Summer of the Kobold!

Well, sure I'll kick things off. This issue includes the new Savant base class for Pathfinder for advanced players, plus cavalier orders, dragon lairs, a dragon encounter, and Pathfinder advice from Skip Williams.

My personal favorite is either the Tim Connors Pathfinder RPG adventure "The Exorcists" (with one of the GREAT twist openings ever, it should be in the Pathfinder movie) or the Synergistic Magic, which sets up a method for spellslingers to combine spells into new and better combos. The examples are amazing.

Anyway, lots to love here.

What are the flavor of the Cavalier orders?

And what do you mean...the Pathfinder movie?

Just got done looking through the PDF - wow! There's TONS of great stuff in this issue!

If I had to pick a favorite article though, I think it would have to be Beast Masters - Why Should Humanoids Have All the Fun?

I don't know why ... call me crazy I guess :)

I stand corrected. Of course I meant the *first Pathfinder movie!

And the Beast Master article for Pathfinder is completely awesome. I don't play a lot animal companion-style PCs personally, but I think the article is awesome for everyone who does!

Thank you for the kind words regarding the savant.

I'd just like to say "Thank You" to everyone at Open Design and the various contributors for another excellent issue. I still miss Dragon and KQ hits that spot for me.

Thanks, R_Chance! Always appreciate the thumbs-up, especially after the big issues where we go out on a limb with new things!

Speaking of which: The savant makes a terrific base class, Ryan. It's complex enough to challenge experienced players, and it scratches an itch for a particular type of playstyle (generalist PCs, big back of tricks) that most games don't do very well.

Your take on it is excellent.

I like what I see with the Savant, but I would really like to see some examples of Trades and Avatars. And of course an Iconic Savant would always be good, especially stated out.

Sometimes I need to "see" the class to fully understand it.

Also, how do you use the Savant as a NPC? If he can add one item to his book a day, what would a 6th level or 15th level Savant have in his book?

I'll get around to stating out an iconic savant (it's Open Content, so I have no fear sharing the class in that way), but for now here's a few examples to help you visualize the class in action:

I was about to say that the savant was designed for players and that it would only make for a good recurring NPC. Then I thought about it and disagreed with myself. You could bait-and-switch your party with a savant encounter boss designed as an encounter mook. Let’s say three rogues and a savant, all 5th level, make a CR 8 encounter. Before the encounter, the savant embodies a trade he calls the Scorching Sneak. He embodies extraordinary emulation (sneak attack), skill familiarity (stealth), exemplar of Dexterity, and pinch of magic (scorching ray). After a few rounds masquerading as just another rogue, the savant blasts the PC’s wizard with scorching ray. The following round he embodies a new trade as a full round action, the Wizard Reaper, gaining exotic weapon recognition (scythe), legendary weapon (scythe), exemplar of constitution, and extraordinary emulation (evasion) just in case. Remember, trades are just to keep track of combinations of knacks. They don’t use up any class resource.

Avatars of Legend are easier, if you know the Leadership feat. Roll up a character that could be the cohort of the savant. The savant can summon this character and spend his rounds concentrating on his avatar, basically substituting his actions with the actions of his avatar of legend. For example, a hammer-wielding magus with an emphasis on air and electricity spells. Essentially, you’ve created a remote-controlled Thor. Your avatar of legend arrives embodying the knacks you just embodied, so if you have, say, the enchantment knack, your avatar arrives with enchanted armour or weapon, as defined by when you embodied the knack.