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Pathfinder: Book of the Dead Review
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<blockquote data-quote="JThursby" data-source="post: 8664543" data-attributes="member: 7025596"><p>I have to agree. This is not a case where the substance of the article is wrong or misleading, it's just a lack of substance at all. It doesn't adequately describe the scope of the contents of the book, or anything relevant to PF2e buyers about that content. It barely touches on the most talked about controversy of the book, the Undead archetypes being relatively weak uses of class feats. This is one of those cases where reading the product description for this book reveals more useful info to a prospective buyer than the review does.</p><p></p><p>I have already owned the book for a few months now (due to early subscriber copy), so here's my experience with it:</p><p>-I have a player using the Skeleton ancestry, and he enjoys it immensely. Healing is more difficult because of the combination of being undead and having the negative healing trait limits early healing options, but with those issues addressed with feats he and his allies have taken full advantage of his state. Immunity to negative damage makes some encounters much easier for him, and overall we find Skeleton to not shake the balance of the game. As long as an ancestry can do that while providing the narrative the player desires it's good in my book.</p><p>-The lore is presented well, and is omnipresent throughout the book, despite what the review says. There are sidebars throughout that give world information, sometimes from Geb. There's an entire chapter just focused on Undead nations, writen from the perspective of Geb and a Citizen of Geb when on the topic of the nation of the same name.</p><p>-The anti-undead player options are relatively small, with only a few archetypes and a few pages of items. The books is much more about the undead themselves, as either players, npcs to roleplay with, or just straight up enemies. For players there are a few archetypes centered around using undead as a weapon, some undead specific familiars, undead animal companions, an Undead eidolon for Summoners, and the main feature for players are the Skeleton ancestry which I talked about previously and Undead archetypes, which can only be taken after dying in specific ways (with GM permission).</p><p>-The Undead archetypes (Ghost, Ghoul, Lich, Mummy, Vampire, Zombie) have been complained about a <em>lot</em> online. There are a few reasons. The first is that investing in them consumes your Class Feats, and aren't any more powerful than any given class feat. The second is that many undead come with a debilitating weakness, ie Vampires die in the sun super fast. This is in line with the setting fiction so frankly I think this is a silly complaint. The third is that the undead benefits don't make you immune to poisons and disease, they give you a +1 (later upgraded to +2) bonus on saves against them. In my opinion this is stupid, a ghost shouldn't be able to get filth fever from a level -1 rat. This is one of the rare times the community generally recommends home brewing on top of Paizo's stock mechanics to fix issues that came with the stock versions, as most people can find at least one problem with the implementation of Undead archetypes they feel is egregious enough to tweak out of existence.</p><p>-The Bestiary section comes with 85 new undead, both increasing the breadth of types of undead included as well as deepening the selection of classic undead such as skeletons, zombies, vampires, etc. It also comes with general guidelines for transforming any other creature into an undead version (within reason).</p><p>-There's a chapter that reads like an extension of the Gamemastery Guide, containing general advice for undead themed adventures and campaigns, as well as rules for about two dozen new hazards/haunts, and general GM oriented rules and recommendations.</p><p></p><p>TL;DR version: This book focuses on the topic of Undead and expands those options from a Player and GM perspective, rather than being just for one. For both, the depth of options is impressive and generally of high quality. For players wanting to be an undead, the Skeleton Ancestry is good, the Undead archetypes are questionable in their stock configuration. The lore in the book is well written and engaging.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="JThursby, post: 8664543, member: 7025596"] I have to agree. This is not a case where the substance of the article is wrong or misleading, it's just a lack of substance at all. It doesn't adequately describe the scope of the contents of the book, or anything relevant to PF2e buyers about that content. It barely touches on the most talked about controversy of the book, the Undead archetypes being relatively weak uses of class feats. This is one of those cases where reading the product description for this book reveals more useful info to a prospective buyer than the review does. I have already owned the book for a few months now (due to early subscriber copy), so here's my experience with it: -I have a player using the Skeleton ancestry, and he enjoys it immensely. Healing is more difficult because of the combination of being undead and having the negative healing trait limits early healing options, but with those issues addressed with feats he and his allies have taken full advantage of his state. Immunity to negative damage makes some encounters much easier for him, and overall we find Skeleton to not shake the balance of the game. As long as an ancestry can do that while providing the narrative the player desires it's good in my book. -The lore is presented well, and is omnipresent throughout the book, despite what the review says. There are sidebars throughout that give world information, sometimes from Geb. There's an entire chapter just focused on Undead nations, writen from the perspective of Geb and a Citizen of Geb when on the topic of the nation of the same name. -The anti-undead player options are relatively small, with only a few archetypes and a few pages of items. The books is much more about the undead themselves, as either players, npcs to roleplay with, or just straight up enemies. For players there are a few archetypes centered around using undead as a weapon, some undead specific familiars, undead animal companions, an Undead eidolon for Summoners, and the main feature for players are the Skeleton ancestry which I talked about previously and Undead archetypes, which can only be taken after dying in specific ways (with GM permission). -The Undead archetypes (Ghost, Ghoul, Lich, Mummy, Vampire, Zombie) have been complained about a [I]lot[/I] online. There are a few reasons. The first is that investing in them consumes your Class Feats, and aren't any more powerful than any given class feat. The second is that many undead come with a debilitating weakness, ie Vampires die in the sun super fast. This is in line with the setting fiction so frankly I think this is a silly complaint. The third is that the undead benefits don't make you immune to poisons and disease, they give you a +1 (later upgraded to +2) bonus on saves against them. In my opinion this is stupid, a ghost shouldn't be able to get filth fever from a level -1 rat. This is one of the rare times the community generally recommends home brewing on top of Paizo's stock mechanics to fix issues that came with the stock versions, as most people can find at least one problem with the implementation of Undead archetypes they feel is egregious enough to tweak out of existence. -The Bestiary section comes with 85 new undead, both increasing the breadth of types of undead included as well as deepening the selection of classic undead such as skeletons, zombies, vampires, etc. It also comes with general guidelines for transforming any other creature into an undead version (within reason). -There's a chapter that reads like an extension of the Gamemastery Guide, containing general advice for undead themed adventures and campaigns, as well as rules for about two dozen new hazards/haunts, and general GM oriented rules and recommendations. TL;DR version: This book focuses on the topic of Undead and expands those options from a Player and GM perspective, rather than being just for one. For both, the depth of options is impressive and generally of high quality. For players wanting to be an undead, the Skeleton Ancestry is good, the Undead archetypes are questionable in their stock configuration. The lore in the book is well written and engaging. [/QUOTE]
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