DriveThruRPG.com
Browse Categories
$ to $















Back
pixel_trans.gif
Other comments left for this publisher:
You must be logged in to rate this
pixel_trans.gif
Rawr! - Volume 1: Fear and Dread
by jim t. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 02/08/2013 09:41:57

I'm not big into giving out massive details of what is contained herein as I never want to give away anything to folks who might end up meeting the nasties inside this PDF on the far end of a DM screen.

Suffice to say it is well written and has a clean, easy on the eyes layout. As I get older and my eyes get worse, this gets more and more important every year.

While it has some monsters and helpful tips from many voices, all are articulate and communicate well. I did find one minor proofing error, but it doesn't detract from the overall product.

I will say the Gravesbane Colossus is the single most bad-ass enemy I've read in a good 5 years, if not more. Extremely well done. It WILL inspire fear in your players.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Rawr! - Volume 1: Fear and Dread
Click to show product description

Add to DriveThruRPG.com Order

pixel_trans.gif
Rawr! - Volume 1: Fear and Dread
by Joshua G. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 11/17/2012 12:50:26

RAWR! A Series of Monstrous Malevolence, Volume 1: Fear and Dread....man that title is a long one, lol. So, for the purposes of saving space, time, and my sanity...we shall refer to this product as RAWR!

So, 18 pages, with a linked TOC and bookmarks. Laid out in a dual column format, with two full page images, and two other embedded pieces of art. Of the art, two are from Joseph Calkins' stock offerings, while the others are originals to this product, and are both exceptional pieces. Scattered throughout the book are random “doodles” that work well to keep the pages from being just boring block text to look at visually. The TOC is laid out in what I found to be an excellent idea, in that the sections are credited with the contributing/main authors for each section.

OK....what is this book...and why do you need it? Well...follow me here. It's game night, you're setting up the encounter for your players, you've just started to give the description of the creatures they are facing and two of your players are already scanning their character sheets and are ignoring you now, a third is reaching for his critter killing 20....wait...wha?? This ever happen to you? Got a group of players that know the creatures just as well as you do? Annoying, isn't it? There's a great deal of the mystery gone when the play group knows what to expect, and how to fight it before you're even done explaining the freaking visual of what they see. So...how do you tackle this problem as a GM? Design completely new creatures? Well, sure, there is always that....but leaving behind some classic creatures would be such a shame...especially when there are so many easy fixes to this situation. And that my friends, is where this PDF comes in.

Right of the bat RAWR! Comes off as more than just a standard collection of new feats and traits, there is real world advice here, offered alongside concepts to try at your table. The concepts and ideas are presented sans system and mechanics, and are more editorial in their mannerism. Now, I will admit, this bugged me at first, until I realized this essentially turned the topic into a conversation, one between the reader and the authors. They are not so much laying out multiple options on page/screen as they are advising what they do at their own tables, with stories culled from previous games. The personal touch there really helps to connect with these pieces of advice, and make one see why they work better.

Now, interesting story ideas to make your creatures different from the standard speed-bump to treasure most players are used to facing aside, this is a collection of new material. And there are some interesting new ideas here to make sure mechanically your creatures have a few new tricks up their sleeves. 6 new Feats, with offerings such as Devious Web (Combat) – adding monster abilities that can be done in conjunction with a web casting...think Spiderman's tricks, but done right. Bone Shield (Combat) – allows for those with animate/control undead to use them as a “living” shield of sorts. Can actually say, after reading this feat that I was amazed this wasn't already available somewhere, as it seems like such an obvious combat tactic of something that can fill a battlefield with undead.

6 new Traits follow the Feats, with a simple rule of thumb when it comes to deciding what types of monsters deserve traits. Most of these traits could easily be applied to PCs of a monstrous background as well, half-orcs and such. Some of the trait names alone just make you want to spend a night hanging out at a game table with these guys....lol....Taste for Eyeballs, Rotten Limb, Bone Collector....OK, so the first one wins, hands down...lol.

From there we go to a couple of new critters...what? You thought there weren't going to be some new creatures to play with? First up, the Gravesbane Colossus...a CR 21 nightmare straight out a madman's twisted dream. Imagine, for a second, a graveyard standing up and walking off to go attack and kill whatever it came across...yeah, just standing up, as a massive hulking creature. Now, the artwork gives us a bipedal, the description says it has six limbs...I'll leave that to you to decide...either way, this is one seriously cool construct, with an even cooler creation ritual. Heck, the ritual to create one could easily become a storyline in and of itself with the players trying to stop it from happening.

And that brings us to the Sundered One. This thing is twisted...truly. And I applaud the boldness in going for it that caused this particular creature to earn TPK Games the slap on the fingers in regards to the compatibility license. It doesn't take much to see the original design in this creature, and I doubt in all reality anything mechanically had to be changed, it was probably all in the flavor text...what we are left with is a truly truly disturbing undead...thing. Oozing necromantic slime that makes even getting close enough to fight this creature dangerous long before the creature even attacks you. This twisted nightmarish creation does a very good job of channeling all of those late night Oriental Ghost stories into a weird, visually disturbing, mentally unbalancing oddity...oh, and then pumping it full of steroids, dumping a six pack on redbull down its throat and sending it screaming after you...Yeah...that kind of wicked creature design.

2 new magical items finish us off, the Belt of Bestial Woe – which grants an unstackable AC bonus along with the curse of lycanthropsy to its wearer...and no ridding oneself of the sudden furry lifestyle is not as easy as simply taking off the belt, lol. The Fiend's Pitchfork operates as a + weapon, with a smite good ability enhanced with a selection of handy perks.

Wrapping up, the sheer fact that the title tells us this is merely Volume 1 means there is more to come, new rules and ideas, spells and creatures, as well as improvements to the overall line. Editing wise I found only one mistake, and that was the repetition of a sentence within a paragraph...not bad, but not great either. The odd white area left from an attempt to lay one of the images as a transparent on the page background really makes the entire page look...well, less.

And, yeah...that's all I've got. Really...a sentence got repeated, and one picture probably needed more time in a picture editor being separated from its background before used....in all, I have got nothing negative in regards to the material itself. Now, as much as I enjoyed the conversational advice, I am wondering if that will continue or be toned back in further installments within this series...I imagine time will tell in that regard. Until then, I am going with a 4.5 for this product, rounding up to a 5 for the purposes of this forum's rating system. A good first offering for a new series, and an interesting concept for said series. I look forward to seeing where Vol.2 takes us.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
The Malefactor Base Class
by Joshua G. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 11/15/2012 12:26:22

The Malefactor....oh where does one begin. Do we open with the sheer deviousness of this class? The insanely cool artwork that will forever define for me what this class is all about? Or the equally wicked NPC presented herein to accompany that oh so awesome cover image? How about we touch on all of it, lol.

23 pages of deliciousness, with the obligatory cover/OGL/TOC page count, all centered on very interesting character class idea. The malefactor. But, what is a malefactor exactly? To strip it the basics, the class encompasses those who have taken the crap luck given them by the world and life in general, and have learned to harness it, focus it, and use it to affect those around them. Give me someone who has spent their life just ahead of the torches and pitchforks, and I shall give you a malefactor hellbent on revenge. Yeah, that kind of character. Now, that is not to say that they are instantly an evil aligned character, but they certainly lend themselves to the darker side of the tracks when it comes to their dealings with friend and foe alike.

With opening words from both Brian Berg (the man behind TPK games) and Gary McBride (Writer/Creator of Way of the Wicked...quite possibly the only successful evil story arc...ever), the theme is set for this book right off the bat. This class is not for flower loving, let's all sit around the fire and hug kind of players. The malefactor is not for those seeking shiny acknowledgment and accolades...this class is for those wishing to twist the fate of all those around them, whilst escaping their own. A darker class for a darker player, without breaking the boundaries and going truly evil. It's a balancing act, to be sure, but one that is accomplished very well here.

PDF follows the standard dual column approach, with one embedded table for level progression. Background texture is marbled grey with a stylized border that can be challenging to read through in a few spots, but overall is light enough that most people should not have a problem with it. I can't help but think perhaps in editing setting the margins just back from the framework on the page would have helped immensely in the visibility of the text, but again, this is me being extremely nit-picky, and most will not have an issue with it. There were a few instances of spaces between words left out however, but there were only a few, and they truly didn't interfere with the understanding of the text.

As with many classes, the malefactor has its own set of cool goodies that reward the PC for continuing through the level progressions. Malediction (various “curses” that the malefactor can choose from as she progresses), Harrowing Strike (A maximized attack that only gets better as the levels get higher), Strife Points (a pool of points that the PC can spend to activate several different abilities. Very similar in nature to Psi points, or Time motes...any player familiar with either of these concepts will recognize this idea instantly)...and then we have the Aura of Misfortune. As long as the malefactor is conscious, every one around her (within range of course) suffers a negative to their saving throws. Now, here's the kicker folks, that negative...that everyone...yes, that means the fellow players standing around the Malefactor PC, and quite possibly her herself if she runs out of strife points. That born with crap luck sucks, lol.

So, why in the world would anyone want to play a character living under the weight of curses and bad luck you might be asking by now.....well, simply put...Those who understand an evil, are better equipped to deal with it. The malefactor class puts a character in an interesting position to deal with curses amongst others, as they can literally draw these curses to themselves, relieving others of them. They can ignore the effects of curse items, using them as if they carried no curses upon them, or even steal the victory right out of the grasp of their enemies by simply changing their luck from good, to bad.

So, how do they do these awesome things? The Yla. The Yla are the spirits of luck and chaos, for lack of better explanation, and they are that which the malefactor deals with when it comes to making a great many things happen.

Grand total we are presented with 18 Maledictions in this guide, 5 Archetypes and 12 Feats designed specifically for this class. We're also presented with the favored class options for 11 races. That's a rather impressive amount of information to get a class up and running, by any standard. Do I want more? Of course I do, and I have no doubt that eventually we will see more maledictions at the least...they are flat out to interesting not to have more designed.

Ending with an example, a fully fleshed out NPC to accompany that insanely excellent cover image, this PDF, intended to deliver a new class to us, gives us an amazing new character to drop into our worlds. And that cover image? Included inside without the text, just in case you have a spot on the wall needing some cool art.

Wrapping it up, I can say no more than what I have said many times now, buy this PDF!!!! The class design far outweighs the very few editing issues, this is one of those cases where design outweighs everything, period. This class brings some really cool ideas to the table, as well as inspires even more. Ignoring the one heading with spacing issues, this book is a solid 5 star. Yes, I just admitted there is an editing issue in the same line that I stated the book gets a perfect rating. That is how much I like the design work for this class, and how much I want to see more done with it. Oh, and since I failed to mention it earlier....full Hero Lab support files. Yeah, just keeps getting better.

Pick this one up folks, it is Well worth the price of admission!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
The Malefactor Base Class
Click to show product description

Add to DriveThruRPG.com Order

pixel_trans.gif
Infamous Adversaries: Urizen the Bleak Lord
by Thilo G. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 09/27/2012 11:23:49

TPK Games are back with their latest installment of the Infamous Adversary-line, this time featuring a cool collaboration with fellow 3pp Super Genius Games. The pdf is a whopping 36 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial/ToC, 4 pages of advertisement and 1 page SRD, leaving us with 29 pages of content -still quite a bunch for a pdf centered on one particular villain.

From rather humble beginnings, the Infamous Adversary-line has improved so far to include some of the most iconic villains sold in PFRPG and this time, they take SGG's antipaladin variant-class Death knight to infuse unlife into it. As with all recent Infamous Adversary-pdfs, we get an extensive and expertly-written short fiction that draws the reader into the narrative, information on the villain's allies, resources, tactics, lair, quotes and motivations. After an introduction by Super Genius Games' Owen K.C. Stephens, we thus delve into the background of Urizen.

And it is here that I pronounce the inevitable SPOILER WARNING. I'm going into details that will spoil your experience with Urizen, so potential players: Please skip to the conclusion!

Still here? All right! Once, Urizen was a mortal barbarian living in the frozen wastes under the reign of cruel Utgaroth, god of the frozen north winds. Then, he was not only mortal, but also known by a different name, that of Graldis the Cold. Obsessed with the cold and seeing his brethren as weak for requiring the warmth of the fire to stay alive, he took his magical bone beads and was banished to the cold. Just before succumbing to the dread terrain, he found a suit of demonic armor that whispered to him fell promises of power and sure enough, he donned it. When the half-giant exilant winter witch Valkiri found him, she realized that this man would become the fabled dark messiah she had hoped for - guiding him towards the frost giants, Graldis managed to gain dominance over them - at the price of his death and, subsequently as per his pact, his immortal soul: Graldis rose again from the pyre, reborn in cold undeath as the Graveknight Urizen the Bleak Lord, the fragments of his erstwhile humanity being slowly shed like frostbitten toes and fingers.

The ensuing subjugation of tribes and giants now see Urizen on the brink of being able to wage a war from the north to extinguish the fire of the living, not unlike the threat of the Walkers behind the Wall in "A Song of Fire and Ice". Apart from his stats when he still was mortal (CR 6 armored hulk barbarian), we also get a CR 14-version with 8 Death Knight levels and the fearsome CR 19-incarnation of the true master of the north, sporting 13 death knight levels in addition to his armored hulk powers. Beyond that, we also get two possible mounts fully statted with an ancient skeletal wyvern and a skeletal mammoth that should serve as appropriate steeds for the Death Knight. Finally Valkiri also gets two incarnations, one at CR 10 and one at CR 15.

Conclusion: Editing and formatting, unfortunately, as much as I'm loathe to say it, can only be considered sloppy. Double blank spaces? Check. Inconsistency in names (Valkiri/Valkari as an example)? Check. "Nearby" in Arcane Familiar Nearby not bold? Check. Then we have punctuation errors, etc. making me REALLY wish this had gotten another pass at editing - it needs one, as the glitches detracted rather heavily from my immersion in what otherwise would be a compelling background story. The artwork of Urizen is top-notch indeed and beyond reproach. The pdf comes with extensive bookmarks and an additional, printer-friendly version sans artworks. As with all releases by TPK Games, much of the pdf is hyperlinked to d20pfsrd if you're using the pdf on your tablet/PC. Layout adheres to TPK Games' 2-column standard as well as a sufficiently frost-bitten looking font for the headers. The character comes with full herolab files.

This is one of the pdf that make me be annoyed at being a reviewer - there's a lot to be enjoyed in the pages here and Urizen is indeed a cool (pardon the pun) villain that will lead to memorable showdowns, cool encounters etc. While personally, I prefer Ischadra and Raxath'Viz, he is still on par with the line's high standard. Getting 3 different statblocks is also nice and ensures continued usability of the adversary. What is less awesome, though, is the rather unpleasant amount of editing glitches that has crept into these pages. I try not to be too anal-retentive when it comes to them, but this pdf is beyond what I'd consider neglectable, especially since they detract from the appeal of the otherwise great fluff and also found their way into the statblocks, which is a big no-go. As an additional gripe, I have to mention that the witch-consort featured herein lacks stats for her familiar - though these critters are rather crucial for witches. The rules of the Death Knight have been implemented well and the characters, fluff etc. are also executed rather nicely. But the glitches, combined with the lack of a familiar unfortunately make it impossible for me to rate this higher than 3 stars. If you don't care about them, go ahead, check it out. If you're really stingy about this kind of stuff, wait for the (hopefully upcoming) revision this pdf deserves.

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
Infamous Adversaries: Urizen the Bleak Lord
Click to show product description

Add to DriveThruRPG.com Order

pixel_trans.gif
Infamous Adversaries: Urizen the Bleak Lord
by Shane O. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 09/23/2012 15:47:54

Heroes, it’s said, are made, not born. What’s left unsaid is what it is that makes them: villains. Heroes are only as great as the villains they overcome, and so the darker, more powerful, more iconic the villain, the greater the hero. As such, it’s almost surprising that we don’t see more products devoted specifically to villains. One such book, however, is Urizen the Bleak Lord, part of the Infamous Adversaries line from Total Party Kill Games.

Before we examine this new paragon of evil, let’s look at the book itself. The product comes as two PDF files, and a set of Hero Lab files. Unfortunately, not using Hero Lab myself I can’t review that aspect of the product, other than to commend TPK Games for using Hero Lab in the first place; I’ve heard enough to know that there are probably a lot of gamers who’ll appreciate it.

The two PDFs are the main file and a printer-friendly version thereof. The printer-friendly version is notably shorter, in terms of pages, than the main file, eliminating the cover and several pages of ads in the back. More dramatic is that it completely eschews the gray page backgrounds and dark borders. I did frown a bit at it keeping the interior illustrations – this is clearly to keep the layout from needing to be redone, and it’s not a major issue since the three interior illustrations are in black and white, but it’s still not quite as printer-friendly as it could be.

Of course, there is more to the book’s illustrations than those three pictures. Dustan Kostic’s cover is reproduced inside the book, along with another picture, and the full-page pictures are visually arresting. Having no artistic background, it’s hard for me to describe, but there’s a sense of a slight blurriness there that contrasts sharply with the amount of detail in the pictures – those two aspects of the pictures sound like they should clash, but they don’t; instead, there’s a blend of details even as there’s an overall sense that you’re still not seeing the character clearly, making them even more menacing. It’s truly impressive.

Similarly impressive is the character of Urizen himself. The book, after the intro by Owen K. C. Stephens, opens with the narrative of Urizen’s genesis. The story itself is captivating, but seems to end prematurely, stopping as Urizen hits his zenith of power, but not going on to lay out his current state.

It’s after this that we’re given the first of three stat blocks for Urizen, and it’s also here that my first critique of the book comes – the layout needs to be tweaked. To be clear, I don’t mean that the book’s text layout is flawed (it keeps to the familiar two-column style), but rather the various sections of the book should have been placed in a different order. For example, the first stat block for Urizen is at his weakest, and is given far earlier than his later, more powerful incarnations.

That, to my mind, was a mistake. Rather, his stat blocks should have been either placed altogether, or had one (ideally the most powerful) up front and the others in an appendix, or (in what I think would have been the most poetic option) to have his narrative broken up by showing his stat block as it displays him at various points in the story. Now that would have been impressive.

I should also take some time to talk about his stat blocks as well. Other than the occasional problem (e.g. no XP listings, a fly spell-like ability saying it’s for “0 minutes/day,” etc., these are quite well constructed. Hyperlinks to various parts of the d20 PF SRD are used liberally, which is not only nice but absolutely necessary, since Urizen’s stats range from beyond what the Core Rulebook offers. Indeed, his base class is a death knight, from a third-party supplement (have no fear though, for his special powers are described in full).

Several pages are devoted to Urizen as a character, by which I mean describing him as a person – his goals, his personality, his lair, etc. These are fairly good, but are painted in fairly broad strokes; Urizen is a larger-than-life figure, and so there doesn’t seem to be any real degree of specificity or notable quirks that make him an individual, as opposed to a manifest archetype. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing – Urizen is a BBEG in every sense of the word, but it’s more about what he is, rather than who.

There are several additional stat blocks devoted to his servitors; one is his terrestrial mount, another is his aerial mount, and the third is his lieutenant. This last one is the only one to have two stat blocks, which makes sense given her importance in Urizen’s back-story (though it makes me wish she’d been illustrated). These are helpful, but I’m of two minds about them being the sole degree of mechanical support which Urizen receives – on the one hand, adding too much else can be seen as restrictive in regards to GMs who want to really customize Urizen’s set up…but on the other hand, most GMs won’t feel bound by what’s here anyway, so why not give us some more specifics?

These don’t need to be full stat blocks, of course, but there’s a lot more that could have been done here. What’s a rough approximation of the forces loyal to Urizen, in terms of what creatures follow him and their numbers? Who are the power players in his court, and what’s their motivations in doing so? Does he take advantage of the cold environment to the point where living characters are likely to suffer environmental penalties? Maybe some of these could even take utilize of some of the expanded Pathfinder rules – does Urizen’s horde constitute having faction rules? Is his kingdom large enough to use the kingdom-building rules?

Ultimately, the major problem with presenting Urizen as a bad guy of campaign-ending proportions is that such characters aren’t enough by themselves; they exist at the top of a power structure of villainy that challenges the PCs – showing us only the ruler themselves is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg; there’s still a lot more below that that’s quite important, and we’re only seeing a little of it here. Imagine if Star Wars had focused solely on Emperor Palpatine, and shoved Darth Vader, the storm troopers, the Death Star, etc. into the far background…that’s the major problem here.

Overall, what’s here about Urizen himself is very well done; it’s just not enough. Sometimes a product is defined as much by what it doesn’t do as what it does, and this is an example of that. Hence, I wouldn’t really call this an error on the book’s part, so much as it’s a case of its vision being too narrow. There’s a lot to like about Urizen, and I have no doubt that you’ll be able to get a lot of use out of pitting him against your PCs. But be prepared to flesh out a lot of the forces sitting between him and the PCs; that’s the bleakest aspect of the Bleak Lord.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
Infamous Adversaries: Raxath'Viz, the Creeping Rot
by Benjamin M. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 08/16/2012 04:59:28

Infamous Adversaries: Raxath'Viz, the Creeping Rot

This entry into the series of infamous adversaries has the usual good back ground that I have seen in their other products of this series. with very fully shown motives and back story to help fit the char. into just about any campain. The easy use of the stat blacks again is a plus in my mind. The big twist of the Raxath'Viz being a Kobold is amusing to me as it takes what is offen seen as a weak monster and makes it something much more a threat to most parties, and it tell you what he might have in the way of minions / disposable thugs to thow at the party as distractions. As usual in these books the unusual creatures are fully ststed out and put in the standard stat block format for ease of use.

The addition of the Hero Lab files for the charathers/monsters/ items/ the "god" he worships add to the usefulness of this product only if you happen to own the hero lab program. I do own the Hero lab and use it.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Infamous Adversaries: Raxath'Viz, the Creeping Rot
Click to show product description

Add to DriveThruRPG.com Order

pixel_trans.gif
Infamous Adversaries: Cytheria the Blasphemer
by Benjamin M. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 08/16/2012 04:43:22

This entry into the series of infamous adversaries is nice and simple to follow in its layout. The Charather stats/spells/ gear and such are layed out just as in the "core" books for the Pathfinder system. That makes it easy to read and follow the stat block.

The best part of this was in my opinion was the way the background was set up so that it was campain netural and could be easly fit into just about any campain, I wil admit there are some concepts for campains that will not allow the use of this one as written. The backstory of how she was recruited and how the order/cult she belongs to operates would allow the creation of other charathers to support her or as spin off adventures. The lack of detail of the cult is both a strength and weakness in my book as it allows freedom on the part of a GM to create more details on teh cult as/ when needed. The notes on how the order gets funding shows its level of "normal" deceptivness and concealment from most eyes. The limited amout of art work looks very good to me. I am sure that it both keeps costs down, and by only using a single piece of art it helps afford better quality art to enhance the final look and feel of the product. I feel that the mirror immage art that was choosen helps convey the hidden nature of her threat as well as teh threat of her order/cult.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Infamous Adversaries: Cytheria the Blasphemer
Click to show product description

Add to DriveThruRPG.com Order

pixel_trans.gif
The Malefactor Base Class
by Carl A. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 07/21/2012 08:22:47

The Malefactor base class is a two edged sword. It lacks enough power to be really effective on its own and its debuffs benefit other classes quite a bit (wizards, sorcerers and witches especially) but in a group they will always be apart because they are too dangerous to the group when they are close by (benefiting enemy spellcasters).

The idea of a character that has been cursed in some way, and who uses that curse to their advantage (most of the time) is certainly different from most and I think this class has a lot to offer a group that other classes typically either can't do or can't do very easily. In the right party I think they could make a big difference by making it easier for the party's spellcasters to affect the enemies, but care must be taken to not affect the Malefactor as well, so I think this class would work better in an experienced group who works to maximize the advantage vs a group that doesn't understand the ramifications of battlefield placement. They don't get evasion or improved evasion, so they will need some protection of some sort if the sorcerer wants to drop a fireball on top of them if they get surrounded for example. And the Cleric will not want to spend much time next to them when they need healing since their save penalty (the core ability of the class) affects everyone in 10 feet.

The writing is good, and the concept is pretty solid, so I'm trying this class out in the next game my group is playing, where we are starting out as zero level dwarves, and in the first session my character was cursed and blinded (this was just before this class came out and I was trying to decide what class he could still be effective as with that drawback, so this seemed like a pretty obvious fit).



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
The Malefactor Base Class
Click to show product description

Add to DriveThruRPG.com Order

pixel_trans.gif
The Malefactor Base Class
by Paul P. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 07/19/2012 13:28:33

Really cool class and concept. I've been reading it over the last couple of days and used the hero lab file to place it into my software. Everything seems to be working smoothly and from what I can tell the class is fairly well balanced. I'll have to actually play one to find out for sure. Our GM is probably going to allow one in our game to use as a cohort when one of our party members takes the leadership feat. The only problem (minor) that I'm having is with the portfolio of the pre-generated character Talitha being opened. It looks like whoever created the file used some SGG materials along with an older playtest version of the ARG, which I don't have on my machine. It gives me an error message when I open it up, but seems to be working fine when I click "ok" and look at the actual character in the portfolio, it may be something very small that isn't working from the materials that are missing or nothing at all, I have no idea of knowing at this time.

Anyhow, great job to TPK games for creating an awesome new class that has tons of role playing potential! 5 Stars!!!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
The Malefactor Base Class
by Thilo G. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 07/15/2012 17:39:09

The first original class by TPK Games comes as a 21-page pdf, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 2 pages of advertisement and 1 page of SRD, leaving a total of 16 pages of content for this new base-class, so let's check it out!

After a second version of the GORGEOUS cover by Anna Rigby (which would make for a nice Dark_Mistress-avatar...), we are introduced to a new piece of short fiction, an extract from Talitha Shadowtongue's memoirs, herself a tiefling doom herald and malefactor - and, as I've come to expect from TPK Games, the fiction is well-written, sets a gritty mood and makes me once again curse not being in the US - otherwise I'd invite the guys from TPK to join my game or try to score at least a con-game: We seem to have similar styles. Oh well. But what is this new malefactor-class?

Fluff-wise, the malefactor represents a kind of people who are, from their earliest childhood, afflicted with a so-called Yla, amoral, intangible chaos-spirits that wreck havoc, misfortune and destruction without being interested in the consequences. Some rare children learn that while these spirits cannot be driven out, the misfortune not averted, they can be channeled and commanded - these persons become malefactors. Malefactors get 3/4 BAB, good ref-and will-saves, no spells, d8, 6+Int skills per level, proficiency with shields, medium and light armor, simple weapons, light crossbows, rapier, longsword, short sword and shortbow and much like other "trick"-classes like the Time Thief, the Luckbringer etc., they are rather dependant on their abilities to make them count, but what exactly are these? Well, first of all, they start off with an aura that gradually increases and imposes a profane penalty on saving throws - to everything around her, without a save. Yes, that includes allies and the malefactor herself - interesting and somewhat reminiscent of 4WFG's Jinxs-PrC, but not where the class stops. The penalty is also slightly offset by later gaining the wis-bonus to fort-and ref-saves.

The Malefactor also gains a so-called pool of strife, that can hold a maximum of 1/2x her level WIs-mod strife points. They also gain access to so-called maledictions, one at 1st level and every two levels afterwards an additional one, but more on them later. In melee, she can use a standard action and a point of strife to execute a so-called harrowing strike at a target that is under the effect of a curse or one of her curse-like powers (including hexes, you witch-aficionados out there!). The ability improves to add wis-mod to atk and later damage, inflict bleeding damage, add a second attack and at the highest levels is even considered a touch attack and gets a wicked DC to stop the bleeding. And then there is strife surge - perhaps the coolest ability I've seen in quite a time for a class: Every time a being within the malefactor's aura rolls a natural "1" on a save or attack, the malefactor is energized, reducing the amount of strife her powers consume for one round by 1 to a minimum of 0. Yes. This class actually makes having bad rolls at the table something that can be honestly cheered! And if you're like me, you have this one player with the most miserable of luck, who is glad to only roll one fumble per session... Among the other abilities the class gets is the one to draw curses unto herself, trying to break them, but suffering potentially from the effects of the curse, whether successful or not. The malefactors can also force opponents to use the lower of two d20-results for a point of strife, wear cursed items without any adverse effects (YEAH!), displace attacks to hit other creatures, reroll natural "1"s for points of strife and finally, a cool capstone ability that renders her immune to curses and makes all "2"s in her aura count as "1"s - unlucky for her foes indeed!

But back to those maledictions - a total of 18 are provided and they have a save of 10 1/2 class level Wis-mod and an increasing range (starting at 20 ft, going up to 60) and last wis-mod rounds. What makes them even more interesting is the fact that each of the maledictions has an option to use a dread escalation as soon as the malefactor has reached 10th level - essentially, an additional cost in strife points increases the effect. Take for example the first one, Apt Curse - on a failed will-save, the victim has a 50% chance to take no action on his/her/its turn. Dread escalate the malediction and we add not only 2 to the DC, but also make the curse permanent. OUCH! Or let your misfortune cling to a weapon that hits you, making it count as a size smaller than it actually is via Benign Weapon. Have I mentioned that Malefactors are essentially the black cats among characters? If they cross your path, you'll count as flanked until next turn. On the defensive side, the malefactors may also reduce the amount of damage area-spells deal with "Eye of the Storm" and even dread escalate the type of dice down (e.g. d8 -_ d6). Among my personal favorites, though, ranks "Feats of Fate" - while it can be used only once in 24 hours on a given enemy, it prevents said foe gaining any kind of natural or magical healing, while curing the malefactor. Neat, neat, neat. I know one sadistic bastard of a DM who will have his players on the business-end of that one soon... Of course, there are also maledictions to impose skill penalties, make concentration harder, foes slower to react etc., but it is abilities like lightning rod that truly rock: Essentially the Malefactor draws all types of lightning, forcing foes to attack her with the respective spells/effects, while gaining evasion against these attacks - dodging lightning has never been that much fun. (take heed, FF 10-designers, if you happen to read this!). Of coursing stumbling, losing items, losing AoOs are all nice, but e.g. declaring a creature taboo and have foes stunned, or even blinded and deafened for ignoring your sanction is also neat. It should be noted that the dread escalations could have easily been called advanced maledictions and thus space artificially created, but instead this more elegant solution was take. I really like the mechanics and hope to see support for it in future supplements.

5 archetypes are provided as well, though at least for me they don't necessarily qualify as such and should rather be considered alternate class features - the Moirae can declare an action fated to succeed and treat the ally as having rolled 20 at the task a number of times equal to wis-mod per day. They don't get the misfortune aura and the save-boost. The Doom Herald gains additional languages, a bonus against mind-affecting abilities and exchange the aura of misfortune for the ability to utter words of doom that force all in hearing distance to save or take the worst of 2 results from saving against hexes and curses. Reavers gain heavy armor proficiency and deal additional damage against foes they have cursed. Kismets don't get the aura and harrowing strike, but rather can grant their cha-mod as a luck bonus to rolls of allies. Finally, the curse-breaker draws health and spell resistance from breaking curses and can transfer them to other beings.

Before we get to the new feats for the malefactor, we first get a nice little lore-section on information on malefactors. A total of 12 feats are provided, ranging from the ability to use strife to increase your aura, the ability to manifest maledictions as part of melee attacks to further capitalizing on the unluck of other characters in your aura by also gaining str-bonuses to the inevitable extra points of strife, extra malediction to the ability to exclude allies from your aura of misfortune (but also from your potential benefits) and improved surges, we essentially get the basic feat-catalogue to improve the abilities of the class. No feats for the archetypes are provided, though.

The odf also provides favored class options for all basic races, aasimar, tieflings, dhampirs, fetchlings, goblins, changelings and drow - neat!

The pdf closes with advice on how they work in your campaign as well as the fully stated and hyperlinked statblock of the succubus-descendant Tiefling Malefactor Talitha Shadowtongue.

Conclusion: Editing and formatting is very good - while I noticed some minor glitches, none jarred my reading experience or enjoyment of the class. The pdf adheres to TPK Games 2-column grey layout, utilizes cool fonts and features a gorgeous full-color artwork of the highest caliber. The pdf is also extensively bookmarked and the sample NPC's statblock linked to d20pfsrd. The printer-friendly, artless b/w-version has no bookmarks, but since it's intended to be printed - who cares? The deal also comes with herolab files of the class and the sample character, so great if you use the software. I honestly didn't expect much from this class, seeing how much I enjoy RiP's Luckbringer and well - I should have. This is a completely different take on (un)luck and the design decisions that went into the creation of the Malefactor are concise, well-thought out and the overall class makes not only for a great team-player, but a fun addition to any table and a godsend for unlucky players. The ability to customize the class and its unique feel and tactics make the base-class a definite winner. However: The archetypes. They have good concepts behind them, but couldn't they have changed more than, oh let's say 1 -3 abilities? Personally, I enjoy them when they are more complex, but rules-wise, I see nothing wrong with them.

The feats do a basic job of what is expected and I seriously hope for e.g. a witch/malefactor PrC/archetype/whatever and more complex feats in a future supplement. The favored class options and the inclusion of uncommon races was a nice addition. The pdf is rather pricey for the amount of content provided, but seeing we get herolab support, an original, beautiful full color artwork and due to the fact I can't discern any truly major flaws, I won't hold the price-point against this class, especially since the way the class is designed is actually rather innovative. All right, let's sum it up: Class: GLORIOUS. Gorgeous. Fun. No balance concerns or options that felt bland. The class per se is a total winne. The supplemental material, though, can be considered to fall a bit behind that stellar quality - were I to rate them separately, I'd give the base class 5 stars seal of approval and the additional material 4 stars. Since I tend to meet in the middle if in doubt, I debated whether to go 4.5 (and round down) or 5 and in the end will settle for a final verdict of 5 stars - innovative design, cool concept and professional execution need and should be rewarded. Well-played, TPK Games! Can we now have a luckbringer/malefactor comboclass? Please?

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
The Malefactor Base Class
by Shane O. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 07/07/2012 18:57:39

Bad luck is part and parcel of RPGs, particularly dice-based ones like Pathfinder. Whether it’s your fiendishly-clever plan suddenly going belly-up, or rolling the dreaded natural 1, sometimes things just turn against you. But what if that wasn’t just an uncontrollable aspect of the game, but rather a character theme? What if your PC was somehow who had a measure of control over ill luck, and could actually use it to their advantage? What sort of character build is like that?

The answer is the Malefactor Base Class, from Total Party Kill Games.

Right off the bat, I have to give TPK Games credit for their files – not only does the PDF come with a printer-friendly version (though said version lacked PDF bookmarks, but that’s a minor nitpick), but it also came with two Hero Lab files; one for the class itself, and another for the sample NPC made with it. A helpful readme text file on how to install the Hero Lab files is a nice little extra. I was going to note little things that weren’t here like a mac-compatible or epublishing version, but that seems nitpicky in light of just how much is here already.

The main PDF is also to be commended for hitting the highlights of its format. Copy-and-paste is enabled, and full nested bookmarks are included. The artwork featured two full-page full-color interior pieces. The first is a clean version of the cover image, and is truly excellent – I can see why they used it as the basis for their sample character. The second image was of similar quality, but there was a slightly “blurred” look about it; not much, just slightly enough that I wasn’t sure if the picture was drawn that way, or if the resolution needed to be tightened up a little.

I had mixed feelings about the page backgrounds. Each page is set against a sort of slate-gray background, reminiscent of a tombstone. This included an ornate black border near the edge of each page. Ironically (or perhaps on purpose) this formed a sort of natural border for the text, but whenever the text got close enough that the black lettering hit the border, I felt like it was being obscured slightly. Certainly that didn’t happen too much, but enough to be worth mentioning.

The Malefactor Base Class opens with a short bit of fiction told from the perspective of the sample character, after which we’re taken to the class itself. The Malefactor is fairly strong, having medium BAB and the corresponding d8 Hit Dice, along with only one bad save (Fortitude). It’s also pretty good skill monkey, having a dozen class skills and 6 Int bonus skill points per level. I was also pleased to see that the TPK guys remembered to add in the malefactor’s level 1 starting gold.

In regards to the design of the class’s special abilities, I was pleasantly surprised at just how strong the design was. This manages to perfectly capture the innovation that a new class should have with the design philosophy of a Pathfinder base class.

The malefactor’s main abilities revolve around a pool of strife points, and its malediction powers. There are certainly more powers than these, of course, but these two help to form the core identity of the class. Maledictions are somewhat like a witch’s hex powers, in that the player selects one every so often as they level up, and can be used at will. Unlike witch hexes, which have a hierarchy of the normal ones, the stronger ones, and the strongest, all maledictions are equal. However, roughly midway through the malefactor’s progression, it gains the ability to spend strife points on its maledictions to increase their power. Each malediction has an expanded paragraph describing what it does when used in this manner.

Strife points have other uses, of course. So long as the malefactor has at least one, it’s protected from its own aura of unluck, which penalizes saving throws for everyone around it. It also has a great deal of curse-related powers (a helpful sidebar describes what game effects constitute a “curse” for this purpose), such as spending strife points to cause greater damage to those operating under a curse, detecting curses, being able to remove them or even ignore them, and quite a bit more. The class is incredibly versatile within its theme.

In regards to its flavor, the malefactor is based around the idea that some children, when they’re born, are the permanent host of chaos-spirits known as “yla” who attract bad luck to them. The malefactor has learned how to channel this bad luck into its powers. I was somewhat unimpressed with the flavor text, if only because it gave a fairly concrete flavor to a class that allowed for a greater range of in-game interpretations of how its powers worked. Having said that, I do have to give the writers props for keeping the flavor firmly married to the mechanics – it mentions how various powers, for example, are because of the yla’s spiritual attacks or influence.

That alone would have been enough, but in another move that shows that they know what Pathfinder players want, the book continues on with a set of expanded options for malefactors. We’re initially given five class archetypes, such as the moirae (who pronounce fate to make their allies succeed on tasks) or the kismet (who try and focus their powers on good luck, rather than bad).

I was slightly less impressed with the archetypes, as the fluff often felt thinnest here. Does a kismet still have an yla spirit, for example? Moreover, more than one of these archetypes just traded in a single class feature – I’m personally of the opinion that archetypes should always have at least two or more to be worthwhile, otherwise the difference between them and the normal class is, to me, too small. Worst, however, were the instances where the replacement power didn’t say what class feature that it was replacing (I’m looking at you, Curse-Eater archetype).

A short, surprising section on what you know about malefactors at various DCs leads us into a dozen malefactor-specific feats. While these did have the ubiquitous single line of flavor text before giving us their mechanics, most of these felt utilitarian in nature – you had the requisite feat for increasing a specific malediction’s save DC, or use one as a move action (rather than a standard), or gain further points of strife, etc. These were good, but felt obligatory.

Pleasantly, this wasn’t the case for malefactor favored class bonuses. A whopping fourteen races have entries here, including (naturally) a number of races from later monster/race books, such as the dhampir, drow, and fetchlings. Each has a short bit of flavor text describing how malefactor members of that race look at their powers. My only complaint here is that some entries note that their possibilities include a 1 skill point or 1 hit point, which goes without saying since those are the default favored class bonuses, and so didn’t need to be reiterated here.

There’s a short but insightful section on malefactors in your game (they make great debuffers) before we’re given the sample NPC from the cover. I wasn’t quite sure if I missed something when it noted that not only was she a demon-spawn tiefling, but that she was of the succubus bloodline – I know there are rules for tieflings from different kinds of evil outsiders, but I’m unaware of any sort of rules for making them be from a specific kind of monster (and since the character is a single-classed malefactor, the “bloodline” thing isn’t of the sorcerer ability of the same name).

The character stat block is fairly straightforward, but could have used some minor touch-ups (you don’t need to list an attack’s critical multiplier if it’s x2) and had a number of things set as hyperlinks to the d20PFSRD. What was fairly ugly, however, was after the stat block it listed out, in alphabetical order, expanded text on everything the character had. Literally everything; her class abilities, racial abilities, magic items, traits, etc. are all summarized there. It was more than a bit overwhelming, and certainly unnecessary. If something in her stat block is from a different book, a hyperlink (or at least a parenthetical note of which book) is sufficient.

Overall, these little flaws are easily ignored in favor of just how much is here. The malefactor base class is incredibly well-constructed both in terms of its theme and its mechanical execution. While there are a few places, mostly in the expanded material, where one or the other falls a little flat, as a whole this book offers an incredibly innovative new class for your Pathfinder game. It’s deserving of each and every one of its five stars. The malefactor may be a class that deals with bad luck, but you’ll feel anything but unlucky if you pick this up.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
Infamous Adversaries: Ischadra, Grandmother of Assassins
by Thilo G. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 06/09/2012 05:44:18

This pdf is 26 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 2 pages of advertisements and 1 page SRD, leaving a total of 21 pages of content, so let's check out!

Ischadra, the latest addition to TPK Games roster of truly vile NPCs in the Infamous Adversary-line is one of the creatures that can be considered a true joy to behold - her downright creepy full-color cover artwork might seem disjointed when compared to her title, but the introductory, first-person narrative that gives us a glimpse into her demented personality already makes sure that we're in for a disturbing, creepy ride indeed!

So who or what was Ischadra? Once, she was a mortal woman, serving the god of murders as his very best executioner and guild mistress. Then she died and a cadre of mages wanted to use her and a strange prophecy to gain control of her erstwhile organization of killers - alas, something went terribly, horribly wrong and the free-willed spirit in its soulbound doll body proved to be impossible to control. Exacting bloody vengeance, the risen murderess extraordinaire in her new doll-body returned to her fold, guiding an organization of murderers as a demented boogeyman that even assassins dread. It should be mentioned that an awesome, creepy nursery rhyme is included in the introduction - narrative gold for the DM and a great tool to evoke a creepy atmosphere!

In her most basic incarnation, Ischadra clocks in at CR 14 as an advanced soulbound Doll Assassin 10/Inquisitor 2 and is an uncommon foe to say the least - her size alone as well as her construct nature make the grandmother of assassins an intriguing foe to say the least and if you also take e.g. tactical options like her shapechanging sword and immunity to dusts of sneezing and choking into account, we get a foe that can be considered not only intriguing, but generally damn cool.

Even better, similar to Rite Publishing's Faces of the Tarnished Souk-series, we get advancement options in this installment of "Infamous Adversaries" - a CR 17 and even a CR 20-version of Ischadra, (with more Inquisitor-levels), making sure that the hard-to-kill mistress remains a threat for your PCs. 4extensive plothooks provide different ways to integrate Ischadra in your campaign - from demented prophecies of vampire oracles speaking of dead child-saviors of the murder-gods faithful to subdued allusions to potential entwinements with the dark tapestry, should you so be inclined, to straight up meeting the thing in action, Ischadra is guaranteed to send a shiver down the spine of your players.

What makes Ischadra more intriguing, though, is her network and strange affection towards children - helping the stragglers and underdogs, she might actually help you - but she never forgets and failure thereafter will never be an option. Worse, her insidious network of orphans might actually mean that innocents will willingly defend the creature that might drive them insane with its telepathic ramblings, should it choose to do so.

The supremely-crafted being is not where the pdf stops, though: Instead we are also introduced to her best pupil and quasi-friend/repair craftsman, her current keeper and the swarm of undead, ghostly children are rather disturbing, neat allies.

Speaking of allies: Naelib, Lord of Muders and patron deity to Ischadra (think a cross of Norgorber/Zon-Kuthon) and his Order of the Ebon Hand get a detailed write-up and, even better, the latter a BUNCH of statblocks: From the lowly CR 1 Acolyte, to the CR 6 (3 class-,multiclass characters, btw.) Assassins, CR 9 masters and the current CR 15 leader, which might be considered an NPC of himself and two unique items, we get a bunch of great additional content.

Conclusion: Editing and formatting are very good, apart from a minor formatting glitch, I encountered nothing to impede one's enjoyment of the pdf. Layout adheres to TPK Games' 2-column full-color standard and the piece of full-color artwork depicting Ischadra could be on a movie-poster- NEAT! The pdf comes with a printer-friendly version, full herolab-support and a vast array of different hyperlinks that make using this pdf on tablets etc. rather easy. The pdf is extensively bookmarked. Ischadra is one of the NPCs that is simply a joy to behold Tom Philips and the team of TPK Games have created a villain that is simply awesome to read - captivating, well-written prose, a concept that has "horror" written in bold letters on it, multiple incarnation and a whopping 6 additional statblocks and 2 advancement options leave nothing to be desired and cementing TPK Games' Infamous Adversary line further as one of the top-lines for villainous characters. The standard is high and I look forward to seeing whom we'll meet next! Seeing my lack of anything to complain about and the coolness of the character, I'll settle for a final verdict of 5 stars, just short of the seal of approval due to the minor glitches.

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Infamous Adversaries: Ischadra, Grandmother of Assassins
Click to show product description

Add to DriveThruRPG.com Order

pixel_trans.gif
Infamous Adversaries: Ischadra, Grandmother of Assassins
by Joshua G. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 06/06/2012 21:13:50

The latest Infamous Adversaries line addition is by far the best so far, and quite frankly, is going to be hard to top. This is one seriously creepy, nightmare inspiring NPC to unleash upon a play group. Ischadra, Grandmother of Assassins is a soulbound corpse doll....yeah, let that sink in....a doll, that kills. Now, we're not talking Hollywood cheeze here, no freaking Chucky dolls, oh no, this little lady was crafted from the skin of corpses, she was built to house the soul of killer resurrected for the purpose of trapping her within this construct....shame for the clerics who performed the ritual that she was better than they were. I've been patiently waiting (OK, almost patiently) for this book since I first saw the cover art awhile back, and I'm happy to state, this character does this artwork justice. She is everything twisted and wrong you could ever want as a GM, seriously. A timeless assassin honing her skills through out the generations hiding in plain sight as an ugly little doll. Communicating telepathically she bonds with children she chooses for various reasons, either to train to eventually hand over to the assassin guild in whom she is in league, or as a cog in the vast information network she has built, or even to use a child as her means of gaining entry to a target. This little lady is so not one you want to ever offend, ever.

As always the TPK guys bring forth not just one incarnation of their adversary of choice, this time giving us CR 14, 17 and 20 versions of Ischadra. And yes folks, even an immortal killer doll needs a support cast, and oh what a support cast she has. The demented doll maker, and part time homicidal maniac, Japareth, who operates as a trusted friend and combat medic (hey, she might break a part, lol)... or Noni, the little girl who currently carries around this demented toy. Example stats are given for no less than four different levels of assassin for the faction known as the Order of the Ebon Hand. Keeping tabs? We get a killer doll, a psycho dollmaker, the kid who currently carries the doll, the faction to whom the doll is aligned, sounds like a pretty good package deal, right? Well, there's more...how about the God of Murder, yeah, hows that for more? An NPC, her support cast, a new faction and a new deity to add to your campaign world. Need more? Not a problem, how about hooks, Ischadra's seriously pimped out pigsticker, what you assumed she killed with a typical off the rack kind of blade? NO! Her's is all kinds of ugliness, wrapped up in a sinister illusion...and let us not forget her soulstone, that which allows her to exist in the first place. Any GM worth their salt has encountered and dealt with a soulstone (or something very similar) by now, but how many of us have handled one personally blessed by God of Murder himself, hmmm? Oh yeah, she's that kind of wicked, blessed by her god, literally.

I could get into the editing issues, of which I saw truly only a few minor things...some justified text areas could have benefited from a condensing or text spacing to avoid huge space gaps....The Spectral Host statblock has it's header bar in the middle of the italicized descriptive text....and the occasional spell name that should probably be italicized ( I think there were two, total). But honestly, two words non italicized (not an issue when you consider the words are both in the right section and anyone can look at them and realize what they are), justification causes spacing issues, pure and simple. I personally hate them, but I understand it happens, and doesn't change anything regarding content...so, out of the three things I listed that leaves one actual screw up, and that was a header for a statblock ending up in the middle of that statblocks description....alright guys, put out your hands, I'm gonna have to smack you...no, no, I'm sorry it had to come to this, but take it like men dangit!

Seriously, a solid character design, and that's what products like this are all about. Giving us, the consumer, something to not only challenge our players, but scare the living crap out of them. And yes, there are Hero Lab files to support everything in here, so for the Hero Lab users in the house, there is much love here.

Final thoughts on this are a resounding yes, you must show Ischadra some love and buy this, otherwise she might come visit you next. A well earned 5 out of 5 guys, and a must have in the arsenal. Well done!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
Infamous Adversaries: Ischadra, Grandmother of Assassins
by Megan R. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 06/04/2012 12:54:22

This is the stuff nightmares are made of... a large doll come to murderous life, communicating telepathically with its victims even as it sends them into the hereafter.

Opening with a short piece of fiction, spookily written in the first person from the standpoint of Ischadra herself, there's a lot packed into these pages: fiction, the assassin herself, her companions, plot hooks, new monsters and more. The story itself is chilling, nightmarish, melding revenge and misplaced trust into true horror. There's also a neat children's rhyme you can insert into the traditional playground fare of your world wherever this nasty little assassin operates.

This is followed by comprehensive notes on Ischadra, including a detailed stat block which is (if you are reading onscreen) hyperlinked to the Pathfinder SRD website. Her backstory is equally comprehensive, and if you want to have assassination a major threat in your world you could do a lot worse than adopt much of what is written here as well as incorporate Ischadra herself into your campaign. This section rounds out with suggestions for how Ishadra could advance along with your campaign: initially presented at 12th level, she is also given at 15th and 18th level so that she may 'grow' as your characters do. HeroLab files are provided for those who use it, another handy feature of this product.

Next come some plothooks for how she may initially feature in your game. Once there, she'll likely be back... at least, unless the characters somehow manage to destroy her. Any of them provides plenty of scope for ongoing adventure, and it would be possible for you to weave more than one into an ongoing assassination-based plotline. Characters wishing to undertake research are provided with copious snippets of lore that they can discover depending on their skills and die rolls, and you are also provided with a 'supporting cast' of various cohorts and associates who may also be encountered when Ischadra is around.

For those who like new stuff, Ishadra's personal weapon and her soulstone are detailed, along with the Spectral Host - have fun terrifying unwary characters with them! There is also a new deity, appropriately the God of Murder, along with details of his faith, and an organisation of assassins, the Order of the Ebon Hand, who couple religious motivation with a keen eye for cash and a thoroughly unpleasant pleasure in their work! Prime adversaries to send chills down anyone's spine... The work rounds out with sample members, both rank & file and leadership, for you to use.

There's a lot here for anyone who likes an edge of horror, or who needs access to competent assassins who are, shall we say, more than mere mercenary technicians.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
Infamous Adversaries: Raxath'Viz, the Creeping Rot
by Megan R. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 05/01/2012 02:38:17

Opening with a full-page, full-colour illustration that's enough to scare anyone (even a reviewer sitting safely at her computer!), this product contains a wealth of detail about a single adversary. Considering how much effort many players put into their characters, it seems reasonable that their opposition needs to be at least as well-developed... much more than a bunch of stats that the GM can roll against when the inevitable climactic brawl takes place!

So this Raxath'Viz fellow, where does he fit in your alternate reality? The short answer is, in some really rather nasty corners of it, ones that are just asking for some heroes to come and clean them up! Without giving too much away, we have here the life-story and formative background of this individual, explaining both how and why he ended up as he is now, serving a dark goddess who is scrabbling frantically to retain the last vestiges of godhood and spreading, as best he can, her own particular form of, well, rottenness....

Euw, you might well say. Adventurers will need strong stomachs, as well as mighty swordarms - remember that the Fortitude save can be your friend as you describe to your players the horrors that unfold before their characters' eyes.

The detail provided is copious. The background mentioned above is introduced as evocative fiction, that makes Raxath'Viz come to life in your mind's eye... useful when you, in turn, have to bring him to life at your game table. The stat block - well, couple of pages, not just a mere 'block'! - is, if you are using the PDF onscreen, hyperlinked to the D20pfsrd.com site, so you may check up on the precise rules you need to apply, very handy. More background, broken down into his history, motivations, appearance and so on; along with more expansive material on his deity and what she's after, and what she offers to her devotees.

We then move on to the resources Raxath'Viz has available to him, and there is so much here that can be mined to create a campaign never mind a single adventure... should you so wish, defeating Raxath'Viz and his dark mistress could be the focus of a whole campaign arc as your characters first hear of disturbing events - poisoned wells and the like - and eventually track them to source, whilst you are provided with all that you need to make Raxath'Viz a pro-active adversary, working against the characters as it becomes apparent to him that they are seeking him out with a view to his destruction.

Good as this is, it is also a fine exemplar of how to set up and develop major adversaries. He develops over time, linked to the events that he can bring about. There are assorted plot hooks that you can use, and even some of his sidekicks and minions, also presented in copious detail for you to pitch into the fray. Oh, and he likes traps and keeps exotic pets. Guess what, they are all spelled out for you as well! And to round things off, the goddess herself and a complete run-down of the cult that venerates her.

"May your flesh feed Her malignant soul. May your soul feed Her cursed flesh," hisses Raxath'Viz. Are your characters up to the challenge?



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Infamous Adversaries: Raxath'Viz, the Creeping Rot
Click to show product description

Add to DriveThruRPG.com Order

pixel_trans.gif
Displaying 136 to 150 (of 195 reviews) Result Pages: [<< Prev]  ... 10  11  12  13  [Next >>] 
pixel_trans.gif
0 items
 Hottest Titles
 Gift Certificates