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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Khuxan" data-source="post: 2743623" data-attributes="member: 38801">PICK’N’MIX CAPSULE REVIEWSThese short reviews are a quick summary of the content and quality of fifteen Pick’n’Mix products. The quality of these products was, in general, somewhat poor. An editor could have spent 10 minutes on a PnM and significantly improved its grammar and overall impression.The reviews include the summary of the product given in the EN World Game Store (‘Snappy Sentence’).ScoringI gave each product scores out of five in each of three categories – Flavor, Mechanics, and Suitability/Setting, and a score out of four in the category of Form/Grammar.I didn’t penalize a PnM designed to fill a very specific and rare niche as long as the Snappy Sentence on the EN World Game Store explained clearly what the niche was.General Tips on FormatPlayer’s Handbook is not trademarked. Rather than talk about the “Core Rulebook 1” or “PHB” (should be “PH” according to Monte Cook and Sean K Reynolds), it is much simpler to refer to the Player’s Handbook. Please bold the “Skill Points at Each Level:” section – it might not be the traditional way, but it’s the damn sensible way. PRESTIGE CLASSESTRUEBLADE (M Jason Parent, EN Publishing)“TrueBlades are divine warriors of the gods of law and good who have learned to manifest their purity into the form of holy mind blades.”Flavor (2.5/5)The flavor text at the beginning of this prestige class is boring and routine, as if M Jason Parent wasn’t terribly enthusiastic about this class himself.Mechanics (3/5)The mechanics are reasonably sound, but they are pedestrian and unimaginative. The one aspect I liked a lot is the variable spellcasting progression, which fixes a definite problem with many spellcasting prestige classes. The prestige class needs a better 10th level ability to keep people interested in the class. The text doesn’t say if psychic strike stacks with the soulknife ability of the same name.Form/Grammar (4/4)In part because of the short flavor text, there aren’t many grammatical problems with this text. In the heading and flavor text, ‘Trueblade’ is written ‘TrueBlade’, which makes me want to cry.Setting/Suitability (4/5)This prestige class assumes a setting with soulknives and paladins, but since that’s what the Snappy Sentence specifies, that’s not a problem. The weak flavor text means the trueblade’s role in a setting isn’t explored extensively.RIDER OF WAR“While the other riders are seen as stormcrows, bearers of ill tidings and bringers of death, the riders of war are unholy knights seeking wars to join or peace to end. Riders of war feel the flow of violence in their veins.”Flavor (3/5)The flavor text is short and, while descriptive, not very imaginative. It serves its purpose, though, and introduces the prestige class. I’m not sure why the prestige class is called a ‘rider of war’ when the only reference to riding is the requirement “animal companion, special mount or fiendish servant”.Mechanics (3.5/5)This class segues nicely with the blackguard prestige class, and I would have liked levels in blackguard to be an actual requirement of this class, but it works fine without them. The stacking of blackguard spellcasting is a very nice touch. The included feat, ‘Gift of Violence’ is rather too powerful – any self-respecting blackguard will tote around a cage full of rats or train of slaves to coup de grace at the start of combat. Either the bonus should be decreased, or the duration reduced to 1 round per CR of the slain creature.Form/Grammar (3.5/4)One or two superfluous comments were included, but apart from that document is fine.Setting/Suitability (4.5/5)Practically every campaign setting has evil knights fighting people, so that’s not a problem. GAURETH SHADOWSLAYER“A single prestige class describing a magic wielding assassin-type. A heady mixture of stealth and sorcery!.”Flavor (3.5/5)The flavor for the shadowslayer is very nice, but far too short. It would have been nice to have as much for this promising prestige class as there was for the crystal lorewarden.In addition, the flavor text for the shadowslayer describes “the shadowslayers themselves are purposefully infected with umbral fever in a dark ritual. ”, and yet having been infected with umbral fever is not actually a requirement for this prestige class! In addition, the flavor of this prestige class fails to mention why the shadowslayers are required to be nongood.Mechanics (3/5)I didn’t like the shadow strike ability at all – it would have been better if it read something like this:Shadow Strike: The shadowslayer can use sneak attack on creatures with concealment.Then the shadowslayer could have received improved sneak attack damage dice at 3rd and 5th level, and the whole issue would be simplified. It would by no means be overpowered, and would save space to boot. Also, a greater range of abilities would be nice for this class, rather than solely shadow strikes and darkness spells.Form/Grammar (4/4)The flavor text should not have been in italics, and there are a couple of editing errors. Apart from those the prestige class is well written, grammar-wise.Setting/Suitability (3.5/5)The shadowslayers are loosely tied in with a city, but it would not be difficult to implement them in some other role, possibly as a cliché assassin guild. The Snappy Sentence is very poor, however – this prestige class is actually worse at spellcasting than the standard assassin prestige class, and makes no mention of the city of Gaureth.PSICANTHROPE (M Jason Parent, EN Publishing)“A shapechanging psionic prestige class - unlock the animal within!.”Flavor (4.5/5)The flavor text is creative and descriptive, but is disappointingly short.Mechanics (3.5/5)The Wild Shape abilities the Psicanthrope receives are tried-and-true, and have the benefit of familiarity, but do mean that this prestige class does not boast exciting, innovative mechanics. The only other significant ability, Affinity, provides a power point pool that can only be spent on a very limited range of powers. This is a good start, but the Psicanthrope could do with a few more manifester levels. Form/Grammar (2/4)I noticed one mechanical error (mistaken addition in the Affinity ability), the table refers to a ‘Dire Claws (Magic)’ ability that does not exist, and there are a couple of areas where the layout could improve.Setting/Suitability (4/5)The Snappy Sentence does a good job of describing this prestige class.WARMASTER (Andrew Kenrick, Steampower Publishing)“The Warmasters are masters of their trade, reveling in battle and pursuing death and destruction as an art form. But the Warmasters are more than bloodthirsty generals--they excel at torture and cruelty, as well as devising new ways to kill and destroy.”Flavor (2.5/5)The flavor text is very short, and does not fit the prestige class’s requirements (why are characters that are racist and “[pursue] death and destruction as though it is an art form” not required to be evil?). Mechanics (3/5)Certain abilities (“Aspect of Warfare”, “Legacy of Hatred” and “Master of War”) need a lot more ‘fleshing out’ to be useable. “Master of Torture” is ridiculously good (and should, if nothing else, be swapped with “Master of War” as a 10th level capstone ability).Having said that, the mechanics are intriguing, diverse and flavorful. I would be interested in seeing them converted to fighter bonus feats.Form/Grammar (1/4)The prestige class clearly follows the d20 Modern format, which is not acceptable for a Fantasy prestige class. The class really should be revised to follow the format shown in EN Publishing’s Pick’n’Mixes (although that is far from perfect, either). In addition, the text itself requires an editor, and alternates between ‘his’ and ‘their’.Setting/Suitability (4/5)A Warmaster should be fairly easy to slot into any campaign, and the Snappy Sentence suitably summarizes this class. I would have liked to see the concept of non-evil Warmasters explored, or “Alignment: Any evil” added as an Entry Requirement.PROPHETIC SOOTHSAYER (M Jason Parent, EN Publishing)“Masters of detecting changes in the time stream, prophetic soothsayers can see the results of many actions long before they are taken.”Flavor (5/5)The flavor text is long, comprehensive and well-written. My only gripe is a minor one – are there any nonprophetic soothsayers?Mechanics (4.5/5)The mechanics are, in general, interesting and well-chosen. I would have liked to see a more distinctive capstone (10th level) ability, since psionic divination usable three times a day is rarely more useful than psionic divination usable twice a day, and insight bonuses are not terribly exciting, even if that type of bonus comes up often. In fact, a list of what psionic powers give insight bonuses would have been excellent.The one ability I have problems with is ‘Lessons of Cassandra’. The alternate skill pool is a little complicated and difficult to manage – it would have been better, I think, to give the prophetic soothsayer a +1 bonus to two skills (out of Diplomacy, Bluff, Perform and Sense Motive) at every level beyond 4th. Form/Grammar (4/4)There are no major issues with grammar in this document.Setting/Suitability (4.5/5)The Snappy Sentence is a good summary of this prestige class. Information in the text on soothsayer guilds or their role in the world would have improved this score even more.MIND PRIEST (M Jason Parent, EN Publishing)“Mind priests are the psionically-endowed worshippers of the gods of mentalism, psionic powers and of the mind. They embrace both the divine mysteries of their deity’s embrace and the full glory of their own psionic powers of the mind.”Flavor (3/5)The flavor text for this prestige class is long but not terribly interesting. In part this is because the entire class is somewhat lacking in originality.Mechanics (4.5/5)The mechanics of this prestige class suit its purpose – which is to be a kind of mystic theurge for psionicists/clerics. The 10th level ability of this class could afford to be a tad stronger, since all that level offers is +1 manifester level (most others give +1 manifester level/+1 spellcaster level)It’s good that the prestige domain offered at 4th level includes the clause “if the character already has the Psionic domain, then choose another domain from the character’s deity’s domain listing”. This is an element that should be included in more classes, both prestige and base.Form/Grammar (2.5/4)There is some confusion as to whether the Psionic domain has an ‘s’ on the end or not. In fact, why a Psionic domain is needed when the Mind domain already exists is beyond me. The “Font of Divinity” ability needs to be reworded, but has a solid principle. Spell descriptors should not include the [brackets] (e.g. [evil], [acid]).Setting/Suitability (4.5/5)A campaign with psionic gods would probably include mind priests, and the class, though uninteresting, serves its purpose.GENJA KESH (Ryan Nock, EN Publishing)“The Genja Kesh represent the dark face of an oppressed elven people. Their methods are those of a serpent - crafty, patient, and ultimately opportunistic. Initiates train in the arts of stealth and poison, infusing their bodies with magical toxins.”Flavor (4.5/5)The Genja Kesh flavor text is long and descriptive, and has an original premise (that the Genja Kesh are freedom fighters opposing tyrannical elven elders). The only poor element is the requirement that Genja Kesh must survive exposure to poison – something I find overdone in fantasy fiction and prestige classes.Mechanics (4.5/5)There should be some token new ability at 10th level to encourage Genja Kesh to continue to the 10th level of this class – a +1 bonus to saves against poison is nothing special, and sneak attacks can be gotten elsewhere.The way the Genja Kesh can burn uses of their darkness spell-like ability to fuel other abilities is really cool, and reminds me of Divine feats where you can expend turn attempts for other abilities. It’s also a clever way to give Genja Kesh heaps of darkness uses without forcing the Genja Kesh to use them all on darkness-related abilities.Form/Grammar (3/4)A few grammatical errors exist, but nothing serious. The instructions on how to strike an eye (“[an eye] on a human would be a Fine target (+8 size bonus to AC)”) should go into more detail concerning the exact AC of an eye (which, IIRC, is something like 18 [size] + ‘owner’s’ Dex + ‘owner’s’ dodge, deflection, luck and insight bonuses)Setting/Suitability (4/5)The Genja Kesh would be very easy to modify into a number of roles – agents of the oppressive elven elders, drow assassins, or elven border guards. It would have been nice if the document itself had given suggestions for adapting the Genja Kesh, since an oppressed elven populace is not commonly present in campaign settings.CRYSTAL LOREWARDEN (M Jason Parent, EN Publishing)“A psionic re-invisioning of the classic Lore Master, the crystal lorewarden has mastered many ancient secrets as well as the crystals they are stored within.”Flavor (5/5)The prestige class’s flavor text is long, beautifully written and wonderfully descriptive. It is the most exemplar piece of writing in this set of 12 prestige classes.Mechanics (4.5/5)The prestige class’s 10th level abilities (another Secret and The Lore of Many 2/day) would be sufficiently powerful to keep characters pursing this class to the end if you could select each Secret more than once. As it stands, most 8th level crystal lorewardens will pick up ‘Hidden Power’ as their Secret, and not bother with 10th level at all, since the rest of the Secrets are rather weak.The ‘New Resolve’ secret is underpowered, and ‘Ancient Lore’ is too powerful. I have a suspicion the ‘Master Encoder’ ability is too good, but I am not familiar enough with item creation to be sure. To be safe, consider replacing it with an ability that reduces the time it takes to encode stones significantly.Form/Grammar (3.5/4)There are several places where better writing would have been appreciated, but there are no mechanical errors and the flavor text has no errors in it.Setting/Suitability (5/5)Any setting with psionics has a place for crystal lorewardens, which fill a fascinating, but empty, niche. It would be interesting to adapt the crystal lorewarden for the akashic base class (Monte Cook’s Arcana Evolved), although such a thing would require the class to be entirely revamped.FIREHEART (Ryan Nock, EN Publishing)“Firehearts wield powers of both dragon and eagle, possessing wisdom enough to know that destruction can be as powerful a tool as healing, for in rebirth are the wounded purified..”Flavor (4/5)Given the majority of this class’s flavor text is given over to history, the organization of the Firehearts themselves is not extensively explored. However, what is given is imaginative and well written.The ‘Blessing of the Pheonix Pinion’ does not fit with the flavor text of the class, which never mentions any special connection to animals.Mechanics (3.5/5)The way the mechanics explore the nether-region between 0 and -10 hit points is creative and clever. The other abilities the Fireheart gets are also well thought through – a Fireheart can’t constantly burn himself with a candle to enjoy a permanent ‘Pheonix Rebirth’, because flame resistance always lets through at least one point of fire damage.The one problem with Dark Flame and Aspect of Pheonix is that at higher levels characters are rarely between 0 and -10 hit points, because at those levels an order of 10 hit points is practically nothing. A feat or class feature that increased the number of negative hit points a character can have before dying would have been nice. Form/Grammar (4/4)On the table, ‘fire resistance’ should be ‘flame resistance’, and there are a few other editing issues. However, the layout of this prestige class is better than those penned by M Jason Parent – all required skills are on the one line (“Skills: Concentration 8 ranks, Heal 4 ranks, etc.” rather than “Concentration: 8 ranks; Heal: 4 ranks; etc.”), and ‘Skill Points at Each Level’ is bolded.Setting/Suitability (3.5/5)This prestige class comes with a lot of ‘baggage’ – a whole new creation myth and a Church, neither of which are mentioned in its Snappy Sentence.DEVOURER (M Jason Parent, EN Publishing)“Telepaths of incredible power who are not content with thralls to do their bidding, but instead revel in the complete conquest of the minds of others. Not happy to have servants do their tasks for them, the devourers would rather live through their servant.”Flavor (5/5)The concept of self-loathing, depressed, introverted telepaths controlling others to get kicks is a really original idea, and perfect for a world that has shades of grey morality. The flavor text is long and descriptive.Mechanics (4/5)I am by no means sure, but I have a feeling the 10th level ability of this class isn’t that powerful. The class could also have used a few more manifester levels, and for a mastermind/manipulator, a ¾ base attack bonus progression seems excessive.The 6th level ability of this class, ‘True Evil’, needs to go into more detail concerning the results of the devourer’s transformation into an aberration.Form/Grammar (3/4)This prestige class’s form and grammar are not too bad, but the flavor text for this class does reference two feats (‘Taste for Knowledge’ and ‘Food for Thought’) and a mythical chapter 6 that don’t exist.Setting/Suitability (5/5)It would not be difficult to slot this prestige class into a campaign, since it is an original take on the staple plotting, manipulative mastermind.RIDER OF PESTILENCE (M Jason Parent, EN Publishing)“Plague Carriors, Diseased Knights, Infected Warlords... These are the Riders of Pestilence. They travel like locusts, bringing death and disease in their wake.”Flavor (3/5)The flavor text is short, and rather excessive (“they travel like locusts, spreading a vast cornucopia of horrendous diseases like a plague overtaking the land”). The flavor text spends a paragraph talking about how riders of pestilence are a kind of ‘elite’ blackguard, but the next paragraph explains that though the majority of riders of pestilence are blackguards by no means all of them are. Then the requirements, though annoying for non-blackguards, are as easy or easier to meet with a non-blackguard than with a blackguard – compare ‘ranger 6/rogue 1’ with ‘ranger 6/blackguard 1’ or ‘fighter 7/blackguard 1’.Mechanics (3.5/5)The rider of pestilence’s abilities are interesting from 1st to 3rd level, but from 4th to 5th level there is nothing but extra spell-like abilities and an additional use of ‘Smite Clean’. 5th level really needs a capstone ability, since spell-like abilities aren’t very exciting for a spellcasting class like the blackguard/rider. The Carrier feat is thought-through and interesting, though potentially abusable (limiting the choice of diseases, for example, would have fixed this issue).Expanding the blackguard’s spellcasting is a very nice touch.Form/Grammar (2/4)The table refers to ‘Smite Clean’ as ‘Smite Pure’. The nauseated effect of ‘Tainted Companion’ requires a duration. Spells should be italicized.Setting/Suitability (5/5)As with the riders of war, it should not be hard to slot another order of blackguards into your campaign. A climactic BBEG would be a ‘ranger 6/blackguard 5/rider of war 4/rider of pestilence 5’ with favored enemies (human, elf).HEARTHWARDEN"This d20 fantasy prestige class details the Hearthwarden - a tribal defender who serves as a protector to important members of the tribe and as a keeper of the tribes' flame. This prestige class is adapted from the base class in BFG's Fury and Frenzy. "Flavor (4.5/5)Concise, interesting and descriptive, the Hearthwarden's flavor text is excellent. It is too short, but that's mainly a problem with the PnM's maximum size requirement.Mechanics (4.5/5)The Hearthwarden's mechanics are clever, well-worded and fit. They introduce interesting ideas, adapt other mechanics to fit the class (Smite is the one that comes to mind) and have an extensive range for PCs to choose from. My main problem is that a lot of the abilities are clumped at 1st level, and there is no 10th level capstone ability.I think compressing the Hearthwarden from a 20-level base class to 10-level prestige class served the class well - because 20 levels of abilities were compressed into 10 levels the less interesting and more pedestrian abilities were disgarded.Form/Grammar (3.5/4)The flavor text should not be italicised. It would be nice if the table were on the front page, but that's a minor nit-pick. Otherwise, the book is above average.Setting/Suitability (5/5)It should not be hard to slot the Hearthwarden into a campaign setting. A barbarian tribe could plausibly have the Hearthwarden tradition and the flavor of the class means travelling Hearthwardens (for the PCs to encounter) are not unusual.KEEPER OF BEASTS"The Keeper of the Beasts is a prestigious office within the church of the goddess of nature. A Keeper serves as protector of and advocate for groups of animals (both magical and mundane) within a particular region."Flavor (3.5/5)The flavor text for the Keeper of Beasts is bland and short, but does do an adequate job of describing the prestige class. There is a lot of spare space in this prestige class, though, and flavor text (or bonus feats, spells, 'In Your Campaign', 'For Your Character' or the like) could have filled thatMechanics (3/5)None of the Keeper of Beast's mechanics screamed out "original" to me. Recycled druid abilities, recycled spells, but nothing new. This was particularily a disappointment after the Hearthwarden, which had a lot of neat abilities.Form/Grammar (3.5/4)The flavor text should not be italicised. Bulleting the prestige class's requirements is unconventional, but works fine. It was nice to see headings larger than body text. 'Beast' is no longer a creature type. The wording on 'Wild Shape' is a tad "dodgy" (for lack of a better word)Setting/Suitability (5/5)Even if a setting doesn't have a goddess of nature, there's plenty of opportunities for individuals with an attachment to a particular animal.WIELDER OF THE CHAIN"These warriors devote themselves entirely to the Spiked Chain, preferring it over all over weapons, and drive themselves ruthlessly toward perfection with it."Flavor (3.5/5)An interesting twist, the WotC (coincidence?) includes an onlooker's account of a Wielder's fighting style. I could have done without the three massive letters at the start of each paragraph, but apart from that it's an interesting approach. The text never satisfactorially explains why a 9th level Wielder suddenly develops psionic ability.The prestige class has an irregular Base Attack Bonus progression. It also has an irregular Reflex save progression, but since I approve of that the point is moot. I, though would swap the good Fortitude save with the medium Reflex save, given this prestige class's theme.Mechanics (3/5)A lot of the Wielder's higher level abilities resolve around doing more damage with a spiked chain. I can understand that, but given the rather unique spiked chain a number of other special abilities come to mind. I was not impressed with the liberal use of bonus feats as filler, but some of the lower level abilities have promise. Compared to a fighter, this prestige class is very overpowered. Compared to a barbarian, less so, but still too good.Form/Grammar (1/4)Very poor. In general the Wielder fits the PnM style guide, but the wording of the class abilities is horrendous. A number of gaffs throughout the text (the table breaking the text, for example) also lower the tone. In addition, the pdf has a huge picture of a spiked chain on the second page - space that could have been better used.Setting/Suitability (4.5/5)A lot of GMs have banned the spiked chain from their games, but most everyone else should be able to slot a Wielder into their campaign.---MONSTERSSHOCK BEETLE"This small beetle has a shocking personality and loves metallic armored foes."Flavor (3/5)Although there is a rudimentary section describing the Shock Beetle, there is no short description of the creature a DM could read out to their players. That sucks, especially when this product is only 1 page long.The picture is nice, though, and partially makes up for the lack of descriptive text.Mechanics (3/5)The Shock Beetle appears too powerful to me. A CR 2 creature with 22 hit points, a +5 attack bonus, that does 1d4+1d8+4 damage on a successful attack against a person in metal armor or shield (e.g. a tank, the exact type of character that would be fighting the creature in melee), and which has a good chance of doing 1d8+4 damage even if it misses.Having said that, the way the shock is treated is well done.Form/Grammar (1/4)Apparently "Monster Geographica: Forest" is Open Content. In the form (rather than grammar) category, the fact that this pdf is only one page is a real bummer, and cost this product a few extra points. The extra space could have been used up with expanded information on the creature (check out the free Bestiary:Bears product for examples), different subspecies of the creature, adventure hooks and the like.Setting/Suitability (4/5)I can't see why this creature couldn't be found in the vast majority of campaign settings. It makes a nice alternative to the 'permanently punish metal-wearing characters' rust monster.---There you have it - fifteen capsule reviews for Pick'n'Mix products. Feel free to comment, add youir own reviews to this thread or even, if you're a publisher, send me free samples of your own PnM products <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":P" title="Stick out tongue    :P"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":P" />I might add a section to this post with my own thoughts and views on the PnM system as a whole, but that will have to wait for another day.</blockquote>

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