Tomes of Ancient Knowledge (PFRPG) PDF

So to start a string of reviews that don't have a title involving the word fantastic here is one of the first, Tomes of Ancient Knowledge. To start this book strives to accomplish 3 things in my mind. Number 1, to create a new and thematically appropriate system for sanity & madness mechanics for the pathfinder system, present the concept of mythos themed spells, creatures, and spellcasting in an interesting and thematically sound way, and presenting us with some thematic and compelling examples of these vile tomes.

First up is the sanity system and I have to say that they hands down hit it out of the park. For those of you who like me have a passion for a certain pulp author themed high mortality horror game you've all had that fantasy at least once of being able to run some of those madness rules inside your pathfinder game. The problem I've always found though is the dissonance between the two mediums with Call of Cthulhu's sanity mechanic being very well built to help promote that horror through it's disempowerment while simultaneously being ill suited to the power fantasy that pathfinder is built to help promote. In short, the big problem with the sanity mechanic is that it's built to increase the fun by taking away a characters power which is the exact opposite of what pathfinder is built to do. Now with all that stacked against them Legendary has somehow managed to pull it off. To start the system doesn't lock itself to your wisdom stat(the classic choice for most sanity ports) but instead is built around your lowest mental stat. This does two things, one it allows players to build the character they want and not have to pump a certain stat specifically, second it manages to somehow leave no one class truly safe from the madness of the mythos. Now you get to watch as your paladin becomes more forgetful, your wizard become unhinged, and your monk slowly become more and more distant and despondent until they start shouting Tekelili! at the top of their lungs. Next even though accruing madness does bring about some penalties to your stats it also grants boons including incite into the mythos and bonuses on rolls against it. Top this off with ways to handle the penalties including temporary and permanent solution and you have what might be the best system I've seen to handle insanity to date.

Next up we kind of have to talk about the tomes which make up the bulk of this book. Now I have to say that pretty much everything else in this book from after the sanity system on is pretty much GM's eyes only until your players get their hands on one of these dark and terrible tomes so if you are a player I suggest you stop reading to avoid spoiling the surprise. For the rest of you though carry on.

Now this book might not be for everyone, but if you have any interest in trying to pull of a pathfinder game with cthulhian elements or that wonderful cosmic horror that games like Call of Cthulhu have then you definitely need to pick this one up, now. There is not a better book for it.

The glorious return of Legendary Games is heralded by this new PDF, which covers one of the most useful yet frequently poorly done ideas in fantasy horror RPGing, the timeless tomes of forgotten lore. The PDF itself is very well done, coming in both full-color and black and white versions for printing. It is nineteen pages long, and has a title, table of contents, credits, bios of the creators, legal information, and a back page that tells you what else the company has to offer. That’s six pages altogether, and the rest is devoted to some very fine work indeed.

First comes a section on sanity checks. Not as dangerous to PCs as similar ones found in other games where you can end up a hopeless gibbering lunatic the first time you see something awful, (as the writers say, heroic fantasy PCs should be a little tougher than that) but it still allows for a slow chipping away at the sanity of PCs who confront one eldritch abomination too many or who cast one too many Mythos spells. This slow fall into madness makes you easier to affect with certain spells, and harder to use some Intelligence based skills except for Mythos-related skill checks. So it gets easier to find out more about the awful truths that drive you insane as you go increasingly mad.

We also get a quick definition of the Mythos descriptor for spells and monsters (basically, the classic Lovecraftian horrors) that is simple and works very well for Pathfinder. In a nice and creepy touch, we’re also told that Mythos spells can be used by non-spellcasters in a weakened form that will still drive you utterly mad.

Then come the books, and they are indeed original! First up is the Sarkulis Shards, a group of inscribed large crystals once used by a barbaric cannibalistic witch cult that venerated the World Eater, a great serpent. The new spells here are based around nasty effects involving either cannibalism or snakes or both. Next are the stone Xanthutep Tablets, written in hieroglyphs and revolving around bizarre spells that allow one to warp and bend reality. Then comes the allegorical poems of the Palestone Analects with spells that can transform you in various grisly ways, some of them involving human sacrifice, And lastly is All Flesh and Form By Flame Made Ash, which has a few spells but is more original in that it teaches some new (and very nasty) metamagic feats that fire-loving mages will go crazy for.

Literally.

This is a wonderful addition to any campaign that uses horror elements or has characters who research the past. I was dismayed that they only have four books in here, but one can always hope for a second PDF in this series. This is wholeheartedly recommended for anyone with a love for Lovecraft in their Pathfinder. The stars are indeed right! All five of them.

This supplement is 19 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page ToC, 1 page author bios, 1 page SRD and 1 page back cover, leaving us with 13 pages of content, so let's check this out!

Legendary Games, back from the hiatus, continues to provide us with plug-in products that further enrich the APs of Paizo and to the everlasting joy of yours truly, have returned with a triple offering of further supplements for the wonderful Carrion Crown AP.

After a short introduction on how to use this pdf, we are introduced to Sanity rules! Yes, sanity rules! The system herein is more geared towards providing general penalties and being tied to the books provided and thus can be considered serviceable, if not as elaborate as the one I use in my home-game - I still would love a vast system of madness and sanity with quirks, disorders etc.: Preferably at around 30 - 100 pages, but honestly, I hope legendary games expands the basic rules and eliminates the generic penalties for madness effects in the revision - the basic system is well-made and great at the scarce space devoted to it. Following these neat pieces of crunch, we are introduced to a new descriptor - the mythos-descriptor, which denotes creatures and spells associated with the dark tapestry. For those not familiar on what to expect, here's a short run down: Some regular spells also have [Mythos]-versions, which can potentially unhinge one's sanity and several creatures are also categorized as being Mythos-creatures. And then there's the introduction of Mythos rituals, which enable people who'd otherwise be unable to cast a spell or ritual to do so, but at the cost of the caster's sanity. Cool ideas that need to be expanded further.

After this initial crunch, we are introduced to new tomes and here I have to inject something: I was always concerned about spellbooks and magical tomes sucking in iterations of D&D and being just collections of spells. Raging Swan Press's "So what's that spellbook like, anyways?" has addressed the problem, but this supplement takes the idea up to eleven with the first tome being the Sarkulis Shards, which are a collection of strange, red glowing crystals inscribed with nordic runes by dread witch-cannibal cults devoted to the serpent world eater. An extensive section of lore as well as 6 new witch spells are contained in this most-intriguing tome, the spells enabling a witch to create razor sharp, vampiric diamonds from their blood, call hellish ghouls, implant cannibalistic compulsions in foes, dazzle foes with weird flying serpents, entangle and crush them via madding illusions and even call servants of the dread World Eater to serve your whim.

The second tome in this book is another one in an uncommon form - the Xanthutep Tablets, written in ancient hieroglyphics, were once penned (or rather chiseled) by heretics of an ancient pharaonic hierocracy (Osirion, anyone?) and include a spell that bends space to grant you a massive miss chance and get an AC-bonus, increase your reach, can dimension door with a shockwave that sends your foes to their knees, wrinkle reality to gain a luck bonus (though that one is rather petty),a shield against force effects and t5wo improved, mythos-related scrying spells as well as a variant summoning that can call Hounds of Tindalos as well as a mind-damaging true seeing. All of these spells have some kind of cool cost/danger associated with them and frankly, I'd enjoy magic in PFRPG even more if all spells were designed like this!

The third tome is the Palestone Analects, a collection of disturbing and weird poems that includes a version of false life that can be improved by etching diagrams into a victim's face (!!!) and pouring acid on him/her. Faces are a topic here, and a disguise spell is twofold and shows you as a disturbing, faceless being and there's also a version that adds a rage effect. And then there are three elemental body mythos spells that also make you partially amorphous.

The final tome contained herein is called "All Flesh & Form by Flame made Ash" and is different from the other books in that while it contains spells, it also contains 4 different Mythos Metamagic feats:
-Ashen Spell: +3 caster levels, fire damage results in a glitterdust-like effect by ash,
-Atomic Spell: +1 or +2 levels, adds bubonic plague radiation sickness effects to your spells, either with onset or immediately.
-Incinerating Spell: The fire-spells ignore hardness and deal 200% damage instead of 150% to vulnerable creatures. Also incinerate foes slain by the spell. +1 level.
-Smoking Spell: +0 or +2 levels: Leave a fog cloud or a stinking cloud with fire area spells.

Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn't notice any glitches. Layout adheres to a horizontal, two-column standard in gorgeous full-color. Legendary Games' gothic, cool layout in full color, with blood splotches and glorious full color artworks, one for each book, is stellar and up to Paizo standards -beautiful indeed! The pdf comes fully bookmarked and the pdf also includes a full-color background-less version for ease of printing out.

I'm a sucker for things Mythos-related and that's no secrets, but even if you don't like the great dark tapestry this pdf still has something to offer to you - perfect examples on why "Necronomicon" and "Von unausspechlichen Kulten" are household names and why your players don't even remember the name of the latest tome they've found: CoC tomes are characters in their own right, with quirks and dangers and significant, unique benefits to be obtained. And these tomes finally bring this sense of uniqueness and identity to PFRPG, providing an awesome example on how to make books stellar protagonists in your game.
Add to that the cool concept of providing benefits beyond the normal at the cost of detrimental effects to one's body/sanity and we have spells that work very much how I'd prefer magic to be - powerful, but with an inherent risk that needs competent practitioners and still leaves the sense of danger and wonder intact. That being said, not all of the new spells herein feel perfectly balanced and honestly, while the production values are stellar, I still feel this pdf is rather on the short side. If you don't mind any of that, you will love this pdf as much as I did and if you're one of the players/DMs who enjoy flavorful spells and concepts over powergaming utility, I can definitely recommend this to you, if not, you might wish to detract a star. Personally, I love this pdf and thus, my final verdict will be 5 stars.

Endzeitgeist out.