Here's my review of all of them. The review section isn't working so I just copied it here
Unlikely Heroes
The common folk are usually ignored. That may be putting it a little blunt but in the world of adventures the little craftsmen, the laborers, the town guard rarely get any thought. The classes for them in the DMG are basically a joke. They are boring and offer very little. The game seems to have designed them to be bland and ignored. There has been a few attempts to make them a little more interesting and to help people use them like Everyone Else. But no one has really created individual classes for them that actually give characters a reason to advance in them and offer things the regular core classes do not. Unlikely Heroes does this and does it well.
Unlikely Heroes is a PDF by Plot Device. It is really their first product even though it is actually eight. One thing that they did that is really good is they offer each class separately so one only has to get the classes they want. However, one can not buy them all together like what I am reviewing just yet. One can buy all seven and then get bonus material from them and its not like these are expensive.
Unlikely Heroes has standard layout. It does the job but is a bit plain. The art is pretty much the same. There is a color cover and some color in the front of the book but most of it is black and white. The book is book marked and comes in two forms. There is a pdf and rich text format of them, but the individual classes only come in PDF format. They have some color, no book marks (not that they need them), and are only a few pages each.
The first think I was concerned about with the book was the balance of these classes to the core ones. While these are stronger then the standard NPC classes they are still a bit weaker then the PHB classes. At lower levels there will not be as much a difference but at higher levels there will be some. That is not to say that the classes cannot adventure beside each other, it will just take some getting used to. The classes here are usually more skill base so they do have advantages. They tend to have good hit points as well.
The first class is the Arcane Dabbler. This is a wizard but weaker. They get better hit points, better skill points, and more bonus feats. They however only can get up to seventh level spells and at twentieth level they are only casting as a thirteenth level wizard. This is a great replacement for the wizard in a low magic campaign or for someone who wants a wizard but is more of a dabbler as the name suggests. It has a much better survival rate at low levels.
The Guard is really self explanatory. It is interesting because it gains weapon proficiency and armor proficiency as it gains level. So a guard that is using a heavy armor the players will know is pretty skilled as they need to be fourth level to do so. They have the same hit points as a fighter but do gain more skills. They do not get nearly as many bonus feats but do get other abilities like Shield Other which works like the spell except has a range of five feet. I like they at first level they still have things to learn like weapons and armor. I think this would make a great addition to a game that uses training for instance and for people that don’t want their character to automatically know how to use all the weapons and armor.
The Laborer is both cool sounding but probably the weakest of the classes. It gets some great abilities like increased encumbrance and can lessen the penalties of wearing many armor types. It gets damage reduction; a d12 hit die and some good skills and skill points. But the abilities are more passive then active and even though carrying much more then a normal person of same strength can be useful it really is not that powerful. They also have a lousy base attack bonus. In a low magic campaign or even a city based on this class could really do well though.
The Mystic is perhaps the one class that not only has about equal power of the PHB classes it is in my opinion more interesting then the sorcerer which it is very much like. It gets better hit points and more skill points. It cast spells spontaneously and does get up to ninth level spell access. It does not get a familiar, but more importantly its spells known are restricted to domains. The Mystic starts with two domains and learns one more every 5 levels. These are the only spells the Mystic will ever know. The Aura of the Mystic is a really cool idea. Basically, a good character can get power from an evil good or vice versa so the alignment aura of the character will show up as both. It is a fascinating idea and I think this is my favorite class out of all the ones presented here. It can work well in most campaigns that sorcerers work in.
The Noble might be the least likely class here I would use. It does a good job of presenting the Nobel, but frankly other books have done a much better job. This is one concept that has been published more then a few times. Still, the class here works for people looking for one. It does have one thing that is sort of neat, the idea of the servant and mechanically it works much like an animal companion. That it is gains power as the noble does and not based on its own experience points.
The professional truly is. They get great skill points, good hit points, good saves, and the ability to enter the “Zone”. The “Zone” is the state of working that they just excel at what they are doing; it works quite similarly to the Barbarian’s Rage. They do not really get much else but it could be a good class for a low magic and or city based games.
The scholar is the skill oriented class. It gains more skill points then the rogue. It also gets less hit points then them as well. They get skill mastery, and abilities that deal with intelligence and skills. They are probably the least combat oriented class but they excel in many other areas. Like most classes this will be useful in low magic but also low combat campaigns.
The bonus material is eight plot seeds and some design notes from the writer. The plots are designed more for characters that are these unlikely heroes then the truly adventurous ones. The design notes are very insightful and I am a big fan of authors who include them.
Unlikely Heroes fill the role of characters from a more normal background adventuring. The classes are mostly well thought out and very interesting. The power level is toned down and rightfully so. With some tweaking these classes would work well in Conan, Slaine, Arcana Unearthed, and other alternative d20 settings. I also really like the options of just buying the classes one wants instead of having to get them all.
