An Endzeitgeist.com review

This Star Log.EM-installment clocks in at 7 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 2 pages of SRD, leaving us with 3 pages of content, so let’s take a look!

As has become the tradition with Star Log.EM-supplements, we do get some information on the context of the eponymous bloatbeasts as creatures within the Xa-Osoro system, providing context to these dangerous beings. On a mechanical level, two feats are provided that account for the tactics of these dangerous things: Improved Mobility (which has hefty prerequisites) builds on Shot on the Run or Spring Attack, and allows you to execute two attacks at -4 when using these feats instead of one, but the attacks must be executed against different targets and require minimum movement between attacks. Interesting: Depending on whether you have Shot on the Run, Spring Attack, or both, you are or are not limited to the type of attack executed in conjunction with the feat. Very cool! Springing Bravado, the second feat, builds on Spring Attack and lets you attack foes adjacent with Spring Attack; the movement still provokes AoOs, but the Mobility feat’s AC bonus is boosted, and if the target misses the AoO, it risks becoming flat-footed! This is seriously clever and cool! If you have a skirmishing character, these two feats may warrant getting this pdf for your GM…just sayin’…

Anyhow, as for the bloatbeasts, natives to the noxious fens of Deinzera, there are two builds provided – one for CR 5 and one for CR 10. Both employ the expert array and aberration traits and adjustments have been properly applied. Beyond the default darkvision, these dangerous predators have access to both low-light vision and blindsense 30 ft. As a minor nitpick, blindsense in SFRPG usually specifies in brackets something like (vibrations) or the like. On the plus-side, the flight of the critters is properly noted. Oh, and then there are the attacks. They are sentient, though not smart, and as such, have “only” melee attacks – but what attacks! You see, they use a mechanic called “bloat points” – when they hit you, you become bloated, somewhat Willy Wonka style – the body swells (formula provided) and becomes lighter…and VERY quickly, you become an impotent, essentially helpless ball…and worse, the bloatbeast can easily move such targets around and are masters of reposition…you see, they hunt somewhat akin to horribly twisted dung beetles – they bloat you and then roll you to their lair. This is twisted in all the right ways, and I frickin’ love it! And yes, getting rid of bloat points and their whole mechanics? Precise and well-codified. Did I mention that they essentially have a custom super-bloat crit?

The higher CR build cranks this up a notch, becoming one of the most delightful CR 10 critters I’ve seen for SFRPG so far – an aura of bloating is provided (though it’s, oddly, listed twice)…and yep, these beings start having some serious brutal tricks. Considering how they don’t have ranged attacks, they still make sense at CR 10, but your PCs will be afraid of these beasts…they are hilarious AND super creepy.

Conclusion: Editing and formatting is very good on a formal and rules-language level, and the few hiccups do not impede the integrity of these formidable foes. The layout is presented in full-color, with a nice artwork included, and the pdf does not come with bookmarks, but needs none at this length.

Alexander Augunas’ bloatbeasts are inspired critters that hit the sweet spot between WTF and laughter at the table, and abject horror. I love them. Add to that the cool feats that more than make up for the minor nitpicks, and we have a great supplement. 5 stars + seal of approval.

Endzeitgeist out.

Artwork I just wanted to take a moment to praise the artwork - the PDF is a short 7 pages, but the covor image is evocative (pun definitely intended) and caught my eye while browsing. Props to Chan Yue Rong - your art rules!

Variety There are 7 spells and 1 cantrip contained in this book, and there's a good mix of damage types and effects here, from single-target control to area-of-effect damage and even a few utility spells for good measure. There is very little overlap in these pages with the existing spells in the CRB, so don't worry about not getting your money's worth - for less than the cost of lunch this dishes out some very entertaining options. There's even a Background for those aspiring evocation experts in here!

Balance Most of the spells within are relatively balanced compared to the spells in the CRB, with one or two standouts that made me look through the Archives for similar spells to compare them to. None of the spells are strong enough to derail a campaign, by any means, but I definitely did a double-take and asked "Is that real?" to my empty room a couple times. Of course, every spell in this issue has the Uncommon rarity, so anything you (or your GM) finds to be too strong can simply be restricted.

Technical Issues I didn't notice until I started writing this review, but none of the first three spells have an Elemental or Energy Trait listed, even though they seem like they should have one.

Overall Rating Unfortunately this site doesn't have a 10-point scale, or else I'd give this one a 9/10. The artwork, variety, flavor, and usability of all of the spells given easily outweighs any issues I have with balance concerns or missing traits. That said, I would rather round up to a 5/5, given the quality on display here. Thanks for your contributions to my home campaigns (and, unfortunately for my players, to my villains)!

LuniasM

It’s a kind of magic… or 8

DISCLAIMER: This review is based on a free PDF provided by the author and the publisher, which in no way had an influence on the final score.

Introduction: As a player, I have never liked wizards. Apart from the evoker, they lack that visceral, war-like appeal that melee-ers have. However, I always appreciate having a wizard in my parties, since they are the strongest class that doesn’t have a roleplaying requirement (I’m watching you two, CODzilla). Will this book make me change my mind to finally play a wizard? Let’s see!

What’s inside? 25 pages of content for 7 bucks (not bad), which include:

-8 Variant Classes of the wizard… Wait, what? If you don’t know, or remember, what a variant class is, think about the rogue/ninja or the knight/samurai… they are basically the same classes but re-flavored and tailored to portrait a specific character concept. Here, each of the 8 variant classes represent a wizard that has embraced a specific aspect of one of the schools of magic. All specialist share some similarities: they all have good Will save, 2 skillpoints per level, have access to 3 schools of magic plus universal (their specialty plus two more already chosen, one almost always being alteration), and can cast an extra spell of each level from their specialty. Where they differ is in the HD/BAB progression (some have d8/medium), saves, and weapon and armor proficiencies. Also, each class includes DIFFERENT favored class bonuses for each of the core classes! Also worth mentioning, some abilities scale not with class level, but with maximum spell level available… which is great for people who want to take a prestige class!

Abjurers are defense specialists, having good Fort saves (also getting the Mettle ability), access to progressively better armored casting, and can even add their INT bonus to their HP instead of their CON. They bond with a buckler (which later can be a small and even a large shield), getting some nifty abilities in the deal and can even STACK their shield bonuses from the item with the one gotten from spells like shield! They also get better at dispelling and can “feed” spell slots to spells already cast so they continue working after their normal duration. Overall cool tank-y wizards.

Conjurers are monster summoning specialists, getting access to some of the summoner’s spells plus the summon nature’s ally line of spells. They also can cast summonings as standard actions, and the spells last for 1 minute per level. They can also add summoning spells to their repertoire from any class spell list, or can get feats that each summoned critter will have. They also get bonus feats, starting with Augment Summoning and later choosing from its line of feats. Powerful masters of summoning spells.

Diviners get the higher HD/BAB treatment, plus good reflex saves. They get uncanny dodge and evasion, plus their improved versions later (though IMHO they get evasion too late in their progressions). They are also difficult to surprise, getting the ability to always act in a surprise round plus an initiative bonus that increases over their careers (this ability is called differently in the class table and description). They also get an ability to detect weakness, which sadly cannot be shared with allies (bummer). Finally, unless there is a typo, Diviners get TWO BONUS SPELLS PER LEVEL! Of course, they must be divinations, but, I don’t know. Interesting masters of gaining knowledge, never caught unaware.

Enchanters are master of both magical and skill-based manipulation, getting free ranks in both Bluff and Diplomacy, plus a class-based bonus to both. Like summoners, they can also give some extra abilities to creatures under their spells. They also get some defensive abilities, able to daze attackers and also getting a save each round (up to charisma bonus) against mind-affecting abilities when failing the initial saving throw. Finally, at 14th level, they can remove the mind-affecting component of compulsions! Enchantment’s greatest weakness! Powerful masters of manipulation that can get rid of the school’s greatest downside, albeit at a high level. One of my favorite classes in the book.

Evokers are combat wizards. They also get improved HD/BAB, plus improved proficiencies. Right of the bat, they get to add INT bonus to damage to each target of their spells… for example, a burning hands spell would add it to the total damage, but a magic missile would only add it once… unless targeting different foes with each missile (great for dipping). They can also attune to one of the 4 elemental energies when preparing their spells, and become able to change any energy-based evocation to their attuned energy, and can charge their melee attacks with that type too a couple of times per day. They get some bonus feat (the vital strike feat chain plus some bonus combat or teamwork feats). They also get the munchkin wet dream as a capstone: Instant maximize a couple of times per day (max Metor Swarm anyone?). A great combat wizard that steps a little into the magus shoes.

Illusionists are the furtive wizards. They get access to one more school than the other specialists, and get better at discerning traps and disguises; their illusions are simply better at resisting magical dispelling or countering, like with divination spells, and get some blurring effects that start with a blur-like effect when moving and culminating in being immune to true strike, scrying and other divinations! However, for me, their best ability is something akin to sneak attack, but for spells. Finally, a good representation of one of the hardest school specialists to play.

Necromancers get a pet undead LOL! Sadly, one of the most popular specializations receives, IMHO, the least interesting specialization. They get an eidolon-like pet complete with evolutions (awesomely called corpse-stitch augmentations), AND channel negative energy regardless of alignment. Having a powerful Frankenstain monster is beyond cool, but the class doesn’t even have a cap. Cool and effective if a bit unimaginative.

Transmuters are masters of change. Their alterations last longer and are difficult to resist when the caster is under a transmutation spell (cool), and can spend spell slots to add metamagic to transmutations on the fly or to extend their durations. Finally, they can transmute spells themselves, able to change prepared spells to any other in their spellbooks! Their cap let them change choices normally made at the casting of the spell… Imagine using form of the dragon to become a red one, and just in the next round you change to white! Interesting take on transmutation specialists.

Of Note: The sheer amount of variants for ONE class is astounding, and the flavor and focus of each one is different and the variety is such that you could play a party of wizards and STILL have a viable party… except for healing… unless all characters are healed by negative energy and the Necromancer is a healer LOL.

Anything wrong?: While each school of magic has it’s foci, these specialists only focus in one. You cannot play a fear based necromancer, or a non-summoning conjuration master (I would have loved to summon creatures for specific purposes, or for one big attack, having a cost to distance it from evocation). Also, even with their choose-able class features, they are so focused that once you play one, unless you are a school loyalist, you would rarely want to play another character with the same class.

What I want: In 2nd edition DnD, there were some non-standard schools of magic, like shadow and elemental. I would love to see a sequel reviving those schools!

What cool things did this inspire?: As I mentioned, I don’t play wizards. However, as a GM, I would love to unleash a necromancer that has a Nemesis-like zombie (from the Resident Evil franchise), or a diviner, enchanter or illusionist that is always messing the party’s plans.

Do I recommend it?: If you are reading this, it’s because you are interested in specialist wizards. If you are, I can’t NOT recommend it. The variety it brings to the base class will make each party’s mage unique. I will give this book a solid 4.5, rounded up.

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This super-sized Star Log clock in at 17 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 2 pages of SRD, leaving us with 13 pages of content, so let’s take a look!

All righty, as always, we begin this supplement with a brief context for uplifted animals within the frame of the Xa-Osoro system shared by Everybody Games and Rogue Genius Games before diving into the uplifted animal race. Uplifted animals are very much defined by their progenitor species, and are treated as both animals and magical beasts, with the official type being magical animals. Huge kudos: The pdf accounts for effects that treat different types differently. Uplifted animals may only receive datajacks and augmentations gained via class features, such as a mechanic’s custom rig and have limited telepathy 30 ft. – good call. They also get low-light vision. The nanite technology that enhances them grants them +2 to any ability score, -2 to Charisma, Intelligence or Wisdom. Again – nice – these can cancel each other out, should you choose to make that decision. Speaking of nice: “If you’re an uplifted animal, you likely…” and “Others probably…”-sections are included.

The pdf then proceeds to go one step beyond – not only do we receive detailed notes on life cycle, physiology, etc., we also get vital statistics for different age categories. While they have no unified homeworld, the pdf does provide some intriguing suggestions, and from life milestones to cuisine, we do get detailed notes on them, all in all managing to make them feel like a distinct species, in spite of the wide open nature of the concept.

Now, I’ve delayed this for long enough: We get means to depict uplifted animals of sizes ranging from Diminutive to Gargantuan – and there is an interesting balancing mechanism employed: They all have a reach of 5 ft. Why? Smaller uplifted animals can dart to and fro, while the larger ones are more cumbersome. Space, obviously, varies, from ½ feet t0 20 feet, to be precise.

Small to Diminutive uplifted animals have 2 Hit Points, with Small, as a baseline, providing a +2 ability adjustment to Dexterity. This increases by +2 per size category, but Tiny uplifted animals also incur -2 to Strength, while Diminutive uplifted animals pay for their hefty +6 to Dexterity with -2 to Strength and Constitution. Yes, this means you can end up with a whopping +8 to Hit Points.

Medium uplifted animals get their choice of +2 to Constitution, Dexterity or Strength as ability score adjustment, as well as 4 Hit Points. Large ones loose this choice +2 Strength is proscribed, but they also get 6 Hit Points. Huge uplifted animals get +4 Strength, -2 Dexterity and 6 Hit Points, and Gargantuan uplifted animals get +4 Strength, +2 Constitution, -2 Dexterity and Intelligence. Complaint here: The Gargantuan uplifted animals lack a Hit Point rating noted; however, thankfully, the whole presentation is elegant in its math, allowing you to easily deduce that 6 Hit Points is the correct value, considering the symmetry of the design. As an aside: I’m not talking out of my behind: There are plenty of examples that illustrate how the engine works, and from them, you can deduce the correct values as well.

Beyond sizes, each uplifted animal chooses one locomotive ability, one major species trait and two minor species traits. Locomotive abilities are pretty self-explanatory, and include burrowing, being amphibious, all-terrain or gaining an extraordinary fly speed – the later increases in speed by +10 ft. at 5th level, just fyi. Some of the more potent locomotive abilities are balanced by decreased land base speeds, but allow for a pretty fine-grained differentiation: You could, e.g., choose to have an amphibious uplifted animal – that’d be 30 ft. regular speed and swim speed. Alternatively, being aquatic translates to 15 ft. land speed and 60 ft, swim speed – so yeah, regardless of what you choose, the uplifted animal remains playable, and from short-range flight to gliding and sprinting, plenty of nice options are presented.

Major species traits, unsurprisingly, represent the more potent options and include being multiarmed, ferocity, blindsense, natural defenses, trample, pounce, radiation immunity (with proper scaling – medium and high radiation at 7th and 13th level, respectively), the ability to squirt slime, creating difficult terrain, etc. (The careful reader will have deduced that Alien Archive 2’s abilities have indeed been taken into account.)

The pdf then proceeds to provide a pretty extensive list of minor species traits that include darkvision, additional arms (if you’re already multiarmed), being heat or cold inured, etc. Minor nitpick: Being heat inured only provides the “degree”-sign – it’s obvious that °F is meant, but if you’re like me and used to °C, that may briefly trip you up; not something that’ll hamper the verdict or negatively influences the pdf’s integrity, but something worth mentioning. Minor species traits also include being amphibious (as opposed to having amphibious movement as gained via locomotive traits– the distinction here deserves serious applause) and another thing that gets applause? Natural weapons is more precise than in the core book, thankfully properly stating that there is choice between the different damage types. Kudos. From having an yroometji-style pouch to prehensile tails and roars, there is a lot to customize here. Kudos: Bonus types are concise and well-chosen, even accounting for the fact that rolling charge has a circumstance bonus instead of the usual racial bonus. This also extends to the shed skin ability taken from the Ikeshti, which is uncommon in being untyped – deliberately so. Kudos for maintaining system-consistence here.

Speaking of kudos: This generator of sorts, while mighty, is still subject to GM’s discretion, of course, but can allow you to create uplifted versions of a ton of species and animals, even ones not found on good ole’ Terra. Anyhow, the pdf then proceeds to present two massive pages of sample uplifted animals made with this generator. The animals covered here are: Bear, cat, dog, elephant, fox, gorilla (Grodd!), hagfish, hamster (HECK YEAH!), hedgehog, hippopotamus, lion, penguin, raccoon, rat, shark (early 90s cartoons, anyone?), squox (!!) and tyrannosaurus rex (!!!). There are more than applications of the engine above, though – they also provide a guideline of sorts: The uplifted penguin, for example, has the unique Toboggan major species trait, while an uplifted squox gets squox tricks. The section, in short, highlights how to apply the engine. There is one complaint here: The uplifted raccoon lacks ability score adjustments and Hit Points, but you can look them up easily. The fellow should have 2 Hit Points (being Tiny), and have +4 Dexterity, -2 Strength, plus the ability score adjustments you can freely assign. So yeah, the concise nature of the engine keeps the material, in spite of this guffaw, functional, which makes this hiccup, ultimately, aesthetic only.

On the next page, we stare into the adorable picture of an alien space corgi, who seems to be the iconic for the uplifted animal paragon – you have to be an uplifted animal to take the archetype, and at 2nd level, you gain your choice of a major or two minor species traits, or choose a feat from a varied list though the GM retains some control here. This alternate class feature may be taken again at 4th, 6th, 12th and 18th level. The pdf also presents 7 new feats: Bestial Body nets you multiple legs; Cornered Animal nets a bonus to atk, and increased damage when hitting a foe’s KAC+8, but only when the only creature threatening the foe. Internalized Translator is cool: When encountering a language you don’t know, you may make a Culture or Computers check – on a success, you get comprehend languages for 10 minutes per level; can’t be used again until you spend Resolve to regain Stamina. Nature’s Weapons nets you a vesk’s bite – and proceeds to provide the precision I lauded above. Primal Rage nets you a kind of lite rage, but one that feels perfect for gorillas etc. – including knockback unarmed strikes and fatigue afterwards. Cool! Talking Animal does pretty much what you’d expect – it makes you REALLY good at passing as your progenitor species. Wild and Free, finally, nets your + BAB to KAC, and BAB-2 to EAC while unarmored.

Conclusion: Editing and formatting, on a rules-language level, are precise to a t. On a formal level, as noted above, there are a few hiccups that can briefly cause the reader to stumble. Thankfully, the pdf is structured in such a smart way that the few bits of information that have fallen by the wayside can easily be deduced from the book, relegating the glitches to the aesthetic realm. Layout adheres to a nice two-column full-color standard, and the artworks are cool. The pdf has no bookmarks, but doesn’t necessarily need them at this length. They’d have been nice to have, but aren’t necessarily required.

I spent much more time with Alexander Augunas’ uplifted animals than I expected – this supplement is a very dense offering, even for the crunchy Star Log-series. Now, the size categories available will probably have elicited a kneejerk reaction of horror from most GMs accustomed to PFRPG, but since SFRPG handles size categories differently, this actually works better than an initial impulse would lead you to believe….particularly since the reach issue has been circumvented in a rather elegant manner. If anything, that’s how I’d describe this engine – it is elegant in all of its choices. The archetype allows you to create truly bestial uplifted animals, should you choose to; the base engine and its examples teach by showing, ensuring that the material presented within remains valid in the future. Now, personally, I am not too fond of more minmaxy races, and +6 to Dexterity is brutal; then again, e.g. the Shobhad provide a precedence for an ability adjustment of +4 to Strength. As a whole, comparing e.g. an uplifted hamster to a ysoki, things generally check out – the hamster has burrow speed and better senses, but is more fragile (!!) and lacks the ysoki’s moxie and gets one racial skill bonus less.

That being said, while I see no serious balance issues here, very conservative GMs may wish to restrict uplifted animals to the range of Small to Large; in that range, the engine purrs like a kitten. Even beyond it, it is smooth, mind you – and while personally I will implement such a limitation for aesthetic reasons, it is mostly a matter of taste and the same reason why I wouldn’t allow for Shobhad PCs.

As a reviewer, I can marvel at the elegance of the material presented here, and am glad that the few editing glitches that made it inside never compromise the integrity of the supplement per se. From Gorilla Grodd to the sentient mice and dolphins of Douglas Adams to TNMTs or other anthropomorphized animals from beloved cartoons, this encompassing engine is an inspired offering I can wholeheartedly recommend to all Starfinder groups. My final verdict will clock in at 4.5 stars, but I will round up due to the few glitches not hampering the book, and add my seal of approval to this supplement, for not only its elegance, but for the fact that it presents a mighty tool as a pretty kickass uplifted animal race generator that manages to retain its balance in spite of its wide open nature.

Endzeitgeist out.

A great selection of action-economy and nifty ninja tricks for your favorite skill monkey! Plus backgrounds to boot.

Anybody who likes flipping around all nimbly bimbly from tree to tree should pick this up.

Fantastic product to help combat edition fatigue! I love the fact that you can just set aside whatever class feats your character has in their build and then have them on hand for the entire session! So much faster than flipping through books and skimming PDFS :D

Make the Barbarian deck nao prz

Ton of fun toys here to help sort of "capstone" the 1e system. The product would get a 5-star review from me for the Isekai player template alone. The spelleater familiar is extremely coool. The multi-class archetypes are badass. I would love to write a Chimeraborn NPC. I do think Hardbiner of Fate (Hare) gives too high a bonus to initiative, but that's an easy enough fix and not worth docking a star.

Cool monster. I really appreciate the full-page art for my players when they get strong enough to encounter one. I like how its a lawful evil undead, but isn't necessary a combat encounter...assuming its foci isn't a place the PCs have to explore at the moment. I'm a big sucker for abilities like Flame Hop. Makes for great "tragic backstory" enemies, which are always the most fun to run (and the best undead).

This book is great if your a player or a GM, as the tools work perfect for both.

I feel biased here because I love Divination. It's always a chore trying to figure out what a Diviner is supposed to do. It seems like you're job is to either break the campaign by spying on the enemies for the classic scry-and-fry, give everyone in the party a few rounds to buff in combats that were supposed to be ambushes or sit back and watch as your GM sets up anti-divination fields in every relevant location in his campaign. Worse yet, spells like Divination or Augury frequently took a long time to resolve if the GM wasn't prepared to come up wtih a vague premonition or riddle, but I'm pleased to say this book resolves lots of these issues. Combat Prescience gives the diviner a buff most martials will drool over (you could even build around it yourself). Lore Delve and Detect Conjuration give us two resources I'm shocked weren't already in core (a good sign). And Mirror Sight's detailed scaling and limitations gives us the perfect "scrying sensor" that at higher levels can be used as a fascinating encounter or intrigue tool (I want to use it as a GM!). But my favorite spell in theb ook was Hypothetical Scenario! Giving players and GMs alike this pseudo-augury that let's you play out the potential results rather than trying to guesstimate or hide it behind some riddle or prophecy is easy to manage but still dripping with flavor. The time limitations of the spell ensures it won't break a campaign, and the way in which information is disseminated gives whomever casts it a number of ways to theme it's resolution.

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This installment of the Pop Culture Catalog-series clocks in at 13 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 2 pages of SRD, leaving us with 9 pages of content, so let’s take a look!

Now, as always, we begin the installment with a recap of the fandom perk engine that is the foundation of the mechanical benefits of being a fan of something presented within this series – and then we proceed to the various different Infosphere Sites, which, obviously, have been fashioned after internet sites. As has become the tradition for the series, we have each infosphere site provided with a price modifier, a location and a type, as well as a detailed description and a fandom perk. We also get unique logos for each site. Picture, for example, three red hearts, their tips pointing inwards: That’s the logo of 3Kun, the obvious representation of 4chan in the Xa-Osoro system. And yes, I very much love these logos.

9 such sites are provided: 3Kun nets a fandom perk that lets you use Computers to change creature attitudes or bully them using intimidate. I really laughed when I read about Blather, only to have that turn a bit sour – with a stylized blue ramhead, “blats” are sent into the void of public communications – and currently, there is a bit of a controversial discussion going on, as Roksharp Tinderpaw, notorious gnoll activist, downplays the practice of gnoll “salvage” of taking children as collateral….he claims they were going to die of asphyxiation anyway. Kudos for using that as an RPG-angle! Anyhow, you can gather information with Computers or Culture if you’re a fan of blather. Chekkit is the Reddit equivalent, and allows for the influence of public opinion. There also is an interesting tale about a xenophobic nashi dictator who briefly managed to gain control – only to be ousted and exiled. Oh, and take a good look at the name of the fellow…

There is a user-driven encyclopedia here as well – Infopedia! This one has a fandom that lets you, among other things, take 20 with any skill, even with ones that you have no ranks in and are trained only, and it lets you forge Infopedia pages, though the public will catch on. MyFace is the Facebook equivalent, and actually is slightly less sinister than the real world equivalent, though the fandom perk does allow you to make researching you harder via falsified social media presences. Absolutely adorable would be the logo of “Skulk” – a foxholding a stylized planet in their cutre paws – it’s basically Xa-Osoro’s Google, and is an anagram for the combined search engines SearchUs, Kling, Undersphere Navigation, Livefox and KO Search. Cool: The clever nomenclature makes sense in local parlance: “Can’t you just skulk that?” “Skulk is your friend…” etc. – nice. The perk lets you recall information via Computers.

Spaz (PERFECTLY named, imho!) is the Twitch stand-in, and the fandom perk rocks – it nets you a variant of the celebrity icon theme power, and yes, if you do have the theme, you can use it quicker. Love it! Sphereflix is obvious – the huge holotube streaming provides a host of original productions, and if you watch sufficient amounts of material, you can use Culture to identify local creatures as per Life Science. The planet to witch this applies may be shifted, provided you watch enough. And no, I don’t mean “sphereflix and chill” – and yes, this is a thing in Xa-Osoro as well. Finally, there would be Yousphere, the largest video-sharing site on the entire infosphere. Watching it lets you spend 10 minutes to research a Profession, Dexterity- or Intelligence-based skill to attempt it untrained. You can only have one such skill trained, and may only retrain it by taking a 10-minute rest and spending 1 Resolve Point to regain Stamina Points. Fun fact, this, and pretty much all my reviews, are written with some version of the Yousphere precursor running in the background. Helps my busy mind focus.

So, these are the big players – but the pdf provides more: We get DETAILED information on blogs, brochure sites, community sites, e-commerce sites, wikis, e-mail clients, government sites, etc. – and item levels and prices for all of them! Your SFRPG character is drawing their own webcomic and streaming? Well, here you go, all the rules for that. Notes on how infosphere sites work and on how infosphere synchronization works are btw. also provided.

Conclusion: Editing and formatting re top-notch, I noticed no glitches. Layout adheres to the series’ two-column full-color standard, and the pdf sports cool full-color artwork as well as the by now traditional and super-cool logos. The pdf has basic bookmarks for start and finish, in spite of its brevity.

Alexander Augunas and Owen K.C. Stephens do it once more – the infosphere installment of what is quickly shaping up to be one of my favorite RPG-series out there is brilliant. At times funny, at times slightly sad, it hits the hopeful and positive notes that make the Xa-Osoro supplements stand out. This is a future I’d enjoy living in, and the write-ups are literally all killer, no filler – I considered not a single entry bland. From a mechanical point of view, the supplement manages to achieve to remarkable feat of having the fandom benefits not only correlate perfectly to the respective sites, they also are internally consistent in their power-level AND provide meaningful benefits without e.g. Spaz and Yousphere overlapping. In short: This is a winner, worth every cent of its fair asking price. 5 stars + seal of approval, given without even the slightest hesitation.

Endzeitgeist out.

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This Star Log.EM-installment clocks in at 7 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 2 pages of SRD, leaving us with 3 pages of content, so let’s take a look!

All right, after a brief bit of context of gene reconstruction and body modification in the Xa-Osoro system, we begin with a new soldier fighting style, the shifter. These fellows have natural shapeshifting powers that help them in combat – at 1st level, we have shifter’s strikes, which lets them execute natural attacks with any body part (and that is better than many people give credit for if you’re creative!) and they don’t count as archaic. Better yet, you get to choose whether to deal nonlethal or one of three physical core damage types with each strike and gain improved Unarmed Strike. This is a picture of precision. 3rd level nets the unique weapon specialization of character level + soldier level to damage with them, which makes them mathematically scale in a more viable manner. This also gets interaction with natural weapon-based unique weapon specialization right. 5th level nets at-will 1st-level polymorph into one of 4 forms chosen from either mystic or technomancer class; you can redesign one per class level attained, and 8th level and every 4 levels thereafter, you get an additional form.

At 9th level, we have Polymorph Adept, which may be used with aforementioned ability, and you get to keep benefiting from armor and gear boosts while it’s merged with your form. At 13th level, you can spend 1 Resolve Point when using the shifting ability or Polymorph Adept to use the ability as a standard action or the feat as a move action. At 17th level, action economy improves by a further step. At 17th level, you can spend 1 Resolve Point when using shift shape or Polymorph Adept to merge two polymorph forms or merge a base form with your true one. I love this fighting style. IT#s unique, captivating and precise.

The second class option here would be one for the mechanic – a new artificial intelligence, the nanohive. At 1st level, you may, as a move action, initiate host reconstruction, granting you class level fast healing, which improves by 1 at 3rd level and every 2 levels thereafter. This lasts for Intelligence modifier rounds, and at the end, you must succeed on a DC 15 Fortitude save – or your sleep deprivation DC, if higher. Each time, the DC increases 1 and it resets when regaining Stamina Points from spending Resolve and resting 10 minutes. On a failure, you are fatigued and incur a penalty versus saves that cause the asleep condition. If already fatigued, this gets worse. Here’s the issue – sure, falling asleep and taking a -4 penalty upon being woken is bad – but this is still infinite healing. The nanohive grants +1 to Fort-and Will-saves, which improves at 5th level and every 4 levels thereafter.

5th level provides an improved variant via host reconstruction – one based on 1st-level polymorph (italics missing) as a move action; it’s self-only, and requires a save as per host reconstruction at the end. Here’s the catch – you get to choose whether the nanites incorporate the items worn within you, or if they reassemble them for your new form. You also get 4 polymorph forms chosen from the mystic’s assortment, and may reassign one per class level attained. The spell level of the ability improved by 1 at 8th level and every 3 levels thereafter. At 7th level, gaining either fast healing or using the polymorph-function both are enhanced (with further steps at 14th and 17th level). At 10th level, you may initiate both simultaneously, but doing so makes you automatically fail the save at the end, unless you spend 1 Resolve Point, in which case, you may make the save as normal – but both are treated as different uses for the purpose of the DC. 15th level further upgrades the effects of both nanohive uses, and 20th level eliminates the duration and makes you auto-succeed the save.

Coordinated assault and control net are both adjusted to offer proper nanohive synergy.

Conclusion: Editing and formatting are very good on a formal level, excellent on a rules-level. Layout adheres to the series’ two-column full-color standard, and the pdf comes with a nice artwork. The pdf has no bookmarks, but needs none at this length.

Alexander Augunas’ polymorphic options range among my favorite class expansion trick-pdfs in SFRPG so far b- both are unique, conceptually interesting, put a neat twist on polymorph and also add a whole new character concept to the classes they expand. I could see sample PCs/NPCs in front of my mind’s eye while reading this – rather impressive. 5 stars + seal of approval, very much recommended if you want some bioweapon badassery for your spacefarers!

Endzeitgeist out.

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This installment of the Starfarer Adversaries-series clocks in at 15 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page advertisement, 2 pages of SRD, leaving us with 11 pages of content, so let’s take a look!

It’s part nanite swarm, part viral infection, and all horrific – the Grimaldi Strain, an infection that turns creatures into CANNIBAL CLOWNS!! It’s not easily transmitted, thankfully – only those incarcerated for more than a week may be infected, but still…do you want to save them? Really? But…what if their feet turn longer and longer?

Once transformed, a victim of the Grimaldi Strain becomes a Buffoon, the lowest rank of cannibal clown; at this point, they may be saved by killing the Ringleader, the highest rank of a group of cannibal clowns…as long as they haven’t eaten. Once they have partaken in flesh, they turn into Tramps, the rank-and-file cannibal clowns. Tramps are destroyed if the Ringleader is eliminated, but at one point, they become Wiseguys – these cannibal clowns are NOT destroyed with the death of their leader, and are the stage that eventually transforms into Ringleaders.

How do you build cannibal clowns? Well, they are monstrous humanoids with the combatant or expert array. They can have any CR, but some types of clowns are more common for some CRs. Cannibal clowns all have darkvision 60 ft. and when partaking of sentient meat for 10 uninterrupted minutes, they regain their CR worth of Hit Points, but only once per creature they consume. Cannibal clowns have a telepathy of 100 ft. that can be heard by anyone with Profession in a clown-like skill, hearing strange whispers – this also nets blindsense (cannibal clowns) with a range of 5 times Profession ranks feet. (Nitpick: “feet” is missing.) Higher rank cannibal clowns automatically become aware of ANYTHING lower-ranking cannibal clowns within the same SOLAR SYSTEM discover. They also get an untyped +20 bonus to Disguise checks made to appear like a brightly-painted entertainer. Disintegrators look like seltzer bottles, grenades like pies, etc. Making an attack cancels this ability for 10 minutes. Cannibal clowns count as humanoids, monstrous humanoids and undead, and effects that target only one of those affect them as normal. They take the worst effect possible, if in question. Oh, and one more thing: ANY number of cannibal clowns may fit into a vehicle or space ship. ANY NUMBER. They are immune to negative energy, diseases, exhaustions, fatigue, paralysis, poison, sleep and stunning – however, this immunity is weird, in that they instead start to creepily laugh for 1d4 rounds, becoming flat-footed, so clever players can exploit this.

The pdf then proceeds to walk you through the process of making the respective cannibal clowns: Buffoons, for example, have double the normal HP, EAC of 4 lower, KAC of 2 lower, and when they’re hurt, it’s funny, so non-cannibal clowns may be briefly staggered by them suffering critical hit… Speaking of which: They have vicious criticals. These apply when the clown beats the AC by 5 or more. They also sport 7 custom critical hit effects that include acid flowers, endless scarves to entangle targets, and from killing joke to “got your nose”, the Joker pun-game is strong with these.

Tramps get one of these critical effects, get vicious critical and fill up their special ability slots with schticks – these would be 5 special custom abilities, such as the option to breathe in missed ranged attacks and blowing them back to the target. Wiseguys gain two critical hit effects and can choose which to apply, but don’t have vicious critical. They get one envoy improvisation and may fill the rest of their slots with schticks. Ringleaders have vicious critical, two of the new critical effects (that BOTH apply!), use the envoy class graft, and get +1 schtick in excess of the ones they get via their special abilities.

A CR 1 buffoon, a CR 4 tramp, a CR 7 wiseguy and a CR 10 ringleader are provided with sample stats for your convenience. The wiseguy’s Dexterity rating if off by one (should be +5), but the value is correct in e.g. initiative.

Even cooler: There is an appendix that lists cannibal clown weapons – dog leashes, butterfly nets, guns with a “bang”-flag used to bludgeon, etc. – love them!

Conclusion: Editing and formatting are very good on a formal and rules-language level. Layout adheres to the series’ two-column full-color standard, and the pdf has no interior artwork apart from the cover-piece. The pdf comes fully bookmarked with nested bookmarks for your convenience.

Yessa! Owen K.C. Stephens delivers big time in this supplement! The cannibal clowns are brutal adversaries, and the modifications made to their creation, the detailed walkthrough – pretty much everything here is cool. I love the unique abilities, critical effects, the whole angle of their creation, the small tidbits…and guess what – the pdf is actually funny in a darkly-twisted way I very much enjoy. This is more than some throwaway critters – this is a delightfully coulrophobia-inducing cornucopia indeed, and as such, gets 5 stars + seal of approval. Easily the best Starfarer Adversary-supplement so far!

Endzeitgeist out.

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This installment of the Starfarer Adversaries-series clocks in at 8 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page advertisement, 1 page SRD, 1 page editorial, leaving us with 4 pages of content, one page of which is devoted to a one-page version of the creature-artwork, suitable to act as a handout.

The sluaghs receive a whole page of background story – face-stealers, servants of the unseen good; Void Demons, Lords of Dark Matter – many are the names applied to them, and none of them are kind. Their empire may have collapsed, but this has not mitigated the threat that these shapechangers represent.

Two different sluagh are included herein, at CR 6 the sluagh infiltrator, and at CR 10 the sluagh taskmaster. Sluagh are Medium outsiders with the evil, native, shapechanger and sluagh subtypes. As for change shape, they can use it as a standard action to look like any Medium humanoid or outsider, provided they have seen the creature, and in such a form, they learn the languages of the creature mimicked. Sluagh can absorb equipment – technological, hybrid and magical unattended equipment may be integrated as a standard action. A sluagh may only use one item per type in a given round, and using them takes as long as though they had them in hand. They can fire so-called void bolts, which is an EAC-targeting ranged attack dealing untyped damage….why? Why add untyped damage? SFRPG has so MANY damage types, why start with this stuff again? -.-

Nominally, sluagh are based on the spellcaster array, and both arrays correctly include the atk-boost provided by the outsider graft. The save-boost is applied to reflex-saves, just fyi. Both builds use technomancer spells, and use their high attack value for aforementioned void bolts. Melee attacks are executed with claws, which have bleed 1d6/2d6 as critical effects. Minor nitpick: The S-indicator for “slashing” damage is lower case here. The sluagh infiltrator has one master skill less than usual, instead going good on that – something that the higher CR-version repeats. Good skills are Diplomacy and Sense Motive, with Bluff, as befitting of a shapechanger, being the master skill. The sluagh seem to get increasing DR – the CR 6 version has DR 5/good, the CR 10 on DR 15/good.

The pdf also mentions a void rune as a weapon fusion – when sluagh die, they leave a void crystal, which can be made to create a void rune fusion seal that can only exist as a seal. A weapon with such a fusion deals untyped damage (URRRRGHHHH), and is considered to be a fusion of the highest-level weapon it can be applied to. This prevents other fusions, sure, but it’s reliable damage that can’t be negated. Blergh. Hate it. Kill it with fire.

Conclusion: Editing and formatting are very good on a formal and rules-language level. Layout adheres to the series’ two-column full-color standard, and the artwork is nice. The pdf has no bookmarks, but needs none at this length.

Owen K.C. Stephens’ sluagh are a cool critter – the builds are precise, well-executed and interesting. The fluff is cool and I love the notion of providing unique rewards for critters defeated! … I hate untyped damage. For multiple iterations of d20-systems it’s been a bane, begs to be exploited, and I frickin’ LOATHE the weapon fusion. I hate what it represents. Let’s take away interesting options, and instead provide boring, but consistent damage that can’t be negated. This never was a good idea; it’s not interesting, and the sad thing is, much like static bonuses to atk versus choice, they might be boring, but they are more efficient, rewarding players for doing stuff that’s less fun. I love the idea of rewarding PCs for slaying bosses with unique treasure – the notion is great, but I…can’t…get past the untyped damage. I’m sorry. It just makes me angry. If you don’t mind that, then consider this to be a solid 4-star critter file. If you’re like me, this decreases the appeal of the supplement considerably, and I’m assuming I’m not the only one with such a reaction. As such, my final verdict will clock in as a median 3 stars.

Endzeitgeist out.

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This installment of the Monster Menageries-series clocks in at 13 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page of SRD, leaving us with 10 pages of content, one of which is devoted to the introduction, so let’s take a look!

Okay, so see that one the cover? Legend Stan! Provides pretty hilarious artworks for all the monsters herein, so let’s check out whether the stats hold up as well: The first critter would be the Giraffecorn (CR 5), who sports a glistening silvery coat, cloven hooves and a sex-feet long, pink horn. It also, hilariously, can use invisibility at will and has an air walk that only works to a limit of 6 feet above ground. Except when it doesn’t. To quote the ability: “Being a very magical beast, it can still bypass this limitation at times. For example, if there is a chasm in the ground, the giraffecorn can cross it, even though the ground under the chasm is more than six feet below it, because the ground to either side is not. This flagrant disregard for magical law causes conniptions in rules lawyers.” This actually made me laugh out loud!

Giraffemeras (CR 8) have a cobra and a bat-head as well; they can spit venom. Oh, and they know kung-fu. Because life is unfair. And they can apply stunning fist to natural attacks, flurry, and block attacks. XD Oh, and never remark how badly they fly. They are touchy that way, and with their very good Stealth…well. Surprise giraffe kung-fu to the head is not something you want. Right? Minor complaint: Perception value is inconsistent - +7 or +8?

The CR 5 giraffon is a hybrid of giraffe and hummingbird, and, as the write-up drives home – they make no sense. For example, why are they carnivores? How can they be so good at catching prey unaware? Oh, and their attacks can dazzle and blind you. Unless I’ve missed something, this one’s CMB is off by 1.

It can get worse for adventurers just humiliated by a hummingbird/giraffe-hybrid: CR 15 – the giraffelich! Their necksmash is laced with negative energy, and they do have a fear aura, paralyzing touch and the rejuvenation you’d associate with a lich. They’re also lucky, gaining luck tokens when failing attacks or saves, which may then be spent to roll d20s twice and take the better result. Speaking of giraffelich phylacteries – those are defecated apples of evil, that not even necessarily are consciously produced.

Conclusion: Editing and formatting are very good on a formal level; on a rules-language level, only minor snafus may be found; nothing serious. Layout adheres to the series’ two-column tome-like standard and sports pretty broad borders. I love Stan!’s comic-style artworks for the giraffes, and the artworks come on their own pages, making them suitable for handouts. The pdf comes fully bookmarked in spite of its brevity.

I love Jeff Lee’s giraffenomicon. It made me laugh out loud multiple times and is so surreal and funny to me. Additionally, the critters genuinely have some neat mechanical components I enjoyed seeing. What more can you ask of a small pdf such as this? 5 stars.

Endzetgeist out.

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This installment of the Star Log.EM-series clocks in at 7 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 2 pages of SRD, leaving us with 3 pages of content, so let’s take a look!

Okay, so if you don’t have the Occult Skill Guide: Classic Corruptions (WHY? That book is AWESOME!), the pdf does reprint the therianthrope template graft for your convenience. Therianthropes are btw. sapient creatures that have been corrupted with bestial instinct and rage, and the rules presented within do cover the wolf-like, most famous therianthropes, the werewolves, and more – two sample statblocks are provided, the first of which would depict a skittermander weremonoux operative (CR 3), and yes, before you ask, the grafts have been properly applied. Did I mention that I love skittermanders? :D

Of course, a classic werewolf can also be found – this build (CR 7) uses a human soldier as a baseline, with blitz fighting style and, much to my pleasant surprise, gear boosts noted as well. Cleave as a feat choice makes sense for the build, and the natural attacks as well as the melee focus of this fellow tie the build together well. Oh, and there is a new armor upgrade, the magical level 1 nanite reshaper that makes the armor automatically adjust to the shapechanging of wearers. The pdf also includes a new feat, Aspect of the Beast, which nets a vesk’s natural weapons racial trait, only that it’s MORE precise than it – it does properly specify damage type!! Oh, and at higher levels, the attack starts counting as magical and is treated as progressively better special materials – yep, including adamantine at 19th level. And if you already have natural weapons, you get these enhancements sooner. Kudos!

Finally, the supplement covers the one thing I had already structured as a “I’ll complain for a paragraph about this”-section when I opened this pdf – the supplement actually specifies how therianthropy works, at least to a degree. In a science-fantasy game such as Starfinder, having this flavorful elaboration of how moonlight triggers the transformation is rather cool indeed. Kudos for the extra mile regarding flavor here!

Conclusion: Editing and formatting are top-notch, I noticed no glitches on a formal or rules-language level. Layout adheres to the series’ two-column full-color standard, and the pdf has a nice artwork. The pdf has no bookmarks, but needs none at this length.

Alexander Augunas delivers here – the therianthropes in this supplements are well-presented, and while personally, I prefer unique bloodlines for each type of therianthrope, the catch-all template-graft does an admirable job at providing one graft, but making it possible for the graft to provide a wide variety of different builds, courtesy of synergy with the polymorph-engine presented by Starfinder. All in all, a great little supplement, well worth its asking price. My final verdict will be 5 stars.

Endzeitgeist out.