I'm not saying this is any way an imminent thing, but for some time now I have been working on some revisions for A Fistful of Denarii. I personally am very proud of it. Apart from my own sentimental pride, it has been an evergreen seller. I am grateful to my buyers and want to continue to support them in their enjoyment of this product. I think it's a great book that presaged a lot of concepts, like hybrid classes, and strong martial classes like the brawler.
That said, a lot of that originality means that it has not aged all that gracefully. Some of the material still plays as great as the day I wrote it. On the other hand, some of has suffered from a moving target in terms of how new material has been presented and balanced. I have my own list of items to address. My question to you is this:
What would you like to see updated, improved, or otherwise changed? Do you see some things as now irrelevant, and if so, what do you think could be done to salvage the soul of that material?
Bump. Come on, don't make me guess. :)
I haven't really looked at the book much, but, taking a glance now, some classes could use more class options. Some classes (like scout and knight) seem to do a good job of that, while others (like bounty hunter and corsair) don't. Bonus feats are helpful for this, but aren't as interesting as class options.
I'm wondering if some of the classes could be rolled together into one if you used class options instead of set features.
Well, my favorites from the book were the Spy, Beastmaster and Knight.
The Spy could use a good plunder and steal new talents from the rogue and maybe investigator. Maybe some way to get a Dual Identity and some social talents from the Vigilante? The Scout and Scholar could use a bigger and more powerful list of talents too.
The Beastmaster, while I liked him for his flavor, has always been on the weak side. Nowadays he's outshone by the Hunter and by the Barbarian archetypes that give animal companions. He desperately needs a combat boost.
Generally all the Full BAB classes have fallen to the wayside in terms of power. The Knights resplendent powers need to scale, or he needs to be able to stack two or three as he levels up. Specifically, honorable might, noble splendor, rallying cry, heroic action, inspire heroism and only blood all need to scale. Only Blood was already super weak back in 2010, seriously a channel energy that only heals 1HP, and doesn't work on people who are dying? Scorn Cowardice should also give a save boost against poison since that is a dishonorable thing too.
Also, rereading the classes, Gladiators shake it off ability is near useless. It only works on ex ailities that target a save and are riders on attacks, and doesn't work on poison or diseases. I'm not sure there's anything it works on. And it doesn't scale. And no class should get Fleet or Bravery as the only thing they get in a level, specially at level 17 or 18.
Looking at it with older eyes, the gladiator is better than the fight for two levels and then worse than the fighter at every level after. A two level dip for other martial classes that want Combat Expertise... Except it doesn't say you get it without needing to meet prereqs so you have to have int 13. It's good for getting the Improved maneuver feats, but not Greater ones or other feats that have them as prereqs.
The classes have not aged well, but the feats have. Additional Animal Companion, Agile Defense, Catch Me If You Can, Deadly Teamwork, all the heal feats, Halt the Charge, Signature Mount, Signature Weapon, Perfect Parry and Vengeful are all great. Signature Weapon might even be too good, but to me it's basically what Weapon Focus should have been.