the xiao's page

What in the Naraka is an Astradhari!

DISCLAIMER: This is not a review, but a preview, since I am one of the writers of this book. I will write it in the style of my reviews but refrain from giving a score.

Introduction
Under Azoth Games, James Ray AND Vladimir Rodriguez (that would be me) released a new book in the Akashic Tales line of products, Astradhari’s Panoply, returning to Akashic Mysteries southeast Asia influences. What is an astradhari, you say? What else is in this book? Read on!

What’s inside?
81 pages of content (not counting covers, ads etc.) for 13.50 bucks (nice), which include:

-The astradhari akashic base class: One of my contributions to the book, the astradhari’s base concept is almost 20 years old! It started as a soulknife ability that grew to a full, akashic base class. I wanted to go for the rare-in-RPGs intelligent warrior archetype and made a warrior sage. I also leaned heavily on the post-Akashic Mysteries role of the Akashic Records as the plane of memory. As I mentioned, astradhari come directly from Hinu mythology, but if you want to play a hunter of legends and wield, say, Mjolnir, Excalibur and the Gold Fleece, you can! Just call the warsages or something like that.

So, astradhari are unique among the current akashic classes in the sense that they are neither veilweavers nor starcallers, but it can partially do a bit of both in a new way. Astradhari are warriors first, having a full warrior chassis (d10 HD, Fort and Will good saves, full martial weapons, all armors and shields but not tower proficiencies). Unlike fighters, they are more skilled (4 skill points for 14 skills, of which 8 are Intelligence-based), and in fact benefit from a high intelligence score. As an akashic class, they get essence equal to a daevic (half class level minimum 1).

Astradhari make use of their connection to the plane of memory to empower their Akashic Knowledge ability, a versatile bonus to their Intelligence-based skills (and later all skills) that with time can even “unlock” them, marking them as intelligence-skill monkeys.

The rest of an astradhari’s 1st level abilities relate to astras, which are special versions of weapons, armors and shields that are originally veils with the enhanced descriptor or constellations in those forms. Both can be invested with the astradhari’s essence as normal, but for weapons and armors signs, they do have to pay their essence cost on top of any essence they want to invest in them. An astradhari learns especial ceremonies to conjure these armaments, in a manner very similar to how wizards learn their spells; they can even learn how to summon an astra in the middle of combat! Like wizards, they don’t have a limit on the number of astras they can learn. Astradhari designate a “chosen astra” each day, which they can summon at will, but beyond that, the astradhari can summon one astra from their repertoire twice per day, more with leveling. Finally, astradhari get a “minor astras” ability, getting access to minor veils.

At 2nd level, astradhari treat all of their astras as having an enhancement of 1 for evey even level they have (just like constellations), but once chosen the enhancements are set and can’t be changed until the astradhari gets another level, evading the common complaint of “bane against all” weapons that the OG weapon-like veils got. Also, at this level, the astradhari uses his connection to the plane of memory to fight like the OG wielder of the astra, represented by the “akashic style” temporary feats. These are similar to the ranger combat styles but include new armor ones. The astradhari gets bonus feat from their chosen astra only, and even when they get a second chosen astra later, they only benefit from this ability once. Also at 2nd level, astradhari can treat any veil astra as bound to the lesser chakras (hands, feet or head), marking them as master of weapons.

At 3rd level, and every 4th levels thereafter, astradhari get a bonus akashic feat. This serves two purposes, making the astradhari feel more akashic, and improving their meager essence pool since most feats also give a point of essence.

At 4th level, they get to improve all astras with one ability from a short list with things like alignment, special materials, ease of wielding.

The rest of the astradhari’s career they get improvements to these abilities. As a capstone, they get a special ability to their main chosen astra, depending on its nature (weapon or armor), and they can’t be dismissed or destroyed. Finally, the astradhari section ends with favored class bonuses, with a general entry (bonus essence), another general entry for races with weapon familiarity, and entries for all the not-half (which already can pick human and elf or orc anyway) core races plus orcs.

-12 Archetypes and Class features: The meatier part of the book and one with toys for many classes. Chakravatin are lawful good or lawful neutral Fisherkings that eschew non-voice veils in favor of starcalling, and getting many priest-y and lawful abilities, and with 6 pages it feels more like a variant class! Conduits are daevics that are not plain mortals (this archetype is made with planetouched like aasimar, tieflings and the like in mind, or descendants of undead, fey or aberrations too), developing their blood connection to the planes instead of having a symbiotic relationship with a daeva, having a unique “birthright passion”, complete with plane-specific veil-lists. They become more like their ancestors. Dhar Masters are guerrilla wisdom-based investigators that eschew alchemy in favor of modest veilweaving, drawing their veils from the eclipse veil list, and getting more fitting abilities like the ninja’s No Trace or the ranger’s traps.

Fakir is a new philosophy for gurus, drawing from those mystics that sleep in beds of nails, walk over coals and basically get enlightenment from pain; like other gurus, they get abilities that give them bonus essence and let them expend it, and can become living voodoo dolls to harm their opponents. Jijnasu are lawful veilweaving inquisitors that get access to the volur list and can also access a unique “brand inquisition”. Kesin is a servant path that focuses on the new “akashic vows” and get many flavorful abilities, including minor guru-veilweaving and other ascetic-themed choose-able talents. Rishi is another servant path which uses the bard-performance engine to represent reciting holy texts, and also get access to voice veils.

Sangyarishi are wisdom-based initiator astradhari that eschewe the more mundane fighting styles of traditional astradhari in favor of using martial disciplines in a different way. Shakta is a guru archetype that instead of following a philosophy and sundering veils, get power from special kundalini essence to power the traditional chakras; a very high-risk high-reward archetype! Soul channelers are charisma-based astradhari that not only channel legendary weaponry, but the souls of heroes too! Instead of ranger fighting styles and akashic feats, soul channelers use the souls of the soulforge, able to weave and bind a couple of related veils .

Vajrin is a special electricity-master stormbound archetype that focuses on the new Vajra veil and the new Vajra’s Aspect storm veil; perfect for those players that want to hyperfocus and don’t mind the loss of versatility. The “new” Jyotisa cosmology can be seen as an updated version of the OG cosmology, since India has its own version of the Zodiac (or the other way around). Most of the signs have a direct equivalent, but ALL the Jyotisa versions give completely new abilities, and get away from the controversially powerful classed champions; it even has its own lost constellation!

-30 new veils: Yeah, that’s a lot, so I will mention them by name with a very short description. They are divided into 3 sets and some miscellaneous ones. The Divine Astrani set encompasses many weapons, most of them directed to be wielded by astradhari but not all, and some of them include powerful binds apart from the classical hands/wrists combo binds for weapons. Agneyastra is a splash fire (and later flame-strike like divine fire) weapon, Almighty Gandiva is a composite longbow that transforms arrows shot into minute meteors, with later binds giving you quivers, and later basically increases your HP total. Brahmastra is a powerful storm veil that deals fire, force and even a disease when bound to those in the area. Divine Arrow Indrastra is a powerful projectile that deals increasing sacred damage and is especially powerful against fire beings, and with its more powerful bind, creates a cylinder AoE of damaging arrows.

Heavenly Sharanga is another bow, this one particularly potent against fiends and conjured weapons. Mohiniastra is a very peculiar voice veil that is an enhanced unarmed/natural attack veil too! And the bind lets you transform spells into shadowy versions of themselves, having less effect on you and potentially your allies; like other voice veils it also has a kingdom effect. Sudarshana Chakra is a ring veil that transforms into a powerful chakram, with the bind having two effects, lessen or increasing resistance to effects! (my favorite of my co-author’s veils in this section). Trishula of the Sun can be a trident or a sai, and is a powerful fire and light weapon that can be thrown, exploding in a mini-fireball, and culminating in the body bind with a kind of sun-elemental transformation. Vajra is a very powerful electrical heavy mace that can be shot into a kind of mini-lightning bolt, and later binds making it hard like adamantine! Varunapasha is a restraining veil that later can constrict and even prevent supernatural attempts to escape. Varunastra is a shape-shifting weapon that can later shoot jets of water and quench fires. We end this section with Vasavi Shakti, a crystalized lightning spear that culminates with the power to kill your opponents with a confirmed critical!

Semblance of the Auspicious One is a veil set that deals with the more esoteric aspects of Hindu myth, having a total of 7 new veils plus 2 from a previous project. Ajna of the Ascetic is a special veil that can only be accessed via the new Ascetic Vows (akashic) feat; it gives bonus to will saves, but becomes more potent for each akashic vow you take, and with a later bind it lets you know when opponents want to mess with your head, and it lets you mini-rage against them! Ajna of the Destroyer gives you a third eye that fires bolts of sacred fire, and when bound lets you dispel darkness and later disintegrate your targets, be them creatures or objects! Ajna of the Guru increases your sensory abilities and lets you help others in the same way, increasing your supernatural perception when bound. The three veils work better together, and in fact the new race can have them all “on” without taking any feats.

Cosmic Syllable is a voice veil that gives you insight on the nature of the universe, increasing Knowledge checks; the bind, however, lets you utter a powerful syllable that affects everyone in the area, including yourself, confusing those who fail at a will save and buffing those who succeed! Enfleshed Omnipotence gives you an extra pair of arms, and later another extra pair! This one makes you especially adept at multi-attacking, and when bound you can attack or affect everyone in range, or open portals and attack at range! Manyfold aspect gives you an extra face and later an extra head, making you difficult to flank or surprise, and later giving you the benefits of the schism psionic power. We finish this section with another voice veil, Mystic Syllable, which gives you a powerful sonic/force attack, that can be modulated when bound making others like you or dispelling magic; like other voice veils it includes a kingdom effect.

Supernal Raksa is the last veil set and it includes mostly armors. Brahmadanda is a cool enhanced walking stick that works as a shield, giving you both offense and defense, and it protects you against energy effects. Brahma-Kavacha is a medium armor that also protects you from energy damage (any kind), but unlike other types of energy resistance, this one works against all kinds. Karna-Kavacha is a heavy armor that gives you renewable temporary hit points (don’t worry about balance, remember that unlike damage reduction or energy resistance, temporary hit points don’t work against all attacks, and it can be beaten easily by focusing attacks on the wearer). Kesariya Robe is a robe that can be enhanced as light armor but counts as wearing no armor. It also irradiates light and gives you bonuses on interaction skills but only at a very close range, and when bound it can give a penalty to attacks, skills and saves against you and your powers. Shatachandra Shield is meant to be used for bashing, and lets you cleave and great cleave with it. The last veil in this section is the Urumi of the Forgotten Villian, which can also take the form of banded armor; it is a very powerful veil that has many abilities, and when bound gives you access to abilities similar to those of a zalakyavat rakshasa.

The rest of the assorted veils are as follows: Axiomatic Visage protects you from disease and chaotic effects, and gives your attack the powers of cosmic order, letting you become incorporeal in a similar way as an axiomite. Avatar of Order is another lawful veil that gives you a maxim companion (new creature presented in this book). Danava’s Angarkha is an armor veil for non-warriors, giving you some interaction bonuses and later help you deflect dangerous attacks. Danava’s Gada is a powerful lawful tetsubo which can make the floor shake and is especially effective against chaotic outsiders, objects and constructs. The last veil in the book is the Staff of the Hanumapti, a “balance” (that is, true-neutral) bo staff that can summon opposing forces to each of its tips and can even attack on its own when bound.

-4 “new” races: I use the quotation marks because two of these races are akashic variants of the half-giant and vanara, but both have different origins.

Alakit are yaksha-descended native outsiders, not unlike tieflings and aasimar. What are yaksha? Well, they are a very cool race of chaotic outsiders from Porphyra, which you can find in the Porphyra wiki. They are exuberant, sensual individuals and their iconic ability is gaining one of the new feats as a bonus. This race is the only one in the book not-akashic by default.

Ancient Vanara are more than just akashic version of the monkey-folk. They get a racial history tying them to the first hanumapti daeva, making them champions of balance and adept at resisting emotion magic. They also have their patron akashic god later in this book. Vanara veilweavers also get access to two veils regardless of class.

Deva-asura are the brain-child of my co-author, and are basically akashic demigods destined for greatness. Another native outsider but not from an outsider race, but from divine beings, deva-asura have many flavorful quirks and abilities that marks them as unique. They also get extra arms by default via the Enfleshed Omnipotence veil as a “natural” ability. They can also exchange this veil for the third eye or the extra face veils, making them the most mythic of the races in this book, or perhaps even the game!

Daitya are the akashic half-giants, and as a race they have a very small population. They come from the mountains instead of the desert. Unlike their psionic counterparts, Daitya started as humans but devolved into a forgotten giant race because of their backstory. They have ties to law and water, and like vanaras, they get access to two veils regardless of class.

-5 new Feats: Lord of the Bling gives you special abilities by wearing mundane, but expensive jewelry and clothing. Ascetic Vows are similar to Monk Vows, but these increase essence and have a couple of differences; it also includes rules for characters having both, or if the spheres system is used; it also gives access to a unique feat that gets more powerful for every vow taken. There are 7 vows that can be taken.

The Trimurti feat chain consists of three akashic teamwork feats available to starcallers. They let you choose one of three roles (destroyer, preserver and creator), and let you connect your essence with 2 characters that take the other two roles. The chain gives you the ability to work better as a team, and later you can even summon a member of the Trimurti to your side! The last feat in the chain also gives you powerful magical abilities depending on your role.

-Extra Content: Pitcher of Amrita is AFAIK the first akashic artifact ever! It is very flavorful without being campaign-breaking, and it is ripe for making adventures around it! There is also a new akashic recipe for the legendary Soma, which will be coveted by senior adventurers. Alakan Gold is a new material flavored after the yaksha that counts as silver for bypassing damage reduction, and benefiting those with the Lord of the Bling feat.

Kapeeshwar is my first attempt at designing a god for Pathfinder, part of the akashic pantheon. The lord of monkeys and the creator of ancient vanara, this god is the first hanumapti and use that creature as the base for mastering emotions and being completely neutral, and is inspired by both Hanuman and the Sun Wukong. He has 3 heralds, inspired by the famous 3 wise monkeys from Japanese mythology. The book ends with the monster entry for the Maxim.

Of Note: There is not a single aspect of this book that seems filler to me. There are a lot of character-defining options, and I’m dying to make new characters with these toys!

Anything wrong?: There were many ideas that couldn’t make it into the book. It might get a sequel for that ;)

What I want: For readers to check it and buy it, of course! If the readers get at least half the joy reading as we the authors had writing and going back and forth with the ideas, mission accomplished.

What cool things did this inspire?: It would be weird to talk about the material I designed here, but I want to expand on many of the concepts in this book. More astras, more akashic artifacts, variant astradhari that summon magical instruments or even the heroes of legend themselves.

Do I recommend it?: I can fully recommend this book based on my co-author’s work alone. His character options are unique and flavorful, and readers will have a hard time deciding on what to use for their characters. As I was part of the design duo, I will refrain from giving the book a score. So just buy it please!

Everybody was Kung Fu fight-ing!

DISCLAIMER: This preview is based on a PDF penned by yours truly, and as such, I will refrain from giving it a score.

Introduction
Under Azoth Games, Vladimir Rodríguez released a new book under the new Akashic Expansions line of products, this time focusing on martial arts. Expertly edited by James Ray, this is the author first full book. This is a preview of the product in the style of my reviews.

What’s inside?
75 pages of content (not counting covers, ads etc.) for 12 bucks, which include:

-Campaign Building and Rules: Including suggestions on how to change nomenclature for martial arts. Monks and temples. Also, updated rules for Ki and its use, plus Mu, a dark mirror of Ki used by undead and the vilest of martial artists. Also some variants for Ki if you never liked it being a pool.

-Dueling and Tournaments: Rules for Initiative duels (think iaijutsu, plus rules for having deadlier duels), Xiqu (Chinese opera) performing, Lion Dance contests, martial duels and their cultural role, including notes for seconds and referees. Martial arts tournaments, including performance combat and “heels”, individuals that become stronger by getting booed, and even commentators. Also notes on giving characters not participating something to do.

-Training: One of the most important elements of the genre is training. This includes rules for training ability scores (don’t worry about balance, this is expensive, difficult and time consuming) and some other things.

-Character Options is IMHO the strongest section of the book, this includes:
*Gungfujia, a guru philosophy devoted to excellence in all things. It features a new type of veil, the style veil, giving gurus something to do with their 8 veils and only 7 chakra binds LOL. They also get an akashic Ki pool and some monk toys.
*Drunken Brawler archetype for, well, brawlers. This one borrows a lot from similar concepts from older classes. They get Charisma to AC but no armor (it functions differently from a monk’s Wis to AC). It builds a drunken pool and empowers some abilities with it. At the highest level, you can ferment the contents of a creature’s stomach! They also get another flavorful, defensive ability that counts as a stance that makes them really difficult to fight.
*Shoto brawler archetype. This one works similar to a daevic, getting minor akashic abilities to empower fighting video games-inspired abilities. If you ever wanted to play Ryu in Pathfinder, this is your best bet!
*Shi Fu rajah archetype. This one loses all Path of War abilities and exchanges them for martial arts goodness. You can even have one of the PCs as your pupil!
*Mysterial unchained monk archetype. This one updates the OG monk archetype from Akashic Mysteries to work with the unchained monk.
*Unenlightened unchained monk archetype. This one is Intelligence based and is a dark reflection of mysterials. They are the prime users of Mu, and use a negative-energy version of elemental fist.
*Hatyaara ninja archetype. This one trades some stuff to get access to akashic magic. I also made some veils for this one that I couldn’t include here, so please wait for them ;)
*Ki bloodline for sorcerers. Wisdom based and get some melee abilities. For the more magical oriented casters.
*Fake Master mesmerist. Basically a fake master of the martial arts, with abilities like Bullshido, McDojo and fake Ki, this one will do great for a villain.
*The Shyam, a race forgotten by history for shunning their creator. They have a natural aptitude for Ki development.
*Mind-born, manasaputra-blooded aasimars.
*Variant “plane-touched” races, so you can get an ifrit with a naturally-fire-aspected ki.

-Skills and Feats: This includes Autohypnosis for non-psionic classes, Knowledge (martial) for campaigns that don’t use Path of War, plus a variant for not making them new skills. There are 8 martial arts traits, 16 feats, 19 ki feats, and two new styles featuring the standard 3-feat chains, Ghul style (so undead don’t lose elemental styles) and Hawk style (grapple-focused).

-Veils: This section includes a new type of veil (style) and a new subtype (ki). I included the martial arts focused Raiment of the Tai Lin Master 8 veil set, the Ansatsuken Shoto Arts 5 veil set (not exclusive to the Shoto), and 8 style veils, including Swift Crane, Clawed Dragon and Soaring Hawk. We end this section with 5 veils, thre weapons, one voice and one minor, all having a strong martial arts flavor, even the minor one.

-Equipment: The smallest section of the book includes a new special material for clothing (ironsilk), 3 special weapon qualities (crushing which is a version of keen for bludgeoning weapons, plus ki energized and ki burst).

-Bestiary: This includes notes for the Ki monster subtype and how to add a Ki statblock for ease of use (which all monsters here have, including a ki aura intensity for the new detect ki feat). A 1st level guru, a 7th level guru, an 8th level Road Fighter shoto brawler, the boddhisatva manasaputra template, a training golem, a new imperial/akashic dragon (Kundalini dragon, with stats for the 4 common age categories), a navitic creature template for natural ki creatures with a sample navitic ogre mage.

Of Note: I really like how the training rules came out, and there are enough character options to make many types of martial artists. The new style veils are made for people who like the idea of style feats but don’t want to commit too heavily on them. Also, both akashic magic and ki get their own type of entries for monsters, making it easier for play. The fake master is great if I may say so.

Anything wrong?: That is not for me to decide but I am opened to critiques.

What I want: There were many things that I wanted to add but couldn’t because of time. Maybe for the sequel? I might do a style veil only book, plus I do have some more content for martial arts goodness inspired in other types of traditions, like Taoism.

What cool things did this inspire?: I’m dying to know what type of characters you make!

Do I recommend it?: If you like martial arts with a fantastical bent, this book will hopefully be of interest to you. As I said, I’m not one to give a grade to my own work, so I will gladly accept any grading readers’ give me! Happy gaming!

add their bonus to spells? Quoting from the Archives of Nethys:

"While using this style and Elemental Fist to deal fire damage, you gain a bonus on fire damage rolls equal to your Wisdom bonus."

Would the bonus be added to a a flaming staff? a fireball?

So, umbral scion requires yo to have the shadow bloodline. The umbral mutated bloodline changes your bloodline power, as does umbral scion. So, would it be possible to have both archetypes and get the umbral arcana and umbral scion 1st level bloodline power? I don't see any problems but wanted to ask.

An Akashic Magic School? Sing me in!

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
Under Azoth Games, James Ray released a new Esoteric Organizations line of products. In these volume we have Mistress Saints School, an organization focused on akashic magic. But is it any good? Lessee!

What’s inside?
12 pages of content (not counting covers, ads etc.) for 2.75 bucks (very nice!), which include:

-Akashic Organization info: This small but useful section includes the differences between standard and akashic magic school’s rules: akashic conservatories (and what can you buy with your fame), a generic award that gives you access to the organization’s emblem veil (a unique veil exclusive to the organization’s members, regardless of veilshaper class), the Shape Emblem veil that also gives access to said veil (with a rule sidebar with the explanation of the emblem veil rules), and a new social trait that helps you on your education checks for 1 organization chosen at the start.

-Mistress Saint’s School for the Uncommonly Blessed organization: This section includes all the details pertaining the titular organization (like symbol, leader, common classes etc.), all the requirements necessary to become a member of the organization, ways of gaining fame and prestige and the generic awards available. The emblem veil is described here, called Fallen Scribe’s Wings, and is a belt, chest and shoulder veil that appear as 6 wings made of charred paper. Apart from the cool visuals, this useful veil’s base ability gives you both bonus to two knowledge skills, plus a kind of akashic book that can store pages upon pages of content, which will make any wizard think on joining, with essence giving bonus to saves against written magical traps and effects. The shoulders bind gives you both flying and a cool fire attack that has a cooldown, the belt gives you some spell-like abilities, and the chest gives you one of the previous abilities plus a constant threefold aspect spell.

The organization also mentions some prominent members, that follow Paizo’s tradition of including their name, alignment, race, class levels and a short paragraph: a caretaker that has some mysterious past and has diverse akashic and non-akashic abilities, a deputy headmaster that is both a dhampire and an akashic vampire hunter (from the Hallow Icons book), a very stern deputy headmistress fisherking, the incredibly powerful headmistress herself (we are talking mythic here), a pair of half-elven twins who are both radiants and work as nurse and chef each, my personal fave who is a dryad griot (from the Spider’s Stories book) that works as the mistress of arts, and a being of light that serves as the master of general education and has past ties with the headmistress.

-2 new magic items: a lunchbag that is way more useful than it sounds (conserves food, even the temperature), and a magical seal that melds with the school’s emblem veil.

-Enochian Angel: a powerful akashic celestial, this angel is CR 21, has vizier veilshaping of maximum level and many spell-like abilities. Apart from that, their wings are practically libraries and they are like lords of luscents, able to sustain them outside of the heavenly realms. It even includes rules for binding them! A cool, nice addition to the small akashic monster roster.

Of Note: Not gonna lie, I was expecting akashic Harry Potter and got surprised with a great organization. I’m a fan of Mistress Elderberry, from her background to the choice of class. She is the kind of character that makes one appreciate the beauties of roleplaying through Pathfinder and its great 3pp.

Anything wrong?: I would have appreciated some low level students or a foe of the organization. What about a rejected student? Some adventure seeds would have been more than welcome too!

What I want: If I ever start a new group, I would hook them to akashic magic, making a campaign with the school at its core.

What cool things did this inspire?: Apart from a mistress Elderberry fanfic of her forbidden relationship with a student that might or might not look like my younger self? Well, joking aside, I would like to make a rival, darker school that wants not only to take the school’s place, but also steal all of its secrets. I would also add a knowledge daevic as a physical education teacher that makes his students lift… books LOL

Do I recommend it?: Writer Julio Cortazar once said “novels win by decision, short stories by knock out”, and that is what we have here. Even in the few pages contained herein, we have enough to build encounters, adventures, campaigns, and even other organizations! Full 5 star-shaped books plus the magical seal of mistress Elderberry.

Too early for Christmas? Nah!

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
Under Azoth Games, James Ray released a new book under the Akashic Tales line of products, this time focusing on many winter legends. Can the author maintain the quality of line? Read on!

What’s inside?
18 pages of content (not counting covers, ads etc.) for 3.50 bucks (nice!), which include:

-A short but nice introduction that mentions classic source material (like the wise men, krampus, and others), plus etymology (a passion of mine).

-The Gifts of Winter Pageantry veil set which includes 6 veils, all of them new. Before I tackle the veils, I have to mention that under normal circumstances, no akashic class can access the full array, even when some of the veils are open to ALL classes but Rajah (interesting).

Holly crown is a head, headband and body veil open to the most caster-y classes, and gives bonuses to certain Fort and Will saves plus temporary HP with essence increasing all, the head bind increasing your healing powers, the headband bind let’s your allies benefit from the save bonuses, and the body veil makes you really tough and difficult to kill, plus one of the other bind’s benefits. Mantle of the Horned Judge is a hands, wrists and body veil that lets you trap “naughty” ones in an extradimensional space via using grapple rules, and the creature inside can try to free itself every round. This is a very flavorful ability that is wish was more thorough. Even if the ability has a cooldown and the trapped creature can try to escape every round, is there a limit on the creatures inside? What happens if the mantle’s shaper teleports? Can you designate an ally as naughty and so they can “travel for free” or be a nasty surprise? Can you decide to autofail the save? Is there a limit on the number of creatures inside? How about size? I double-checked Pathfinder’s grappling rules and there is no penalty of grappling colossal creatures. Sure, most probably you will fail the opposed check, but the possibility exists. Anyway, the base durations of the entrapment is just one round, but that increases by 1 for every two points of essence invested; The hands bind gives the ability a short range, the wrists bind does the same plus damages those inside with magical bludgeoning damage, and the body bind giving you the “punish the naughty” ability of the Krampus himself! A great, flavorful veil that could use some extra clarifications and restrictions.

The Mantle of the Jolly Saint is a chest veil that gives you bonuses to Stealth and Sense Motive checks, with essence increasing the bonuses and with 3 or more giving you vanish and see alignment spell-like abilities, and OF COURSE the chest bind gives you a magical sleigh with reindeer that also has bag of holding-like cargo space AND protects the passengers from the elements, and by burning essence in a special, almost daylong way, you can GREATLY augment the speed of the sleigh. AWESOME! Reindeer Harness is a shoulders veil gives you a teamwork feat from a small list, and essence can only be bound to, and not invested in, the veil to share feats with allies, an in a synergy move the author gave extra benefits to classes that already share teamwork feats. If at least 5 essence are bound, you gain another feat. Binding the veil gives you an average magical flight speed that improves in maneuverability and speed if your movement would end next to an ally. AND allies that gained a feat can also fly! Cool and flavorful!

The Guiding Star is a headband veil that gives sacred bonuses to Kn. Geography and Survival checks and with a moment of concentration can guide you “East”, and the veil mentions some interactions where there is no “East”. The headband bind can make the star guide you and a couple of allies to a place of importance. A flavorful veil that has very specific uses, which is not a bad thing. We finish the veil section with The Whiteout, a storm veil that hampers movement (with enough essence), sight and sound-dependent abilities to those inside, and essence increases the penalties and even makes verbal spellcasting increase in spell failure. When bound, the storm can disorient those caught and can even make them shaken. A great storm veil that debuffs instead of damage those inside The Whiteout.

-5 character options: The Aurora zodiac orbit gain essence like a Lunar, but instead of veils, they are a craft class with many bonuses for crafting items, and have an akashic attack that does modest damage, and can heal objects (but no mention of constructs… which can be argued are creatures and not objects); they cannot shape champions and are bad at manifesting signs, but can summon more than one version the same constellation as long as it has different forms, can do so at range and already worn, and their capstone gives them the AWESOME ability of not being able to be fully destroyed as long as one of their crafts survive (liches must be jealous). The Chef radiant archetype specializes in creating akashic recipes, originally introduced in another book, and learns one for every 3 ranks in an appropriate skill (Profession, Chef and Craft: beverages are provided as examples). Their akashic bond functions differently for them, and they can gain an ability called “Panacea and Poison” that gives two abilities and replaces the 4th level vivification, but can also be gained later instead of a vivification.

The King of Misrule fisherking archetype. They have a divine presence instead of arcane; allies in their Saturnal Realm, an ability gained instead of Blessed Land, gain temporary HPs as long as the King is not attacked, since when that happens, opponents start to magically bleed. They also gain a cool, unique hex called Crown of Unreason, that basically confuses those hexed but can make them dance and party instead of babble and also has some exclusive benefits when shaped as a “peerless hex”. The Magush vizier archetype converts them into kind of priests, makes their veiweaving more divine than arcane (wisdom-based), gives them access to only two paths (the Scholar and the Mage, but gives them an extra ability at 7th level), and instead of plain DC increases, get a more focused (and flavorful) ability that increases the DC of fire and positive energy veils, but also increases their healing and damage. Finally, they lose access to the twinveil rings ability in favor of being able to shape a divinatory veil along another one in any veil slot. Flavorful rework of the class! We finish the section with the new Path of the Mage for viziers, who lets them dabble in constellation summoning, and even makes them better than zodiacs in some cases! Great for constellations fans that want to try a non-zodiac constellation user!

-6 akashic recipes: All of them have a “Christmas” motif, and they range from modest to strong. Since they give the eater a magical ability, this is a great way to give the taste (pun fully intended) of a powerful ability to a low level character.

-5 new feats: Astrology gives you limited access to the prognostication occult skill unlock, while Aurora Armaments lets you add your akashic torch damage to a single attack. Fly in Formation is a teamwork feat that is very useful to creatures that fly in flocks, or characters that fly through the Reindeer Harness veil. Reindeer Form is an akashic feat unique to the new Tuktu race, which gives you access to an animal form by taking essence burn. Share the Load is another teamwork feat, which not only increases strength for carrying capacity but also gives you the supernatural ability to drag and reposition creatures as if you were bigger, as long as you are next to a teammate.

-Tuktu akashic race: This reindeer folk have great physiques but are not that bright. They get several abilities (with two of them being essence receptacles), and most of them make them great at arctic travel. The section includes details like height, weight and age categorie, favored class bonuses (many akashic classes here), alternate racial traits, and Tuktu race traits.

-Reference and Bonus Content: The Chef’s Armory veil that lets you prepare akashic recipes, plus a new reduced akashic portions variant rule and a new trophy (actual name, a glitch?) that lets you harvest plant creatures for useful components.

Of Note: The veils, while cool, are not the star of the product (well, maybe the Guiding Star is in a sense). The new zodiac orbit is great for players that like to buff their companions, and the new vizier stuff is REALLY good, useful for an akashic only campaign, since the Magush archetype can replace clerics.

Anything wrong?: The source material might not fit in certain fantasy worlds. Also, the details of one veil (which can be easily added).

What I want: Seeing how Halloween and Christmas inspired a book, I would like to see holidays from other non-european derived holidays. How about New Year? Saint Valentine? Tons of possibilities! Also, I would have liked to see at least one of those storm veil synergies with The Whiteout and another cold storm veil, of which there are many.

What cool things did this inspire?: It would be fun to make an adventure where the players take the role of Saint Nicholas and his Tuktu adventuring party that want to fulfil their role while evading baddies. Having to escape from them instead of just battling would be awesome!

Do I recommend it?: If you are into Christmas (like most of the world) and want to add some of it to your games, then yeah! Even if not, the new class options are very useful. If you are a Scrooge who hates Christmas, subtract one from the final score. 5 Guiding Stars from this reviewer.

Remember those new maneuvers from Divergent Paths - Rajah? They’re back! In card form!

Introduction
James Ray tackles a different type of product: Maneuver Cards. Instead of lots of new options, these cards include all the info of a maneuver from the Radiant Dawn disciplne, found in the Rajah book. Are they worth it? Let’s check’em!

What’s inside?: 15 pages that include 46 cards, and this time it doesn’t include the legal stuff in card form in but one of the cards. While this is not really a book, it comes in only 1 format: a PDF for 3 bucks. There is also a bundle for this and its companion veil deck!

The cards themselves take most of the product. They includes all the 35 maneuvers from the Radiant Dawn discipline found in Divergent Paths – The Rajah in 46 cards, with most maneuvers taking only one card but a couple taking two. They are not just copy-paste though, since some of them have been edited with clarified information. This time, the cards are bordered with a red frame that is different from the one found in the companion title veil deck which makes differentiation of the cards easier, and the back features the same imposing warrior as the companion deck. He is also on the cover of the PDF again.

Of Note: Like before, having made my own Tome of Battle cards, I know their handiness. While I don’t really play with Path of War nor the Rajah, discipline cards like these work really well for any maneuver class.

Anything wrong?: Like before, there are blank spaces, but this time only for 3 cards. It would have been nice to include the special rules for Radiant Dawn maneuvers in card form. Once again, the font is kind of small.

What I want: Since this is already a very niche product, it would have been awesome to gather all Rajah disciplines in card form, to have a more complete package.

Do I recommend it?: If you are playing live and using Akashic Mysteries, Path of War, and Divergent Paths, I can wholeheartedly recommend it! As I mentioned the cards work even better for the title veils! 5 star-shaped cards from this reviewer!

Remember those weird title veils from Divergent Paths - Rajah? They’re back! In card form!

Introduction
James Ray tackles a different type of product: Veil Cards. Instead of lots of new options, these cards include all the info of a title veil, found in the Rajah book. Are they worth it? Let’s check’em!

What’s inside?: 17 pages that include 49 cards, and this time it doesn’t include the legal stuff in card form in but one of the cards. While this is not really a book, it comes in only 1 format: a PDF for 3 bucks. There is also a bundle for this and its companion discipline deck!

The cards themselves take up the majority of the product. They includes all the 24 title veils from Divergent Paths – The Rajah in 48 cards, most veils taking two cards but a couple taking one or even three cards. They are not just copy-paste though, since some of them have been edited with clarified information. This time, the cards are bordered with a red frame, and the back features an awesome, 4-armed Indian-looking warrior who really looks imposing. He is also on the cover of the PDF.

Of Note: Like before, having made my own cards back in the day, I appreciate the handiness of such a product. While I’m not the biggest fan of the Rajah, these cards work wonders for the class, since you can lend specific cards to the players of characters entitled by your Rajah.

Anything wrong?: If I have to search for one thing, is that there are blank space for 5 cards. It would have been nice to include the special rules for title veils in card form, for those that don’t know how they work; or even information about other Rajah class features. Also, as before, the font is kind of small.

What I want: Since this is already a very niche product, it would have been awesome to gather all title veils found in other products. I at least have seen some title veils under the Moonhand Press banner.

Do I recommend it?: If you are playing live and using Akashic Mysteries, Path of War, and Divergent Paths, I can wholeheartedly recommend it! As I mentioned the cards work even better for the title veils! 5 star-shaped cards from this reviewer!

Remember Akashic Mysteries? It’s back! In card form!

Introduction
James Ray tackles a different type of product: Veil Cards. Instead of lots of new options, these cards include all the info of a veil. Are they worth it? Let’s check’em!

What’s inside?: 31 pages that include 125 cards, that strangely enough include the legal stuff in card form and that takes 8 cards, so we are left with a full 117 veil cards. Since this is not really a book, it come is 3 format. PDF for 6 bucks, physical cards for 20.50 bucks, and both for 22.50 bucks. This review tackles the PDF one:

The cards themselves take up the majority of the product. They includes all the 77 original veils from Akashic Mysteries. They are not just copy-paste though, since some of them have been edited with clarified information, and they also include in an elegant black bar if they belong to a “veil set”, which is important since some feats and class features deal with sets. The cards are bordered with an ochre-yellow frame, and the back features an adventuring damsel that kind of looks like a cleric. She is also on the cover of the PDF.

Of Note: Having made my own Tome of Battle cards back in the day, and also some cards for another book, I appreciate the handiness of such a product.

Anything wrong?: I know that this is mainly a card deck, but the legal info in card form? Why not a paper insert? But I have no idea how they make these cards, so that is passable (although I bet it would be cheaper as a paper insert) Also, some of the information of the product can only be found in the website! I find this inconvenient, since if you gift or lend them to someone, they might not know the use of the veil set bar, for example. Also, the font is kind of small.

What I want: Another deck for the City of Seven Seraphs’ veils, and one for constellations. Maybe another for the many veil found under Azoth Games, Studio M, Moonhand Press, and other companies?

Do I recommend it?: If you are playing live and using Akashic Mysteries, I can wholeheartedly recommend it! Great product! I would rate it 4.5 stars for the PDF (rounded up for the affordable price), but can’t really comment on the physical product.

My question is, if I had a +5 leather armor (+7 total to armor), and +8 bracers of armor (+8 to AC from armor bonus), what would be my AC? I remember back in the day, the sgae answered for 3.5 that you would add the highest armor bonus to the highest enhancement bonus to armor. So, my AC from both items be +8 (the highest bonus from the items), or 13 (+8 from the bracers, +5 from the enhancement bonus from the armor)?

Thanks in advance!

So what in Pandemonium is an Epilektoi?

Introduction
Akasha Reshaped: Path of Enlightenment is a book by Moonhand Press. It includes a new class, the Epilektoi, plus a tons of content for other classes, most of it directed to the Path of War system. Is it a worthy addition to the Akashic magic and Path of War systems? Let’s see! But before that, Epilektoi is a Greek word meaning “chosen”, as they were conscripted from regular citizens to become soldiers. By the way, the name of this review is a running gag in my Akashic reviews echoing infamous words by certain character in Magic of Incarnum.

Disclaimer: I received this book as a reviewer’s copy, which by no means influenced my scoring. I also don’t play with Path of War, but played extensively with the Tome of Battle.

What’s inside?
35 pages of content (not counting covers, ads etc.) for 6 bucks, which include:

-The Epilektoi initiator class: As the author puts it, this is a remake of the Crusader class from the old Tome of Battle, and as such, it has a divine warrior concept but instead of using divine magic it uses initiation. Like its ancestor, it uses a wild, variable way of gaining maneuvers during combat, by means of divine inspiration. I always found this cool but weird, and it was the least popular classes among my group, but the ones who appeared were memorable.

Like other initiators it has a powerful chassis, having full BAB, two good saves, 4 skillpoints, fighter’s proficiencies, and a juicy d12 HD. They start with 6 maneuvers known and 4 readied (2 of which they get at the start of combat), and 1 stance, ending their careers with 18, 11 (8) and 7 respectively. For class features, they start with an aura like other divine characters, and get a Battle Prayer that refreshes their maneuvers and protects them using their Delayed Damage Pool. What is that? Their last ability gained at first level, which as its name says delays up to ¼ of your max HP in damage automatically, and the damage is deducted until the end of your next turn. This would allow an Epilektoi to battle for 1 round “dead”, which is awesome! They also get 5 bonus combat feats (they don’t count as fighters though, which many classes already do, and is something I have never liked, so thumbs up).

The “talents” of the class are called “implacabilities”, and 11 are gained over their careers from a list of 22. Some of this are powerful, but that’s expected of Initiators. All of them are defensive abilities, and include damage reduction, fast healing, energy resistance/immunity, Stalwart an even Improved Stalwart.

Other class features they gain are: Will of the Gods let them mesh 2 disciplines into 1, getting many cool benefits. Patient Counterpoint gives them their initiation modifier as insight bonus damage, which is important since adding ability scores as untyped bonus is never recommended; this increases with levels but has a cap. Aligned Defense let them prepare counters that can be empowered by any granted maneuver. Intervention let them “request” a specific maneuver to their deity. Deific Counter let them use their prepared counters even against natural 20s. Finally, Deific Implacability is a chosen capstone ability from a list of 4 (all of them insanely powerful but hey, its PoW 20th, enjoy it while it lasts!), and their maneuver are treated as if empowered by a mythic source. The class also includes 16 favored class bonuses!

-6 Archetypes: This section includes some tables that are not in the book, so keep that in mind if you want to print it. Anyway, Dancer of the Seven Veils Gurus become initiators at the cost of Chakra Disruption, use Charisma for veilweaving, get a slightly modified skill list (with a bonus to disguise veil effects since their veils are more physical), and deal more damage when unarmed and can empower their Gentle Touch abilities by dealing nonlethal damage, and some other Initiating benefits, but lose a lot of features. An interesting if powerful archetype.

Malleo are initiating Malefex, which is a class I have no experience with. Quantum are Voyagers who sacrifice or their psionic might for initiating. Same case with Sacred Band Duos, who lose spells, and Thane Highlords, who lose psionic power. Xeshim are Daevics that exchange their most iconic ability, the passion veils, in exchange for initiating, with each passion granting access to specific disciplines and some bonuses when using them. There is a problem here with the Hatred passion, since it includes mostly brand veils outside of the Daevic’s list and wouldn’t be able to shape them normally otherwise; this could be fixed by stating that all passion veils are added to their respective lists. Even then, this archetype is great, oozes flavor, and shows the designer’s care.

-Zodiac Options: These include a new orbit and a new cosmology! Nebula Zodiac kind of steps in the Solar’s role, since they are warriors that get greater proficiency access and also get half their bonus feats, plus are variant akashic “sparking” initiators, at the cost of summoning champions! I find this very weird, since the other Zodiac option, the Haab cosmology, only has Champion and Weapon form for ALL 12 SIGNS! They would work better with the Greek and Chinese cosmologies though.

Speaking of the Haab cosmology, it is a very complex one that gives you access to 12 signs based on the Mayan zodiac, which by the way have variants with up to 20 signs but lets just not go there. The twelve signs are divided into 4 elemental groups of 3 like all other cosmologies to date, but as I said before each has only two forms: a champion with a 0 HD exotic race with an initiator class (none an Epilektoi though) and an essence cost of 5, or a melee weapon (some exotic, one thrown) with an essence cost of 2. In the hands of an expert player, my spider sense (TM) tells me this cosmology is too much… having a 2nd level Lunar Morphbear or Human with Extra Essence lets the summoning of the 2 champions of not-opposing element, or even the 3 at 5th! Let alone the creation of 13 different unique characters at the hands of one player! Sorry but the rules bouncer in my games wouldn’t allow it if I used PoW.

-New Martial Discipline, Roaring Mouse: A discipline with a nice backstory that focuses on teamwork. Wait, what? Yeah, teamwork is one of those things that should be a greater part of the game, not only via buffing or teamwork feats. As such, it is free for any companion creature that can initiate (cool!). It also include a nice new condition, Tricked, that gives benefits for some maneuvers. It sounds like it could give more, like being subject to sneak attack or not be able to make attacks of opportunity, since as it is, it is exclusive to the discipline. The maneuvers themselves are cool. For example, Rat Pack lets you treat all allies within range as having a teamwork feat, and if they are in a SM stance, they actually get the benefits of the feat! Chew Through is a strike maneuver that, if successful, has a rider effect that eliminates the target’s armor/shield bonus to AC, or their natural armor bonus. Scatter is a high level boost that gives your allies free movement, even outside their turn, and if they are in a RM stance they can even act! The top maneuver, Herding Cats, gives your allies a full-round worth of actions that can’t be used to use 9th level spells/powers/maneuvers, and it is difficult to recover, but if you use a special recovery method, you give your allies lots of bonuses and even some healing! Kind of strong but well, this is PoW material we are talking about. All in all a great discipline if the party can design their characters together to have more benefits, but most probably the GM will love to throw it against the PCs LOL! It includes a “martial” tradition, The Merry Pranksters, who really sound more like an adventurer Frat, even doing prank dares!

-6 veils: Of the 6 veils, only one is not a Title one, and also one not available to the Rajah. Bonds of Freedom is the one, and creates a bludgeoning spiked chain (I guess it’s not a spiked anymore LOL); it gives the shaper some abilities to break and escape bonds, with the wristbind giving you freedom of movement as the spell a couple of times per day.

The rest of the veils have the Title descriptor, which mark them as exclusive to the Rajah. The Exploiter gives the entitled the ability to apply the new Tricked continue with a penalty to AC and saves, with the shoulderbind grants them a virtual Dirty Trick Master feat and some other benefits. The Jovial lets the entitled feint easier, with the handbind increasing it to the point of even affecting mindless creatures! The Luchadore made me, as a Mexican, grin and laugh at the way it is written; as should be, it gives the entitled greater grappling abilities, with the headbind even giving some special, wrestling-themed options for ending grapples.

The Engineer again made me smirk, since there is a meme running in Mexico about an engineer fetus LOL. Anyway, this one lets the entitled sunder better, while the chestbind increases that but also let “el inge” (common way to refer to an engineer in Spanish) to repair objects. The Sparker would be the last title veil, and is one that ties with the Sparking system from another book by the author of Akashic Mysteries (which I also reviewed but forgot the name of… sigh). It gives the entitled combat stamina and some ways to expend it, while neckbinding it makes you immune to electricity and even be able to heal with it, without a cap. This should have a maximum amount of healing per day or you could be healed indefinitely by, say, a kineticist.

-16 feats: Most of them are geared towards the new discipline, giving nice benefits like tying two different conditions, Tricked and Cursed, or even a whole Style featchain for it, and another for the Unquiet Grave discipline. Others of note are Aspected Energy, which is kind of a “meta veil” feat that lets you change the energy and effect of a veil, Essence Void, basically an improved version of Essence Rejection, and Dual Hemisphere, a way to manifest a champion constellation that wields one of its other forms, which is really cool but should specify that it doesn’t count as two instances of an element so it doesn’t get cheaper and greater synergy.

-4 magic items: Martial Legend is a +1-equivalent special ability for weapons that ties it to a martial discipline; a wielder with knowledge of at least one maneuver from said discipline increases the enhancement bonus by 1, even going beyond 5! Really nice! Kheshig's Scabbard lets the user sheathe a weapon veil and both the weapon and veil detect as not-magical and can even go away from the user; I can think of some interesting situations with this one. Martial Scripts grant the knowledge of one maneuver for one encounter, while Maneuver Marbles do that indefinitely but are understandably expensive.

Of Note: Getting a remake of a favorite from 3.5 is nice, as is having versions of cool classes that use other “magic” systems. I particularly liked the Guru archetype’s changes to veilweaving. Also, the new discipline’s focus on teamwork is really cool! Finally, some of the feats and all of the items are really cool!

Anything wrong?: The book’s focus is hardly Akashic Magic and more Path of War, and coupled with the inclusion of so many 3pp classes, may give the wrong impression of the book’s content. Also, the book has some editing oversights and glitches, but nothing deal breaking. The Haab cosmology is very powerful and complex, and sadly doesn’t include a PoW-less version.

What I want: to read some of the intriguing classes used for the book, as well as maybe give PoW a chance… maybe.

What cool things did this inspire?: A ratfolk/catfolk scoundrel guild using the new discipline would rock! Also, the Epilektoi “chosen one” motif is intriguing and ripe with possibilities for storytelling. Finally, the changes to veils from the Guru archetype can be expanded upon to make different veilweavers shape their veils differently.

Do I recommend it?: If your games include PoW, hell yeah! But only if. The book oozes flavor and contains great ideas. While the few editing glitches are there, this book deserves 5 stars from this reviewer. Great book!

If you are interested, you can get it here

Studio M compilation for April 21

Introduction
So, Hall Kennette is a prolific author that has been kind of focusing on Akashic magic supplements. He has a Patreon where he publishes his designs, and he compiles this material monthly normally with a thematic motif. This is the result.

What’s inside?: 28 pages for 5 bucks, which includes:

-6 Archetypes: Daevic of Hatred use exclusively brand veils for their passion, which is odd since most passions draw veils from the Daevic’s own veil list, and 8 of the 9 veils are not there (and there is no Daevic Aspect, the one veil common to all Daevics); anyway, they get the Painful Severance feat to increase the DC of their brands, and like other passions it gets two variants: Animus some Volur-like features and Odium gets a kind of “brandstrike” like a Magus, but can later get the STRONG ability to use it more than once per round AND use the ability score used for the strike to modify their DC instead of Charisma. My spider sense for game breakingness are tingling. Daayan Rajahs get to shape veils from the Volur list, and they get the strange ability of using branded creatures as entitled allies… wait, what? Yeah, woe to the giant that fails his saves, and more woe to his friends; I’m not going to deny that this is really cool, but I would make it an NPC-only option in my games.

Herald of Spring Stormbound are electricity-version of the Herald of Winter from a previous volume, with some differences. Nice if a bit repetitive. Stormbrand Stormbound lose normal veilweaving abilities for the Volur’s brandweaving (boo for giving unique toys to other classes) AND Witch’ Hexes (boo boo). My least favorite archetype. Veiled Actor Troubadors replace standard Spheres casting for some veilweving from the Vizier list (but no rings, good). I’m not an expert on this particular class, but it seems intriguing; it also includes a Record Keeper persona for Troubadours and the Mentor for Veiled Actors specifically. The Masked Veilweaver Vigilante is what I wanted for the class; it’s like one of those archetypes in Ultimate Intrigue that change the Vigilante into a light-version of another class, this time gaining veilweaving from the eclipse class, plus the option to get an “adaptable veil” that changes a veil for another when changing personas and wider veilweaving capabilities with their unique talents. Like some other things “missing” from the base system presented in the series (NPC class, minor veils), this is exactly what I wanted.

-Veilweaving Section: This section includes an expanded veil list for the Volur. It also includes 8 new general veils, 4 new storm veils, and 10 conversions from veils found in The Stormbound and The Fisherking to add the [Enhanced] descriptor.

-Abductor’s Shadow is a cool, shadow-themed veil (strange that it has neither the darkness nor the shadow descriptors) that gives you a massive dodge bonus to AC but only when moving, lets you hide really well, and let you teleport or abduct a creature when bound; I would have added a Hex-like caveat to the teleport though. Blindman’s Fold creates a band that, when lowered, makes you blind but gives you a special version of blindsight that can’t be thwarted normally, essence increasing the range and giving you a perception bonus, and when bound lets you use arcane sight and true seeing (which by the way are not in italics) within your blindsight’s range. Duelist’s Edge is an enhanced veil that creates a rapier that gives you access to the controversial “parry” mechanic, which lets you give one or more of your attacks for the round to be able to “parry” via an opposed attack roll, and if within reach you use this attack roll to “riposte”; the wording here is weird, but if you are ok with the parry mechanic then be my guest. Essence gives you precision damage and bonus to the parry, hands bind let you parry attacks against others, and wrists bind lets you teleport close to the opponent before countering and also lets you “parry” non-weapon attacks with a penalty; while I’m not a fan of neither the Enhanced descriptor nor the parry/riposte mechanic, the veil itself is really cool.

Impulse Earrings is a powerful veil that lets you always act in a surprise round, cannot be caught flat-footed (!) or lose your Dex bonus to AC against foes you can’t detect, such as invisible, but creatures immune to divinations ignore this protection; essence gives you +2 initiative per point (!) and some bonuses against traps, and reallocating it can change your initiative order; head bind makes you immune to flanking AND lets you reallocate essence as a free action once per turn even outside your turn! This doesn’t let you “win” initiative against a creature that is acting right now, since that is reserved to the headband bind! The idea behind this veil is interesting but something like this would be a nightmare to run for the gamemaster AND gives class features reserved for other classes for just a veil and, by extension, a feat; sorry but my game’s rules bouncer won’t let this one in. Trailing Shadow is another cool, shadow-themed veil (this time with the darkness descriptor) that let’s your barely-missed attacks to have a lesser effect, courtesy of your shadow; essence increases the range of missing and the possible damage done by the shadow, and when bound to the belt lets your shadow attack on its own! Sweet Buddha isn’t this veil a winner? A great example of marriage between cool imagery and rules!

The next 3 veils are part of a new set, the Witches Ensemble, which include 3 more veils from Akashic Mysteries and the Witch’s Broom veil from The Fisherking. Black Hat of the Witch gives you a black cat familiar that understandably can’t get an archetype; the head bind lets you use your veils through the cat, and the headband bind lets you share senses as the spell with the option to change the sense shared. Disquieting Gaze gives you a cursing gaze attack as a standard action that gives a penalty to one of a variety of attributes, and essence increases the duration and penalty; the head bind makes it impossible for opponents to see your gaze, getting some fitting penalties, and also lets you inflict two penalties at once with a save, all of these increased when binding to the headband. Awesome! However, this should have a HD limitation, since I would find it difficult to believe for a titan or dragon to have to avert their eyes. Hag’s Shawl gives you access to one Hex, chosen when shaped, and essence increases only the DC; you also count as having the Hex class feature for prerequisites, which makes me twist my mouth. You can bind 2 essence into this veil to get more Hexes; the shoulder binds gives you the Coven Hex plus another, and if you are of sufficient level, you can choose major ones, while the body bind makes you count as a hag and gives you one more Hex which can be grand. A powerful veil that requires a lot of investment.

The First Bloom causes vegetation in the area to create difficult terrain by those not under your protection and you can entangle some opponents in the area, with essence increasing the area, and with enough essence it can damage and even nauseate those entangled; when bound you can create plants anywhere and can even summon a wall of thorns. The Fulguration lets you call a lightning storm and make a bolt to fall on foes, ignoring most cover. The bolt deals 1d6, but for each odd essence ads 1 die and for each even you add 2 dice. The damage can be too much at higher levels for an at-will ability, but remember that storm veils are empowered differently. The Energization is a cool one that increases the speed of your allies and lowers that of your enemies. It is an electricity effect that requires a Fort save so you can affect for good or ill undead, constructs or beings immune to electricity, but I would have added that those immune to paralysis are not affected too. Essene increases the bonus and penalty and when bound you can affect one ally or foe so they are affected by a haste/slow-like effect. The Cleansing Rain is a healing one that helps against disease and poison, plus fear and emotion effects, and when bound you can burn essence to give a creature in the area a second chance at saving to one of the mentioned effects.

The rest of this section includes [enhanced] versions of veils from The Stormbound and The Fisherking, which is ok if you like that descriptor (I don’t like how it works right now). The section is alphabetically per book.

-3 Magic Items: All of these are [enhanced] versions of items from said books.

-Bestiary: The best part of the book, this one includes essence capacity for high HD creatures plus a lot of templates, with both quick and rebuilt versions. We start with the Akashic simple template and it is strong, being able to shape any veil from any list or chakra, but once chosen, those veils can’t be changed. The class’ templates all give veilshaping plus a bonus to the veilweaving ability. The Daevic creature gets some veilshaping from a passion list, the Eclipse creature get occultation, Guru creatures get gentle touch and a philosophy. Nexus creatures get planar detonation and convergences if strong enough, Radiant creatures get akashic bond and vivifications, Stormbound creatures get weatherproofing and only stormweaving, and Vizier creatures get mystic attunement.

-The Weaver NPC Class: The second best part of the book and a must when Akashic magic replaces standard magic in a campaign. As an NPC class, it is very barebones and has limited veilshaping abilities.

Of Note: The bestiary was sorely needed, and most of the new veils and the NPC class are GREAT additions to the game!

Anything wrong?: There are many copy/paste errors, specially under the bestiary. Apart from this, I wasn’t really excited with the archetypes section, except for the Vigilante one.

What I want: A Volur creature template! While I could also ask for a Zodiac creature, I won’t, since it’s one of those cases where it

What cool things did this inspire?: I have a thread at Paizo’s board where I post character ideas. I’m going to use the archetypes here to make some creature examples.

Do I recommend it?: I would recommend this book if it only had the bestiary, Weaver class and Masked Veilweaver archetype, all 5-star material. The rest is 2.5-star gravy. So rounding up, 4 stars!

Introduction
So, Hall Kennette is a prolific author that has been kind of focusing on Akashic magic supplements. He has a Patreon where he publishes his designs, and he compiles this material monthly normally with a thematic motif. This is the result.

What’s inside?: 20 pages for 5 buck, which includes:

-8 archetypes: The Mycomancer Druid loses a lot of class-defining features to focus on a kind of fungal necromancy, using the new monster in this book, the corpsemold, which basically mimics the real-world zombie fungus; among its other abilities, the Mycomancer can become an undead-like creature, resist decay, animate dead and the like. A really cool take on an not-that-uncommon variant for the druid. Another common trope is the Dirge Bard, for the Legendary Bard class, which again has a necromancy-motif and includes two new bardic performances: Symphony of Souls and Panicked Allegro.

Continuing with the Legendary classes, we have the Tome of the Puppetmaster for Legendary Magus; these morbid Magi animate corpses but not with necromancy (more like animated objects), which is a great way to scare undead hunters. They can even “spellstrike” through them! Another awesome archetype! Speaking of awesome, they have an ability called Master of Puppets, so it automatically gets the horns and a headband from this metalhead. Pale Mages is the archetype for Legendary Wizards; they bond with a force called “The Pale”, being healed by both positive and negative energy and affected by it as if they were a living and undeath creature. They also add A LOT of cleric spells to their spell list, mostly healing/harm spells and spells that restore life and create undead; they don’t know them automatically, but can add them to their spellbooks by copying them from other Pale Mage spellbooks and scrolls, or by leveling up. They get other cool abilities like being treated as undead by the unliving, able to turn/command undead more times per day, and get some iconic uses of Kn. Religion that should be available to other characters and finally gaining some of the unliving’s immunities. Good one too even if standing on the necrocleric’s toes!

The next two are archetypes for the Monk (not the unchained one). Astral Selves are Akashic Monks that master the new Astral Pugilism veil and the Forcestrike Knuckles veil. This complex veil takes a page, and gives you unarmed abilities that count as magic, lets you “throw” unarmed attacks and even create a clone of astral energy that explodes when bound to the body. The rest of the abilities basically are just renames and can also affect your copies. The Guided Soul Monk is the second one and this time is a Charisma-based, ancestral spirit-flavored hack of the base class. It uses light armor but loses AC bonuses, doesn’t deal extra damage when leveling up (apparently dealing 1d3 damage), but their flurry’s extra attacks are physically damaging touch attacks that deal “aging” damage that bypasses all form of damage reduction but doesn’t affect creatures that are immune to magical aging… and deals 1d6 for every odd level. Thanks god it’s not multiplied on crits, but man this is too strong. I would reduce the damage to 1d6 plus 1d6 for every 4 levels. There are other abilities that are equally cool but pale in power to the flurry of unresistable damage. The archetype is damn cool to be sure, but the flurry is just to stronk IMHO.

The Specter is the archetype for both Rogues, chained or not, and converts the class into a supernatural one. They lose evasion and master strike in exchange for the ability to become kind of ethereal for a couple of rounds per day. They can improve this form with 7 archetype-exclusive Rogue Talents, which make me think that it would have been better as an alternate class or even a new one. To finish the class options section, we get the Machinist Sorcerer bloodline. This one uses the two other new veils, Machinist’s Pile Bunker and Machinist’s Powered Armor. At first you can only shape one but gain essence (up to 10) to empower it, and later you treat them as bound and also increase their essence capacity, and you also get special synergy when both are shaped. Another cool one!

-The Akashic version of the Vitalist: As you probably may know, the Vitalist is a Psionic class, but here we find an Akashic version. Their veilweaving is great, getting up to 10 veils (using the Radiant veil list) and 6 binds, with the same essence progressions of Viziers/Radiants. They can still gain Psionic Focus even when they lose all psionic manifesting. There is a problem with using the Radiant’s veil list and giving them 10 veils, and that is that they only get 6 slots in their list. There are a few veils that can be shaped in other slots, and Twin Veil is a thing, but I don’t think they get veils for all slots. There are Akashic variants for all Vitalist methods. While I like the Radiant and the Vitalist, I think they are too similar already to need this variant. All in all an interesting hack that maybe would have worked better as a hybrid class.

-1 Feat: Precision Veil Breaking is a powerful anti-veil feat that adds all the damage from one round of your attacks together, to see if you successfully sunder a veil. Very nice especially with all those Enhanced-veil-clad warriors out there.

-2 Prestige Classes: Machine Scion is a class that uses the Machinist bloodline, and synergizes with it but otherwise doesn’t require it. It works like the Evangelist PrC, even mentioning it in a copy/paste error. It… is not really that interesting, giving you ability bonuses, natural armor and blindsense, but nothing exclusive. The Veilbreaker is good for anti-Akashic characters and requires Essence Rejection. It only has 5 levels, has a warrior chassis with all good saves, gets the new feat as a bonus, increased power for the Essence Rejection feat, get even more powerful saves against veils and even evasion/mettle against them, and can even sunder essence, becoming a nightmare for veilweavers.

-Optional Ruling: This one works with the popular Enhanced descriptor. It’s basically just a modification of some favored class bonuses for the Eclipse class and some extra options for Fisherkings, Nexus and Viziers.

-4 Veils: Ablation Field is reprinted from Arcforge since one of the classes uses it, and I already talked about Astral Pugilism, that leaves us with two more, Machinist’s veil. Pile Bunker is a hands/wrists veil that gives you a pair of weapons that kind of work like punching daggers; each one can store up to your maximum essence capacity times 3, and generate one charge per point of essence invested. The base veil’s effect let you spend charges after hitting your foe, and give you 1d6 damage per charge! At top level, a fully charged attack could basically do 24d6 guaranteed bonus damage! And make that double since each hand stores energy separately. AND you get to improve the die when you crit to d12! Thanks but no thanks. The binds of the veil let you spend charges to do other effects. Cool veil but the damage is too much IMHO. Powered Armor is a shoulders veil that creates a retractable full plate armor basically made of mithral; with essence, you can reduce the armor check penalty and increase the maximum dexterity bonus per point of essence, and even increases your speed with enough essence! The shoulders bind lets you fly with it. Normally, armor veils occupy chest slots though. I don’t know, but I imagine all agile warriors shaping this veil via the Shape Veil feat.

-1 Monster and Template: The Corpse Mold is an intelligent plant that can animate corpses, with an accompanying template, Mold Zombie. This is not only here to complement the Mycomancer, it is a cool monster that can be the focus of a campaign!

Of Note: The archetypes are really cool! Nice takes on old tropes, specially the corpse puppeteer. And the monster is awesome!

Anything wrong?: “Aging” damage, while cool, is too powerful to give in those quantities. The power level of the veils and some archetypes is too much in my opinion. All veils have to take into account that anyone can shape them, and most probably bind, with but a feat or two.

What I want: I think the Machinist’s veils and bloodline would have worked better for a Bloodrager, so a version of the bloodline would have been great.

What cool things did this inspire?: Mold from Out of Space (TM). An adventure for undead hunters that have no clue on how to deal with these bizarre zombies (insert devil emoji).

Do I recommend it?: The strongest section is the archetypes one, so if you have access to those books from Legendary Games, then yeah. If not, the other archetypes and monster make up for it. However, the bloodline, Vitalist and veils are not my cup of tea. This is volume has some of my favorite and least favorite options in the line, so I think I will give this one a 4, but subtract 1 star if you don’t have access to all the books supplemented.

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.

Studio M compilation for February 21

Introduction
So, Hall Kennette is a prolific author that has been kind of focusing on Akashic magic supplements. He has a Patreon where he publishes his designs, and he compiles this material monthly normally with a thematic motif. This is the result.

What’s inside?: 16 pages for 5 bucks, which includes:

-5 Archetypes: The Kshatriya is an archetype for the Rajah, the only akashic book I haven’t reviewed, (I haven’t had the opportunity to play Path of War, let alone support books) that instead of the powerful Path of War system, uses the flexible and more down-to-earth Spheres of Might! I remember it has a low BAB, but the Kshatriya gets the adept maneuver progression, meaning 15 talents, and when performing maneuvers through vassals, use their veilweaver level. A great hack of the base class and NOW I will be able to use it, so I might for once read that book! Nice one!

The Record Keeper Scholar loses all medical training and flashbangs for modest veilweaving (Int mod veils from the vizier list +1/lvl, up to 4 veils and 10 essence) and can increase their essence and gain bind with some knacks. The Stormfury Stormbound gets a warrior HD/BAB and Expert talent progression in exchange for all normal veilweaving. Here I would have preferred a champion with access to the Weather sphere, but ok. The Veiled Combatant Striker becomes just a proficient combatant (losing half their talents) for modest, constitution-based veilweaving abilities (up to 5 veils, 10 essence, 7 binds), and a lot of small and big hacks to the base Tension engine to create a truly different beast! Another winner here!

Araneanen Vigilante are one of those veil specialists, mastering Lashing Spinnerets and Spiderweb Wrappings AND learning some special tricks with them, replacing their specialization and half their vigilante talents but counting as stalkers for talents… So yeah! This is the closest you will get to playing Spidey!

-11 feats and 1 trait: Akashic Aura lets you increase your pally/antipally’s aura by investing essence in them. Akashic Fury damages creatures near you when you are (blood)raging, using again “akashic” damage and the Fort DC to half it is ridiculous (10+½lvl+Con mod… +essence invested!), this one is too strong IMHO. Duelist’s Bind makes the Weapon Training class feature an essence receptacle that increases damage (good) AND attack (not so good) by point of essence invested (should be bound). Chakra Focus increases the DC to the ability of a veil that can be shaped to that chakra. Essence-Bound Channel increases the healing/harm done by channel energy by investing essence in it (should be bound IMHO). Essence Forged Armaments increases your effective monk or warpriest level (or a class with a similar upgradable weapon damage) to determine the damage dice (not a fan, since from one level to another, the essence needed to benefit from this ability changes drastically). Focused Veil doubles the hardness of a specific veil AND increases the DC by 2. Registered Foe lets you bind essence into this feat for a temporary change in favored enemies (why does a temporary ability requires essence binding while the others, while other feats in this section have greater repercussions? Who knows). Set Focus is yet another feat that increases the DC and hardness of veils, but this time focusing in a veil set; this one increases the hardness by 3 for each other veil from the set, and all the set veils’ DC by 1. Studied Veilweaving increases your effective veilweaver level, useful for multiclassers. Veil-bound Detection lets you disable magical traps and serves as an essence receptacle, increasing perception for spotting hidden foes and traps, disable device checks, and saves and AC against traps; in this particular instance I won’t complain about it being an essence receptacle, but sounds more like a veil though. The Apprentice Veilweaver magic trait is like the light version of the Studied Veilweaving feat.

-Veilweaving Section: this includes the Enhanced descriptor, which I’m not a fan of as is it now, since it basically make magical armor and weapons and sunder obsolete, but that’s my opinion. It includes all the aspects of the descriptor, which is great since the book includes variants for all 15 Akashic Trinity and the first volume of Akashic Realms’ weapon and armor veils.

Apart from the variant veils, there is a new set, Gravelord’s Regalia, a 7 veil set (which only the vizier can shape them all) that includes 3 veils from Akashic Mysteries, and gives us 4 new veils: Coronet of the Gravelord is a headband veil that lets you detect and gain the favor of the undead, and even command them when bound! KEWL! Grasp of Undeath is a wrists veil is like a chill touch in veil form minus the Strength damage, but nauseating the living and panicking the undead and those living healed by negative energy, and paralyzing when bound. Cryptbreaker’s Greatcloak is a shoulders veil that lets you lesser animate dead and giving you a desecrating aura that empowers undead in the radius, increasing the range and the bonus to undead by investing essence, and functioning as animate dead when bound. Finally, Soul of the Unliving is a belt and body veil that makes you one of the undead minus the immunities, treating you as an undead creature for effects that make the distinction, giving you resistance to cold and electricity and a bit of natural armor, and changing your polarity, being healed by negative and damaged by positive energies. You can also heal yourself a couple of times per day, useful since you can’t be healed by more standard means; essence increases the resistance and natural armor, and binding it to a veil gives you a lich-like akashic phylactery, and the body bind makes this effect even stronger. Cool! I would have added full undead immunities for the body bind, since it is a capstone ability.

Of Note: The Kshatriya makes me give the Rajah a second look, and the rest of the archetypes are intriguing. The Gravelord’s Regalia is really cool too!

Anything wrong?: I am still not convinced about Enhanced veils, and make me realize that some weapons, and specially some armor veils are very powerful, including those made by the original author of Akashic Mysteries. Also, the fact that most feats don’t follow the standard and work with essence investment instead of binding makes me uneasy, and most are very powerful.

What I want: There are some things that need standardization, like “akashic” damage, and maybe an optional version of the Enhanced descriptor.

What cool things did this inspire?: I want to give the Rajah a second look, as well as make at least one Veiled Combatant. And I got some evil ideas for the Gravelord’s Regalia mwahahaha!

Do I recommend it?: If you play with Spheres content and you like the Enhanced descriptor, completely. If not, the feats, Araneanen and the veil set are cool, so if you are willing to skip on a McDonuts meal, then go for it. 4 Sphere-shaped stars from this reviewer.

"The Xiao, what great stars you have got!"
"That is to review the better, my child."
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
Under Azoth Games, James Ray released the second in the Akashic Tales line of products, Red’s Peril, this time inspired by European folklore. This book includes new veil set, 2 Akashic archetypes tackling the ranger and the hunter, 2 companion archetypes for familiars and animal companions, 5 feats and a new race variant, all of it with a Little Red Hood theme.

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

-a short but nice introduction, which includes the different versions of the tale that inspired this book.

-The Red’s Peril 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. The 6 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. I was expecting to see the Griot archetype for the bard/skald here, but alas.

Grannie’s Bonnet lets you disguise, and when bound lets you “feel familiar” and even consume a creature to appear completely like it! Cool, but it has some arcane text that reads weird (When investing this veil with essence you can decide to bind it into this veil instead… what?). Innocent Eyes gives you a bonus to perception and against illusions, and when bound lets you see past magical transformations. Huntsman’s Axe gives you a ghetto favored enemy, and it has the [enhanced] descriptor. I like the idea behind this descriptor, but there are a lot of implications that must be polished before its perfect. I don’t allow it in my games as is. When bound, the axe gives you a bonus feat that work against favored enemies from a short list.

Laundress’s Sheet is another [enhanced] veil, working as a bladed scarf and can be transformed into a bridge, when bound to the hands lets you choose who can traverse the bridge, and when bound to the wrists gives you the ability to engulf foes in a sphere of water. Great! The iconic Red Cloak gives you bonus to survival checks and endure elements, and when bounds gives you the passive aggressive ability to damage foes striking you with flames. I would have loved that somehow, if they didn’t hit you but would have hit your touch AC, they got damaged too, allowing for armored characters to benefit more from this veil. Finally, Wolf’s Hunger makes you very hungry (incredibly flavorful that veils affect you!), gives you a bite attack (I would have loved greater damage for creatures that already have a bite attack, but ok), and your stomach works a bit like a bag of holding. If bound, you get a second extradimensional space that, with enough essence, lets you swallow whole a creature of your own size! Nasty and iconic! There is a sidebar that mentions this veil as part of the Desire passion veils, but I would add that it replaces another one, like the optional constellations, since all passions have the same number of veils as part of their balance.

-2 archetypes: The Huntsman Ranger replaces all spellcasting, gets a diminished favored enemy, and loses some other abilities in exchange for some veilweaving (up to 5 veils, 6 binds and 10 essence) that uses the Huay veil list but with reduced access, improved use of the new Huntsman Axe veil, Akashic additions to combat styles, and some other things. Cool Akashic Ranger! Opportunists Hunters is another Akashic variant, getting veilweaving abilities that go up to 7 veils from the Eclipse list, 6 binds, and 20 essence in exchange for their spellcasting. They get to shape the new Wolf’s Hunger veil into any slot, and gets to unshape any veil and reshape it into this one, giving me cool, werewolfish vibes. They also get another souped-up veil, Geri and Freki, among other more thematically-fit abilities. A great, dark take on the Hunter that makes me grin like the Big Bad Wolf.

-2 companion archetypes: Akasha Touched Familiars are great for Akashic casters, as is Veil Trained for animal companions. This last one gets the ability to reallocate its essence via a trick but doesn’t natively gains essence.

-5 feats: the 5 feats contained here are both Akashic and Combat, which makes them great for Akashic Fighters. I can see my characters/baddies using each one of these, no fillers only killers ;)

-The Aldhiyb variant race: A very small hack of the Sobek Akashic race, being an anthropomorphic wolf following the variant races from Akashic Mysteries. Not bad, but like in the original book, too little information.

Of Note: The veils alone are worth the price of entrance, but the rest is not gravy. I really enjoyed most of the book.

Anything wrong?: There are more editing mistakes than in the last book, so that is a minus. The variant race, like the ones in Akashic Mysteries, is a bit on the shallow side. Also, not all people would have the Huay book, so directing them to a site like library of Metzofitz would have been nice ;)

What I want: A more detailed and developed presentation of the races from Akashic Mysteries and the Aldhyib.

What cool things did this inspire?: A tiefling or another savage race with Wolf’s Hunger devouring a major NPC or even a PC would be horrifically awesome!

Do I recommend it?: For the meager price of 3 bucks? Hell Yeah! I would give it a 4.5, rounded down, but at that price of admission I think it deserves the full five Little Red Hooded stars!

Studio M compilation for January 21

Introduction
So, Hall Kennette is a prolific author that has been kind of focusing on Akashic magic supplements. He has a Patreon where he publishes his designs, and he compiles this material monthly normally with a thematic motif. This is the result.

What’s inside?: In this expansion-themed supplement, we get 25 pages for 5 buck, which includes:

-15 racial traits: These include all the core races, orcs, and the seven “common” planetouched races. All of the races gain the akashic subtype (which gives low-light vision and immunity to magical sleep), a point of essence, and a special veil that doesn’t interfere with veils shaped or slots. Each race gets access to a specific veil, except for half-orcs and half-elves, who can choose between their parents’ choices, aasimars, who can choose from ANY veil from the Angelic Arments veil set, and tieflings, who can choose from two 10-veil sets! There has always been a power difference between races, but the core races pay dearly for their veils, while the elemental races pay just with their affinity and spell-like ability, and aasies and tieffies pay with their resistances and spell-like ability. In my opinion, I would have preffered a unique akashic ability that functioned as an essence receptacle, and there is the situation where aasimars and tieflings can shape 2 veil weapons, which can be problematic especially if you use the Enhanced weapon descriptor as is.

-4 archetypes: Abyss Wielder Antipaladin gets a weird alignment option (Lawful Neutral… ok? I thought it was called Abyss wielder), get a different code of conduct, and loose smite good, channel energy, fiendish boon, aura of vengeance and unholy champion. In return, they get up to 15 essence, and they get to shape specific veils (Balor’s Whip, Iron Crown, Pit Fiend’s Shroud, Demon Lord’s Hunger) at certain levels and also bind them (but not other veils shaped in that slot), AND . I really liked this archetype in all but the name (which suggest chaos and evil instead of only evil… unholy perhaps?), but I would have gotten rid of spells instead of some other abilities.

Unicorn Rider Cavalier lose mount, expert trainer, banner, and greater banner, and their charge abilities are modified, all in exchange for up to 10 essence and the ability to shape the Sparkling Alicorn and the Unicorn Barding. Like all veil-specialist classes, they get some unique tricks with them. They get to bind the Unicorn’s Barding to the body slot at 12th level… no other class can do that except for the Daevic, who must pay HP to use it that early. AND I checked the ability and it is strong, so I would just let them bind it later at least 15th. A great archetype that just needs a balance check IMHO.

Lightwielder Paladin seems at first a mirror of their Antipaladin brethren, but while they get similar exchanges, they instead get really good with the Banelight Vortices veil. They also get to shape White Rider’s Sash and Luminosity of the Lurker in Light, but their main ability is still the vortices. A great veil specialist option!

Shadow Shaper rogues (normal or unchained) lose some rogue talents, sneak attack dice and trap/danger sense for up to 15 essence and the ability to shape souped-up Darkwalker Hood, Darkholds, Cloak of Darkness and Voidwalkers. I don’t know about this one, since it kind of steps in the Eclipse’s shoes more that I would like, but it is cool though.

-2 Prestige Classes: Ringbearers are ring veil specialists. The requirements are few and easy to get even for non-veilweavers. During their 10 levels, these guys get up to 15 essence, 6 ring veils shaped, and a couple of abilities to really bust the ring veils, with one having up to 10 essence if my math is correct. A cool, focused class perfect for viziers but open to other classes.

The Bloodfuser would be the blood veil specialist. It has a stronger chassis but a bit weaker bloodweaving, or was it bloodshaping? This ability has different names in the class table and description. Apart from their blood veil abilities, they are also masters of the Blood Infusion magic item, being able to craft up to 5 free doses per day. A nice class but not as iconic as the previous one, although its cap, being able to “share” a blood veil, is really cool.

-2 magic items: Catalized Rings are ring veils made physical and infused with up to 10 essence and either bound or unbound. They occupy your ring magic item AND veil slot, even if you can normally shape ring veils. They are powerful and costly.

Infused Blood are potions that give you blood veil effects for 1 hour plus another one for each effective essence, again up to 10 and either bound or not. The greater the essence, the greater the cost, and full powered potion costs 14,000! Great for foes to have already imbibed LOL! Anyway, another cool item.

-3 feats: Binding of the Bands lets core races plus orcs the ability to bind their racial veil gotten from the alternate traits at the beginning of the book. Shape Minor Veil and Minor Veil Mastery deal with the cantrip-like abilities found later in the book.

-16 veils: We start with 5 ring veils, then 5 blood veils, then a set of six race-themed ones.

The ring veils presented are powerful and include teleportation, a Lifechannel Ring that works exactly like its dark counterpart from Akashic Mysteries but with healing energy, mirror image/simulacrum-like illusions, crowd-controlling via tentacles of force, and a shield-spell like veil that compliments another one from the original book.

The blood veils include a lycanthropic one (which strangely enough give you two primary claw attacks and 1 primary bite attack, with no damage mentioned), a haste-like one (a bit powerful at base effect), a very cool one that lets you sense your own blood, another that transforms your blood into shadowstuff weapons/monsters (cool and usable by top-level eclipses too) and one that lets you create lances made by your own blood to attack at range and becomes more powerful if you are bleeding.

The Gifts of the Bearer is a 6 veil set that kind of gives a Lord of the Rings vibe. The human one lets you survive easily and when bound even in another plane or planet, the dwarven one makes you a crafting extraordinaire that can repair even veils and also dabble in item creation. The orc one makes you a destruction extraordinaire and can sunder even spells! The elven one lets you counter and even rebound spells and veil effects a very few times per day (I would increase the uses when bound since as it is you will only be able to do it two times per day and three or four at most at very high levels). The Halfling one makes you, and your fellows when bound, incredibly lucky (AKA rerolls), and finally the gnome one lets you teleport and leave an illusory double behind.

All in all cool, welcome additions to the daevic and vizier classes, since to my knowledge they haven’t received any blood or ring veils since the original book.

-12 minor veils: Minor veils is a small, cantrip-like expansion to the abilities of true veilweavers (those getting veilweaving abilities from their original classes and not via feats or archetypes). Basically you get to shape two minor veils from among all twelve (no minor veil is class specific), and their effects kind of mirror cantrips. They aren’t shaped in slots and so can’t be bound to chakras, but they can be invested with essence and some of them can become powerful with a lot of essence invested. I really liked this expansion to base veilweavers, since most of them get to shape only one veil at first level, and giving them two cantrip veils will prepare their essence reallocation skills for what comes at higher levels.

Of Note: The racial abilities are arguably ok, since having a racial ability that can become more powerful at higher levels is very uncommon, but again, why have them if they are not useful at all levels? The archetypes are really cool, but I would have preferred them to maintain more of their class features and lose vancian spellcasting. The prestige classes are cool, focused and powerful. And the veils, normal and minor, are more than welcome additions to the options of veilweavers.

Anything wrong?: I noticed some editing mistakes, many more than in the previous book, but nothing that prevents the enjoyment or utility of it. The base abilities of some the veils are kind of strong, especially the blood ones, but then they don’t scale that well with essence. The aasimar and tiefling become even more busted with some creative racial veil selection.

What I want: some more veilweaving archetypes for cool classes like the inquisitor and investigator, exchanging their magic for veilweaving.

What cool things did this inspire?: a vampire baddie daevic or bloodfuser with some of the cool blood veils is a must, and an orc warchief that uses the optional racial ability to sunder spells would rock!

Do I recommend it?: Yeah! Unlike the previous one, this compilation is directed to expand two of the original akashic classes and the core races, and while I have my doubts on the power level of some of the veils, I can fully recommend this one, giving it the full five star-shaped rings.

Introduction
So, Hall Kennette is a prolific author that has been kind of focusing on Akashic magic supplements. He has a Patreon where he publishes his designs, and he compiles this material monthly normally with a thematic motif. This is the result.

What’s inside?: In this Stormbound-focused supplement, we get 23 pages for 5 buck, which includes:

-Class Section: This includes 6 archetypes, 3 bardic performances for the legendary bard, 1 bloodline with both sorcerer and bloodrager versions, and 2 tomes for the legendary magus.

Living Storm barbarians don’t get bonus to combat, instead their rage emulates Storm veils, and in the same vein they can gain storm powers as rage powers that only work while raging. They also resist energy instead of getting trap/danger sense. Too mystical for my tastes but still a cool, high-fantasy archetype, if a bit on the strong side. The Stormsinger bard shapes a Storm veil too, and while they lose a lot of bardic performances, I think it fits a bard better than a barbarian.

The 3 bardic performances for the legendary bard also deal with weather, but 2 of them calm it and the last one stirs it in the form of a Storm veil. The Elderstorm bloodline for sorcerers and bloodragers let those classes dabble into Akasha, although I would have preferred a more plain option for both and not only one specific for Storm veilweaving, but it’s nice. The Storm Bringer druid bonds with the elderstorm, getting again the benefits of stormweaving, being able to veilweave Storm Veils and also getting some Storm Powers.

The Tome of the Cannonade gives the Legendary Magus the crazy ability to deliver spells through siege engines! While the Tome of the Stormwielder let the Legendary Magus dabble in stormweaving. The Momentum Mage Legendary Magus archetype is really interesting. It lets the Magus generate some kind of momentum when they move, which he can spend in cool techniques. They get an ability called “Momentum Combat” that seems to work like spring attack with a spell, but doesn’t mention spellcasting, only a melee attack; however, you can use the Rapid Spell momentum technique to cast a spell as a swift action, so you could move, cast and hit in the same turn.

The Tempest Caller is another stormweaver-dabbling archetype. To finalize the class section, we finish with the cold-focused Herald of Winter. I really liked this one, since it is a more focused Stormbound and can inspire the creation of other, similar focused archetypes. Among its abilities, it includes the powerful trick of reducing cold resistance and even immunity.

-4 feats: these four feats are confluence feats, which enhance the combination of two stormveils. They mostly use the new stormveils contained herein, but sadly all are closed to the Herald of Winter, since he loses the twin stormveil class feature.

-1 magic item: The Endless Ammo Hoard is a costly but powerful chest that can create siege engine ammo indefinitely, with some caveats.

-Veilweaving and Veils: This section includes an expansion to the Stormbound veil list, with products that appeared after its publication. Apart from this, there are a couple of new veils:

6 veils: Bands of Binding Ice lets you create walls of ice, and if bound lets you encase others and later yourself in ice. Breeches of the Pale Rider gives you a horse that can run on water by freezing it, and while bound creates difficult terrain and later even flies! Halo of Polaris is another “cool” one (hehe), giving you the ability to navigate by the stars, and create shurikens made of ice to attack your foes, even without using the hands when binding it to the headband chakra. Mai’yr’s Icy Glare lets you see better through frigid weather, snow and ice, and when bound gives you two gaze attacks. Voice of Winter gives you the ability to animate snow into a companion (where have I seen these? Should I… let it go?); you can invest essence both in the veil and the companion (cool), and when bound gives the companion intelligence. Finally, Winter’s Coat protects you against cold and also lets you transform into a cloud of snowflakes, and improves the cloud’s movement when bound. This last one’s base abilities are a bit strong for my tastes, but nothing horribly broken.

4 storm veils: These one follow a frigid thematic. The Crystalline, for example, hampers movement and damage foes by creating icy crystals, while The Quelling, the only non-cold storm veil, reduces the target’s will save by making them feel the isolation and ennui of frigid zones.

Of Note: I really enjoyed the Momentum Mage archetype, since moving around the battle is something few magi do, or melee-ers. Also, some of the veils are just plain cool! (hehe… or should I say ho ho ho?). Also, I’m a fan of the Confluence feats, and these ones are cool (ok I will stop) additions to the Stormbound repertoire.

Anything wrong?: Not taking into account my opinion on the power, real or perceived, of storm veils, letting everyone into the party and giving so many classes access to their class-defining feature can be controversial. Druids are cool, as are sorcerers, but skalds and barbarians?

What I want: I want a sub-zero-inspired frosty ninja archetype that throw snoflakes shurikens.

What cool things did this inspire?: A frost giant veilweaver with some of the veils here sound like a memorable villain in the making, as are winter wolves lackeys. Another akashic dragon would have been a fresh (sorry, I couldn’t help it) addition to the few akashic monsters out there.

Do I recommend it?: If you like and enjoy the Stormbound, then by all means yes. If you didn’t enjoy it, or don’t have it, then the icy veils and legendary magus stuff are enough to warrant a purchase IMHO. I will give it 4 polar stars.

So what in the Dark Tapestry is a Huay?

Introduction
Akasha Reshaped: The Huay is a short book by Moonhand Press. It includes a new class, the Huay, plus a couple of complementary material, most of it with a nature theme. Is it a worthy addition to the Akashic magic system? Let’s see! But before that, Huay is a Mayan word meaning sorcerer, and is another way of calling a Nahual, an infamous monster from Mexican mythology!

What’s inside?
8 pages of content (not counting covers, ads etc., and the 9th page only includes a racial trait) for 3 bucks, which include:

-The Huay Akashic class: The Huay feels like a hybrid class, combining the Druid and the Vizier. It has the Druid’s chassis (HD/BAB, Saves, skillpoints, even the weapons/armor proficiencies), with four more class skills. They also share the taboo of wearing metal armor or shields, since doing so hinders their powers. They can use ironwood armor, and even their metallic armor veils appear as “ironwooded”. Also, they start knowing the secret druidic language as a bonus. The final druidic abilities they get are Woodland Stride and a variant of Wild Shape (see below).

They are powerful, wisdom-based veilweavers. They start with the ability to shape 2 veils, one of them from their very vast veil list, and the other one from a small, thematic 4-veil list. This special one is called Veil of Nature, doesn’t count as one of their veils shaped (it appears under the veils as a #+1), and also doesn’t occupy a veil slot or, if sufficient level, a bind slot. Speaking of slots and bind slots, the Huay get ALL 10 slots and binds! I’m surprised by this, since the only other “core” Akashic classes (those penned by the author of Akashic Mysteries) that can shape and bind all 10 veils are the Vizier and the Nexus. If we read the Akashic Design pdf released by the author, we can find that a class that uses Wisdom as its veilweaving modifier “generates power through spiritual strength; typically not as good at veilweaving but with powerful and unique akashic class abilities.” If we compare the Huay to either the Radiant or the Guru, the latter two get up to 8 veils and 7 and 8 binds respectively. I think that their veilweaving is too powerful for a Druid-like chassis that is more powerful than a Vizier’s IMHO, and the Nexus is thematically-linked to their 10 veil’s lists. Anyway, like almost all Akashic classes, they also get the Improved Essence Capacity class feature 3 times, and the essence progression of Gurus. Their veil list appears at the end of the class, and it doesn’t mention where the veils come from. At first glance, they come from Akashic Mysteries, Akashic Trinity, The Stormbound, and Akashic Realms 1. I would add the sources for all non-Akashic Mysteries ones, though, which is a common trend for spell-lists. There are some strange inclusions though (Babau Skin? Demon Lord’s Hunger? Somen of Shadows? O… k?).

Their class-defining feature is “Skin Shift”, and it works very differently from a Druid’s Wild Shape, but counts as such. To use it, the Huay needs to invest 1 point of essence, which is bound until you return to normal and then it is “burned”, and has a duration of 1 hour per level, during which you can change into another form by taking a point of essence burn. Starting at 2nd level, this ability works as the alter self spell. At 5th level, and every two levels thereafter, the Huay gains a Skin Form slot. These slots are filled with Skin Forms, improved versions of their Skin Shift ability based on other spells (just like a Druid). With the exception of beast shape, a Huay need to progressively buy all instances of the same form to gain higher level ones, so to get access to undead anatomy IV, they need three more slots for the I, II and III instances. By the way, as a “nature” class, undead anatomy feels a bit off, and one I would have put behind an archetype or at least feat wall, as well as other, more esoteric forms. They get access to a lot of forms (giants, dragons, oozes), the most powerful needing an investment of 4 essence (5 if you count their capstone). Any special ability gained has a DC of 10 + essence invested in skinshift + Wis modifier, or its normal DC, whichever is higher. Finally, any weapon-like veil they have shaped becomes fused to natural weapons if the shape taken can’t wield it, similar to the Weapon Fusion feat found on Akashic Realms 2, but for veils instead of constellations. Later, you become more adept at changing to certain shapes, and can even change the shapes of other creatures and even objects! Their capstone is the ability to shapechange, as the spell, if at least 5 essence are invested in this ability. Some aspects that I liked of this ability are, that you can change your slots every day, just like veils, and you don’t have to invest and “bind” essence until you use it.

The Huay includes some favored class bonuses, including 2 for all characters, one for all shapechangers (cool!), one for every core race except half-breeds, plus the Orc, Mineralite and Sobek. What is a Mineralite? No idea.

-5 archetypes: We start this section with 2 for the Helmsman, an Akashic class found in the Arcforge book by Legendary Games. The first one is the Arcadian, who has a cool background, being a failed Daevic that manifests the daeva as a kind of a Spiritualist’s phantom, instead of a vessel or mecha. This one has some problems, since it mentions its own essence and veils, but since they lose their Natural Veilweaver ability, they don’t have any. The second is the Bewel, who instead of bonding to a vessel, bonds to an animal. The Enryolku is an archetype for the Stormbound class, get the false-veil psi-like ability and treat it as a title veil, and speaking of which they can give their Storm Veils the title descriptor. A cool villain archetype for a problematic class. By the way, I have no idea where to find false veil, since it doesn’t mention its source.

The last two are archetypes for the Huay. Melders are cool, shape-merging Huay that only gain up to 3 skin slots, but they can combine them. The Stormshifter change their Veil of Nature for the Storm Veil slot, add all Storm Veils to their list. Storm veils have unique properties that they all share, which are detailed in depth in the Storm Veils section of the Akashic Rules… but there is no such section in this document. While the Huay lose some other class features for this ability, the change is way too good, since the abilities gained are simply more powerful than the ones traded. Also, one of the controversial design decisions of the Stormbound is, that their Storm Veil doesn’t follow the convention of other veils, and doesn’t draw from the same resource. Most of the class features traded have essence costs or can be invested with essence, while the Storm Veil has its own essence. While I’m not a fan of the Stormbound, and neither a fan of the Stormshifter, if you liked the former you will probably enjoy the later.

-6 feats: Crawling in My Skin adds swarm skin to your list of options. Extra Skin Form Slot works as its name says. Improved Veil of Nature lets you add any non-special, non-weapon veil to your nature veil list, which you can change at each level you gain (WAAAAY too strong, if we take into account that the Huay has access to all binds). Shaping Focus is a feat for multi-classed Druids or Huayob. Tooth and Veil is a cool-named version of Weapon Fusion, but for veils. Veil of Balance is problematic, since it makes all aligned veils work against creatures not sharing your non-neutral aspect of your alignment, and against all creatures that are not true neutral if you are AND increases the DC. Why is this problematic? You cannot shape good veils if you are neutral evil, but if you are lawful neutral, you can use a veil to affect chaotic creatures… AND if you are true neutral, you can affect good creatures with good veils! With a bonus to the DC! Sorry, but no. Also, this feat will increase the flux of true neutral characters, since its benefit is a no-brainer, good veils affect three alignments, as do all aligned veils, true neutral should affect the 4 non-neutral alignments (LG, CG, LE, CE), not the other 8! An interesting idea that would be better as a couple of veils that include a new “neutral” descriptor, instead of stealing the toys of other alignments,

-1 trait (race): Blood of the Elements shares the name with a Paizo book. I would rename it to ESSENCE of the Elements, to avoid confusions. It is cool and thematic though, if a bit strong for a trait.

Of Note: The Huay is a cool class.

Anything wrong?: The Huay’s veilweaving is too strong. I don’t really mind their long veil list, but having all 10 veils and binds is too much for a class that need its essence elsewhere too. Their Skin Shift ability specifically mentions that it costs more at higher levels, but at least the first iteration costs the same as the base ability. The book draws from a lot of books but most of the time fails to mention the source, which is annoying. The archetypes, while cool, are for classes that are not “core” or draw from other books (like Rajah’s titles), which make it less attractive unless you have access to lots of resources. And some of the feats are too strong.

What I want: This books is fine as it is, but it would benefit from a little bit of polish. I would either get rid of the Veil of Balance feat to make space for the trait (race), or fill the almost blank page with a couple of neutral veils. This “neutral” theme has enough potential to warrant a new book, with a 10-veil set for Nexus centered on neutrality (maybe drawing from aeons and other neutral or partially neutral outsiders), the Neutral descriptor for veils, and so on.

What cool things did this inspire?: While I have never been a fan of shape changing for my characters, the way the Huay does it is cool and I could make an exception. I made a shifter totem rager enemy back in the day who shaped “wolfish” melds, and I could updated it as a Skinwalker Huay that changes to shapes like Hellhounds or Winterwolves. I also love fey that can change shape, so I’m going to make a Huay-ish monster.

Do I recommend it?: Yes if you are a fan of Akashic magic and druids or shapechangers, the Huay might be just your cup of tea, but be aware that some of it might be unusable if you don’t have at least the Arcforge book, since the Stormbound and the rules for title veils can be found in the Spheres wiki, but not the Helmsman. I would grade this book as a solid 4, but with the problems like not citing sources and some of the OP options, I think it deserves a 3.5, rounded up for just being a cool class. Nice work!

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.

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.

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.

What better way to celebrate the newest Ravenloft version for 5th Ed. than… PLAYING KAIDAN! Kaidan is an intriguing setting for Pathfinder 1ed. that IMHO is underappreciated. So, as an exercise in campaign planning and unearthing old material, I’m going to write a couple of posts on preparing a Kaidan campaign.

Getting into the Mood
While Kaidan can be described as a “Feudal Japanese Horror Setting”, it can be difficult to really get into the mood. In the Game Master-s Guide to Kaidan, in Appendix 4, there is already a list of fiction to get into the mood. Here is some other works that can the creativity flowing.

Movies
Ugetsu Monogatari (1953), an old movie that can give you an idea of what normal Kaidanese feel and think of their situation.
Yotsuya Kaidan (1959), this one is considered the best adaptation of one of the most famous ghost stories of Japan. It presents an Onryo, a vengeance spirit, so it’s perfect inspiration for Kaidan
Jigoku (1961), this movie is kind of dark, but it includes a trip to hell and, since Kaidan is disconnected from all “planes” but hell and realm of the dead, it can inspire a similar “vacation”.

Anime
Yamishibai (2013), a collection of short stories based on popular Japanese myths and legends. It is still running in its eight season. Most of these are a bit modern but can be a well of situation and descriptions.
Requiem forom the Darkness (2003), while it is situated in the Bakumatsu period, it includes a “normal” man that gets involved with a trio of unusual people. A representation of how a human can get in contact with yokai in Kaidan.
Gakko no Kaidan (2000), another anime with a modern setting, but one of the characters inherits magical abilities and could be a good inspiration for a PC or NPC. There is a censured episode that wasn’t aired in Japan because it was too creepy, even for adults.
Ayakashi (2006) and Mononoke (2007), these were the animes I automatically thought of when hearing about Kaidan, and they are awesome. They present different creepy stories, but the Mononoke character can be the genesis of a Kaidan archetype!
Kagewani (2016), if you want to shake things up and stop using undead, how about some cryptids?
Yokai Nyngen Bem (2012), this one represents one of the campaign options I mention below, where no PC is human and all belong to the yokai.
Shigurui (2007), another anime that represents one campaign option I mention below. In this case, all human.

I don't know if the file was updated, but one of the authors told me that they were going to update the file. If they did I'll update my review.

Hello. I'm an English teacher from Mexico who has vague ideas about the newer, modern use of gender pronouns. I have the Monster Prom game and you can choose He, She or They. But beyond that, do you use "are" or "is" for the "to be" verb? Any other advice? I want to include modern language in my classes. Thanks in advance!

It’s a kind of magic… or 8

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 a player, I have never liked wizards. Apart from the evoker, they lack that visceral, war-like appeal that melee-ers have. However, I always appreciate having a wizard in my parties, since they are the strongest class that doesn’t have a roleplaying requirement (I’m watching you two, CODzilla). Will this book make me change my mind to finally play a wizard? Let’s see!

What’s inside?
25 pages of content for 7 bucks (not bad), which include:

-8 Variant Classes of the wizard… Wait, what? If you don’t know, or remember, what a variant class is, think about the rogue/ninja or the knight/samurai… they are basically the same classes but re-flavored and tailored to portrait a specific character concept. Here, each of the 8 variant classes represent a wizard that has embraced a specific aspect of one of the schools of magic. All specialist share some similarities: they all have good Will save, 2 skillpoints per level, have access to 3 schools of magic plus universal (their specialty plus two more already chosen, one almost always being alteration), and can cast an extra spell of each level from their specialty. Where they differ is in the HD/BAB progression (some have d8/medium), saves, and weapon and armor proficiencies. Also, each class includes DIFFERENT favored class bonuses for each of the core classes! Also worth mentioning, some abilities scale not with class level, but with maximum spell level available… which is great for people who want to take a prestige class!

Abjurers are defense specialists, having good Fort saves (also getting the Mettle ability), access to progressively better armored casting, and can even add their INT bonus to their HP instead of their CON. They bond with a buckler (which later can be a small and even a large shield), getting some nifty abilities in the deal and can even STACK their shield bonuses from the item with the one gotten from spells like shield! They also get better at dispelling and can “feed” spell slots to spells already cast so they continue working after their normal duration. Overall cool tank-y wizards.

Conjurers are monster summoning specialists, getting access to some of the summoner’s spells plus the summon nature’s ally line of spells. They also can cast summonings as standard actions, and the spells last for 1 minute per level. They can also add summoning spells to their repertoire from any class spell list, or can get feats that each summoned critter will have. They also get bonus feats, starting with Augment Summoning and later choosing from its line of feats. Powerful masters of summoning spells.

Diviners get the higher HD/BAB treatment, plus good reflex saves. They get uncanny dodge and evasion, plus their improved versions later (though IMHO they get evasion too late in their progressions). They are also difficult to surprise, getting the ability to always act in a surprise round plus an initiative bonus that increases over their careers (this ability is called differently in the class table and description). They also get an ability to detect weakness, which sadly cannot be shared with allies (bummer). Finally, unless there is a typo, Diviners get TWO BONUS SPELLS PER LEVEL! Of course, they must be divinations, but, I don’t know. Interesting masters of gaining knowledge, never caught unaware.

Enchanters are master of both magical and skill-based manipulation, getting free ranks in both Bluff and Diplomacy, plus a class-based bonus to both. Like summoners, they can also give some extra abilities to creatures under their spells. They also get some defensive abilities, able to daze attackers and also getting a save each round (up to charisma bonus) against mind-affecting abilities when failing the initial saving throw. Finally, at 14th level, they can remove the mind-affecting component of compulsions! Enchantment’s greatest weakness! Powerful masters of manipulation that can get rid of the school’s greatest downside, albeit at a high level. One of my favorite classes in the book.

Evokers are combat wizards. They also get improved HD/BAB, plus improved proficiencies. Right of the bat, they get to add INT bonus to damage to each target of their spells… for example, a burning hands spell would add it to the total damage, but a magic missile would only add it once… unless targeting different foes with each missile (great for dipping). They can also attune to one of the 4 elemental energies when preparing their spells, and become able to change any energy-based evocation to their attuned energy, and can charge their melee attacks with that type too a couple of times per day. They get some bonus feat (the vital strike feat chain plus some bonus combat or teamwork feats). They also get the munchkin wet dream as a capstone: Instant maximize a couple of times per day (max Metor Swarm anyone?). A great combat wizard that steps a little into the magus shoes.

Illusionists are the furtive wizards. They get access to one more school than the other specialists, and get better at discerning traps and disguises; their illusions are simply better at resisting magical dispelling or countering, like with divination spells, and get some blurring effects that start with a blur-like effect when moving and culminating in being immune to true strike, scrying and other divinations! However, for me, their best ability is something akin to sneak attack, but for spells. Finally, a good representation of one of the hardest school specialists to play.

Necromancers get a pet undead LOL! Sadly, one of the most popular specializations receives, IMHO, the least interesting specialization. They get an eidolon-like pet complete with evolutions (awesomely called corpse-stitch augmentations), AND channel negative energy regardless of alignment. Having a powerful Frankenstain monster is beyond cool, but the class doesn’t even have a cap. Cool and effective if a bit unimaginative.

Transmuters are masters of change. Their alterations last longer and are difficult to resist when the caster is under a transmutation spell (cool), and can spend spell slots to add metamagic to transmutations on the fly or to extend their durations. Finally, they can transmute spells themselves, able to change prepared spells to any other in their spellbooks! Their cap let them change choices normally made at the casting of the spell… Imagine using form of the dragon to become a red one, and just in the next round you change to white! Interesting take on transmutation specialists.

Of Note: The sheer amount of variants for ONE class is astounding, and the flavor and focus of each one is different and the variety is such that you could play a party of wizards and STILL have a viable party… except for healing… unless all characters are healed by negative energy and the Necromancer is a healer LOL.

Anything wrong?: While each school of magic has it’s foci, these specialists only focus in one. You cannot play a fear based necromancer, or a non-summoning conjuration master (I would have loved to summon creatures for specific purposes, or for one big attack, having a cost to distance it from evocation). Also, even with their choose-able class features, they are so focused that once you play one, unless you are a school loyalist, you would rarely want to play another character with the same class.

What I want: In 2nd edition DnD, there were some non-standard schools of magic, like shadow and elemental. I would love to see a sequel reviving those schools!

What cool things did this inspire?: As I mentioned, I don’t play wizards. However, as a GM, I would love to unleash a necromancer that has a Nemesis-like zombie (from the Resident Evil franchise), or a diviner, enchanter or illusionist that is always messing the party’s plans.

Do I recommend it?: If you are reading this, it’s because you are interested in specialist wizards. If you are, I can’t NOT recommend it. The variety it brings to the base class will make each party’s mage unique. I will give this book a solid 4.5, rounded up.

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.

So, another Akashic book by the master of the Akashic system Michael Sayre, after the two previous mind-blowing ones… can he maintain the quality? Read on!

What’s inside? Not taking into account the covers, credits, and legal stuff, we are left with 39 pages of content for 8 bucks, which include:

-4 planes, which includes enough information to run a campaign there. There are planar traits (with a new akashic essence planar feature), locations, inhabitants and even ties with the City of Seven Seraphs campaign setting! Apart from that, each section includes new PC game material, from a new aasimar variant, Planar Conduit feat options, 3 new Nexus convergences, a new akashic style feat chain, to a whole 12 sign cosmology based on the Chinese Zodiac! The planes are Valhalla (a chaotic good plane), The Kingdom of the Five Emperors (a true neutral plane with 1 realm for each alignment component), the Dark Shogunate (a kind of “Hell” for the Kingdom of the Five Emperors, opposing balance), and the least developed of all, the Cloud Stairway (kind of a new transitive plane).

-15 new veils: Divided in one set of 10, the Asgardian Saga, and one of 5, the O-Yoroi of the Obsidian Ronin, these veils get away from the middle East flavor of the original Akashic Mysteries book, and embrace a Nordic and a Japanese flavor. Not only that, the Asgardian Saga veils represent iconic items or features of the Asgardian pantheon, which lets you build a kind of akashic priest in concept! The Asgardian saga is fully accessible to the Nexus class, and the O-Yoroi is fully accessible only to the Eclipse, which is an interesting departure from the norm established in Akashic Trinity.

-18 Feats: This section include 15 feats, not counting the Mistmask style feat chain found under the Cloud Stairway. Here we have the reprint of 3 conduit feats, which allow you to become a living conduit for a specific plane’s energies (conceptually great for a Nexus). We also get the Amateur Astrologist and Noble Astrologist reprints from the Zodiac book, which are great if you don’t have said book. Why? Because having one or both of these feats gives you access to a constellation’s power without being a Zodiac. Speaking of which, if you wanted to have access to a constellation outside of your cosmology (say, if you wanted a water weapon for your Greek cosmology Zodiac wink wink), you could access one extra sign with the Expanded Cosmology feat.

There is an unseen problem with this feat, since you can access it via Zodiac class features OR the Amateur Astrologist. Where is the problem? You see, the Amateur Astrologist gives you access to all manifestations of a sign, except for the champion, but the Expanded Cosmology doesn’t. This makes the Noble Astrologist feat almost completely obsolete, since if you wanted to dabble in signs, you could chose a sign without a champion form and then get access to other signs complete array of manifestations via Expanded Cosmology.

Finally, we have the new Convergence feat type especially tailored to the Nexus class. For each veil shaped after the first from the same group, you get a nifty bonus, and an extra one if you get all veils from a set. You are not a Nexus? Don’t worry, you can access Convergences through the new Lattice-Born feat. There is one weird glitch here, since the Dark Shogunate full set of five veils are only available to the Eclipse class, and only two to the Nexus. This makes it a suboptimal choice for the Nexus, and even for the Eclipse since they don’t get the planar detonation ability to get full use of the feat. Anyway, the planar detonation class feature gets expanded with the Versatile Detonation feat, which lets you deal the other two types of physical damage, slashing and bludgeoning, plus the ability to invest in the feat to augment the damage and features of your detonation. Great addition!

-Creature Appendix, which include all creatures relevant to the book, be them Zodiac sign champions, veil-created allies, or planar denizens. This is a very handy feature!

-12 Chinese Zodiac signs, divided in the classic 4 elements with 3 in each. Unlike it’s Greek counterpart, ALL signs have a champion form, and each element nicely has access to 2 armors, equipment and weapons. This translates into 36 abilities, 8 more than the standard Greek cosmology, but then again it is so balanced that I won’t complain and instead fill in the blanks for the Greek one so both cosmologies each have 36 abilities.

Of Note: The idea of having new planes that are not demi-planes just because, is groundbreaking and I applaud the departure from tradition. The Convergence feats reward Nexus for their loyalty, and the Chinese Zodiac cosmology is a great addition to an already great class.

Anything wrong?: Is not a secret that I’m a fan of all things akashic, and I really, really enjoyed this book. HOWEVER, as a reviewer, I have to comment on the problems of the book. There are a couple of writing mistakes here and there, which is understandable, and under the aasimar variant there is a “species” bonus, which I THINK is either from Starfinder or PF2. Also, there are some design oversight that I already mentioned. Noble Astrologist is almost useless now, the new cosmology is a better choice with its greater number of options, the Dark Shogunate veils and Convergence feat don’t work that well together, and the Asgardian Saga veil incudes two weapons, which makes the Convergence feat capstone kind of weird. I mean, you can shape all 10 veils, but you can’t wield two wepon-like veils like that. And god, the legal sections is HUGE!

What I want: I would have loved to get more info about the planes, which are the star of the book. I would also have liked at least one humanoid champion, like the Archer from the Greek cosmology for the Chinese one. I STILL want more convergences, and veil sets tailored for other classes like Radiants and Gurus. And that Vol. 1 in the title makes me salivate.

What cool things did this inspire?: By now, there are a lot of weapon-like veils, and if you add the weapon form of constellations, it could make for a nifty archetype that focuses on them, maybe inspired by Archer Gilgamesh from the Fate/Stay Night anime… I would play that!

Do I recommend it?: YES! It is one of the more inspired akashic books since the original, and deals with many untouched themes and design spaces. Normally, I would take one star off from the score because of the many problems this book have, but the great things greatly overwhelms the bad, so 5 Asgardian stars from this reviewer.

All suggestions welcome. Race, ability score priorities, class, feats and talents. The only requisite is that the hero has to be able to fight with sword and fist. As spheres and talents go, boxing or open hand plus some mobility plus maybe duelist.

Wood?!?

Introduction: I think it has been years since Interjection Games released the Master of Forms and its expansion. This book adds ANOTHER element, and this one is… weird. But, is it a worthy addition? Read on!

What’s inside?
7 pages of content for less than two bucks, which include:

-The Wood Element. Right of the bat we get the wood stance, which cryptically teases the subsystem of the element, mentioning you can add a “growth point” to one of your floral allies… wait, what? Yes, the wood element gets floral allies, but this is not a pet class. Again, read on.

After the stance. We have 2 Wood Secret Arts, one which empties your focus pool and lets you grow the 3 kind of floral allies (Buried Wildthorn, Shieldroot and Tilling Broadleaf), and gets animation charges. By spending them the master can grant an extra action per round to a floral ally. The other secret art lets you use one of three maneuvers as a free action, which is especial since you normally can’t use maneuvers during a secret art.

Next we have the core of the subsystem. When you learn your first wood form, you also learn how to plant 3 different kinds of floral allies. Normally, you can only have one floral ally planted at a time, but learning 4 wood forms and then 8 increases the limit to a maximum of 3, and you can only have one of each kind of floral allies planted at a time (so no spamming). Each plant is formatted like a form (and all have a focus change of 0), and using one builds up the wood stance, but since they are freebies they don’t count for planting extra floral allies. Each plant can be planted within a range of 30 ft., and the plants themselves can use their abilities at a range of 30 ft.; another common thing between the allies is that they can build a growth pool (with a maximum of half your master level) that unlocks more potent abilities at each even number of points. Floral allies can’t move and can be hit for free in melee (and at range hitting AC 9), have a hardness equal to your Cha modifier, and have triple your master level in hit points.

Buried Wildthorn would be the attacking ally, able to lash out to enemies, and the growth pool unlocks area damage, bleed, metal damage reduction bypassing and the capstone self-destructs in a shower of needles and piercing damage. Shieldroot would be the protecting plant, giving you or an ally temporary HP for one round, the growth pool unlocking AC and saves bonuses, damage reduction and as a capstone the shield root explodes in a hefty shower of temporary HP that persist for 2 rounds. Tilling Broadleaf would be the controlling plant. The plant can dazzle and create difficult terrain; here, the growth pool unlocks grease-like sap, entangling vines, temporary focus for the master, and even a wall of vegetation, with the capstone able to produce 2 effects.

Now, the forms themselves are 15 (like all the standard elements). Unlike others, wood forms really build upon themselves, rewarding specialization in the element. There are three forms that enhance the base forms of the element (changing the focus from 0 to +1 and using them as move actions). Another batch of three require the enhanced version, and give you an ability that also
feeds the floral ally. A couple more give your floral allies some mobility (either piggybacking the plant as a bonsai, or teleporting the plant). But not all forms build on the allies. One gives you a kind of safeguard when you are killed, and another one basically composts a living enemy and dealing tons of damage, but it is greatly reduced on a successful save.

-2 Feats: This section include a feat that lets you build the growth pool of allies faster a couple of times per day, while the other lets you use the enhanced enhanced (not a typo) form when an associated floral ally is killed.

Of Note: The concept of another element that shies away from the martial arts and enter into a more druid-y territory is weird, but awesome. I can’t wait to build a delicious ghoran master of wood. The broadening of a master of forms repertoire by taking some or many wood forms is outstanding if we consider all the possible builds with the base system alone. If you want to get some visuals for the element, just watch Poison Ivy in the Injustice fighting games or that new villain in MK11 (forgot her name).

Anything wrong?: First, Earth already had some plant-y stuff. Also, the element is not fully integrated within the rules. The Overflowing Elements feat is not mentioned (just add piercing damage when in a wood stance and call it a day), the Elemental Partisan archetype and the opposing element wheel is not taken into account (I guess wood is unopposed, like shadow, so no Partisan of Wood), neither is the Unbalanced Master archetype, which can choose shadow (HERE I would have liked some love). But all of that is spoilerbratism of the highest caliber.

What I want: Support! What about a “Fur” element? That way we would have flora and fauna. Magic items, like elemental robes (activated while in a stance), element-specific weapons, element-specific ioun stones that store focus, master belts, scrolls that teach forms… But I’m happy with having a brand new element!

What cool things did this inspire?: Wood can be the anarchic, black sheep element, one seen in a bad light since it uses the world itself as a weapon, instead of channeling it like the rest of the elements. That could create roleplaying scenes, like when a master bans a student that learned a wood form, or a PC that wins a tournament by default when an opponent wins the fight “by cheating” with wood but is disqualified, leaving a sour taste but opening the door to a new way of fighting. While darkness might be seen as the anti-element, it is anathema and non-compatible with the rest of the elements, while wood is still open to any master of forms, so knowing a little “dirty move” would be a nasty surprise.

Do I recommend it?: I can’t NOT recommend it. The floral ally engine is worthy enough to be used by itself, and adding some forms from other elements just increases the fun. Five poisonus star-shaped flowers from me!

why is no one talki g about this?

Hello, I was wondering who else is an Akashic addict by starting a thread about akashic characters, both NPC and PC past and present.

Some of mine are:

Dew of the Mountains, NG female Naiad Radiant
Str 6 Dex 14 Con 10 Int 14 Wis 15 Cha 15
Traits: Feywise, Water Touched
Favored Class Bonus: Skillpoint
Skills: Diplomacy, Handle Animal, Heal, Kn. (Nature), Perception, Sense Motive, Survival.
Feats: 1st Extra Essence, 3rd Life Bond, 5th ?, 7th Enhanced Capacity, 9th ?, 11th ?, 13th Share Veil.
Favorite Veils: Verdant Vambraces, Banelight Vortices, Martyr’s Toga
Vivification: 1st Ferocity

She is a nature scholar and healer, always super optimist, nice and joyful, but changes totally when she sees nature destroyed. She helps anyone protecting nature. Not very min-max-y but I really enjoy her ;)

Minu, LG female Shabti Nexus
Str 8, Dex 13, Con 16, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 17.
Skills: Intimidate, Kn. Planes, Kn. Religion, Perception, Use Magic Device.
Traits: Devotee of the Old Gods, Undead Crusader
Favored Class Bonus: Skill Point

An Osirioni "reincarnated" priestess that escapes her fate as a warrior of heaven in favor of learning about the "underworld", represented by her Convergence progression: Convergences: Heavens 1, Underworld 1, 2, 3, 4, Heavens 2 (Cap would also be underworld)

Spark, CN female Ifrit Solar Zodiac
"you only need a spark to start a conflagration"
Str 13 Dex 17 Con 10 Int 8 Wis 10 Cha 16
Traits: Flexible Forms, Reactionary
Favored Class Bonus: +1 fire damage for sign weapons
Feats: first ones would be Extra Essence, Point-Blank Shot, with 3 essence she would be able to manifest both the fire armor and weapon at first level.

A free spirit, Spark likes conflict and watching things (and creatures) burn. She could work as an antagonist or friend for the party. Her weapon progression would focus on increasing the fire damage, so she can penetrate any fire resistances enemies would have.

Share yours!

Damn! no money :-/ gotta painfully wait to geth the cash for this baby :-(

Quick question, are there any spells that can be used by qiggong monks?

loved the first 2, waiting to get home and later GM it for friends

Fantastic story! I love the hook that her Phantom is her deceased husband :)

To have acces to spell strike, spell combat AND broad study with, day, an evil cleric, worth it? I know that with a trait you get 2 caster levels back but, is it worth it? has someone done this? I would love a neutral cleric with spell strike and cause wounds spells.

Taking inspiration from comics, games etc, what would you add as elements? bones, light, darkness, shadows, blood, plants...

Appart from 3 levels of unchained rogue, slashing grace and agile weapons... are there any other option for dex to damage? How can I get dex to damage with my swashbuckler's estoc without agile?

From the Core, Advanced Player's, Ultimate Magic, Ultimate Combat and Advanced Class Iconics, who would you think would make an interesting party? If possible include one of each D&D roles (man at arms, healer, skillful, mage), if not just make a 4 people party.

Who I would like to see:
Alain (fighter)
Sajan (skillful)
Feiya (mage)
Alahazra (healer)

Alain calling everyone peasant, and Sajan's kung fu as "mumbo jumbo" would make my day.

OR

Enora (mage)
Lini (healer)
Lem (skillful)
Amiri, Seelah or Jirelle (fighter)

Lem singing how he and his harem adventure :D

So psychic magic is coming to pathfinder. The classes I have heard about are the Kineticist and the Medium, probably similar to the warlock and wizard. But what do you want in the book? Of course there will be clases, feats, spells (lots of them, specially if there is no overlap with existing spell lists), archetypes, magical ítems etc.

This is my wishlist:

A fakir-like class, using mind overbody to reduce or negate many attacks and conitions, similar to the Yogi class from 3.5 (from thea Slayers Guide to Rakshasas and Monte's top d20 content). Possibly with a ki pool. Maybe not a martial artist per-se but could be.

No psychic blaster-type beyond the kineticist.

New monsters with psychic magic, even if they are variants (like dragon kineticists, or rakshasa médiums), or templates.

A list of psychic magic spells usable by qiggong monks.

A wild talent feat chain (in the vein of eldritch heritage) to represent x-men like "mutants"

Favored clases bonus for all core races for all new classes.

Maybe paizo was fearing too many level-dips, but I think this archetype would have rocked with all wis-abilities based instead on Charisma. Any thoughts?

PS In my game they will be based on Cha.

So the Sacred Fist gains a Ki pool and the enhancements to unarmed strikes of a monk 3 levels lower... meaning that they get acces to Ki Strike (lawful). What about non-lawful monks? The obvious would be getting to chose an alignment to strike as, but it's not mentioned.

So, shile creating my first ACG carácter, a warpriest, I noticed I had to manage 5 different resources to power my abilities!
Blessings, Fervor,Sacred weapon duration, Sacred armor duration and, of course, Spells. Is it a bit too much? I would have prefered something akin to the bard or barbarian, a bigger resource pool with higher costs but that fuel at least the first 4. Comments?

OMG! 1st post :-)

I really like the planetouched. All of them, since 2ed. However, I never liked their 3rd edition iterations, nor their PF for the same reason. The aasi and tiefli in PF are too strong, and while I prefer the ability modifiers they gave to the "genasi" in PF, their abilities just plain suck (compared with the aforementioned A/T).

This is what I'm going to use in my campaign:

Stacking Resistance 2 RP: The character has elemental resistance 5, but it stacks with other types of elemental resistance.

The stacking resistance is priced like the advanced elemental resistance, so I think it's balanced and more flavourful (specially when most casters are going to get immunity eventually).

Elemental Affinity 3 RP: A member of this race gains special benefits when using magic associated to its element. It treats its intelligence as 2 points higher to cast spells from the associated elemental school and using school powers, its charisma score as 2 points higher for all sorcerer spells and class abilities and all oracle spells and revelations, its wisdom score as 2 points higher when casting spells from the appropriate elemental domain and using its granted powers. Furthermore, it treats its level as 1 higher when casting spells with the associated descriptor, determining the effects of associated school, bloodline and granted powers as well as revelations and to determine the damage of alchemist’s bombs (as long as they deal the associate damage).

Air:
Bloodlines: Djinni, Elemental Air, Stormborn
Elemental School: Air
Mystery: Wind
Domains: Air

Earth:
Bloodlines: Deep Earth, Elemental Earth, Shaitan
Elemental School:
Mystery: Stone
Domains: Earth

Fire:
Bloodlines: Efreeti, Elemental Fire
Elemental School:
Mystery: Flame
Domains: Fire

Water:
Bloodlines: Aquatic, Elemental Water, Marid
Elemental School:
Mystery: Waves
Domains: Water

I think the price is balanced since its a combination between elemental affinity and pyromaniac but without the spell-like abilities.

I also added some movement abilities, but what do you think?

My campaign is heavily based on the concepts of inner energy and martial arts. For this reason, I am developing a couple of options for some classes that would enable them to fit better.

First is a monastic bloodline for sorcerers. Like the empyreal bloodline, it uses wisdom to empower its spellcasting, and like the sage bloodline, it mentions charisma in its abilities for things like the Eldritch Heritage feat, but a sorcerer with this bloodline would use wisdom for all of them.

I'm basing it a bit on the shingenjo oracle archetype for tengus in ARG, but I'm having trouble on some of the bonus feats and spells and bloodline powers, so any suggestions are welcome.I'm basing most class feature on caster level instead of class level for the purposes of multiclassing, but if you think it's too powerful I can change it to sorcerer level. Also, would it be to powerful to let non-sorcerers benefit from the ki pool bloodline power using the eldritch heritage chain of feats?

Monastic Bloodline
You descend from a line of martial arts masters, and your inner strength is powerful indeed.
Class Skill: Sense Motive.
Bonus Spells: Ki Arrow (3rd), (5th), Magic Fan, Greater (7th), (9th), (11th), (13th), Ki Shout (15th), (17th), (19th).
Bonus Feats: .
Bloodline Arcana: Unlike most sorcerers whose innate magic is powered by force of personality, you use pure willpower to master and fuel your magic. You use your Wisdom, rather than your Charisma, to determine all class features and effects relating to your sorcerer class, such as bonus spells per day, maximum spell level you can cast, and the save DCs of your spells. You also gain the unarmed strike ability of a monk of half your caster level.
Bloodline Powers: Like a monk, you hone your combat ability with both training and spiritual enlightenment.

Ki Blast (Sp): Starting at 1st level, you can unleash a flame-like ball of ki as a standard action, targeting any foe within 30 feet as a ranged touch attack. This blast deals 1d4 points of force damage + 1 for every two sorcerer levels you possess. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Charisma modifier.

Ki Pool (Su): At 3rd level, you gain a pool of ki points, supernatural energy you can use to accomplish amazing feats. The number of points in the your ki pool is equal to 1/2 your caster level + your Charisma modifier.

The ki pool is replenished each morning after 8 hours of rest or meditation; these hours do not need to be consecutive. If you possess levels in another class that grants points to a ki pool, your levels stack with the levels of that class to determine the total number of ki points in the combined pool, but only one ability score modifier is added to the total. The choice of which score to use is made when the second class ability is gained, and once made, the choice is set. You can now use ki points from this pool to power the abilities of every class you possess that grants a ki pool.

As long as you have at least 1 point in her ki pool, you can add up to one point of your Charisma modifier per caster level to the damage of touch spells you cast (not from items). As a swift action, you may spend 1 point of ki to gain one of the following benefits.

Ki Magic: Add +1 to the DC or +2 to your caster level check made to overcome a creature’s spell resistance for the next spell you cast on your turn.

Ki Hand: Use your caster level + your Charisma modifier instead of your base attack bonus when using touch or ranged touch spells you cast.

Ki Insight: Gain a +4 insight bonus on Spellcraft checks for 1 round.

(): At 9th level, you gain the ability to

(): At 15th level, you gain

(): At 20th level, you gain

My campaign features extraordinary materials as an important part of the world. I used to gather all special materials and templates from many sources, and now that I checked the alchemist, want to include magic forging to it. However, I don't know which route to take. I checked the goldfever alchemist archetype from rpg superstar, and was inspired a little by it.

So what do you recommend? just a series of discoveries? an archetype? or a whole variant class?
Thanks in advance for your comments.