tsuruki's page

The good:
28 slightly different spells that summon the undead to do your bidding.
This includes usefull (emphasis on useful) spells of every (every) level.
Each spell level has a large selection of creatures drawn from Paizo and 3pp products, mainly the bestiaries and Tome of horrors.
If just one or two creatures arent enough for you the spells herein include ways to summon entire armies of the undead to fight your war's for you.

The bad:
Despite the huge variety of creatures many of them are redundant (How many different zombies who rejuvenate do you really need?). Whilst there is a slight lack of the standard zombie/skeleton templates and variants at higher levels. Zombie bears, skeleton tigers, ectoplasmic boars, there arent any. The "joke" creature great flaming crab is precisely what this document needs more of.

The ugly:
There is a lot of copy-paste going on in the spell lists and creature templates and a lot of room for small mistakes. Including the misplaced creature stat block for Phantom armor (Guardian) and spells appearing on the same spell list twice (Sor/wis Summon undead horde II appears both as a 5th and as a 7th level spell.)

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This document has tons of one thing, ways to summon the undead. Its useful for players of every level who want to play necromancers without the classic problem of lugging around a small army of skeletons wherever they go. Good for gms who like to make traps (undead summoning traps!). And good for npc's for a variety of reasons. Summon undead servant is a particularly flavorful spell. The Summoner alternate class is just icing.

The Good:
Thematic new weapon choice for casters.
Includes lots of support including traits, feats, enhancements, unique weapons and archetypes.
Good alternate weapon for spellcasters who want to extend their adventuring day.

The Bad:
No information on whether the weapon can be made masterwork or from special materials. Could you craft a Masterwork silver Spellstaff? No idea.
Inferior to the longbow, which is bad because they both require the same amount of investment to use, a proficiency feat.
Most casters wouldn't bother spending a feat to get longbow proficiency anyway.

The Ugly:
The Metamagic Empowerment feat is overwhelmingly powerful. In short: you could use a 2370gp Spellstaff to Quicken a 9th level spell once per day. Normally you must pay 170000gp to do the same three times per day, 56000gp per quickening.
No spellstaff related spells? No weird "Shrink spellstaff" or "Recharge spellstaff" or anything?
FaQ specifically states you cannot combine spellstaves and regular staves. WHY?

Potential modifications for your home game use:
Dont allow Metamagic Empowerment.
Spellstaff proficiency as a trait.

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Final verdict:
Its definitely flawed, but this booklet is still worth the cost. It presents interesting ideas and enough rules to back it up in game. I will be inducting spellstaves in most of my home games, but with a few modifications. Think of this supplement as idea fodder rather then a source of groundbreaking new rules. Would reccomend for any staff fanatics out there.