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Words of Power Unleashed (PFRPG) PDF

Interjection Games

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The Words of Power system first introduced by Paizo in Ultimate Magic is a respectable attempt at producing a modular magical system that does not divorce itself from the notion of Vancian and spontaneous casting where it is due. Its problem, like so many of the ideas in first party Pathfinder publications, is in its published content to ambition ratio. Simply put, Words of Power is a skeleton; only the heart of what the system should be is even present. The weird spells that make magic fun to begin with simply are not there. Instead, this move into the wonders of something modular rehashes only the most basic spells. This, all on its own, deals a deathblow to the system, as variety and combinatorial possibility is the selling point of every modular system ever.

Thankfully, the core concept of Words of Power is relatively sound, so all that is needed to make it fun is to expand upon the various words that make up the content. Words of Power Unleashed offers a selection of 3 new target words, 4 new meta words, and 10 new effect words chosen that add tactical depth and, most importantly, fun options to your wordcaster.

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No sample wordspells? Boo!

There are some interesting Target/Effect words, though, but many aren't allowed to have Target Words other than those in the document.

Wizards can access about half of the new effects, clerics seem to get a slightly better deal, but I'd have to look closer to be sure.

-Ben.

Yeah, sorry for that, Ben. The longer I worked with Words of Power, the more frustrated I got with it. This is a pared down product from a largely scrapped work that would have been that one chapter of Deep Magic months before that was a twinkle in a certain kobold's eye. The end result of my rebellion against this system was the ethermancer. You can see somewhat similar design in the blast etherspells, but I think not trying to reinvent all of magic helps the ethermancer maintain a compact whole, while its "mana bar" approach makes combining small effects to make one big spell not a total disaster of an idea like it is for Words of Power.

As the class has fairly thoroughly stolen the tinker's thunder and become my #1 product of 2014, I think it all turned out for the best.

Aleron

Sep 17, 2014, 02:32 am

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Pathfinder LO Special Edition Subscriber

Reminder to myself to look at this a bit closer...was considering Words of Power for one of my homebrew campaigns and fleshing it out a bit more with words would help.