Bite Me! Archetypes (PFRPG) PDF

This installment of the Bite Me-series clocks in at 17 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page ToC, 2 pages of SRD, 1 page advertisement, leaving us with 11 pages of content, so let's take a look!

The first archetype herein would be the Lycanthologist alchemist, who chooses one type of animal - said type becomes available for a kind of empathy that allows for better handling (i.e. "raptors") and at 3rd level, the mutagen of this archetype allows for kind-of-lycanthropic shapes and some minor alter self-bonus scavenging instead of swift alchemy, with subsequent levels allowing for mutagens that also allow for beast shape-like benefits alongside some minor lycanthrope-themed benefits.

Feral Ragers replace their defensive tricks with DR/silver equal to 1/2 Barbarian level -which may not sound like much, but he also gets + class level extra rage rounds - upon first entering them, though, the feral rager becomes confused on a failed will-save, rendering this a dangerous proposition. The Soother of the Savage bard gets a modified spell-list and is themed around emotional control - whether it is according to calm allies and prevent hostilities or incite them, with lycanthropes or raging creatures being particularly susceptible.

The wild rider cavalier can instill barbarian-like rage in his mount and even share natural attacks with the mount, with higher levels further increase these powers - rather interesting one here! Moon Templar clerics must choose the lunar subdomain and 1/day during a full moon, may freely augment domain spells via metamagic. Alas, I'm not sold on the ability to channel energy at +50% efficiency for lycanthropes, with free selective channeling for the purpose of lycanthropes - whether as hunters or in all-lycanthrope-parties, I'm not sold on the massive damage-increase this freely provides for some of the most powerful 1st level abilities out there.

The Lycanthropic Soul Druid receives beast shape added to the spell-list and may cast them spontaneously; DR and summoning lycanthropes are also provided. Fighters may opt for the Master of Tooth, Nail and Sword for a better manufactured weapon + natural weapon-synergy -less penalties, full Str-mod, etc. - while not something flashy, it does the job well. The Avenging Gun Gunslinger gets favored enemy and two deeds - one for better atk versus foes that have damaged him and one to bypass DR - this one is pretty bland in my book, and the same extends to the Hunter of the Damned inquisitor, who gets an annoying shapeshifter-detect and better atk and damage versus lycanthropes. The Clawed Magus can enhance both natural attacks and weapons at once - nice! Simple, but nice!

Master of Inner Turmoil Monks may add non-claw-natural attacks to flurries and uses unarmed strike damage for the bite of her animal and hybrid forms - nice! Using hybrid attacks in humanoid form also is interesting -a cool archetype here, even before ki-powered shapechange-healing! The Oracle may opt for the Lunar Prophet archetype, with a moon-powered augury and immunity to lycanthropy and disruptive tricks via touch attacks. Paladins can turn into Holy Beasts, allowing for control over their lycanthropy and spell-list enhancement. The archetype also gets an animal companion at -4 levels and can smite evil lycanthropes with higher efficiency than other smites -solid! The Beast Warden ranger can identify lycanthropes via a check that does not take into account the disguise skills of lycanthropes, only HD. Bad in my book. They may grant favored enemy bonuses to their companions and high-level wardens get a lycanthrope cohort.

Bestial infiltrator rogues do not gain evasion, but can grant himself +2 to Dex for 2 x level rounds as a free action...lame? Danger sense and animal companion/scale up to +4/+6 Dex via talents doesn't help much here to remedy the weak rogue class bereft of one of its best, free defenses - needing to spend a talent on it is not cool. Sorcerors can take the new Lycanthrope bloodline - which obviously nets you scaling bite, DR, increased speed, etc. - still, not a good choice for squishy sorcs.

Moonlight summoners can easily make their eidolons get bites and can give them DR and make them inflict lycanthropy. Nice one! The Werelock witch is perhaps the most unique archetype herein - and awesome: They can turn their familiars into an anthropomorphic animal, with more forms, proficiencies etc. all being covered - this makes the witch more of a pet-class and thus results in diminished spell-casting, with 7 hexes/major hexes allowing for more customization. The final archetype would be the Feral Caster, who gets free natural spell at 5th level and automatically adds beast shape spells. As bland as the werelock's awesome.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting, both on a formal and a rules-language level, are very good. Layout adheres to a beautiful two-column full-color standard and the copiuous artworks provided are original and high-quality. The pdf comes fully bookmarked for your convenience. The pdf comes with a second, more printer-friendly version that sports the artworks in b/w. Nice!

Mike Welham's archetypes (with additional content by Sean K. Reynolds, Morgan Boehringer, Jim Wettstein) herein are not bad, not at all - while the unifying theme arguably makes much variation not something you find herein, there is more diversity in here than one would expect at first glance. And indeed, quite a few of the archetypes herein are interesting and tackle relatively complex concepts. However, at the same time, some archetypes are obvious filler material and fall behind significantly behind the more inspired examples of design herein, which is also why this mechanically solid pdf misses highest accolades and only clocks in as a solid, good pdf for a final verdict of 3. 5 stars, rounded up to 4 due to the inspired archetypes for some of the classes in here.

Endzeitgeist out.

This is a review for 'Bite Me: Archtypes', a supplement by Misfit Games. I'm not a native speaker (I'm German), so I may have fumbled my language skill checks from time to time. Give me a note if I wrote something wrong and I'll try to make myself more clear.

Bite Me: Archtypes consists of 10 pages of information with some nice pics (and a cover, table of content and so on). There is a full color and a printer friendly version both.

The supplement has 18 archtypes, one for every class out of the Core Rulebook, the APG and Ultimate Magic, with the exception of Sorcerer, but they get a new bloodline (Lykanthropic). So there is something for almost everyone here to check out. The Bite Me series being what it is the focus naturally lies on lycanthrops, but this is not a supplement for archtypes for lykanthrops only as one may think, but everything from emulating them (alchemist) to fighting them (inquisitor) or something in between (ranger). In addition we get 7 new hexes, a new clerical subdomain and three new Rogue talents. You don't need any other product of the Bite Me series to use this supplement.

All in all we get the following Archtypes:
Lycanthologist (Alchemist)
Feral Rager (Barbarian)
Soother of the Savage (Bard)
Wild Rider (Cavalier)
Moon Templar (Cleric)
Lycanthropic Soul (Druid)
Master of Tooth, Nail and Sword (Fighter)
Avenging Gun (Gunfighter)
Hunter of the Damned (Inquisitor)
Clawed Magus (Magus)
Master of Inner Turmoil (Monk)
Lunar Prophet (Oracle)
Holy Beast (Paladin)
Beast Warden (Ranger)
Bestial Infiltrator (Rogue)
Moonlight Summoner (Summoner)
Werelock (Witch)
Feral Caster (Wizard).

I'll start my review with the not-perfect parts.
- The Lycanthropic Soul (Druid) is a somewhat bland archtype which gives DR silver and spontaneous beast shape spells. You also get a variant of summon nature's ally for lycanthrops. All are nice additions with a pack hunting concept in mind, but not very innovativ. I'd have thought about flanking boni or some of those things the hunter gets in the ACG.
- The Avenging Gun (Gunfighter) gets a Silver Bullet, which is a nice name for changing your bullet into silver, and a Favored Enemy among a very few other things. Not enough to make it interesting and digging too deep into ranger territory.
- The Hunter of the Damned (Inquisitor) is very cornercase, since she specializes against shapeshifters and is weakened against any other opponent. But even in an adventure featuring shapeshifters her ability to detect shapeshifters can wreck havoc to an investigation, so I don't recommend this archtype.
- The Moonlight Summoner (Summoner) gets his eidolon more and more werebeast-like with this archtype, but it costs him evolution points. Since the eidolon spreads lycanthropy at some point and there is too much 'you have to spend on this' in the text I'm not a fan of this archtype.

I'm on the fence for these ones:
- The Feral Rager (Barbarian) is a so-so archtype which lets you play a part-time lycanthrop. It gains DR silver and extra rage along with a loss of brain, making it possible that he may attack his allies. I'm generally not fond of this as a player character, since nothing can sour a game table like one PC killing another, but he is of course still useable as an NPC. The complimenting rage powers are nice and the animal side of them is modified to be better than usual.
- The Soother of the Savage (Bard) isn't limited to lycanthrops as one may think, but useful in other situations also. His 3 new performances add AC and saving throw boni; get your opponents sickness or stops rage or similar effects. The last two performances are better when lycanthrops are involved, but are useful in other situations also, though sometimes a bit cornercase. The bard archtype adds some new emotion spells to his list and is at keeping his own emotions under control. Generelly a nice archtype, but nothing that gets you into praise-chanting.
- A Lunar Prophet (Oracle) gets two new revelation, one of which she has to take at first level and which gives her a bit of prophecy, the other a bit cornercase but with a nice flavor, and bonus spells to replace the usual ones. All in all nice, but nothing to pounce on.
- A Beast Warden (Ranger) can fight or protect lycanthrops. She can identify them, has favored enemy for shapeshifters, but also Hunters Bond where she can delegate her favored enemy bonus to her companions or take lycantropes as cohorts. She also gets Leadership for lycanthropes only. I'm not a big fan of leadership and I also don't like detection abilities for investigative adventures, but this archtypes may be interesting in a NPC, and not necessarily as an opponent.

On to the good things:
- The Wild Rider (Cavalier) is a lycanthrop that shares his inner beast with his mount. It gets pumped up with trample, the natural attacks of its rider and rage. It is indeed an archtypes that only enhances the mount, the character gets nothing for himself, which makes this archtype really unique. Definitly something for a GM to throw at his party for the looks that produces, but also easy to add to an existing cavalier lykanthrop in case you have to prepare for an additional player, since you only have to modify his mount. On the other hand, there aren't that many cavalier lycanthrops around in prepared adventures. If you want to hear your party scream 'attack the mount, not the rider' and don't want to master Dragonlance, then here you go!
- The Master of Tooth, Nail and Sword (Fighter) is a fearsome addition for your were-characters who likes to fight in hybrid form. It focuses on enhancing the natural attacks while fighting with a weapon in a full round action. A nice, styleful archtype.
- The Clawed Magus (Magus) works with magical fang and gets it quickened later on. He can use her arcane pool for her natural attack at the price of most of her armor. I haven't seen a magus in play recently so I don't know if this works out, but I guess it could in the right build.
- A Master of Inner Turmoil (Monk) is working best in hybrid form, when she can add her bite to flurrys and other attacks. She also heals better and gets DR silver. I like this build for the flavor and roleplaying potential.
- The Bestial Infiltrator (Rogue) can boost dexterity for a time and has his perception and initiative enhanced. The first ability can be increased with two advanced rogue talents, another one gives the rogue an animal companion. The name of this archtype is misleading, since he is no infiltrator and has little of a beast in it. I think storywise she may have had a cat or werecat somewhere in her family tree. This is a strong archtype in my opinion, easily takeable for there is not much to sacrifice for some nice boosts. I like the talents and the rogue can use a boost in general,
- The Feral Caster (Wizard).is simple but straight, enhancing the wizard to speak with animals and gain natural spell along with beast shape, which also increases in length. Nice, though I would have restricted everything to a special group of animal like canines or something like that.

And finally, the great ones:
- The Lycanthologist (Alchemist) ist a great archtype based on the beastmorph archtype out of Ultimate Combat. It grants Beast Shape abilities that are replaceable with DR silver. You are restricted to specific animals and the archtype has a nice flair, failsaves and points toward fitting discoveries. I had to smile though when the example for building was a canine and the discoveries were wings and tentacles, but of course those do fit for different animals to build on. Or for your flying chthulu-wolf that you have to convince your GM to allow.
- The Moon Templar (Cleric) is both able to fight lycanthrops and to support them with her channels affecting the werebeasts like undead, with enhanced healing and damage potential for her channels included. She has to take the new lunar subdomain, which has madness as its parent, a nice ability and very fitting spells. The archtype has additional spontaneus casting for the replacement domain spells and more power when the moon is full. Playable as PC and NPC and good even outside of a specific werecampaign the archtype and the subdomain are both winners.
- The Holy Beast (Paladin) is written for those wanting to play the inner turmoil of a good heart in an evil (or at least animal) body, like a certain drow or some vampires who love diary-writers or sparkle in the sun. This time the evil body is very hairy, but under full control of its owner. The concept is interesting, giving the paladin an animal companion, some additional spells, extra smite damage against lycanthrops, an anti-lycanthrop aura and the usual DR silver. Its noteworthy that he is not necessarily a lycanthrope himself and can even be normal. I think the GM and the player will have to work on a storyline for a character like this, but it can have its rewards and it works outside a lycanthropic campaign. Maybe an archtype for the skindancer race or something similar? I put this concept in the great column, albeit a bit reluctantly.
- The lycanthropic bloodline is well done and shows that there has been some lycanthrop in the family line some time ago. Sorcerers with this blood can summon animals that are a bit more ferocious than usual and have DR 1/silver, and the sorcerer himself gets more and more lycanthropic abilities, until he changes into one at 20th level. Nice idea and well executed, though I wouldn't grant both the bonus spells 'aspect of the wolf' and 'aspect of the bear' for storyline reasons and maybe 'aspect of the beast' instead as an ability in place of one of them. Have fun trying a close-combat sorcerer with some hairy tendencies.
- The Werelock (Witch) is suitable for lycanthropes and gives her a familiar with a hybrid and an animal form – and a nice pic showing how that looks like. Want a familiar wich can use weapons and armor? Want to play a certain cat with boots? Here you go, at least for a limited time a day. The archtype also gets natural spell and limited spellcasting, and it counts as monster and can chose their feats. A nice idea that is funny and balanced in my eyes. There are also 5 normal and one major hexes for the werelock only which mostly enhances her familiar. Another mayor hex is for anyone and is aptly named Dire Familiar.

Thoughts about improving the material:
I'd add to the description for this product, for before I read it I had the misleading impression that further supplements of the Bite-Me-Series would be needed to use the material. Additionally, a short description that both archtypes to boost lycanthropic characters, archtypes to fight them and archtypes to play them diluted are content of the supplement.

Conclusion:
So we get 4 great archtypes, one great bloodline, 6 good archtypes, 4 so-so and 4 archtypes I didn't like, which all in all is a very good deal. I think the supplement is more useful for the GM than for players, but you may look at the specifics to decide for yourself. There is enough stuff in here for everyone, and quite literary every basic class of the game. My final verdict clocks in at 4.5 stars, five great ideas pushing this barely into 5 stars for the purpose of this platform.

Have fun!