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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Azgulor" data-source="post: 5320202" data-attributes="member: 14291">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".</blockquote>

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