Some edgewalkers reject the philosophy of balance espoused by the majority of their peers, electing instead to focus their attentions on the powers of light and radiance. For their part, the rest of the edgewalkers don't really seem to mind. After all, how can one toe the path between two extremes if those extremes didn't exist?
Like edgewalkers, motebringers understand that light and darkness are two sides of the same coin. Unlike edgewalkers, motebringers believe that one of these halves is inferior to the other. Totally locked out from selecting darkness-based waypoints, the motebringer specializes in light-based waypoints and the shaping of physical material from nothing more than a glimmer of radiance.
The motebringer's iconic ability is the creation of a radiant shawl, effectively a sheet of light worn in the shoulders slot. Each morning, the motebringer can customize his radiant shawl with a number of infusions, which grant offensive, defensive, and utility abilities to it. Effectively, the motebringer gives up access to half of the edgewalker's talents in exchange for a cape that can and will match artifacts by the time 20th level rolls around.
Product Features
The Motebringer edgewalker archetype [Requires The Edgewalker: Wielder of Light and Darkness]
30 infusions for use with radiant shawls
Product Availability
Fulfilled immediately.
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This archetype for the edgewalker-class clocks in at 6 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page SRD, leaving us with 4 pages of content, so let's take a look!
The motebringer has the same basic class-chassis regarding saves and BAB as the edgewalker - unlike the edgewalker, who oscillates between light and darkness, the motebringer is a specialist of utilizing light - as such, the archetype only receives a radiance pool equal to class levels x2 + Wis-mod - but no shadow pool. Seeing how this means that several of the combo-set-ups that render the edgewalker captivating to play fall away, we thus receive a significant array of infusions, the first of which is gained at second level, +1 at 3rd level and every 2 levels of motebringer thereafter.
This list of unique tricks, ultimately, is here for one reason - to add a level of flexibility the class would have otherwise lost - and I applaud the motebringer for it. Reflexive temporary hit points, high-level poison immunity, energy resistance and the like can all be found herein -as can blinding motes of light that act as replenishing blinding flash bombs. The significant array of choices is interesting due to two further design decisions - at 2nd level, the motebringer receives a mote pool that scales with the level totaling 1/2 of class levels, rounded down -these are spent when infusing aforementioned infusions into the second interacting component - the radiant shawls.
Also gained at 2nd level, radiant shawls constitute pieces of roughly-shawl-like solid light that can be modified with infusions by spending 1 hour. The shawl occupies the shoulder slot and also provides a bonus to AC and a penalty to Stealth-checks - it can be activated and deactivated as a standard action, and yes, the infusions that can be woven into the shawl can, for example, grant temporary radiance pool points to power the waypoints learned. Both radiance and mote pools increase over the levels and obviously, hide in plain sight is not part of the deal for motebringers. The capstone allows for instant modification of infusion loadouts as well as replenishment of daily uses of infusions.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are very good, I noticed no serious glitches. Layout adheres to a printer-friendly 2-column b/w-standard and the pdf has no bookmarks, but doesn't necessarily require them at this length.
Bradley Crouch's motebringer is a good archetype - it replaces the MAD and combo-playstyle of the edgewalker with a more deliberate planning that makes the motebringer easier to run for less experienced players. While I was weary of a loss in flexibility, the new mechanics and their interplay render the playing experience per se fun. While personally, I draw more satisfaction from setting up combos and the duality of the base edgewalker, the motebringer provides for a fun experience with a different emphasis. I really applaud the fact that this is not a bland +/-2 archetype, but one with a completely different style and for the extremely fair price, this pdf definitely delivers. I know I'll send some light-shawl wearing badasses at my PCs sooner rather than later. My final verdict will clock in at 5 stars.
Reviewed first on endzeitgeist.com, then submitted to Nerdtrek, GMS magazine and posted here and on OBS. Also: The IG-patreon currently is making a massive light/darkness expansion for edgewalker and antipodist, so you may want to take a look at that one...
