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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Torque" data-source="post: 336056" data-attributes="member: 1568">The only one of these that I have read is Path of Magic, and like most of FFGs books, it has a lot of good ideas and is well put together, but had nothing that really blew me away.  It provides a lot of new material for wizards, sorcerers, and especially bards, doing a much better job than Song & Silence in terms of providing good options and viable prestige classes for them.The prestige classes are for the most part imaginative and well-implemented, and each includes a sample organization to go with it.  The legendary classes were less impressive, though they had some good ideas.  The concepts seemed more generic to me than the prestige classes, and many of them suffered from the problem of not granting any spellcasting progression.  While the abilities they grant are definitely nice, this is just too big of a handicap for most spellcasters to want them.  The new alternate base classes are intriguing, though the ones with separate spell lists don't include guidelines for choosing spells from other sources to allow for them.There are about 25 new feats, and for the most part they look like solid additions, though there are a few balance issues, and many simply grant bonuses to existing abilities.  My favorite part of the book is the chapter on performances of power, which gives bards wholly separate sets of abilities depending on whether they are singing, dancing, chanting, or playing an instrument, each of which is governed by a separate feat.  In addition, there are rules for using music to enhance or repress another spellcaster, and for bards to pool their magic to create more powerful effects.  All of the new items in this chapter look like they will make bards a lot more interesting and individualized to play.The chapter on the spellcasters' world includes a new concept-spellcasting schools which offer a series of themed lessons for an XP cost.  These look like a good way to personalize a spellcaster, and the costs are high enough to discourage casual interest.  It also has sections on designing a wizard's tower and making organizations of spellcasters.  These both look like the type of thing that is somewhat interesting but won't get all that much use.Finally, there is a section on items of power, which I haven't finished reading yet.  It is not a collection of new magic items, but rather three new types of item, the expencable focus, the font of power, and the eldritch staff, which appears to be a way to model the personal staffs often in fantasy literature.  Overall, Path of Magic offers a good variety of ways to make your character more interesting without falling into the trap of just making truckloads of feats, spells, and prestige classes.  It has several annoying rules gaffes (not listing the type of bonus, not telling the type or use restrictions of an ability, Pclasses oriented toward bards that don't discuss how their abilities interact with bardic music, etc.), but these are easily fixed by an attentive DM.  Overall rating 4.5/5</blockquote>

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