EZG reviews Cerulean Seas: Azure Abyss

Cerulean Seas: Azure Abyss

This massive sourcebook for the aquatic unfathomable depths is 100 pages long, 1 page front cover, 2 pages editorial, 1 page ToC, 1 page SRD, 1 page kickstarter-backer-thanks, 1 page poem and 1 page back cover, leaving us with 92 pages of content, so let's take a look!

So what is the Azure Abyss? Essentially, it is the aquatic equivalent of the Underdark - the unfathomable depths and after a basic introduction including a glossary we delve into the hostile terrain that is encountered in the very lowest depth of the sea - abyssal depths and hadal depths - 10.000 ft beneath the waves until 20.000 feet for abyssal zones and below that, the hadal zones. Terrain, from trenches to sediment to mini-ecosystems that spring forth from the cadavers of massive beings to finally cold seeps, infectious slimy warts and mussel beds. Hydrothermal vents, acidic zones, megaplumes (essentially aquatic volcanic eruptions) and 6 forms of geologically poisoned areas   as well as pools that act as teleportation gateways further suffuse the depths, making for a crunchy and thoroughly intriguing toolbox to spice up your terrain.

The second chapter details deep sea-races and kicks off with a revisited section on other aquatic races that allows you to create deep sea versions before providing new aquatic races, which of course include buoyancy information and depth tolerances. The first would be the Asterak, who gets +2 to Int and Con,-2 to Str, count as merfolk, get darkvision 60 ft, may 1/day utilize shocking grasp, electricity resistance 5, can control their bioluminescence and are susceptible to low depths. beyond these luminescent creatures, we also get aquatic dwarves - the austorian Dwarves. They get +2 Con and Wis, -2 Cha, pressure and geopoison immunity, slow swim speed, darkvision 120 ft., breathe only water, get +2 to appraise, cold resistance 5, +2 to saves versus poisons, spells and spell-like ability, may move on land at 75% of their speed, stonecunning, +4 to CMD versus bull rush, trip and proficiency with austorian weapons.

 And then, we get perhaps one of the insanest, most badass races to ever spawn - if the artwork doesn't blow you away, I don't know what will - Echinns are essentially giant humanoid sea urchins - glowing tentacle-like fingers, arachnoids-resembling eyes, bristling spines. O M G. Want. Crunch-wise, they get +2 to Str and Con, -2 to Int and Wis, Pressure and Geopoison immunity, are gilled anthromorphs, get a normal swim speed, low-light vision, can use bioluminescence at will to glow like a torch, get natural AC of +2, cold resistance, +4 to saves versus poisons, echinn weapon familiarity and poisonous spines. Usually I'd complain about the racial attributes gearing them too closely into the melee-roles - but seriously, they simply are TOO COOL.

If you read Alluria's Remarkable Races Compendium, you'll enjoy the aquatic take on the Obitu - neither dead, nor undead, these beings get +2 Str, +2 Dex, -2 Cha, darkvision 60 ft., +4 to saves versus disease/poison, improved initiative as a bonus feat at 1st level, +2 to acrobatics, escape artist and sleight of hand, 5+ 1/2 character level negative energy resistance and immunity against sleep. And no, they are not undead - they just look that way and thus you won't have to deal with all those pesky immunities. Viden Oculi look somewhat like a beholder - with long rubbery tentacles that act as legs and hands and two of them featuring additional eyes - it's a weird creature to describe and one you'll have to see to truly get. The Viden get +2 to Dex and Wis, -2 to Str, are small aquatic aberrations, can secrete slightly acidic tears as slime from their eye, get 30 ft. swim speed, all-around vision, can shed bioluminescence as a torch, suffer from light blindness, are pressure sensitive and choose two detect spells of the first level, which then are constantly active for the creature. Unfortunately, at least personally, I consider that ANNOYING AS ALL HELL. I hate the detect spells and having to consider two that are permanently in effect just sucks - sorry. It's just busy-work for the DM who will have to look at all those pesky auras all the time. Annoying.

The final new race would be the Abyssal Rusalka, a feykith with a lower torso resembling a jellyfish. These embodiments of deadly beauty get +2 to Cha and Dex, -2 Str, count as feykith, can exude luminescent blood that provides concealment 1/hour, may shed bioluminescence as a torch, get +1 to DCs of enchantment-spells they cast and those of cha 15+ may use charm person 1/day - but what's rather cool is their shirt of tentacles: It AUTOMATICALLY drains 1d4 hp from foes, healing 1 hp to the Rusalka. They may suppress this ability. And I like its idea -though the execution made me cringe...for a second. Creatures have to begin their round in the Ruslka's square (!!!) - not an adjacent square, but the Rusalka's. This is enough of a limitation for me - hence: Two thumbs up!

Deep Drow and anthropomorph crossbreeds of Seafolk and Echinn complete this chapter before we  get tables for all the vital age, height and weight/depth tolerance etc.-tables and dive into a discussion of existing classes in a Deep Sea context and get into a new base class, the Angler. Anglers get d8, 6+Int skills per level, 3/4 BAB-progression, good fort-saves and proficiency with light and martial weapon as well as light armor proficiency. And the class is interesting indeed - essentially, its angle (pardon the pun) is battlefield control: They may, via preparation, change 5-foot square upon 5-foot square, into a deadly area - impeding defense, movement, offense - make hindrances only happen to one character etc. - as well as creating traps much like those of the ranger to further pepper the battlefield. Per se a great class, though honestly, I would have loved to see more hindrances/traps, though Drop Dead Studios' "Vauntguard"-class could easily be scavenged for more traps - at least that's what I'll be doing!

We also get 3 10-level PrCs: First would be the Halionaut, who gets d10, 6+Int skills, full BAB, medium fort-saves and essentially are masters of the depth diving, being able to divine how warp pools work, gaining favored terrains both planar and common and terrain mastery for these new terrains, all depending on the chosen terrains. Interesting PrC, though not one that blows me away. Myxinmaves get d6, 4+Int skills per level, 6 levels of spellcasting progression and are all about the hagfish - their slime covering the myxinmave's body with protective coating. They also get a giant hagfish servant, a bite attack that only works against foes with flesh, immunities to all things putrid and an armor of living hagfish as well as the option to transform partially into the creatures, the option to become flexible as if boneless and a poison before gaining a hivemind as a capstone. Cool PrC with some disturbing imagery... (And yes, we get a full page of rules for creating hiveminds and determining their stats - and eventual spawning spellcasting prowess...)

The final new PrC is the Seductor,, who gets d8, 6+Int skills per level, 1/2 BAB-progression, medium will-saves, 5 levels of sneak attack progression and essentially are the secret agents of the depths, combining deadly sneak attack with touches that may charm and paralyze foes. while hiding their alignment. Again, not a bad PrC, but not one that got me overly excited.

After that, we're introduced to Special materials and weapons of the deep (the latter coming with full color artworks!!!) before getting, of course, more feats - 21 to be precise. I won't go into details for every one of them, but I will mention the following: Eating special materials to heal yourself, emit a siren song 1/day, dazzle with bioluminescence, expand  poison clouds and Viden may take a whole array of feats to transform their base forms and finally even see slightly into the future. Of course, some new toys for anglers , sharper spines for echinns, etc.. can also be found here - my favorite feat, though, would be the female ceratiodi piscean's Dual Mind - after having mate graft himself into your side, you may now use your mate's mind to gain two weapon fighting and ignore dex-requirements for the follow-up feats, get +1 favored class and +4 to saves versus mind-affecting effects. Weird and cool.

Speaking of cool - the 10 new spells are absolutely glorious: Ever wanted to make a foe want to attack him/herself? Or create acidic zones? Yeah. Extinguish pesky bioluminescence? Yep. Or merge part of your body with a greater creature, highjacking its body for your purposes, essentially becoming a parasite? Now THAT hasn't been done before! After 8 new magical items, we dive into the campaign setting specific part of the book with A LOT of awesome adventuring potential.

The Deep Sea Bestiary deserves special mentioning - Alluria's monsters usually at least are good, as are their artworks. Seriously, you have to see this book's bestiary to believe in its existence. We get a minimum of at least one signature ability for each one, but the artworks - OMG. I've never seen anything like it. Seriously. Paizo-level and beyond. These artworks can stand their ground, toe-to-toe with the industry-leader and perhaps even surpass them. Yes. That good. This bestiary may be the most beautiful one I've EVER SEEN. From the disturbing deep sea dragons to squid imps and the alien grandfather worm, these artworks will BLOW YOUR MIND. And the best thing about them is: Their crunch lives up to these artworks. From the humble to the CR 23 behemoth, these creatures are glorious, ooze iconicity and set the bar higher for ANY monster-book out there. Have I mentioned starfish people that manage to look badass?

We also get a pronunciation guide, a list of deep sea critters by CR (including the Bestiaries and Alluria books!), an index of tables, an art index and 1 page of cardstock minis.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn't notice any glitches - which is a massive feat at this length. Layout adheres to Alluria Publishing's drop-dead-gorgeous 2-column standard and the pdf comes fully bookmarked, though sans printer-friendly version. Expect a massive drain on your printer (or get this in full color print). I HAVE to mention the artworks - even by Alluria's insanely high standards, they are insanely beautiful. They actually are the best-looking artworks I've ever seen in any 3pp-book. They surpass many 1st party publisher artworks, whether Paizo or WotC. It boggles the mind, incites imagination. Thoroughly impressive - the artists have been up to their a-game!

At first, I was blown away - the new races actually included two ones I'd want to play and WILL include in my campaigns - something that rarely happens! When the class and PrCs didn't stand up, at least for me, to the predecessor-pdf's awesomeness, there's nothing particularly wrong with them, but still - my enthusiasm was slightly dampened. And then, via feats and spells and items, the book once again managed to build up tense expectation that was released in a blast in the bestiary and campaign setting information. While I first thought this would clock in as 4 stars after reading the class-section, I can wholeheartedly recommend unanimously ALL THE REST of the book - from terrain to fluff, from crunch to creatures, we get a massive array of superior content that provides some of the coolest creatures to have ever featured in a given bestiary - to the point where any verdict not a 5/5 and a seal of approval would be a disservice to this book's stunningly awesome content - so there you have it. GET THIS! Even if you don't play beneath the waves - for aberrations and strange cthulhoid creatures, there is so incredibly much to scavenge here that I'll guarantee you won't regret getting this, even for usage above the waves.

Don't let this gem slip through your hands and dive right into its depths here on OBS!

Endzeitgeist out.

EZG reviews Adventure Quarterly #4

Adventure Quarterly #4

 The fourth installment of RiP's spiritual successor to Dungeon magazine is 85 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page ToC, 1 page SRD, 1 page advertisement, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 79 pages of content, so let's take a look!   After one page of introductory musings of Robert N. Emerson (on the nature what is "right" gaming), we delve into what will from now on be a continuous series of articles: Ruins Perilous.  

Now if you're not familiar with the concept, here's the deal: Questhaven, as some of you may know, is a city ruled by adventurers - and as a means of improving your social standing and moving up in the adventurer's guild (the Questor's Society), you can explore the mega-dungeon called "Ruins Perilous", which is actually a lethal proving ground for the guild, its challenges artificially created by the society to test the mettle of wanna-be heroes.

The first level was featured in AQ #2, and, much like it, the second level, this time from the pen of one of my favorite supplement authors out there, T.H. Gulliver, can stand on its own, should you so desire.

  That being said, apart from the note that this level is intended for PCs of 2nd level, that's about as far as I can go without going into massive SPOILERS. Potential players should jump to the conclusion.  

You've been warned! Here we go! As with the first 10 levels of the Ruins, the dungeon dragon Carcera is in charge of resetting/repopulating the complex. When not using the guild-rings that are used to activate some of the dungeon's effects, some suggestions for replacements via magical energies are given. So- what is level 2 about? Well, for once it is inhabited by the Hammer Mountain Ratfolk - refugees from their eponymous home-complex and the ones that reset the traps on the first 5 levels of the dungeon and know all those nifty secret tunnels. Unfortunately (or fortunately), not all is well in the state of the rats - one may even call things rotten, since the king has been killed by his pet giant snake which is supposed to be no longer poisonous and blind to boot. The corpse has vanished and the deceased king's brother has married the queen, while the prince has vanished and the ratfolk's master trapsmith Ophelia (here any pretense of subtlety is dropped) refuses to work.  

Yeah, if your literature classes are all but forgotten, let me spell it out for you - this is Hamlet with rats - only it's more. True to the concept of the dungeon and the ratfolk's predisposition towards traps, the level starts as a trap gauntlet (which is btw. reproduced in a cut-out, enlarged part of the level's map - as are the other parts) before the PCs encounter ratfolk and are thrust into unconventional social dynamics - whether they just hack and slash through the level (dealing with ninja rats...) or engage in diplomacy, they can either have some hack and slashing or a microcosm of social intrigue upon their hands - the exploration of the inner warrens and the fungal garden (two complexes), where the prince is hiding and the huge cobra lairs - have I mentioned the neat fungal hazard taken from 101 Hazards and Disasters? Whether as an orgy of bloodshed or courtly intrigue, it's up to the PCs on how to resolve this sandbox and show that in their version, Hamlet could have had a less cruel ending.  

The second module, by Agoston Petz, is called Legend of the Huntress and it is in here that adventurers are hired by a disreputable man on the behalf of one greedy merchant called Jospeh Hackesh, who hires them to acquire a specific ruby hidden in a manse in the notorious Dire Weald - last known resting place of lady Jacqueline of House Nadaly.

Having found proof of the manse's location in a hidden study of his, the players may check the study and engage in dialog with the merchant - which is depicted in quite vicarious detail. The Dire Weald makes the best of its name, coming with some rather deadly potential random (and not so random) encounters, the latter covering an elder forest drake, the skeletal undead remnants of the deceased lady's lover and huntsman and also a drow hunting party (with a sidebox to spice up the warriors of the patrol) - already hinting at the things to come, for the abandoned manse is not that abandoned and now a drow stronghold - and hidden below it lurks the dungeon, where the spectre of Jacqueline along her twisted spellbook await to test the PC's mettle, also filling in the blanks of her fate and her dealings with a notorious vampire lord - whether they keep their bargain or not, of course, remains up to the PCs...  

 The final module herein is Bret Boyd's (the mastermind of Tricky Owlbear Publishing, btw.!) "Self-Determination" for level 15 PCs - The PCs awaken as strange blue tendrils recede - and they are naked. Disoriented, they take the rudimentary equipment from an adjacent room and find a map of the surrounding sites - showing places the PCs have never heard of before. Exploring the complex further, the PCs find strange evidence of an organization called the "Black Hand" (comic-book geeks should get a chuckle out of that one), before encountering strike-squads of two-headed trolls and deadly harm traps - and probably realizing that they bleed blue and require less sleep...something is odd here. Escaping from the complex, the PCs will probably sooner or later stumble across the village of Pelkiin.  

 Turns out, the PCs are not in their own world anymore, but on Caldina, the continent of Quitan. Among other pieces of information, the PCs get to know about an abandoned temple in the mountain, the fact that the community needs to pay tribute to the trolls once a year and that a world-hopping elven wizard only known as "the Albino" is probably the man to seek out - only he's none too pleasant and lives in the swamp. Worse, an infiltrator of the Black Hand has travelled to this world, shadowing the PCs...  

 The Albino is not sporting for a fight, hitting the PCs with the blunt truth - that they are clones of the original PCs, created on behalf of the Black Hand to create evil versions of the PCs. There is no home for them to return to and just as the albino tries to goad them into helping him, the commander Xanivexilom arrives and commands the Albino to return the PCs to their cages - to which he replies with the fact that they have a free will. And yes, if the name was not enough indication -the commander is a dragon. Beyond the deadly fight, the albino is not telling the whole truth - he is actually an offshoot of a deity - and in order to get the PCs and warn the red-blooded originals back home, the clones will need to brave the temple that is now the roaming ground of the trolls.

Braving the trials herein, the clones may now actually go "home" - serving multiple purposes - whether as a backdrop solution for a high level TPK (a plan b that backfired, so to speak), as an option for PCs to talk to themselves, a set of extra lives, a change of scenery (a new campaign world - insert your own choice!), a way to introduce a shadowy cabal - the choices are massive. What if the war god returns and wants to reabsorb the albino? And what if the cloned bodies need something to sustain themselves? You could easily go full-blown Fringe with this set-up, creating world-spanning plots - and what if the free will of the clones struggles against an ingrained programming of the Black Hand? The massive amount of potential herein is interesting - there is so much going on here, as a kick-off for a new arc, this is simply superb. We also get stats for the two-headed trolls, two new magic items and, of course, maps.

 Creighton Broadhurst has done something glorious for this issue as well: As far as I can remember, I've complained about the Dungeon Dressing-series installments on doors, double doors etc. lacking handles and hinges - and this pdf finally nets us these dressings - with a massive d%-table with 100 entries covering the subject - 2 thumbs up!  

 The second appendix is titled "Wide-Open Sandboxing: The Dam War" that essentially sketches a sandboxy environment that could be developed into an adventure or a whole campaign alongside some neat pieces of advice for DMs - again, neat -though that was to be expected from Steven D. Russell!  

 Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are very good, though the second module could have used some blank lines to make the block of text easier to read. Layout adheres to RiP's two-column full-color standard and the pdf comes with some original, beautiful full color artworks mixed with some fitting stock art. The pdf comes fully bookmarked and with an archive containing maps of the areas, partially as high-res jpegs (for Ruins Perilous) and as jpegs.

The maps are made with dundjinni and are ok, though nothing to write home about. Unfortunately, we don't get player-friendly versions of the respective maps, i.e. all come with letters inside, making them not particularly suitable as hand-outs.   Speaking of not particularly subtle - a slightly more subtle nomenclature in the first module would have been nice, as would have a slightly more detailed note on social interaction. If your group is like mine and well-versed in classic literature, you may want to rename some NPCs to make things slightly less obvious.

The second module feels a bit cluttered - by focusing on the module's boss (and adding some haunts) or on the new inhabitants, making either a more constant threat, the module could have been improved, though there's per se nothing wrong about it. The final module is GLORIOUS in its set-up and idea and not too interesting regarding the primary opposition, but it doesn't have to be - it opens up some rather interesting questions on free will and transhumanism while remaining firmly entrenched in fantasy. Kudos to Bret Boyd!

All in all, though, in spite of the cool appendices, this issue of AQ feels slightly weaker than the superb third issue, missing 5 stars by a margin and among others, due to the lack f player-friendly maps. As such, my final verdict will clock in at 4.5 stars, still rounded up to 5 for the purpose of this platform, though, for even with my nitpicky gripes, it remains a more than neat offering. Ask your players what makes their characters tick - and get this collection of modules here on OBS and here on d20pfsrd.com's shop!  

Endzeitgeist out.  

EZG reviews One Night Stands: Scorned

One Night Stands - Scorned  

I'm posting this on the 26th of June and astute readers might deduce from what I still haven't reviewed that this pdf isn't due on my schedule until next week. Well, as an early birthday present from me to myself (tomorrow, I'll be a year older once again...), I'll review only excellent pdfs today. This is one of them!

This adventure is 32 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page ToC, 2 pages SRD, 1 page advertisement, leaving us with 26 pages of content, so let's take a look!    

This being an adventure-review, the following review contains SPOILERS, potential players are advised to jump to the conclusion.  

Still here? All right! Whiterush is a little, relatively peaceful town located adjacent to a river (hence the name) and makes for a rather iconic place - the sample NPCs and rumors to be unearthed show as much. Obviously, the local lord, one lord Breldin Greaves has seen better days and is quite glad that his son, who used to spend a lot of time in the local forests, finally settled down - love at first sight, and with the daughter of the newly moved in Zoltan Quinn. A powerful man, he came with many henchmen and even a whole stable of hippogriffs that since then have been patrolling the city and replaced the guard - much to the chagrin of e.g. washwomen, who complain about horse-droppings from the sky.

Wacky hijinxs with the iconic populace make for a great start that shows already the trademark subtle humor and imaginative ideas we've come to adore from both Lou Agresta and Nick Logue. But what's the adventure-potential?   Well, said Zoltan Quinn hires the PCs (sealed in blood) to deal with the constant attacks on his caravans - the local orcs have been sending his men beaten black and blue back to town. Racist adventurers will probably need no more goading, but observant PCs may realize that the orcs don't kill the men - weird, isn't it? Well, joining the Quinn-caravan is thoroughly unpleasant - stinking, abrasive guards will make for an unpleasant ride as the caravan willingly drives straight into an ambush.

In the battle, the PCs will face the orcs - who use non-lethal weapons all around, while Zoltan's men try to kill the greenskins. Instead of dumping exposition on the PCs, they can turn upon their employers and join the orcs or repel them - only to have to track them to their extremely iconic camp - a collection of tree houses spanning islands on a river.   Provided the PCs switch sides, they get to interact with the orcs - who actually are EXTREMELY funny - learning crafts, laughing about local customs, seeing aspiring orc-children dragon-slayers and tasting local cuisine is all possible. This section is rather interesting, for the PCs learn something interesting: It turns out that the heir Brant Greaves was actually deeply in love with one Sragana, a true beauty - for an orcish maiden. The secretive lovers planned to elope if his father didn't approve of their love and she is subsequently infuriated by his betrayal, thus trying to keep the Quinn's dowry in order to keep Brant and Zoltan's daughter Jacklyn from marrying. If the PCs are only partially adept at magic matters, they may suspect enchantment - and just as they're getting ready to explain everything to the assembled orcs, Zoltan's men attack via their hippogriffs in force.

Having scried the PCs via the blood spilled in the beginning, the PCs are now officially on the kill-list of Zoltan's henchmen - even if they so far have stuck to their employer's order. In the ensuing epic battle, the PCs will have the pleasure of fighting these unlikable louts in one of the neatest environments I've seen in quite a while.   After the climactic battle, it's time to crash a wedding - the problem being that the whole wedding party aboard a paddlewheel barge has already left town. In order to stop the proceedings, the PCs will have to sneak abroad (not too easy due to a LOT of potential civilian victims and guards) and save the lord and his son - worse, the Quinns have a good escape-plan that the PCs will have to foil. Have I mentioned the ettin that actually drives the paddlewheel who may (very painfully) smash the PCs into the wheel?

The fact that the steering is destroyed and that the ship is headed for massive waterfalls? That an overhanging outcropping will demolish a significant part of the barge? And that beyond the battle with the Quinns and subduing the charmed Greaves, the PCs will have to save the whole wedding party from plummeting to their death? The latter makes for an extremely cool idea and is something I haven't seen in a module before - temporarily jamming the ship at a bottleneck, using a harpoon-like ballista to temporarily anchor the ship - there are quite a few ways to help the hapless civilians escape a watery death in the dread rapids of the river.   And finally, the PCs get a chance to make sure the both Brant and Sragana may live happily ever after - and that there still will be a marriage.    

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn't notice any glitches. Layout adheres to Frog God Games printer-friendly b/w-standard with neat, original b/w-artworks and the copious maps provided are awesome - but they lack a player-friendly, keyless version to be handed out, which is a slight bummer. The pdf is extensively bookmarked with nested bookmarks.   This adventure was a surprise to me- and at the same time it wasn't. I expected a good module from two of my favorite authors out there (Lou Agresta & Nick Logue), but what I got is touching, exciting, iconic - Addressing themes like fantasy-racism, love, the worth of life and the repercussions of taking a life, the relevance of alignment and race and tying everything together in an action romp that quite literally has NO FILLER. None.

Every combat, every social interaction, every rumor in town features some piece of absolute awesomeness - from neat puns to sample quotes, from characters that deserve the name, to interesting tactics/builds, smart-acting adversaries and last but not least absolutely superb locations and environments to adventure in, this pdf is chockfull of awesomeness and makes for a superb little module that you definitely should check out at its extremely fair price-point.

My final verdict, unsurprisingly, will clock in at a full 5 stars + seal of approval for this neat module.

You can get this awesome piece of writing in two versions:

For Pathfinder, OBS has it right here and on d20pfsrd.com's store it's right here!

If you're rather old-school and prefer the Swords & Wizardry rules, here is the S&W-version on OBS and here on d20pfsrd.com's shop!    

Endzeitgeist out.

EZG reviews 101 Variant Monsters

101 Monster Variants

This installment of Rite Publishing’s 101-series clocks in at a massive 47 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page SRD, 2 pages of advertisement, leaving us with a massive 42 pages of content – a great bang for buck ratio, but can the quality stand up to the quantity?



Organization-wise, these variant monsters are grouped together by CR, spanning the gamut from CR 1 –CR 25 – personally, I consider this organization great, since you’ll probably not be searching for variant monsters by their name. The respective entries all feature the name of the base-creature to be modified in brackets and the entries themselves can be considered creature-archetypes or templates created for one specific creature, though unlike most templates they do not modify the base-creature’s CR. Take for example the first creature, the Brownie of the Solstice Court: Taking the benevolent fey, we get essentially the unseelie version of the critter – they are not only unpleasant in their maliciousness, they get a new signature ability – a dust they use to cover their bows (for their feat/weapon-choice reflects the changed focus), which not only penalizes those hit, it also makes the victims incur a confusion-like effect that should make these nasty fey loathed foes of your PCs. We also get desert ghouls that turn into hyenas and fast healing as long as they are not deprived of flesh to fuel their cannibalistic healing. Giant Armadeiras Spiders are also interesting – their strange poison is not canceled out by antitoxin and requires successful first aid in the form of a healing-check to prevent suffocation – rather cool!

In the CR 2-range, we e.g. get a dream imp, which not only gets a gaze that makes its victims susceptible to sleep and less alert, but which make also cover whole areas in subtle auras of dream-like haziness. Or did you want a foe for blink dogs? What about the new Flicker Wolf, which may bite through portals? Very nasty for hit-and-runs… In the CR 3-range, a black version of the hell hound, the Dipian, may drain the blood of his adversaries. There also is a rust monster-variant that decays flesh instead of metal and a cockatrice that can vitrify foes – with full rules for vitrification given, of course.

A classic, the Giant Scythe Beetle, makes a return to PFRPG in the CR 4-range. One of the strangest ways to be trampled would be featured in the new variant of Amphisbaena – the ouroborus may lock heads and roll over foes – weird, but also a cool idea. Cooler, though, would imho be the variant of the Slithering Tracker that paralyzes its foes and then invades their bodies, taking control – this one actually coming with a full-blown template for the unfortunate host-creature - a nice example for Rite Publishing going above and beyond what would have been required from this book in favor of cool concepts. Speaking of cool concepts: Turning winter wolves into Dogs of war with slashing/piercing breath weapons as well as DR is a great idea. Speaking of great ideas: If you’re like me and are missing the eye tyrant-rays of a certain IP-protected creature, you’ll enjoy a variant of the gibbering mouther that has a weaker, but nonetheless versatile selection of eye rays.

Another fine creature would be the Thunder Jinn – a variant of the regular Djinni that replaces whirlwind form with a cool ability that has thunder and lightning smashing down on the djinn, adding sonic damage to attacks as well as a cool vulnerability to… silence! Or take an aquatic version of the medusa that gets petrifying attacks and may attack with her hair.The CR 7 Bladeleaf-treant may animate its leaves as a swarm (which gets its own statblock) and one particularly infamous torture implement, the Brazen Bull, becomes a variant for the gorgon that cooks those locked in its form alie – disturbing indeed! What about a bubonic plague-spreading variant of the behir that not only gets a diseased breath attack, but which may also fling foes around or see in smoke?

Perhaps you enjoyed the by now legendary hidden character Nordom from Planescape: Torment and always wanted a version of a malfunctioning Zelekhut inevitable? Well, there’s a variant in here as well and yeah, Maruts also get their due!



Golemcrafters may now create a Maharal Golem, which may turn naturally invisible and spawn wraiths, whereas earth elementals may now be exchanged with adamantine elementals. On the cool side, Devourers may now be changed to emit dangerous, deadly chaotic waves of energy.



If you’re looking for some cool mythological creature, why not check out the Jotund Troll-variant – the Grendal – and yes, from a susceptibility to grappling to a dread aura, it comes with some cool signature abilities. Have I btw. mentioned the Prism-energy based Nightwalker/flier/etc.-variants or the awesome variant linnorms one can also find herein? Especially the Chaos Serpent with its massive breath weapon table is a highlight among them. Speaking of highlight: As someone thoroughly entrenched in Norse lore, the Norn of the Solstice Court as a less benevolent dealer of fate is one of my favorite creatures herein – at CR 18 also one hell of a foe and not one to be trifled with.



There also are variants of Cyclopes – good, blinded ones and those with deadly precognitive knowledge that makes hitting them extremely difficult indeed. Jorogumos get a variant with the Red Harlot – spider-like predators that apart from their limbs, look like beautiful women – and contrary to their appearance, they are not that bad: While not nice by any definition, they are brilliant kidnappers that do not seek the death of their victims and are honorable to a fault to boot – always speaking the truth, which makes for an interesting combination.

One of the cool variants in here would be the CR 14 Hand of the Reliquary – the hand of a vanquished avatar or similar powerful being, these deadly things (based on the Demi-lich) can age you prematurely to venerable age’s threshold and blast foes with deadly rays of pure entropy – beware, blasphemers, beware!



Apropos beware – I mentioned CR 25 before – well. It’s a variant of the Tarrasque – one that essentially turns it into the King of Monsters, Godzilla in all but name! Yes. If you’re like me, that one will make you smile just as much as the extremely deadly new behemoth variants.



Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are very good, I didn’t notice any significant glitches. Layout adheres to RiP’s two-column color standard and is relatively printer-friendly. The artworks, when applicable, are nice and thematically fitting and usually are stock-art, though at this fair price-point, that’s more than ok. The pdf comes fully bookmarked by CR.

Impressive – that’s what this pdf is. When I read about this first, I expected some lame “Exchange x with y” basic entries accompanied by some reskinning – but this pdf offers SO MUCH MORE.

Each and every creature herein comes at least with one, more often than not multiple new signature abilities and weaknesses, borrowing extensively from both Norse and Asian myths to supplement original creations to deliver variants that are thoroughly original and honestly often better than full-blown new creatures I’ve seen. In fact, the sheer amount of cool ideas herein is rather astonishing – with e.g. the aforementioned hand and similar far-out concepts, the pdf is surprisingly lacking in only one category – and that is filler. While not each creature is glorious, the amount of beings I’d consider lame can be counted on one hand – which is next to nothing, given the amount of them we get in here. It would have been so easy to deliver a lazy job here, but that wouldn’t be rite – and so author Steven D. Russell gives us a glorious collection of variant monsters that cuts an awesome figure when compared to just about any bestiary – especially when taking the extremely fair price into account.



Reskinning monsters can make them interesting again – using these variant monsters will make your players dread stats they (mostly) ought to know by now – and even if only used to scavenge signature abilities, this pdf delivers in spades – the 101-series continues its glorious stride of top-notch material with this installment, scoring a full 5 stars plus seal of approval – so go ahead and bring these variants into your game!

You can get these fearsome critters here on OBS and here on d20pfsrd.com's shop!

Endzeitgeist out.

EZG reviews Legendary Classes: Covenant Magic

Legendary Classes: Covenant Magic 

This pdf is 47 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial/ToC, 3 pages of SRD, leaving us with 42 pages of content, so let's take a look!   Without any introduction or wasted space, we are introduced to the new Medium base-class that gets d8, 4+Int skills, 3/4 BAB-progression, good will-saves, proficiency with light armor and simple weapons, as well as spell-like abilities of up to 6th level - and you'd be outrageously gasping by now since they cannot be counterspelled - but: A rather interesting balancing method is being used - a medium can only maintain one spell-like abilities at once, with a new ability immediately ending the first. These abilities also get aligned later and count as spell for item activation purposes starting level 2.


The spell-like abilities can be each used 3/day and their governing spellcasting attribute is charisma. At first level, the medium also chooses an influence - but more on that later.   Mediums gain spirit guides that may use guidance on their behalf whenever s/he enters a trance and detect spirits, which include undead, fey, invisible, outsiders and also use this ability to notice and analyze haunts and even keep them from attacking - which is great since they are mostly untapped regarding class abilities. Starting at 3rd level, the medium also gets perhaps one of the most complex and well-executed abilities I've seen in quite a while - Séance. Mediums may call spirits and souls of creatures into their bodies to tap their knowledge and bargain with them planar ally style - including a max HD-table per level.

Now Influences, as I've mentioned before, are important: Mediums may choose from 11 influences that include diabolical forces, angelic hosts, restless souls, elemental forces or seelie and unseelie courts. Each Influence nets the medium a bonus language, a selection of trance covenants and spell like-abilities and a different capstone ability (yes, one for every influence) and also recommended, but not prescribed spirit boons.  

I need to address Trances. Mediums may enter a trance that lasts 4+Cha-mod rounds +2 per medium level after the first. While in trance, mediums get +4 to Con and Cha as well as access to the covenants and spell-like abilities associated with her/his influence and may use his/her spell-like abilities associated with influences once per trance without counting against the daily maximum. Essentially, the trance can be considered a caster's equivalent of a barbarian's rage (and no, they are not compatible) and trances do have some restrictions to maintain balance.   Now regarding favored class options... WOW. Blues. Half-Rakshasa.Duergar. Fehr's Ethnology-races. Psionics Unleashed-races. Remarkable Races from Alluria Publishing. And even ARG-races ALL COVERED. Wow. Just wow. 2 pages CHOCK-FULL of favored class options. This goes above and beyond. Nice!   Now have I mentioned spirit boons? At 1 st level, 3rd level and every 4 levels after that, the medium may choose a spoken invocation to gain the benefits of one of (unless I miscounted) 44 (!!!) spirit boons, which include things you'd expect like reading minds and telekinesis and implanting geas, absorb wounds of others via stigmata, add essentially add what amounts to metamagic-like, yet thoroughly unique effects to your spell-like abilities, which include ignoring the miss chances of incorporeal adversaries, prolong them etc.

Have I mentioned the option to put psychic shackles on spirits and chain them in your mind, turn incorporeal, possess foes (also only limbs - quite cool!), heal ability damage and raise the dead? Yes - the options are varied and damn cool.   A new spell lets you expel spirits and then, we're off to the topic of covenants - Depending on the strength of the spirit called, a covenant requires the expenditure of money, with access being also predicated on a tree of 5 progressively more expensive feats - though advice for alternate progressions are given as well if you're not sold on the approach. Finding covenants is not only an opportunity for spending character resources, but also for roleplaying and entering covenant examples are provided alongside comprehensive lists of covenants by strength.

Covenants are depicted somewhat akin to feats - the power-level of the covenant being included in brackets behind the name, followed by a short fluff description and then the benefits as well as a comprehensive list of patrons that can grant the respective covenant. Dark Arcanas, Archon Wards, the option to temporarily rip someone from death's grip, turn into elemental body II, gaining living illusions as companions, tap into your patron's abilities, manifest blades from the very heavens, immunity to ageing, mitigating dazing and stunning down to being staggered, gain a gaze attack that detects thoughts and may stun those that meet your gaze, cast foes down to the very hells - all these are just the tip of the ice-berg.   The pdf also features advice on creating new covenants as well as guidelines for non-monetary tasks for entering covenants.  


 Conclusion:


Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn't notice any significant glitches. Layout adheres to PDG's printer-friendly 2-column standard and the interior artwork is far beyond what the humble cover would make you believe - we neat full-page full-color artworks, multiple of them, and I have seen none of them in other publications before. The pdf is fully bookmarked with nested bookmarks for your convenience, making navigation easy.   Damn. I'm stupefied. Seriously, honestly stupefied. This class and its material rank for me as one of the most complex examples I've seen so far and it takes a bit of effort to properly get this material and appreciate it. And then, slowly, the potential, the vast friggin' potential of this class and its covenants sink in. Harry Dresden-style deals with fey? Check. Haunted by visions of hell? Check. Scions of the Heavens? Check. Champions of the elemental forces? Ditto. We essentially get a feat-style-ability-suite-style-class COMBINED with unique spellcasting COMBINED with talent-based abilities COMBINED with domain/bloodline-like abilities COMBINED with modes à la rage. And all elements interconnect. Yes, you could just extract the covenants for any class.

But oh boy would you miss out. This may be no class for beginners, but it is G-L-O-R-I-O-U-S. Complex, mechanically innovative, customizable. Oh boy. It's been AGES since I've been this excited about a class and it marries author David Nicholas Ross' mastery of crunch with great production values and we get perhaps one of the best classes, perhaps even the best I've read so far for PFRPG. Yes. That good. Do me a favor, do yourself a favor - get this. The class and covenant magic is so modular, it practically screams to have its already impressive array of abilities further expanded. Even if you're only remotely interested in good crunch, get this. If you want a class with complex customization options that marries these with massive roleplaying potential, get this. This is worth every cent thrice. At least.

This is the new gold-standard for class-design against which all other classes will be judged. My final verdict would be 6 stars, if I only could - hence, 5 stars + seal of approval and a high chance that this will feature on my Top Ten of 2013-list. Get this awesome class here on OBS and here on d20pfsrd.com!  

Endzeitgeist out.