Reviewed first on endzeitgeist.com, then submitted to Nerdtrek and GMS magazine and posted here, on OBS, etc.

@Doomtotem: Making HL-files is pretty costly, so many "small" releases (read: Non-KS'd books) don't get HL-files due to 3pp profit margins being TINY. I *think* that this won't get HL-files. I may be wrong, but yeah.

Thanks as always for putting out such a comprehensive review!

Reviewed first on endzeitgeist.com, then submitted to Nerdtrek and GMS magazine and posted here, on OBS, etc.

5 star + seal? Smart choice, boy-o.

*fades into the space between browser tabs*

Questions: Why are the nephilim humanoid?

Or, why doesn't Archfiend class feature change their type to outsider?

To quote our esteemed developer Stephen Rowe's answer elsewhere - "The concept of the nephilim is slightly different, focusing more on the permanent possession of a humanoid body and soul by an evil outsider's spirit. However, the paragon class *should* cause the type to change. I take full responsibility for the oversight and am working with the designer presently to correct this in the document. What is likely to be the case is the fiendish paragon becomes an outsider at 10th or 20th level, although the actual mechanical impacts of changing type in this manner are relatively minor."

Just a small detail that got lost in the development/editing process shuffle... there will be a quick fix going in to have fiendish exemplars be outsiders only at 10th level as part of their fiendish ancestry.

Thanks for adding a unbiased voice on balance, End. I labored (and obsessed and fretted to ridiculous levels) to keep things within the realm of sanity on both my personal work and on development for the additions to ITC dragons.

And re: silver flair, I 100% endorse End's suggestion.

Delighted to see this so well received. :D

The super-dope dragon adventure included in the book is a huge contributor to that.

Part II of my review:

Humbled by such a glowing review... thanks as always for taking the time to provide comprehensive reviews to the 3PP PFRPG community!

Oh dear lord, not you! Did you hide behind my couch?? Where were you? OO

I lurk in the Space Between Aprils, waiting to pull your world into this one at the End of Da... I mean, yeah bruh, behind your couch and it's kinda dirty back here. Could stand a bit of a shine.

See you in four months, hope you're ready to say hello to my lil' frien'. Leave a light on, Endzie.

Also, any suggestions from the Creators! on how to build a Hive creature?

The Hive as in Horror Adventures and now Starfinder.

That's a good question. The ITC series focuses on making monsters playable as individual PCs capable of being in an adventuring party, and hive-mind entities don't fit that mold well (unless you're designing a character that is an individual hive member somehow disconnected from the multitudes of the hive).

If I were to personally play a hive-inspired character, I'd make the following choices:

Race - a subterranean nightmare with the elongated hook hands alt racial trait or, more likely, a warptouched (representing an incomplete humanoid host metamorphosis).

Class - That Which Must Not Be paragon class with the visceral oddity (or physical brute, to represent a nascent queen that grows in size) aberrant power and inscrutable alien heritage, focusing on getting as many physical abilities of a hive member as possible (acid blood, claws, climbing, armor, etc.) as well as telepathy. Another option would be Dreamscarred Press' tactician class with the aberrant champion archetype, and play it like a disconnected hive member who can create a partial hive-mind with its adventuring party.

Any chance of a Starfinder conversion?

Maybe. ;)

"I am here to ask you one question, and one question only: EXPLOSIONS?!"

Mister Torgue High-Five Flexington, PFS-legal Half-Orc Gunslinger (firebrand)
20 Pt. Buy: Str-14, Dex-14, Con-14, Int-7, Wis-7, Cha-19
Favored Class: gunslinger(+1/3 to pistol whip attack rolls per gunslinger level)
Traits: irrepressible (social), never stop shooting (combat)
Class Abilities
1- Deeds (dragon fire, gunslinger's dodge, quick clear), Gunsmith, Wild Card
2- Nimble +1
3- Deeds (gunslinger initiative, pistol whip, utility shot)
4- +1 Cha, Scorched Earth +1d6
5- Bombs 1d6, Discovery (explosive bombs, mandatory)
6- Nimble +2
7- Bombs 2d6, Deeds (big boom, startling shot, targeting)
8- +1 Cha, Scorched Earth +2d6
9- Bombs 3d6
10- Nimble +3
11- Bombs 4d6, Deeds (bleeding wound, expert loading, lightning reload)
12- +1 Cha, Scorched Earth +3d6
13- Bombs 5d6
14- Nimble +4
15- Bombs 6d6, Deeds (evasive, menacing shot, slinger's luck)
16- +1 Cha, Scorched Earth +4d6
17- Bombs 7d6
18- Nimble +5
19- Bombs 8d6, Deeds (cheat death, death's shot, stunning shot)
20- +1 Cha, Scorched Earth +5d6, True Grit
Feats
1- (B)Gunsmithing, Rapid Reload (dragon pistol)
3- Blowout Shot Deed
5- Whip-Shot Deed
7- Rapid Shot
9- Improved Critical (dragon pistol)
11- Critical Focus
13- Sickening Critical
15- Signature Deed (whip shot)
17- Improved Initiative
19- Iron Will

Get your copy from the Paizo store here!

Be All You Must Not Be!

Come experience indescribable horrors, unceasing madness, and more tentacles than you can count! Grow in size, develop weird powers, manifest potent psychic abilities, and even drive mundane creatures insane as you level your way to becoming an unnameable doom. Create the aberration you want to play in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, as your favorite iconic monsters or your own new, unique entity.

This product includes:

Six races of aberrant threats to represent any aberration, including the Warptouched humanoid race
Alternate racial traits and favored class options
The Aberrant Champion universal archetype (compatible with 48 classes)
New class archetypes: the Conduit of the Forbidden (Psychic), Freak Wrangler (Hunter), and Opener of the Ways (Summoner)
That Which Must Not Be racial paragon class 1st-20th level
Class- and race-specific feats to round out any aberration character

Jam-packed with 50+ pages of mechanics and flavorful fiction, from the same company that brought you the hugely successful In The Company of Dragons comes the next book in the extraordinary Questhaven Campaign Setting. It's time for things to get weird!

I'm in!

The answer's totally obvious, man!

Oh my, what have I created...

Good question on the favored class bonus. Feel free to foist this freebie feat (say that five times fast) upon your GM. I've vetted it through heavy playtesting, so it's totally balanced. Scout's honor.

100% Class, All Of It Low (General)
I am a golden god.
Prerequisite: optimizing flexibility class feature
Benefit: Whenever you choose options for your optimizing flexibility class feature, you can retrain all favored class bonuses that you have gained from your metadventurer class levels. For each class level, you can choose either +1 hit point, +1 skill point, or any favored class bonus available to your race for another class.
Normal: You can choose +1 hit point or +1 skill point per level as a favored class bonus for the metadventurer class.

I'm officially in for my first PaizoCon... looking forward to both meeting new people and seeing old friends! Anyone who wants to socialize, gimme a seat in any particular games, and/or just share some drinks hit me up.

(EDIT: And catch up with the Minneapolis PFS contingent... I've been awol from PFS for like three years now.)

Thank you for this, Liz and Paizo. Well said.

great product. I wish a mythic version of in the compagny of monster x for every monster class.

There's a mythic section by Jason Nelson for the revised and expanded In the Company of Dragons due out this summer (among many other awesome additions).

Thanks for the review!

I blame Kaer Maga.

On a serious note, the main reasons were already listed. Grandfathered spells from previous editions and an extremely broad description. Transmutation tends to be the dumping ground for spells which don't fit neatly into a single other school.

1 for 1, yeah!

Thanks for the kind words. :)

Dotting with glee.

My point posting here was to address the subject, not the character. Basically Paizo does engage in viewpoint discrimination, and it's not a bad thing in and of itself. On reflection, I find it kind of sad that the character is being defined as 'the trans iconic' rather than 'the shaman iconic' I mean Seelah isn't 'the black iconic' she's 'the paladin iconic'* Valeros is 'the fighter iconic'.

Hank Aaron was becoming a professional ball player nearly 60 years before Seelah the iconic paladin was drawn up, yet it is still considered a newsworthy event that provokes emotional responses both positive and negative when a contemporary professional athlete publicly identifies as anything other than heterosexual. We're a long way off from the day when humanity will utter a collective, "meh," about gender orientation subjects even in something as banal as a fictional character in a game.

I remember this. Good but not htat good taking into account how hard is reposition but well, is something.

Reposition is underrated.

Unless I've missed something in the relevant rules and FAQs, the trip weapon property has no impact here.

A weapon with the trip quality adds any weapon-based attack bonuses to drag and reposition, two combat maneuvers that usually do not benefit from weapon attack bonuses.

"Your base attack bonus and size bonus," is a singular subject that happens to be composed of two combined numbers. You are interpreting the sentence as saying, "You add your Dexterity bonus to both your base attack bonus and size bonus when determining your Combat Maneuver Bonus (see Combat) instead of your Strength bonus," which is inferring meaning where none exists and not RAW.

Is this really something that you can't let your DM handle? You need an official ruling on it? Etc.

This was initially posted to clear up a condition that sees heavy table variation depending on the GM, in order to have something more concise for PFS and similar structured games. Having a character who uses a lot of fascination-causing events get his character treated very differently every time he plays isn't the best situation. Making the condition clearer in no way removes the ability for any GM in a home game to have fascinated work according to their opinion.

It's also posted in the rules forum where rules are discussed, as opposed to the RPG discussion forum. Trolling the post to disparage anyone who asks for a rules clarification isn't really necessary (or appropriate).

What's funny about the MDB is that since you don't get Rage until level 4, and you don't get your first Rage Power until level 7, there isn't a whole lot of mad in the barbarian or the dog.

You get your first rage power at level 4. The reduction in effective barbarian level for rage does not alter the rage power class ability in any way except for meeting rage power prerequisites. Rage powers are gained at 4th level and every additional four levels thereafter by a mad dog barbarian.

Round 1 - free action to give the AC the flank command, rage, kill.

Take the moment of clarity rage power for situations where you need to handle animal in mid-combat while raging.

If you're used to playing classes which require at least minimal resource management and forethought, mag dog is a fine archetype. If you like to just smash things without having to think, don't pick it.

Giant space hamsters, PC oozes, and the ability to cherry-pick from the giant pile of existing other-campaign printed material that was collecting dust on their bookshelves?

uh that is what you get for skipping arms day, bro

This is making me want to make an inquisitor of Kurgess who challenges heretics with his catch-phrase, "do you even lift???"

Deceptive thread title.

But yes, bears (particularly as animal companions) need more stat love.

Thanks, as always End, for the time you take to do reviews. Glad you liked it and humbled to get your seal of approval.

I could be wrong, but I suspect the author of that monster might have been trying to appeal to my interests by 1) using something from folklore and 2) making it a div.

Totally trying to bribe the judges. Totally.

I just found out today that my mean little div made the finalist list. Very honored to have been selected, and greatful to be placed beside some amazing talent. The green strangler and echo demon are simply stellar (not to talk up the other finalists, but yeah, a bit surprised I'm on this list with them.)

I don't even see what's so bad about sundering. Yeah, the weapon breaks, but how much is a scroll of Make Whole?

It can get a bit expensive to buy one with the required CL to fix the destroyed magic item.

The problem with make whole is that it requires the caster to have twice the CL of a destroyed magic item in order to fix it. This quickly outpaces the average CL of items commonly found at a party's WBL.

I'm glad PFRPG added the "non-nuclear-option" of sunder to just bestow the broken condition, but even that can set players off. I once had a magus' player flip out when his scimitar got sundered down to a 20/x2 crit range. Pointing out to him that a 0-level mending would fix it didn't help much. It may have been just a short-tempered player, but sunder tends to bring the rage so quickly I almost never use it as a player or GM in public games.

I can't fully jump back into this debate because I'd wind up in a straitjacket before I even get four posts out, but just wanted to point out that when you decide NPCs that would normally be indifferent are initially unfriendly just because a player has a -2 Cha modifier:

The player effectively suffers an additional -5 penalty to Diplomacy checks made to improve the NPC's attitude above and beyond his regular Cha penalty, and if he fails by 5+ the NPC becomes hostile.

The player cannot even attempt the most basic request of the NPC - such as asking for simple advice or directions - without taking 1 minute to try and get lucky enough to successfully improve the NPC's attitude to indifferent.

Make of that what you will. I think its relevant to how one should drop their own interpretation and GM fiat on the game.

I just don't get why so many people act like PFRPG's mechanics for Charisma devalue the ability score. The most commonly requested skill checks in the game other than Perception are linked to Charisma, as is the single most powerful skill (Use Magic Device). Even if you are not a class whose powers are partially or wholly keyed to Charisma, the mechanics punish you enough if you dump it.

Paying points for a 14/15 and then getting benefits from it.

GAINING points for a 6/7 and then not roleplaying any down sides from it

See the difference?

Having to make just as many skill/ability checks as other players and suffering lowered results plus any other mechanical drawbacks of dumping out those stats.

Punitively singling out the characters of certain players via an arbitrary method hidden under the guise of roleplay because of a bias against stat dumping.

See the difference?

And it doesn't do anything for familiars at all. They're not animal companions.

The latest version of Boon Companion in Animal Archive (posted by OP) does include familiars.

Hey Roy, I don't know why you quoted me. I agree that it is not acceptable to use the term "Homo", I was giving advice to the poster to best handle this. I was using some personal experience when I disagree with what people are saying or how they are saying it. I never said the F-Bomb was a complete equivalent to it, I was using an example of how people don't realize what they are saying. I never said I was excusing their behavior ether (I didn't say I was and I made a calrification that I didn't condone their behavior) I am trying to believe the best about people, despite the fact that people are broken.

I don't know if you think I was condoning this use of the term (which I didn't) but if we are society that is against bullying we shouldn't "collectively come down like a ton of bricks when their flaws cross the lines of propriety." We should gently take them aside and talk to them with wisdom and love. I believe you will get the best results rather then shaming them in front of their peers.

I quoted you because you mentioned that sometimes words like these are just a part of a person's vocabulary. Your comments excuse the use of hate speech; I'm sure you didn't mean it that way, but there is no need to humanize people by explaining that they, "just speak that way," or, "grew up in a different time," or, "don't mean it the way people hear it." The point is every person who says something hateful is doing something we as a species should deem unacceptable, even though that person probably has plenty of aspects to their personality that make them otherwise wonderful.

I disagree completely with you that a private conversation about this is best. A public stand against hate speech not only lets the person saying those hateful words know they are wrong, but it lets those affected by the words know we as a society deny them. You are concerned about the person spouting, "homo," being shamed by his peers? I am 100% kosher with his momentary shame if the net effect is the gay person sitting next to me knows we publicly consider him as fully human as us.

Also remember that sometimes it is just apart of peoples vocabulary. I am in the army and people drop F-bombs as a filler word, like "um" or "you know what I am saying,".

The best way to handle this is to talk to the person in a private context and tell them how it ether offends you or is offending other people. Please be honest with them and try and believe the best about them. Try and assume they weren't being malicious ether.

Know that I am not excusing their behavior.

An F-bomb or other expletive is not the same as a derogatory, dehumanizing term used to describe an ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation. Excusing away that behavior as part of a machismo culture, military or otherwise, does ZERO service to the inacceptability of those terms. I know plenty of people with racist, misogynist and homophobic tendencies; just because they have other wonderful aspects of their character (like every single human on this planet) doesn't mean they don't deserve to have society collectively come down like a ton of bricks when their flaws cross the lines of propriety.

There is absolutely nothing acceptable in the term, "homo." If I were at a table where this term was used (whether I was GM or player), it would be made clear this was not acceptable. If there was even so much as a question or argument about that unacceptability, I'd be heading for whichever VC or VL was closest and raising hell about it.

Too much of the game has begun to focus on the vocal crowd here on these forums, those that want the "challenge" of death every scenario. I like a challenge too, but apparently my feeling of a challenge does not involve being unconscious for most of the fight, or being knocked to 13 HP in the surprise round hoping that somebody can hit my corpse in time with a cure light. I'm sick and tired of it, and I'm tired of the few that do come in to complain being told that "no, this was easy" by the group that insists on making the level 6 wizard that can do 6d6+20 points of damage with a fireball marginalizing combats, or the archer that takes down a dragon in a single round of combat, or any other of the absurd builds I'm watching walking around locally. Sure, for them these are easy, but for the rest, frankly they're not.

This. I'm glad we have MisterSlanky around here as a vocal champion of casual players... it's a very important demographic of PFS that we all should try to not lose sight of.

I like to think that I'm an above-average optimizer, but what I've seen of the season 4 scenarios requires an entire table of optimized characters to complete many of them. This chases away players in multiple ways:

• Newer and casual players will find their characters marginalized in combat encounters at best and stand a high chance at dying. Feeling like you're a detriment to the gaming group is not fun.
  
• Newer and casual players find a less welcoming environment at tables when experienced players have the perception they are about to play a grinder that requires personal and group skill (and a little luck). It doesn't matter how nice and accomodating to new players an experienced player is (or thinks he/she is); that sentiment will be palpable. Nobody in that situation is having a particularly fun time.
  
• Experienced players seem to be under even more of an onus than in earlier seasons to help educate the newer/casual player. Your average experienced hardcore PFSer is not a social work or self-help professional, to put it mildly. The middle of a meat grinder where their mental energy is 100% focused on their characters staying alive is not the place for experienced players to be moonlighting as a teacher of mechanics and tactics to new/casual players. Again, it detracts from the enjoyment of most at the table.
  

As for Rivalry's End in particular:

EDIT: IMHO PFS should focus on scenarios for the middle-of-the-road and newer players for most of their season story arcs. Significant challenges for hardcore PFSers should be done as sanctioned modules, special scenarios a few times during the season, and possibly something like optional augmentations in rules and tactics for encounters. Optional scale-ups could be listed in encounters without taking up any more text space (and being a better way to increase challenge) than a single optional encounter. It'd let a table full of hardcore PFS players say, "bring it on," to the GM without that level of play being the default scenario rules.

EDIT: Ninjad by Jiggy.

I'd just like to add that you can't compare an object to a wand and make a decision about whether it fits in a wrist sheath solely on that assumption. Compare a wand to a packed bundle of five arrows (!) and you'll see a significant variance of what is explicitly listed as allowed in a wrist sheath.

For Society play, I personally think a polite acceptance of table variance is fine for this item. Both the pro- and anti-scroll viewpoints are reasonable, and neither is game-breaking nor badwrongfun. If you want to use it with an item not spelled out in the description, clear it with the GM beforehand; jumping in and shouting, "ban the item," seems like overkill.

EDIT: Also, if an item's popularity made it a 'must-have'and ban-worthy, we'd better round up all of those wands of cure light wounds littering Society play. Letting someone retrieve a single stored item as a swift action that provokes an AoO is not breaking action economy.

Do attacks and threats such as brandishing weapons need to be directed against a fascinated target to count as an obvious threat, or do threats/attacks against the fascinated creature's allies count as obvious (rendering the condition useless in a combat situation)?

I figured this was an oldie-but-goodie that deserved a new post since Paizo's FAQ team has shifted into awesome question-answering gear.

Thanks for the reviews to both of you from me as well, the feedback is highly appreciated.

My biggest beef with the treesinger? Plant shape spells provide no movement forms, so burrowing/climbing/swimming plant forms lack the enhanced movement. Treesinger gets stuck in a chamber that fills with water, wild shapes into a shambling mound and drowns. The original CRB polymorph spells could stand to have a tweaking, but that's another topic.

Instead of focusing on what the archetype loses, however, let's look at what is unique about it.

Treesinger may not have the wild shape versatility of the base class, but you do immediately gain access to two forms with reach at 4th level (mangradora and cerebric fungus). If I were playing a melee druid from a race that has a -2 Con modifier, I'd consider reach a very nice benefit. Plant shape I also negates that penalty; unlike beast shape I, it grants a +2 siz bonus to Con for small and medium forms. The attribute mods in general are a little nicer for plant forms, which may mitigate some of the versatility loss.

The 8th-level large plant form options are decent, attained at a level where they will see significantly more use in PFS than the base druid's plant form options:

• alraune - 4 slams (1d10) with grab and constrict, 40' base speed
  
• shambling mound - 2 slams (2d6) with grab and constrict, resist fire and electricity 20 (should be able to swim)
  
• viper vine - 1 bite (2d6 + 3d6 acid), 4 secondary tentacles (1d6) with grab, constrict and 20' reach, resist acid 20
  

On a related note: mandragora. It starts out mobile, with three natural attacks. One of the attacks has grab (although small size) and two have reach (nice for the level). At 8th-level, those reach slams are applying a poison that fatigues and confuses (plus, if the initial save fails, only has a 25% chance of being removed per round regardless of the target's Fort save). That's not bad if large size is not optimal for a particular situation.

One final note: a Golarion treesinger who keeps the plant companion instead of purely focusing on casting can take the Green Faith Acolyte feat (ISWG) to make his companion immune to all damage and harmful effects from his spells. That's not too shabby.

From memory, originally the Eidolon could use magic items. Then after playtesting it became weapons, shields, eyes, head, neck, and shoulders.

And then after even more playtesting, they added the shared slots limitation to dial back the power of the summoner.

And even with that limitation in place, an Eidolon is still able to match and beat many, many geared builds of the average player. (Remember kids, the average forum goer is not your average player :))

This.

Also, the eidolon is not the precise equivalent of an animal companion. It is more powerful than an animal companion for DPS, skills/points available, modular customization, synergistic abilities with its master, plus a real Int rating that doesn't require being pumped by an ability increase just to take most feats (some of which still require GM fiat) nor restrict combat ability with tricks and requisite Handle Animal checks. Top that off with the ability to gain a powerful summon ability (fast cast, 10x duration) whenever the eidolon dies or is dismissed, and it may shed light on why playtesting led Paizo to make the gear-sharing decisions it did for the summoner.

A cheesesteak combines steak (awesome) with (cheese) awesome.

I am lactose intolerant and still I understand that when you put awesome with awesome, everyone wins.

Unless a cheese steak killed your father, I can see no reason you could feel this way...and even then through your sadness a part of you would understand the death came from a place of deliciousness...

Not liking cheese steaks...inconceivable...

;)

Most of my food is restricted to what I buy directly from local farms or markets, which means less meat in general and most of that chicken and rabbit. My tastebuds just find commercial beef terrible now... same thing goes for a lot of cheese.

Combine that with the fact I keep a lot of my dairy and grain intake separate, and a meal that is traditionally a pile of greasy, gristly beef slathered in low-grade cheese-like product, some onions and bell peppers with their nutrients fried out and saturated in fat thrown in as an afterthought, all crammed into a bread of chemically-treated and refined flour, is not something my body recognizes as food anymore.

Irori and Kurgess frown on Philly cheesesteaks... gotta keep my gods happy. :P

An amulet of mighty fists is explicitly designed to augment natural weapons or unarmed strikes, per its text. These options include slashing, piercing and bludgeoning weapons, so any enhancement that has a damage type prerequisite can be put into the amulet. A keen amulet of mighty fists would still only affect unarmed strikes and natural attacks that met its prerequisite (i.e., only piercing or slashing attacks).

A speed amulet of mighty fists emulates haste for your attacks, so as the spell: "When making a full attack action, a hasted creature may make one extra attack with one natural or manufactured weapon." Even if you consider the amulet to affect all of the wearer's natural attacks the way pretty much any other amulet of mighty fists ability does, the speed ability states: "This benefit is not cumulative with similar effects, such as a haste spell." Since you cannot use multiple manufactured weapons of speed to gain multiple extra attacks, the enhanced natural weapons are likewise exclusive.