Alternate Paths: Magical Characters [Little Red]


Product Discussion


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Let's talk about Alternate Paths: Magical Characters. Our Patreon backers have been seeings some of this stuff for a while now. We were going to release it two weeks ago but we put it back in to oven until it was good and done (we wanted a bit more playtesting).

So- what's in it. Like our Alternate Paths: Martial Character book this book is designed for advanced players who don't shy away from some more advanced concepts and more complex mechanics.

The book relies on the same core assumptions as it's sister book, the penalty (Pn) tag on class features as well as requirements (not always mechanical) for taking levels in one of these a base classes. This one has a more fluid view on the distinction between divine and arcane magics and really bites down on non-vancian magic systems.

That being said, let's jump into what is in there:

  • Ancient: A ritualistic spellcaster who welcomes the host of all their past lives into their soul. They have a small, unique, spell list that provides 24 hour buffs (rituals) that require the receiving party to partake in the casting. They tap deep into the memory of eons long past to control this primal form of magic. The class also plays with age categories and time in a very weird fashion. (Non-vancian)
  • Arcanaphage: They turn a particularly nasty magical disease into raw magical power. They are part magical hacker (modifying their spells on the fly with impromptu adjustments), part antimage, and part blaster.
  • Gnostic: A mathematical mage with multitude of multiplying effects on their magic. They practice a form of divine numerology to power their spells and modify their all-AoE spell list based on how many creatures they target. They have a small list of about a dozen spells that all have variable spell levels and are based on a fluctuating resource rather than a vancian system.
  • Godaiken: If you have played our "tao" this is it's elemental brother. Using a visual chart- you can master the elements and perform crazy displays of martial power.
  • Haunted One: A haunted one turns a ghost that just won't leave you alone into a power. Their ghastly companion is deadly but not always under your control. They also have suite of ghost themed abilities that is more "6th Sense" than "necromancer".
  • Lover: My denying themselves love, a lover gains supernatural magical power. They are trained diplomats and peacekeepers, using their abilities to snuff the flames of war. They are masters of debilitating magic- able to drain or subdue creatures with either their diplomacy or their magic.
  • Worldshaper: A worldshaper is a magical artisan who is part of a masonic guild (though not as covert_. They have the ability to manipulate materials like clay, animate objects (our playtest had a house try to coup de grace a t-rex), while still remaining a viable character. Our playtesters described it as a utility heavy toolbox that is only as strong as your creativity!

    In addition to those base classes, we have:

  • 8 new armor properties
  • 20 new weapon properties
  • 3 unique magic items
  • 34 new feats
  • 16 of those are metamagic/non-class specific magic manipulating feats
  • 10 revised feats and talents
  • 17 new spells (very much focused on the meta-game of magic)
  • 10 new magical diseases and afflictions

    Not enough for you? How about original artwork for all those classes by out in house team!

    When does this come out you ask? Why this Saturday, 3/7/15!


  • Awesome! The first Alternate Paths PDF was a gem and one of my favorite books you over at Little Red put out (I think Gonzo might still take the cake however). Looking forward to Saturday all the more- my party is going to love this; I know because one is a playing rockstar and another has plans to get a tarasquiling thane cohort with Leadership.


    Btw Eldritch heritage line got a slight workover in this as a revised feat set.

    Grand Lodge

    Is it possible to get a better understanding of the mechanics for the Godai-ken. Breaking down the words, Godai (Japanese) is the equivalent of Wu Xing (Chinese) elements.

    How close is it to the Tao? Is it more of an alternate class? Are we looking more at an elemental dragon ball z?


    GarnathFrostmantle wrote:

    Is it possible to get a better understanding of the mechanics for the Godai-ken. Breaking down the words, Godai (Japanese) is the equivalent of Wu Xing (Chinese) elements.

    How close is it to the Tao? Is it more of an alternate class? Are we looking more at an elemental dragon ball z?

    From the designer:

    This class is like the tao insofar as it transforms ki into spell energy and that casting spells produces a mechanical effect for the class.


    Just a heads up- the book is in the final formatting phase but I am really sick today. I am working to get it out but it might be tomorrow morning.


    Everything okay? Book is a little off-schedule, which is fine. Just making sure whatever you had didn't do you in.


    I have the plague (aka a bad case of bronchitis). I failed my Fort save with a Nat. 1. I am sitting here with it open now and it has like all but 5 pages formatted. Also, we had some changes in Little Red's internal structure that I'll be talking about in a blog post at some point I'm sure that slowed things down.

    Grand Lodge

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    must...have...godaiken...


    Little Red Goblin Games wrote:
    I have the plague (aka a bad case of bronchitis). I failed my Fort save with a Nat. 1. I am sitting here with it open now and it has like all but 5 pages formatted. Also, we had some changes in Little Red's internal structure that I'll be talking about in a blog post at some point I'm sure that slowed things down.

    Ah, well get better soon- we miss you. And your product.


    Just a non-so-quick update guys:

    We had some issues on our end internally that ended up impacting the delivery date of Alternate Paths: Magic Classes. To sum it up, we had a rather large team for the amount of profit we were making and with everyone getting a slice I didn't feel like I was paying them well enough for their services and the time they were investing. I made a VERY hard decision to downsize Little Red and make it a much smaller operation with a more focused core group of people. When LRGG FIRST started it developed video games, apps, as well as published table top material and a lot of that mentality and baggage was still on board.

    Our team is much smaller, but a lot more focused now. We will still be retaining the designers and artist we worked with in the past but our relationship with them has changed to a more freelancer/publisher relationship. It was probably the hardest choice I've ever made as a business owner because some of the people I had to let go were people who were with me from day one and have been my friends for the better part of half a decade.

    I redefined our goals and set expectations anew with this "new" team for 5 core people (Dayton Johnson, Christos Gurd, Ian Sisson, and myself). We have set a goal for ourselves to focus on our strength- making the sort of groundbreaking and "out of the box" content that our reviews always praise. I am raising the bar on what we conciser "original" and I have opened some design restrictions we placed on content in the past in the form of allowing us to establish new mechanical paradigms like we did with Necropunk's core system (things that are balanced against themselves rather than core material).

    That being said- we are still set to produce the products we have announced previously. Gonzo 2 is WELL underway, we have a LOT of Legendary Levels (revamp) done and we have some very exciting projects in earlier stages that I will talk about more in the future I'm sure. We've also started expanding our publishing boundaries to include things like audio books and comics as well as novels (Nercopunk included!) and short stories. Yep- we are becoming a REAL publishing company! Imagine that! :-)

    So... Alternate Path Magic?
    The book is in it's final stages at the moment but the change really shook us up a bit. I have a draft version out internally and we caught a few minor errors (big enough that I want our editors to do another pass) so it will be a bit longer. I am AIMING to get it out this coming weekend. Sorry for the delay and thank you for your continued support.

    Short Version: Pardon our dust while we grow!


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    (That's only four people Scott...)


    Oceanshieldwolf wrote:
    (That's only four people Scott...)

    That's like asking who the 5th Beatle is. Christina Johnson (soon to be Gladstein) is the other editor but she is only really part time.


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    Ok! So we are FINALLY live!
    This is a monster of a book. With 7 base classes, no prestiges, it's still 3 pages longer than Alt. Path Martial! It DOES have a LOT of new spells, magic items, and extra goodies however so that's where a lot of that page count comes from.

    So! Check out this beauty!
    Alternate Paths: Magical Character.


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    Casts paizo store availability

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