DISCLAIMER: This review is based on a free PDF provided by the author and the publisher, which in no way had an influence on the final score.
Introduction
Under Azoth Games, James Ray released a new Esoteric Organizations line of products. In these volume we have The Onmyodo Bureau, an organization that not only has akashic member in its ranks, but also onmyoji and other petition magic users from non other than Interjections Games! Ultimate Onmyodo contains one of the best and most flavorful magic systems in Pathfinder. Can the author make it justice and mix it with akashic magic? Let’s see!
What’s inside?
14 pages of content (not counting covers, ads etc.) for 3 bucks (very nice!), which include:
-The Onmyodo Bureau organization: This uses the rules for magic schools found in Paizo’s book Inner Sea Magic, but to my knowledge you don’t really need that book to use the organization. It includes all the details pertaining the Onmyodo Bureau (like symbol, leader, common classes etc.), plus all the rules necessary to become a member of the organization, ways of gaining fame and prestige and the generic awards of doing so. It also includes how “petition” classes work with the system of magical academies. Where things get interesting is with the implementation of an “Emblem Veil”, which is a unique veil that only members of the organization can shape. That is awesome! Said veil is the powerful Bellflower Yugake, a ranged weapon which also counts as the new guru philosophy’s weapon! It also has hands, wrists, and body binds, which gives the user protection abilities.
The organization also mentions some prominent members, that follow Paizo’s tradition of including their name, alignment, race, class levels and a short paragraph: a very foxy deputy director that is a master of onmyodo and magical tails, a half elf director that uses guns, swords and poems, an elf astronomer that uses the servant class (from the Servants of the Loa book) with a new archetype found in this book, a master of the calendar halfling druid that dabbled in onmyodo and wields a kami-infused magical staff, a master of the clock halfling chronomancer who is the mother of the other halfling, a master of the courtly arts human geisha that dabbled in poetry, a ,master of the sacred arts that is an onmyoji ghost and retains some of his abilities, and a master of the sacred implements android aurora zodiac (from the Winter Pageantry book).
-3 class options: the Gobosei Adept is an onmyoji archetype that loses Shikigami in favor of some modest veilshaping abilities (10 essence, 5 veils max) that are themed around the 5 elements of Gogyo (by the way, gobosei means pentagram, and gogyo five elements). The Inyoji is a servant path that gives two of the onmyoji’s abilities (talismans and petitions), albeit at a reduced level (for the life of me I couldn’t find the meaning of Inyoji, but I believe is a variant pronunciation of onmyoji). Finally, the Shinshoku is a guru philosophy that can use talismans as darts, and also learns both talismans and petitions but again at reduced levels, plus some unique abilities.
-5 new Onmyodo prayers, 1 akashic recipe, 1 feat, 2 new signs: 2 of them require an essence pool, so only the new archetypes or onmyoji and warrior poets that dabble in akasha would get access to them; choosing at random, Kodoku (curse poison) ofuda’s form secretes a debilitating miasma, while its omamori’s form curses the creature with misfortune. The new akashic recipe is the Sacred Sake, a powerful liquid that can consecrate the earth and improve evil-banishing abilities. The Talisman Bearer akashic feat lets talisman users to treat their akashic-ly summoned creatures to be treated as Shikigami for talisman placing. The book finalizes with the sign form of the Dragon and Sky King constellations.
Of Note: The emblem veil’s concept is great! And the veil itself, while powerful is really cool. While I’m not too big on multiclassing, some of the npcs’ classes sound intriguing. Pistolero/warrior poet? How cool is that! Also, in most of my reviews of Interjection Games, I whined about the lack of interaction between systems, so seeing other authors tackling that brings me joy.
Anything wrong?: I’m not entirely sure on the balance of the 3 class options. The onmyoji’s base chassis is similar of a wizard, so giving some of its toys to classes with better overall abilities make my spider senses (TM) to start tingling. However, like most Interjection Games’ classes, their power comes more from their versatility than their overall punch, so giving reduced versions of their abilities to other classes might not be THAT much.
What I want: Seeing the author used Shuzaku and Genbu as names for NPC, I would have loved a new “lesser cosmology” for the 4 sacred beasts of the directions (dragon, tiger, turtle and phoenix). Also, a paladin that lost spellcasting in favor of petitions is something I still want to see.
What cool things did this inspire?: I really would like to add the Onmyoji Bureau to the Kaidan campaign I’m preparing! I am also intrigued on the possibilities of adding akashic options for other Interjection Games classes!
Do I recommend it?: Even with my (mild) doubts regarding the balance of the class options, the book is really cool! I will grade this book with a full 5 starry pentagrams!
