Tome of Secrets: I find it to be a mixed bag, but a fairly useful one.
Races - I wasn't particularly wowed by these. However, I'm an ardent opponent of the "Mos Eisely Effect", so I didn't buy the book for these anyway. Since none saw use at my table, I can't really comment on the mechanical merits of the races.
Classes - Some solid contributors but hasn't aged well against the APG, Fist Full of Denari, & the Genius Guides. It's a blend of "Migrate my 3.5 character" and fresh attempts. Best ideas/classes: Artificer, Knight, Swashbuckler, Warlord. The spell-casting classes seemed ok mechanically, but didn't fire me up the way the APG's Oracle & Witch did. If I had to fault the classes, it's for playing it safe. Fistful of Denari is the martial-class supplement to beat and I give higher marks to the Genius Guides for originality. I haven't done a side-by-side comparison of the ToS-Knight vs. APG-Cavalier or FFOD-Knight or the Warlord vs the GG: WarMaster. I do give ToS points for Swashbuckler & Artificer. I think Swashbuckler is as viable as any APG Archetype option & I haven't seen the Artificer concept done anywhere else.
Drawbacks - I like 'em.
Occupations - I like 'em. If Traits are in play they're perhaps less useful. However, NPCs don't get traits but NPCs could have Occupations.
The Game Master Section is a mix of earlier PF-updated PDFs combined with some new material. Shock-and-Awe (morale rules) & Hot Pursuit (chase rules) are my favorites here. S&A isn't for everyone but Hot Pursuit is a must-have in my book. The rest is a decent selection of GM pot-luck. Also, given that Paizo has decided that firearms will not see signficant use in the setting, for those who desire it ToS has a pretty good firearms system. Finally, the random adventure generator works surprisingly well, esp. when your players go in an unexpected direction.
My conclusion: Tome of Secrets is not a "theme" book like Fist Full of Denari or the APG. If that's what you're expecting, you'll likely be disappointed. ToS is a grab bag of goodies for players & GMs. It's not what I would consider essential to a Pathfinder GM like some other 3rd-party products (like Fist Full of Denari, Genius Guide classes, Rite Publishing's Secrets of Martial Mastery)- but I do consider it a strong "Nice-to-Have".
Races - I wasn't particularly wowed by these. However, I'm an ardent opponent of the "Mos Eisely Effect", so I didn't buy the book for these anyway. Since none saw use at my table, I can't really comment on the mechanical merits of the races.
Classes - Some solid contributors but hasn't aged well against the APG, Fist Full of Denari, & the Genius Guides. It's a blend of "Migrate my 3.5 character" and fresh attempts. Best ideas/classes: Artificer, Knight, Swashbuckler, Warlord. The spell-casting classes seemed ok mechanically, but didn't fire me up the way the APG's Oracle & Witch did. If I had to fault the classes, it's for playing it safe. Fistful of Denari is the martial-class supplement to beat and I give higher marks to the Genius Guides for originality. I haven't done a side-by-side comparison of the ToS-Knight vs. APG-Cavalier or FFOD-Knight or the Warlord vs the GG: WarMaster. I do give ToS points for Swashbuckler & Artificer. I think Swashbuckler is as viable as any APG Archetype option & I haven't seen the Artificer concept done anywhere else.
Drawbacks - I like 'em.
Occupations - I like 'em. If Traits are in play they're perhaps less useful. However, NPCs don't get traits but NPCs could have Occupations.
The Game Master Section is a mix of earlier PF-updated PDFs combined with some new material. Shock-and-Awe (morale rules) & Hot Pursuit (chase rules) are my favorites here. S&A isn't for everyone but Hot Pursuit is a must-have in my book. The rest is a decent selection of GM pot-luck. Also, given that Paizo has decided that firearms will not see signficant use in the setting, for those who desire it ToS has a pretty good firearms system. Finally, the random adventure generator works surprisingly well, esp. when your players go in an unexpected direction.
My conclusion: Tome of Secrets is not a "theme" book like Fist Full of Denari or the APG. If that's what you're expecting, you'll likely be disappointed. ToS is a grab bag of goodies for players & GMs. It's not what I would consider essential to a Pathfinder GM like some other 3rd-party products (like Fist Full of Denari, Genius Guide classes, Rite Publishing's Secrets of Martial Mastery)- but I do consider it a strong "Nice-to-Have".
