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Hey everyone, just wanted to make sure if anyone has any questions, comments, or complaints about Blood & Steel, Book 1: The Fighter, the latest release from d20pfsrd.com Publishing, please feel free to do so here!
Here is the full product description:
Blood & Steel, Book 1: The Fighter is the first in a new series from d20pfsrd.com Publishing focusing on martial combat oriented classes and focuses on the FIGHTER.
"The fighter's best friend is steel. Steel in his hands, used to end the lives of his foes, and steel on his back, protecting him from fang and claw of the monsters he faces."
This book introduces tons of new options for fighters including:
- 9 New Archetypes: Beast Hunter, Gun Fighter, Harpooner, Highborn Fighter, Iaidoka Master, Navaja, Siege Engineer, Thrower, Wicked Wrecker
- 19 New Feats: Agile Charger, Bola Adept, Bola Wing Pin, Braced Against All, Crush Armor, Improved Crush Armor, Dazing Bola, Demolish Everything, Demolition Expert, Entangling Bolas, Find the Crack, Hidden Weapon, Hold 'em Down, Light Sleeper, Magebane, Rally the Troops, Second Wind, Tag Team, Thrown Bull Rush
- 2 New Weapons: Battle Parasol, Harpoon
- 1 New Shield: Lantern Shield
- 5 New Magic Weapons: Caster's Foe, Dimensional Bolas, Flame Strike Gauntlet, Grounding Net, Javelin of the Ram
- 1 New Wondrous Item: Charm of Returning
- Berserker fighter archetype (replaces Barbarian)
- Holy Warrior fighter archetype (replaces Paladin)
Here's a free sample (pages 3-5):
With a flash of gunpowder and a loud retort, some fighters know how to use firearms as highly effective weapons in a battle. Often only firing the weapon once in an opening volley, they are masters of shock and awe, removing a foe with a single shot or at the very least seriously wounding them.
A gun fighter has the following class features.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency
Gun fighters are not proficient with medium armor, heavy armor or tower shields. Gun fighters gain Exotic Weapons Proficiency (firearms) as a bonus feat.
Gunsmith (Ex)
This functions as the gunslinger class ability of the same name.
This ability replaces the 1st level bonus feat.
Shoot Fast (Ex)
At 2nd level, a gun fighter gains a +1 bonus to initiative. This bonus increases by +1 for every four levels beyond 2nd.
This ability replaces bravery.
Gun Training (Ex)
This functions as the gunslinger class ability of the same name, except a gun fighter gains it at 3rd level instead of 5th level, and only once for one type of firearm.
This ability replaces armor training 1.
Dead shot (Ex)
At 7th level, a gun fighter is able to use the gunslinger dead shot deed. They are only able to do so in a surprise round, or anytime a target is denied their Dexterity bonus to AC.
This ability replaces armor training 2.
Opening Volley (Ex)
At 11th level, when using the dead shot deed the critical threat range increases to 19-20. This stacks with Improved Critical, but only increases the range to 18-20 when doing so.
Additionally, when using dead shot, modifiers to damage are multiplied by the number of successful attack rolls made.
This ability replaces armor training 3.
Put Them Down (Ex)
At 15th level, when using dead shot, a gun fighter deals 1d4 bleed damage for each successful attack made.
This ability replaces armor training 4.
Knock Them Down (Ex)
At 19th level, when using dead shot, a gun fighter is allowed a ranged trip combat maneuver attempt anytime they use the dead shot ability. They gain a +2 circumstance bonus to this attempt for each successful hit with the attack, and cannot be tripped themselves if they fail the trip attempt.
This ability replaces armor mastery.
Author's Notes
This archetype is not intended to compete with the gunslinger class. Reloading a firearm isn't made any easier with this archetype, nor do you have all the deeds and tricks that a gunslinger has. If you use this archetype, it is highly recommended that the standard gunslinger class is not also used in the same campaign. Instead, treat this as an alternative to the gunslinger class when you don’t want the full-on gunslinger but still want to use firearms.
Available at:
- Paizo
- shop.d20pfsrd.com
- RPGNow (not available yet)
Awesome! Glad to see more stuff from you guys! At work now, will return and check out later.
I see that Berserker and Holy Warrior have the note of replacing classes, and the note on Gunfighter recommends not using the gunslinger class in the same campaign. This leads to a few questions;
1. Will replacing archetypes be a running theme in the Blood and Steel books?
2. Does Berserker or Holy Warrior have an alignment restriction?
3. Are any of the other archetypes meant to be alternatives to other classes?
I do wonder what classes will be covered with this series. At first glance it feels like at least three of the archetypes are multiclass archetypes. I'd have to buy it and read it (give me a few hours)but I can see this as being controversial. However as a generic 'fighting man' it makes sense enough. If this book is interesting enough I'd look forward to seeing a Rogue in the same respect. (holy rogue, angry rogue, gun rogue)
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I see that Berserker and Holy Warrior have the note of replacing classes, and the note on Gunfighter recommends not using the gunslinger class in the same campaign.
The Berserker and Holy Warrior are much more "experimental" than the gun fighter archetype. By that I mean that they are meant for really odd campaigns where the GM wants to try something fairly different. Replacing the gunslinger with the gun fighter archetype is somewhat less involved mainly because the gunslinger class is already not a "core" class and so it may or may not be allowed in every campaign anyway. Replacing the barbarian or paladin requires are more open-minded GM to try.
1. Will replacing archetypes be a running theme in the Blood and Steel books?
It's not specifically a goal, but it may occur again here and there. It's not the over-riding design goal to do so in most cases. It's just an odd-ball idea here and there.
2. Does Berserker or Holy Warrior have an alignment restriction?
No. This also allows the holy warrior to somewhat fulfill the role of paladins of other alignments. Meaning, the holy warrior follows the teachings and tenets of his god and faith, and isn't as concerned with specific alignments. You can certainly DO a LG holy warrior if desired, but you can also just as easily do a CE holy warrior.
3. Are any of the other archetypes meant to be alternatives to other classes?
Nope.
I do wonder what classes will be covered with this series. At first glance it feels like at least three of the archetypes are multiclass archetypes. I'd have to buy it and read it (give me a few hours) but I can see this as being controversial. However as a generic 'fighting man' it makes sense enough. If this book is interesting enough I'd look forward to seeing a Rogue in the same respect. (holy rogue, angry rogue, gun rogue)
This line is intended to present the full bab progression core classes, or generally those who's primary "schtick" is beating things up in combat. In this way the monk can kind of fit into this series, though it would primarily focus on the fighter, barbarian, paladin, and ranger classes.
I'm looking at the pdf right now. The following are comments as I look at it. I'm just taking a quick glance without looking up rules or playtesting to confirm what I think (unlike if I were to review it.) so take it with a grain of salt.
Beast Hunter.
Not what I was expecting from the name. Looks like it functions and reminds me of using secondary items in the game Invictus. I can see myself playing this. It's a support martial but can arguably make for really good support.
Gun Fighter.
Is what it says on the box. Not really exciting but as far as I know there isn't a real gun archetype for fighter although I think I have at least two other third party gun fighters so it has some competition.
Harpooner.
Aquaman fighter. Seems to have a ton of class features but the fact that they are mostly relevant in water makes that less of an issue. The harpoon is a nice weapon but it strikes me as odd that it entangles rather than stays in and bleeds. It behaves more like a spiky bolas on a rope than a harpoon. If you're holding the rope on the harpoon are you entangled as well? (considering that you're holding on to the rope much like grappling. Related: how many hands do you need to hold the rope? can you reel the entangled creature in?)
Highborn fighter.
Noticed that Noble Training says that "(list of skills) are all class skills for the tactician."
I like using charisma instead of dex. Weird but I like that it happens.
Two instances I see requiring weapons 'Befitting his station'. Mechanically what does this mean?
The medium armor proficiency seems... akward. you get the proficiency but only if it is fancy. Masterwork would do it but seems weird that you're only proficient with medium armor that has decorations. May be an obstacle when dealing with found armor.
Iaidoka Master.
One Movement is nice... Whoah!. First to strike seems really really really good.
Things that surprise me. He doesn't get katana proficiency. He doesn't get some form of vital strike or cleave automatically.
Navaja.
I like Pincushion.
Siege Engineer.
Aww, you don't get a free siege engine at first level.
As far as adventurers go, it seems like a useless archetype. Just cant see myself wielding a siege engine in a dungeon.
Thrower.
Chuck Fighter. I am sorely disappointed that he does not get the Throw Anything and Quickdraw feats automatically.
Wicked Wrecker.
Football Fighter. Offensive Lineman.
The Feats.
Nothing really screams out at me but nothing totally useless.
Equipment.
The battle parasol seems... not very fighterly.
BONUS CONTENT.
The Berserker seems... pointless? I note that after his 6th level ability he gains rage at first and 11th level. He also gets rage powers as a barbarian of the same level. So he gets rage powers and all but two bonus feats? He also keeps armor training. I don't think I'd allow this in any of my games. I know people think that Fighter sucks but wow this guy gets a ton of feats, rage and rage powers, he's going to be a beast.
Holy Warrior.
Holy Smite seems like it doesn't work. He gains some bonuses against enemies of his faith but I'm not sure what that means in game terms. Against his alignment? Undead? just people who don't follow his deity?
Holy Weapon seems like it does things at the same increments but gives his weapon three +1 bonuses. Although as I understand it at 1st level his weapon is magic, 4th level it treats it's weapon as a +1 weapon, meaning that it gets a +1 enhancement bonus or negates any enhancement bonuses higher than +1. at 8th level it can banish and 'gains +1' (which in context doesn't mean anything) and somewhere at 20th level it's bonus increases by +1 so as written the holy weapon has a +2 enhancement bonus at lvl 20. What happens if you lose the weapon? Can you replace it?
That war horse is going to die unless it gets some form of animal companion advancement.
Overall the bonus content is too powerful or doesn't really work. The rest is functional and I'd use except for Highborn fighter and Siege Engineer.
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Hey Malwing! Thanks for the detailed observations. I'll let Taylor (the author of everything that wasn't "Bonus Content" and the Highborn fighter) respond to your points on that stuff.
Re: The Bonus content: Yes, those were thrown in at the last minute by me. That's on me. I'll address those in an update.
Re: Siege engineer: I agree that really anything "siegy" doesn't seem very adventurer-y, but I suppose not every archetype has to be for PCs.
RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32
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Harpoon
The challenge with this was that as it currently worked in UE, the harpoon just doesn't work as intended. I played around with a few ideas but found that the net and its entangling ability worked exactly for my purposes. Because of that, if there are any issues I would point you towards asking the same questions about the net and seeing what people have come up with on the forums.
But you help you out more directly:
- You are not considered entangled if you are holding onto the trailing rope of a harpoon.
- You are either using one or both of your hands to control it. I would say one if you are not attempting Strength checks to control the line. Both hands if you are.
- Not sure how nets handle this. I would say yes, but only if you successfully made a Strength check to control the line. Some GMs might say you have to beat the check by 5.
Iaidoka
Sorry about that. The problem when designing archetypes is that you can't cram too much into it. With fighters, the problems are not so bad because they have many, many feats to use. I also didn't want to limit this archetype to just one weapon, even if it was inspired by a Japanese form of martial art that uses katanas.
Siege Engineer
This is actually for a more limited types of games, or for cohorts. I understand that it will probably not see use. However, it does cover an area of the game that I couldn't find support for. I would love to hear about any game that it is used in. I imagine it would work well with a war campaign that sees tons of mass combat and sieges. It would also work well as an NPC in games like Kingmaker, where the party has city walls or a castle that is under siege.
Battle Parasol
This probably would have been better for a rogue book. You can blame my wife who had asked that I try to include something for female gamers. She liked it enough to create a fighter around it.
Highborn and Bonus Content
I can't claim those, and they were added after I had turned in my copy. As such, I can't really help you much with those.
Archetypes as Alternates for Classes
I honestly haven't planned to make this a theme. I did the Gun Fighter because I kept seeing people who didn't want the gunslinger but still wanted a useable class option. I certainly will keep my mind open to the possibility of doing more of them if people have suggestions.
Iaidoka:
With combat feats I can do fill in what's missing. I assume it wasn't built in because things like vital strike are not all that good but it seemed a perfect opportunity to discount the feat chain since the first hit is thematically important. I also assumed it was to make the archetype setting neutral.
Siege Engineer:
No complaints there. I think I'd use it as a GM but not really as a player but I do appreciate that it's there.
Battle Parasol:
No complaints there either. I see someone using it and I'd reflavor it myself as a weaponized umbrella for my Penguin-based character.
Archetypes as Alternates for Classes:
Crunch-wise I'm good for Gunfighter, but not Berserker or Holy Warrior.
Concept-wise I'm good for Gunfighter and Holy Warrior, but not Berserker.