Before jumping into the crunch of the bundle, I have to talk about the price. The $2 savings did help sway my decision to pick these up sooner rather than later. Now, onto the good stuff...
ItB#3 The Oracle
Karuna Sattva(***): I really dig the faith healer spin of Carry thy Burden. I could foresee an evil Karuna Sattva cursing innocent people to then heal them to fuel their spell cancellation powers. Grab a Witch as a cohort if Leadership is allowed at your table for maximum effectiveness.
Diplomatique(****): This is a healing battery archetype that makes pacifism cool again. The addition of a reduced Lay on Hands gives it similar effectiveness as a typical OraDin build. This archetype would pair off really well with an Inquisitor for capturing and interrogating criminals as good cop/bad cop, with the Inquisitor doing the dirty work to keep the Diplomatique's hands clean according to the Code of Conduct.
Enigma Warden(***): Out of all of the archetypes and classes in these books, this is the one that has the most unique RP potential. For starters, I recommend that you only play this archetype with a group that you know has patience. You're going to be doing a lot of writing to communicate if you don't have some other means of communicating without talking. However, this archetype does lend itself nicely to the use of sign language and could be a useful means of practicing.
Ordained Scion(****): I really wanted to give this archetype 5 stars, but I feel that the exchange is completely balanced. From a numerical standpoint, a vanilla Oracle gets 7 revelations (including final) and an Ordained Scion gets 5 bloodline powers. I understand that getting a bunch of arcane spells as divine spells is a sizable boost worth at least a revelation. However, that would still leave the Ordained Scion one ability short, if you consider revelations and bloodline powers to be of equivalent value. I personally would've included the bloodline arcana in the trade, as most of them are no more powerful than the bloodline powers themselves. Otherwise, you have to give up one level of Oracle progression to take a Sorcerer dip to snag the bloodline arcana.
Warlock(*****): This class alone was worth the purchase. I could spend all 16,000 characters talking about the various builds you can come up with. Even without the smorgasbord of revelations at your disposal, the rest of the class gives it remarkable damage potential in both melee and ranged combat. Having the 3.5 concept of Invocations split into two separate sets of abilities, Blast Evolutions and Revelations, solved a major resource issue that the original Warlock had. Now every Warlock can have a customized Eldritch Blast without becoming a one-trick pony in combat. Antimagic Points gives the Warlock a nice means of shutting down casters. I really hope that this class gets further support with magic items, feats, favored class bonuses, and warlock-specific revelations.
Covenborn(****): I'll admit that it took me a couple of reads of this class to give it a fair shot as Warlockmania was running wild in my head when I first read it. That said, I can see where this class can be very useful. This is what you hand to a player who wants to play with a witch coven when no one else in the group does. Upon further examination, the double-dip on Coven hex/Accursed bloodline arcana is a fair trade for the SLAs gained, considering costly material components. I think what I like most about this class is that it's not limited to one kind of entry, although clearly written to take advantage of the Ordained Scion archetype for the bloodline. I think the 8/9/10 spell progression allows each Covenborn to pick a side to be focused on in terms of arcane/divine or find a balanced middle. When finished off with 5 levels of Mystic Theurge, the logical progression point for 16-20, a focused build (CasterA 4/CasterB 1) has CL of 18 and 13. The balanced build, CasterA 3/CasterB 2 and CasterB progression at Covernborn 7, will have CL 16 in both classes instead.
The new mysteries and curses add some new fun options to mix things up, but Wrath is the only one that really stands out with Obliteration and Gehenna. One thing that I really appreciate about all of these revelations is that they are Warlock-friendly.
ItB#4 The Witch
Bailiwick Hermit(****): Never leave home again! This has probably my favorite replacement for a Witch's Familiar, with the Familiar Place providing so many useful benefits to a party. The FP can continue traveling on auto-pilot while the party sleeps inside, complete with Alarm to get the party up at a moment's notice.
Bog Builder(****): Mechanically, this archetype has a lot going for it with its ever-growing familiar. Thematically, all I hear are hillbilly witches in my head.
Bulwark Theurgist(***): If everyone's playing a good character, she gets to shine as a support caster. However, her overall utility is bound to the composition of the party; making it a situational archetype. Otherwise, I would've given it a higher rating.
Disciple of the Bloody Hand(***): This archetype invokes images of Grandmama and Thing from the Addams Family. Best out of combat use for Grim Trophy? Giving yourself a round of applause. Bards focused on entertaining should consider picking a Disciple up as a cohort. If someone tried to pull this at my table, I'd give them a +1 aid another bonus for each set of clapping hands. Second best use for Grim Trophy would be "ranged" Sleight of Hand.
Dweomer Weaver(*****): The very first thing I thought of when I read over the class was the old point-and-click game Loom by LucasArts. This girls club of an archetype with some pretty gnarly powers. Woven Witch's Familiar is by far one of the most powerful familiar replacements available by essentially becoming a intelligent slotless magic item. Spell Loom lets the Dweomer Weaver pop off two spells (or three via Quickened) in a single turn. However, her most underhanded power is Sever the Thread. It's the answer to Eldritch Heritage builds that get out of hand.
Feybound Crone(****): This is the class for people who know their fey. In the hands of a knowledged player, this can be a very scary archetype based on the progression of the fey familiar.
Foul Temptress(***): Arcane seductress that can make do as a party face in a group without a Charisma-focused character. Deadly Kiss is kinda brutal, but that's to be expected out of a 18th level ability.
Gluttonous Crone(***): My only complaint is that getting the most out of it requires time micromanagement that will probably annoy the rest of the table. Better suited for use as an NPC.
Marjara Bound(*****): There is nothing bad I can say about this archetype. This celebration of the classic witch's familiar trope comes with dashes of crazy cat lady and slightly-better-than-vanilla lyconthropy.
Scorned Heart(*****): Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. This is one of the better archetypes to take for those seeking a melee witch. My only wish is that she could take Extra Rage to increase her rounds of Vengeance Incarnate.
Voodoo Crafter(*****): This is another fantastic archetype for support builds. They're essentially scrolls that are Quickened and don't need to be in hand to use. It really helps the overall action economy as everyone else can switch on their buffs/heals themselves while you toss hexes and spells to debuff the enemy. It also progresses to a decent enough point to multiclass towards Arcane Trickster at level 4.
Sevite(****): I respect the work put into this class, as it mixes the actual history of the source of inspiration into the mechanics of the class. The different loa provide a nice assortment of SLAs with a couple decent ones while ridden.
Heathen(*****): There aren't many magus-friendly prestige classes available in the core books, so something like this is always welcome. While it is useful with almost every magus archetype, it's no surprise that this class has amazing synergy with the Hexcrafter archetype. If taken with only the 1-dip necessary for the witch side and the rest as a HC 7/HE 10/HC 2 split between Hexcrafter and Heathen, you'd still be able to get two Grand Hexes via Hex Arcana at levels 19 & 20. My only complaint is one that is beyond your control. Thematically, this class would blend very well with the Bladebound magus archetype, but unfortunately cannot due to the Black Blade forbidding the Bladebound from getting a familiar. My personal recommendation is to ask your GM to houserule the Black Blade not blocking a familiar as long as the Black Blade comes from your patron.
Scarred Shaman(****): How do you make a Constitution-based casting archetype better? Give it Rage with a source of limited casting while raging. If your GM allows you to take Scarred Witch Doctor as something other than an Orc, I recommend taking this prestige class if you plan on being close to the front lines.
The new hexes and feats are a nice assortment of new options. However, the ones that I see getting the most mileage are Babble, Healing Earth, and the Hedge Talisman family. Babble is a welcome addition to any build to cripple enemy casters, especially paired with Distracting Hex and Disrupt Arcane Connection. Healing Earth is a nice out-of-combat healing hex that reduces the need to spend spell slots on cure spells. Hedge Talisman essentially turns your spells into spell-trigger items that don't require a UMD check. Just don't be surprised if your GM throws a book at your head for abusing them. Use Hedge Talismans responsibly.
All in all, both books add a lot of options to the table. It allows the Oracle and Witch to take different approaches to the hats they already wear without taking any roles away from the other classes. If you've got the Hamilton to spare and a group open to awesome 3PP, I highly recommend picking these up while they're still bundled.
