Coming next month from 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming is Paths of Power: A Sourcebook of Base & Prestige Classes. The PDF will be released in late October, with the print edition following close behind in early November.
Paths of Power introduces 5 new base classes (Anti-paladin, Gladiator, Samurai, Voyageur & Witch), 1 new class option (the Elemental Wizard), 3 new NPC classes (Captain, Courtier & Sycophant), and 3 new prestige classes (Child of Bast, Crypt Stalker & Envenomed).
In addition to the classes, the book will have new feats, new skills & new uses for existing skills, new spells, new equipment & magic items, and new organizations for characters to join (or fight against!).
Paths of Power will be 80 pages, physical product will be softcover, perfect bound, PDF price will be $10.95US, print price will be $18.95US. Look for the print product to be available for pre-order via Indie Press Revolution sometime in mid-October.
ABOUT 4 WINDS FANTASY GAMING
4 Winds Fantasy Gaming is a Great Falls, MT, USA-based roleplaying game publisher, formed in March 2009. The co-owners of the company, Connie & Robert Thomson, have over 40 years combined experience as gamers in tabletop roleplaying games and are using that experience to bring quality new material to the hobby. Connie & Robert have made their home in Great Falls, MT since May 2004. Connie is originally from McClusky, North Dakota and Robert is originally from Etowah, Tennessee.
Paths of Power and associated text and art are © 2009 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming. For more information, visit 4windsfantasygaming.com.
Post us a link when we can preorder... I'm a guaranteed sale! :)
You bet we will! Thanks for the support!
Gladiator and Samurai, nice. Hope the Samurai is better than the Complete Warrior one...
I think you'll find our Samurai a very, very different class from the Complete Warrior version. We're pretty proud of how it turned out. Sean worked really, really hard on it and put a lot of research into historical samurais and feudal Japan while designing it.
He did the same when it comes to the Gladiator and their real-world counterparts in Ancient Rome. We think people will really like these two classes (and all the others in the book, too!).
Robert
By the same token, I think Rob's Voyageur class will be a real different experience for someone looking for a frontiersman type, more of an explorer than a warrior like a Ranger. It's the sort of class that might start off a little odd, but by mid-way into the campaign, the rest of the party will be glad to have them along.
A couple of questions, as this book sounds interesting
1. Any consideration in dropping the witch since we know pathfinder is releasing thier own witch next year. Or perhaps renaming it
2. Instead of a samurai here, did you consider an all asian influenced book? I see you have been going with themes such as divine and arcane why not asian?
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A couple of questions, as this book sounds interesting
1. Any consideration in dropping the witch since we know pathfinder is releasing thier own witch next year. Or perhaps renaming it
2. Instead of a samurai here, did you consider an all asian influenced book? I see you have been going with themes such as divine and arcane why not asian?
The anti-paladin is coming too.
Do the NPC classes have any class abilities or are they all just skill packages?
They are unique classes, with some class abilities. They do not have special powers at each character level, like a full-fledged base (PC) class, but do have some class powers. They aren't just reworked Experts or Aristocrats with different skills.
1. Any consideration in dropping the witch since we know pathfinder is releasing thier own witch next year. Or perhaps renaming it
No to either. Our witch was well into the development stage before the announcements were made of the other upcoming witch next year. I'm pretty sure our witch class will be very different from the one coming next year.
2. Instead of a samurai here, did you consider an all asian influenced book? I see you have been going with themes such as divine and arcane why not asian?
That is something that could happen down the road.
The anti-paladin is coming too.
Indeed it is, and as with our Witch class, our Anti-paladin was in the development stage long before any announcements were made.
Well, one of the things about the samurai class, as presented in Paths of Power, is that it represents a role in society that eventually we (4WFG and I) agreed would translate to a high-fantasy setting instead of strictly in an Asiatic setting. In addition, it's such an archetypical character that we figured players would have a lot of fun with it. I've only been in two campaigns in all the ones I've played in that did not eventually have a party member playing a samurai type. In fact, in the Faerun campaign I'm in now for 3.5, one of the party members is a "samurai", though I'm not sure how he and the DM built it.
Hopefully a lot of players will enjoy what we came up with, but really we wanted to make something that wasn't just a standard class in hakama, with 'Divine' abilities crossed out and re-labelled 'Ki'.
No to either. Our witch was well into the development stage before the announcements were made of the other upcoming witch next year. I'm pretty sure our witch class will be very different from the one coming next year.
1. Any consideration in dropping the witch since we know pathfinder is releasing thier own witch next year. Or perhaps renaming it
Assuming its different, why not rename your witch to avoid any confusion? I know we can in out campaigns but I was wondering if there was any debate on that topic
Assuming its different, why not rename your witch to avoid any confusion? I know we can in out campaigns but I was wondering if there was any debate on that topic
We won't rename it for a couple of reasons:
1) Witch is the name that works best for the class as we have designed it. Like our Samurai, Gladiator, and Voyageur, our Witch is very much based on the real-world counterpart that influenced it. Calling the Witch by another name wouldn't work for us anymore than calling the Samurai or Gladiator by another name would. Connie Thomson, the lead designer on our Witch class, said that "calling the class by any other name just would not be right. It would lose most of its flavor and all of its meaning." It is a witch, and Witch is what we will call it.
2) Our Witch class comes out next month; the other witch comes out sometime next year. After both are out, people will simply have to choose which they like best and want to use in their games.
It's a simple matter of saying "Which Witch?" when discussing the class, and as a GM, establishing for your players which version of the Witch (or any character class, for that matter) you allow them to play.
I really do appreciate your concern, but we can't always be concerned that something we produce may have the same class/power/spell/domain name as something produced by someone else, and worry about whether or not to change names. Now, if someone else was releasing a book with the exact same title, we would definitely look at the changing the book's name, but that's a whole different breed of cat.
One can say that "a rose by any other name would smell as sweetly" but the fact is, names to have power and significance. When you say a 'witch', that immediately conjures up certain expectations, and gives you an idea of what to look for in the class. Calling them something else - 'Strega' for example - either causes confusion, or changes the expectations entirely.
Assuming its different, why not rename your witch to avoid any confusion? I know we can in out campaigns but I was wondering if there was any debate on that topic
I suppose it's possible that there could be some confusion. But then should Paizo also rename their witch something else to avoid confusion with the witch Green Ronin released in 2002? Or Mongoose Publishing's witch class from the same year? While neither of those are Pathfinder compatible products, they both are d20 OGL, and I'm sure there are still gamers using them. Not to mention the various other witches that have popped up as class options through the years in other publications.
I understand your concern, but honestly there isn't anything else to name the class that would work as well as "witch" to convey what the class will entail. If gamers want to call her something else in their campaigns to distinguish between her and Paizo's witch, that's fine.
Connie Thomson
4 Winds Fantasy Gaming
I really do appreciate your concern, but we can't always be concerned that something we produce may have the same class/power/spell/domain name as something produced by someone else, and worry about whether or not to change names. Now, if someone else was releasing a book with the exact same title, we would definitely look at the changing the book's name, but that's a whole different breed of cat.
Gotcha. I suppose its not so much which Witch to use but which more witch to keep the witch name
And its not really concern so much as curiosity
Gotcha. I suppose its not so much which Witch to use but which more witch to keep the witch name
And its not really concern so much as curiosity
I understand. And we appreciate the curiosity!
I suppose it's possible that there could be some confusion. But then should Paizo also rename their witch something else to avoid confusion with the witch Green Ronin released in 2002?
Assuming its different, why not rename your witch to avoid any confusion? I know we can in out campaigns but I was wondering if there was any debate on that topic
Thats a bit different. Your book is geared for the Pathfinder system. Which now has a witch. Green Ronin was making something compatible with D&D which did not have one.
Thats a bit different. Your book is geared for the Pathfinder system. Which now has a witch. Green Ronin was making something compatible with D&D which did not have one.
And yet it isn't different. Because Pathfinder is designed to be compatible with 3.5 material (with minor tweaks necessary) it is entirely possible that Green Ronin or Mongoose's Witch class is still a viable option in Pathfinder (with minor tweaks necessary) and that someone might be using one of them in their game already.
Witchever Witch you use is up to you, but I think it's a class that's got a lot of potential and will be a great option for players.
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And don't forget the Arcana Evolved Witch. So there are a lot of witches, and I think its quite possible to have any or all of them in your game. The DM and player get together and decide which witch they're playing, and if they like they can give themselves a different name based on their style of roleplaying or witchcraft.
Witch of the Triskele Circle, for example. No, WoTC doesn't work there. The DM can decide to make more of your type of witch as NPCs or to let you be unique. Another thing, since many different witches have different powers, its very possible for them to have different class abilities.
EDIT: How about an adventuring party made up entirely of different types of witches?
Thats a bit different. Your book is geared for the Pathfinder system. Which now has a witch. Green Ronin was making something compatible with D&D which did not have one.And yet it isn't different. Because Pathfinder is designed to be compatible with 3.5 material (with minor tweaks necessary) it is entirely possible that Green Ronin or Mongoose's Witch class is still a viable option in Pathfinder (with minor tweaks necessary) and that someone might be using one of them in their game already.
True. But the base game we are discussing is the Pathfinder that is having its own witch, 3 party publsihers put out a witch or shaman or noble because WoTC didn't.
But, I look forward to see both types of witches so....
And I can't wait to see the Elemental Wizard
And I can't wait to see the Elemental Wizard
We're pretty excited about it, too!
Hunter, Is it possible if we can get a sneak peek or synopsis of the base classes appearing in the book? Thanks
Hunter, Is it possible if we can get a sneak peek or synopsis of the base classes appearing in the book? Thanks
As we move closer to the release date, that just might happen.
Robert
Robert, When is this book coming out? Do you have a release date yet? Thanks -MRblahface!
Robert, When is this book coming out? Do you have a release date yet? Thanks -MRblahface!
We're still shooting for the PDF to be released by Halloween, and the print edition to follow a couple weeks later.
Sycophant is possibly the best name for an NPC class ever.
Sycophant is possibly the best name for an NPC class ever.
Thanks! We're hoping they find a valued place in a lot of people's games, I think the class has a lot of potential to add to a campaign.
Sycophant is possibly the best name for an NPC class ever.
Heh. Glad you think so!
Kudos, by the way, to adding NPC classes. You never see that and I can't wait to check them out
Kudos, by the way, to adding NPC classes. You never see that and I can't wait to check them out
Thanks! We just felt that there were NPC areas that weren't heroic, but yet were not defined well enough by the base NPC classes as presented.
Kudos, by the way, to adding NPC classes. You never see that and I can't wait to check them outThanks! We just felt that there were NPC areas that weren't heroic, but yet were not defined well enough by the base NPC classes as presented.
I can't agree more. I will get this book
I can't agree more. I will get this book
One thing we kept in mind as we designed the NPC classes was that some players might want to take on the roleplaying challenge of a Captain, Courtesan or Sycophant, so they are a touch more powerful than the standard NPC classes, yet far outstripped by all PC classes. They don't get powers at every level, and may only get powers at 1st and/or 2nd level, but can still be interesting characters to play. One player in the playtest really enjoyed the Captain.
alright, alright, i'm in, where do i send my money!
We're glad to hear that! Release date is still scheduled for Halloween, but we might have to push it back a few days. PDF and print product will be available here in the Paizo.com store, PDF will also be available at DriveThruRPG and other OBS stores and at IPR, and print will also be available at IPR. We'll make an announcement when the book is out!
While you're waiting we're also working on some free content to add to what's available in the Book of Divine Magic, which will be available probably as soon as we're done writing it.
I can't agree more. I will get this bookOne thing we kept in mind as we designed the NPC classes was that some players might want to take on the roleplaying challenge of a Captain, Courtesan or Sycophant, so they are a touch more powerful than the standard NPC classes, yet far outstripped by all PC classes. They don't get powers at every level, and may only get powers at 1st and/or 2nd level, but can still be interesting characters to play. One player in the playtest really enjoyed the Captain.
I think I might enjoy playing a sycophant
I'm waiting for the print to come out but it sounds interesting. I've been kicking around a few ideas in my head for a Witch bloodline for sorcerers but I am looking forward to seeing what this book does with the concept.
I think Envenomed sounds like an interesting PrC
I think Envenomed sounds like an interesting PrC
Thanks! I hope it lives up to your expectations. It's certainly a bit different from the standard assassin, that's for sure.
Just wanted to update everyone that Paths of Power is running slightly behind schedule. The PDF was originally scheduled for release today, but the print edition was scheduled for November. It now will be November for both PDF and print.
Robert Thomson
4 Winds Fantasy Gaming
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Pity I was curious about this product.
As for the debate about the names and stuff. Well why not do what I have often done. Cherry pick the parts of each one you like and make one that fits your vision as a GM the best. Our group did that with the noble class and it turned out to be a very effective class, that fit our groups vision of what one should be.
Pity I was curious about this product.
As for the debate about the names and stuff. Well why not do what I have often done. Cherry pick the parts of each one you like and make one that fits your vision as a GM the best. Our group did that with the noble class and it turned out to be a very effective class, that fit our groups vision of what one should be.
We were really hoping to have it ready for PDF release today, but too many things got in that way of that.
That's a perfectly legitimate way of achieving what you want with a class. I've known others that have done similar things as well.
Robert Thomson
4 Winds Fantasy Gaming
I think Envenomed sounds like an interesting PrCThanks! I hope it lives up to your expectations. It's certainly a bit different from the standard assassin, that's for sure.
Sounds interesting. I like different things.
Sounds interesting. I like different things.I think Envenomed sounds like an interesting PrCThanks! I hope it lives up to your expectations. It's certainly a bit different from the standard assassin, that's for sure.
The Envenomed and Child of Bast definately sound like something I could plug right into my Campaign. I'm also curious to see your take on the Samurai.