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 book under the Akashic Tales line of products, this time focusing on Voodoo, which I have but vague knowledge of. Can the author maintain the quality of line? Read on!
What’s inside?
41 pages of content (not counting covers, ads etc.) for 7.50 bucks (very nice!), which include:
-A short but nice introduction that mentions source material like documentaries and books. Also, a frank description of what this is (an rpg book) and isn’t (a scholarly discussion of the content) is given, and I find it both annoying and necessary. In the age we live, where people get offended, for free, for things they don’t even really understand, makes this a necessity.
-The Servant variant Zodiac class, which takes almost a quarter of the book! The servant is a more priestly, wisdom based Zodiac. Its most visible change is that the base classes gains essence as a Lunar Zodiac, which is the highest in the game, especially at lower levels. Unlike the Zodiac, there are no veilweavers among the Servants (intriguing). The rest of the base class is basically the same, with some cosmetic changes. Instead of an Orbit, the Servant gains access to a Path, of which 3 are given:
The Bokor, who gains the ability to create astral vessels, where they can entrap part of a character’s spirit for both malevolent and benevolent purposes. At 2nd level, and every 4 levels thereafter (so a maximum of 5 at 18th level), a Bokor gains access to a special talent from a small list, one of them lets Bokor create both a traditional and an “astral zombie”, which has the stats of an unfettered phantom! At 4th level, and every 4 levels thereafter (so a maximum of 5 at 20th level), a Bokor gains access to a wisdom-based Hex or even a Major hex!
The Houngan, an even more divine path, gets a basic healing ability, have a Patron Loa that blesses them with a minor form of a mystery which lets them cast a mystery spell once per day, get even more powerful healing abilities that uses the Kn. Religion skill (cool!) plus their sign manifestation, and get a revelation (or bonus feat from a small list) from their Patron at 4th and every 4 levels thereafter (so a maximum of 5 at 20th level).
The Solda, a more “Solar-like” Servant, would be the holy warrior. They get less essence, better proficiencies, bonus akashic, fighter or teamwork feats (at 4th and every 4 levels thereafter, so a maximum of 5 at 20th level), and also get an interesting variant of the Magus spellstrike, called sign strike, and at 6th level and every 4 levels thereafter (so maximum 4), they specialize in a constellation, reducing their manifestation cost, and can choose to specialize more in that constellation or another each time.
Servants also get a reduced Stargazing ability, called Divine Guidance. They also gain slightly renamed Celestial Lord, Ruler and Emperor abilities, plus a capstone according to their Path: Bokor become lich-light, Houngan become ageless outsiders that emanate a circle of protection, and Solda become more resistant and their weaponry slightly more powerful. We end the Servant section with favored class bonuses for all core races plus Orcs, 5 of the 6 “planetouched” (no Tiefling? buh), and Azoth Games’ Atlantean and Tuktu. A funny glitch is that Halflings get an ability that reduces the cost of the Water Bearer constellation, which is from the original cosmology, and feels weird here.
-Loa cosmology: This is a full, 12 constellation cosmology, and includes 3 of each of the classic elements as normal. All of the constellations include both a champion and a sign manifestation, which is a new manifestation introduced by the author in a previous book. Unlike previous signs, there are many that are detrimental to the marked, which is necessary for the Soldat path. The elements are not “perfectly balanced”: Earth has 1 armor, 2 equipment and 3 weapon manifestations; Air has 3 equipment and 1 weapon; Fire has 2 armors, 1 equipment and 2 weapons; Water has 3 equipment and 1 weapon. This is not a bad thing, since the power of the manifestations vary wildly. Worth noting is that all champions are animals with the “auspice” animal companion archetype, which make them divine in origin. Overall, a great Cosmology that works better with the Servant, and the Servant works better with it.
-The Queen’s Effects veil set: This set includes 8 veils, 4 of which are new. All of the new ones are accessible by the Huay and Volur classes and a couple more. Voodoo Queen’s Tignon is a headband veil that improves the user’s diplomacy and Kn. Religion checks, plus unlocks the Hypnotism occult skill unlock, with essence improving the bonus and the number of times per day one can use hypnosis, and when bound it gives the user some spell-like abilities and makes him more difficult to charm. Gris-Gris is a belt, neck and wrists veil that gives you a modest spell resistance that only work for certain subtypes of spells, with essence increasing it, and when bound to the wrists it lets you create one of three charms that can harm or help the wearer. The neck bind does the same as the wrist but also makes you immune to either diseases or poisons, while the belt does the same as the wrists bind plus protects you against curses.
Herbalist’s Shawl is a chest and shoulders veil that makes you a great healer and herbalist, even giving you the faith healing occult skill unlock; the shoulder bind gives you a reduced ability to make potions using herbalism (but full when making healing ones), and the chest bind lets you also make elixirs. Zombii’s Coils is a head veil that lets you summon a viper familiar (albeit at a reduced level) with the akasha touched and sage archetypes, but if you have the Improved feat, it lets you summon some more powerful creatures, and the head bind gives you a fully empowered familiar.
-Chual Omdura archetype: What? That divine mid-caster from the Nyobe supplement that would work wonders with akashic magic? In the vein of his bard and vampire hunter archetypes, the author makes an akashic version of the class, who apart from veilshaping abilities (from the Volur veil list), gets blessed each day by one of the Loas, getting a flavorful requirement (called a horse’s mark) but also the ability to manifest the corresponding constellation, and unlike even the Zodiac, can manifest that constellation in as many ways he can at the same time, as long as he can pay. This raises a question, what happened with the synergies of having manifested constellations of the same element? I would rule that it doesn’t benefit from the synergy since it is the same constellation. Great archetype!
-6 Feats: Assisted Manifestation lets you borrow up to 2 essence from a creature that also has this feat… Ok, but with the feat’s requirements it would have been better if the supporting ally didn’t need to have the feat. Divine Constellation requires you to have channel energy, lay on hands or touch of corruption, and you can use that ability through your constellation (great with the Perilous Rider archetype from a previous book!), gaining a benefit depending of the manifestation, great! Gifted Manifester treats your constellation as higher level up to your character level (nice for multiclassers).
Loa Ridden makes you especially adept at getting one of the Loa’s attention, giving you the corresponding horse’s mark and reducing the cost of manifesting the corresponding Loa’s manifestation. Sign Focus lets you specialize in one element for manifesting its related signs. Transfer Sign lets you transfer a sign manifestation you have to an ally, which saves you from having to burn more essence to manifest the sign again.
-The Loa Pantheon/Cosmology: This includes a table with the Loa, the effect of the horse’s mark, and the corresponding constellation. Each of the 12 entries includes name, epithet, alignment, pantheon (all are Loa, surprise!), areas of concern, associated mysteries (necessary for the Houngan path), domains (also necessary for the Loa constellations’ champion form), subdomains, favored weapon, symbol, sacred animal and sacred colors. Interesting merge of two different but not opposed concepts!
-Bonus Content: The author again goes above and beyond and presents 4 archetypes for the Omdura class, one for Path of War, one a sphere caster, one a sphere warrior, and the last one a sphere champion. Great for campaigns that use alternate systems!
-Reference Material: This includes updated akashic magic rules that include things like brand veils (very important for the Chual archetype), and 10 creatures stats for the constellations (why 10? One of the stats is used twice, and only the cobra is missing)
Of Note: A game like D&D/Pathfinder tends to use general archetype for their classes, to be able to fill many niches in one go. That is why I love 3PP products like this, since the servant class is a great example of how to do a specific real-world example concept done right. Everything in the book oozes flavor and the rules to match! If I was to choose something, it would be the dual concept of constellations/pantheon and how the author marries both concepts.
Anything wrong?: Apart from the missing cobra stats and some confusing language under the Herbalist’s Shawl veil? Not much. I would have liked more info on the Loas to better represent a fantasy follower, but I can just read an article on-line for that.
What I want: I would have loved to see some Santeria or Cult of the Santa Muerte (holy Death) inspired content! I imagine the Santa Muerte as a lost constellation, with manifestations in line with the Loas.
What cool things did this inspire?: I read on an RPG social group a comment that jokingly mentioned that the least used race in D&D was a human of African descent… And at least in my group, with a ¼ century of playing, I can count them in one hand, so that statement is true at least for us! I would really love to play an akashic campaign in Nyambe (a great campaign setting from D&D 3rd edition days) or Nyobe in Golarion. Or even a Ravenloft campaign where the antagonists are Servants! Also, a voodoo akashic hag would rock!
Do I recommend it?: If you want to include Loas in your game as options for PCs, or if you want some creepy antagonists for your campaign, look no further! I sometimes wonder when I’m going to read a book by the author that I don’t like, but all of them have been glorious and inspiring, and this is not the exception. 5 star-shaped Gris-Gris from this reviewer and a high five to the author!
