Pathways #9 (PFRPG) PDF

This installment of RiP's free e-zine is 46 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page SRD, 18 pages of advertisements, leaving 25 pages of content for our perusal, so let's check out what we get, shall we?

In tradition with the e-zine, the pdf kicks off with a neat editorial and then goes on to provide a template that is rather creepy, the whispering phantasm (CR +2), which essentially bonds a creature to a victim who then may perceive the creature, even when it's currently on another plane, while all others remain oblivious to the presence of the creature. The application of the template as well as the stunning one-page b/w-artwork rock hard - the template is applied to a Star-spawn of Cthulhu, resulting in an epic CR 22 foe. Neat!

The next article by Jonathan McAnulty offers us some insight on clerics of loss and darkness, including 3 new sacred tomes, 3 new spells (one of which is a powerful lvl 9 ritual that keeps the morning from coming and prolongs the night, but at a price to the caster) as well as channeling information for the Night and Loss domains for the divine channeler class.

After this, Creighton Broadhurst introduces us to a mad hermit in a ready-to-drop encounter with a mad priest and his ghoulish friends - neat, especially if you just want to throw some spontaneous spookiness at your PCs.

Will McCardell, also known as Cheapy on the Paizoboards, author of the rather interesting "Secrets of Tactical Archetypes" also has some new fodder for you in his article "Expanding the Pack Hunter". Herein, we find two solutions to make the PAck Hunter and his companions spell-less and still a threat to flying foes as well as guidelines to play Pack Hunters that use creatures that are not wolves with two examples, namely falcons and DEINONYCHUS. Saurian packs? NICE!

Matt Banach provides a beautifully-written Renku to a stunning illustration by Jason Rainville before we get into a neat interview with Scott Gable, mastermind of Zombie Sky Press, elaborating on ZSP's future plans and the current, cool kickstarter patronage project "It came from the Stars".

The pdf closes with an selection of reviews by Dark_Mistress, Dawn Fischer, Megan Robertson and yours truly.

Conclusion:
Editing and formatting were better than in most Pathways, I noticed only 2 minor glitches. Layout adheres to the beautiful two-column standard and the artworks serve their purpose (though Mark Hyzer's b/w-star-spawn ROCKS). The pdf comes with no bookmarks. I'm a sucker for dark things. Dreadful things. It should come as no surprise that this is my favorite installment of Pathways to date and this being free, the only investment you have to make is the space on your HD. What's not to like about this? My final verdict will be 5 stars and the Endzeitgeist seal of approval.

Endzeitgeist out.