the xiao's page

There was a very intriguing campaign setting called "Mind shadows" for D&D 3.5 by Green Ronin, but was rushed and came out before the Expanded Psionics Handbook polished the horribly messy Psionics Handbooks system for vanilla 3rd edition, which Green Ronin used (so it was a 3.5 setting using 3.0 psionics). This setting made the battle between magic and psionics into part of the setting, with a heavy India flavor. I always thought that this setting would work wonders using Pathfinder with the great Ultimate Psionics but changing Vancian magic with Akashic magic.

With that in mind, I will preview one of my favorite Servant path: the Rishi

Kshitij Gupta, male sudarshan dwarf servant (rishi path, Jyotisa cosmology).

A member of the highest caste, Kshitij recites and teaches the Matyanas as one of the most influential Matyanist priests of Naranjan. He is the son of an influential Kshatriya and a lowly merchant, but his innate essence marked him for greatness. He favors the earth signs, especially The Maiden.

My final entry for a while. Let’s make a “simpler” one, a human Vizier, using only Akashic Mysteries (mostly). So, Viziers are Intelligence based, so we are going to use or human floating bonus on that and get as much as possible without min/maxing too much. We are going to use 20 points.
Str 8, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 16+2, Wis 12, Cha 10.

Traits: We are going to take Natural Essence since Viziers from Akashic Mysteries are really essence-starved, not for nothing they have gotten many house-rules where they get their essence progression changed (I personally give them 2 essence at odd levels, and 1 at even levels). For the other, we are going to get something useful and flavorful with the Dangerously Curious magic trait.

Feats: We have two, so we will take two akashic feats to have more essence and options. Weaver’s Reflexes increases our only bad save, and Veilbound Resilience is great in a pinch.

Skills: We have 2, plus 4 Int and 1 human. Let’s go with Appraise, Diplomacy, Knowledge (Arcana), Perception, Sense Motive, Spellcraft and Use Magical Device.

Path: We are going to choose Seer, to be able to increase all of our party’s speed. As for the Teamwork feat, if available, I would suggest Bonded Mind.

Veils: Viziers get the powerful Ring veils, so let’s get one of that plus an attack one. Ring of the Abjurer gives a nice +5 armor bonus that works against ethereal creatures. Riven Darts is like a single magic missile available at will.

Let’s stat Qari! As a soul channeler astradhari, she needs Strength or Dexterity as a warrior, and a bit of Charisma, plus good Constitution. A sunsoul ifrit gets bonuses to strength and charisma, so lets focus on that, and a penalty on wisdom. Using High Fantasy (20 points). I don’t like to have weaknesses so for scores I go:
Str 14+2, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 12-2, Cha 13+2.
So Str 16, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 15.

For her racial abilities, we won’t really use Fire Affinity, so let’s change it to Fire in the Blood, showing her unusual heritage. We will leave the Sunmetal spell-like ability to be used with other, non-fire astras.

For traits, I will go with some overall bonuses: Reactionary and Natural Aspected Essence (Fire).

As for class features, an astradhari starts with a number of known astras equal to 1+Int modifier, but soul channelers use Cha instead. So, with a 15 charisma, Qari would start with 3 astras. Her backstory mentions the Trishula of the Sun, and for the other two let’s choose a ranged weapon and an armor. Agneyastra let’s you shoot gouts of flame, so it is thematically fitting, and for armor, Brahma-Kavacha is a good medium armor and has some Sun god lore, so it is also thematically fitting. At 1st level, an astradhari choses one known astra to be summoned for the whole day, so of course Qari would normally go for Trishula of the Sun. When in need of either a strong armor or a ranged weapon, she can use the summon astra ability to get on of her other two astras.

As an astradhari, Qari can use different type of weapons, so we will go with feats that can be used with any melee weapon; for the 1st level feat lets get ye old Power Attack.

Qari, female sunsoul ifrit soulchanneler astradhari 1
Str 16, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 15
HP 12, ST Fort +4, Ref +2, Will +2
Traits: Reactionary, Naturally Aspected Essence (fire)
Feats: Power Attack
Skills: Apprise, Diplomacy, Knowledge (Arcana), Use Magical Device.
Class Features: Akashic Knowledge (+1, on Knowledge Arcana), Astra Summoning 2/d, Chosen Astra (Trishula of the Sun)

Equipment: The Trishula does fire damage, so we are going to buy some weapons for when the necessity arises. We are going for the average, 175 GP. A guisarme, a morningstar, and a short bow with 60 arrows for 50 GP, and a hide armor and a buckler for 20 GP, and a an assortment of adventuring gear for roughly 30 GP ( traveler’s gear, wooden holy symbol, backpack containing bedroll, 4 trail rations, waterskin, bag of caltrops, sack, 5 pitons, hammer, 50 ft. hemp rope, belt pouch containing candle, flint & steel, whetstone, scroll case, 2 parchments, and another belt pouch with 2 tindertwigs, a sunrod, a small steel mirror and 2 chalks. This leaves 75 GP for other things or for saving for later.

Using the Trishula, Qari would have an attack bonus of +5 (+1 BAB, +1 Mwk, +3 Str), with a damage of 1d8+1d6+3 fire dmg, crit 20/x2. Using Pwr Atk, +4 and increasing the damage to 1d8+1d6+5. The extra 1d6 is for investing the point of fire aspected essence. Qari can spend her other point of essence in a summoned astra or to change her Akashic Knowledge class feature.

For AC, she would have an AC of 17 (10 + 4 armor + 1 buckler + 2 Dex). By summoning her Karna-Kavacha astra, Qari would have an AC 0f 19 (10 + 6 armor + 1 buckler + 2 Dex), and by taking a point of essence burn as an immediate action would negate 2 points of energy damage.

2nd level increases the power of the chosen astra (normally the Trishula) in a couple of ways. It gets a +1 enhancement bonus, is treated as if bound to the hands, and will also summon a soul (as a soulforge). For the Trishula we are going with the Fighter soul, getting a +1 against disarm or sunder and against saves that affect the weapon, plus reduce the armor check penalty and increase the max Dex bonus, both by 1. Finally, since the Trishula is treated as if bound to the hands, it can be thrown as a standard action, exploding in a 5 ft. radius dealing 1d8+1d6+4 fire damage. AC would stay the same, but atk would go up by 1 because of the level.

3rd level is when thing get interesting. We get another feat, a veil as part of the summoned soul (Impulse Earrings and Shaitan’s Earthen Armor are good for Qari), Improved Essence capacity of 2 (for the Trishula, to get an extra 1d6 of fire damage, and explosions with an area of 10 ft.), and also a +1 on atk and damage rolls because of the fighter soul.
AC would stay the same unless using the Shaitan’s Earthen Armor (going up by +1), but atk would go to +8 1d8+2d6+4, and using Pwr Atk +7 1d8+2d6+6.

As for the Feat, Extra Essence is a no-brainer with all the possible receptacles, but Chakra Power could help us with other combat maneuvers and slightly increase the bonus from power attack, plus getting half of Extra Essence (1 point of essence, that is)

Next time I will stat another of the characters from this thread, again with most things upt to 3rd level ;)

Another character using soon-to-be-released material ;)

Ahsan, TN male deva-asura Guru (ānanda philosophy)/Oracle (ascetic mystery).

Ahsan was born from a big, hairy egg in the wilds, to the amazement of the vanara gatherer woman who found him. Ahsan was different from other vanaras: while the other youngsters learned how to suppress their emotions, Ahsan delighted in them. One day, while his foster mother was chastising him, Ahsan turned around, only for a stern, solemn face to appear from the back of his head. His mother was horrified at first, but then understood and smiled. His mother told him to visit the village’s shaman. The Shaman explained that he had two faces, exactly like Kapeeshwar, their patron deity, and that it was a sign of divinity.
And so, Ahsan began to study about their creator, and how before becoming divine, he travelled the world and experienced and mastered each emotion. And so, with his village blessing, he began a pilgrimage. As a deva-asura that grew among the vanara, mixing one of the most misunderstood guru philosophies with one of the rarest of mysteries was not difficult, and effective.

Notes: The deva-asura is a new race from the upcoming Astradhari’s Panoply book, even while he looks like a vanara. He also practices the ānanda philosophy, which makes the Guru Charisma-based, is from an upcoming product. Unlike the typical deva-asura, who have a racial ability that give them 4 arms, Ahsan has a racial ability that gives him two faces.

Mridula, female deva-asura radiant.

Mridula was born to a poor family. The third daughter in a row, to the dismay of her parents that wanted at least one boy. Mridula couldn’t see the reason of her parents dismay, until her mother died from sickness. In time, she learned that it is customary for the mother to live with his son when he marries, and that she wanted to follow that tradition. His father became even more aloof, and after both her older sisters married, she was left to take care of his aging father. Sickness struck again, but this time Mridula was ready. She studied the akashic arts under a forest-dueling akasin guru, and although she couldn’t learn the guru arts, she developed the healing powers of light into an even more powerful form, becoming a radiant. She saved her father, and when he cried and asked for forgiveness from her daughter, Mridula could see for the first time in her life, through a third eye that opened in her forehead. His father, understanding that her daughter’s gift was destined not only for him, give Mridula his blessing to travel and heal the sick. Mridula grudgingly accepted, but she still visits her father every now and then, even after joining an adventuring party.

Notes: Mridula uses the new deva-asura race, with a variant of having a third eye instead of multiple arms.

And while I wait for my kids to come out of school...

Rajani, LN female Ajibachana Dhampir Unenlightened Monk
Rajani was born to a resurrected female monk that was killed by a Vetala. Unkown to the monks, their peer was already on the verge of converting to a vampire herself, but somehow the resurrection magic stopped the process but part of the acuursed vampirism passed to her offspring. Rajani grew rapidly and became one of the most inquisitive students of the temple, but her hunger for knowledge made it difficult for her to truly understand what she was learning. Bored with the slowness of her training, she read some forbidden scrolls that let her develop the power of Mu, a dark reflection of her peers Ki. When the abbot of the temple saw her dark powers, Rajani was banished from the temple. She now wanders the land as a traveling schoolar, hungry for knowledge. She has mastered the powers of death through the infamous Ghul Style.

Hǒu the tiny Lion, NG male halfling Shoto Brawler.
Hǒu is a blessed individual. Born with a powerful sonic ki and an even more powerful voice, the small warrior makes sure he is heard when he fights. Using a combination of his Shoto Arts veils and the Legendary Lion's Roar voice veil, he is a force to be reckoned with.

Aaaaaaand, some more using new sub-races from an uncomming Jinn book.

Daēuua, NE female changeling (sand may) Bokor Servant (Loa cosmology). Daēuua was but a child when she heard the call from her mother, a lesser Silat hag hailing from the Jinnlands. When they finally reunited, Daēuua was on the verge of becoming a hag, just to be "saved" by a group adventurers, led by a Sha'ir. Daēuua became so enraged, especially since she wasn't able to do anything but feign gratitude. That night, she was visited in her dreams by Erzulie Dantor, the Loa of vengeance, with a proposition to serve her. Since then, Daēuua became her servant, waiting for the moment she is powerful enough to beat the Sha'ir that denied her of her destiny.

Oyibo, male TN akashic oread Soldat Servant (Loa cosmology).
Oyibo was born from a shaitan princess and a humble human gravedigger. His mother wanted to enrage her father by having a child with a mortal. When the child was born, he was sent with his mortal father, who took care of him. Oyibo doesn't know nor care about his shaitan heritage, he just serves Baron Samedi like his father. He unknowingly favor the earth signs of his cosmology. His mother and grandfather have not forgotten about him, and may appear in the future to shake up his life.

Mh, I have been away for too long. So... I will add a couple of characters using the new books by Azoth Games, Universal Zodiac and Celestial Cartomancy.

Nzadi, female Undine Houngan Universal Servant (Loa Cosmology). When Nzadi was born, a white dove landed on her chest, imbuing her with the blessing of Mistress Love. Since then, she was raised to be a priestess of Erzulie Freda. However, she longs to travel the world, and if it were not for her people’s need of her, she would have gone already. But if another takes her place, she would run away without looking back.

Kandaja, female amici android megastructure universal zodiac (Prime Cosmology). Kandaja awoke from deep slumber, remembering that her birthplace was on the verge of destruction. She remembers flashes of being saved by putting her consciousness into a new body. Unknown to her, she is protected by the remnants of her destroyed synthetic planet, represented by her orbit. While she has access to the prime cosmology, she also has access to the Peerage of Monsters minor cosmology, giving her an idea of what destroyed her homeland.

Tabata Kiyoko, female human snow shenxue inyouji path universal servant. (Concordia cosmology with the auspicious beast minor cosmology)
Tabata Haru, male human fire shenxue hamashi path universal servant. (Concordia cosmology with the auspicious beast minor cosmology)
Twins blessed by rival spirits, the Tabata siblings were born to a powerful Gobosei adept onmyoji. They were blessed by a strong connection with the spiritual world, but with an even stronger connection to the sky spirits. They both can channel the constellations of the 12 sacred animals and the protectors of the 5 directions, and use different forms of talisman magic. They inherited the rivalry of the spirits that blessed them, always competing for the favor of the spirits. They wander the land serving spirits.

only furthers my desire to do an Akashic-heavy campaign setting of Genies and Gemstones, as an alternative take on Al-Qadim. Something genie-centric

Mah guy, I am in the middle of releasing an akashic martial arts book, but after that I'm going to work on an Al-Qadim-inspired setting called the Jinn lands, where I give the genies, dives etc. a cohesive backstory, and also add a lot of reworked "kits" into archetypes and subclasses for the alashic classes. I am around 50% done with the book, sonit is still months away. If you want to chat, send me a PM and we can check some things over discord.

Akashic Tales: Astradhari's Panoply marks my first collaboration project, with James Ray and Azoth Games, since the release of a very old project from Dreamscarred Press about Xeph. Astradhari is a new akashic class that is not a veilweaver. It draws inspiration from Archer from Fate Stay/Night and Ezra from Fairy Tail. Here are some PCs/NPCs made with new content from that book.

Padmini, NG Female Human Astradhari (new class)
Str 8, Dex 17, Con 12, Int 14, Wis 10, Cha 13
Astras: Breastplate of the Righteous, Divine Arrow Indrastra, Heavenly Sharanga
Born to a fallen-from-grace noble house, Padmini learned to summon the weapons from her grandfather’s stories. Against her family’s wishes, she became an adventurer for two reasons: to raise enough money and help her family in this time of need, and to escape an arranged marriage that would solve the family’s precarious situation.

Nandur, LN Male Daitya Unchained Monk/Jijnasu Inquisitor (Brand inquisition) (new race and archetype)
Str 17, Dex 10, Con 14, Int 8, Wis 15, Cha 10
A male, red-skinned, well-muscled mustached Daitya, Nandur went on the hunt for a trespasser of his people’s unforgiving laws. When on the outside, he became fascinated with a human that fought without armors or weapons. He joined the human temple, to the disdain of fellow students who had a hard time sparring with the enormous newcomer. After finishing his basic studies, Nandur continued the hunt, armed with the skills he learned in the monastery. His favored brand is Grasping Chains, flurrying any poor, chained soul that happens to be the target of his wrath.

Kesari, TN Male Ancient Vanara Shakta Guru (new race and archetype)
Str 10, Dex 15, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 17, Cha 8
Kesari wanted to become a Guru and follow the philosophy of Vayism, which according to myth, was developed by the god of wind, creator of his people’s god. But his questions couldn’t be answered by the ashram’s senior gurus, and they recommended him to go on a journey of self-discovery, to seek for his answers on his own. Kesari became a wandering Shakti, an introspective sage that remains aloof in his adventures, to the dismay of his companions.

Elysium, Female NE Deva-asura Conduit Daevic (celestial) (new race and archetype)
Str 15, Dex 13, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 6, Cha 16
A prophesied child of the heavens, Elysium was born on a silver cradle to a powerful noble house. She has inherited the power of heavens, even while she has become more and more malevolent, bored from her duties but always taking advantage from her position. She is one of the few kṣatrāṇī, female kshatriya, from her land, gaining notoriety from her unique upbringing. She hunts, bullies and dominates other evil characters into servitude, using her heavenly abilities to disguise her intentions.

Quoting @Ssalarn, who some people say in hushed tones is the secret identity of certain Paizo designer, from the giantip forums:

Aabharana (our gnome iconic) was the daughter of a gnomish merchant who grew rich creating a trade bridge between the haughty elven nations and the dwarven tribes. An elven noble, jealous of her father's success, hired a band of mercenaries to attack her father's caravan and make it look like a bandit attack. Aabi was the only survivor of the raid, and her grief and anger drew the attention of the fledgling daeva Nor'basheer, who offered her the power to take revenge if she would serve as its mortal host. Scarred but unbroken, Aabi accepted the deal and now uses the power of her daevic bond to hunt down the man responsible.

Hassim Ajam, our iconic vizier, is a minor half-elven functionary in the court of a very powerful and very cruel elven sultan. During the day he goes around evicting human, dwarf, and gnome merchants who fail to pay brutal taxes that basically equate to legal extortion while his pet zombie lugs around the collection box and serves as added muscle for dealing with recalcitrant citizens. At night, he throws on the ol' hood and mask and helps unjustly imprisoned non-elves sneak out of the city and occasionally orchestrates daring robberies of particularly cruel members of the elven aristocracy, using his veils and his powers as a Seer to coordinate these risky heists.

The dwarven Guru, Pala Upadhaya, is the last surviving member of his clan. Pala now travels where he will, standing as a bulwark against the forces of darkness and teaching others that goodness and and a gentle nature need not be sacrificed for strength. Pala will often stay in small villages where his skills have helped protect or free the people to teach them some of his philosophies, occasionally founding small schools or temples if he finds a particularly gifted or insightful initiate.

So I found a vizier in the vampire book @Michael Sayre mentioned. My guess was that he is the iconic vizier, but later found that he isn't LOL. Anyway, he is cool nonetheless.

Alvion Smythe, ancient-born dhampir path of the ruler vizier.

Basically he is adouble agent working against two vampiric organizations, and interestingly he uses some of the nastiest and "evil.est" veils, but he himself is Lawful Good.

Understandable. Gotta check that vizier though, I think I have LoN somewhere in my drives.

Female halfling daevic, actually.

Were they ever stated? Named? It would be cool to have Akashic iconics, but with Dream Scarred Press dead, it would be difficult to get a Ultimate book and use them for art

Let's make an akashic "rogue"

Wijen “Shady” Shadowbottle, CN female halfling Eclipse
Str 10, Dex 17, Con 13, Int 14, Wis 10, Cha 10.

Skills: Acrobatics +7, Climb +4, Disable Device +7, Escape Artist +7, Perception +4, Sleight of Hand +7, Stealth +7, Use Magical Device +4.
Feats: Point-Blank Shot
Traits: Wild Shadow (Urban), Natural Essence (if available)

Veilshaping: Eclipses have a lot of freedom for their veilshaping, since it complements and helps them in any area they want to focus. Normally, Wijen would shape Sable Shots, and depending on the adventure, Gloves of the Master Thief, Ebon Blaze, Stalker’s Tabi or Cloak of Darkness.

Leveling Up:
At 2nd level, you get your first enigma and trap finding. For Wijen’s first enigma, I would chose Chilling Blow, since it really amps the damage. However, if the campaign will rarely have undead, Channeled Shadowstrike is a more powerful option. Later enigmas can be more specific depending on the campaign.

At 3rd level, you get a 2nd veil, a feat and can bind veils to the hands. I would make Wijen specialize in the Sable Shots veil, so she would have it bound to the hands to improve it. For the second veil I would choose one of those mentioned above. As for the feat, Two-Weapon Fighting to have an extra attack with the Sable Shots.

Here I made a quick Wrath Daevic using only Akashic Mysteries, that is a little braindead to use, but still fun.

Arslan the Lion, CG male human Daevic of Wrath
Str 17, Dex 10, Con 14, Int 8, Wis 12, Cha 13.

Skills: Intimidate +6, Knowledge (Local) +4, Sense Motive +5, Survival +5.

Feats: Improved Initiative, Power Attack.

Traits: Indomitable Will, Reactionary

Fort +4 Ref +2 Will +2

Initiative +6

AC 15, Touch 10, Flat-footed 15 (Scale Mail +5)

Atk +3 (BAB +1, Str +3, Pwr Atk -1) (1d12+10, 4 Str, 3 Pwr Atk, 3 Daevic Aspect)

Veilweaving
Daevic Aspect (Wrath) 1 essence (+2 insight bonus to Fort saves against poison/disease, +3 insight bonus to melee damage)
Tactics: Hit the biggest creature until it dies.

Level Up:
At 2nd level, you get a second veil from the normal list and can bind veils to the feet chakra. Checking the ones from Akashic mysteries, Immovable Boots and Horselord’s Greaves are the best ones to use without essence, since we are using that essence to get even more melee damage.

At 3rd level, we get bonus to bull rush from the passion, so as a feat we will take Improved Bull Rush to get the most from the ability.

At 4th level we will increase strength to 18. We will get a new passion veil and a second point of essence; the new veil is going to be a hands one, since this level unlocks hands binding. To be even more fearsome in combat, we will take Armory of the Conqueror and empowering it with one essence, increasing the greataxe damage as if it was one size bigger, to 3d6, and we will continue to take all the penalty from power attack. At this level without anything else, we will be having +6 to hit (+4 BAB, +4 Str, -2 PwrAtk) for 3d6+15 (6 Str, 3 Daevic Aspect, 6 PwrAtk). Not bad if I may say so ;)

I asked the same question to Michael Sayre, and he said that the guys on the cover of the individual files are the "iconics". They are a male halfling daevic (or possibly gnome), a male dwarf guru, and a male half-elf vizier. I, however, have never seen stats for them. In this thread you can find some characters by Sayre, that use newer stuff. Also, one of the first characters I posted, is a 1st level naiad radiant that has everything to be used, traits, skills, favored class bonus, everything.

Also, if you look up for James Ray's blog, the authof of Azoth games, he stated his "iconic fisherking", and it includes even equipment.

Hope that helps and I will try to cook a 1st level character with everything to start playing. Any race/class combo you want?

After reading the awesome Eldritch Essences about the Promethean class, I thought on some mofos as enemies for the parties:

Kiyoshi "Kagami", NE male Kitsune Doppleganger Promethean
Str 10, Dex 16, Con 10, Int 15, Wis 8, Cha 15.
Forbidden Knowledge: Whispers of Providence, Unbound Soul, Reshaped Mind

Kiyoshi has lived all of his entire life deceived. He thinks he is a priest of a forgotten kitsune god, but in reallity his prayers have reached an unknown entity from the Dark Tapestry that is very interested in Kiyoshi's world. Taking the shape of many priests from his homeland, Kiyoshi the Mirror has started acult of sorts that venerate this entity.

I just read and reviewed many books by Azoth games, so I will also include some characters that use stuff from them.

Adaeze, female wakermay changeling Chual Omdura
Str 10, Dex 10, Con 14, Int 13, Wis 10, Cha 17.
Adaeze is the eldest daughter of a minor chieftain from Nyobe. Born under dire circumstances but accepted by her family. including her step mother, Adaeze has developed some powerful magical gifts. Adaeze is a boon to her father, since with her help he has been raising to prominence. However, she has been sent away after embarrasing his father after she insulted an allied chieftain's son while under the influence of Maman Brigitte's horse's mark.

Adaeze always shapes at least one brand veil, with which she curses her opponents.

Esaw, NE male Nightskulk Skinwalker Path of the Jackal Vizier
Str 10, Dex 14/16, Con 13, Int 17, Wis 8, Cha 10.

Esaw is a child of the streets. He developed unsavory skills just to survive, and after years of watching veilshapers in his native land, literary learned how to steal their abilities from them. However, he crossed a powerful Nexus Ifrit who now is hunting for him. What Esaw doesn't know, is that said Nexus is a member of an infamous cabal of veilshapers with a penchant for fire.

Ume, CG female Hungerseed Tiefling Drunken Brawler
Str 16, Dex 12, Con 13, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 13.

Ume is a big, muscular girl, who looks like she has had her fair share of fights. She always looks like she is at least tipsy, and always carries a bottle of wine tied to her hand. She has a kind of erratic behaviour, flirting with a man, just to intimidate him a second later. She doesn't talk about her past and thinks only of her future. In reality she is kind-hearted, and is quick to help others if they ask nicely or bring her food and wine. Apart from being a drunken brawler, Ume has developed some modest akashic abilities, in the form of the Drunken Immortal's Pingju she uses to drink and as a weapon.

(new stuff, drunken brawler archetype and Drunken Immortal's Pingju veil)

Since this is more than a year old, I'm going to post a couple more. However, this time I will include some previews of a couple of projects I will publish between this year and the next... probably.

Austeja, NG female Vasana Gnome Path of the Wondrous Weaver Vizier
Str 6, Dex 13, Con 12, Int 17, Wis 12, Cha 14. (as a Vasana, Austeja changed her bonus to charisma for a bonus to intelligence)

Born to a family of jewelmakers, Austeja never really fitted in. While her brothers were learning how to cut gems, she just kept playing with the cats from the neighborhood and several balls of yarn. One time, the family was asked to make precious jewelry for a human noble. Something in Austeja's being awoke, and she started weaving, something no one in her community knew. When the deadline came, Austeja showed a beautiful shawl to her parents. They were astounded, since they already thought her daughter was a lost cause. Little did they know that the shawl was magical...

(new stuff, Vasana template-y race and Wondrous Weaver Vizier path)

If I had a time machine, I think I'd push for us to use a different word than "humanoid" for "creatures that have a society and aren't beasts or extraplanar things or weird outside of the natural order aberrations" so that we could include non-humanoid alien creatures like formians in that category, but my time machine still isn't working.

That all said, monsters in 2nd edition don't really HAVE to have a "basic creature trait" like animal or beast or humanoid.

Mortals maybe?

I've not seen it, no!

Here you go!

Have you guys read the PF1ed 3pp book called "the five families", it makes organization into kind of characters, including 6 ability scores that more or less correspond to a character's.

It's almost Akashic Mysteries 5th birthday! It was released 5 years ago in August IIRC.

Up From Darkness is a really incredible one-shot adventure for Kaidan, I've run it before and it was super spooky and very memorable. So I'd add that specifically to your list to include!

Yeah. I should have added a full list of released Kaidan material, but I just thought it was too obvious. But as you said, it is a great adventure!

Let us also not forget Shouryu Reppa, Shin Shouryuken, Messatsu Gou Shoryu, and my personal favorite, Shinryuken!

You know your stuff! My personal fave is Evil Ryu's Metssu Shoryuken and Dan's Koryuken. And while bot a traditional shoryuken, Sagat's Tiger Uppercut is just so damn cool!

As some may know, today is Shoryuken day!
https://www.eventhubs.com/news/2021/jun/23/shoryuken-day-celebration-sf-623 /
To commemorate this day, I'm going to post a preview of something I have been cooking. Here I present two veils for the third-party Akashic magic system that first appered on Akashic Mysteries. They use a new descriptor:

[Ki] Descriptor
A veilweaver who has a ki pool gains the ability to empower a veil with this descriptor using his ki energy, giving it a temporary boosts of power. As a swift action, the veilweaver may spend a ki point to treat this veil as though it were invested with an additional point of essence for 2 rounds. This ability functions even if the veilweaver has already invested the maximum essence capacity of this veil, allowing him to temporarily exceed the normal essence capacity limit for his level. Multiple uses of this ability overlap, but do not stack. A veilweaver with the Mystic Contemplation class feature who spends a ki pool on this veil extends the duration by 2 rounds, for a total of 4.

Hand-wraps
Descriptor: Ki
Class: Daevic, Guru
Slot: Hands, Wrists
Saving Throw: No

These ordinary-looking hand-wraps appear to shimmer with power to people who can see magic, have a ki pool or are using chakra-sight. A veilweaver using this veil gets the Unarmed Strike ability of a monk of his veilweaver level -3 (he deals damage as if he was one size smaller until 4th level). If the veilweaver has the Improved Unarmed Strike feat or the Unarmed Strike ability from another source, treat his full veilweaver as his monk level for unarmed damage. The wearer may choose to use their veilweaver level in place of their base attack bonus to determine their to-hit and other abilities of this veil.

Essence: For every essence point invested in this veil, your unarmed attacks receive bonuses according to the following table:

Essence Bonus Essence Bonus
1 +1 6 +3 energy burst, *crushing
2 +1 energy 7 +3 energy burst, ki intensifying
3 +2 energy 8 +4 energy burst, ki intensifying
4 +2 energy burst 9 +4, energy burst, ki intensifying, *crushing
5 +3 energy burst 10 +5, energy burst, ki intensifying, *crushing
*Crushing works exactly like the Keen +1-equivalent ability, but for bludgeoning weapons.

When you first shape this veil, you decide on which energy ability you are going to use (corrosive, flaming, frost, shock). This list is a default, the gamemaster can make other lists for different martial orders.

Chakra Bind (Hands): you gain the ability to make a special ranged weapon attack called a Hadoken with a range of 30 feet that deals damage as if you were striking with an unarmed attack, including damage types and bonuses. By spending a ki point, you can make a special version of this attack as a standard action that doubles the base damage and range of this attack.

Chakra Bind (Wrists): In addition to the effects granted by the Hands bind, you gain the ability to do a special unarmed attack called a Shoryuken once per round. This attack ignores Shield and Deflection bonuses to AC, and can’t be countered or interrupted by abilities. If the attack connects, you perform a free bullrush against your opponent, using your original attack roll as your Combat Maneuver Check. You push your opponent upwards, who has the possibility of suffering falling damage depending on your attack. Failing this attack provokes an attack of opportunity from the target, and you are treated as flat-footed against it. By spending a ki point, you can make a special version of this attack as a standard action that doubles the base damage of this attack and pushes the opponent a further 10 feet.

Wood Sandals
Descriptor: Air, Ki
Class: Guru
Slot: Feet
Saving Throw: None

These unassuming sandals apparently made of wood give the user’s kicks the power of the tornado.

Shaping this veil lets the user to, as a full-round action, levitate and move up to his speed in a straight line, ignoring all difficult terrain. The user can make an unarmed attack action as part of this movement, treating his veilweaver level as his base attack bonus for it.

Essence: The user gets a +5-feet bonus to this special movement and the unarmed attack action deals an extra +1d4 bludgeoning damage for every point of essence invested in this veil.

Chakra Bind (Feet): A veilweaver of at least 6th level who has bound this veil gains the ability to do a special unarmed attack called a Tatsumakisenpukyaku. When using this special technique the attack is treated as if using the Vital Strike feat as a full-round action, or as the unarmed attack action done as part of the movement gained by this veil. A veilweaver of at least 11th level instead is treated as if using Improved Vital Strike, and a veilweaver of at least 16th level instead is treated as if using Greater Vital Strike.

I'm just gonna leave this here...
https://www.gematsu.com/2021/06/mana-series-30th-anniversary-live-stream-se t-for-june-27

After reading the Spheres of Akasha book, I got a couple of character ideas... and no, I don't have a fixation on big girls just because 2 of the 3 1/2 giants I made are female... do I?

Shamgar, male Orc Aeshmic Daevic of Wrath
Str 18, Dex 8, Con 13, Int 8, Wis 10, Cha 13.

Shamgar is the 9th host of the powerful wrath daeva known as Alkemenis and as such, the next in line to become the ruler of a powerful tribe of orcs. As an Aeshmic, his abilities differ from other veilweavers, able to use powerful abilities from the berserker and destruction spheres. He uses no weapon, using his “bare” veilweaving to transform into a monster.

Dölgöön, female Half-Giant Sipahi Sin-Eater Guru
Str 16, Dex 10, Con 15, Int 8, Wis 15, Cha 10.

Her tribe’s championess of Bökh, traditional wrestling, Dölgöön is the first female to wield that title, but her detractors say that it’s because she’s the clan’s daughter. Normally a very quiet young gigantess, she proves them wrong time and again, both by challenging powerful wrestler from neighboring tribes, and foreigners that are up to the challenge. As a Sipahi, she has sacrificed many akashic abilities in exchange for more “mundane” abilities, which take the form of a vicious combination of Brute, Gladiator and Wrestling talents.

毅 (Yi), lawful neutral male Aphorite Sphereshaper
Str 15, Dex 10, Con 15, Int 16, Wis 10, Cha 8.

A strange man who likes to talk to himself a lot, Yi is a recently-created aphorite, made with the task of analyzing, testing, codifying and putting into practice a specific part of the Akashic Records that deal with Sphereshaper's veils. He carries a lot of scrolls and, when shaping veils for the day, rolls at random for both veils and talents, grumbling when getting not-so-useful stuff for the day, and being sarcastic when he does get something good.

My first Huay, I liked the concept of a person not content with her body, and learning to get away from it.

Noparu, female Cactusfolk Huay
Str 10, Dex 15, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 17, Cha 8.
Noparu’s family comes from the deserts of the Quiet Lands, a neutral plane where Akashic magic is common. However, her kin escaped the ravages of the empire, and found solace in a desert that was even more unforgiving than their original home. There, the locals treated them as monsters when they first met, and the even scarred young Noparu. As she grew up, she began to hate her own kin, why wouldn’t other people call her a monster when she was covered in spines? One, night, she had a dream, where a creature bearing her own shape called her and whispered the secrets of changing shape. After having the same dream for a month, Noparu became a Huay, a veilshaper unheard of in the Quiet Lands. While her family wasn’t mad, they started to fear for her youngest member, since she started to go for longer and longer periods of time. Today, Noparu is just a step away from leaving her family, needing only a reason for becoming an adventurer.

Have you looked at the Huay (link)?

I just reviewed it here:

Wow, hope you have a good event!

After reading the Volus book, I got some ideas for characters and backgrounds:

Children of the Norns:
This secluded tribe in the far north venerate the Norns as goddesses. The Norns work the threads of fate, and as such, their pople work the threads of magic. Volur of the Circle of the World are the most common veilweavers of the tribe, balancing their magic into benevolent (veilweaving) and malevolent (brandweaving) powers. Other common practicioners that are found in the tribe are Hexweaver Viziers, Desire and Knowledge Daevics, and the occasional Nexus, Radiant and Zodiac.

Taika, female human Volur
Str 8, Dex 10, Con 12, Int 14, Wis 13, Cha 17.
This young woman comes from the Children of the Norns tribe. Tradition dictates that Volur should veilweave benevolent veils, since their brandweaving ability is malevolent. Taika tries to stick to tradition, helping her allies and hindering her foes, but sometimes she is more pragmatic.

Musa Al-Han’ah, male Suli Volur
Str 15, Dex 8, Con 15, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 16.
Musa is also called the “muscled mirage maker”, since he is physically strong for a “caster”. Musa is a typical adventurer, wanting to learn more about the world and its wonders. He likes to weaken his opponents with his brands before going into melee, since he likes the thrill of combat from the front. He is considering learning some Solar tricks to fuel his cravings.

Spider Tales, Spider Tales, really nice, Spider Tales

DISCLAIMER: This review is based on a free PDF provided by the author and the publisher, which in no way had an influence on the final score.

Introduction
So, The Fisherking author has more under his sleeve, even if under another publishing house (Azoth Games in this case). Apparently the first in a line of products, Akashic Tales: Spider’s Stories is a book inspired by West African folklore. This book includes new veils, an interesting class hack, a constellation, a new race variant that includes traits, and a couple of feats, all of them with a spider theme.

What’s inside?
11 pages of content (not counting covers, ads etc.) for 3 bucks (nice), which include:

-a short but nice introduction, which includes the names of the West African source material!

-The Spider’s Stories veil set: Before I go into the veils themselves, I have to mention something. This set as a whole is unavailable to any single class (but see below), which is a bit weird but not unheard of. The 8 veils include all akashic classes to date except the Rajah (weird since it is mentioned in the sources) and the Kheshig (which to my knowledge wasn’t published by the time Spider’s Stories went out); it is nice to have all this information, but I wouldn’t include it in the bind section since so many abbreviations and levels make it look cluttered.

Father White Ant’s Dashiki lets you break and sunder easier and with a bonus, and binding it lets you summon a variant “rust monster” or even break weapons and even veils passively. Gourd of Wisdom gives you a liquid that helps you with intelligence-based skill checks, letting you reroll failed ones with a bonus and, if the veil is becomes suppressed because of damage, gives you the option of destroying it, splashing you and your allies and giving all an insight bonus to an intelligence skill, chosen individually, and binding it lets you make a kind of potion. Lashing Spinnerets is reprinted here (from Akashic Mysteries), as is Spiderweb Wrappings (from City of Seven Seraphs). Sun’s Fiddle is an unusual veil that can be shaped in three different slots, and it helps you with performance checks and gives you some light-based powers; its binds lets you fascinate as a bard, make specific creatures dance irresistibly (as the spell, which by the way is not italicized), and air walk/teleport.

Thunder’s Kindness gives you a magical cold iron quarterstaff that has some food-related qualities and deals improved damage with essence, and when bound becomes enhanced and can become animated as the “animate object” spell. Tortoise’s Shell envelops you in a plate armor that you become proficient with and that can retract into a jug that can produce palm wine and increases your carrying capacity, with essence enhancing the armor; binding it lets you fly or get protection from death. Trickster’s Web is a multi-purpose veil that helps you to make traps, lure people into them, and making escaping more difficult for people you trap; binding it gives you the awesome ability to bind people in a web of lies, literally!

-The Spider’s Son constellation. This one can be chosen with the Astrologist feats from the Zodiac book, and replaces another constellation. It is tied to Fire, so I would rule that it replaces another Fire constellation as normal. It can appear either a classed humanoid champion (a spider-kin Griot bard, both found in this book) or as a magical fiddle that imparts you knowledge of the Light of the Spider’s Son melody, a powerful song that can be maintained as a standard action, which increases the essence capacity of a single receptacle to all allies within range as long as it is maintained, and it can be woven into the bardic performance or raging song class abilities. Investing essence in the fiddle give you a climb speed and letting you climb using only your feet.

-Griot class template for brads and skalds. Basically, you lose all spellcasting and some other abilities in exchange for charisma-based veilweaving, and you use the Radiant veil list but add all the Spider’s Stories veils to it. You also get some flavorful and thematically fitting abilities.

-Storyweaver Werespider-kin Skinwalker heritage. An interesting option especially for rogue-like characters, and it includes two flavorful traits.

-4 feats. These include 3 racial feats for the Storyweaver and the Akashic Talespinner feat that lets you specialize in a veil set.

Of Note: This first entry in the series is very flavorful and vast. Apart from all the akashic goodness, it includes a cool race! And I have to make a character with the Trickster’s Web, since it is a really cool veil! Also, including the sources of the stories goes that extra step and changes it from a pure recreational book into an educational one. Links would have rocked!

Anything wrong?: Apart from a few editing mistakes, I found Thunder’s Kindness and Tortoise’s Shell too strong. The former because of the damage it can cause if enough essence is invested in it, and the later because of its automatic proficiency and lack of spell failure. A single feat will give all arcane classes access to a powerful armor that doesn’t impede their spells, AND that they are proficient in. You know you have a problem when an option is too good to pass. Who needs “mage armor” or “bracers of armor” when you have this option? I would add spell failure and add a caveat to the proficiency, requiring levels in a veilweaving class to get it. The Griot’s “ballad of tales manifest” can become problematic, since you can change a veil into a limited use one, use all of its uses, and then when the song ends it reverts to its original shape. I would add a caveat so that you can’s shape a limited use veil with this ability. Finally the Akashic Talespinner feat is too strong compared with the veil-set specialization feats found in Akashic Realms 1, since it mirrors their top ability (I would limit it to just 1 veil, all if you have the full set shaped, and as an extra give you access to the whole set), even if it doesn’t give you an extra point of essence like all akashic feats.

What I want: To see the next instalment of the series!

What cool things did this inspire?: As I said, a roguish character, probably an eclipse, that uses the Trickster’s Web, or even a rogue archetype specializing in it!

Do I recommend it?: Yeah! Even if the things I mentioned makes it sound otherwise, this book is full of goodies that might just need a final polish to be astounding. I think this book would be a 3.5, rounded down, if it were not for the rich inspiration coming from its source material. So I will give it a 4, and will be willing to give it the full 5 if polished.

As a Mexican in Mexico with mixed ancestry from 3 continents, but not Asia, I don't know if I should give my opinion on the matter. As a reviewer and player, though, I really enjoyed this product and it is a shame that all the hard work it took to make was thrown out of the window. Instead of disappearing it, I would update it with input from Asians, which is the main criticism I see with this line. Having fun should be the goal of every game, and I had fun with OA, Dragon Fist, and this product line.

I think this wa sthe genesis for The Fisherking akashic book? I'm the guy that reviewed it LOL! Great work!

My god, that Fisherking book is really inspiring. Here are a couple more characters that use it. (the ability scores don't take into account leveling up, just race and age)

Abhinav the true heir, young male Human Fisherking
Str 8, Dex 10, Con 12, Int 13, Wis 10, Cha 17.
Feat: Leadership (Asim, middle-aged male Human Celestial Knight Cavalier cohort)
This unassuming youngster, according to the imposing but old warrior accompanying him, is the true heir of a land that was conquered by hobgoblins. He might be young, but his veilweaving abilities are not to be underestimated. He normally stays out of combat, helping Asim in a supporting role. He is searching for powerful heroes that can help him recover his birthright.

Ahita Hormazd, female Spitespawn Tiefling Hexweaver Vizier
Str 8, Dex 16, Con 10, Int 13, Wis 12, Cha 15.
Daughter of a Div and a warlock, Ahita was conceived as a long term plan by her parents. As soon as she was born, she was left by his father in the Quiet Lands, in the care of a tribe of morphbears. Ahita was also taken care by the warlock’s familiar, who taught her the powers of the evil eye. As soon as she was old enough to defend herself, Ahita left the tribe, not before learning to weave veils. She keeps contact with her parents only through the familiar, but has never seen them. She is supposed to gather information on Aspected Crystals tied to earth and fire, needed by her parents for undisclosed reasons. Ahita’s favorite disguise is that of a travelling dancer.

Akakios, old male Emberkin Aasimar Fisherking
Str 7, Dex 5, Con 9, Int 17, Wis 16, Cha 19.
(Iconic veil combo: Rebuke Voice veil, with max essence invested, used with the Merciful Veil feat)
A “benevolent ruler” in his own words, and a “sadistic bastard” in the hushed mumblings of his citizens, Akakios is a powerful Fisherking coming from a long line of celestial descendants. His subjects live terrified of him, since they swear that his angry voice itself causes excruciating pain. He rarely leaves lasting harm to his subjects, and has trained a loyal cadre of Sin-Eater Gurus to serve as his guard. These Gurus take a non-killing vow, but they nonetheless are ruthless.

Long Live the (Fisher)King!

DISCLAIMER: This review is based on a free PDF provided by the author and the publisher, which in no way had an influence on the final score.

Introduction
As I was writing more stuff for my akashic character thread, I got the news that many books were out with akashic content, but not from the author of Akashic Mysteries. Having already read and reviewed The Stormbound, I contacted the author of The Fisherking, a book focused on akashic content, and here we are.

What’s inside?
32 pages of content (not conting covers, ads etc.) for 5 bucks (nice), which include:

-The Fisherking hybrid class: The FK is presented as a hybrid of the Vizier akashic class and the Witch, but really has little in common with its parents classes (not a bad thing). It has a “caster” chassis (d6 HD / low BAB), but has 2 good saves (Fort and Will), proficiency in simple weapons and light armor plus bucklers. It sports a more generous 4 skill points per level (which makes senses since the parents need high intelligence), and has a list of 16 class skills, with a “face” and “scholar” builds possible, including the best ones from its parents classes. From the Witch, the FK gets 6 choose-able hexes, with the possibility of choosing up to 3 major and 1 grand ones, AND having a couple of exclusive-ones that complement the “face” role of the FK, plus the possibility of taking the Extra Hex feat; here I would have preferred a shorter, more appropriate list of hexes, since while I can get over a cackling ruler with a FK with the Cackle hex, I can’t envision one with the Swamp Hag hex. From the Vizier, the FK inherits their veil list (except for Ring ones), as well as the 10 standard Chakra Binds, AND 1 special veil slot, the Voice chakra (that can house and bind two veils later, like the Vizier’s Ring chakra), plus the increased essence capacity common to all akashic classes (the full 3 in this case). One of the FK’s veils must be in the Voice slot, which if we follow the convention of the only other akashic class with a similar restriction, would have looked more elegant and serve as a remainder as a #+1, like the Daevic. HOWEVER, they have to divide those 12 slots with only 8 veils gained during their careers (but they can nonetheless use the empty slots, see below), AND power them with the Guru’s essence progression, which is also used to empower the FK unique abilities. Speaking of which, the FK starts with three and gains a couple more over their careers:

-Arcane Presence let’s a FK take hex-related feats, and count FK levels as spellcaster ones for things like feat requirement and staff-using, and use Charisma instead of Intelligence for Spellcraft check made as part of item creation.

-Blessed Land is a 30-ft radius active-able aura that has two modes. One is a buff aura that increases one save and the speed of allies, which increase further at 5th and 13th levels. The other mode is a debuff that decreases one save and imposes a penalty to acrobatic and fly checks, said penalty doubled when trying to avoid attacks of opportunity; both penalties increase at the same levels as the buff aura. The mode chosen, as well as the save affected, are set as part of the time of shaping the day’s veils. The FK can invest essence to increase the radius, and for every 2 points invested, the bonus/penalty increases. At 9th, and again at 17th, the aura increases the radius by another 30 ft. At 9th, however, the FK can change the range of Hexes (except touch ones, good catch) to that of the aura.

-Royal Attendants is a very unusual ability that lets the FK surround himself with a number of “unseen servants” (as the spell) equal to his veilweaver modifier (Charisma normally), a number that can be increased by investing essence. They vary in some ways to a standard US, looking like a spectral if colorful court. IMHO, limiting the number of servants with class level (up to modifier, increasable with essence) would have made this ability progress more organically, since right now a 1 level dip in the class is tempting. By paying the price of a feat or hex, the FK can improve the servants, granting them special and even spell-like abilities, the latter’s uses shared between all servants (which prevents essence investment cycling, nice catch there). This ability is really intriguing and I can’t wait to see what expert players and GM can do with it.

-Peerless hex is gained at 3rd, and is a really cool way of implementing another class’ feature, in this case Hex, within the veilweaver framework. Under the veilweaving of the FK mentioned above, I mentioned they had basically 12 slots for 8 veils, but using Peerless Hex, you manifest the Hex in the shape of a veil! Crowns, scepters, fancy sneakers worth their weight in GP, you name it, as long as it “goes” in the slot. Manifesting these “hexveils” have two effects: they can invest essence in them to make them even more powerful, and since they are manifested as veils, can be sundered and even suppressed. Also, at 7th level, they can even BIND these Peerless Veils, getting an ability depending on the power of the chakra, corresponding to the Low (feet, hand and head, can affect targets more often with special essence burn that recovers after an hour), Middle (headband, shoulder, voice and wrist, functions at higher effective level for all purposes except DC, which is already increased with essence) and High binds (belt, body and chest; basically, the poor sod gets “disadvantage” on saves against these hexes, having to succeed on their save twice). There is an omission here, though: the Voice slot is mentioned, but not the neck one. Since the Voice slot is their "special toy”, I would exchange the neck slot for the voice one for this ability’s options.

-Regal Presence is gained at 7th, and you can choose one interaction skill (Bluff, Diplomacy or Intimidate) to be enhanced by half your class level, improved even more with essence invested. Cool ability that sadly gives an untyped bonus. I would give it either the competence or insight type. As part of the ability the FK can use the spell “Telempathic Projection” as a spell-like ability 3 times per day, with an increased DC if the target has been affected by one of the FK’s Hex within a day.

-At 9th level they get to bind a Voice veil to their special Voice slot, and they get the ability to shape and bind two veils in the Voice slot at 15th. This is not obligatory like the first Voice veil, but if you do, at 20th level you get 2 of your 8 veils in the voice slot, 6 occupying the normal 10 slots, leaving you with 4 slots for your “veilhexes”. This is intriguing! Do I occupy my strongest slots for veils, giving me the most powerful abilities available to a veilshaper? Or do I concentrate my power in my Peerles Hexes, making them very difficult to resist?

-10 Favored Class Bonuses: we get 2 for any race (1/4 of an essence point or 1/6 of an akashic feat), plus one for each core race plus the orc, and they are very varied. I would have liked bonuses for at least the aasimar, but with the open ones I’m cool.

All in all an intriguing take on the mystical ruler that gets away from standard spellcasting, but giving a player a lot of options to invest essence in. The Fisherking is not the only content presented herein, we also have:

-6 archetypes: Besom Witch is an akashic archetype for, well, the Witch; it gets a reduced option for patrons and is a kind of nature protector, can’t be evil, and exchanges its familiar for a specific veil, the Witch’s Broom, and lose some Hexes for some thematic abilities. Nice one! The Curate is the second archetype for Witches, and is a kind of cultist for the chosen patron; in a deviation from almost all (to my knowledge) other intelligence-based casters, a Curate’s abilities are treated as Divine in origin; they get some extra spells, the Divine Mandate voice veil, a weaker version of the FK’s Blessed Land class ability and lose some Hexes. Both Witch archetypes get a list of Hexes that complement their themes (nice!).

The May King is a druid-y archetype for the FK, changing proficiencies and skills, using Wisdom instead of Charisma as their veilweaver modifier, and losing Royal Attendants for a Leshy familiar. They also can shape a physical Verdant Veil (normal or peerles) that they can share with an ally in their Blessed Land aura. All in all an intriguing option to the FK. The Regnant Magister is an archetype for Viziers, who lose 2 veils, access to the Ring slot but gaining the Voice slot, and gain a limited, intelligence-based spellcasting ability, chosen from either wizard/sorcerer, cleric/oracle or psychic spell list, and treat their spellcasting accordingly. While they get spells known in a way similar to a sorcerer, they don’t get spell slots. Instead, they have to BIND essence in their spell casting (an important decision!), gaining 1 spell slot of their highest spell known for each odd number of essence points bound, reminding me somewhat to 5e D&D Warlock’s spellcasting. Finally, they get an arcane bond. Note that, while they don’t cast really that much, having access to a spell list gives them the possibility to use more items. A powerful hack of the Vizier, if a bit weird.

The Senator is an archetype for the Rajah, a veilweaver and initiator class that uses the Path of War system. They exchange Royal Mandate for bardic performance, get access to one Voice veil and later can even bind it to the Voice slot, at the cost of two Heraldries; speaking of which, they can take a bonus feat from a specific list instead of a Heraldry. Finally, the Warden is a very campaign-dependent archetype for the FK. They lose Blessed Land, Royal Attendants, and 4 hexes (!), leaving the Warden with only 2 Hexes gained by normal progression. They get a debuffing Containment Field that can entangle escaping foes and even prevent teleportation and such, some spell-like abilities to protect places, an Oracle’s curse (with a full, if slower progression), and the ability to create Jailer and Prisoner’s Dungeon Rings, and as a cap get a nifty ability to imprison a foe. Another great hack of the base class.

-2 class expansions: Since the FK uses Hexes, here we have the Akashic Records spirit for the Shaman class, which not only ties them with the occult but also to Akashic magic. We also get the Path of the Hexweaver for Viziers, gaining access to some intriguing abilities that AFAIK are not available to either the Witch or the FK. Very cool!

- 4 Feats: Malefic Essence gives you an excuse to use an Akashic race with the Witch class, enabling you to invest essence in hexes. Merciful Veils permits you to design the damage of one or more veils as nonlethal. Regency gives you the ability to bind veils to the Voice slot, which you should have gotten from another source like multiclassing (not a fan of giving the unique toys of a class to others, but ok), or by taking the next feat. Viceroy gives you access to one Voice veil.

-2 Traits: Akashic Customization lets you disguise your veils easier-ly, and Regal Bearing makes you better at socializing with nobles.

-4 Hexes: Akashic Patronage gives you a bonus Akashic Feat. Sanctum lets you use a modified “fairy ring retreat” (as the spell). Faithful Servant Unbound lets your familiar stay powerful when you die, and Malignant Token curses one of your magical items when you die. Amazing and iconic!

-9 general veils: Before the veils we get ye’ol introduction to veilweaving. This is ok, but it doesn’t include the ability to suppress veils; this information is found in Akashic Trinity under “Ongoing effects and unconsciousness”. Not a glaring omission but it is worth noting, since the updated rules for weapon-like veils ARE included. We have two sets of veils, tailored for the FK but available to many classes, including “non-core” ones like the Stormbound or the Helmsman.

Enchantress’s Accoutrements includes 5 veils. Eldest Fey’s Diadem can give you a raven familiar, which can be exchanged for improved familiar when bound to the head chakra; however, when bound to the headband chakra you instead get “wall of thorns” as a spell-like ability (a bit disconnected to the main veil’s effect but ok). Pact Binder’s Pendant gives you a bonus on Linguistics checks and can use Linguistics when bargaining for goods, and when bound to the Neck can use the “conditional favor” spell but also applying it to psionic powers and veils. Frostweave increases the DC and damage of cold attacks, but BOTH are increased by 1 for each essence invested! I know that this equates to the Circlet of Brass veil, but in both cases I would give a DC increase for every 2 points of essence; there is another thing worth mentioning: the Frostbite Halo veil already increases cold damage AND also decreases cold resistance. While I like ability combos like this, I’m not sure about double cold damage increase. Binding the veil to the chest lets you “control weather” by taking essence burn, but you always treat the season as winter/late winter, and binding it to the Body gives you “polar midnight” as a spell-like ability once per day, but it still requires essence burn. Vain Queen’s Hand Mirror gives you the awesome ability to summon a hand mirror that also functions like a light mace! It also gives you the ability to cast “augury”, and by investing essence you increase the number of damage dice it deals. Binding it to the hands gives it an enhancement bonus (no choose-able abilities) up to +5, and if bound to the wrists it lets you summon a CR 2 hawk-like true neutral outsider called an Argent. Cool, but the damage dice should be mentioned as bonus damage dice, since some players could argue that they increase the BASE damage, an important difference wince base damage is multiplied on a crit, and not so with bonus dice. Finally, the Witch’s Broom veil functions as a quarterstaff that gives you a sacred bonus to AC but only when casting/fighting, which can be increased with essence invested, and if enough essence is invested you can cast “sacred space”. Binding it to the hands nets you enhancement for the staff, and thankfully the “defending” ability is not included; binding it to the feet lets you fly, but you need at least one hand free to wield it. I know this is a design necessity, but I would have loved to surf on the broom. For some reason, this feet bind ability only mentions the Vizier and not the FK; weird, since FKs can bind veils to their feet chakra, just like Viziers.

The second veil set is the Royal Trappings. Adamant Crown nets you 10-ft range telepathy, and is a must if you want to use Voice veils with creatures that don’t share a language with you. Investing essence increases the range, binding it to the head protects you against illusion and mind-affecting effects, and binding it to the headband makes your own mind-affecting abilities stronger. King’s Keys doubles as both a sap and a kind of “thieves’ tools” for Disable Devices that gives you a bonus, and investing essence gives you a bonus plus if enough essence is invested, the bonus applies to Perception checks to detect traps. Binding it to the hands enhances the sap and lets you use “arcane lock” as a spell-like ability, and if bound to the belt, apart from giving you the hands abilities, lets you use more magic to get easier entry to places. My favorite general veil! Royal Treasury gives you a badass royal cape that gives you an Appraise bonus and a discount when buying goods and services where having a royal title applies, both increasing with essence; binding it to your shoulder chakra gives you a Slithering Pit to store your possessions AND maybe your enemies as well (!). We end the general veil section with the Sword of Kingship, available to many classes as well as the FK, but strangely enough not the Vizier. It is a powerful long sword that ignores some damage reduction and hardness, more with essence, and if bound to the hands it can be enhanced with pluses or a small selection of abilities (no keen? bummer), and if bound to the wrists it lets you share veils! No need for the Share Veil feat, with in this case is OK IMHO. Those bestowed with such veils have to be within a short range, can’t bind them to a chakra, but they CAN invest essence in them! Another winner here!

-9 Voice veils. This type of veil share some things in common. The veilweaver of such a veil has to be able to speak (or shape the Adamant Crown veil, no mention of telepathy gained from other sources). Almost all bonus are morale, even when conventional veils use insight (which make them feel unique, so a plus in my opinion). Any spell-like ability gained by a Voice veil is treated as having the verbal component even if the original spell didn’t have it. Finally, each of the 9 Voice veils has a special effect when used in a position of leadership and using the kingdom building rules (great!).

Annexation lets you reposition foes at range, or teleport them if bound. Declaration of War gives you and a couple of your allies bonuses to attack and weapon damage rolls, and the ability to summon a variant Hell Hound, or more with enough essence (the variant is different enough to warrant its own stat block in my opinion). Diplomatic Overture gives you a bonus… to diplomacy (go figure LOL) and Kn. (Nobility) checks, and a “sanctuary” ability when bound. Divine Mandate (I’m grinning just by typing it) gives you a sacred/profane bonus and a “command” ability, and the inquisitor’s judgment ability when bound, albeit at a somewhat reduced efficiency (great!). Interdiction protects the FK and the party with bonuses to AC and saves against a specific creature, and the “forbid action” and “greater forbid action” abilities when bound. Invigorating Oration is a healing ranged ability that can only be activated when a creature is at ¼ health or lower (useless at low levels), essence increasing the healing and range, and when bound… makes a creature healed by this veil during the last 24 hours, to basically stay alive and ignore damage for a couple of rounds. This ability can’t be cheated but is too stronk when enough essence is invested (5), since it lets the creature continue fighting. Rebuke lets you chastise lesser folk with your words, dealing kind of untyped damage that is emotion, mind-affecting, and needs a target with an Intelligence score (cool), and when bound you can tell off more people at once, and even shake them if they fail too bad (my fave Voice veil!). Royal Patent gives you access to a Title veil from the Rajah class, and finally Stay of Execution makes you better at not killing, but disabling, your foes.

-5 magic items: Azoth Scabbard can potentially save your veilweaver’s life, functioning as a kind of belt slot for a weapon-like veil that can cast Breath of Life under certain conditions. Indigo Merkaba is an Ioun stone that enhances 1 particular veil; Lady’s Favor is an iconic trope made-magical item, where a noble lady gives a memento to a knight to inspire him. Sovereign Blade is like the Sword of Kingship veil made real, and the Torc of Righteous Command improves essence invested in the Voice slot.

Of Note: The book looks nice, having some appropriate pictures and the special font used of titles feels Middle-Eastern, even if the material feels more European fantasy. And the concept of the Fisherking! I would never have expected a hybrid of the Vizier with the Witch, even less with a ruler motif, so it took me by surprise! And some of the new veils are awesome! Also, I have to say that the bibliography is huge, since the FK pulls abilities from a lot of books and showing the author’s deep system knowledge. Luckily, we don’t have to own that many books, having great websites out there like d20pfsrd, spheres wiki and the archives of Nethys.

Anything wrong?: The book is not without its (small) faults, but nothing deal-breaking. It also felt short, even when it is half the size of Akashic Mysteries. Some more traits would have been nice, as well as flaws for nobles (I was just imagining one with a Skin so delicate it gets harmed easily). There are also some veils that I think are missing a descriptor (like Eldest Fey’s Diadem and others that create creatures not having the a proper descriptor) But all in all I was very satisfied with the content.

What I want: To play one now! I would also have liked an akashic angel, devil, or something similar with some Fisherking stuff thrown in.

What cool things did this inspire?: a May Queen changeling that is the “dirty secret” of a king, and comes to reclaim her rightful throne. An evil tyrant that believes himself good, using the Rebuke Voice veil with the Merciful Veil feat. A female desire Daevic in fullplate armor wielding the Vain Queen’s Hand Mirror is a wonderful sight. A rogue archetype tentatively called “King of Thieves” that focuses on mastering the King’s Keys veil, and a Cavalier one tentatively called “Blade of the King”, that focuses on wielding the Sword of Kingship. You know you are reading a good book when every page is a wellspring of inspiration.

Do I recommend it?: To be frank, I was blown away by this PDF. I can fully recommend it to all Akashic Magic fans. Following a 1 to 5 score, I think it deserves a 4.5 because of the few errors I mentioned, but the quality and inspiration of the material easily takes it to the full 5 stars. Kudos to everyone involved!

(shameless self-promotion): By the way, I just added some characters using material from this book to my Akashic Characters T(h)read found in the third-party Advice forum.

After reading The Fisherking akashic book, I got tons of ideas for new characters! Here are some:

Medb, female Half-Giant Dominion (Tyranny) Daevic
Str 16, Dex 10, Con 13, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 15.
Favorite Veils: Armory of the Conqueror, Vain Queen’s Hand Mirror, Cuirass of Confidence, Horselord’s Greaves
Medb appears as a hulking woman wearing shining plate armor and wielding a heavy, gigantic hand mirror that doubles as a mace. Medb has become a ruler of sorts in a small town. While not evil, her forceful personality and imposing figure makes people think twice about being negative to her “suggestions”.

Oihana, female Callow May Changeling May Queen Fisherqueen
Str 8, Dex 10, Con 10, Int 13, Wis 17, Cha 16.
Oihana is the illegitimate daughter of King Altwidus. He was seduced by a green hag disguised as an elven maiden when he was but a single prince, and after months of their dalliance, the disguised hag met the prince in the forest, to give him a "surprise". However, Altwidus noticed the disguise and killed the hag, only to see what she was carrying. Not knowing what to do, he took her daughter to the druids and asked them to rise her as one of their own. The druids tried to teach her about their faith, but she developed strange abilities, including the blessings of Mother Nature (the Verdant Veil). 25 years have passed after that fateful encounter, and after forcing the druids to tell her about her parents, Oihana is determined to claim her birthright, which has been claimed by her evil stepmother and her son after declaring Altwidus unapt to rule.

Kenelm The King of Thieves, male elf Rogue
Str 8, Dex 17, Con 12, Int 14, Wis 10, Cha 13.
Shape Veil (King’s Keys)
Kenelm is an unlikely halfbreed, born of an elven nobleman and a wild she-elf warrior; with the looks and cunning of a high elf but dressed and tattooed as a wild elf, Kenelm was raised by her mother far from her tribe, since they ridiculed him for being weak. With time, however, he got a liking to visiting the human city, and after years of visits developed a penchant for larceny. He climbed through the ranks of the local thieves’ guild until becoming the master, owing not in a small part to the abilities he developed by spying on the local “mage”, who in reality is a Vizier. Kenelm doesn’t really understand his abilities, but he doesn’t care as long as they work.

Riders of the Storm
Introduction
The Stormbound is a book by Cobalt Sages Creations. It includes brand new material for the Akashic Magic system. Is it any good? Read on!

What’s inside?
39 pages of content for 10 bucks (but right now it’s on sale on Drivethrough!), which include:

-The Stormbound Akashic class: After a short explanation of the genesis of the class in the credits page, we start with the creation of the Stormbound. Survivors of a magical storm connected to a place called Elderstorm where the planes of Air and Water connect (not the paraelemental place of Ice… ok), the Stormbound share a common origin, which is cool. As a chassis, they get medium BAB/d8 HD, with Fort and Will as good saves, 6 skillpoints for 15 class skills, up to medium armor, shields (with no mention of tower shields but I guess not), and all simple and martial weapons. However, like druids, wearing metal armors or shields weaken their magical abilities… a prohibition that doesn’t apply to veils. So a really strong chassis overall.
Before I mentioned the class’ unique abilities, I will mention its veilweaving. Stormbound start with 1+1 veil (one normal plus one Storm, unique to them), and finish with 10+1. They get access to ALL 10 CHAKRA BINDS! (11 really) Why the caps? Because they get the same veilweaving abilities of a Vizier, including improved essence capacity, double veils in their unique slot (analogue to the Vizier’s ring chakra), but with a much more powerful chassis. Where they differ is in their essence, which goes from 1 to 20, like a Guru, and their unique slot cannot get essence invested as normal. Instead, the Stormbound gets 1 point of temporary essence per turn in combat (that improves to 2 later) that can only power Storm Veils… so to get them working at their top, you will have to make combat last (and I say them because, like I said, you can get two veils), AND they can change the storm veil by burning that temporary essence, bound to the chakra and all. As a cap, they become immune to electric, cold and sonic damage, become outsiders, and can reshape ALL veils with an hour of meditation.
Stormbound get a very powerful ability at first level called Weatherproofing, which apart from a constant “endure elements” effect for the Stormbound, makes him basically immune to his own powers, and this can be shared to all the party, at level 1. This makes many environmental hazards a pushover.
Apart from that, a Stormbound gets a class talent, called a Storm Power, at every odd level, for a total of 10 from a list of 23. These… are way too powerful, not only because of their effects, but because they require no resources to be used. Druids must be jealous. To balance this, I would require the Storm Powers to require normal essence burn to be empowered. This would limit them somewhat to prevent spamming. Note that some powers can be further invested with essence as if they were Stormveils to make them even more powerful, but then they compete with them for the special essence. The powers themselves are cool and cover a wide range of effects, from elemental attacks like icicle shards or whips of lightning, to defenses, improved attacks, and element-derived abilities, even healing is included here… There are clear differences in power between some, though, but overall are cool. A special shout out to “Clear the Skies” and “Channel the Storm”, two must-have powers. Why? The first one because if not, apparently Storm veils are always on (standard veils can be suppressed as a free action and resumed as a move action, as seen in the updated veilweving rules found in Akashic Trinity). Without this power, you wouldn’t be able to enter a town normally when using Storm veils like The Conflagration, and let’s not talk about buildings. The second because it bypasses the crescendo of “Storm essence” by giving you half your maximum essence capacity as a special pool to empower Storm veils, and full essence capacity if taken a second time. Two must-haves in my opinion; the first one I would make a feature of the class, the second I wouldn’t allow like it is. Maybe if the Stormbound took essence burn from his normal pool, then yes.
The class includes two archetypes. The Devotee of the Storm gains access to full Hunter spellcasting, at the cost of 1 storm power… their veilweaving is kind of weaker, getting less binds (but retaining the powerful body bind) and without getting improved essence capacity. They get other abilities but IMHO they get even more things to do than a Stormbound, but in a master of magic’s hands they will be more powerful in my opinion. Wind Whisperer is the other archetype, and it is a pet one. They pay dearly for this, since this replaces the Stormweaving and eating five of the ten Storm Powers of a Stormbound and… getting only half essence, AND they have to share veils with the spirit! HOWEVER, action economy mitigates this. Another powerful archetype for an already powerful class.

-2 Prestige Classes: The Storm Warrior is what you get if you slap all the unique toys of the Stormbound on a warrior’s chassis, nothing new. Ok if you aren’t planning on using the Stormbound, and the art of the class ROCKS! The second one is the Veilshifter, a master of unshaping and reshaping veils, which basically gives one of the unique toys of Viziers to any veilweaver class… but has two major weaknesses: It doesn’t get an improved essence capacity, which makes it a weaker option overall, and it can’t bind veils quickly, which makes most reshaping weaker options; understandable, since giving the cap of the Vizier to a PrC would be too much.

-Veilweaving: This section includes the basics on veilshifting, but adds the armor and weapon descriptors. Apart from this, you get the option of enhancing your weapon and armor veils, which doesn’t stack with the veils abilities… allowing for armaments where you enchant the basic veil with plain +X bonuses, and then when investing or shaping you add non-+X abilities, giving you access to eternal, powerful but cheap magical items, that are repaired in seconds. Thanks, but no thanks. This enchanting process should be more expensive, at least 25%, if we compare it to an Amulet of Striking.

-32 veils, 2 of which are reprints and the rest are new. All veils are available to the Stormbound, plus at least one of the original three Akashic classes. The first veil, Aura of the Adaptable, gives you the possibility of emulating veils from other chakras, even if you already have a veil in that slot; with the option of changing the emulated veil by reducing its essence capacity (nice). There are other nice options, with an elemental, weather, and travelling themes… however, there are some veils that are weaker/stronger when compared with veils in Akashic Magic and Akashic Trinity. Diplomat’s Clip bind, for example, is too little, too late of an effect IMHO, while Treantplate repeats one of the infinite healing of the old Incarnum system (healing with electricity). Just get an electrokineticist or another Stormbound, or any character that can make electric attacks at will and you will forget about Cure spells; a more viable ability would be to give the wearer temporary hit points that refresh on your turn and increase with essence, which would prevent any cheating, and if healing with electricity is desired, getting a cap on the times or hit point cured would alleviate the infinite healing. Going with a magnifying glass would tell you if these veils are ok for your campaign. Also, there are some veils that don’t follow the norm about each slot function… which doesn’t necessarily means they are bad.

-12 storm veils: (sigh) here we go. The iconic ability of the Stormbound is, in my opinion, too much too soon. Having a class that creates an area of specific weather is cool, but at first level? The reason I hate this ability is that it has implications not covered by the designer. Imagine a 1st level Stormbound, in a desert community during a draught, using The Deluge… bam, the Stormbound becomes A GOD to the locals! He could become rich by creating rain, all day, every day. There is a reason for spell slots, and even spells like Create Water have limits. And that is a side effect of ONE VEIL! Now let’s see The Conflagration… for a typical commoner, you are making EFFIN METEORITES TO FALL FROM THE SKY! Doesn’t matter if you deal just a little damage, the visual effects, while cool, are too much in comparison to what a neophyte low level caster can seem to do.
The veils themselves vary a lot in power, but no matter if you are in outer space or in a weird demiplane, you can create the weather you want, when you want. They ARE cool, but I wouldn’t allow them before 5th level, or even higher.

-Feats: This section include 11 feats. Some of these follow the idea of letting you change the veils you chose for the day which, believe it or not, is one of the balancing factor of veilweavers. Another is an Extra Storm Power… guess what it does LOL! The interesting ones are called Confluence feats, which all require you to be able to use two storm veils at the same time, combine two related veils into a more powerful effect. I can stomach the power and effects of these feats by the time you can take them, and they are really cool. And then there is Shape Storm, a feat that gives you access to one storm veil, with little requirement (two 13’s). Sorry but no thanks. Imagine a commoner with one of these… or allowing all veilweavers to get it.

-3 magical items: Imbuement Gems are a neat idea, but clashes with the rules of Weapon/Armor descriptors introduced before. I don’t think the price is fair, though; I would at least double the price considering its versatility. The Crook of the Stormbinder is a powerful staff, and the price is this time fair IMHO. Totem of the Storm is a really cool object, if costly.

Of Note: The general ideas of the class are good. It can be argued that the mage, paladin, and monk roles were covered in Akashic Mysteries, and the rogue, cleric and… kineticist? roles in Akashic Trinity, so a druid/geomancer veilweaver is a really cool concept. The Confluence feats are really cool too!

Anything wrong?: The core of the class is too strong even if you took away all Storm veil-related stuff, with only the Vizier and the Nexus having access to all slots and binds plus enough veils to fill them all, and the Nexus has to juggle a Guru’s essence between those 10 veils and his blast; the Stormbound doesn’t, and also sports 6 skillpoints! There is also the versatility of the class, with the Stormbinder’s actions having to compete between normal attacks, veil activation, and Storm Power activation. The balancing of the abilities is like a rollercoaster, and there is no mention of the side effects of the Storm veils. Also, the iconic role of the Vizier as the master of veils and his unique toy of changing veils shouldn’t be easily copied by a bunch of feats.

What I want: The Stormbound would work better as a Prestige Class IMHO, something along the lines of the Storm Warrior. The way I would “fix it” is to reduce the veils and binds received (there is a little PDF out there by Sayre himself called Akashic Design, with notes on how to balance a lot of things), and modify Storm veils to work with the weather surrounding the Stormbound, with the ability to completely change the weather at higher levels, eliminating most of the secondary effects, and getting access to more esoteric veils like The Conflagration later, or better yet, making the veils needing more essence to look that awesome, having the essence restrict the side effects. PLUS another round or two of balancing.

What cool things did this inspire?: A Stormbound as a powerful, high level opponent for a party that includes another “nature class” like a Druid, would be interesting. A scroll-like item that conjured Storm veils’ effects for some time would also be cool. Maybe even a race of fey or outsiders (Kami maybe?) that have Stormveils always active would be nice.

Do I recommend it?: As it is now, no. Unless you have the patience and system knowledge to fix it yourself. The themes covered and abilities are a cool addition to Akashic magic, but the execution? Not so much. I wouldn’t rate this with 1 or 2 stars, since I really liked the themes, but the execution is so sloppy that I wouldn’t settle for anything higher than 3 stars. I would keep an eye for a revised version though.

RANT about perceived power. I remember one of my players wanted to play as Yoshimitsu from Tekken fame, and I said OK. My player wanted regeneration, which we put a cap on. Then he wanted “useless lighting, just for show”, and I said no. Why? Because effects don’t exist in a vacuum, and doing that would scare the sh¡t out of a commoner, something Wizards then (in AD&D 2nd ed.) could do by spending spell slots. When I explained, my friend offered to pay with hit points, and THEN I acceded. Imagine if a player said “I want my magic missiles to look like meteors that fall from the sky and then become minuscule and do their thing”, no way Jose! (my name is Jose too by the way LOL) Something like that would APPEAR way more powerful than it really is, and character level should mean something. Plus, the act of casting a spell shouldn’t automatically have side effects like scaring people or creating something. I do have a homebrew Awesome Spell metamagic feat (no spell level modification but increasing the casting time) that lets you make a free intimidation attempt when casting a spell, getting a +1 bonus per spell level. You paid with action economy and feat investment.

My suggestion is make your own review thread AND/OR review it on the products' pages (ie. drivethru or on the product page here). Don't post your review in someone else's review thread, that seems bad to me.

You are right. I will do that when I get home.

Almost 1 year after it's release... Would any of you mind if I wrote my review here?

That sounds like a plus from my end, given how I'm lukewarm on the Vizier.

It depends. The Sphereshaper veils are weird, they give you access to certain spheres and abilities, but I have yet to find how can you progress within a sphere (if you can at all). So you have to really dedicate yourself to be a "Vizier wanna-be", but I would have preferred a Vizier with normal spheres.

The book actually has both. The archetypes use a veilweaving sphere and then the base class has sphereshaping veils. It probably should have been two separate releases but Pandemic-Era strains made more sense to release both subsets together.

Thanks for the clarification! As I said, I haven't really come to terms with the system, but the Sphereshaper really looks like hea wants to take the Vizier's place. I know that that's what most sphere classes do with core ones, but I have yet to check the whole system. I love both the Spheres systems and the Akashic magic, so my expectations are really high LOL!

I live on that site. lol I was just curious to pick your brain on it. I'd been expecting it to be more sphere magic and less akashic when I found out about it, and it is very different from what I was expecting.

Then I'm your neighbor LOL

Have you looked at the Huay (link)?

No, not that one, andI haven't had the opportunity to check the Stormbound appart from what is there in the Spheres wiki. HOWEVER, what I have seen of the Stormbound... I don't really like. That is why I haven't seen any other options that mentions it. But if I have the opportunity I will check it and review it and the Stormbound.

Amardeep, female Mindborn Aasimar Akasin Guru.
Str 8, Dex 14, Con 15, Int 12, Wis 17, Cha 10.
A short woman of unconventional beauty, Amardeep was raised by her father in a far-away temple, high in the mountains. There, she was taught martial arts, but her abilities were always different from her peers. After years of being unable to become a monk, she was put under the tutelage of a mysterious, foreign woman called Sandhya. Her lessons were harsh, but effective, and after just a couple of months, Amardeep became a Guru, a master of both martial arts and an ancient magical power known as Akasha. What she didn’t know is that Sandhya was not only her mother, but a Twilight Manasaputra, who had a dalliance with her father during a visit 20 years ago.

Variant Aasimar Heritage
Manasaputra-blooded (Mindborn)
Typical alignment: LG
Ability Modifiers: +2 Con, +2 Wis
Alternate Skill Modifier: Perception, Sense Motive
Alternate Spell-like Ability: Positive Pulse (or Psychic Sensitivity as bonus feat, or 1 point of essence and the akashic subtype)
Mindborn look like humans in peak physical condition and of calm demeanor, even aloof, who tend to be loners, hermits or wandering teachers, sharing the wisdom of their enigmatic ancestors.

Have you looked into the new Akashic sphere casting class?

Yeah, and it's... weird. I haven't come to terms completely about how it works. If you are on the fence about buying it, I recommend looking at the material in the wiki:

Three darkness-themed veilweavers:

Bakarrik, male Astomoi scholar vizier
Str 8, Dex 12, Con 12, Int 17, Wis 15, Cha 10.
This bizarre, vaguely humanoid creature looks like it is made of darkness. In fact, if it were not for the veils it wears, he would appear completely naked. A scholar of darkness itself, the solitary Bakarrik communicates with others through telepathy, always searching for scholars like himself to have long philosophical debates about the nature of darkness. He has an affinity for veils with the darkness descriptor, and can mentor would-be viziers or eclipses on its use.

Whisper, female Caligni eclipse
Str 13, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 13, Wis 10, Cha 8.
The daughter of two small dark creepers, the girl that would grow to be known as Whisper had a difficult childhood. Her community was supposed to give her to a powerful Owb as an offering, but a wandering drow kidnapper her on a whim. The drow lost her on a bet with a duergar in a gambling house in the underdark, and was going to be a slave, but the drow, more because of resentment for his loss than pity for the girl, loosened her restrains. She escaped at the first opportunity and has been wandering ever since. While she hates light, she became enamored with the food from the surface, specially fruits, and works for a small thieves guild that sends her on missions on the new moon, where her darkvision works best.

Mawar, male Wayang eclipse
Str 10, Dex 17, Con 13, Int 16, Wis 10, Cha 8.
Mawar was born in a small conclave of her people. He always felt the call of darkness, and after a lot of self-training became an Eclipse. Having no one in his community to guide him as a veilweaver, Mawar has been looking for someone with similar abilities to train him, to no avail. He is too stern and serious to make friends, but his skills have earned him the respect of the few people he has worked with. He is fond of leaving dried, wilted white roses as his mark.