By Bruce Boughner, Staff Reviewer, d20 Magazine Rack and Co-host of Mortality Radio
Sizing Up the Target
Path of Faith is a 172-page hardcover accessory published by Fantasy Flight Games in their Legends & Lairs series. The authors are Wil Upchurch, Lizard, Shawn Cashman, James Maliszewski, Brian Patterson and Sam Witt. The cover is done by Brian Schomburg and is done in the faux-tome cover style and is available for $24.95
First Blood
The fourth of the Legends & Lairs series dealing with the core classes and sub-classes. Fantasy Flight’s consistent quality is a hallmark of accessory products. This makes their line is one of my favorite purchases. Path of Faith focuses on the priestly classes and this one is for Clerics, Druids and Paladins.
This series does not go into a huge amount of topics; they have only five chapters in the book, much like the rest of the series. Like the previous books, they concentrate on building better characters through use of the tools of the trade, more prestige classes, better organization and divine providence.
Thirty-two new classes are presented in the first chapter, thirteen are prestige classes, ten are Legendary classes and two are Variant core classes. Legendary classes are unique to this series of books, allowing a character to become a paragon of legend rising far above others in his base class.
Each of the Prestige classes is accompanied by an example of an organization typical to the class itself. Some of the classes are limited by gender, Daughters of the Storm and the Furies are two examples of such classes. Some are obviously meant for Druids, like the Child of the Wood, Hound Master and Daughters of the Storm. Clerical Prestige class’s feature things like an Exorcist, Inquisitor and Faith Guardian. The Dervish, True Crusader and Valore are the Paladin entries. While the Avatar, Beacon of Faith and Knight Lord were intriguing; it was the Mystic legendary class that really caught my fancy. Of the two variants, the Thaumaturge was an interesting class, described as the priestly version of a wizard it was challenging to see a cleric in armor throwing divine spells with acumen of a mage.
Tools of the Faith is the title of the second chapter and while it introduces feats (like the previous books) it also brings up something near and dear to most priests, Holy Items. The feats are based on channeling energy from either the Positive or Negative Planes such as Divine Competence and Fuel Spell are part of the seventeen new feats here. The Holy Symbols discuss the importance and variety of Holy symbols used by priests to cast spell or repel undead. The symbols are divided into the type Normal, Greater and Legendary. Special and Unusual types are also described like symbols made out of wood or tattoos. Charts and descriptions of special powers to be ascribed to the Holy symbol are given such as strength “the bull” (which grants an additional 40 lbs carrying power to it’s bearer) before a couple of Legendary examples are given.
Cults and Small Gods is the header of the third chapter. Obviously not every god can be a Zeus or Thor so this section gives a divine avatar template to assist in building lower level deities. It also defines types of lesser gods in terms like ancestor spirit and deified hero. After this, the deity’s followers, disciples and such are discussed. How often and why the deity would intercede on behalf of a disciple, drawbacks of serving a lesser god and a couple of samples of lesser deities before moving onto cults.
Cults are given a short explanation prior to talking about the formation and growth of the cult. The correlation between the power of and size of a cult is given a table and how it relates to the permanent power and available power for use. The anatomy of, break-up of and benefit of a cult are then laid out. The actions of the cult and its effect on the power index and results of success and failure to the cult round out the chapter.
The fourth chapter talks about Faith Organizations. This doesn’t mean just the church of or temple of a deity but things like traveling masters and academies. For example, the Black Wood Herbalists are one of the many groups described here. The set up of their school, who their traveling masters are and a good definition of what their lesson plan looks like, leading from basic herblore to plant mastery.
The chapter then moves into methods of spreading the faith, imagine that, priest that preach, who’d thunk it? Methods of the missionary priest and reasons for spreading the word are outlined. The activities of a missionary a Convert check chart with relational modifiers is given. Organizational templates are then talked about, giving a DM the chance to design and build his own church, replete with several samples. There is also a pantheon template to design a whole polytheistic religion.
The last chapter is about divine gifts. Describing faith ceremonies that define a priest’s powers outside of spells and turning undead. Ceremonies like the dwarven ceremony to detect the flow of lava or the elven ceremony to move into shadow. The chapter ends with several listings of special mounts for paladins, feats and enhancement spells as well as examples like the shadow elk or rock dragon.
Critical Hits
Path of Faith is the endcap of the four core classes covered in this series. As in the previous books, it bring many new and useful ideas on ways to enhance your game and character beyond the pen and paper and make them more three dimensional.
The artwork of the book is Fantasy Flight's usual capable renditions, fitting nicely in the best area to cite visual examples to the text.
Critical Misses
One might ask why should they get this over Green Ronin’s Book of the Righteous when the topics are obviously the same? Not all religion is the same but a lot of the same ground is covered.
Coup de Grace
Despite the similarities between this and other products, many of the books topics are clean and well thought out, making the book stand out in comparison to other products as unique in its own right. Owning Path of Faith and a product like Book of the Righteous can only enhance, not detract from a DM’s repertoire.
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