DriveThruRPG.com
Browse Categories
$ to $















Back
pixel_trans.gif
Other comments left by this customer:
You must be logged in to rate this
pixel_trans.gif
Hopes and Feasts: Recipe For Success
Publisher: Azoth Games
by Vladimir R. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/11/2024 11:34:44

Recipe for success? Gimme 10!

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

Introduction Under Azoth Games, Connor D. Estes released the present book, which includes a lot of akashic goodness. Does the author maintain the quality of Azoth Games books? Read on!

What’s inside? 44 pages of content (not counting covers, ads etc.) for 10 bucks, which include:

-Two new base classes: The Hearthkeeper is the first one. It has an unusual chassis, low combat prowess (d6 HD and low BAB) but proficiency in simple weapons, up to medium armor and bucklers, only good Will save, but 5 (5? odd) skill points for 12 skills. They are wisdom-based veilweavers with up to 12 veils… Wait, weren’t there only 10 slots? Do they get their unique slot like viziers? Wel, not really. Like the Huay class, they get a unique “slot” where they can shape a veil from a small, hearth-themed list; they also geat another “free” veil, Chef’s Armory, at 7th. Oh, and the rest of their veils are drawn from the vizier list, all 10 chakra binds, 3 improvements to essence capacity, and up to 20 essence.

Apart from these common abilities, they get some bonus feats (Life Bond, Apprentice Chef and Master Chef) and skill bonuses related to akashic cooking. Akashic cooking? Yeah, but don’t worry, all relevant material is reprinted from a variety of sources for everyone’s convenience! They also get an ability to blast with fire and akashic might, like a very minor flamestrike, but not to the level of a kineticist. They also get a pool of healing points so you don’t have to bleed when using the Life Bond feat. At 20th level, you become an outsider and gain immunity to age, fire and even regeneration that can only be negated by cold damage! They also become practically immortal. Very thematic ability that makes sense at 20th level, and puts the antiquated outsider apotheosis of monks and some sorcerer bloodlines to shame. All in all a nice akashic healer.

This class also includes two archetypes. The heirloom guardian gets less akashic recipes in exchange for akashic treasures, these being like meta abilities that are piggybacked by conventional veils, which replaces their akashic fire blast ability. The Hivekeeper replaces their bonus veil list for another, focused on bees and hives, and instead of the pool of healing points, they become better at ranged healing. It is worth noting that both archetypes are compatible.

The Hopeful is the second base class. It has a similar chassis to the previous class, except for 1 less skill point per level for 13 class skills and an extra good save. They are also Charisma-based veilweavers and constellation summoners, getting up to 26 essence (one per level plus one at every 3 levels), 6 veils pulled from the radiant veil list but having all 10 chakra binds. They can also summon constellations from somewhere™; I mention it like this because unlike most other constellation summoning classes, this one doesn’t mention cosmologies. They get a collective that works very similar to a Vitalist’s. They also have baked in many of Azoth Games’ optional rules for constellations to make them less OP. They are also better at summoning signs, and get some lunar-like essence cost reductions and same element bonuses.

At 3rd level they get a telepathic ability that is very useful for psionic characters which works with members of the hopeful’s collective. They also get a unique element-less constellation that lets them to manifest veils (starting with 1 at 7th level and increasing by 1 at 13th and 19th levels) from one veil set, chosen at the beginning of the day. They also get an ability that reminded me of a psionic prestige class, that lets them walk on water, walls, and reduce fall damage. They also learn to heal through their collective. Finally at top level, members of their collective get some pretty nifty abilities. A multifacetic class good for people who like to buff and have summons to do their bidding.

-Two archetypes: The Apothecary is an archetype for a huay that schews shapeshifting for some Spheres alchemy and some thematic veil additions for their veil of nature, while the Chef radiant focuses on akashic cooking too.

-49 Akashic Recipes: This section includes 24 brand-new recipes, 8 “supplements” which are like meta ingredients to cook other recipes, crystalized akasha that can stand in for certain ingredients (good when you don’t have some at hand), and 16 recipe reprints from various sources.

-10 veils, which includes a veil set, Blessings of Harvest and Hearth, comprised of 7 of the new veils and all of them. Apart from that, there are two other new veils and a minor veil. The new veils mostly complement the new classes, and include a variety of tricks. Ashen Blessing stores the HPs of fire damage you deal to later heal… but doesn’t have a limit on the amount of times you can add to the storage, which arguably can translate to infinite healing. Mage’s Final Trick gives bonus against sleep and exhaustion effects and you can share the bonus. You can also produce ingredients by taking essence burn, and when bound to the Wrists chakra you can create an effect similar to the magnificent mansion spell.

-2 new lost constellations: The Astral Host is a fire constellation that has an azata gancanagh cook champion form, an apron equipment form that lets you create cooking utensils and gives you a potentially huge bonus on Fortitude saves plus a Deflection bonus to AC, and a symbol that makes you a better cook. The Root of Life is an earth constellation with a morbai psychopomp champion form that can later take levels in an NPC class (my guess is commoner, expert and the like), a healer’s kit equipment form that gives you a Scholar’s (from the Spheres subsystem) medical training, and a sign that both protects you from negative/positive damage while enhancing the other, and the sign also gives the signed the ability to channel energy at a reduced efficiency by taking essence burn.

-Character options: This section includes 4 new hexes directed to akashic hex-users like the Fisherking or shapers of the Hag’s Shawl, a new Rajah heraldry, 10 new akashic feats with a focus on the new classes, and one trait.

-5 new items, all of them commodities for akashic cooks that enhance specific veils ans constellations. These include a fiery stone for cooking, a fridge, a maid’s apron, a chef’s bag, and a poisonous vial.

-2 appendices: One includes all the akashic magic’s info, including veils and constellations, and is enough to use the book’s new classes without any other book (although the hopeful will suffer without constellations). The second includes all rules for akashic cooking, including 2 feats and a veil.

Of Note: The hearthkeeper is an unusual class that will cater to certain people, and with the auge of the Delicious in Dungeon, will gain popularity. The akashic cooking subsystem is very intriguing and worth expanding. Finally, the idea of magical items that enhance certain veils or constellations is great too!

Anything wrong?: The hopeful has an interesting motif, but doesn’t bring anything new to the table; it feels like a lunar/radiant/rajah/vitalist hybrid. It is not a bad class, mind you, it just needs something unique. IMHO, I would get rid of the veilshaping and give them something like a radiant’s vivifications with a focus on positive emotions, like hope.

What I want: MOAR recipes of course! And maybe explore the veil/constellation-enhancing items more.

What cool things did this inspire?: I want to play my grandma LMAO! She had a long, turbulent life and would do great as an adventurer!

Do I recommend it?: Even without the new classes, the book’s focus on akashic cooking is great, and it is also a valuable addition for people that don’t have all of the referenced books or that want to have everything in one place. I would rate the book with a top grade if the hopeful had more unique abilities, so I will grade this book with 4.5 star cakes, rounded down. Bon appétite!



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Hopes and Feasts: Recipe For Success
Click to show product description

Add to DriveThruRPG.com Order

pixel_trans.gif
Mysterious Classes: Biomancer
Publisher: Azoth Games
by Vladimir [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/03/2024 22:41:20

Biomancer? Intriguing!

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 Under Azoth Games, James Ray released his first book under the Mysterious Classes line of products, focusing on the Biomancer, which is an alternate class for the fleshwraith, which itself is an alternate class of the machinesmith. Isn’t that intriguing? Read on!

What’s inside? 18 pages of content (not counting covers, ads etc.) for 4.50 bucks, which include:

-The Biomancer variant variant class: This class has an alchemist-like chassis (d8 HD/medium BAB, 4 skill points for 14 CS, five of which are Knowledge areas; good Fort and Ref saves, proficiency in simple and natural weapons, light armors and shields), and start with many class features. They get a hefty bonus on heal checks and the ability to use Int for them. They are also Intelligence-based constellation summoners, but unlike Zodiacs/Servants, don’t get the Cosmology class feature. They instead get to choose 12 constellations from any available in the campaign with a couple of limits by element as their “Paradigm”. Also unlike their peers, Biomancers get access to only some of the constellations of their Paradigm and gain the rest gradually. They also get a slight cost reduction when summoning them.

Speaking of constellations, these are somewhat different from actual constellations. Any non-champion, non-sign constellation are treated as bio-essential constructs, while the champion forms always have the mutant template (if they are living, and with some restrictions on mutations) and have some unique abilities; finally, their sign constellations are treated as diseases!

Biomancer also get essence at a rate similar to Lunars, from 1 to 30. As variant machinesmiths/fleshwraiths, they also get to choose from a select list of Great Works (Genetic Laboratory, Mobius Weapon and Mobius Puppet), including a new one: Mother Mold. All of their abilities have a biopunk flavor, and all their constellations, gadgets and great works have the bio-essential trait, which marks them as constructs with the bio-essential and akashic subtypes, which make them living and even giving them a Con score. Each greatwork available also gives access to a unique, exclusive, element-less constellation.

They also get a couple of other abilities. Twist Flesh let them heal or harm living creatures a couple of times per day (Int bonus + ½ class level), but unlike many abilities in the game are not dependent on positive or negative energy. They can invest essence in this ability to increase the results. They can take any Lay on Hands feat and apply its effects to this ability. At every even level, they get to choose a Biomancer Trick, which come from 3 varieties: Augmentations, Gadgets and Techniques. These are borrowed from the parent classes, and include 3 unique Techniques.

At 3rd level, and every odd level thereafter, they get to enhance their Twist Flesh ability as if it was either Lay on hands or Touch of Corruption, gaining a mercy/cruelty. Also at 3rd level they get the Fleshwarper feat. As any other essence-user they get Improved essence capacity, up to +3.

At 5th level they get the Craft Construct feat for free but with some differences. All their constructs are bio-essential. At 8th level they can even make flesh golems ignoring the spells required. Finally, they learn how to improve their greatworks.

-Mother Mold Great Work: As noted before, Biomancers get access to an exclusive Great Work, which if chosen makes them Psionic. This one gives them the collective ability, similar to the one of the Vitalist psionic class or the Radiant akashic class, and also a pool of “source spores” used to empower some psionic abilities. As with other Biomancer great works the Mother Mold has a unique constellation, The Mycete, which manifests as a reinforced cloak.

Mother Mold’s first upgrade is Enhanced Physiology, which grants the Biomancer a Natural Armor bonus to AC and some Fast Healing for a couple of rounds per day. This ability can be invested with essence for more AC and healing. It also gives the Biomancer telepathy with anyone in their collective, and more psionic abilities to empower with their source spores.

The second upgrade, Recrudescence, lets the Mother Mold create its own Mindscape. The Biomancer and members of their collective can enter said mindscape. Also, the Mindscape lets the Biomancer store the minds of dead creatures. Also, more source spores-empowered psionic abilities are gained.

The third upgrade increases the amount of psi-abilities again, and lets the Mother Mold “eat” dead creatures, enabling the Biomancer to exploit the dead creatures to either cull info from their psyche or to be animated as fungal zombies, either of which expends the remains. There is a limit on the number of HD absorbable.

Mother Mold’s final upgrade makes the Biomancer practically immortal. They cannot die of old age and gain plant-like traits (but not the plant type), and again get more psi-like abilities empowered by source spores.

-Extra Content: The Elevated Sight akashic feat (works similar to the Chakra Sight feat), and La Llorona lost water constellation, which has an Armor form (shawl which works like dancing scarves and protects the wearer from cold and necromancy if invested with essence), a Champion form (in the shape of a Llorona, who would have guessed it), an Equipment form (a sadness-inducing dress, which range is increased by invested essence), and a Sign form (which gives the signed a magical wail that makes creatures around to want to drown in the nearest body of water, and essence giving the signed flight).

-Modified Upgrades/Augmentations for the Great Work ability to better support the Biomancer, and a list of Suggested Machinesmith Tricks.

Of Note: The sheer flavor of the Biomancer is nuts in a good way! Magical science and biopunk rolled into one is something I haven’t seen since the great Aquanaut psionic class! Not even the Promethean akashic class has this forced evolution flavor! Also, this book taps into the great historied 3pp content of Pathfinder! I mean, machinesmith, psionics, akashic magic, what is there not to like?

Anything wrong?: Unlike the author’s previous works, there are many, many editing mistakes and a couple of misspellings. A sham for such an interesting book!

What I want: To learn about the parent classes, which is something I don’t know at the moment. I need to learn what the parent classes can do before I experiment with the class.

What cool things did this inspire?: As with the Promethean, this class gives me visions of a fantasy fleshpunk world, with maybe the Biomancer and Promethean as opposing forces that use a similar concept but from different sources.

Do I recommend it?: The Biomancer is a complex class that requires both the Gamemaster and player to know many 3pp subsystems. If you already know all of them, I can greatly recommend it. If not acquainted, then it depends on the amount of time you want to invest in learning everything you need for the class. In my case, I will gladly learn about the parent classes. This is 5 star material… except for the editing, which forces me to deduct one stars from the final rating, a star I will add if the document is polished in the future. So at least for now, 4 living stars from me.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Mysterious Classes: Biomancer
Click to show product description

Add to DriveThruRPG.com Order

pixel_trans.gif
Akasha Reshaped: Psionic Essence
Publisher: Moonhand Press
by Vladimir R. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 05/26/2023 12:26:03

Remember Dream Scarred Press? Well, many do.

Introduction Akashic Magic and Psionics are the some of the best 3rd party content out there for Pathfinder 1ed, and both were released by the sadly AFP (away from publishing) Dream Scarred Press. Akasha Reshaped: Psionic Essence is a book by Moonhand Press that adds to both systems. It includes a new class, the Thug, plus some akashic and psionic material. Is it a worthy addition to both systems? Let’s see!

What’s inside? 23 pages of content (not counting covers, ads etc.) for 5 bucks (very nice), which include:

-The Thug Akashic/Psionic class: With a bard chassis (d8 HD, medium BAB, good Ref and Will saves, simple weapons plus a couple “roguish” ones and light armor, and 6 skill points for 20 class skills), the Thug is a well-rounded character. They combine the guru akashic progression (with access to both the guru and eclipse veil lists) with the marksman psionic one (from their own unique power list), to create a more than capable individual. They also get some unique toys, their first being the Cult, a kind of in-class archetype.

Each Cult includes some special commandments, Cult psionic powers at 1st, 5th, 9th and 13th levels that can be manifested for no power points by expending psionic focus (but without being able to augment them), and at 2nd, 10th and 19th levels, they get a cult veil. The cult also gives 3 special abilities to its adherents, as shown on the table (they are not mentioned under the Cult class feature, but are in the individual cults themselves). Finally, the cult also determines the Thug’s manifesting and veilweaving ability score, which in the case of Intelligence reduces the class skillpoints per level by two.

They also get the Sanctified Weapon essence ability, letting them invest essence in this ability and getting double the invested points in damage plus another, cult-specific ability. They also get Trap Finding, plus bonus akashic, combat or psionic feat at each 3rd level (so 6 in total). They also get Evasion and both Uncanny Dodge and its improved version.

Psykashic Fusion is another unique ability, letting them bind their essence to their cult psionic powers and getting some free augmentation for the trouble, increasing with levels. Later, they learn how to bind essence to their 2nd level cult power, and they can invest (instead of bind) essence to their 1st level cult power.

They get Improved Essence Capacity, all 3 points of it, but you wouldn’t know by just looking at the class features in the table. They also later count essence invested in weapon-like or enhanced weapon veils as also invested in their sanctified weapon class feature. As a capstone, all their cult powers and sanctified weapon ability are treated as if invested with 3 more essence points as normal.

So what about the cults? We get 6 of them (plus an “Untouchable” non-cult), 2 for each of the mental ability scores. The All Knowing is an Int-based cult devoted to the preservation of knowledge. The Creator is a Cha-based cult devoted to the arts. The Destroyer is an Int-based cult devoted to ensuring the end of all things as it should, when it should (great!); strangely enough, they add Kn. (Religion) to their list of class skills, which they already had in the first place. The Preserver is a Wis-based cult devoted to keeping hidden, dangerous things outside of this world as they are, far from the eyes of society; they also add Perception to their class skills, which they already get. The Remover of Obstacles is a Wis-based cult devoted to helping people when they can’t do things alone; they get bonuses on Sense Motive and Autohypnosys checks, the latter not being a class skill of the base class. The Trickster is a Cha-based cult devoted… deceiving? This is the loosest of them all, which is great since it leaves some leeway for GM to give them a goal (if any, they could just trick people for the sake of it). The Untouchable is not really a cult, but a way for Thugs to be free of organizations, having open options but more modest abilities.

After the cult section, the Thug power list, which includes around 4 pages of powers from 0 to 4th level, from a vast variety of sources. After all is said and done, the feel of the Thug is similar to the Inquisitor, with a kind of divine feel but not really, and the cults themselves are very cool and different, and some of them could be devoted or affiliated to a religion. The class, however, does too many things in my opinion.

-5 archetypes: We start with the Collectivist archetype for the Radiant, which gives the psionic subtype and the ability to get psionically focused, as well as qualifying for some vitalist feats; speaking of which, the Collectivist feels like a merging of both classes, which is not a bad thing, but it feels like it gains more than it loses.

The Disjunctor Nexus is a very short archetype, and it basically lets the Nexus change the planar convergence every day, but always following it through the end. It also gets a second convergence line but not the capstone. It seems to balance this by slowing the acquisition of tiers, but since it gets an additional convergence, it ends with 8 abilities, compared to the 6 of the base class so, not a fan. The Protonic Helmsman gives the ability to shape an Astral Suit, in exchange for the bonded vessel and akashic armaments. It is a great way to introduce the Helmsman if you don’t really want to deal with vehicles!

The Veilknife Soulknife gets Kheshig’s veilweaving and essence (which mean up to 6 veils and 15 essence, plus 8 binds and 3 improved essence capacity) in exchange for either the psychic strike or the manifesting abilities of a low/high psionics soulknife. It is a shame they borrow so many things from the Kheshig, since they even borrow one of the broken class features of that class: the ability to bind their veilknife to any chakra it could occupy, including capstone-y, 20th level body binds, at second level. This archetype feels too strong in comparison to the Soulknife.

The final “archetype” is the new Mechanist Promethean obsession. It basically turns your promethean into a cyborg with powerful slams and many defensive abilities.

-13 psionic powers: All of them have to do with akashic magic, they are open to all manifesting classes, and their names are very self-explanatory. We have Detect Akasha, Essence Defilement, Essential Block (which I guess has a typo in its name and should be Essence), Essence Infusion, Essence Theft, Immortalized Essence (an uber power that fills all your essence receptacles to the brim), Manifest Veil, Reject Essence, Restore Essence, Sunder Investment, Suppress Veil, Veil Magnification and Veil Restoration.

-8 veils: All of them shape the Psionic descriptor, which gives those wielding them the Psionic subtype and the ability to become psionically focused. Dahlia’s Psionic Halo is a Guru veil that gives the veilshaper some psionic abilities, which increase by binding essence to it, and the bind greatly increases your gained psionic abilities! The other 7 veils are also titles, and as such are reserved for the Rajah class. Each of the 7 psionic title veils are tied to one of the 7 psionic disciplines, and each one gives the entitled a minor benefit while improving the title’s discipline powers manifested by the entitled.

-12 Feats: Bright Enervations transforms the Radiant from a buffer to a debuffer (which is something I have longed for since I first reviewed the class some years ago). Collective Reinforcements lets you add suddenly summoned creatures to your collective as a free action even when not on your turn. Esoteric Insight lets you chose a spellcasting class and you count your veilshaper levels as caster levels when using staves, spell trigger and spell completion items (maybe too strong). Greater Metapsionic Knife improves an already strong feat (which basically turns you into a psionic Magus spellstriking here and there). Improved Collective Reinforcements increase the number of creatures in your collective to make room for more summoned allies.

Minor Thoughtsense is a great one, giving you basically blindsense against intelligent (3 or more) creatures. Improved, Greater and True Psikashic Fusion lets a Thug use its Psikashic class features with non-cult powers, with each feat in the chain increasing the maximum level of powers affected. Power Trick is a fascinating one that lets you augment a specific power (Cloud Mind, Ectoplasmic Carpet, Mind Thrust or Read Thoughts) in new ways as long as you meet the prerequisite of the augmentation, like some ranks in a skill or a feat. Psionic Insight is like Esoteric Insight but for manifesting classes (it includes a minor copy-paste error that will trigger some psi-fans, since it has the text “psychic warrior spells”). We end this section with the Veils of Life feat, which increases the healing of veils for anyone except yourself.

Extras: We get the Autohypnosis skill unlock, plus 3 traits: Master of Metafocus is an exemplar psionic trait that lets you use abilities that require the expenditure of psionic focus without expending it a few times per day, the Forgesoul Armor combat trait that lets you chose a specific type of astral suit and gives you an extra customization point for it, and the Trained Autohypnotist psionic trait that gives you Autohypnosis as a class skill and let’s you chose the mental ability modifier for it.

Of Note: The Thug is a great concept, and I really enjoyed the cults. The Protonic and Mechanist are great options for their respective classes. And while all feats are cool additions to the game, some standouts like Minor Thoughtsense and Power Trick really did it for me! And for games that showcase both akashic magic and psionics, the powers and veils will make for a better, more synergistic experience!

Anything wrong?: In my opinion, the Thug class tries to do too much, mixing two already versatile systems under a skillful chassis; it is a complex class akin to the Rajah and like it, feels kind of Gestalt-y. The Disjunctor and Collectivist archetypes are stronger options to the base classes, but the Veilknife is kind of busted.

What I want: More cults and Power Trick options! The class would rock even more if it could exchange its psionic manifesting for spellcasting, initiating or a kind of open supernatural use (specially with the myriad 3pp classes out there).

What cool things did this inspire?: The cults are very versatile and ripe for adventure! A single cult could start as an ally of the party, just to become their enemy next, or the other way around.

Do I recommend it?: Yes! The book has a lot of neat ideas even if I don’t share the same idea of balancing. If your group enjoys Path of War-level of power or Rajah-level of complexity in classes, then this book will satiate that thirst. For me, the errors in the editing plus the imbalances for my games would make this a 3 star book, but considering the more than fair price and the cool ideas contained herein, I will give it a 4 stars score, and will even consider a 5 stars book for certain tables. I will even increase the grading to full 5 stars if the editing is cleaned up since I really enjoyed the book.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Akasha Reshaped: Psionic Essence
Click to show product description

Add to DriveThruRPG.com Order

pixel_trans.gif
Species Archive: Datum
Publisher: Azoth Games
by Vladimir R. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 05/20/2023 01:27:15

AI and Akasha? Sign me in!

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 Under Azoth Games, James Ray just released a new book under the Species Archive, and the first one AFAIK, line of products, this time focusing on the Datum, a very high concept specie of “living knowledge”. Did the author succeed with such a concept? Read on!

What’s inside? 25 pages of content (not counting covers, ads etc.) for 5 bucks (great!), which include:

-The Datum species: After a cool science-meets-fantasy introduction, we get to the “meat” of the Datum. It is a very complex one, especially compared to humans. Whereas humans get a bonus feat and a bonus skill point and… that’s it, Datum get around 3 pages of special abilities! When outside of their home plane (also from this book), they appear as tiny versions of their original race (which apparently can look like any standard race). They are kind of living holograms that are practically incorporeal, don’t get a Strength score (don’t worry, everything is accounted for, including ability score generation), are tiny, are resistant to most damage types (but vulnerable to force and electricity), and get a couple of special rules as to not break the game. While they are almost ghostly and can pass through solid objects, they are tethered to other planes via a host, which is a technological, low power object, and their life literally depends on the host. They can change host relatively easy, but with the requirement that the host must be a technological item. They can also transform physical objects into things they can use, and also have a kind of videogame-y inventory that is justified in-game, where they can carry adventuring stuff. They also get the Technologist feat for free and a point of essence. They also have age and height tables, a favored class option list that includes most akashic classes but fittingly has no warrior-like ones, a short list of alternate racial traits, and one race trait. All in all, a very complex race that need both the game master and player to read and re-read it to play it well.

-9 new Feats: All of these feats can be gained by Datum, while a couple by other creatures similar to them. Acquire Format is like Shape Veil, but only for Datum and virtual creatures, and gives them access to one veil from the Datum’s Format veil set from later in this book. Amplified Form can be taken twice, and it can make quasi-real creatures (like Datum) appear more like their original selves, increasing in size to small and even to medium if taken twice. Ancilla is a feat that increases the bond you form with a creature that hosts you, which requires either the Cyber Symbiosis (which itself lets you take a tech creature like an android or robot as your host) or the Essential Symbiosis (which lets you bond with an akashic character with veils or constellations).

Bind Format requires Acquire Format feat and having a veilweaver level of 9, and lets you get the bound effect of the acquired veil. Data Storage give Datum and virtual creatures extra space in their inventory but only for actual data (books, scrolls and data devices). Diminished Form lets a quasi-real creature become diminutive. Finally, Hacker lets you use intelligence instead of dexterity for disable device checks against technological objects under your planar interface racial ability or that you are connected to via the Steel Ward’s Bond veil, and can ignore the penalty of not using e-picks.

-2 Technological Items: Lev-torch is like a levitating lightbulb that can be deactivated, and normally come with white light (it can be used as a host for Datum). Naniteweave Bodysuit comes in 3 varieties; it is similar to a psychoactive skin in the sense that it can be worn under clothing. The basic version (which is cheap enough to be a host) basically makes it a very comfortable undergarment with light and some minor bonuses, the medium version also repairs itself and maintains the wearer’s health, and the advanced increases the healing received and can even stabilize the wearer when on negative HP.

-Datum’s Format veil set: Including 5 veils, this set is special in the sense that it is normally available only to the Datum, but other characters can get them by giving a feat; they also occupy an “esoteric” chakra (those specific to certain chakras like vizier or helmsman), and all but the storm one are light armors. All of the veils start with “Format:” in their names. Administrator is a voice veil that takes the form of an armor that also improves the wearer’s ability to deal with robots and lawful creatures, and even veilweavers with law veils shaped, and when bound gives the wearer a sonic aura that damages chaotic creatures and even chaotic veils! Like other voice veils it also includes kingdom effects.

Corruptor is an evil blood veil, and if the name wasn’t any indication, it gives a specific corruption from a list when worn, and there is a small chance that your fallen foes become corrupted; the bind gives you some of the corruption’s gifts and stains, these last can be overcome by binding essence, and if that wasn’t enough the wearer can even command those corrupted! Framework is a ring veil gives you an aura that hardens the world around you (unattended objects, objects held by allies and your and your allies’ veils), while the powerful bind lets you cast create mindscape or psychic asylum by burning essence!

Purifier is an interface veil that makes your essence immune to corruption and essence invested also protects you from curses, corruption progression, and insanity (I would also throw hexes and brand veils in there); the bind gives you a purifying ray that can purge many maladies, and while this ray can’t heal, it can greatly harm creatures that inflict these maladies, to the point of utterly annihilating such creatures when killed by this ray and erasing them from the Akashic Records! Only Divine Intervention (ok, the game master really) can return such a creature to life! The Chaos is the final veil, and is a storm one. This veil begins to warp and twist the world around the are, creating difficult terrain and dealing bludgeoning damage, and when bound weird sh¡t happens, since it includes a kind of wild magic table to see its effects on those in the area, including mostly bad effects but also some good ones.

-The Lattice demiplane: This plane looks like a futuristic city, and is said to be the resting place of synthetic lifeforms, and Datum and other virtual creatures become real while in here, even gaining a strength score. After a short description, we get the plane’s traits, the virtual creature simple template, a powerful virtual wolger helmsman NPC, and the petitioners of the plane. We also get the Lattice planar infusions plus the Lattice itself as a deity, with portfolio, domains, subdomains, mysteries etc. associated to it. We also get two religion traits and a craft feat that gives you a cool akashic item, useful for scholars.

-Additional character options: This section includes a lot of material: the Akasha domain, the Akasha warpriest blessing, the Circuitry oracle mystery, the Technology domain with the Data, Engineering and Robot subdomains and the Technology warpriest blessing.

-Bonus Content: This section includes an small Akashic pantheon, which includes the three-faceted AhShaRi, Lath, Metatron, Quadim, all including the deity information, plus the Akasha domain’s subdomains, Constellation and Essence.

-Appendix: this small section includes the rules for corrupted essence.

Of Note: There are few books this size that can open a window to cool, innovative worlds full of strange adventures! This is not D&D, not Pathfinder, this is something completely new and intriguing! Being more specific, the race itself, while a bit weird, is really interesting, as are the accompanying veils; all of them can be character defining!

Anything wrong?: Apart from some small errors, I guess that the bonus content is separated from the additional character options because of the theme, but it is a bit annoying to have the subdomains of the Technology domain after it, while the Akashic domain’s are in another section entirely.

What I want: I don’t like small characters, tiny even less, but I don’t know why I would love to play a Datum psychokineticist (either a psion or a kineticist). Something about a living hologram that can affect theworld by will alone sounds cool and kind of hilarious. Apart from that, I would have loved some adventure seeds.

What cool things did this inspire?: What if the party died and became Datum? What if the party appeared in the Lattice and freaked out at the futuristic place? The book presents a lot of possibilities for adventuring!

Do I recommend it?: This is where it gets weird. While I really enjoyed the book, I think it will not be for everyone. If you just want new Akashic stuff like the domains, mysteries and blessings, I would rate it 3 stars. But if you read the premise for the race and like it, then this is 5 virtual star material! I will give the book the later because it delivers what it’s mentioned in the blurb.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Species Archive: Datum
Click to show product description

Add to DriveThruRPG.com Order

pixel_trans.gif
Apocryphal Akasha: Meta-Akasha
Publisher: Azoth Games
by Vladimir R. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 05/18/2023 12:33:34

Not everything “Meta” sucks (glares at certain social network)

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 Under Azoth Games, James Ray released a book under a new Apocryphal Akasha line of products, this time focusing on meta effects. Metamagic has been one of the greatest additions to Vancian magic since the dawn of 3rd edition D&D, but it has not been really used in Akashic Magic as far as I know. So, how was this implemented? and, is it any good? Let’s see!

What’s inside? 19 pages of content (not counting covers, ads etc.) for just 4 bucks (nice), which include:

-General Rules for Meta-Akasha: This one-page section includes the general rules for Meta-Akasha effects. Basically, meta effects reduce the effectivity of essence invested but grant a special ability to the effect modified.

-26 Meta Constellation feats: Yeah, that many. Some of the effects give the elemental damage of weapon and champions a “piggyback” effect, while others increase the abilities of champions. Some others let effects ignore immunities, and others add meta effects the constellation’s special abilities, like widening a breath weapon of allowing for safe pockets for area of effects.

-26 Meta Veil feats: Again, that many. These mirror the Meta Constellation feats but affecting veils instead. Again, “piggyback” effects for damaging effects, increased potency, immunity-ignoring etc.

-2 Class Options: The Nova Zodiac Orbit gets a unique, non-elemental Constellation, which has a drake Champion form with an interesting breath weapon, a VERY useful backpack Equipment from that works as a Bag of Holding and can basically transform stuff into valuable metal (incredibly useful at getting rid of dangerous items, or evidence LOL), a deceptively powerful Sign form that gives the marked character a meta feat (magic, psionics or what have you) and a spell resistance that only works against harmful transmutation effects, a gauntlet Weapon form that gains plasma and force damage with essence invested, and can blind with essence burning. At 2nd level, the Nova can summon a bright cloud that can have several effects via essence burn: It can make a Constellation explode, doing plasma and force damage (with a very high DC to resist, adding full Zodiac level instead of half), it can also basically swap a constellation for another of equal or less essence value (chastise any player that make Pokemon jokes please), and it can also give fast healing and make constellation summoning a bit cheaper. At 4th level and every 4 more, the Nova gets an Akashic or Meta feat, and can summon meta-ed constellations quicklier. Finally, at 20th level, the Nova can go nova when dead, exploding and harming enemies while giving allies fast healing.

The Path of the Metaweaver Viziers are very adept at using Meta Veil feats, and gain up to 4 Meta Veil feats that can be changed every day. As their capstone, they get to apply Meta Veil feats at a reduced cost!

-Bonus Content: Crystalized Mandalas are magical items that give veilshapers access to a veil contained in them, perfect for characters that just want one veil outside of their lists. The Faithful is a title veil that lets the entitled forge a bond with another creature, and its bind is really cool! If one of the creatures bound dies, it appears as a phantom for a couple of minutes! Finally, the Purple Rider lost constellation gets the element of the constellation it replaces, has a Sign form that can be applied to a mount and gives it some memory-erasing abilities, and has a quill Equipment form that increases the wielder’s ability to lie, and can affect texts with the obscured script spell written with it and even other texts!

Of Note: The main concept of meta akasha is very intriguing and opens the door for many interesting builds. The new vizier path is great for experimenting with it!

Anything wrong?: The two type of feats are very similar, and that makes me wonder if they could have been all grouped into only one type. Perhaps that would make Lunar Zodiacs EVEN more powerful. AND the author has accustomed us to the inclusion of champion constellation stats, so them missing is like not having enough topping on an already stacked ice cream LOL.

What I want: The new title veil has a cool drawing of a samurai, so a samurai archetype that is based around The Faithful would rock!

What cool things did this inspire?: Apart from the The Faithful title veil on a Samurai, I would like to make a necrocarnate-like character (from the old Incarnum days) using some of the darker meta veil feats, capable of dominating undead.

Do I recommend it?: If you are reading this review it is probably because of some interest in this niche of meta-akashic effects. I f that is the case, rest assured that this little book will satiate that interest in spades. 5 Novas from this reviewer!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Apocryphal Akasha: Meta-Akasha
Click to show product description

Add to DriveThruRPG.com Order

pixel_trans.gif
Cosmology Deck: Lesser & Lost I
Publisher: Azoth Games
by Vladimir R. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/25/2023 18:57:52

Remember the Lost Constellations and Lesser Cosmollogies? They’re back! In card form!

Introduction James Ray tackles a different type of product: Constellation Cards. Instead of lots of new options, these cards include all the info of a constellation. But not ANY constellation. This product includes the so called lost constellations (there are 3 of them), which exist outside a cosmology and replace another sign from a Zodiac’s cosmology, and the new Lesser Cosmology, which is a group of 4 lost constellations that you have to take, and they also replace 4 other constellations. Are they worth it? Let’s check’em!

What’s inside?: 9 pages that include 42 cards, 6 which are not really play related. That would leave us with 36 cards. These cards include all the information for The Wanderer (a special constellation that can take on any element with a special restriction, and has a champion, equipment and sign manifestations), The Spider’s Son (a fire sign with champion, equipment and sign manifestations) and The Smith (an earth sign with champion, equipment and sign manifestations) lost constellations.

Apart from these, the cards include the 4 signs from the only lesser cosmology to date: The Four Horsemen. Each horseman has a different element, and all have the sign manifestations plus one or two more. Each sign has to be applied to an animal, although thematically that would be a horse, if you want to ride on an elephant and bestow it the war sign, you can!

The cards have a lot of handy info, with symbols that depict thetype of manifestation, the element etc. Most cards take one or two cards, with only one taking 3 cards.

Of Note: Again, having made my own cards back in the day, I know firsthand of the handiness of such a product.

Anything wrong?: I still don’t know why the cards have legal info but it might have to do with the print versions (even if this product doesn’t have one). Also, this deck is a bit pricey compared to all the other products by Azoth Games, but taking into account that this borrows from 4 different books while all the decks before only borrow from one, I think it is ok.

What I want: More lesser cosmologies!

Do I recommend it?: If you use the Zodiac class and the different optional constellation, this is the product for you. 4.5 stars rounded up!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Cosmology Deck: Lesser & Lost I
Click to show product description

Add to DriveThruRPG.com Order

pixel_trans.gif
Akashic Tales: Compilation I
Publisher: Azoth Games
by Vladimir R. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/08/2023 14:00:52

Once upon a time, but akashic

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 Under Azoth Games, James Ray has released many supplements that expand the Akashic Magic subsystem for Pathfinder 1ed, all of them focused on giving the subsystem a specific flavor by tying it to real-world mythology and pop culture. Here we have a compilation of the first 6 volumes of his Akashic Tales series, all of which I have written reviews. Is this compilation worth it? Lesse!

What’s inside? 118 pages of content! (not counting covers, ads etc., and having more pages than Akashic Mysteries itself!) for 15 bucks (talk about getting your money’s worth), which include:

-7 veil sets (46 veils): Gifts of Winter Pageantry is the Christmas set, Hagknight elements is the Baba Yaga’s rider set, Hallow Icons is the Halloween/Dia de Muertos set, Headless Horseman’s Aspect is a small, two veil set for those who want to play the role of the set’s namesake.

Relics of Atlantis is a cool set filled with the so called “esoteric” veils, which are class specific (ring, blood, storm etc.), Red’s Peril is the Little Red Hood set, and Spider’s Stories is the African myth-flavored one.

Most of this veils are really good and even character-defining, and even the less glamorous ones aren’t filler. Pure gold!

  • 6 Constellations: We begin with 2 “lost constellations” (The Smith and The Spider’s Son), a concept that first appeared in the City of Seven Seraphs, and each one can replace one of the constellations of a zodiac’s cosmology. After that, we have a new concept, a “lesser cosmology”, in this case the 4 Horseman of the Apocalypse, that again replace constellations from the zodiac’s chosen cosmology. Again, none of them feel like filler content, and in fact they are really cool!

After these constellations, we get the new “sign” manifestation, a variant for those games that feel that classed champions are too strong. Each sign gives a specific ability to those marked with it. 10 such signs are presented, from all the existing cosmologies. Note that some of the new signs in the previous section have the sign manifestation too.

-19 class options: For those games that really want to embrace the akashic magic subsystem, we have archetypes for the Radiant, Fisherking and Vizier classes, which turn them into another fantasy archetype completely. We also have akashic magic versions for the following classes: vampire hunter, truenamer, bard/skald, cavalier, ranger, hunter, machinesmith, antipaladin/paladin, oracle and spiritualist! Note that some of them are 3rd party content, so the more the merrier. We also have in-class options: an Aurora Orbit for the zodiac, a Path of the Mage for the vizier, and an Order of the Crone for cavaliers. We also have “pet flavors” in the form of the Akasha Touched familiar, Essence Infused Champion, the Veil Trained animal companion, and even an Orichalcum Core template for constructs!

We finish this section with 21 feats, racial, akashic, combat, teamwork… lots to chose from!

-4 racial options: Here we have the Atlantean and Tuktu (raindeerfolk) races, complete with racial descriptions, age, height and weight, standard and alternate race traits, racial traits and favored class bonuses for tons of classes. We have two “minor” races, the Aldhiyb (wolf-like variant of the Sobek) and the Storyweaver were-spider-kin skinwalker heritage.

-item section: 6 akashic recipes, 4 mundane akashic items, and an akashic special material: Orichalcum.

-Akashic rules section: This one includes all you need tto know about akashic magic, but also includes new tech like minor veils, constellations, etc. Very useful to have in one thorough package.

  • Alternate rules: Here we have variants that don’t use akashic magic, and instead use the Spheres system or Path of War maneuvers, plus a new Vizier path that uses some other 3pp content, including a couple of veils!

Of Note: The author’s ability to write neat stuff has to be read. There has not been a single book under his pen that hasn’t had at least one thing that blew me away! And the akashic-variants are needed for those who want to get as far from Vancian casting as they can LOL.

Anything wrong?: If there is something I could critique, is that by mixing 6 books of very different tones into one makes the final product lose some of its charm. But that is the only thing I could really whine about.

What I want: Some of these books deserve sequels!

What cool things did this inspire?: Lots and lots of characters! Azoth games’ books always make my creative juices boil!

Do I recommend it?: If you don’t have any Azoth Games’ books, but love akashic magic, this is a no-brainer! Do yourself a favor and shell those 15 bucks, you won’t be disappointed.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Akashic Tales: Compilation I
Click to show product description

Add to DriveThruRPG.com Order

pixel_trans.gif
Akashic Tales: Tokusatsu
Publisher: Azoth Games
by Vladimir R. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 12/22/2022 09:37:35

(Chroma Squad theme plays in the background)

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. DISCLAIMER part 2: I had reviewed this book before and had to take one star off because of the editing errors. After the author fixed them, I re-wrote part of my review and gave the book the score it deserves.

Introduction Under Azoth Games, James Ray just released a new book under the Akashic Tales line of products, this time focusing on Tokusatsu. The genre has been tackled before in other supplements in fine ways but, can the author surpass them with his akashic version? Read on!

What’s inside? 66 pages of content (not counting covers, ads etc.) for 11 bucks (nice), which include:

-20 veils: These are divided in 3 sets, plus a new minor veil. While I normally try to tackle all new veils, here I will have to mention one at random or this review will take me forever LOL. Before starting, the author again decides to make veil sets (the first two) that are not meant for one class only, which is ok since it represents related content.

Kaiju Armory includes 8 veils, most of them multi-slot ones and each one channeling one iconic ability of a kaiju, including even a voice one (for the awesome Fisherking class). Kaiju’s Gullet is a neck and shoulder veil that gives you a radiation, force, positive energy or sonic breath weapon (chosen when the veil is shaped) with a cooldown, and all energies give modest, 1d4 (+1d per essence) damage, which is great since they are some of the more esoteric damages out there. Binding it to the shoulders make you kaiju-tough, and binding it to the neck improved the damage of your breath and gives very little resistance to that type of energy (but don’t worry, positive energy doesn’t give you infinite healing since it has some important rulings to prevent that).

Power of the Atom includes 6 veils, all giving me Ultraguy vibes, and a side note about radiation damage and where to find more about it. The set includes a ring, a title and a storm veil, and even a brand one. The Destroyer of Worlds is a body title veil that infuses your being in powerful radiation, and when hit the entitled can burn essence (either that invested by the entitler in the title veil or the entitled’s own) as an immediate action to burst into a number of d6 equal to the veilshaper’s level, and can decide how many of those dice are fire, radiation and or force, and this ability has restricted use. When bound to the body, the entitled gets a reduced bomb class feature of the alchemist but gets radiation bombs. I would argue about the power, but the reduced level means reduced damage, and in a game where radiation damage is a thing, that wouldn’t be as powerful as it sounds.

The last set is Warrior Moth’s Metamorphosis, and it includes 5 title veils, and all of the have the “fleshwarp” descriptor (a new type of veil descriptor from the awesome Promethean book). This set has a special restriction, since you can only be entitled by one of these at a time. The Armored gives you both natural armor and damage reduction, with essence increasing both, and when bound to the body it also gives you non-renewable temporary hit points (this might raise the question of what happens when essence is invested or de-invested from the veil, which has been tackled by the author of Akashic Mysteries before). The veil section finishes with the Dosimetry Broach minor veil, and it detects radiation and helps heal the rads it inflicts.

-Peerage of Monsters Lesser Cosmology: This includes 5 signs, 1 for each element and 1 that adopts the element of the constellation it replaces. All of them have the Champion and Sign manifestations, plus another one. The first one, The Apex King, is a water constellation that adds Armor manifestation, which manifests as an O-Yoroi armor that gives a swim speed with essence. I would have weaved the armor check penalty to swim checks, though, although having a swim speed gives you a +8 bonus (not mentioned here). The Champion form takes for as a two tailed tyrannosaurus with an archetype and a subtype, and essence gives it fast healing and radiation damage and resistance. The Sign form gives a force and a radiation breath weapon, and essence gives bonuses to Will saves plus increased damage to the breath.

The Devastating Usurper fire constellation can manifest as a drake, a hardness-ignoring and extra fire damage sign, and a flambard. The Luminous Queen air constellation can manifest as a giant white moth, a darkness-dispelling, light-imbued kimono and a Diplomacy enhancer and extra language-giving sign. The Mechanical Tyrant is the element-adopting constellation, and it can manifest as a synthetic two-tailed tyrannosaurus, a harness that can throw rays of cold, and a sign that changes the target to an android-like being. We end this section with the Watchful King, an earth constellation that can manifest as a four armed ape, a carrying-capacity and electricity resistance-giving sign, and a great axe made of bone. These companions feel stronger than previous companions, but they might be balanced with the fact that they only have one manifestation apart from the champion/sign one.

-11 class options: Evolutionist Huay are intelligence based, get a storm veil slot instead of veil of nature (but can only be used to shape The Fallout or The Luminescence), and their skinshift lasts less, but in exchange get some mutation-flavored buffs that they can give to allies. Ionizing Essence Adepts are Atomic Adepts that trade their spellcasting for intelligence-based veilweaving (like the Nexus, 10 veils, 10 chakra slots, and 20 essence, and also drawing their veils from that list), and also get a Irradiating Veil (chosen from a small list) that is like an extra ability, since it doesn’t count as a veil shaped or even takes a chakra slot, and this veil can change its damage type to one of the 5 common energies plus force, and it also inflicts rads! However, using this veil also radiates the adept and can even make him go into meltdown state, and that is something you don’t want. Finally, they get the ability to cast a couple of spells by burning essence in a special, long-lasting way.

Kaiju Chosen Radiants are charisma based, lose mind over matter to be able to shape all the manifestations of a Kaiju constellation, even at the same time, and also trade a couple of vivifications to be able to buff their allies in a way similar to Skalds. They can also use chose from 3 abilities in place of another vivification. A really weird but cool option for the often-forgotten Radiant. Kaiju Brawlers are unchained monks that are charisma based, lose all weapon proficiencies in exchange for some natural weapons, can shape 1 of 3 veils (depending of their Kaiju), gain damage reduction instead of improving their AC over the levels, and become chibi-kaiju instead of outsiders at 20th. Nice, thematically sound variant of the monk!

Monster Maker Necros get some intelligence-based veilweaving from the Promethean veil list and basically become akashic necromancers, being able to create undead and modify them by fleshcrafting. Great for those that miss Necrocarnates from the 3.5 era! The Nexus gain access to the Radiation Convergence, themed around radiation. A great way to expand the boundaries of a class like the Nexus! Precipice is an archetype for the Crux class, one of the most obscure akashic classes, and it FINALLY gives it veilwaving (from the Soulforge up to 5 veils, charisma based, all chakra binds), but apparently can only store a little temporary essence to fuel veils, since they don’t gain an essence pool. They can also gain some unique oscillations.

Protean Kaiju Fighter get the akashic treatment, able to shape up to 5 veils and getting up to 10 essence to empower them, getting some abilities similar to the Radiant archetype before. I can’t really comment on this archetype since I don’t really know the OG class. It includes some rules for using the class in a campaign where Kaiju aren’t that common (cool), and includes a list of 12 Kaiju Catalyst, which I guess is like a sorcerer bloodline for the KF. The Senshi Vigilante get essence and constellation manifestation abilities, and get to choose from 3 unique specializations, all themed around constellations, and also some unique talents, both social and vigilante, to round up the class. Great, thematic variant! This section ends with two souls for the Soulforger class, the Atomic Adept and the Kaiju Fighter.

-5 Feats: Entitled Metamorphosis and Levitation are racial feats for the new races, Noble Astrologist is expanded here for the alternate rules explained below, and there are two reprints from a Legendary Games themed around Kaiju.

-2 racial options: Yosei are tiny humanoids that look like sprites, and they include age, height, and all that good stuff that is sometimes missing from races, and that includes favored class bonuses for a lot of Paizo and akashic classes. Entobians, a race from the Remarkable Races book, gains a Speciolite metamorphosis that gives them some akashic musical abilities. Both races are very distinct from your classic “something elf” that permeates 3PP content.

-2 magical items: Irradiating is a weapon quality that, you guessed right, deals radiation damage, and like a flaming weapon it adds 1d4 and rads to the damage and is +1, which I think is fair because it is a more esoteric damage; it also comes in the “burst” version that deals increased damage when a crit lands. Finally, Stellar Lenses is a constellation-enhancer item, incredibly useful for Zodiacs and other manifestation-users.

-New and Alternate rules: This includes the Radiation descriptor and what abilities/spells have it. After it, we have many champion-altering rulings for those game masters that find them too powerful. Dedicated Champions alternate rulings let characters trade their ability to manifest all champions from their cosmology but one, and that champion becomes cheaper to manifest, can have a life-link to their champion and can basically teleport their champions to their side. Cool variant for a more personal experience with the champions! The No Champions alternate rulings gives the character some freebies in exchange for losing all champions (but not signs). Shared HP Pool Champions all have a single hp pool, the Limited Champions limits the number of champions that can be manifested at the same time, and Customization Limit prevents you to change your cosmology to the point where you have few or no constellations from that cosmology left. Some of these rules can be used together for a more customized experience.

-4 new Kaiju: One of the missing aspects of the Akashic Mysteries book was monsters, since there are very few published even after more than 5 years. Here we have not only akashic monsters but KAIJU! The first 2 of them include worshipping notes, like domains and mysteries associated to them. Hakkora and Yamira are twin CR 26 colossal moths that represent opposing forces, and this section includes a 20th level Rajah that is the divine son of one of the moths, and he also includes worshipping benefits. Shugoshin the 3rd is a CR 28 4 armed gorilla who can manifest The Watchful King in all of its forms at once, and can even manifest 2 of its champions! Finally, Synth-Mogaru is a living synthetic CR 29 creature (but not akashic) that can be controlled, and it is extremely powerful! This section ends the book with a new trophy for cyborg creatures.

Of Note: Long are the days of going into a dungeon, killing its monsters and looting the booty… Books like this show what kind of campaigns we can play using the same ruleset!

Anything wrong?: This might be the author’s biggest book, and it suffered from a lot of edition problems as a result. However, in a move I would like to see in more companies, he went and edited the book again!

What I want: A full campaign setting with Kaiju at the center, and all the cool options in this book and the ones it borrows from.

What cool things did this inspire?: For those not into kaiju (shame on you), it would be cool to have the options of having dragons take their place.

Do I recommend it?: If you are reading this, chances are that you are into akashic magic and/or kaiju, and if that is the case this is a no-brainer. I really enjoyed the book, and after the polishing the author gave the book, I can finally give it the highest score. So, 5 colossal stars from this medium-sized reviewer (not for long, Christmas is coming)!

Post Credits Scene: For those wondering what is Chroma Squad, look for the trailer on Youtube. It is a tactical RPG where you play as the not-power-rangers and can transform and even call a gigantic robot! And the theme song is da bomb LOL!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Akashic Tales: Tokusatsu
Click to show product description

Add to DriveThruRPG.com Order

pixel_trans.gif
Cosmology Deck: Material Plane
Publisher: Azoth Games
by Vladimir R. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 12/06/2022 11:47:38

Remember the Zodiac's constellations? They're back! In card form!

Introduction James Ray tackles a different type of product: Cosmollogy Cards. Instead of lots of new options, these cards include all the info of a constellation and its many manifestations. Are they worth it? Let’s check’em!

What’s inside?: 15 pages that include 41 cards, that strangely enough include the legal stuff in card form and that takes 5 cards, so we are left with 36 cards, all for 3 dollars:

The cards themselves take up the majority of the product. They includes all the 27 original manifestations from the Zodiac book, plus 4 sign manifestations of the author's... authory. They are not just copy-paste though, since some of them have been edited with clarified information. Each card has the name of the constellation at the bottom, its essence cost at the top, an elemental watermark, and a symbol for its manifestation type. The cards have a blue border, and the awesome constellation-y lion on the cover graces the back of each card.

Of Note: Having made my own Tome of Battle cards back in the day, and also some cards for another book, I appreciate the handiness of such a product. Also, the watermark and the manifestation symbols save a lot of space.

Anything wrong?: Like the previous veil decks, I fond the font as kind of small. Also, I'm never gonna print the legal cards LOL. Finally, as a retired Magic the Gathering player, each time I see the cards I expect to see the name at the top and the mana.. ehm, essence cost rigth next to the name LOL. But you just have to get accostumed.

What I want: As the spoiled brat I am, now I want constellation decks for all cosmollogies.

Do I recommend it?: If you are playing live and using the Zodiac class, I can wholeheartedly recommend it. 5 comic stars from me!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Cosmology Deck: Material Plane
Click to show product description

Add to DriveThruRPG.com Order

pixel_trans.gif
The Tome of Storms: Renewed Focus
Publisher: Studio M—
by Vladimir R. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/01/2022 09:23:16

Season of Storms (not that Witcher book)

Introduction Hal Kennette, the most prolific author of akashic magic out there, continues to release his more personal designs under his own Studio M- brand. Many of the books have included stuff for the revised Stormbound class. He has collected it all under this book, so let’s see!

What’s inside? 38.5 pages of content, 7.5 bucks (and it also includes ANOTHER PDF for those players that had no problem with the OG Stormbound, which includes mostly the same material but for the OG class). Oh, and by the way, this book can be bought in a bundle with the Refocused Stormbound for even greater bucks for your bangs! Wait, that doesn’t sound right, does it? Anyway, this book includes:

-9 Storm Powers: So with the OG 25, the Stormbound now gets to choose from a total of 34. Some of them have level requirements. There are some utility powers like Bubble of Air and Clarified Storm (which combined with certain abilities can become a nasty debuff/buff). I really enjoyed Mote of the Storm, where you send one or more of your storm veils at range, occupying the same space that your body does, and giving it the qualities of normal veil (making it sundereable for example). AND you can take the power 2 or three times, increasing the range even to limitless! Cool! And if you want to specialize in motes, there is another power where you can see and hear through you mote! Stormblade is conceptually awesome, but the actual benefits are not that great: you can condense one of your storm veils into a blade with the Enhanced descriptor, so you can enchant it. However, it works as a normal blade, even if it can deal energy damage if the Storm veil has a matching subtype. It is enhanced with Storm Essence as normal, getting a very modest d4 to damage per point of essence. But to be frank, there are few instances where you would want to have aweapon, even if it can be enhanced, instead of an area of effect that doesn’t take your actions. This really would have worked better as an archetype, maybe with full warrior chassis. Anyway, the utility is the theme of most of the powers, which is great since that way you don’t have to break your head around one more way to spend your action economy.

-4 Stormbound Archetypes + 1 Prestige Class: The 4 archetypes are Heralds of the seasons, and they are each tied to one of the common energies (Winter/Cold, Summer/Fire, Spring/Electricity and Autumn/Acid). All of them are basically the same: Their Storm veils works with essence as normal (and they get up to 30 essence, getting an extra point at each odd level), and they can change their descriptor to their specialty, dealing their specialty damage; also, shifting storms work differently, requiring to burn 2 points of essence to make the change, but the cost is weaved if the previous and new veil have a descriptor from a small list. They lose the ability to shape 2 storm veils at the same time.

When they LEARN their storm powers, if they deal damage, they can decide to change it to their specialty, so think before choosing. They also get a special, unique ability. Winter gets a cold aura that reduces movement, Spring gets an aura of temporary hit points for allies that slowly refreshes, Summer gets a damaging aura, and Autumn gets an ability that impedes healing, be it natural (even regeneration or fast healing) or magical. These are not balanced to one another, because every season gets other abilities to compensate.

Herald of Confluence is the prestige class, and it doesn’t develop veilweaving abilities fully in favor of developing their storm and seasonal powers. Against all tradition, the class asks for at least 6 levels in Stormbound with one of the Herald archetypes, which I don’t really mind LOL. It also requires a couple of skills. The chassis is different, since it gets a lower HD/BAB than the Stormbound, but it gets all good saves. So, they continue to get chakra binds, essence and storm powers, and other class features, except for more veils. Basically, they can choose to change the Season they are tied to everyday! Later, they get an ability where they can change their ties and storm veils shaped by meditating for 10 minutes, which is reduced to a minute and then a full round. It mentions that they get to shape two storm veils, an ability that the archetypes lose. Finally, at 10th level, they get all the benefits of two seasons at the same time! A thematic, powerful class.

-8 character options: Living Storm barbarians (both standard and unchained) trade the combat bonuses they get from rage in exchange for a small number of storm veils, with one of them activated and empowered to max when they rage, interesting! They also have the option of gaining storm powers that also only work when raging. Stormsinger bards exchange some of their abilities to be able to call storm veils or counter them. Legendary Bards, the revised bard class from Legendary Games, get 3 bardic performances that basically gives the Legendary Bard some powers of the previous archetype. Bloodragers can be of the Elderstorm bloodline, which is very similar to the barbarian archetype, which suits them better. Storm Bringer druids lose some class features for storm veilweaving, great for players who want to get a taste of akasha through another class.

Legendary Magus, another Legendary Games reinterpretation, gets access to the Tome of the Stormwielder, and they get to shape stormveils but fueling them with their arcane potential. Tempest Caller skalds again trade some abilities for storm veilshaping. Sorcerers also get their version of the Elderstorm bloodline, being able to call a storm veil but getting increased areas, and the closer you get to them, the stronger the veil’s effects. I appreciate these class features, because maybe not everyone wants the complexity of playing a normal Stormbound or maybe someone simply just wants to play an exotic version of their favorite classes.

-Storm Veils section: It starts by covering the basics of storm veils. After that, we have 25 new stormveils! Each season gets 4 non-exclusive veils themed around them. After those 16, we get 9 veils, named Storms of the Obscure, which represent planar weather phenomena, which makes them really cool! The Desecration, for example, makes you radiate an aura that empowers undead and negative energy, while The Ingress lets you open dimensional rifts from where tentacles come out to grapple your foes! This is something I thought about after reading the class for the first time, and then the author surprised me with these “it would be cool if” veils. Great addition!

-3 Feats: Amateur Stormbound gives you a normal-essence empowered Storm Power available to 1st level Stormbound. Font of Light lets you focus the aligned lights of two of the new Obscure storm veils to affect an area instead of a couple of selected individuals. Malleable Shardrain also requires one of the new obscure veils, letting you shape the metal shards in your storm to become specific weapons.

-14 Confluence feats: My favorite aspect of the original book returns, presenting us not only with 12 more confluence effects, but also presenting us with 2 teamwork confluence feats, perfect for archetypes that don’t get to shape two storm veils, giving them the ability to work in tandem to make a confluence! Storytelling possibilities galore!

-Radiation rules: The book finishes by including radiation rules, used by one storm veil and one confluence, and leaving a lonely half of the page. Oh, and the legal stuff looks written in font size 1, truly a blessing after seeing tons of pages in other companies’ books LOL

Of Note: The heralds present a nice variation to the base engine of the Stormbound, but be prepared for them to start their storm veils at full power, since they work as normal veils. Also, the Mote of the Storm BEGS to be transformed into a living veil, in the same vein as the living spells from Eberron.

Anything wrong?: The copy/paste is strong in this one, specifically in the herald archetypes, mentioning the wrong season many times. There are also some editing inconsistencies, like the names of the storm veils under the confluence feats using caps in some, and not in others. Finally, the Heralds get too much essence, which makes me wonder if their storm powers use storm essence or are empowered by normal essence.

What I want: A ranger archetype that gets storm powers and abilities, but no storm veil, tied to one of the seasons. Also, an archetype that specializes in the new obscure veils, taking their alien nature to the Nth!

What cool things did this inspire?: A full fey campaign where the players get tangled in the seasonal courts machinations. Imagine a clan of satyrs who all have Living Storm barbarian levels, that’s a new monster already! Finally, Living Motes as I mentioned are begging to be monterified and thrown to players LOL! With tiers of power functioning at different essence levels, bound, or even confluences!

Do I recommend it?: If you are reading this, you are probably interested (or already have) the Stormbound book. If that is the case, I can remorselessly recommend it! This is 5 star material, but with all the editing mistakes and the storm powers essence or storm essence incognita, I have to deduct 1 star, but will gladly return it if it gets another round of editing. So, 4 seasonal stars from this reviewer! (at least for now)



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
The Tome of Storms: Renewed Focus
Click to show product description

Add to DriveThruRPG.com Order

pixel_trans.gif
Stormbound: Renewed Focus
Publisher: Studio M—
by Vladimir R. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 10/28/2022 23:45:59

Refocused Riders of the Storm Introduction The original Stormbound appeared in a book by Cobalt Sages Creations. It included brand new material for the Akashic Magic system, with Stormbound class at the forefront. However, that book cannot be purchased anymore, to the author and possible buyer’s dismay. This newer, more polished version of the book by the original author, Hal Kennette, but this time under his Studio M- company, is presented as the ultimate version of the book. I read and critiqued the original book, which left me with mixed feelings. Will this revamped version change my opinion of the Stormbound? Read on!

What’s inside? 49 pages of content, 10 more than the original one, for the same 10 bucks! (and you can get it in a bundle for greater bang for your bucks) which include:

-The Stormbound Akashic class: After a short explanation of the genesis of the class, we start with the creation of the Stormbound. Survivors of a magical storm connected to a place called Elderstorm where the planes of Air and Water connect (not the paraelemental place of Ice… ok, interesting), the Stormbound share a common origin, which is cool. As a chassis, they get medium BAB/d8 HD, with Fort and Will as good saves, 6 skillpoints for 15 class skills, up to medium armor, shields, and all simple and martial weapons. However, like druids, wearing metal armors or shields weaken their magical abilities… And this time the prohibition DOES affect veils. A really strong chassis overall.

Before I mention the class’ unique abilities, I will mention its veilweaving. Stormbound start with 2 veils (one normal plus one Storm, unique to them), and finish with 11. They get access to all 10 binds plus their unique storm veil bind. So, they get the same veilweaving abilities of a Vizier, including improved essence capacity (without the DC increase), double veils in their unique slot (analogue to the Vizier’s ring chakra), but with a much more powerful chassis. Where they differ is in their essence, which goes from 1 to 20, like a Guru, and their unique slot cannot get essence invested as normal. So, to summarize, they get up to 20 essence solely for their veils and maybe feats, since their storm veil and storm powers use a different, special “storm essence”.

Instead, the Stormbound gets 1 point of temporary essence per turn in combat (that improves to 2 later) that can only power Storm Veils and storm powers… so to get them working at their top, you will have to make combat last (and I say them because, like I said, you can get two veils). They can change the storm veil by burning a lot of that temporary essence, which is an important decision but one that can let you change a useless veil for one that can lead you to victory. As a cap, they become immune to electric, cold and sonic damage plus poison, become outsiders, and can become an elemental-like living storm by fusing with one of their storm veils. Much better than the previous capstone.

Stormbound get a very powerful ability at first level called Weatherproofing, which apart from a constant “endure elements” effect for the Stormbound, makes him basically immune to his own powers, and this can be shared to many, at level 1. This makes many environmental hazards a pushover, and I still think it is too much, too soon.

Apart from that, a Stormbound gets a class talent, called a Storm Power, at every odd level, for a total of 10 from a list of 25. Some of them have level requirements. These… are very powerful, not only because of their effects, but because they require no resources to be used. Druids must be jealous. To balance this, I would require the Storm Powers to require normal essence burn to be empowered. This would limit them somewhat to prevent spamming. Note that some powers can be further invested with storm essence as if they were Stormveils to make them even more powerful, but then they compete with them for the special essence.

The powers themselves are cool and cover a wide range of effects, from elemental attacks like icicle splinter or whips of lightning, to defenses, improved attacks, and element-derived abilities, even healing is included here… There are clear differences in power between some, though, but overall are cool. They have been polished and rebalanced, and in my original review I mentioned how strong some were. Now, while I still think some of them are strong, there aren’t any “must haves” like before.

We finish the class with favored class bonuses for core races plus the elemental planetouched, and some of them are interesting, like increasing the maximum essence capacity of specific veils or increasing the damage they inflict. Why Sylphs don’t get their bonus with air and electricity stormveils, while Undine do with water and ice and oreads with earth and poison is beyond me, and is one thing I’m going to pester the author with LOL.

-6 Stormbound Archetypes: The Devotee of the Storm gains access to full Hunter spellcasting, at the cost of 1 storm power… their veilweaving is kind of weaker, getting less binds and without getting improved essence capacity. They get other abilities but overall, while they have a lot of abilities, the polish in the design shows. Primal Storm gets diminished veilweaving and essence. In exchange for martial maneuvers of up to 6th level, and their maneuvers compete with their stormveils, since both are empowered by animus. This archetype feels like it gives the Stormbound too much to do, with veils, maneuvers and storm powers, but giving the fell of jack of all trades, master of none. Oh, and thankfully, the book includes a table for the reduced veilweaving, binding, and the martial maneuvers.

Stormbrand is a volur-hybrid, giving the Stormbound brandweaving like the volur’s and doesn’t have normal veilweaving. They don’t even gain normal essence! What they do get is a couple of hexes like a witch. This makes the Stormbound much easier to play but also way less versatile (a fair trade considering what is gained). The Stormlord is a rajah-hybrid, giving title veils and even letting the Stormbound to give storm veils the title descriptor, which of course means that they can shroud an ally with the power of a storm!

Wielder of the Storm loses a couple of storm veil related things, but instead use an engine similar to the Striker from the Spheres of Might book, and I will say that it works wonders if you don’t dig the base Stormbound’s engine. Wind Whisperer is the last archetype, and it is a pet one. They pay dearly for this, eating five of the ten Storm Powers of a Stormbound. The original version of this archetype was really powerful, but this one uses a modified version with the pet being an airy version of the volur’s akashic spirit, and leaving their storm veils and essence alone. Speaking of which, they can channel their storm veils through their spirit (cool).

-4 Spheres of Might Archetypes: Sphere Stormbound use the Veilweaving sphere engine from the Spheres of Akasha book, partially written by the author. The Stormclast sacrifices half of their storm powers for Might abilities, and can also sacrifice some veilweaving for greater Might abilities, with special interactions with the Berserker Sphere. The Stormfury is a Might warrior version of the Stormbound, losing all normal veilweaving and essence. Finally, the Stormshroud would be the Champion version, which again lose all veilweaving and essence. All of these versions are great for people that, like me, really enjoy the Spheres system, and really change the dynamics of the class.

-Feats: This section include 7 feats. Extra Storm Power… gives you an extra storm power! Surprise! Stormscoured is a new, akashic feat, which gives you the cool ability to reduce the effects of natural and magical weather, of course improving by investing essence, and affecting storm veils used on you. The interesting ones are called Confluence feats, which all require you to be able to use two storm veils at the same time and combine two storm veils into a more powerful effect. I can stomach the power and effects of these feats by the time you can take them, and they are really cool. Burning Ash, for example, combines The Conflagration and The Devastation to create toxic ash that lowers the constitution of those affected and increases the damage! My favorite part of the original class returns!

-Veilweaving: This section includes the controversial Enhanced descriptor: you get the option of enhancing your weapon and armor veils as if they were normal items of their type, giving you access to eternal, powerful magical items. At least now the veils are suppressed if sundered, which was one of my major complaints. I still think the enchanting process should be more expensive, at least 25%, if we compare it to an Amulet of Striking. A weird thing of this section is that it has a smaller font than the rest of the book (with the exception of the legal section).

-34 veils: All veils are available to the Stormbound, and most of them to other classes too, including newer classes like the Huay or the Soulforge. The veils present nice options, with an elemental, weather, and travelling themes. A couple of veils improve other elemental attacks you have, similar to the Circlet of Brass, but also lowering resistances by 5 plus 5 per point of essence… Wait, how much? I think this is too strong, and will reduce it for my games by improving damage per odd point of essence and reducing the resistance per even point of essence. Treantplate STILL repeats one of the infinite healing of the old Incarnum system (healing with electricity). Just get an Electrokineticist or another Stormbound, or any character that can make electric attacks at will and you will forget about Cure spells; a more viable ability would be to give the wearer temporary hit points that refresh on your turn and increase with essence, which would prevent any cheating, and if healing with electricity is desired, getting a cap on the times or hit point cured would alleviate the infinite healing. Apart from this one, the author shows his improved game designing abilities, since I couldn’t find any other exploits in the veils (not 100% there aren’t more).

-12 storm veils: The Storm Veil section starts by mentioning the qualities that all of them share, like area (a spread cylinder), obvious effects, ongoing, sunder immunity and unforgiving. They don’t have any effect unless you invest them with storm essence, which erases one of my main complaints. The other one, however, is still here: it has implications not covered by the designer. Imagine a 1st level Stormbound, in a desert community during a draught, using The Deluge… bam, the Stormbound becomes A GOD to the locals! He could become rich by creating rain every day. There is a reason for spell slots, and even spells like Create Water have limits. And that is a side effect of ONE VEIL! Now let’s see The Conflagration… for a typical commoner, you are making EFFIN METEORITES TO FALL FROM THE SKY! Doesn’t matter if you deal just a little damage, the visual effects, while cool, are too much in comparison to what a neophyte low level caster can seem to do. The veils themselves vary a lot in power, but no matter if you are in outer space or in a weird demiplane, you can create the weather you want, when you want. They ARE cool, but I still wouldn’t allow them before 5th level, or even higher, unless they have some increased restrictions like all the matter they create disappears after one round and can’t be collected.

-3 magical items: Imbuement Gems are a neat idea, and they don’t clash with enhanced veils like before. I still don’t think the price is fair, though; I would increase it a bit at least. The Crook of the Stormbinder is a powerful staff, and I still think the price is fair IMHO. Totem of the Storm is a really cool, pricey object, full of storytelling potential.

Of Note: The general ideas of the class are good. It can be argued that the mage, paladin, and monk roles were covered in Akashic Mysteries, and the rogue, cleric and… kineticist? roles in Akashic Trinity, so a druid/geomancer veilweaver is a really cool concept. The Confluence feats are really cool too! Also, most of my complaints of the class have been fixed, which is a plus in my eyes. Finally, the extra content found in this version, specially the ties with the Spheres system, is a welcome addition!

Anything wrong?: The core of the class is STILL too strong even if you took away all Storm veil-related stuff, with only the Vizier and the Nexus having access to all slots and binds plus enough veils to fill them all, and the Nexus has to juggle a Guru’s essence between those 10 veils and his blast; the Stormbound doesn’t, and also sports 6 skillpoints! There is also the versatility of the class, with the Stormbinder’s actions having to compete between normal attacks, veil activation, and Storm Power activation. There is STILL no mention of the side effects of the Storm veils, which is one of my remaining complaints. Finally, the “elemental enhancer” veils are too strong in my opinion. Oh, and while not really a bad thing, there is no art in the book.

What I want: I still think the Stormbound would work better as a Prestige Class IMHO. The way I would find it comfortable as a base class is to reduce the essence, veils and binds received (maybe changeable from day to day like the Keshig), and modify Storm veils to work with the weather surrounding the Stormbound (so no Deluge or Permafrost in the Desert for example, at least not at level 1), with the ability to completely change the weather at higher levels, eliminating most of the secondary effects, and getting access to more esoteric veils like The Conflagration later, or better yet, making the veils needing more essence to look that awesome, having the maximum essence capacity restrict the side effects.

What cool things did this inspire?: A Stormbound as a powerful, high level opponent for a party that includes another “nature class” like a Druid, would be interesting. A scroll-like item that conjured Storm veils’ effects for some time would also be cool. Maybe even a race of fey or outsiders (Kami maybe?) that can shroud themselves in a storm veil.

Do I recommend it?: In my original review I mentioned that I would keep an eye for a revised version, and here it is! I gave the original a 3 for the flavor alone, and this time the crunch is more polished. This class is now nowhere near as broken as the Keshig or the previous Stormbound, and is easier to fix for games that have a more reserved power level. This time? I frankly think it deserves 4 stars, because of the things I mentioned before. However, the extra content and price are worth at least half a star more, rounded down for the sole reason that the class has still room for improvement, but I’m willing to round up and change my review if the infinite healing exploit is fixed and the side effects of the weather are marked as magical and thus everything they create disappear.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Stormbound: Renewed Focus
Click to show product description

Add to DriveThruRPG.com Order

pixel_trans.gif
Classes of the Lost Spheres: Zodiac
Publisher: Lost Spheres Publishing
by Vladimir R. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 10/26/2022 17:52:52

SAINT SEIYA!

Apart from being a roleplayer and like many gamers, I’m an avid fan of Anime, and one of my favorites is Saint Seiya, known in my country as Knights of the Zodiac, so when I heard the author of Akashic Mysteries and Akashic Trinity was working on a new akashic class inspired by the Zodiac, I was intrigued. But how was the result? Read on!

What’s inside? 32 pages of beautifully illustrated raw content, which include:

-The Zodiac base Class, with the BAB, HD and STs and proficiencies of a cleric but with 4 skill points, and the Essence progressions of a Guru (that is, 1 point per level). The class’ main ability is Constellations, a suite of abilities that lets the Zodiac summon something based on one of the twelve Greek zodiac signs by getting unrecoverable essence burn (of course, as long as the summon exists). Each constellation has at least two forms from four: Armor (a suit of armor that is auto-enhanced by a +1 bonus per each even level that can be changed), Champion (an actual summoned creature), Equipment (an actual temporary magical item that, unlike veils, does use up the slot) or Weapon (again, auto-enhanced). The signs are divided in 4 elemental groups, each group allied and opposed to another element, and the Zodiac gains a bonus the more summons of one element (later allied too) he has. Oh, and every summon can be enhanced as an essence receptacle too!

Apart from this special akashic abilities, the Zodiac comes in two very, very different flavors. At first level, the Zodiac has to choose between being a mystical Lunar, specialized in summoning Champions and getting potent veilweaving abilities (with a non-standard chakra bind progression, getting the up to six feats from the Access Chakra line, two from each tier) plus enough extra essence to surpass even the Vizier!, or a warlike Solar, who gets improved proficiencies (heavy armor plus martial weapons), and gets to use its class level as BAB for attacks using their Constellation arms and for feat prerequisites, plus getting enough bonus feats (one every even level from the Combat, Akashic and Teamwork feats) to make the Fighter jealous.

Apart from these abilities, the Zodiac gets improved essence capacity like every other akashic class, improved synergy when summoning Constellations from the same elements (plus allied later), an ability similar to an action point from the old d20 Modern systems (damn, Modern has become the new old), adding a 1d6 to a roll after rolling but before learning the result, improving the die to d8 and later to d10. Finally, each specialty has its own powerful capstone.

-Twelve Constellations based on the Greek zodiac. As I mentioned, there are 12 signs divided in 4 elemental groups, with each having 3 signs. Each sign has 2 or 3 possible forms of summoning, each element but water getting 2 signs with 2 abilities, and Air, Earth and Fire getting one sign with 3 abilities. All signs but The Scales have a Champion Form, 9 have an Equipment form, 5 a Weapon form and only 2 an Armor form, giving a grand total of 27 different abilities, all accessible to all Zodiac. However, the Zodiac has to pay in Essence burn, with the Champion form of the Waterbearer being the most expensive, using a whopping 12 Essence!

-17 veils, with many repeated from Akashic Mysteries, counting 7 new veils and most with an elemental or stellar feel.

-3 archetypes, one for Fighters specialized in the new Perihelion Pauldrons, one for Cavaliers that mount champions of the Constellations and later can summon their other forms, and finally one for Wizards, who replaces School and all bonus feats for mastery of energy types and the Aurora Lenses.

-12 Feats, of which 7 are brand-new and 5 are reprints. From the new, we get 2 Astrologist feats to dabble in Constellations, 3 that offer more combat options, each one inspired by Chess, a Expanded Veilweaving for those that want to manifest more than one veil when dabbling into akasha and a combat feat that depends on the first and second section.

-4 akashic traits, being equipment, combat, magic or social the categories of each.

-11 favored class bonus for the core and plane-touched races. In a by-now typical Sayre fashion, this includes the role of Zodiacs in the communities along the mechanical bonus.

-Stats for 10 of the champions, excluding only the elven ranger champion of The Archer constellation, which is really, really handy!

Of Note: The class itself is really inspired! The two flavors of Zodiac are very different and make me wonder if a third is possible. The whole idea of an akashic class sans veils is something that has intrigued me since the Incarnum days, and with the Solar Zodiac, my wish has been fulfilled. And the Lunar makes for a wonderful summoner replacement in an akashic-only campaign.

Anything wrong?: The class feels a tad strong. Lunars get more essence than Viziers, and Solars get almost as many bonus feats as fighters, on top of the possibility of having powerful custom weapons and armor, changeable on a daily basis! Also, the Constellations feel a bit unbalanced among the elements: -Fire has 1 armor, 2 weapons, 1 equipment and 3 champions -Earth has 1 weapon, 3 champions and 3 equipment, but no armor -Water has 1 armor, 2 equipment, and3 champions, but no weapon and getting only six abilities! -Air has 2 weapons, 3 equipment and 2 champions, but again no armor!

Having no water weapons is especially grating, since under the Undine FCB section it mentions, and I quote: “Add 1 point of cold damage with the weapon form of a water element constellation…” But this has been fixed with the introduction of newer cosmologies.

Only Fire has both weapon and armor, feeling the best element for Solar Zodiacs. I wouldn’t mind, but man, Earth has no armor? I would change one of the equipment of earth for an armor, and just plainly add a weapon to one of the water constellations. I would have loved if each element specialized in one of the summoned forms, maybe fire for weapons, earth for armors, air for equipment and water for champions, and being weaker in their opposed specialty. This way, fire wouldn’t have armors etc. This are just random thoughts, however, but please, at least add one weapon to the water constellations (an harpoon for the fish? Or maybe a net or trident, or both?), or change the FCB entry for poor Undines LOL! Speaking of favored bonuses, Orcs get a full +1 damage when using constellation weapons, which not only tops all the elemental races’ FCB, it tops other classes’ abilities, like the Swashbuckler, but as a FCB! If a FCB is supposed to be 1/6 of a feat, weapon specialization gives you +2, so I would tone it down to 1/3 of damage, maybe ½ since the base constellation weapons are not that strong.

Finally, there are many white spaces, and for some strange reason the License section at the end of the book is HUGE, like 4 pages! For a “40” page release, this is not what I expected. This, on top of the repeated material, really lowers the bang for your bucks. I mean, why do they mention the Cave Fisher or the Axe Beak from the Tome of Horrors? Don’t want to sound rude but, something tells me there was a problem with this section that no one saw, maybe copy paste? The last Akashic release had only one page for all this info! This is disheartening because the book’s art and layout is effing gorgeous!

What I want: a high level feat that gives you access to the 13th constellation, the snake, who may have the four types of summon and might be counted as allied to all the elements but opposed to none, with maybe sonic damage as its bonus... but I’m rambling. Apart from this, a wholly Eastern themed Zodiac with the Chinese signs as their constellations, using wisdom and monk weapons instead of charisma and martial… I have to get this idea to the lab like, right now!

What cool things did this inspire?: A SOLAR ZODIAC DRESSED IN THE FULL PLATE ARMOR OF THE CRAB, ARMED WITH THE FLAIL OF THE SCALES, AND YELLING SPECIAL ATTACKS ANIME-STYLE. Well, I’m a big fan of Saint Seiya after all. And the ability to dabble in constellations is really nice for other akashic users, and I will surely take some of this feats to have a champion fight at my side.

Do I recommend it?: Well… If you don’t have any of the Akashic material out there yes. If you are a huge fan of Akashic magic and don’t mind some repeated material then HELL YES! If you are lukewarm and on the fence, especially for the repeated material, then I have to say “maybe”. I will give this book 4 stars, because even if I really liked the new material and consider it 5 stars material, I have to take one off because of the problems I mentioned. If the white spaces were filled with more constellation goodness (at least a water weapon LOL) or even a sample character, I would forget the problem and give the full 5 stars plus a high 5 to the authors.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Classes of the Lost Spheres: Zodiac
Click to show product description

Add to DriveThruRPG.com Order

pixel_trans.gif
The Primordial Dancer: Creation's Muse
Publisher: Interjection Games
by Vladimir R. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 10/26/2022 17:47:14

Final Fantasy VI-ers, channel your inner Mog!

The Primordial Dancer for Pathfinder is Interjection Games take on the Dancer class. Surprisingly, there have been many dancers in the history of D&D, from the Kingdoms of Kalamar 3.X base class (variant bards) to elven blade-dancers. There have been WAY MORE magical dancers in videogames, but most are just gimmicky classes, best among them being Mog’s unnamed class from Final Fantasy 3/6, which was kind of a Geomancer that summoned effects via elemental dances. Be it in tribute or just a coincidence, Primordial Dancers have this cool, Mog-y feeling that just plainly makes me smile.

What’s inside? 23 pages of content for 5 1/2 bucks, which include:

-The Primordial Dancer base class: With a chassis weaker than a Bard’s (regular BAB, good Ref save), less skilled (4 skill points to spend on 14 class skills), and only proficient with simple weapon proficiencies and light armor, Dancers don’t look like a class to build a front-liner. They are also medium spontaneous spellcasters with access to part of the Druid spell list: Dancers can only cast Conjuration, Divination, Evocation and Transmutation spells. Their main power, however, comes from Dances. These are supernatural abilities activated by mystical dances. You start knowing two Dances and learn a couple more over you career, to the maximum of 9 Dances at 18th level. Unlike bardic performances, Dances have individual rounds of use, so you have to take extra care not to burn out your favorite Dance. They also have subtypes (cosmos, land, life, sea, sky, subterrane), and the system rewards specializing in a dance type with extra rounds of use to all dances of that type! All dances but Tangos have a passive ability and three active abilities unlocked over your career (1st, 6th and 12th level unlocks). Dances are very powerful and difficult to resist, having a DC of 10 plus class level plus Charisma modifier! Yeah, not half, full class level, and you can increase this via feats! At 1st level Dancers can only activate one dance at a time, but at 5th this increases to two dances, and 3 at 11th. They get From Sea to Mountain at 4th level which lets a Dancer to, once per day (and more times later), activate two abilities of two different dances you are performing with only one dance, which is strange since you can’t perform two dances at the same time until 5th level. They receive evasion and improved evasion a bit higher than other “swift” classes, and as a capstone they receive a pool of points to expend as “dance rounds” on their favored dance subtype. Finally, all races have the same favored class bonus: an extra round of one dance known.

-2 Archetypes: Primalists lose one dance known at first level, are prohibited to learn the Rhythm of Life Dance, and lose the From Sea to Mountain ability; in exchange, they have one extra round of each known dance, plus the ability to create (not summon) a small elemental, upgrading over time to elder! This created elemental follows commands as a summoned creature and can learn one dance taught by its Primalist master. Weavers also lose From Sea to Mountain, but get the awesome ability to re-write creation, changing one energy “instance” to another by expending associated dances’ rounds. Think of this as a kind of metamagical effect that affects any association with that energy type! Suppose your pyrokineticist friend is feeling down because he got his ass kicked by a red dragon. No worries! Just spend 2 rounds of a sea dance and look as how his kinetic flames change color and do cold damage! At first they can affect only willing targets, chaining to unwilling later on (Will to save), and even ONGOING EFFECTS! This is an encounter goldmine waiting to happen! Finally Weavers can meta-element their own spells, which is cool and all but the previous ability just stole this abilities capstone’s thunder (hehe).

-13 Feats: Most of the dances pertain a specific dance, while a few are a bit more open, like increasing DC of one subtype of Dances, increase the range of Tangos, or get more rounds of a particular Dance per day. Believe me you will suffer with your feat choices!

-36 Dances: Each subtype of Dance has exactly 6 Dances, and 1 of these are special Dances called Tangos, which benefit an ally that is within 10 feet when the dance starts, and that ally remains your dance partner for as long as you dance and the ally is within 30 feet. To give an idea of the power of the Dancer’s namesake ability, I will cover two normal dances and 1 Tango of different elements. Beat of the Deep lets you emit Obscuring Mist at increasing range, and later this is treated as Solid Fog. This fog you emit doesn’t impede your vision. As active abilities, you can extinguish all non-magical light sources in your fog’s range, later becoming magical darkness; later you can double the dance’s radius by spending another round, and this dance culminating ability lets you, for two dance rounds, to deal your class level in fire damage (Fortitude negates), gaining a few temporary hit points as part of the deal. Cantering of the Medicine Man gives you fast healing starting at 1, and finishing at 4. As active abilities, you can share this fast healing to allies within 10 feet; later you can spend 1 round to augment this fast healing for a single ally within 60 feet by d10 per point normally granted. This Dance capstone lets you heal ability damage or dispel an effect to one score, and lowering fatigue levels for two dance rounds. Now on the Tangos, the author specifies that all share the same passive text so he doesn’t have to repeat himself, but he DOES REPEAT the text in each Tango’s passive ability! No matter, Aquatic Tango’s active ability let you move your ally 5 feet for free without him provoking AoO, effectively letting you shimmy your ally into full attack range, for example (you do provoke AoO, but see next ability). Later you can ignore one or all AoO of your own movement, and finally, by spending two rounds on the final ability, your weapons (yours and your ally’s, that is) become frost weapons that also inflict non-stacking fatigue for one round (Fortitude to save). Your weapons remain frosty for the duration of your Tango.

Of Note: The design decision to use another class’ spell list may seem lazy at first, but this way you save space on the spell list and it increases with each and every spells book you own. I would recommend Rite Publishing’s landscape-themed books of spells if you want to continue with the Geomancer’s theme. The Dances themselves are intriguing and I would like to see a Master of Forms archetype that can learn only one element and instead do Dance-like katas, or something around those lines.

Anything wrong?: Beyond the glitches on the abilities mentioned and the embarrassing reprint of the passive text of the Tangos, there is nothing else to complain. I think we can “forgive” the author since everything is just plain awesome, even the mistake for the LOLs.

What I want: To play one NOW? Unlike many other books by IG, I have little in the “want” list for this one. I WOULD love to have a small main spell list, with different dedicated spell lists tied to the subtypes, gaining a level worth of access for each dance of that subtype you know, so you would have to master all 6 dances to cast the higher levels spells, but that is something I can do on my own. I would also like the option to have a variant Dancer that has a Dance pool to fuel all dances, and learns them like a wizard, so a single Dancer could know all Dances and prepare a few of them, but then again that’s just personal preference and something I can do myself.

What cool things did this inspire?: A type of fey, similar to veelas, dryads and nymphs, that master one subtype of dance. They could be mentors of PC Dancers and maybe know a unique Dance. Also, a Dragon with a Weaver cohort could be a nasty surprise to a prepared group of adventurers.

Do I recommend it?: I felt a little blue when the author told me this one wasn’t one of his best sellers, since it’s plainly awesome! If you want a much more dynamic artsy PC beyond Bards, or you want to do the Moggle dance, do yourself and your group a favor and give Dancers a chance. 5 steps of the Dance of the Dead for this!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
The Primordial Dancer: Creation's Muse
Click to show product description

Add to DriveThruRPG.com Order

pixel_trans.gif
Eldritch Essences: Promethean
Publisher: Lost Spheres Publishing
by Vladimir R. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 10/26/2022 12:14:26

So what in the Dark Tapestry is a Promethean?

Introduction So, Hall Kennette is a prolific author that has been kind of focusing on Akashic magic supplements. He has made several new classes, with the Stormbound and the Volur being the most prominent. In this book by Lost Spheres Publishing, he presents us a new akashic class, the Promethean. Is it as good as the Volur? Let’s see!

What’s inside?: Not counting covers, table of contents and legal stuff, 48 pages for 9 bucks, which includes:

-Introduction: Here the author talks about one of the areas not really explored in akashic magic before, basically talking about Lovecraft-y kind of occult and alien stuff. Great way to start the book!

-Promethean Base Class: Before I get into the class, the name comes from the titan Prometheus, who gave the forbidden knowledge of how to use fire to humans, which is a nice name for a class themed around occult knowledge.

Anyway, the Promethean is a veilweaving class, with a cleric-like chassis (medium BAB/d8 HD, good Fort and Will saves, simple weapons and light armor proficiencies, plus bucklers), with 2 skill points to fuel 20 class skills. They have 3 main abilities.

Veilweaving: Promethean have strong intelligence-based veilweaving abilities (good, since most recent veilweavers have defaulted to charisma), going from 1 to 8 veils shaped during their progression and having all 10 binds (one at every even level); they have their own veil list which includes veils for all 10 slots, even if some slots have only a few options; their maximum essence capacity also increases thrice, another common aspect of akashic classes. To empower these veils, the Promethean gets 1 point of essence per odd level, and 2 each even level, ending with the same essence of a Vizier but getting more at lower levels. It is worth mentioning that their veilweaving is not their only class feature that depends on essence, the other being Forbidden Knowledge (read below).

Promethean Obsession: The “archetype” of the class, each obsession grants the Promethean an ability at levels 1st, 5th, 9th, 13th, 17th and 20th levels. 4 are included in this book (in its own section after the rest of the class is presented). Adaptationists can mutate their forms to have natural weapons chosen from a big list, they fight and endure like a warrior class, and get some “adaptations”, which are unique talents of the subclass that makes the character evolve. Doppelgängers are shapechangers who can sneak attack (up to +7d6), steal faces from corpses and making them unidentifiable, consuming bodies of corporeal creatures and even undead and gaining some of their abilities, to the point where they get to wear what their victims were wearing! Their shapechanging abilities improve, gaining more abilities of the chosen form and being able to become bigger or smaller (up to huge and diminutive), and startling those whose shape they have taken. My favorite obsession from a player perspective!

Fleshsculpters might sound similar to the previous two, but whereas the Adaptationists mutates and the Doppelgänger shapechanges, these mofos instead disfigure and impair those who they touch! They gain a melee touch attack as a standard action that deals 1d6 per Promethean level of supernatural, irreducible damage, that also has a rider effect if the victim fails a save, for 1 round plus 1 more for every 2 levels. The penalties are varied, and increase every few levels, to the point where the victim can get, as an example, up to -5 to attacks or AC after a failed Will save. This are curse effects, and while they don’t stack with themselves, the Promethean can apply different penalties each time they use this ability against the same target. They can also use fleshsculpting to buff their allies. At the start of each day, they can sculpt their flesh to give them a special ability from a long list. Later levels unlock more abilities, and they can give their allies more than one, or even make changes permanent! And at 20th level, those they fleshshape permanently become immortal! Since permanent fleshsculpting has a monetary cost, rules for buying such enhancements are given, which is beyond cool, and it also includes the possibility to buy temporary fleshsculpting. While not my favorite, this subclass opens up tons of possibilities and has incredible world-building potential!

We end the subclasses with the Thoughthunter. Like the others, they have a base offensive ability where their arms become a mass of tendrils, which they can use to attack and grapple and even mentally damage those grappled by their tendrils. They can also hear the surface thoughts of those near them, and by concentrating they can focus on the thoughts of one creature. Later levels warp your mind in a way that it makes them more difficult to attack mentally, and those who try to read their minds get damaged. Later levels improve both abilities, but at 17th they become an illithid-lite, having to consume the brains of sentient beings to survive. Eating a brain gives them access to some of the owner’s memories and knowledge, unless the creature was immune to mind-affecting effects.

Forbidden Knowledge: The final ability of Prometheans is a kind of class talent gained at 3rd, 7th, 11th, 15th and 18th levels, chosen from a list of 11. Almost all of them are essence receptacles, and some of them include up to 10 points of essence empowerment! Also, some have side effects. As an example of some of them, Abundance of Eyes makes them grow numerous eyes throughout their body, making them more difficult to flank and also getting bonuses to Perception and Sense Motive checks, which are increased with essence. Glimpsed the Infinite burns their eyes, but lets them see clearly within 30 ft (more with essence), and every point of essence increasing what you can see, from magical auras, to alignments, to intents and finishing with a kind of x-ray vision. Seeds of Life lets them prepare a vessel similar to the clone spell. I didn’t find a single useless one, nor did I find a must have, which is difficult from a design perspective.

All in all, the Promethean is a weird, dark veilweaving class that will work wonders in the hands of both players and Game Masters.

-3 new feats: Esotery Sculptor is open only to Fleshsculptors, improving their damaging touch and also opening magic-item crafting. Essence-honed Flesh is useful for those who fight unarmed or with natural weapons, can give enhancement bonuses to both with essence, but has its own, unique maximum essence capacity of up to +5, so it is great for low level Gurus, essence-using Druids and of course the Adaptationist Promethean.

-3 magical items: Cloning Vat is an item that improves the Clone spell and the Seeds of Life forbidden knowledge. Elixir of Fleshsculpting come in many prices, and each tier can change or enhance the imbiber in different ways, all tied to the Fleshsculptor obsession. Finally, Forbidden Tome is an item that can improve your Forbidden Knowledge class feature as if it had more essence invested (up to +3), and you can benefit from more than one, but each affecting a different FK.

-Veilweaving: This section gives you the basics of veilweaving, which almost lets you use this book without Akashic Magic. There is no mention on suppressing veils though. However, it includes a new veil descriptor, Fleshwarp, that states some differences from other veils, mainly that they don’t act like supernatural abilities and more like extraordinary, which make them very difficult to affect.

-19 new veils: After the veilshaping section, new veils are unceremoniously spewed to the reader, which kind of feels thematically fitting to the book LOL. They come divided in several veil sets (though there is no mention if only these veils are in the sets), an important distinction since there are some abilities out there, most of them by the author, that deal with veil sets. Since there are too many, I will present the veil set and describe one of the veils:

Dreams of Power is a 3 veil set focused on dreams. Nightmare’s Eye is a headband veil that includes the [sleep] descriptor, which while I couldn’t find as a spell descriptor, is useful to have and know that elves are probably immune to it. Anyway, it lets you cloud the minds of those you focus on, making them drowsy for 2 rounds, with essence increasing the duration, and the creature can even fall asleep. The headband bind damages those who fall asleep.

Shapes of the Primordial is a 5 veil set focused on changing the veilshaper’s form, so all the veils in the set have the new descriptor. Leaping Gait is a feet veil that improves your jumping, to the point of jumping so fast that only part of the distance counts towards your movement for the round.

Trappings of the Old Gods is a 5 veil set, with a Lovecraftiang myth theme. Embodiment of the Gate gives you the ability to project a 5 foot aura, and you can decide where you are in that aura for the purposes of your attacks and attacks of opportunity, and if you provoke an AoO, the attacker must succeed in a Will save to be able to attack you (not a fan of adding extra rolls, it would have been better to improve your AC). Essence increases both the Will DC and the aura’s area. Shoulder bind makes you aura difficult terrain, and you have the option to roll to see if you are there or not there, losing your action but becoming very difficult to hurt, and the body bind makes that mandatory (although you can still make AoO).

Warsculpter’s Menagerie is a 6 veil set, focused again in changing your chape, with all veils having the new descriptor, but this set makes you better at combat, with all of them open to the Promethean and Daevic classes (some of them are open to others too). Behemoth Flesh is a chest veil that makes you denser and thus have greater weight, but this gives you improved bullrushing and overrunning capabilities, to the point where you can hurt those affected by your maneuvers. Essence improves your density, becoming even more apt at said maneuvers and improving their damage. The Chest bind has a glitch, mentioning the body bind in the text (chest is mentioned in the veil and the veil bind name, but body is mentioned in the text); anyway, it makes you actually bigger, with size bonuses and all (+8 size bonus to strength? GREAT!)

Appendix: Here we can find information about the Dimension of Dreams, one of the new places added to the game in Occult Adventures. Another guest is the Fleshwarping item creation feat, coming from Horror Adventures, and coming with two sample items, also from the book mentioned. After this we have 7 pages of legal stuff, which after many books I have become immune to them LOL.

Of Note: The marrying of crunch and fluff is strong in this book, something that is missing from other akashic releases that feel more general. The class is very interesting, serving as a kind of dark reflection of other akashic classes.

Anything wrong?: Apart from some misspellings here and there, and glitches like the one in the last veil I described, some of the abilities feel really strong. Untyped damage should not be that common, even if it has some caveats.

What I want: More information of the class and its place in the world and uses of its rules. Secret societies, monsters, NPCs, more of everything! And maybe an anti-promethean organization!

What cool things did this inspire?: Imagine a less futuristic Cyberpunk-like setting, but instead of cybernetic enhancements, you get warped flesh… It sounds effin AWESOME! I would love to play/narrate a campaign like that! FLESHPUNK, HERE WE GO!

Do I recommend it?: This book is gross in the best possible way. Creepy veilweavers is something that akashic magic sorely needed, and here Mr. Kenneth delivers in spades. IMHO, this is the best book penned by the author to date! Even with all the problems mentioned, I think this book deserves no less than five lightless stars from this reviewer, plus a tentacly hi 5 to the author!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Eldritch Essences: Promethean
Click to show product description

Add to DriveThruRPG.com Order

pixel_trans.gif
Akashic Tales: Servants of the Loa
Publisher: Azoth Games
by Vladimir R. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 10/23/2022 08:44:56

Insert witty review title here.

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 Under Azoth Games, James Ray released a new book under the Akashic Tales line of products, this time focusing on Voodoo, which I have but vague knowledge of. Can the author maintain the quality of line? Read on!

What’s inside? 41 pages of content (not counting covers, ads etc.) for 7.50 bucks (very nice!), which include:

-A short but nice introduction that mentions source material like documentaries and books. Also, a frank description of what this is (an rpg book) and isn’t (a scholarly discussion of the content) is given, and I find it both annoying and necessary. In the age we live, where people get offended, for free, for things they don’t even really understand, makes this a necessity.

-The Servant variant Zodiac class, which takes almost a quarter of the book! The servant is a more priestly, wisdom based Zodiac. Its most visible change is that the base classes gains essence as a Lunar Zodiac, which is the highest in the game, especially at lower levels. Unlike the Zodiac, there are no veilweavers among the Servants (intriguing). The rest of the base class is basically the same, with some cosmetic changes. Instead of an Orbit, the Servant gains access to a Path, of which 3 are given:

The Bokor, who gains the ability to create astral vessels, where they can entrap part of a character’s spirit for both malevolent and benevolent purposes. At 2nd level, and every 4 levels thereafter (so a maximum of 5 at 18th level), a Bokor gains access to a special talent from a small list, one of them lets Bokor create both a traditional and an “astral zombie”, which has the stats of an unfettered phantom! At 4th level, and every 4 levels thereafter (so a maximum of 5 at 20th level), a Bokor gains access to a wisdom-based Hex or even a Major hex!

The Houngan, an even more divine path, gets a basic healing ability, have a Patron Loa that blesses them with a minor form of a mystery which lets them cast a mystery spell once per day, get even more powerful healing abilities that uses the Kn. Religion skill (cool!) plus their sign manifestation, and get a revelation (or bonus feat from a small list) from their Patron at 4th and every 4 levels thereafter (so a maximum of 5 at 20th level).

The Solda, a more “Solar-like” Servant, would be the holy warrior. They get less essence, better proficiencies, bonus akashic, fighter or teamwork feats (at 4th and every 4 levels thereafter, so a maximum of 5 at 20th level), and also get an interesting variant of the Magus spellstrike, called sign strike, and at 6th level and every 4 levels thereafter (so maximum 4), they specialize in a constellation, reducing their manifestation cost, and can choose to specialize more in that constellation or another each time.

Servants also get a reduced Stargazing ability, called Divine Guidance. They also gain slightly renamed Celestial Lord, Ruler and Emperor abilities, plus a capstone according to their Path: Bokor become lich-light, Houngan become ageless outsiders that emanate a circle of protection, and Solda become more resistant and their weaponry slightly more powerful. We end the Servant section with favored class bonuses for all core races plus Orcs, 5 of the 6 “planetouched” (no Tiefling? buh), and Azoth Games’ Atlantean and Tuktu. A funny glitch is that Halflings get an ability that reduces the cost of the Water Bearer constellation, which is from the original cosmology, and feels weird here.

-Loa cosmology: This is a full, 12 constellation cosmology, and includes 3 of each of the classic elements as normal. All of the constellations include both a champion and a sign manifestation, which is a new manifestation introduced by the author in a previous book. Unlike previous signs, there are many that are detrimental to the marked, which is necessary for the Soldat path. The elements are not “perfectly balanced”: Earth has 1 armor, 2 equipment and 3 weapon manifestations; Air has 3 equipment and 1 weapon; Fire has 2 armors, 1 equipment and 2 weapons; Water has 3 equipment and 1 weapon. This is not a bad thing, since the power of the manifestations vary wildly. Worth noting is that all champions are animals with the “auspice” animal companion archetype, which make them divine in origin. Overall, a great Cosmology that works better with the Servant, and the Servant works better with it.

-The Queen’s Effects veil set: This set includes 8 veils, 4 of which are new. All of the new ones are accessible by the Huay and Volur classes and a couple more. Voodoo Queen’s Tignon is a headband veil that improves the user’s diplomacy and Kn. Religion checks, plus unlocks the Hypnotism occult skill unlock, with essence improving the bonus and the number of times per day one can use hypnosis, and when bound it gives the user some spell-like abilities and makes him more difficult to charm. Gris-Gris is a belt, neck and wrists veil that gives you a modest spell resistance that only work for certain subtypes of spells, with essence increasing it, and when bound to the wrists it lets you create one of three charms that can harm or help the wearer. The neck bind does the same as the wrist but also makes you immune to either diseases or poisons, while the belt does the same as the wrists bind plus protects you against curses.

Herbalist’s Shawl is a chest and shoulders veil that makes you a great healer and herbalist, even giving you the faith healing occult skill unlock; the shoulder bind gives you a reduced ability to make potions using herbalism (but full when making healing ones), and the chest bind lets you also make elixirs. Zombii’s Coils is a head veil that lets you summon a viper familiar (albeit at a reduced level) with the akasha touched and sage archetypes, but if you have the Improved feat, it lets you summon some more powerful creatures, and the head bind gives you a fully empowered familiar.

-Chual Omdura archetype: What? That divine mid-caster from the Nyobe supplement that would work wonders with akashic magic? In the vein of his bard and vampire hunter archetypes, the author makes an akashic version of the class, who apart from veilshaping abilities (from the Volur veil list), gets blessed each day by one of the Loas, getting a flavorful requirement (called a horse’s mark) but also the ability to manifest the corresponding constellation, and unlike even the Zodiac, can manifest that constellation in as many ways he can at the same time, as long as he can pay. This raises a question, what happened with the synergies of having manifested constellations of the same element? I would rule that it doesn’t benefit from the synergy since it is the same constellation. Great archetype!

-6 Feats: Assisted Manifestation lets you borrow up to 2 essence from a creature that also has this feat… Ok, but with the feat’s requirements it would have been better if the supporting ally didn’t need to have the feat. Divine Constellation requires you to have channel energy, lay on hands or touch of corruption, and you can use that ability through your constellation (great with the Perilous Rider archetype from a previous book!), gaining a benefit depending of the manifestation, great! Gifted Manifester treats your constellation as higher level up to your character level (nice for multiclassers).

Loa Ridden makes you especially adept at getting one of the Loa’s attention, giving you the corresponding horse’s mark and reducing the cost of manifesting the corresponding Loa’s manifestation. Sign Focus lets you specialize in one element for manifesting its related signs. Transfer Sign lets you transfer a sign manifestation you have to an ally, which saves you from having to burn more essence to manifest the sign again.

-The Loa Pantheon/Cosmology: This includes a table with the Loa, the effect of the horse’s mark, and the corresponding constellation. Each of the 12 entries includes name, epithet, alignment, pantheon (all are Loa, surprise!), areas of concern, associated mysteries (necessary for the Houngan path), domains (also necessary for the Loa constellations’ champion form), subdomains, favored weapon, symbol, sacred animal and sacred colors. Interesting merge of two different but not opposed concepts!

-Bonus Content: The author again goes above and beyond and presents 4 archetypes for the Omdura class, one for Path of War, one a sphere caster, one a sphere warrior, and the last one a sphere champion. Great for campaigns that use alternate systems!

-Reference Material: This includes updated akashic magic rules that include things like brand veils (very important for the Chual archetype), and 10 creatures stats for the constellations (why 10? One of the stats is used twice, and only the cobra is missing)

Of Note: A game like D&D/Pathfinder tends to use general archetype for their classes, to be able to fill many niches in one go. That is why I love 3PP products like this, since the servant class is a great example of how to do a specific real-world example concept done right. Everything in the book oozes flavor and the rules to match! If I was to choose something, it would be the dual concept of constellations/pantheon and how the author marries both concepts.

Anything wrong?: Apart from the missing cobra stats and some confusing language under the Herbalist’s Shawl veil? Not much. I would have liked more info on the Loas to better represent a fantasy follower, but I can just read an article on-line for that.

What I want: I would have loved to see some Santeria or Cult of the Santa Muerte (holy Death) inspired content! I imagine the Santa Muerte as a lost constellation, with manifestations in line with the Loas.

What cool things did this inspire?: I read on an RPG social group a comment that jokingly mentioned that the least used race in D&D was a human of African descent… And at least in my group, with a ¼ century of playing, I can count them in one hand, so that statement is true at least for us! I would really love to play an akashic campaign in Nyambe (a great campaign setting from D&D 3rd edition days) or Nyobe in Golarion. Or even a Ravenloft campaign where the antagonists are Servants! Also, a voodoo akashic hag would rock!

Do I recommend it?: If you want to include Loas in your game as options for PCs, or if you want some creepy antagonists for your campaign, look no further! I sometimes wonder when I’m going to read a book by the author that I don’t like, but all of them have been glorious and inspiring, and this is not the exception. 5 star-shaped Gris-Gris from this reviewer and a high five to the author!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Akashic Tales: Servants of the Loa
Click to show product description

Add to DriveThruRPG.com Order

pixel_trans.gif
Displaying 1 to 15 (of 68 reviews) Result Pages:  1  2  3  4  5  [Next >>] 
pixel_trans.gif
pixel_trans.gif Back pixel_trans.gif
0 items
 Gift Certificates