Deep Magic (PFRPG) PDF

First off, I have to say the book is gorgeous. I love the non-glossy pages and the art is great. I was skeptical of whether or not this would stack up to a main-line pathfinder book in terms of physical quality (as I had no experience buying from a 3pp before), and it certainly does.

Diving into the content I was overwhelmed with the number of spells available in the book; there are a lot of them. No matter who you are, you will find something to love in Deep Magic. For me, it's the clockwork magic: its not overpowered (yes there are a few balance concerns I will address later), its flavorful, and its fun.

The spells make up the bulk of the book, however there are several sidebars for new content outside of spell in just about every chapter. Chapter 1 goes into new types of magic that are represented within deep magic going from clockwork magic, to ioun stone magic, and several others. Chapter 1 has many sidebars that add bits and pieces of flavor to the content itself but comes off as sporadic. Many of these sections are short and create sort of a 'thrown together' feel. The organization of chapter 1, and the placement of sidebar content in general, will leave the reader flipping back and fourth to find that one cool new ioun stone, or that awesome vril feat time and time again.

Balance wise most of the spells are just fine. But I always seem to find a few that are pushing the limit for what a spell of a giving level can do. Chronal Lance staggers creatures for a number of rounds per caster level without a save, and simply requires a ranged touch attack to stick. It's a bit much for a first level spell.

Granted, for every spell I had an issue with there are a few more that I absolutely love. So don't let a few questionable spells ruin the trove of goodies this book contains. There are several spells that disregard spell resistance, and several that don't allow for saving throws, not to say these are inherently bad things to see on spells. It simply makes them more potent, and in some cases, too potent. I would advise GM's to look over the content carefully before allowing it in games.

Deep Magic has several options for players outside of spell selection. There are a handful of archetypes (mostly wizard archetypes), sorcerer bloodlines, and oracle mysteries, as well as a few subsystems that are tacked on. The sorcerer bloodlines are very strong compared to the Paizo bloodlines (especially when you bring eldritch heritage into the picture), but are flavorful non the less. The oracle mysteries are well done, and the archetypes are nice ways to make use of the new magic types.

The biggest issue that sticks out in Deep Magic is the editing. There are a areas where clarity is not provided, and important details on how a spell functions are glanced over. Some spells contradict each other on whether or not a saving throw is allowed, or when the saving throw is to be made.
Now that is not to say there is no good content in Deep Magic, just be prepared to make some calls and modifications of your own if you find balance to be an issue.

Overall, I am happy with my purchase, happy but not amazed. There were more issues than I would like to have had come up during game play, but Deep Magic has certainly enhanced my Pathfinder experience more than it has hurt it, once I had a chance to sort through everything.

I give this book 3.5 stars rounding down to 3 for the purposes of this review, due to the number of corrections that could have been made in a second pass of editing.

Let me just say (as I’ve said before) this is the book “Ultimate Magic” should have been. This book is a must have for any player who gravitates toward magic using classes, and with Incantations from Chapter 4 you don’t even have to be a spellcaster. Here’s a brief breakdown of the book:
Chapter One: New Magic Options offers many new spells from some pretty specific sources, ranging from Angels, Minotaurs, Time, and much more. Included in this chapter is the section on Vril, the primal, raw magic that exists all around us. It’s the “spellfire” of the Pathfinder game, I guess you could say. Of the specific types of spells and magic it may be my favorite, though Time and Chaos/Wonder magic are right up there.
Chapter One also brings us Ley Lines, a fantasy tradition that posits the world is crisscrossed with lines of power where a spellcaster can tap into the energy that suffuses the world itself. A Ley Line magic user is powerful and not to be reckoned with.

Chapter Two is the part we waited for the most; new spells - 733 new spells. Some are pretty specialized to certain classes or types of magic, but not so much you can’t use them for another compatible spellcaster. This is the meat of the book, and it’s mighty tasty, indeed.

Chapter Three brings us Symbolic Magic, or the magic of glyphs, runes, and ink magic, which is the magic of ciphers and the power of ink drawings. I found this to be a pretty interesting school, and the book even suggests ink magic could be an optional type of magic, rather than a school. The sections on runes include Aboleth glyphs, magic going back before the dawn of the gods themselves. This is a really good chapter that goes in depth to make these playable and fun.

Chapter Four offers the magic of Words and Incantations. The section on Incantations offers some truly interesting and potent magic often found being used by hedge wizards, adepts, etc. A great deal of detail is offered in this section on the rituals and ritual spaces needed to cast this magic and really makes for an interesting read.
Word magic continues a concept that first appeared in Paizo’s “Ultimate Magic”, whereby using the spoken word to shape magic into new or variant spells and effects is explained. Word magic is flexible and customizable. This system expands on the original words of power with new ones, and makes it easy to incorporate them alongside the existing words of power found in UM.

Chapter Five brings new Bloodlines and Mysteries to the player. The new bloodlines, at least some of them, seem pretty esoteric. For example, the Raven Blooded bloodline is relegated to Ravenfolk only. Others, such as the Aboleth, Mechanical, and Ooze bloodlines bring elements of strangeness to the Sorcerer not found before. There is also a Vril bloodline, which offers the Sorcerer the ability to channel the substance of magic through his blood.

Chapter Six offers us, among others, the Chaos mage, the Demon Binder, the Clockwork Mage, and the Vril Adept. More specialized are the Iounmancer and the Cultist of Charun.

Chapter Seven talks about the Homunculus, Magic Item familiars, Leastlings (strange little man shaped constructs covered in needles that can be used minions and even assassins. The section on crafting undead is perfect for the budding necromancer in your group, giving details on how to create many different types of the traditional undead found in fantasy RPGs.

Chapter Eight offers the reader nine sample spellcasters that use some of the options presented in “Deep Magic”. The NPCs range from CR 5 to CR 20, with some pretty unique individuals included such as Grog Bonegrinder, the Cheerful Goblin, Lady Sorreminx, a “cruel Elven noble”, and a disfigured Clockwork Mage.

The artwork throughout is excellent, and the pages themselves are beautiful, being slightly textured and not glossy (which I really liked) with runes and thaumaturgic circles seen faintly behind the text. Heck, the book even smells good! The binding is good and should provide years of use without worrying about pages coming loose. If I could count off for anything, there are an uncomfortable number of typographic errors from using the wrong word in a sentence to many misspellings. There is an errata sheet coming, but something as long awaited as this book should’ve been proofread a little closer. I’m taking a star for this, as the mistakes can be pretty glaring.
Overall I’m giving “Deep Magic” 4. This book is indispensable for the serious magic using players in your game. It’s well worth the money and the wait; probably one of the finest Kickstarter products I’ve seen. Pick this one up and happy casting!

Its a great book. Lots and lots of great stuff! I really can't stress this enough...

But...

Some of the options for spellcaster in the first chapter seem very sketchy. They would be hard to drop or use in my campaign without more rework. Also a number of them reference other Kobold products (which I don't mind, but in the interest of full disclosure...).

The spell seem well balanced for the level, though of course, YMMV (your mileage may vary). Most of them work just fine, others are ... odd and and have specialized uses. But hey, in a world of magic, who is to say that specialized spell for what-have-you aren't around?

Over all I am very satisfied with my purchase and I love the book. Highly recommended. It gets the creative juices flowing!

My -one- disappointment, to get it out of the way, is all the Clockwork stuff being mixed up in the Time Magic. Really wish it had been seperate, I'll have to homebrew that a bit. Still, it does give me an idea or three involving a Pocket Watch arcane bond... so not all bad there.

But everything else? I'm in /love/ with it. Ioun Stone Magic is prolly my fave, but the Rune Magic is a very close second.

I've never been so happy with a group of non-core magic rules since the Tome of Magic, and if you knew how many Anima Mages, Binders, Incarnum-users, Bards and Wizards I've played- well, let's just say it's been a lot.

A slightly deeper review extends below-

1-Flavor) Story by Ed Greenwood? I like. While he isn't my favorite /author/, per se, he's definitely my favorite worldbuilder/designer and he just has this way of making magic MAGICAL. I can't find any shame with the rest of the flavor, though it's short and sweet in most areas. I wish they had room for more- but Five Staves nonetheless, they didn't skimp out on us.

2-Archetypes and Feats) Plenty to work with, and variety abounds. They knew when to be specific, and when to be vague- though I wish there was a little more development for such as Battle Magic, Abyssal Magic, and the sort. Four and a half out of Five Ioun Stones.

3-Spells) I have no words to describe the variety. While I can't say they're all perfectly balanced, nothing from my skim of the lists and descriptions stands out as more gamebreaking than the core itself gives. And I've found quite a few good, flavorful goodies with solid effects to add to my own arsenal. Five Rings.

4-Everything Else) The look and organization of the PDF is definitely solid, very nice artwork accompanies it, though I can't help but feel the pages are overly cramped; perhaps that's a matter of how much they fit in, but I can only give Four out of Five Wands on this one.

To sum up- GMs beware; my spellbook is loaded. ;3

If Wolfgang is involved in the product you can trust that it is going to be top quality. Deep Magic observes this rule in spades. The quality and quantity of content this book offers is sure to sate even the most demanding gamer (e.g., me). Everything from the gaming content to the layout to the artwork to the organization is of the highest quality. From new magic options such as Battle Magic, Blood Magic, Ley Line Magic and Gambling Magic to 200 pages of new spells to new spell-casting archetypes to magical constructs... Deep Magic delivers again and again and again. This book could literally have been a two or three separate books. Deep Magic is a masterpiece that will certainly influence my gaming sessions for years to come.