Psion
Adventurer
Okay. I don't have all of them yet, but I can give you my impressions of the 2 that I do have (Oathbound and PoM are on the way, and I am hoping to scam a copy of Nyambe from RPGnet.)
Psion micro-mini reviews:
Requiem for a God
Have you ever ran an adventure and chafed at how it just didn't fit into your game? But at the same time, have you felt like your campaign could use a bit more of the fantastic? Have you ever picked up a book of prestige classes that looked interesting, but you had no idea how to fit them into your game? If so, Requeim for a God may be for you.
Basically requiem for a god has two parts -- ideas and crunchy bits. The ideas section outlines a number of different possibilities that might surround the death of a god. Ideas are provided for the details of the central event assumed: a god dies.
The book is very flexible and lets you make the final decisions. But it gives you all the tidbits to structure an exciting campaign around this concept. Normal adventures tend to be harder to fit into a game if you have a detailed settings. It seems to me that the ideas flowed more freely precisely because I had a detailed setting.
The beginning of the book is rife with checklists that help guide you through the process of integrating the event into your game. Details are covered such as how the god died, what to do if you don't have a convenient deity you want to die, the reaction of the populace, and so forth.
The crunchy bits part follows up the ideas section with implementation. Four new prestige classes are presented that have a relationship with the death of a deity. For example, the disaffected are a cleric that has lost their deity and learns to regain their former power by pulling on remnants of the deities essence. Two organizations are introduced (with prestige classes and NPCs) that are concerned with the remains of deities.
A number of new mechanics are introduced that deal with the remnants of the god, and are sources of power as well as plot devices. These are things like divinity sparks, energy pools, godsblood, godsflesh, and the demiurge, the semi-sentient lingering essence of a deity. These ideas are all parleyed into other mechanics, such as godsblood feats, godsflesh items and golems, and spells that allow the character to take advantage of energy pools.
Finally, a number of adventure ideas are offered that you can flesh out for your game.
Overall, I very much liked Requiem for a God... and I really thought I wouldn't. This book is a great catalyst for a creative DM who would rather not be saddled with an inflexible adventure but would still appreciate a few good ideas.
Score: 5/5
Path of the Sword
Path of the Sword focusses on the fighter, ranger, barbarian, and monk class. The book is a heavily player oriented book.
The book has a pretty good selection of prestige classes, especially the monk prestige classes, which are amongst the best monk prestige classes I have ever seen. Each prestige class is provided with an underlying organization that provides the class with a reason to exist. The organizations are fairly campaign portable.
The big innovation of the class books is the legendary classes. Legendary classes are targeted at characters in the teen levels. To enter one, you have to announce your intention two levels ahead of time and complete "quests." The classes are all 5 level classes, and receive a class ability at every level. This class ability is selected from a list, and each ability is keyed to the level at which the ability is taken.
For example, if two abilities grant the character +1 on saves per power level and +1 on attacks per power level, the character must choose which to take first. If the character takes the save bonus at first level and attack bonus at second level, the character will always only get +1 for saves and +2 to attack.
This is an interesting mechanic, as it makes the player think very hard when selecting abilities, and also makes the class very customizable.
The book has other information as well. A section on schools of combat introduces a variety of "fighting schools." Each school consists of ten maneuvers, and each costs experience to take, and grants the character a benefit similar to a feat. As mentioned elsewhere, I am not too thrilled by this mechanic, but it has a fair cost and some GMs may like it.
The book has several other resources for fighting characters and for GMs. Character can enjoy new weapons, new mounts, and so forth. The GM section has some interesting guidelines for running combats in exotic terrains.
Overall, I liked path of the sword very much, and it has some of the best prestige classes I have seen in a long time... if you are in the market for that sort of thing.
Score: 4/5
Psion micro-mini reviews:
Requiem for a God
Have you ever ran an adventure and chafed at how it just didn't fit into your game? But at the same time, have you felt like your campaign could use a bit more of the fantastic? Have you ever picked up a book of prestige classes that looked interesting, but you had no idea how to fit them into your game? If so, Requeim for a God may be for you.
Basically requiem for a god has two parts -- ideas and crunchy bits. The ideas section outlines a number of different possibilities that might surround the death of a god. Ideas are provided for the details of the central event assumed: a god dies.
The book is very flexible and lets you make the final decisions. But it gives you all the tidbits to structure an exciting campaign around this concept. Normal adventures tend to be harder to fit into a game if you have a detailed settings. It seems to me that the ideas flowed more freely precisely because I had a detailed setting.
The beginning of the book is rife with checklists that help guide you through the process of integrating the event into your game. Details are covered such as how the god died, what to do if you don't have a convenient deity you want to die, the reaction of the populace, and so forth.
The crunchy bits part follows up the ideas section with implementation. Four new prestige classes are presented that have a relationship with the death of a deity. For example, the disaffected are a cleric that has lost their deity and learns to regain their former power by pulling on remnants of the deities essence. Two organizations are introduced (with prestige classes and NPCs) that are concerned with the remains of deities.
A number of new mechanics are introduced that deal with the remnants of the god, and are sources of power as well as plot devices. These are things like divinity sparks, energy pools, godsblood, godsflesh, and the demiurge, the semi-sentient lingering essence of a deity. These ideas are all parleyed into other mechanics, such as godsblood feats, godsflesh items and golems, and spells that allow the character to take advantage of energy pools.
Finally, a number of adventure ideas are offered that you can flesh out for your game.
Overall, I very much liked Requiem for a God... and I really thought I wouldn't. This book is a great catalyst for a creative DM who would rather not be saddled with an inflexible adventure but would still appreciate a few good ideas.
Score: 5/5
Path of the Sword
Path of the Sword focusses on the fighter, ranger, barbarian, and monk class. The book is a heavily player oriented book.
The book has a pretty good selection of prestige classes, especially the monk prestige classes, which are amongst the best monk prestige classes I have ever seen. Each prestige class is provided with an underlying organization that provides the class with a reason to exist. The organizations are fairly campaign portable.
The big innovation of the class books is the legendary classes. Legendary classes are targeted at characters in the teen levels. To enter one, you have to announce your intention two levels ahead of time and complete "quests." The classes are all 5 level classes, and receive a class ability at every level. This class ability is selected from a list, and each ability is keyed to the level at which the ability is taken.
For example, if two abilities grant the character +1 on saves per power level and +1 on attacks per power level, the character must choose which to take first. If the character takes the save bonus at first level and attack bonus at second level, the character will always only get +1 for saves and +2 to attack.
This is an interesting mechanic, as it makes the player think very hard when selecting abilities, and also makes the class very customizable.
The book has other information as well. A section on schools of combat introduces a variety of "fighting schools." Each school consists of ten maneuvers, and each costs experience to take, and grants the character a benefit similar to a feat. As mentioned elsewhere, I am not too thrilled by this mechanic, but it has a fair cost and some GMs may like it.
The book has several other resources for fighting characters and for GMs. Character can enjoy new weapons, new mounts, and so forth. The GM section has some interesting guidelines for running combats in exotic terrains.
Overall, I liked path of the sword very much, and it has some of the best prestige classes I have seen in a long time... if you are in the market for that sort of thing.
Score: 4/5
