Endzeitgeist
First Post
This pdf consists of 16 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page OGL and 1 page advertisement, leaving 13 pages of gaming material.
First of all, let me explain what or rather who the Wyrd are: To sum it up, they are a crossbreed of elves and ogre-magi that has transcended both of their parental races. (At least in the eyes of the Wyrd!)
The Wyrd are tinged with a foreign, slightly oriental tinge in tone that is expertly conveyed to the inclined reader in the beginning of the pdf. Unlike some companies, Rite Publishing combines the rather dry basic crunch-characteristics of any given race with prose written in-character, which, at least for me, has made reading this pdf much more enjoyable than reading run-of-the-mill race books. The section on the basic Wyrd traits as well as the introductory fluff spans 3 pages.
With regards to the race, the Wyrd are very interesting and predisposed towards casting classes, getting +2 to both Intelligence and Charisma and -2 to Dexterity. They also get a very minor SR, which I was weary of at first. I playtested it, fearing SR with ANY PC race and it actually is not overpowered. Nicely done. At 8th level, not unlike some races in variant settings, the Wyrd gets a late spell-like ability from a restrictive, but neat little list. Again, this did not prove bothersome for me.
However, the Wyrd also get +2 on checks to overcome SR and dispel checks and, depending on the campaign you run, this feature may make them a bit stronger than the PF Core races. In my campaign, where almost all supernatural beasties have SR and PR, the Wyrd but be slightly stronger. If you run a rather normal campaign, you probably won't have that problem.
That being said, let's move on to the racial Paragon Class for the Wyrd. For those unfamiliar with the concept: It's a Prestige Class that hones your racial abilities, making e.g. dwarves even harder, elves even more dextrous and elvish and in this case, making the Wyrd...well. More agile, enabling him to do extreme acrobatics, letting him grow to large and making him more...what is the attribute? Wyrdish? While the abilities are cool, they are balanced with only one good save (Will), a measly d6 hitpoints and only 2+Int Skillpoints per level, thus on the one hand giving the wyrd great abilities and on the other hand preventing him from becoming too powerful. The Paragon Class takes up 1.5 pages.
After that, we get 11 new feats to customize the Wyrd, taking up 2 pages. Some of them serve to either customize your Wyrd at character creation (e.g. with an aquatic elf or drow bloodline) or grant the Wyrd permanent enhancements. The latter may look at first a bit daunting for a DM, however, all of them have the added clause that a certian ingredients have to be acquired first, which I personally think, is a very good idea. There is also a neat metamagic feat called "Programmed Spell" which I'll be using extensively.
The section takes up about 2 pages.
After that, Sorcerors get the new Oni bloodline. While it is concisely designed, it didn't really make me gasp in excitement. 1 page.
After that, though, we get the crown jewel of this pdf, at least in my opinion: The Prestige Class "Whispering Advisor of the Emperor Dragons". Once again, the fluff for this PrC is expertly written and very captivating. In essence, it's a skill/social-monkey class with very innovative abilities at every one of its 5 levels.
Power behind the Throne: Lets you help allies in battle or situations.
Whispered Advice: Use PbtT via whispering wind if you succeed a stealth check
Chosen Loyalty: Insight bonus to saves against charm and compulsion
Trap of Vengeance: Awesome plotdevice, this trap-ability makes use of the vengeful nature of Wyrd (which btw. not vicious but portrayed as reglemented and [mostly] honorable) and is just extremely cool.
Whispers of Despair: Demoralize opponents
I'm usually not into bard-like classes, but this one really made me want to play a whispering advisor. Awesome work! 2 pages.
Finally, the pdf includes 9 new spells, from the AoO-disbaling cantrip to lvl 9 Wave of Petrification, they all have their place in a campaign and are intelligently designed. This section takes up the final 2 and a hlaf pages of the pdf.
Conclusion:
The Wyrd are cool, their culture is imaginative and thinking about the daunting task of converting this once ECL+6 race to PFRPG, I have to admit that Rite Publishing has done an awesome job of not eliminating the flavor and options the race entails and at the same time making sure to keep the race balanced. The PrC is one of the rare instances that really made me want to play a character asap, especially if combined with the racial paragon class.
There is a minor downside to the uniqueness of the Wyrd though: Basically, your campaign world should have both elves or fey and ogre-magi for the race to work best and it would be even better if you had an eastern/oriental-tinged area somewhere on your world. After some thinking (and a suggestion by Steven!), I figured out a way to implement them into my Ravenloft world, so it is possible. However, the race is not wholly plug-and-play: Fluff-wise, you have to think a bit to implement them without losing a part of their uniqueness, but they are worth the effort.
Oh yeah, one last thing: Thankfully, the Wyrd are not a bunch of angsty half-breeds that don't fit with their respective parent race cultures, but have their very own, which they also consider superior to their parent's cultures.
Very refreshing after an army of angsty half-elven Tanis-look-alikes and Half-orc/ogre/troll/dragon/whatever misfits that have plagued fantasy gaming for the last couple of years.
The artwork is nice, I did not notice editing mistakes and while some of the feats were not as awesome as in other Rite racial books, some others were.
In combination with the racial paragon class and the awesome PrC as well as the fact that this race really DOES feel unique, evocative and new, I'll settle for a solid 4 stars with a tendency towards 5.
For the low price, it's definitely worth a peak and makes one anticipate the Questhaven project by Rite even more.
First of all, let me explain what or rather who the Wyrd are: To sum it up, they are a crossbreed of elves and ogre-magi that has transcended both of their parental races. (At least in the eyes of the Wyrd!)
The Wyrd are tinged with a foreign, slightly oriental tinge in tone that is expertly conveyed to the inclined reader in the beginning of the pdf. Unlike some companies, Rite Publishing combines the rather dry basic crunch-characteristics of any given race with prose written in-character, which, at least for me, has made reading this pdf much more enjoyable than reading run-of-the-mill race books. The section on the basic Wyrd traits as well as the introductory fluff spans 3 pages.
With regards to the race, the Wyrd are very interesting and predisposed towards casting classes, getting +2 to both Intelligence and Charisma and -2 to Dexterity. They also get a very minor SR, which I was weary of at first. I playtested it, fearing SR with ANY PC race and it actually is not overpowered. Nicely done. At 8th level, not unlike some races in variant settings, the Wyrd gets a late spell-like ability from a restrictive, but neat little list. Again, this did not prove bothersome for me.
However, the Wyrd also get +2 on checks to overcome SR and dispel checks and, depending on the campaign you run, this feature may make them a bit stronger than the PF Core races. In my campaign, where almost all supernatural beasties have SR and PR, the Wyrd but be slightly stronger. If you run a rather normal campaign, you probably won't have that problem.
That being said, let's move on to the racial Paragon Class for the Wyrd. For those unfamiliar with the concept: It's a Prestige Class that hones your racial abilities, making e.g. dwarves even harder, elves even more dextrous and elvish and in this case, making the Wyrd...well. More agile, enabling him to do extreme acrobatics, letting him grow to large and making him more...what is the attribute? Wyrdish? While the abilities are cool, they are balanced with only one good save (Will), a measly d6 hitpoints and only 2+Int Skillpoints per level, thus on the one hand giving the wyrd great abilities and on the other hand preventing him from becoming too powerful. The Paragon Class takes up 1.5 pages.
After that, we get 11 new feats to customize the Wyrd, taking up 2 pages. Some of them serve to either customize your Wyrd at character creation (e.g. with an aquatic elf or drow bloodline) or grant the Wyrd permanent enhancements. The latter may look at first a bit daunting for a DM, however, all of them have the added clause that a certian ingredients have to be acquired first, which I personally think, is a very good idea. There is also a neat metamagic feat called "Programmed Spell" which I'll be using extensively.
The section takes up about 2 pages.
After that, Sorcerors get the new Oni bloodline. While it is concisely designed, it didn't really make me gasp in excitement. 1 page.
After that, though, we get the crown jewel of this pdf, at least in my opinion: The Prestige Class "Whispering Advisor of the Emperor Dragons". Once again, the fluff for this PrC is expertly written and very captivating. In essence, it's a skill/social-monkey class with very innovative abilities at every one of its 5 levels.
Power behind the Throne: Lets you help allies in battle or situations.
Whispered Advice: Use PbtT via whispering wind if you succeed a stealth check
Chosen Loyalty: Insight bonus to saves against charm and compulsion
Trap of Vengeance: Awesome plotdevice, this trap-ability makes use of the vengeful nature of Wyrd (which btw. not vicious but portrayed as reglemented and [mostly] honorable) and is just extremely cool.
Whispers of Despair: Demoralize opponents
I'm usually not into bard-like classes, but this one really made me want to play a whispering advisor. Awesome work! 2 pages.
Finally, the pdf includes 9 new spells, from the AoO-disbaling cantrip to lvl 9 Wave of Petrification, they all have their place in a campaign and are intelligently designed. This section takes up the final 2 and a hlaf pages of the pdf.
Conclusion:
The Wyrd are cool, their culture is imaginative and thinking about the daunting task of converting this once ECL+6 race to PFRPG, I have to admit that Rite Publishing has done an awesome job of not eliminating the flavor and options the race entails and at the same time making sure to keep the race balanced. The PrC is one of the rare instances that really made me want to play a character asap, especially if combined with the racial paragon class.
There is a minor downside to the uniqueness of the Wyrd though: Basically, your campaign world should have both elves or fey and ogre-magi for the race to work best and it would be even better if you had an eastern/oriental-tinged area somewhere on your world. After some thinking (and a suggestion by Steven!), I figured out a way to implement them into my Ravenloft world, so it is possible. However, the race is not wholly plug-and-play: Fluff-wise, you have to think a bit to implement them without losing a part of their uniqueness, but they are worth the effort.
Oh yeah, one last thing: Thankfully, the Wyrd are not a bunch of angsty half-breeds that don't fit with their respective parent race cultures, but have their very own, which they also consider superior to their parent's cultures.
Very refreshing after an army of angsty half-elven Tanis-look-alikes and Half-orc/ogre/troll/dragon/whatever misfits that have plagued fantasy gaming for the last couple of years.
The artwork is nice, I did not notice editing mistakes and while some of the feats were not as awesome as in other Rite racial books, some others were.
In combination with the racial paragon class and the awesome PrC as well as the fact that this race really DOES feel unique, evocative and new, I'll settle for a solid 4 stars with a tendency towards 5.
For the low price, it's definitely worth a peak and makes one anticipate the Questhaven project by Rite even more.
