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So I'm sitting here looking for some new 3rd party books on the market and I'm coming up short and was wondering what everyone else has found that is has interesting mechanics, story, or other cool stuff that's floating around for the rest of us and maybe provide some myself.
My personal list:
4 Winds Fantasy: Cats, Dogs, & Horses: Great book that creates dozens of breeds of the aforementioned animals along with animal companion stats and helps give them more definition as player options. Cats especially who become these interesting ultra stealth utility choices for people who want an animal companion who can do a bunch out of combat.
Legendary Games: Gothic Campaign Compendium/Tomes of Ancient Knowledge: Arguably one of the best series to come out from Legendary Games (a studio of awesome freelancers for more than a few paizo products) The compendium adds a ton of new and interesting optional rules, items, and build choices to any game. The best thing in particular though for me has been ToAK. A wonderful supplement that takes the sanity and tomes systems from Call of Cthulhu and meshes them seamlessly into the Pathfinder rules system in a way that both feels like CoC but at the same time makes it work in a Pathfinder setting. You get the new mythos subtype and rules for going insane to the mythos but at the same time not completely nerfing your character into the ground like a lot of ports of this system have ended up being.
Skirmisher Games: Insults & Injuries: Holy s*%# this book. Designed by a GM and working MD, I&I is a whole book of new rules and mechanics to bring realistic diseases, injuries, and conditions to your game world in awesome ways. From rules to introduce snapped bones and horrifyingly awesome fire damage to your game to feats for ADHD and statted smallpox this book bring actual medicine to life and makes it all too real and horrifying. I mean this is the book that allows you to use bottles of Old Law whiskey like health pots AND destroy your liver in the process.
Fat Goblin Games: Call to Arms: Fireworks & Primitive Firearms and Call to Arms: Pistols & Muskets: Grouped together because of how much they overlap Fat Goblin's Call to Arms line really hits its stride with these two books, presenting firearms, their history, and mechanical progression from fireworks to rifle bored death machines. These books give you everything from primitive hand gonnes which are basically tiny cannons on sticks all the way up to these awesome minne ball firing, rifled caplock juggernauts. It makes you feel like your at the workbench in some medieval fallout game. Biggest of all though are the awesome new optional rules which bring everything from bracing and fouled barrels to charges of smoke to the battlefield, transforming the already interesting class of firearm from just another ranged weapon that kind of revolves around touch attacks and reload into this really cool field potential field control weapon. I've watched my home game do everything from use the smoke from their muskets to drop concealment for the shooter and an ally to the sorc get giddy at the idea of fouling an enemy barrel with grease. Very cool book if you have any place for firearms at your table. Unfortunately it suffers from some weird layout choices on Fat Goblins part (I wish the tables of new gear were all around each other rather than spread out through and same with some of the optional rules) but all in all they are both excellent pick ups for any game that brings guns to their knife fights.
Fat Goblin Games: Call to Arms: Fantastic Technology: A supplement to the criminally undeserved Tech Guide, Fantastic Technology begins to do for the Tech Guide what their other works do for firearms. Bringing us new lost tech the biggest draws for this book are actually the salvage tech rules and the new kingdom building options. The former allows players and GMs to create new weapons from the salvaged tech of the world making everything from glaives with chainsaw belts and a rusted motor lashed to their heads to arrows covered in c4 and hooked to jury rigged detonators the salvage rules let you further flesh out how a lot of this tech would be used in a world that doesn't yet fully understand how to use it. The kingdom building options are also amazing, bringing what is effectively the tech tree out of Civilization and stitching it into the kingdom building rules. So if you ever wanted rules for when Guns might start showing up regularly in a village or even how to build satellites (it takes a lot of time and work to get there) this is something to look into. It also suffers from organization issue but the content is so good I really hope to see some more to follow it.
So there are a few recommendations of mine. What about you guys, you got anything you'd like to recommend?
So I'm sitting here looking for some new 3rd party books on the market and I'm coming up short and was wondering what everyone else has found that is has interesting mechanics, story, or other cool stuff that's floating around for the rest of us and maybe provide some myself.
My personal list:
Fat Goblin Games: Call to Arms: Fireworks & Primitive Firearms and Call to Arms: Pistols & Muskets: Grouped together because of how much they overlap Fat Goblin's Call to Arms line really hits its stride with these two books, presenting firearms, their history, and mechanical progression from fireworks to rifle bored death machines...
Fat Goblin Games: Call to Arms: Fantastic Technology: A supplement to the criminally undeserved Tech Guide, Fantastic Technology begins to do for the Tech Guide what their other works do for firearms...
Awe--shucks ;)
As author of the firearms books, I'm flattered, and editor of Fantastic Tech, I'd say to keep your eyes on our CLASSified line for a new "Technopath" class from Garrett and in the next few months a follow up Call to Arms: Amazing Technology book.
It's been my hope to combine the two firearm books in with some of CtA: Torch and Flame to make one omnibus Call to Arms: Early Firearms, but I've found a dozen other projects to work on instead.
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As to your original post question: There are a lot of things I think I would use if I played more, and a lot I'd love to experiment with, like Drop Dead's Spheres of Power, etc.
I really enjoyed Rogue Genius Games' Anachronistic Adventures. Its limited after a fashion but it really is "the extra rules you'd need to play Pathfinder in a pulp way" (paraphrase of their tagline for the series).
Pretty sure the most recent, up to date version of the Spell-less Ranger is in the New Paths Compendium - that book took a few earlier iterations (White Necromancer, Battle Scion, Spell-less Ranger etc) and passed another development cycle over them, as well as adding some more options. Thaumaturge?
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I'm primarily a crunch rules guy - so that is where my 3PP purchased end up.
I think RGG Magister is the single best 3rd party full caster, with a lot of flexibility.
RGG's Talented Classes get a LOT of use at my table.
Liber Influxus Communis is one of the best class books I've seen. I'd put it over the New Path Compendium - but then it just has more classes I flat out liked.
Interjection games stuff always has interesting mechanics for thier classes, and they are never boring. Some might find them a little mechanically complex - Ultimate Ethermance is my personal favorite.
If you like redone and perfected systems left over from 3.5 Dreamscarred has done amazing things with Psionic, Discipline type fighters (book of 9 swords stuff - theirs is Path of War, and Akashic stuff is a redone Incarnum, but much better.)
Just about anything from Everyman gaming is good - but Ultimate Charisma is a must have at any table.
Variable level spells from D20PFSRD are amazing. Took Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed spell style (each spell can be cast a level over and under) and wrote up Pathfinder spell versions.
Feats reforged also from D20PFSRD publishing adds in a little extra bonus to all feats that happen levels later (7th and 14th commonly) to keep them relevent at higher levels.
Alternate Paths Martial Characters from Little Red Goblin games has some great classes in it - I wasn't as fond of the Magical version, but the Martial one is great.
Heroes of the Jade Oath has a good setting, and great mechanics for eastern flavor. They also incorporated some psionic rules (Psi Focus and Psi feats) and Incarnum (having receptacles you shift points to, but not spend) into their Ki system. Really nice and inventive.
Legendary's Mythic Sourcebooks are amazing if you use Mythic - notably the big three Mythic Player's guide, Mythic Monsters and Mythic Spells.
Pretty sure the most recent, up to date version of the Spell-less Ranger is in the New Paths Compendium - that book took a few earlier iterations (White Necromancer, Battle Scion, Spell-less Ranger etc) and passed another development cycle over them, as well as adding some more options. Thaumaturge?
Yeah Thaumaturge was the new one. It was a pretty good class, although I prefer The Magister for my "can cast arcane and divine spells both" class - I'm partial to spontaneous caters. There is also the "prestige archtypes" books that take a prestige class and morph it into a full base class, and they did the Mystic Theurge - so we have three of those that I know of.
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Cerulean Seas- This campaign setting / sourcebook / player's guide / GM tool is the ultimate resource for running underwater campaigns, and the book that first turned me on to 3pp books. The art is amazing (a definite trend in Alluria's books), and the mechanics are all solid, plus it contains some "arts and crafts" guides and suggestions for making 3D combat quick and easy with map tools you can put together at home.
Southlands Campaign Setting- An absolutely beautiful campaign setting from Kobold Press for adventures in Middle East themed settings. One of my current favorite books to use in conjunction with the character options from Akashic Mysteries.
Liber Influxus Communis- This collection of classes and options from Amora Games is stuffed full of awesome character mechanics, and I don't say that just because it also features my battlelord class. I use this book in basically every game I run now, and as many games I play in as possible. You've got character concepts that can help you bring to life characters that are traditionally very hard to emulate in Pathfinder, like Matrim Cauthon in Wheel of Time, Taskmaster from Marvel Comics, or even Nodwick.
Obsidian Apocalypse- Louis Porter Jr. regularly puts out stuff I like, but his post-apocalyptic survival horror campaign setting for Pathfinder jumped way up my list of favorite 3pp supplements when I got it in print as a Christmas present. Races, feats, and other mechanics are solid, and the fluff is amazing, including not just the base campaign setting, but several alternate apocalypsii (?) that can be responsible for your campaign world's current horrifying state.
Spheres of Power- This defining work from Drop Dead Studios is basically as essential to my game as the CRB. The magic system is simple and intuitive, and players who have always just played fighters because they don't like having to worry about running out of spells or similar issues have finally started getting in to playing magical characters, in some cases for the first time in years. This is a book that, much like Liber Influxus, enables a ton of character concepts not well covered by the core game, but also makes magic simple, more accessible to newer or less "crunch-hungry" players, and arguably much better balanced. I love this book.
Ultimate Psionics- Psionics has always been one of my favorite D&D concepts, despite a somewhat checkered past, and I was thrilled the first time I discovered Ultimate Psionics from Dreamscarred Press. Not only did they refine and bring forward most of my favorite psionic classes from 3.5, they also painstakingly rebalanced previously troublesome abilities, strengthened weak classes, and introduced a plethora of cool and original new classes to add to the game. This book sits right on the same shelf as the Pathfinder "Ultimate" books in my house, and is probably the most frequently used book in my collection.
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Pretty sure the most recent, up to date version of the Spell-less Ranger is in the New Paths Compendium - that book took a few earlier iterations (White Necromancer, Battle Scion, Spell-less Ranger etc) and passed another development cycle over them, as well as adding some more options. Thaumaturge?Yeah Thaumaturge was the new one. It was a pretty good class, although I prefer The Magister for my "can cast arcane and divine spells both" class - I'm partial to spontaneous caters. There is also the "prestige archtypes" books that take a prestige class and morph it into a full base class, and they did the Mystic Theurge - so we have three of those that I know of.
Close - The new class is actually called the Theurge :)
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Already using:
New Paths Compendium by Kobold Press: In addition to the Spell-less Ranger, this compilation includes several other New Paths classes like the Battle Scion, the Shaman, the Elven Archer and the Savant into the PFRPG, offering several new 20-level base classes to the game. The classes are well designed, flavorful, and fill empty niches in the game that don't typically overlap with existing Paizo base classes.
Laying Waste by TPK Games: Replaces the CRB critical rules with a flavorful set of additional conditions, but is different from the Pathfinder RPG Critical deck in that it scales using a severity system. Each critical hit is guaranteed to deal at least maximum damage, with the possibility of adding ever-more-powerful effects as the severity of the crit increases. There is also a system for critical fumbles, along with a large number of feats that work with the new crit system.
I want to begin using:
Spheres of Power by Drop Dead Studios:
Strange Magic by Interjection Games
Ultimate Charisma by Everyman Gaming
Legendary Rogues by Legendary Games.
Close - The new class is actually called the Theurge :)Pretty sure the most recent, up to date version of the Spell-less Ranger is in the New Paths Compendium - that book took a few earlier iterations (White Necromancer, Battle Scion, Spell-less Ranger etc) and passed another development cycle over them, as well as adding some more options. Thaumaturge?Yeah Thaumaturge was the new one. It was a pretty good class, although I prefer The Magister for my "can cast arcane and divine spells both" class - I'm partial to spontaneous caters. There is also the "prestige archtypes" books that take a prestige class and morph it into a full base class, and they did the Mystic Theurge - so we have three of those that I know of.
That is what I get for not bothering to look it up. *sigh*
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That is what I get for not bothering to look it up. *sigh*Close - The new class is actually called the Theurge :)Pretty sure the most recent, up to date version of the Spell-less Ranger is in the New Paths Compendium - that book took a few earlier iterations (White Necromancer, Battle Scion, Spell-less Ranger etc) and passed another development cycle over them, as well as adding some more options. Thaumaturge?Yeah Thaumaturge was the new one.
No worries! The important thing is that so many folks are still using and digging the New Paths Compendium from Kobold Press!!! :)
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Seriously, thanks for the compliments, doc!
I really like The Expanded Spell-less Ranger by Kobold Press, which does a great job filling a fundamental fantasy character concept gap.
And as a compulsive worldbuilder and fan of fiddly systems, I've been using Echelon Games's Polyhedral Pantheons worksheets (the full book just came out on Jan. 11) and Legendary Games's Ultimate Rulership pretty extensively.
Ohh does the pantheon book have digital sheets for building pantheons in it? I've been needing a good set of sheets to layout all the pantheons in my game on.
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Since the next campaign I am running is Jade Regent, I was ecstatic to find this: Dragon Tiger Ox by Little Red Goblin Games.
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Since the next campaign I am running is Jade Regent, I was ecstatic to find this: Dragon Tiger Ox by Little Red Goblin Games.
If you are looking for good 3rd party for Jade Regent you might want to check out the Way of Ki books by Legendary Games. It basically takes the ki mechanic and cranks it up to 11 with a bunch of new mechanics for ki, feats, and I think an archetype or 2. The biggest thing that always comes to my mind in this is that it gives you a feat tree to get the ability to do a Haduken.
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For me, my faves are:
Path of War: Revolutionized things on both the player and GM side of things with martial characters. Were varied and fun to play to the point that 50% to 75% of noncaster PCs in my campaigns either has martial disciple levels or the Martial Training feat tree.
Rule Zero: Underlings: A great resource for making quick mook enemies on the fly. Disregards current monster/NPC rules to allow for the creation of glass cannons, who can dish out enough damage to be threatening yet not having bloated hp so your Fighter really can cleave through a bunch of mooks like many action heroes.
Spheres of Power: Although I have yet to use it, I love the system enough that I want to see more of it someday. I think it works better than the Vancian system in many areas.
Way of the Wicked: A very cool and novel Adventure Path I'd like to run some day.
New Paths Compendium: Most of the classes therein are cool and interesting enough to use. My faves are the white necromancer, the savant, and the theurge.
Southlands Campaign Setting: Interesting worlds which explore a fantasy counterpart Africa and Middle East with integration of RPG tropes, an underused part of the world in many campaign settings.
Path of Shadows: Cool fluff and mechanics of evocative shadow-themed stuff. The nightblade class in particular's a great sneaky gish with a lot of potential for various character concepts.
Sword of Air: One of the other mega-adventures/adventure paths I wish to run. Open-world sandbox centered around the eponymous MacGuffin, with a bunch of side plots and places to explore so that the main quest can be done more or less on the PC's own time.
The Adequate Commoner: Love it for the novelty of the campaign style. Part CharOps guide, part sourcebook for campaigns with all-Commoner parties.
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If you are looking for good 3rd party for Jade Regent you might want to check out the Way of Ki books by Legendary Games. It basically takes the ki mechanic and cranks it up to 11 with a bunch of new mechanics for ki, feats, and I think an archetype or 2. The biggest thing that always comes to my mind in this is that it gives you a feat tree to get the ability to do a Haduken.
I've got all of the Legendary Games add ons for Jade Regent, too, but thanks for mentioning them for others who might be interested :)
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For me, my faves are:
The Adequate Commoner: Love it for the novelty of the campaign style. Part CharOps guide, part sourcebook for campaigns with all-Commoner parties.
Ohh my god The Adequate Commoner is probably one of the best books to come out of last year's 3rd party pool. A great reference source for both commoner parties and commoner/npc class leveled characters alike, I've wrung more use out of that book than I ever thought I could pull off. From drunken brutes to cannon fodder mobs and halfling vagrants I've made a ton of characters out of that book. Also it has what might be my favorite magic weapon ever in it which doesn't hurt much either.
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For me, my faves are:
New Paths Compendium: Most of the classes therein are cool and interesting enough to use. My faves are the white necromancer, the savant, and the theurge.
Southlands Campaign Setting: Interesting worlds which explore a fantasy counterpart Africa and Middle East with integration of RPG tropes, an underused part of the world in many campaign settings.
Woo hoo! :)
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Wow. Thanks everyone that mentioned Liber Influxus Communis.
Current books in my Pathfinder fav 3PP list
Martial Art Guidebook.
And the Chronicle of the Gatekeepers Sidetrek series by Louis Porter Design.
My personal favorites that I DON'T publish are:
Advanced Bestiary by Green Ronin Publishing
GM's Miscellany: Dungeon Dressing by Raging Swan Press
The Genius Guide to the Time Thief by Rogue Genius Games.
Laying Waste by TPK games. If you had fun with those infamous critical hit tables in the old Iron Crown Enterprises (ICE) games you will enjoy this supplement for Pathfinder to add a little blood and gore to your fantasy combats.
The Baby Bestiary Handbook Vol1 by Metal Weave Games. Shows you the adorable side of those monsters you never thought you would see in a game supplement.
Next game I GM, I'm going to require players wanting to play casters to use Spheres of Power.
Well, for the wackier side of things I love Silver Games Ponyfinder books. Ponyfinder Campaign Setting, Griffons of Everglow, Tribes of Everglow are the three big ones.
(Tribes of Everglow is a compilation of Flights of Honor, Children of Bones, A Clockwork Equine, Down to Earth, Cave Fliers, Heart of Diamonds, A Subtle Change, Small Packages, Born to Magic, Earning Your Stripes, Ghost of a Chance, From Chaos Order, Living Large, Beachside Fun and Place in the Sun. These tribe books were produced as PDFS first, then compiled into Tribes of Everglow for print.)
Playground Adventures will have a few things for Ponyfinder fans soon, too!