Welcome back from the holidays, Paizo fans, and a happy upcoming new year to all! We’ve got an exciting new PAIZO NEWS ROUNDUP in store for you - once again, it’s time for a Third Party Hullaballo! I’ll get a word that sounds right eventually. Anyway, we have a great selection of third-party products here for you to fill that hole in your heart left by disappointing holiday presents. I liked horses when I was FIVE, Aunt Marilyn! Regardless; to the presses!
For those of you that were disappointed with the Shifter in Ultimate Wilderness, Kobold Press has a balm in the form of the skin-changer base class in the New Paths Compendium: Expanded Edition. This meaty book (or PDF, as your preference) features twelve base classes to try, including the skin-changer. Seven classes return from earlier material with a fresh coat of paint and some updates to bring them in line with the quality we’ve come to expect from Kobold Press. Skin-changers are one of the five new classes included in the compendium, and are a full-BAB class that should scratch that shapeshifting warrior itch.
You wouldn’t expect a Pathfinder book from Kobold Press to be without archetypes and feats, and this one has them in spades. Of note are the Guarded Priest, which swaps out divine gifts for a summoner’s eidolon, and the Death Warden, which takes a “the dead must stay dead” approach to necromancy. Speaking of dead things, this book also has a bag of feats only usable by characters who have died and come back to life. Reminds me of the Blood Magus from ye olde 3.0. As a caveat to keep these characters in check, the book also provides a selection of Death Flaws for GMs to require of such players.
AAW Games has a new supplement out that’s perfect for the dark and creepy world of subterranean spelunking. Underworld Races & Classes has all sorts of material available for the denizens of the deep, including a special focus on the drow to tie in to the Rise of the Drow saga. A total of 14 new playable races make their debut here, including the four-armed insects known as hoyrall and crocodilian kraidyl. In keeping with the theme of navigating your way through the dark, this book also provides optional rules for sonar-based perception made in collaboration with a blind gamer. As you might expect with any Pathfinder supplement, it also features new archetypes, classes, feats, monsters, and spells. I’m certainly going to give it a look for my Menzoberranzan-inspired remake of Ravenloft in my home game. Nothing ups the horror like not being able to see.
Now, on to Starfinder! We have a few underdogs returning to the fight from the last third-party bonanza. Stroh Hammer comes back with a bang (a squish?) with Gravity Age: Mutant Menagerie. This supplement includes thousands of new mutations to add that left-in-a-dumpster-near-the-reactor flavor to your Starfinder character. Cosmetic mutations, deformities, physical and psychic mutations - these guys have it all.
Rogue Genius Games has another Star Log for us, this time Star Log.EM-015: Skinwalker. Not only do the fine folks at Rogue Genius update the skinwalker legacy race for your Starfinder game, they’ve also included a history in their home Blood Space campaign setting and a new feat for skinwalkers that can be taken as a replacement class feature.
And finally, in case you still can’t get enough Starfinder, Starfinder, Starfinder, Legendary Games has a new entry in their Legendary Worlds series. Legendary Worlds: Carsis is a 22-page supplement covering everything the broken world of Carsis has to offer a Starfinder adventurer, including the insectoid carsian race and the ravenous grizzat swarm.
Well that about does it for this edition of the PAIZO NEWS ROUNDUP Third-Party Throwdown! Nope, still haven’t found it. In any case, keep a weather eye peeled for more news from the Golem! And if you have any ideas about a good word for these third-party shoutouts, I’d love to hear them!
contributed by Ben Reece
For those of you that were disappointed with the Shifter in Ultimate Wilderness, Kobold Press has a balm in the form of the skin-changer base class in the New Paths Compendium: Expanded Edition. This meaty book (or PDF, as your preference) features twelve base classes to try, including the skin-changer. Seven classes return from earlier material with a fresh coat of paint and some updates to bring them in line with the quality we’ve come to expect from Kobold Press. Skin-changers are one of the five new classes included in the compendium, and are a full-BAB class that should scratch that shapeshifting warrior itch.
You wouldn’t expect a Pathfinder book from Kobold Press to be without archetypes and feats, and this one has them in spades. Of note are the Guarded Priest, which swaps out divine gifts for a summoner’s eidolon, and the Death Warden, which takes a “the dead must stay dead” approach to necromancy. Speaking of dead things, this book also has a bag of feats only usable by characters who have died and come back to life. Reminds me of the Blood Magus from ye olde 3.0. As a caveat to keep these characters in check, the book also provides a selection of Death Flaws for GMs to require of such players.
AAW Games has a new supplement out that’s perfect for the dark and creepy world of subterranean spelunking. Underworld Races & Classes has all sorts of material available for the denizens of the deep, including a special focus on the drow to tie in to the Rise of the Drow saga. A total of 14 new playable races make their debut here, including the four-armed insects known as hoyrall and crocodilian kraidyl. In keeping with the theme of navigating your way through the dark, this book also provides optional rules for sonar-based perception made in collaboration with a blind gamer. As you might expect with any Pathfinder supplement, it also features new archetypes, classes, feats, monsters, and spells. I’m certainly going to give it a look for my Menzoberranzan-inspired remake of Ravenloft in my home game. Nothing ups the horror like not being able to see.
Now, on to Starfinder! We have a few underdogs returning to the fight from the last third-party bonanza. Stroh Hammer comes back with a bang (a squish?) with Gravity Age: Mutant Menagerie. This supplement includes thousands of new mutations to add that left-in-a-dumpster-near-the-reactor flavor to your Starfinder character. Cosmetic mutations, deformities, physical and psychic mutations - these guys have it all.
Rogue Genius Games has another Star Log for us, this time Star Log.EM-015: Skinwalker. Not only do the fine folks at Rogue Genius update the skinwalker legacy race for your Starfinder game, they’ve also included a history in their home Blood Space campaign setting and a new feat for skinwalkers that can be taken as a replacement class feature.
And finally, in case you still can’t get enough Starfinder, Starfinder, Starfinder, Legendary Games has a new entry in their Legendary Worlds series. Legendary Worlds: Carsis is a 22-page supplement covering everything the broken world of Carsis has to offer a Starfinder adventurer, including the insectoid carsian race and the ravenous grizzat swarm.
Well that about does it for this edition of the PAIZO NEWS ROUNDUP Third-Party Throwdown! Nope, still haven’t found it. In any case, keep a weather eye peeled for more news from the Golem! And if you have any ideas about a good word for these third-party shoutouts, I’d love to hear them!
contributed by Ben Reece