Battle Lord makes as much sense as anything else. Of course it has the same problem that I generally find in classes like Cavalier and other support classes in that how broken it is depends on how many martials are in the same area. This will make a nightmare of an NPC but relatively niche for PCs. I like the class

Conduit

The Conduit is much more interesting than I thought it would be. I thought it would be weird and cumbersome but mechanically this is pretty nice. I'm guessing he can absorb AOE spells if he's in the target zone? My only real problem is that my games will have veils, spheres, powers and other non-spell magics so this guy may have limited use in the future. I've heard promises of a patch that works in other magic systems so there's that to look forward to although if you're in a low magic situation the problem still persists. Also there's kind of an 'Uphill battle to awesome' situation here where fighting casters buffs you which is a dangerous thing to do. Its not really bad as it has plenty of workarounds but requires a clever player to make the most of the dynamic. I like the class.

Demiurge

I was skeptical about the Demiurge as soon as I saw that there is a complexity disclaimer, and low and behold I still don't quite understand how the class works. So it gets 'Enlightenments' which are pretty much Demiurge domains but where it gets tricky is the Fascimiles and everything involved with them. They are obviously 'creatures of law' considering that their abilities read like a contract: "rhetoric always involves two facsimiles, one that is designated as the “argument” facsimile, and the other as the “arguer” facsimile.". Oh god there has to be a way to explain what these things are doing without a huge use of philosophy book sub-terms. I can barely read the class and even then I'm forced to track a large number (quintessense) and my mental constructs need directions measured in commands that I don't feel are well defined. At the moment this class is banned from my games until it's rewritten to be simpler or I figure out how it actually works. Its just a philospher with summoned thought constructs. I really don't like the class

Medium

With Paizo's upcoming Medium, Radiance house's Occultist and Thunderscape's Thaumaturge I was not looking forward to looking at this class. Its basically a class that has the spirit of another character that it can gain abilities from.It has a place despite the Occultist medium and Thaumaturge existing so I don't dislike it as much as I used to. Its fun, somewhat unique and allows for an interesting playstyle. I'm okay with the class.

Metamorph

The Metamorph is something that I felt I'd seen before (LJP's The Host) but its a bit more refined and diverse. It feels like an eidolon and a sorcerer had a baby, with a bloodline-like selection that gains powers and access to evolutions. If you want to 'play the monster' like a sorcerer without the baggage of being a full arcane caster then this is the class for you. I love the Genesis concept allowing a lot of different flavors to fall into the class. I really like the class.

Mnemonic

The concept of blue mages in Pathfinder is a hard road to travel becaust there are so many kinds of abilities in the game (more if third parties are involved) that scale differently it's hard to determine how such a thing would actually work. The Mnemonic works well enough for that I guess. Its way less book keeping than other classes I've seen that try the concept out (Rite Publishing's Taskshaper) and for that it gets five stars. I like that it doesn't even try for spells. Overall I like the class.

Momenta

Sort of the Wendy and Marvin of classes. I don't mind support classes. I've had players be each other's butler and this class fills that role. I do have a complaint that it gets points at the start of combat rather than regaining its pool after a minute of rest. I just hate abilities that call out whether it works in or out of combat but that's kind of a minor complaint since the Inquisitor already prompted me to have to define the beginning and end of combat so no harm done. I really enjoy the idea of using the Momenta to make a 'Princess' or aristcrat character. This class is a good way to go about the concept which is great because most other solutions I've seen involve class-based gold acquisition (I hate class-entitled treasure) or some sort of social subsystem. I really like the class.

Mystic

When the Kineticist came out for the Occult Adventures playtest it became the playtest's darling for being the most mechanically fascinating and weakest class in the playtest. The Mystic is less mechanically interesting but definitely stronger and more interesting in other ways. Smart move in making it off of the Monk's chassis, as it adds some flavor and doesn't pigeonhole the class into being 'the blaster'. The class itself is surprisingly rich by comparison too. Two mystics of the same element can look drastically different. I really like the class.

Pauper

The whole despair/hope mechanic irks me for being fueled by something so abstract and environment dependent. I feel like its an argument waiting to happen. Other than that its an okay class despite being the most wimpy flavor-wise. Think of being the brunette girl from Yugioh and that's the class here. I'm not sure if I like the class, I feel like it could have been absorbed by the Momenta.

Survivor

The survivor is probably the most boring and best functioning class here. I really like it. Its basically a spell-less ranger that's not a racist serial killer or too bogged down by the whole nature them. I feel like chest hair should have been a class feature. I like the class.

Synergist

There are a lot of support classes in this product. I think designating people as your cast feels kind of useless. It feels like just more language. I like the class but it doesn't excite me as much as some of the others.

Umbra

Okay so this has two pools of points that have a third term for what they are collectively? I know its somewhat nessesary but couldn't things be built so that it doesn't need a laundry list of extra language? I feel like I have ADD with some of these classes, add to that some of the classes have relatively esoteric terms. That said this doesn't apply to this class that much, its just not complicated like the and doesn't require too much bookkeeping. Its kind of like an incarnum kineticist, getting power to invest in ties to different inner planes. I like the class.

Warloghe

Warlogue is the spooky class. Basically someone taited so attracts and can bind spirits in a minor way to pretty much become a walking haunted house. I like the class a lot.

Warsmith

This class is boring. Its practically a Magus' Arcane pool attached to a crafter with some sunder sneak attack ability. I love it! Its kind of the artificer I've always wanted without weird mechanics or some kind of spell-like technology. Just a guy that can make stuff and break stuff really really well. But seriously this class deserves way more support.

Chapters 2 and 3 are pretty basic. Just some things to support the classes. Nothing terribly fascinating or gamechanging. Then there are new haunts and hazards which are nice.

Overall I have problems with the Conduit and Demiurge but a lot of these classes add to niches unexplored or refined rare niches that other products have only graced. Even the ones I complained about brings something new to the table and the two most boring classes are some of my favorites. There's enough holes filled that I want to call this a must-have but I feel like its not for everyone as it hits a few pet peeves I have on class design. If the problems above aren't your kind of problems this is a five star, but I'm giving it four stars.

Other reviews have discussed this in greater detail about the contents so I'll keep this short, pointing out the things that stood out to me.

I'm a big fan of mixing magic and technology. I love properties like He-Man, Thundercats and Flash Gordon so for a while I was on a huge lookout for Pathfinder products that would satisfy my need to run a few Magitech or Dungeon Punk campaigns. Thunderscape is the book that satisfied me in ways that other similar products didn't. Part of that is because of how the technology guide works (I'll get to that) and part of it is the flavor it evokes but for the most part its the options given that just work out for me.

Chapter 1 didn't strike me as terribly special until I got to the Ferrans. The Ferrans are a cool design and kind of make for 4 races rolled into one without getting super complicated. If you want a diverse 'furry' race then these guys will be lots of fun to play with.

Chapter 2 introduces 9 new classes. While the EntoMancer and Mechamage strike me as something that could be a Druid or Wizard archetype the remaining 7 classes are new, fresh and well designed. I cannot immagine running a dungeonpunk campaign without them. I could go on and on about these classes, they are really the MVPs of the book.

There are new weapons, armor and material that are pretty standard but I'm not really a fan of new gun and vehicle rules as they kind of disrupt assumptions and makes you have to convert when porting in or out. The all star here is the concept of Manite and Manite Engines. Which give precedence to have a source of energy allowing you to port in Technology Guide Items that could believably be run with steam.

There is also a lot of Aden lore which while does nothing for me, I mostly use the book for homebrew settings, it is a pretty fascinating world.

There is also a mini bestiary giving you some new and really evocative monsters to work with.

If you want to run a Dungeon Punk this book will give you pretty much all you need including a setting and some races to work with. I recommend it above anything else I've seen unless you really need a more detailed and robust chapter on technological items. That said there have been PDF crunch books about six of the classes as of writing this review and those expanded the classes ENORMOUSLY so I wouldn't be surprised if I see a technological item pdf that will make me eat my hat.

I'm giving it five stars. I can't imagine running an Ebberon-like magitech setting without these options. and the world of Aden is a fun Ebberon replacement that is full of flavor.

I like this book a lot. If I had my guess as to what Ultimate Magic 2 would look like, this would be it. More than just a book of spells Deep Magic supports magic in a lot of different ways.

The first chapter essentially gives spell lists by theme, discussing each with some flavor and providing some spell books that can be found containing the spells. There's also some smackling of rules such as new wizard schools, Ioun Stones, and leylines. This does mean that you wind up having to read the theme before you can find some rules, for example; there isn't a list of arcane discoveries unless you find a sidebar somewhere. This organization may be jarring but it has been a breath of fresh air for me as I tend to pick my spells and options by theme as opposed to sort out and optimize.

The new spells vary in usefulness and brokeness but nothing truly past the Core Rulebook in power per spell level. The spells also support other Kobold Press classes such as the Elven Archer and White Necromancer, which is a pretty big plus if you have those and ignorable if you don't There are also little side bars that give a bit more fluff to the spell themes.

Chapter 3 is a huge pluss for me. Ink magic seems out of place as it looks like it should have been in Chapter 1, as it doesn't give new rules to the extent of the Glyphs and Runes. The Glyphs and Runes are winners for me by being means for even non-casters to get a touch of magic. Basically you take a feat or two and you get a static bonus and some scaling access to magical effects. Some of these are lifesavers and add quite a bit of fluff if you're running anything involving Norse gods or aboleth.

Chapter 4 introduces Incantations from Zombie Sky Press so if you don't have that its a fun bonus.

Chapter 5 and 6 give bloodlines, archetypes and mysteries. Nothing that special but they support a lot of themes introduced in chapter 1 and look like a lot of fun if you're working a theme.

Chapter 7 has some fluff and rules for undead crafting, familiar stuff and homuculi. I didn't look too deep into this chapter as I felt it didn't add too much that wasn't already achievable in the game. Plus it's a short chapter with just a few bits of crunch to look at.

Lastly there's some NPCs to throw at your players.

Overall I think this massive book is well worth the price. It brings life to a lot of themes that have been neglected and gives a lot to do with the flavor to match. Its more than just a list of options which I appreciate but will be difficult to sort out if you're just looking for those options. I'm giving it five stars despite that and some minor editing mistakes because as a whole this is almost mandatory for cool options for making magic.

Well I have a copy of Thunderscape and a copy of Pure Steam so I'm excited to dig in. So lets see what this is all about...

Immediately I'm confronted with a big problem. How steam power storage and generation works reminds me a lot of the recent Technology Guide from Paizo. Steam engines are big and clunky but you can recharge your 'steam batteries' by plugging it into a steam generator. That way you can shove it into your weapons and stuff for portable steam power. That's cool, I love it. But I have a few questions;

How much steam does a steam engine make in a given time? I'd like some stats on these steam engines. I presume that if you plug and play this into Thunderscape you can just use those steam engines (I don't remember any real steam engine stats in Pure Steam oddly enough) for pointlessly free steam power. You can also assume that these are 'steam points' for the weapons that need those by plugging in steam cells. But...

How much steam do steam cells hold? And for that matter...

How much steam do the steam weapons in the book consume?

For me personally this is less of an issue. I assume the same standard as the Technology guide and steam cells hold 10 steam points and in Thunderscape they function as steam points and in Pure Steam they function as activation uses for technological enhancements or active per round points. But I didn't want to do that work. If the rules are incomplete because they are supposed to plug into two different other supplements there should have been some directions on how to do that.

The items themselves are great, barring that I don't know if I need some kind of feat or something to craft these, They seem necessary and the steam gun and revolver blade are more than welcome. And the vehicles are great. The hazards are great. The bonus content is nice.(btw there is a graphic on page 25 eating up a lot of text.)

I love a lot about this book but I have too many important questions about how it's supposed to function for it to be actually useful. so I gotta give this two stars for potential but no more for making me have to do the work of deciding how to implement steam and steam cells myself.

This is a relatively small pdf. 17 pages long, crunch starts at page 3 and legal information/ads start on page 15 so its about 12 pages of content. So what's in the content?

The product introduces 'complex' wands. Disappointingly these pretty much boil down to being mini-staves in function. They're rechargeable using a spell once a day, it has a few spells that drain it's charges, ect. I don't really get it.

Then there are some feats to interact with the wands allowing you to recharge via channel energy, bloodline power uses, hexes, ect. Then there's some feats that lets you counterspell using wand spells and even recharge that way. What seems to be a tradition, there are new spells showcased from various third party sources, which is nice, If you like them it tells you what to get.

In the end I'm somewhat disappointed. I was kind of expecting something thoroughly game changing and new and what I got was some stave jrs. They aren't BAD they just aren't that much different from staves. But they are kind of better than staves in that they have more ways to recharge so there's that. As far as I can tell there's nothing wrong with it mechanically.

I'll give it 4 out of 5. If you want some stave-like wands there there you go but don't expect too much out of it other than just a new say to make wands.

There’s a brand of third party products that I just love. I call it the ‘holefilling’ genre. These products give options that everyone wished could happen, give powerups for options that sorely need it, or complete cycles and patterns. At first glance Forgotten Core Feats seems like that kind of product so I decided to dive in and make a review quickly.

Its a short and cheap pdf with some hard hitting feats. I’ll give my brief impression on the notable ones.

Boon Pack: useless to me, Boon Companion exists, which does the same thing only more so.

Cunning: Toughness only with skill ranks in one skill. Love it. wish I could use it more than once. This and a number of others can be taken as rogue talents which is pretty nice. I’ll note when they are rogue feats.

Curious: You get three extra class skills. Love it, its everything I ever wanted. Rogue Feat.

Defensive: You get more dodge bonus to your dodge feat. Love it.

Efficient Crafter: Reduces the cost of crafting a bit. Nothing terrible but not exciting.

Exotic Hunter’s Bond: you get the Druid’s animal companion list in addition to Ranger’s. I love it.

Exotic Weapon Group Proficiency: you become proficient with all exotic weapons. There are two more feats like this, One for martial weapons and one for simple weapons. (which I’ll skip) This is the only one that kind of puts me off, mostly for flavor reasons but a bit because it feels a little too easy.

Expanded Ranger/Paladin Spell List: Two feats. Your Ranger/Paladin can gain a Druid/Cleric spell. Okay enough. Would not burn feats to do such a thing but its nice that it exists.

Expert Tumbler: Theres a typo in this one but essentially when you tumble through threatened squares you don’t count the opponent’s size and strength modifier for CMD. I love it. CMD can skyrocket against more monsters at later levels. Nice to see a way around it.

Extended Wildshape: The durations for Wildshape doubles. Wildshape lasts for 4 hours when you first get it so I don’t really get the point of this.

Firearm Mastery: You can reload as a free action. Looks scarily overpowered but when thinking about it, its really not. You spend two feats to make firearms on par with bows in terms of ammunition reload.

Goliath Grip: You can wield a weapon a size category bigger for a -1 penalty to attack rolls. Honestly the wording is super confusing. Whenever I see feats like this I wonder why can’t they just say ‘treat yourself as one size category bigger for the purposes of wielding weapons.’ Thats pretty much what’s happening here only with a -1 penalty. Anyways the feat is nice, love it aside from having to reread the wording.

Greater Combat Reflexes: You get more AOOs and an bonus to AOO attacks. I love it. Btw Improved Combat Reflexes is missing so I hate it now.

Greater Unarmed Strike: Deal US damage as a monk half your level. I’ve seen this done a lot and it’s nice Weird that a Monk can take this to advance his US damage by 4 levels.

Impressive Strike: You can Sneak Attack on Crits. I’ve seen this before and liked it then too. It does amazing things for Rogues even if they have to burn a feat to get it.

Improved Favored Class: Your favored class bonus doubles. Whoa whoa whoa, now we’ve gone too far. Some of those favored class bonuses are bonus spells known. This is equal on paper but some races can get staggering benefits from this. Good luck Multiclassing with this around. Well unless you’re a half-elf.

Improved Furious Focus: You stop taking penalties when using power attack with two hand. The last couple of feats give some serious power to melee options. I love it.

Improved Toughness: You get more Toughness. Between this and Improved Favored Class I could make a Barbarian that never dies..

Intuitive Spellcaster. You can get +4 caster level with your level as the limit. Basically you get full caster levels as a Paladin or Ranger. I noticed there is no prerequisite so you can be a Fighter with caster levels. I’m not opposed to the idea it just seems silly unless there’s a way to exploit it I’m missing. I love it.

Reflect Arrows. Deflect Arrows back atcha! No no no, it deflects Ranged Attacks! I’d like some clarification, does this mean I can deflect ranged touch attacks? Rays? Seems kinda broken as written, you can easily make a martial that is immuned to ranged spellcasting that makes attack rolls. Worse because you can reflect them back. I’m guessing RAI it only reflects Deflect Arrow targets.

Iron Palm Technique: Constitution to damage with unarmed strike. I guess this is to make Monk less mad but I’d have to play it out to see how that works out.

Underhanded Blow: Uses Int for damage when finessing. Another weird one that steers Rogue away from strength.

Vicious Opportunity/Spring attack: one lets you vital strike on AOOs and one lets you vital strike on spring attacks. All of a sudden out of nowhere the pdf wraps up with a chain to make a vital strike build. In addition to the AOO feats earlier you could make someone that can really mess you up with AOOs.

Overall you get a lot of value for your buck, however there are some typos and things that need clarifying. These possibly give some serious power to a few classes but those are classes that generally are seen as needing help. I’ll give it a low 5 stars. The price covers up the few glitches and it is otherwise very useable and the content is pretty good. I will use this in my games.

I think this is the third ‘Into the Breach’ by Flying Pincushion. Into the Breach is a series of books expanding on paizo’s base classes with new Archetypes, Class options, Alternate Classes and Prestige Classes, This one focusing on the Gunslinger. The 34 page document kicks in with the crunch on page 5 and the last page is legal information leaving 29 pages of content.

First lets look at the Archetypes…

The Black Powder knight comes out as kind of a merger between Gunslinger and Paladin. It gets Lay on Hands and a gun variant on Divine Bond. I wish the Divine Bond thing was rewritten because there are a few ambiguities, like what effective Paladin level the BP Knight has or whether or not he can take a steed. The other abilities are general protection things although one ability seems weird. Essentially you purposely misfire to deal damage to all enemies in 30 ft and stabilize all allies in 30 ft. Why it does both of these things I don’t understand, I guess because of Paladin powers. Overall I’m not excited. As an archetype of a mundane weapon-based class it seems to be dipping too far into a class with magical abilities. Not to mention that Paladin has a Gun-wielding archetype.

The Boltslinger seems to be a Crossbow Gunslinger. It does mostly what it’s supposed to do, although I’m not sure if it makes crossbows viable. (probably not) The odd abilities out of the bunch: Bolt Ladder lets you ignore hardness to walls when making footholds for climbing. Seems as oddly specific and compares to the Monk’s Slow Fall ability in usefulness. Poison use is also Weird but not really bad in any way.

Bombard Blades get a free melee weapon that is also a gun. Well not a real gun. Its more that it uses ammunition to explode on whatever you struck. The wording explaining it feels very clunky with some redundant language but seems to function once you read everything. In the end it looks like a fun class and comes with a new weapon for everyone else.

Cunning Scoundrel is funny and looks fun. Basically a Gunslinger with Sneak attack and some tricks involving weapons that are hybrid gun/melee weapons like Axe Muskets.

Frogman is an Underwater Gunslinger slinging spear guns. It mostly does what it says on the tin but it has a few oddballs. One ability adds to the Frogman’s Swim Speed when it should probably grant a swim speed if the creature doesn’t already have one. The frogman has two abilities that are weirdly specific. One works if the enemy could fall off of something and into water and apparently summons predatory aquatic creatures. As a class ability this is just nonsensical.

Powderman is pretty much Bomberman. It has one ability that is very unclear about how it works but otherwise functions as one would expect. Gains the Alchemist Bomb Class feature at a lvl 4.

The Wyrd Hunter is some sort of anti-supernatural serial killer I guess. Honestly it looks pretty weak despite looking like it functions properly

The Trickshot is a bit more exciting. It can make ranged Dirty Tricks with guns and gets bonuses to it. In some ways this may be too strong because it gets sort-of called shots per attack. Looks good and fun.

Now onto the Alternate Class: The Gungineer.

The Gungineer has some different deeds and grit (they are named differently) and really they seem very Gunslinger-ish. Nothing terribly off beat or anything. It does get a special named weapon that cannot be enchanted (no word on what to do if it gets lost) This named gun can get abilities based on a pool of modification points much like an Eidolon’s Evolution points. Its about as cool as it sounds but at such a short book it leaves you feeling like the concept alone could have been a 100 page book.

Now the Prestige Classes:

Theres the Grey Eye, a necromancer Gunslinger. Basically the Gunslinger has to get his eye popped out and replaced by some kind of necromancer eye, capable of storing grit and giving some some necromancy themed abilities and spells. I like it well enough, although BAB and HD aren’t tied.

The Hex gunner is a Witch x Gunslinger prestige class and really does what you’d expect. Shoot hexes. Honestly nothing is going to make me like this. Its written well enough but I’ve seen three archetypes for Gunslinger that shoot Hexes and I think there’s a Witch archetype as well. Witchslinging as a prestige class does not appeal to me.

The Qiang Seng is a Monk x Gunslinger. Like the Witch based PC its an idea I’ve seen a lot but this one has Ki-Grit so I like it a lot more. It gets ‘katas’ which are sort of Gun-fu talents as well as deeds/ki powers that use ki or grit interchangeably. This looks very fun.

After that are three new grit feats which aren’t very exciting save for Cleaving Shot which does what it sounds like it does.

Then there are new gun/weapons which look fun.

Overall there are some bumps in the road. A few abilities from some classes are ambiguous or goofy but nothing came out to me as being pure garbage and a few options are pure gold. I only noticed one actual typo.

I think I’ll give this 4.5 out of 5 stars. niggling problems aside some of the concepts or and mechanics feel like they really NEED to be there so I’ll float it to a low 5 star when partial stars aren’t available.

Into the Breach: The Witch is a simple idea; provide new options for the Witch class in the form of archetypes, hexes, patrons, feats and even some prestige classes and an alternate base class. This is a pretty dense pdf with a ton of content.

despite having some inconsistancies with ‘game language’ (for example: Bailiwick hermit has an intelligent construct that functions as the witch’s spellbook, which function differently from familiars that store spells) most criticisms on this front are superficial at best and basically function as written without much clarification. As for how powerful and cool they are, nothing impresses me but nothing infuriates me. This sounds like the archetypes are only so-so but my opinion of the Witch class is that it is very bland so the amount of modularity and flavor given by these archetypes are a huge boon despite them not exactly clicking with me.

The alternate class, the Sevite, casts witch spells using Wisdom, gains a domain, gets a daily divination, the ability to get posessed by Loa thus gaining some abilities. Unfortunately I own both Pact Magic books so I’d never play this but if you don’t this is an alternate class that has a more defined flavor than the normal Witch.

There are two prestige classes. The Heathen, which probably should have an alignment restriction, I don’t like. Not because its too powerful, weak or unwieldy but seems to combine Magus and Witch in a way that feels like neither and just adds more complications. Then there’s the Scarred Shaman, a Witch-Barbarian. I like this one more (despite BAB not matching HD which is a pet peeve)

The Hexes and Major Hexes are mostly ‘meh’ but I can say that about most hexes in general. There are a few gems that either allow for new possibilities or new flavors so for the most part they’re a hit. The Grand Hexes are a more definite hit for me.

The four patrons take up all of half a page which sucks but what are you going to do, Patrons just aren’t as meaningful and flavorful as bloodlines or domains.

The feats are okay, nothing too interesting aside from the feat that allows you to swift action hexes against weapon targets, which I’ve seen so many times but not in feat form. There are plenty of archetypes that let you mix attacks and hexes so its not terribly thrilling.

So would I play with it?
Probably. Overall I’m not a fan of how linear the witch is so I’d likely pick an archetype out of here to better represent the flavor I want to play, especially the Sevite. I feel that the Into the Breach series feels the strongest when it fills in holes in classes and I think that this succeeds in adding some good flavor options to a very ill defined class.

So Would I allow it at my table?
As far as I can tell there is nothing unbalancing or annoying going on and everything functions as written or with minor clarification. I’d allow it.
Overall I’d give it a 4 out of 5. I like it enough but nothing blows my mind.

Into the Breach: Oracle is the third installment of a series of pdfs covering new options revolving around paizo’s base classes. So far there has been one for Summoner and Magus.

First up are new archetypes. The Karuna Sattva gives up a relevation and a curse to gain the ability to remove afflictions in order to gain a curse. Additionally she can cast oracle’s burden as a spell-like ability. despite having a limit on how many she can have, the fact that the curses last for a week or more makes me think this ability is maybe too good but they do have downsides so I’d have to see it in action.

Then there’s the Diplomatique a pacifist archetype that gets defensive and healing abilities in exchange for not being able to harm anyone. There is also the Enigma warden Which I am pretty sure does not work until it gets 2nd level spell slots or hits 5th level, as it cannot speak without losing all it’s supernatural abilities (unclear if it’s Su abilities from other classes are also lost). Then the Ordained Scion, who gets a bloodline instead of a mystery.

An Oracle alternate class is introduced called the Warlock. At first glance, this thing is scary. It gets a scaling negative energy blasts as attacks (not standard actions), a revelation at each level (of any mystery), a pool of counterspell points, modifictions to it’s negative energy blasts every other level, charisma to one save, then two saves then at 10th level effectively has Divine Grace, and then even more abilities. I have no idea how this guy is not broken. He just does way too much. Good saves, can full attack scaling blasts, counterspell and do a bunch of revelation abilities on top of several other abilities.

The Prestige class The Covernborn looks equally powerful but requires three classes worth of abilities so may be balanced out purely by needing both INT and CHA.

After that are new Mysteries, which range from inspired to ok. A few glitches here and there but mostly functional and some I can see using.

The new Curses however, while interesting concepts don’t mechanically feel like curses to me. These are some very easily bypassed negative effects or sort of bypass themselves.

So would I play with this?
Two of the four archetypes and a few mysteries catch my attention but nothing else really strikes any tropes I really felt I couldn’t do before.

So would I allow this in my games.
While there are a few glitches they aren’t terribly bad and with the exception of Enigma Warden they are useable all the way through. I’d likely build and compare the Warlock because I am not convinced that it is balanced and it will likely be banned. After one easy ban and a clarification it’s a useable supplement that may catch the eye of my players more than it has for me so it amounts to just adding some options.

Overall I’d give it 3 out of 5. Not bad, but not great.

There isn’t much to say about this product, which is a good thing and a bad thing.

The good is that it is a very simple and wonderful concept. You can cast zero level spells with first level spell slots in order to get a stronger effect. Spells that grow into stronger spells always made more sense than spell cherry-picking so I like this idea. While prepared casters don’t care so much, spontaneous casters effectively get a free spell known, which is amazing for versatility.

The bad is that I almost feel like I should ding it for not being expansive enough. Imagine if these spells had 1-9 spell levels of effects. That would be amazing.

Past that there isn’t really much to say. The product does what it says on the box.

So would I play with it?
Are you kidding? If I were a spontaneous caster or a half-caster these are a gold-mine even if they are just zero level spells that turn into 1st level spells. Its fun and makes for more versatile casting. I am somewhat disappointed that they’re effectively reprints of zero level spells. I would have loved to see level evolving new spells.

So would I allow it at my table?
This is a bit tougher. On one hand I’m adding free spells known to casters, and while this isn’t all that powerful its still free, which makes me want to add a feat or two to get these options. As far as I can tell there are no glitches or exploitable rules so despite not being totally comfortable with extra spells known its still useable and still a good concept.

4 / 5, I’m probably going use this.

I recenty got a package in the mail. In it was a copy of Pact Magic Unbound: Vol. 2. I was excited to see some new material for a pact magic but also excited that some new support popped up on my radar from d20pfsrd.com publishing.

The pdf spends quite a few pages giving a crash course in Pact Magic. It’s potentially useless information as I probably would not get this product without Pact Magic Unbound. I guess if anyone gets this product on accident they have more of an idea of what’s going on.

Chapter One gives us three new spirits. I can see myself using them as the flavor is very interesting and the powers are fun and work well with the flavor. You’re essentially channeling the spirit of a trickster gunman (complete with a magic intelligent gun), a spellsundering Barbarian, and an unholy abomination from the stars.

Chapter Two gives some new archetypes. The first one is hilarious, an occultist that forces spirits on others granting the bad pact effects but none of the powers. The later abilities mostly revolve around making the target of a successful forced binding miserable. Oddly enough this makes the Occultist feel more witchy than the Witch base class. Then there’s the Legion Occultist, an Occultist that seems to be honing in on the Summoner’s flavor. Basically the Occultist binds spirits into creatures made of various material. Then there’s the Soul Armorer, a Paladin(and Antipaladin!!!) archetype that smites whatever the bound spirit does not like.

Chapter Three introduces a subsystem similar to schools of magic or war colleges in the Magic/Combat of the Inner Sea Campaign Setting books. Your milage depends on whether or not you use War Colleges and Magic Schools mechanics in your games.

At the end there is some bonus content advertising Pact Magic Unbound Vol. 2, which I just got in the mail so I won’t discuss here. What I will discuss is that I saw this trend on a previous d20pfsrd product and it seems appropriate considering that d20pfsrd.com is a, er, Pathfinder SRD. Now if only I got sneak peaks at cool things I have NOT already bought.

So would I play with it?
Despite the pages of redundant information and information that I may or may not use, the new Archetypes and Spirits really sell this for me making up for the actual page count with strong crunch. By my count this pdf has extended into Barbarian, Gunslinger, Summoner, and Witch flavor, making Occultist even more versatile without losing it’s own flavor. As a bonus the Paladin/Antipaladin archetype looks really fun. The most important part is that the options in this pdf make me dream of ways to play with them.

So would I allow it at my table?
As far as I can tell there aren’t any errors that make it hard to play RAW. It also supports something I already own without stepping on toes. There is nothing that would wreck my games or would be hard to deal with as a GM. As a player the Organizaton information is not something I want to see when there could be more archetypes, but as a GM I see more tools for use.

5/5, I’m going to use this.

I was a big fan of The Book of Martial Action I so I was excited to see this.

The PDF consists of new technique feats divided into 5 schools. There is a Tank school, a speedster school, a dueling school, a buff school and a trickery school. Like before each technique feat uses points from an opt-in martial pool that refreshes after a minute of rest. If you're familiar with Path of War/Book of 9 Swords/4th edition these effectively makes them encounter abilities but since they are point based you can pull of a few large stunts or a lot of smaller ones. I like it a lot better than the 'Vancian' maneuvers of Path of War.

The new thing is the schools of techniques and they are a huge hit for me as they put a lot of flavor into the technique feats.

My least favorite part of the pdf are the new base classes representing each of the new martial schools. Because they are not nearly as robust as any other base class I cant help but to see them as unneeded class bloat, especially since I own a lot of third party products with new base classes. I'd much rather just use an archetype from the previous book or just get one base class that was flexible enough to represent any school. As it stands they feel like some extra content I don't care for but someone else may.

Overall the crunch is not useless but not broken and brings fun new things to do as opposed to full-attacking.

Out of all the third party products I've picked up this is the first I'd have to penalize for simply not being enough.

The product contains a series of feats that allow you to generate a pool of points based on your BAB that you can spend on martial techniques. Each technique is it's own feat and the martial pool can be regained during the day.

Its a bit similar to Book of 9 Swords but dispenses with the whole 'vancian' techniques, however its is very sparse and shallow leaving me preferring this system but wishing it were longer. The product comes with martial pool archetypes for a number of classes but while that's nice I was left with a hankering for more techniqes especially the 2-4 point ones so that I can do more with the pool.

A+ product but gets a C+ for just not being enough.

Okay, a bit of a warning. This is a pretty nice class but you may never ever want it anywhere near your table.

What this is is pretty much a wizard. It has the wizard spell list and casts with Int. Has the same saves, HD and basic stats. What it does not have is a school, arcane bond or bonus feats. Instead it gets a mage talent every other level. The Talents are actually pretty interesting. They grant various buffs to different casting, one grants a familiar, one gives you access to a 'college' that has it's own talents for a form of magic. All around it's a pretty okay class.

Then there's the controversial part. The single most interesting and broken thing: It casts spells infinitely. Basically you can only have one spell prepared at a time, but you can prepare spells as many times as you want per day. Preparing a spell takes a full round action for the first level. As you level up your lower level spells can be prepared faster while your more powerful spells still take a full round to prepare. You don't have a spell book but you can spend money to memorize a new spell. You are capable of learning spells from a new level at the same rate as a wizard. If you're familiar with the Wizard's spell list this is broken beyond reason. About the only place it's not broken is in mid combat when you have to start preparing things while being attacked but the out of combat versatility is way too much.

But I'll give it this, in combat it is pretty worthless so there's that. And that's why it has such a high rating really. Its a different kind of wizard that wins in different ways. A more interesting and dynamic way and if the wizard spell list were different I'd allow it. But this thing is way too good out of combat, to the point of probably being able to avoid it altogether. But you may be able to have fun with it and I'm just paranoid so I'm leaving it with three stars but noting that I won't let this class ever touch my games.

Per week on Paizo's forums there are at least two threads discussing the Fighter class and what may or may not be wrong with it. In these threads there are common themes to proposed fixes. The Combatant in this product feels like it reflects a number of those proposed fixes despite it's insistence that it is not attempting to replace the fighter.

Essentially the Combatant is the fighter at it's core but with the following differences.

Good Reflex save.

4+INT skill ranks per level.

Acrobatics is a class skill.

Does not need dex requirement for TWF.

The biggest changeArmor/Weapon training is absent, and in it's place are Martial Art Styles. Martial art styles are combat styles associated with a number of feats. If you possess feats within a martial art style you have then you get bonus abilities based on the number of feats you have of that style.

For example if you have 3-5 feats of the archery style, you may ignore up to half your level in circumstance penalties to ranged attacks and stealth becomes a class skill. As you gain more archery feats you get up to 5 more abilities of increasing strength. Some of the feats are on multiple style lists so since you gain 3 martial art styles throughout your levels, you can get a number of extra abilities if you synch them up. The abilities themselves are either obvious numerical bonuses or something amazingly complementary. (like pounce) Overall these are huge boosts of power and versatility making the Combatant a pretty competent beast in combat.

The product also comes with a number of new combat feats and honestly, if you don't use the Combatant class you'll want to use the feats. A lot of them are amazing. A few feel very at home with a monk and a number I would call Must Haves.

Overall for the price of one dollar you're getting a lot. A spectacular class AND useable feats. Very useable feats. The price takes this from being a nice product to one that is silly not to buy.

Blood and Steel: The Fighter is an archetype focused pdf based on the fighter core class plus a few extra goodies.

The archetypes themselves ranges from enabling a specific flavor to enabling a specific tactic. I'll give my impression of each of them. Some of them have the potential for abuse, but really I think that's something the fighter class could use.

Beast Hunter: This archetype has less to do with beasts and more to do with entangling enemies with disabling weapons. It looks fun but less lethal than standard Fighter.

Gun Fighter: Its a fighter with a gun. Imagine a Gunslinger without grit and a bunch of bonus feats. That's pretty much it. Not particularly exciting but as far as I know there is no other non 3pp gun archetypes for fighters so it seems to have a place.

Harpooner: This looks less useful if you're not playing a water campaign, so seems more like an NPC archetype.

Highborn fighter: The main difference that jumps out with this archetype is that you gain 4+int skill ranks, Charisma can replace Dex for AC,CMD and Reflex saves and a butteload of Charisma can potentially boost your damage really high thus enabling Charisma as a potential primary stat.

Iaidoka Master: If you've seen Rurouni Kenshin, you're effectively battousai the manslayer. Its awesome but has on ability that may be too powerful.

Navaja: The highlight of this archetype is the ability to leave weapons inside the enemy to impose penalties. I'd rather see a rogue with this ability but it is a fun and funny ability although I can see how TWF and quickdraw can make this goofy.

Siege Engineer: another NPC archetype by virtue of not getting a free siege engine.

Thrower: A chucking Fighter. It is what it says on the box. Looks fun.

Wicked Wrecker: If you were to play a rugby character who decided to put on spiked armor and go adventuring this is the archetype to use.

Following the archetypes are new combat feats. None of them are really impressive or are gamechangers but they do their job within their niche and none of them feel truly useless.

After that are two new pieces of equipment, the Battle Parasol (?!) and the Harpoon (different from normal harpoon.), then a new mundane shield that sheds light (sadly throwing it does not deal fire damage).

Then there are new magic weapons/wonderous items. Nothing exciting but nothing bad. Mostly enabling the archetypes.

Past this is bonus content; Select entries from Rite Publishing's 101 Magical Armor and Shield Properties and 101 Magical Weapon Properties. (I have one but not the other so it was good advertising on the other.)

Overall I'd recommend Blood and Steel. The archetypes seem fun even though a few seem more at home as NPCs. I definitely see myself using a good chunk of these as a player and a GM. My only real criticism is that for an entire pdf on fighter this seemed rather mundane as opposed to something so gamechanging that you NEED to buy it for all your fighters. I'd give it a 4.5 rounded up to 5 for being a solid product in general.