In case you don’t know why I am in love with this program, let me take a few moments to tell you. First, I love character creation. I love, if only for a few moments, building the back story and personality of a new character. For a long time, I used to have to build these characters by hand and it would take hours per character with two or three books laying about me. Now it just takes my laptop and about twenty minutes. This has been a huge time saver when making opponent forces for our regular gaming group.

That is another of the wonders of this program. I paid the extra $15 to add the entire Pathfinder Bestiary to my Core Rules (which come with the purchase of the software). So I can now customize almost any creature that I want. I can add hit dice, templates and class levels to whatever creature I would like. So, when the players run into a bearded devil (handily identified by the cleric), they might expect it to have a bleeding attack and that weird beard thing, but they probably wouldn’t expect it to also have a couple of barbarian levels complete with rage abilities. I love the diversity that it allows me to throw at the players, which keeps them on their toes.

I can then take these newly modified monsters and output their created data in lots of useful formats. Obviously there is its own format, but it can easily be saved in XML to be edited later. You can also output the character data as plain text, BBCode, html or WikiText. This format ends up being identical to the format used in the Pathfinder Bestiary. This is super useful if I am running custom bad guys alongside stock monsters.

There is some functionality that I have not attempted to utilize yet. According to the fine folks at Lone Wolf, I can edit pretty much anything in the software to reflect our houserules. For example, at our table we give fighters 4+Int skills per level, rather than 2+Int, and we give extra iterative attacks one point of BAB early. I could go in and make these changes to my software so that it can reflect our table’s preferences. It also is supposed to allow me to custom create classes and creatures. I’ve not needed to do any of that yet, but I like that it is available. However, having not done any of this, I cannot say whether this is a simple and clean process or a cludgy and complex one.

Lastly, Lone Wolf is continually expanding the software and doing so without charging an arm and a leg. At least in my opinion, the software and expansions are very reasonably priced and very simple to acquire. Looking at the post over in Paizo’s forum, you can see what their future plans are for Hero Lab.

In short, I really like this program and I know that it has really enhanced my gaming experience. I don’t have any ties to Lone Wolf or Hero Lab other than being a now loyal customer. You can download and purchase Hero Lab here.

I have spent my time here in Eregant trying to put together the pieces of my now shattered life.  I have been struck blind and, for the first time in my memory, am having to relate my soul to another.  Her name is Daidra and she has become my window back into the world.  Before I can tell that story, I must tell another.

Nearly two hundred years ago, before the invasion of Nagul, two vile peoples met.  Far to the east in the nation of Kami, the great oni peoples took to battle against the bronze elves of Murmanityed.  A heated war raged between the two nations, though over what issue or offense my texts have been unclear.  The Kami were successful in driving the invaders out but not before the elves could strike them at their very core.

The Kami are a very mystical people and do not worship the gods of the west.  Instead they offer their fealty and sacrifices to powerful beings who choose to manifest themselves on this plane as totems and artifacts.  Each city and village has a guardian totem, as does each noble house.  The Murmanityedi knew this and knew the devotion that the people had for them, so they captured one of these spirits to take as a ransom.

They meant it as an effort to turn the invasion back in their favor.  Their clever plan might have worked had the elven couriers arrived to deliver the ransom demands.  Again the records are unclear but the envoy never arrived at the oni general’s camp so the Kami never received the Murmanityedi demands.  What likely would have halted the war enraged it further.  Both sides believed the other barbaric and cowardly and any hope of negotiation and respectable war was lost.

The Kami were able to drive Murmanityed from their lands but the invaders took with them their prize.  I have reasoned that the artifact, a large book, knew what it was doing and allowed itself to be kidnapped.  What happened to this book over the next several decades is a mystery, though I believe the spirit known as Visvatman to have waited quietly, biding his time.  He waited in ambush like a venomous snake.

Visvatman knew that the bronze elves would not worship it but try to wield him as their tool, so he chose not to reveal his power to them.  He made himself as innocuous as possible and was soon relegated to a storeroom in the back of a palace among the other forgotten spoils of war.  For seventy years he plotted in the darkness waiting for a receptive people to liberate it.

These people were the Barlozians.  They stormed the Murmanityed palace and looted its coffers.  Wagons of treasure were hauled back to Perdaith to be sorted and apportioned.  Visvatman saw this as his opportunity to begin his work and brought itself out of hiding.   The archmagis of Barloz saw the raw potential of this artifact but, not knowing its origin or history, he decided that he would have the book copied and studied.  This isn’t exactly what the book had intended.  He could not exert his power through duplicates but he could not erase its contents or he would lose his attachment to this plane.  He could however rearrange its contents obfuscating his true nature and purpose.  The wizards of Barlox, he decided, were too strong of will to fall prey to his charms.  He was also now in a foreign land and needed time to learn the people so that he could discover their wants and desires, their hidden dreams.

The artifact had become known as The Book of Dark Knowledge, as were all of the copies, since it was found among the peoples of the dark tongue.  Copies of the Book were distributed to all of the colleges throughout Barloz to see what new wonders could be extracted from them.  The great thinkers of the country took to pouring over them hoping to unlock the cipher.

Over the next decade wondrous new things were created, the greatest of which were the Crossway Gates, the portals that link the western nations.  Inherent in the very nature of the spirit were the ideas of travel.  Even hidden and obscured, the ability to teleport was written on every page.  Hundreds of other magicks were extracted from its pages but none were as impactful as the Crossway Gates.

The Barlozian king Greco ordered that the original tome be locked away in his vault, to protect it, and that only the copies would be read and distributed.  This angered Visvatman.  He did not want to wait anymore.  Eighty years had passed and he could feel his power slipping away.  He drew up as much power as he could covertly muster to alter his path.  He charmed fate and he was misfiled and another tome was placed in the vault.  He knew not where he would go, only that he would remain free.

The book floated around Barloz for nearly the next half century.  It exchanged hands a dozen times and Visvatman took what power he could from them, but he found them either too dim for his purposes or too set in their ways to be swayed.  The book spent much time in Bardoon before being transported to the temple of Mishya in Mercan.  They had just received a new priest in charge of their archives and he had asked for new texts to be brought in from around the kingdoms.  This priest was me and this is where my story intersects with his.

I was a young man with an insatiable thirst for knowledge but I didn’t have the wisdom to temper it.  The original Book of Dark Knowledge disguised as a copy arrived at my temple and I was immediately drawn to it.  I was the perfect target, though he calls me his protegé.  I was intelligent enough to understand his plans an uncommitted enough to my faith to carry them out.  It pains me to dictate these words, but they are truth.

I have already related the story of my early experiences with the book and the eventual expulsion from my temple, so I will not recount them here.  Just know that none of those events happened without the will of Visvatman having some hand in them.  My adoration of him had given him strength – as my fear of him now does.  Even though I know his true purposes and I feel that I have become his prisoner, parts of me still follow him willingly.  I fear that I am being lead to the slaughter but I continue to follow anyway.

As to how I know my captor’s true intentions, I am now able to tell that story.

While exploring the library here in Eregant with Crebain, a voice came to me.  It introduced itself as Visvatman, a name I had not yet learned.  The voice had a familiar quality to it while being still being entirely alien.  The voice explained that it was the spirit of the book that I carried with me and that it was revealing itself to me because I had passed his tests.  He said that I had seen past his shifting words and through his devious charms.  He claimed to be pleased with me and wished to offer me a “boon”.  He offered to return my mother to me.

I had known my mother only through stories from my father and what vestiges of her had been passed on to my sister.  I knew her to be a quiet, graceful woman who was strong of heart and mind.  Before the final years of his life, my father would often wax poetic about his “sweet Mira”.  In his last year, she had become an obsession for him.  Because she had died giving birth to my sister and me, I never knew her personally but I still loved her dearly.  Often I would sit and wonder wistfully about what she was really like.  I knew that, because she had died a natural death and that nothing now remained of her, I would only be afforded this opportunity if we were to end up in the same afterlife.

My book offered me the ability to change that.  He promised that I would be able to see her again and that I could even speak to her.  He promised that I could do so whenever I wanted and he promised me that I would not be harmed.  I knew Visvatman to be powerful and capable of things nothing else I knew could do.  I probed and questioned him and, as far as I was capable, I deemed him to be dealing with me truthfully.  I have since discovered that his truth was not free of deception.  He had been truthful to me because he knew the explicit assumptions I would make and the questions I would never ask.  I have long suspected that I would find my final destination to be one of the hellish afterlives but never had I considered that she would.

My father had told me how my mother had been a follower of the war gods.  She was of the house of the great general Salawin and his family would follow them.  It seems, however, that Ulmira had a darker side.  She had a quick and calculating mind and loved puzzles and mysteries.  This lead her to begin to dabble in the realm of Hylarr.  The goddess specializes in the greatest puzzle of all, a puzzle in which the pieces are actively resisting being put in their places.  At first it was just a small trick here and a harmless deception there and soon she became hooked, trying to make more intricate and complex plots and increasingly dangerous scenarios.  Her capture by the Jarls and rescue by my father were a result of one of her plots.  Her entire marriage to my father, it seems, was a failed ploy to manipulate the entire royal house of Aligindel.  She had become a secret high priestess of the goddess of the moon during this time.  Olwyrd herself had promised my mother that the greatest manipulation of the age would be hers.

My mother was told that her death would come with the birth of her children and that her death would drive her husband mad.  She was told that his madness would cause the destruction of Firforge and would open Barloz to invasion from the east.  This invasion would destabilize the nation and the aid offered by Spaartha and Aruthien would result in the division of Barloz between the two liberators.  The former Barlozians would eventually rebel against their occupiers and that would further destabilize the western kingdoms.  Olwyrd promised her that the far reaching effects of the plan were beyond understanding but that she would be the lynch pin to it all; she could die knowing that her actions would manipulate entire nations.

With this, my mother’s fate was sealed.  I now know her fate firsthand because Visvatman brought her to me.  Or rather, he brought me to her.  For the last thirty and more years she has dwelt in the realm of Hylarr.  Though I had hoped that she would be able to return with me, I knew that it could not be so, but I had not prepared myself for what I would experience.  I do not think any mortal is capable of preparing themselves.  My sight became filled with blackness and then with a confusing landscape of wonder and despair.  It was still and littered with soft pinpricks of light.  All around me I could hear the rasped breathing of the insane.

I was brought to my mother.  She lay curled on a stone whimpering, long dry of tears.  She was surrounded by comforts and riches that would be the envy of any living person but she would have none of them.  She would not even touch the food offered her even though she was gaunt with starvation.  I tested the cushions and they were soft and warm.  I sampled the food and it was delicious and filling.  I tried to comfort my mother as she murmured to herself but she could not be consoled.  She kept reminding herself that these pleasures around her were not real, that they were another trick.  She refused my aid and raved at me calling me a “spectre” and a “ghost” and telling me that I was not going to fool her again.

That was when I knew.  She had tried all her life to manipulate others into being her pawns and now she was doomed to a life where she was so paranoid that others will do the same to her that she refuses even the truth and goodness offered to her.  I was awash with more pity and anguish for her than I had ever felt for any being in the whole of existence.  I wanted to leave and I bid Visvatman take me home.  But he would not.

Rather, he revealed to me that I could not leave by any effort of my own.  I had accepted his “gift” and he would release me whenever he saw fit.  Even now my eyes are filled with the plush prison my mother had locked herself into.  I thank Mishya that my ears no longer have to suffer my mother’s sobs while I stood impotent to help.

I began by stating that I knew Visvatman’s purposes for me.  He tires of his parchment cage and has fought from himself a new host.  When he arrived in the west a century ago he realized that we held no respect for objects but praised only their makers.  He now intends to break  me down , hollow me out, to make me an acceptable vessel for him.  He has given me full knowledge of this because he knows that I can do nothing about it.  No mortal can cure me of this living hell and it is only a matter of time before it eats away my soul.  I know that even death is not an escape because I know that a fate worse than Ulmira’s awaits me.

I write, or rather dictate, knowing full well that my only hope is oblivion and Visvatman has promised that to me.  It is a sad day when the thought of oblivion warms your heart.

-M.E. via Daidra Iascaire

As you might already be aware, full-casters are generally much more powerful than non-casters and druids are pretty solidly powerful, even among full-casters.  Pathfinder has done well (in my opinion) of powering down druids, but one-on-one, a druid is still more powerful than an evenly leveled fighter.  The animal companion plus summoning spells make them a more than formidable adversary.  So why bother with fighters when you can just raise armies of druids (and clerics and wizards)?

Our first problem when answering this question is that, in Pathfinder, your basic NPCs are given the stat array 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8 with no mention of how those stats should be best arranged.  With this we concluded that it is more-or-less evenly distributed, with one in six people having any particular stat be that 13.   Since a 13 wisdom will let you cast 3rd level spells as a druid or cleric, wouldn’t 16% of the population be prime candidates for militarized divine spellcasting? And another 16% primed to be wizards?

The second problem we run into is that we have no built in controls on how common the various heroic PC classes are.  The rules make vague statements that most people fall into one of the NPC classes (commoner, warrior, expert, aristocrat and adept) but there is no hard and fast rule saying that they can’t be of heroic PC classes.  Gone are the 1e days of stat requirements to play classes (17 charisma to be a paladin, anyone?) so why not take a level in ranger or barbarian or fighter instead of warrior?  Why not take cleric levels instead of  adept?  What makes the NPCs take NPC classes?

This kind of thinking leads toward an end that we, as our gaming group, do not desire: the Tippyverse.  If you frequent the Giant in the Playground message boards, you may have heard of the DnD universe created by the poster Emperor Tippy.  For those of you who haven’t heard, this thread explains it relatively well.  Basically it is a world were RAW is Law and the logical extensions of a world wherein magic exists and costs nothing but time and coin are explored.  It’s a magocracy to the Nth degree.  Our group does not want this.  So how do we fix it?

My first solution to this conundrum was to decide that the stat arrays were not evenly distributed.  In a pseudo-medieval society, your basic person is going to be best served by a high constitution.  Yes in a magical setting, clerics, bards, druids and adepts exist and can cast curative spells, but they aren’t around all the time and not every midwife has levels in them.  People die from injury and disease.  Those who have that 8 in constitution are much more likely to die than the ones with their 13 there.  Secondly, because every street corner doesn’t have a wizard on it offering to solve your problems with a few arcane spells, manual labor still needs to be done.  Fields need to be plowed; tools need to be made; things need to be lifted and carried; a decent strength score is probably well prized among the common folk.  Essentially, natural selection has made it such that the stat arras are skewed towards the physical stats rather than the mental ones.

The second solution that I arrived on (which still is contended by Wolfgod) is that the PC classes are just less common.  My reasoning is that, even though as players we think, “I want to be a cleric” or “I’d like to play a barbarian this time”, the people in the world don’t make that conscious decision.  They simply do stuff and then their actions are translated into classes, feats, skills and such as best modeled by the rules.  The rules of the game, as I see them, are like the laws of physics in our world.  Physics does not force an object to fall when I drop it.  Physics describes how the object fell and can help me predict what other falling objects will do based on centuries of data.  In the same way, being a fighter or cleric or druid was not a conscious decision by the character, but rather a reflection of the decisions that he made in his life.  With this outlook in mind, the NPC classes are just easier to fall into.  It’s easier for your average soldier to have made decisions that made him a warrior instead of a fighter or for your skillful NPC to be an expert rather than a rogue.  My basic viewpoint is that not all priests are clerics and not all soldiers are fighters.  Most are NPCs and a select few are specialized PC classes.

With these two constraints in mind, we have gone to building the various armies.  We are still hammering out the finer points and balance issues, but our basic conclusion was that the vast majority of an army needs to be made up of rank-and-file guys with spears (or swords or whatever) and that spell slingers are a small minority.  We are setting a fluid limit of no more than 5-10% of your force can be casters and I would eventually like to see a rule that states how many of your infantry need to be warriors instead of fighters/rangers/barbarians/paladins.

If you have any comments or advice on how best to achieve our desired low-medium magic world, I’d love to hear them.  We are always looking to make our world fit our vision for it and would like to have reasons why it has developed and remained that way.

Prince Edelbrock, one of my frequent traveling companions, had asked us to return to his homeland with him so that he might deal with his father.  The people of Mastillan revere nature rather than the gods and it seems that having a son who is a Chosen of Mishya was somehow an shame for King Tharbrek.  Even an embarrassing son, it seems, will be called home in a time of dire need.  There was great trouble within the king’s borders and he wanted his son home to deal with it.

Our companions assembled east in the nation of Hold Dane where we picked up two new companions, a barbaric warrior and a paladin of Cheleria.  They, along with our normal troupe, continued westward to the city of Sark.  En route we are ambushed by a band of minotaur.  They seemed to be waiting for us and had hidden themselves in a herd of aurochs.  The battle was as protracted as I have seen with this group.  This was not because of any failing on my part or any of my companions, but due to the sheer number of the beasts.

When the last monster fell, we patched ourselves up and soldiered onward.  We arrived at our destination for the night and decided to purchase rooms at the inn.  While it was after dark, we decided that we should have a nicely cooked meal on real plates with a decent wine.  The rangers may know well how to catch and dress game, but their skills as cooks leaves much to be desired.  As we sat and waited for our food, two young footpads approached.  Foolhardy, they tried to lift the purses of two of my companions.

It had been a long day and I was in no mood to any more drama.  As the inn was inside the hollow of a great tree and we were well within druid territory, I thought it appropriate to bring the tree to life and simply hold everyone in place.  One of the two cutpurses was held fast but the other managed to escape into the cellar.  He was soon rooted out and the purses returned.  He also had on him an item of great worth: a ring which can turn its wearer invisible.  Rath excised it from him as punishment.  He also, in an effort to re-educate the wayward lads, took them to a priest to have them atoned.

The next day we set out for and arrived at the capitol city of Gilifar.  We were met by the king and portions of the druid council.  The offered us hospitality – at least to those who would declare their heritage.  This is a common custom in Mastillan, but one that I find very invasive.  Not one to speak falsely but not being willing to reveal my secret, I remained silent.  They rest of my companions, however, chose to introduce themselves properly.  It was then vaguely explained to us the problem facing the king.  I do not believe the explanation went how King Tharbrek expected.

In Mastillan there is a secret mine, guarded by a secret sect of druids.  Its location is known but to a few.  In this mine are incredible veins of adamantine, the mining of which is strictly regulated.  Metal, however, is not all that this mine contains, it seems.  Recently, fiendish creatures and bands of minotaur have been assaulting out of the cavern entrance and it had to be sealed.  The king wished us to investigate for him.  This, however, is when contention began.  They wanted us to go and clear the mine for them but they would not trust us to know where the mine was actually located.  This greatly upset Rath and Alder.  After many cross words, we finally agreed to the king’s restrictions and prepared to enter the cave on the next day.

We were teleported to the entrance of the cavern where we were met by a trio of druids, one of them a firbolg.  She removed the great stone blocking the mouth of the cave complex and a rope was lowered to the cavern floor.  Against my own protests, I was convinced to not simply fly down but to reserve my magical energies and climb the rope.  I was predictably and unceremoniously dumped onto the pile of rubble beneath the entrance when my grip gave out.  The group stifled their laughter, less for my benefit and more to keep any nearby creatures who might intend us harm from being given more warning than necessary of our arrival.

It didn’t take long until we found just such creatures.  A pack of minotaur were patrolling near the entrance but were somehow unaware of our presence.  Using his recently gained invisibility ring, Rath snuck up on the group while the rest of us hung back.  When the time seemed right, we launched our attack.  However, the situation we thought to our advantage turned out to be a trap.  As two of our member rushed across a thin natural bridge over a swift moving subterranean river, one of the beasts activated a device which dropped the bridge with my two friends in the icy water.  The pack of beasts quickly split to flank our bewildered party.

Knowing that I stood no chance against these massive, axe-wielding monsters, I quickly took to the air and offered my support from over the center of the cavern pool.  Having lost our tactical advantage, the minotaur were beginning to harry my companions.  The tense battle raged for what seemed like hours though I know it to have been less than minutes.  Our group was able to triumph in the end, but not without taking several brutal wounds.  Trapped in the cave now, we began our search for somewhere that would be a defensible place to rest.

We were able to find a small alcove in the cave, with only two small entrances.  It would be many hours before Athelas could perform his rituals to regain his blessings from Athor, his god.  In the mean time, Rath and Miach, two of the King’s Rangers from Aruthien, scouted the immediate vicinity.  I had found enough to spark my interest right there in our alcove.  The walls had been covered in ancient carvings.  The language was some hybrid of the Dark Tongue of so many of the vile residents of this world and Arcane Naduumian, the language of the ancient vile peoples of this world.  I already knew that this cave would hold no good news but this brought a true sense of foreboding to me.

We spent the night (if such a distinction can be made in this sunless world) in an extradimensional space provided by the wizardess Holly.  In the morning, with much caution, we ventured deeper into the cavern system.  It was not long until the natural rock of the cave began to turn into worked stone.  I had read myths of an ancient civilization lost in this area before the current peoples had settled here.  It seem that those legends contained at least a thread of truth.  We had stumbled onto an underground city the seemed more than abandoned.  It seemed picked clean.

Immediately on our guard, we progressed forward into the narrow and labyrinthine ruined city.  We cautiously peered around every corner before continuing, expecting something to jump out at us.  Our fears were soon confirmed.  The ancient city’s walls were pocked with small holes, about the size of a child’s head.  Inside each one was something much more sinister than a child.  The former residents of this city had not truly left so much as they had devolved.  What were once brilliant architects and engineers were now savage morlocks waiting in ambush for their next meal.  A small group attacked us as we entered the town square.  They were quickly dispatched.  Knowing that there would be more of them, Holly devised a plan to lure them out.

She conjured an illusion of a cat and sent it walking down the street we had to follow next.  Every starving morlock burst forth from their holes along the ruined street trying futilely to capture the illusory feline.  Holly them smote them all with a searing bolt of lightning.  The warriors mopped up the few survivors as they tried to flee for their lives.  I felt pity for the creatures.  Hunger and darkness had driven them mad, not evil.  But in the world that I keep being drawn into, it seems to be kill or be killed.  Morality and compassion seem to have little place.  Even our priest of Athor, a deity of pure goodness and light, takes no qualm in bringing these creatures low.

The city was well suited for its morlock inhabitants but was less so for us surface dwellers.  It took us some time to navigate our way through the crumbling streets.  Our previous actions seemed to have warned off any further ambushes.  Leaving the city lead us to the mine proper.  We had come upon an old elevator and the remnants of the mining camps.  Rotted wood and rusted tools were not all we found though.  Ominous noises from the shaft greeted us too.  Again we prepared ourselves for battle.

Up from the elevator shaft crawled two huge minotaur, larger than any I had yet seen.  Prepared, the steel of my companions tore into their thick hides.  Not a moment after the initial clash, a fell beast flew up out of the abyss below.  It seems that whatever was afoul in these mines had to deal with the infernal.  A minotaur, corrupted by the lower planes,  took flight in the lofty cavern.  His bruisers on the ground kept us busy while he harried us from the sky.  He slung his foul magicks at us and I did my best to counter him.  Bringing his guards low, we were able to wound him enough to force him into a retreat.  I knew then that this would not be the last we’d see of him.

We ventured further down into the mine.  I had learned from my previous attempts at manually scaling rock faces and chose to ensure my safety with a little magic.  The mine shaft brought us into an even more magnificent cavern than the ones before.  The ceiling was carpeted with a luminous fungus that gave the whole chamber an otherwordly blue-green glow.  The cavern was also lined with raised platforms where some unknown agriculturalist was raising mushrooms and mosses.  While I stood in wonder at the glory of the vault, our more pragmatic ranger scouted ahead.

He returned when he had encountered something that he could not identify.  As soon as I stopped looking and began to listen, my blood turned.  I heard the maddening cackle of a gibbering beast.  I had read tales of spelunkers happening upon these quivering masses and being driven insane by them.  Knowing that I preferred to retain my full faculties – though I wonder about some of my companions – and that our mission was crucial enough to warrant their mental safety, I encouraged my companions to make haste and leave the chamber before the aberrant beast was upon us.

We fled into an elevated room and, due to its use and its markings, we knew it near our final destination.  Peering over the ledge with rimmed the access to the lower level, we saw several figures but more ominously we saw a nearly completed gate.  To which plane this gate lead, I am uncertain but I would stake my soul that it was not to the realms of the generous gods.  Our archer began picking away at the stone with his adamantium tipped arrows, gouging out days of their nefarious progress.  This, predictably, incited them and we steeled ourselves once more for combat.

Fire burst forth from the opening, burning all who were nearby.  Moments later another.  All who had missiles returned fire and then drew swords as beasts began lumbering from the darkness.  A half dozen minotaur  emerged and combat was quickly engaged.  Three of the lot had been tainted by the infernal contact and took to the air on great leathery wings.  With great effort and only through working in concert we were able to bring down each of the fiends.  Brutally wounded, we knew that the war was not over.  We had not but a moment to catch our breath when a dark robed bronze elf rose up out of the gap in the floor.

Whoever he was, he was powerful.  None of us could resist his spells, nor could we penetrate his.  Though I hold very little stock in it, I do believe that it was luck the victory that dark day.  One of Miach’s arrows struck home and sent the wizard plummeting a dozen fathoms to the stone below.  We held for some time, unsure of what else was lurking, waiting for us to drop our guard.

When enough time had passed, Rath, Braden and I descended into the lowest cavern to remove all the work these monstrous beasts had wrought.  The rogue Braden also helped himself to several ingots of adamantine ore.  With things cleared and returned to as normal as a morlock-infested minotaur den can be, we returned to the surface to inform the druid council of the situation beneath their feet.

When we surfaced, we were greeted by Edelbrock and a firbolg druid who escorted us back to the palace.  Obviously the Favored of Mishya had settled things with the worshipers of Seiba’s hand.  Tharbrek and his council were grateful for our assistance and seem to take take grave our warning.  Their borders would not long be safe.  The cavern dwellers were in league with the bronze elves and with Manath.  It would not be long before the emperor made another move.

The king rewarded each of us with a nation’s worth in refined adamantium and offered each of us honorary positions int he Mastillan military.  Fully half of our members accepted the mark of the auroch.  I was among those who declined.  I am not a military man and I do not believe I will ever become used to the bloodshed that is so commonplace to the others.

From Mastillan we each parted and went our separate ways.  I remained with the druids for a few more days.  I had learned that the druids had the ability to open the eyes and minds of animals, giving them the wits of any humanoid.  I have had with me, ever since that fateful day in Mercan, a raven.  The bird was not magically compelled to me or in any way magically attached like a familiar is to an arcanist.  I had named him Crebain and taught him my mother’s tongue.  He had been such a good friend to me, filling my dark and sullen life with a modicum of joy.

I meant to give him a gift.  A selfish gift, I’ll admit, but a gift nonetheless.  I asked one of the druids to teach me how to awaken my friend and , after several days, I was finally successful.  Crebain explains that his mind was suddenly unclouded and he was able to understand and connect things like never before.  The way that I understand it is almost as if a great sobriety had come over him, a sobriety that had always existed in him that he was only now able to access.

I have not been in Eregant but a day and my avian friend is pestering me to take him to the libraries.  On the voyage over, I was able to teach him the basics of several of my most commonly used languages.  As we had exhausted the written resources I carried with me, he wants to go and practice with new material.  I am nearly as eager to explore their archives.  The excitement and freshness of my companion has renewed my vigor.  I envision great things for my time here and for Crebain’s future.

-M.E.

I made a couple of assumptions about the various characters involved. The baseline character was a level 5 commoner with all 10s in his stats. It doesn’t matter what his profession is (farmer, baker, librarian, sailor, etc.), he’s just a basic laborer. With two skill points in Profession(X), your average worker can earn 9 gold a week, which is 468 gold over the course of a year. Subtracting the price of a loaf of bread a day, two hunks of meat and two hunks of cheese a week, Average Joe nets 116 gold a year. This will buy him a masterwork tool and a new set of clothes every year with a couple of coins left over for a pint or two a week to forget the fact that he’s a commoner.

Next we’ll take a look at your average performer. In a decent sized city, a street performer who has specialized in his trade (full ranks, skill focus, masterwork item and a +2 CHA) can command a +15 to his skill check at level 5. This nets him 3.5 gold per day, 1278 gold per year (assuming he works every single day). Dropping 100 gold on a masterwork performing item, he can afford a “good” meal and a pitcher of wine every day and still have 922 gold to buy himself a villa with.

Now let’s take a look at a blacksmith. I am assuming here that our master craftsman is able to sell every item he makes. Also, since he could make any of the dozens of weapons or armors, I’m going to give an average weaponsmith and an average armorsmith. Your “average” weapons costs 32.5 gold (and is a martial weapon) and your average armor costs 259 gold. The “average” weapon nets the weaponsmith 21.6 gold per unit. He can make 2 units per week with his +15 to crafting (and using the accelerated crafting DC). Your average skilled weaponsmith can net himself 2246 gold per year. The “average” armor nets the armorsmith 172.6 gold per suit. It takes him 2.7 weeks to create a suit and, since the crafting rules are based on one check per week, this means he can make 17 suits a year. With this your average skilled armorsmith can net himself 2934 gold per year. He does pretty well for himself.

If we take a look at your average alchemist (with the same skill bonus as the blacksmith), his typical fare costs 31.8 gold, which nets him 21.2 gold per item. He can make two alchemical items per week, just like the weaponsmith, which garners him 2204.8 gold per year. He does have to buy a 200 gold alchemist lab to do this, so he’s slightly worse off than the blacksmiths, who only have to spend 100 gold for their specialty items.

Now, we have the weird one. The guys who make the random gear that fills up the rest of the equipment table, like ladders and nails and cloth bags. Since I don’t want to have to divide each of those various categories up into their component craft skills (leather, wood, fabric, glass, pottery, etc.) I’m just going to find an average sundry item and assume the maker has the appropriate skill, feat and item. Since these are relatively more common folk, I’m only giving them a +1 INT, which nets them a +14 to their skill. The average sundry item costs 41.3 gold (since spy glasses and water clocks are so expensive) which nets the crafter 27.5 gold per item. Since he can make one item per week (actually, one every 4 days but the craft rules are weird), your general crafter makes 1430 gold per year. This puts him slightly above your common laborer.

Incidentally, an apprentice to any of the various crafters (who, by RAW, has no ranks in a craft skill) only makes 36.5 gold per year. He had better be juggling on the weekends if he wants to survive.

Now,  before you say that level 5 is pretty high for a commoner, I did the math for a level 2 farmer. He earns 416 gold per year.

The numbers for the crafters would change considerably, since their craft bonus would drop from a +15 to a +12 and, with average rolls, put them out of range of accelerated crafting.

If you go with crafting by the day instead of by the week, our level 2 weaponsmith can make a weapon every 5 days. This earns him 1554.9 gold per year, assuming he sells all his weapons. Let’s say he has a military contract in a martial state. If you don’t allow crafting by the day, he can make one weapon a week, which cuts his potential income down to 1107.6 gold per year.

As for our armorsmith, at level 2, it takes him 5.2 weeks to make a suit of armor. If you allow crafting by the day, this lets him make 10 suits of armor per year and a potential income of 1726 gold. If he crafts by the week, he can make 8 suits per year, which 1380.8 gold per year. Both still set him well above the commoner and his “profession” skill.

Our alchemist was already unable to do accelerated crafting, so he’s not as bad off. He still makes 2 items a week, or one item every 4 days. With weekly crafting, he can earn 2204.8 gold per year (the same we will 3 levels from now) and with daily crafting he makes slightly less, at 1934.5 gold per year. This seems slightly curious to me, but alchemy is a weird science.

Our level 2 sundry item maker can still accelerated craft, since his average of 21 to his skill check puts him 10 over the average skill check needed for the average sundry item (can I say “average” again?). He makes an item every 5 days, or one a week, depending on which rules you want to use. With weekly wages he makes 1430 gold per year and with daily wages he can make up to 2007.5 gold per year. At lower levels, furnishing the general store is potentially better than forging armor or weapons.

If you exclude the spy glass maker and the water clock maker, the numbers drop significantly. The average price of a sundry item drops from 41.3 gold per item to 12.7 gold per item and nets our item maker only 8.5 gold per unit. However, since the value of the item went down, the crafting time also went down. He can now craft an item every 3 days, or 3 per week, depending on how you want to do the math. Weekly wages earn him 1326 gold per year and daily wages earn him 1028.5 gold per year. He is still significantly better off than the commoner.

Because I split the water clock and spy glass makers out of the sundry items group, I figure I should calculate their wages too. Each craftsman can make one of their items every 24 weeks, or about 2 per year. Earning 666.6 gold per unit, they make 1333.2 gold per year. Pretty comfortable living, compared to the common item maker.

And now to our journeyman juggler. With his +12 skill bonus, he can only manage a “great” performance every day, rather than a “memorable” one. He averages 1.65 gold per day, and assuming he juggles everyday for a year, he can earn 602.25 gold per year. Ouch. This cuts his wages more than in half. He’s barely better off than the industrious farmer, or the sailor who risks his life at sea or the baker who makes the bread he can barely afford.

Our apprentice crafter, with no ranks in a crafting skill, still only makes 36.5 gold per year. Perhaps he should be crafting spoons and lanterns instead.

The Royalty of Aruthien by way of the ranger Rath had asked us to sail south to Caliban to help the Queen Lysa and her people who were fleeing the army of Manath.  The call went out and we collected ourselves for our venture towards the Veil.

We arrive in Port Last as several of the refugee ships were beginning to unload.  It seems that King Resolute and his army had stayed back in order to buy his people the time to escape.  His valor had cost him and his men their lives, but it did allow his people to board their ships.  We had not been in port more than an hour when the Queen requested our special aid.  It seems that their fool king had ridden into battle with an ancient artifact and that this item needed to be returned to the queen as soon as possible.

Alder, and Aligendelite noble, agreed to the task – as did Athelas, Braden and the wizardess Holly – out of some noble inclination of the goodness of his heart.  I agreed because of how close it would take us to the edge of the veil.  No scribe had yet ventured and returned with any information on this mysterious barrier surrounding Manath’s lands.  Rath had been specifically ordered to help with the refugees, so he remained in port while the rest of us headed southward.

Our pilot would only take us so far down the Blood Shoals and soon we had to deship and travel overland to the site of the battle.  We arrived at dusk and decided that traveling under cover of darkness was our safest option.  I do believe that we were mistaken.

Not far from the coast was a set of ruins that emitted an ominous green glow.  Despite my cautions, the party decided to search them for clues.  Predictably, it was not long before some creature ambushed us.  Somewhat to my surprise, some sort of incorporeal undead were the aggressors.  They apparently had reacted to Alder’s noble insignia.  The fight was short and intense, as I am finding many of them to be.  The wraith had wounded Alder’s very core in the fray and he would need restorative magic eventually.  Again, against my cautions, the group decided to press onward.

We had barely left the ruins when we were confronted by a Manath patrol.  Unable to think quickly enough, we triggered an attack.  After a few moments of battle, it became apparent this patrol’s leader was not a bronze elf, as I had assumed.  She was a medusa, whose gaze could turn to stone.  It wasn’t long after I realized this that her cold stare caught mine, and I was petrified.  The account from here is second hand, as I did not return to my senses until we had arrived back in Port Last.

Athelas, whose story I most trust, said that Holly was also rendered immobilized by the medusa’s stare.  However, the patrol and its monstrous leader were dispatched.  The three remaining adventurers pressed onward to the battle site where they were attacked by a kyton.  Her chains were fierce but alone she was no match for the three of them.  They were able to find the king’s horse and a chalice in one of the saddle bags.  I am sure that there is much more that happened during this time but Athelas is a man of few words.

Upon return to Port Last, my stony imprisonment was reversed, as was Holly’s.  For reasons I still do not fully understand, Athelas had Holly’s cat transformed into a dragon for the lesser part of an hour.  Also, while returning to our ship to sail back to Caliban, I was made to touch the chalice.  This rendered me unconscious and I saw a dim vision.  Of what, I cannot be sure.  The other claimed to receive messages from relatives and even divine beings.

After arrived in Caliban, we relayed the news to the queen.  We also divulged some information regarding the chalice.  It was said that if the King of Ehrenland were to place it in a temple of goodness, that his country would be blessed.  As Ehrenland currently has no one claiming the throne, Athelas requested – as Ehrenlanders do, that is – that the chalice be brought to Doomsbridge, its rightful home.  He offered any who would come as safe a haven as Ehrenland could offer.

Thousands of refugees took the offer, as did Queen Lysa and her remaining family.  I too chose to join them.  Ostensibly it was to aid the sick and to properly establish temples, but my true intent – when the work was done – was to see the world inside the closed borders and to meet the almost mythical Den, former king of Ehrenland.

I have been able to now do both.  I return to the temples soon to continue my tutelage under Den.  I have had little time or desire to do much else but learn from him.  There might be a reason that Ehren books are written on trees: what they have to say, when they say it, is often worth listening to.

-M.E.

In short: The Summoner acts somewhat like the arcane version of the Druid.  Instead of an animal companion, however, he has a mutated Outsider called a Eidolon.  The Eidelon can appear in one of three forms: quadruped, biped, or serpentine.  Every level, the summoner can spend evolution points on the Eidelon to give them any number of abilities such as flight, tentacles, poison, or extra limbs.  The Summoner also gains the ability to cast Summon Monster as a spell-like ability, gaining the ability to cast higher incarnations of that spell as he levels.  To round things out, the Summoner has a small spell list, and 1d8 HD.

My Playtest builds: Our plan was to run some combat at level 10, and some at level 15.  Other group members took the other new classes, and we built them with a standardized stat array and set amount of equipment.  I went about creating my Summoner and his pet Eidolon.  The Summoner is a CHA-based caster, so I went with a Halfling.  I rolled really well on my HD, so I started with 96 HP.  Pretty good, for a caster.  The Eidolon is a couple levels behind me, having only 8HD at level 10.  He gets 1d10 HD, though, so he was pretty tough.  The first time around, I chose the serpentine form for the higher DEX.  I used the evolutions to give him wings, a breath weapon, and some arms.  Soon, I realized I was creating Trogdor.  So, that is what he got called the rest of the night.  His build didn’t work out too well the first time around, so I had Wolfgod rebuild him tougher for level 15.  This time, he was a huge-sized biped with massive amounts of hit points and extra reach.  At level 10, my Summoner was able to cast Summon Monster V as a spell-like ability, and he was able to cast Summon Monster VIII at level 15.  The spell-like abilities can be cast 3 + CHA modifier times per day.  Also, using Summon in this manner allows the spells to stay active minutes per level instead of rounds per level.  However, the Summoner can only have one Summon spell-like ability active at any given time.  The Summoner also has the Summon spell on his spell list, but it trails behind the spell-like abilities by a few levels.  At 10th level, the highest Summon spell on my spell list was Summon Monster IV, and at 15th my highest was Summon Monster V.

Combat Summary: For our first 10th level fight, we took on 3 fire giants.  We dispatched them rather quickly, without too much effort.  The next fight was supposed to be much harder — a fight against a CR16 Ancient Black Dragon.  We got owned.  Not just owned, pwned.  The Eidolon failed his save vs fear, and kept failing it.  The high point was when my summoner had all of his high-level Summon‘s in play, and relied on a Summon Monster IV Hound Archon to flank.  The dragon then tried to teleport out, but got bitten on the butt by my Hound Archon (he only hit on 20′s), which prevented the dragon from teleporting out.  Then, he proceeded to crit again the next round.  For our last fight, we were up against 5 demons — – 3 Vrocks, a Nalfeshnee, and something else (I don’t remember).  The Eidolon soaked up damage and blocked against charges, and a Greater Earth Elemental was called to do some damage to a caster across the map.  That encounter was relatively easy.

My Impressions: I enjoyed playing him, but eventually came to the conclusion that the Summoner is too powerful.  My Summoner never actually got into combat, despite his high amount of HP.  The class could easily be split in half, giving one version the Summon Monster spell-like abilities, and the other gets the Eidolon, and both options would still be slightly overpowered.  That’s when you know you have an overpowered class — when even half of it is too powerful.  The Summoner is essentially a walking party in himself, for he can easily summon a creature to perform whatever action needs to be performed.  Who needs a cleric when you can summon an Archon?  Who needs a rogue when you can summon a dire weasel to trigger all the traps for you?

I didn’t take an in-depth look at this, but the summoner seems more powerful than the Druid.  The Druid may be similar in base progression and raw ability, but he doesn’t have the same scalability.  The druid’s animal companion is similar to the Eidolon in HD, but is usually a non-magical beast, and doesn’t have near the same versatility.  The Druid can summon beasts of a slightly higher level, but the magical side of the Eilodon and Summon spell-like abilities of the Summoner still tip the scales in their favor.  The Druids get Wild Shape, but still, that would put them in harm’s way instead of staying out of the way like the Summoner.

Also, the Eilodon is needlessly complex and somewhat silly.  I would have preferred to be able to call a specific elemental as a swift action, instead of having a lumbering, tentacled thing following me around all day (the Eidolon takes 1 minute to summon, so it’s not like you can wait until you’re in combat).  Sure, it’s good to have a large, customized beast on your side, but not necessary.  In one combat, my Eidolon failed a saving throw after he had been buffed, and spent the rest of the combat invisible, immune to acid damage, and cowering in fear.

We like the summoner overall, it just needs to be pared down some.

Can’t I just cast like everybody else?

On paper, the Alchemist looked interesting – bomb-throwing, funny-sounding infusions, lots of custom rules.  Basically, it’s a replacement Bard – a limited arcane caster (who doesn’t *really* cast as such, he brews) who operates as a support character with some combat capabilities delineated later.   I skimmed all the classes and the Alchemist was the one I decided I wanted to playtest.

In practice, it gave me a headache.  I understand the urge to build a non-casting caster, but I ended up having to study for some time just to figure out how to make the class work.  (Not study to optimize, just to play, and I’ve played a lot of classes).

Mutagens – wouldn’t touch them.  I’m sure some players will want to build a self-only casting physical-stat booster who wades into melee despite a medium BAB, simple weapons and light armor – but not me.   (Also, I think there are other classes that probably do this better).

The few options to build a party-support character seemed weak – blade poison isn’t that great after low levels and being able to cast my spells into little infusions so other characters could drink ‘em later seemed clumsy at best.

So I built a Mad Bomber.  The Bomb options are kind of neat, though I wish they were a little more divided into Discoveries that Stack and Discoveries that Don’t Stack.  As it is, part of your Discovery stacks, but not the rest … headache.  Bomb damage is about the same as a Rogue’s sneak attack, but is a tad easier to deliver since it’s a Touch Attack and doesn’t require special conditions.  On the other hand, for most of your Alchemist career you can throw one Bomb as a standard action and are kind of wimpy.  I spent the level 10 Playtests wandering around trying to be relevant and getting killed.  I’m pretty sure my level 7 Ranger in our usual Campaign could take this guy at level 10.

That said, in the level 15 playtest I became a B-52.  I could throw bombs equal to my BAB, and with Rapid Shot and Haste (assuming both are legal) I could throw 5 bombs a round – at that level, 40d6+45, all touch attacks, with me needing to roll a 2+ with all but the last bomb against the big demons we were killing.  Considering I could throw various damage types, I could literally carpet-bomb big enemies and kill their sidekicks with spash damage.  At the moment it felt cool because I could finally do something useful, but in hindsight, that’s a tremendous amount of damage output.  (I can’t keep it up long because I only had 24 bombs per day, but still … until I run outta bombs, it’s evil.)

Casting was frustrating.  Because I hadn’t taken the ability to make my personal spells usable by others, I literally could do nothing to help my friends in battle and often couldn’t be effective myself, because I couldn’t hang in melee, had to get close to toss bombs, and couldn’t buff or heal my friends when they needed.  Even if I had been able to infuse my ‘spells’ for use by others, they still had to waste actions drinking them.  Any other buff caster would be better.  I did my most useful actions UMDing wands to help my allies, which was lame.

Recommendations and Thoughts:

I did like the class concept, even though it’s not very high-fantasy – still, a mad bomber is a fun idea, and though I didn’t use it, the Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde mutagen build was at least amusing.

Make NO bomb discovery stack with any part of any other.  Make all the things that modify Bomb abilities that stack into feats – so I can get the increased splash radius or smoke or rapid-fire or whatever as feats.  (I didn’t need many feats, because few of them help me throw bombs, and I’m not REALLY a caster …)

Please, please make the Alchemist a standard caster.  It’s OK to know some magic in order to perform Alchemy.  If you cast like an underpowered wizard, you could use Metamagic feats and items and would be governed by all the ‘normal’ magic rules.  This would make for a much shorter, less complicated character description which can concentrate on special abilities and bombs and not the intricacies of casting without being a caster.  This would make it easier to be a party support character – and much, much more useful without being overpowered.

The Alchemist is enough of a skill-monger to sub for a Rogue, if they could disarm magical traps.  Just sayin’.

Throwing one bomb per Standard action is too weak and throwing at full BAB is nuts if you go for rate-of-bombing.  I’m not sure if there is a proper compromise for this.

And now for the rest of the party:
The Summoner:

A souped-up Conjurer or an uber-Druid – the Summoner is a cool character concept.  Basically, it can pull some magic and a lot of Summoning, plus it has a seriously heavy ‘pet’ that’s a mutable outsider – basically build-a-monster that is your Summoner’s loyal servant – called an Eidolon.

Oh, my.  After the playtest, we all agreed our Summoner was easily the most powerful character on the battlefield even though the Player hadn’t bothered to buy his 10^th level gear and only had a single magic item at 15^th.  This character never personally engaged in combat.  There were some rounds he was magically dominating the battlefield and the Eidolon wasn’t even participating.

First, the Eidolon is WAY too complicated.  I heartily dislike it as character ‘pet’.  I recommend you remove from the class entirely.  The Summoner is powerful enough with spells and their Summon Monster Spell-like ability.

If the Eidolon can’t be gotten rid of, please consider making ‘Eidonlon Master’ it’s own class – because, really, the guy controlling it doesn’t NEED spells of his own – or, at the very least, making it a ‘track’ of Summoner ALTERNATIVE to Summon Monster(Sp); having both of these was just amazingly powerful.

I liked the idea of the Summoner, but would modify it.  First, I’d make the Summon Monster(Sp) creatures individuals – you’re summoning the same monster(s) every time, so you build a relationship (and might be able to upgrade) your critters.  We thought it’d be cool if, for example, at 1-4 you can summon one Elemental, then at 5-8 two types, then 9-12 three, and so forth.  By 16^th level you could summon whatever elemental type you needed, and perhaps might have upgraded your extraplanar allies a bit with feats or items.  Seemed like a cool class different enough from a Druid to make them worth playing.

Overall, cool character concept, but the Eidonlon and SM(Sp) combination is ugly.

The Inquisitor:

Imagine a smoothed-out multiclass between Cleric and Ranger (with a dash of Paladin) and you’ve got something like an Inquisitor.  Limited casting (more Bard, not Pally), Cleric-ish selection of weapons, and some cool abilities.  Could sub for a Ranger or Pally or light support caster.

This class seemed pretty good from my side of the table.  He needed a Battle Buddy to really use his powers, but did well in Melee and later on tossed some handy spells.   We didn’t notice any abilities or skills that seemed over or underpowered, though anything ‘Teamwork’ seemed a bit weak.

The Witch:

Basically another heavy-caster class, like a Wizard or Sorc; the Witch (A Witch!) has a few special abilities and less of a direct-damage casting list.

Not too shabby – like most power casters, struggled a bit to hit her stride, but contributed a LOT to the battles and was generally liked – except the NAME.  First, ‘Witch’ makes everybody assume a female character, and second, ‘A Witch’ causes spontaneous Monty Python and the Holy Grail quoting, which chews up game time every time it happens. 

The Cavalier:

A dedicated mounted fighter focused on lance charges and with banners to boost his allies, the Cavalier is distantly related to the old 1st Edition Cav.

Oh, the poor Cavalier.  Of all the classes we tested, this was the only one I think we’d reject completely.  The Cavalier is WAY too dependent on horses and charging.  The poor Cavalier was the most prone to be killed or badly wounded.  Fighting a dungeon crawl without a mount was crippling.

I played a Cavalier back in 1^st edition and loved him.  Right now, there’s really no reason not to play a Fighter instead.

Suggestions (radical):  Repurpose this class.  Were it me, I’d make them a non-magical buffer like a Bard who can fight well in melee – Cavaliers Lead the Way or something like that.  Possibly Morale boosting abilities for all allies in 30’ on a Charge OR when set to Receive a Charge.  (Radius increases when mounted or something).  Morale bonuses to Save if they make a save or Crit if they Crit.  Their mount and allies mounts should be able to charge further.  The ability to take a Monster Mount at high levels.

Their abilities – whatever they are – need to work on foot and mounted, or they swap abilities when on foot or mounted, or as a last resort, give them two Cavalier tracks, one specializing in being mounted, the other for being afoot.

Finally, if you’re going to tie most of their combat power to a mount, you’ve got to make sure they can keep their mount with them.  What happens when the Cavalier has to adventure underwater?  In a narrow hallway?  I’d let them magically summon their horse.

The Final Word:

OK.  I’m a High-Fantasy, Low Magic kind of player in general, a roleplayer who rarely min-maxes and doesn’t much care for multiclassing for optimization.  That said, there’s little among these classes that appeals to me.  I’d ban Summoners outright from my campaigns without major changes to their Eidolon and power level.  I doubt many would play an Alchemist or Cavalier without minor changes to the first and major to the second.  Right now the Inquisitor and Witch would fit into my Campaign setting and games just fine.  Wish we’d gotten to test the Oracle …

Mainly, though, all these classes are COMPLICATED.  Some needlessly so.  I realize every class can’t be simple, but Pathfinder has enough shared mechanics in combat, magic and monsters that creating new classes shouldn’t require quite so much mental gymnastics.  I’m not asking for dumbed-down classes, just elegance in gameplay, even if it takes more playtesting and more time.

I’m sure the other guys will chime in with their thoughts, then they’ll send them on to Paizo.  I’m looking forward to seeing the final product!

After several days, we all arrived and immediately set forth for Tir Weft and then overland towards the mountains.  We had been given word in Tir Weft that caravans to or from Halswood were not making it through.  It only took a few days of travel to find out why.  As we traveled we came across several wagons whose porters and drivers were, for lack of better descriptions, dissolved.  A short bit of study later, I had determined that it was some sort of naturally produced acid that had eaten these poor souls.  It did not take much longer to find the source of this acid.

Springing from the ground near the roadway as we passed were four enourmous insectile creatures.  Known as ankhegs, these beasts are fiercely territorial and very capable of making that defense.  However, my companions are more than capable of defending ourselves as well.  It took only a few moments to slay the creatures.  Remembering from my cryptoanatomy, I had Rath extract the acid glands from the ankhegs.  I wanted to save a carapace from which to craft some armor, but, as I would have needed someone else to carry the carcass for me, I was turned down.

We traveled on to Halswood, which was a rather backwater town.  Ruled by druids and barbarians, they saw little need for the modern fineries that I had been used to in Barloz and even in the years since my flight.  I was getting more used to sleeping on the ground and eating from a campfire, but there are times when my back longs for a down mattress.  Halswood offered us its finest, but straw is a poor substitute for goose down.

In the morning, Hal appraised us of the situation at hand.  For reasons he was not fully certain of, an ancient beast had somehow returned to the lake on which his city rested.  Prior to the establishment of Halswood, the lake near Eriad was home to immense sharks known as megalodons.  Hal had a hand is destroying their threat and making the lake safe for his people.  Recently, however, they had returned.  He wished us to investigate.

After some discussion, we concluded that the only way to really test the situation was to actually immerse ourselves in it.  So we were offered a vessel and we cast off fromt the city hoping to find the dire sharks.  It did not take us long to find one.  Rather, it did not take long for one of them to find us.  It attacked the raft and nearly capsized it.  After a fierce, if halted, battle, we were able to drive the creature back to the deep of the lake.  Feeling that we must be on the right track, it was decided that we should press on.

We were soon beset by a coven of sea hags.  The green witches attacked our split group.  The first unholy trio waged combat on the warriors.  Unable to quickly dispatch them, Alder was cursed by the evil eye.  A second group of the sea hags had crawled into the raft where the casters and Braden were.  The fighter was able to hold them at bay long enough for our magicks to bring the witches to rest.  On the bodies of those who had remained on deck, we collected three enchanted necklaces.  After some careful study, we determined that these periapts gave the hags control over the minds of their companion megalodons.  This was a power that we could not let go to waste.

Wounded and with damaged ships, we returned to Halswood to bring news.  We had learned how to use the necklaces and had formed a plan.  We would use the sharks to explore and discover how the problems in the lake had arisen.  Upon our arrival in Halswood, however, we were appraised of a new threat.  Something was living in Eriad.

Nothing humanoid had inhabited the ruins for over 800 years and the destroyed city was explored less than 50 years ago and determined to be too dangerous for inhabitation.  Hal’s son Barret had reported seeing campfires and movement in the ruins.  Something sentient was living in the ruins and that could not be good for Halswood or the Kingdoms.  We were asked to further investigate.  Our empathic links with the sharks through the pendants had revealed to us that the megalodons and the hags had been driven to this lake and that they were afraid of something living near the ruins of Eriad.

Given a new craft, we set out for Eriad under cover of night, hoping to arrive by morning and retain some element of surprise.  Part of the way across the lake, the sharks had begun to become nervous.  Moments later an incredible beast breached the surface and tore through our towed raft.  This creature was, in form, like a swamp turtle but its proportions were grossly exagerated.  It had a head the size of a trade wagon, not to even mention the size of the body.  We had been given enough warning through the sharks to defeat the dragon turtle with a mixture of archery and coordinated attacks from the dire sharks.

We limped into Eriad feeling that we couldn’t risk the loss of surprise.  We docked and entered the ruined city.  We had not even all deshipped before we were set upon by archers.  These fighters proved quickly to be a small threat.  We dispatched them and found them to be Jarls of the Redstone Spur.  They were clad in white and blue, however, instead of the traditional red.  The air in ruins had taken on a supernaturally cold fog as well.  Things were not adding up even for me.

We ventured further, on information gleaned from one of the captured Jarls, and found an ancient temple of Archgate.  Credit to its artisans, the millenia old structure was still standing and in very good condition.  Knowing that was where the rest of the Jarls had holed themselves, we took refuge in a ruined temple to Bors and Shyla.  We were able to make it through the night and in the morning prepared ourselves to attack.  We had seen more archers in the temple of Archgate so, rather than assault the ruins directly, we planned to force them to come to us.

As carefully hidden as possible, we prepared missile weapons for the first unfortunate soul to set himself in range.  After a few minutes, when our resolve was about to break, one stepped forth and we brought him low.  Moments later, another.  Then a third.  Two rogues tried to sneak up to us from the east and full battle was soon waged.  Through combined might of archery and magic, we neutralized the minions.  We had thought things to be going well when a storm brewed and lighting began to strike at our party.

A fierce druid made himself visible and began to cause nature itself to attack us.  Moments later our fate worsened.  A great white wyrm rose out of the ruins and began to strafe us with this searingly cold breath.  Part of us tried to hold off the druid while those more capable with their weapons tried to drive off the dragon.  In terrible sweeping passes, the dragon’s cold bit into our bodies as Alder and Braden tried to pierce its hide with their swords.  Two, three and four passes it made, each time sustaining wounds from our warriors.  As it tried to flee, Braden fired a single parting shot.  The arrow struck home and the beast crashed into the temple.  We had also managed to kill the druid, though he had done well to attempt the same on us.

Our imprisoned rogues revealed to us that Fagin, the druiud who lead them, was attempting to establish a new division of the Dragon Jarls, united under his white dragon companion.  They also told us that they were expecting an envoy to arrive in the city the next day.  We knew that we needed to intercept whoever it was and whatever they were bringing.  Anyone dealing with the Jarls was an enemy of the Kingdoms.

The next day we attempted to bluff the caravan that arrived into divulging its purpose and origin.  But luck was not with us and we had attempted to fool the kings of lies.  A pair of snakemen revealed themselves and began to attack.  We barely had time to react before a great beast erupted from the back of their wagon.  Some sort of serpentine abomination the size of an ogre leapt from under a canvas blanket and tried to rend our party with its powerful claws.  We were able to bring the three of them down after a short time, though it was no simple task.

Learning that the snakemen had allied themselves with the Redstone Spur was troubling news.  We immediately returned to Halswood to inform Hal of this and then we were to return to our various kingdoms to disseminate the information.  Having no home anymore, I decided to further my research and traveled here to Arcada.

Of my research, I have learned much.  I have further expanded the number of spells I can craft in a day and I have further explored the text of the Book.  It seems that its ancient writer had been doing much as I am now.  The opening passages of the book are what unlocked my mind to this power, but the remaining passages detail the experiences of its original wielder.  The man (or woman, the text is unclear) had been from the lands now under the control of Manath.  He or she had been a follower of the elemental gods with specific devotion to Cheleria.  He (or she) had chosen to write the text in Arcane Naduumian to try to keep it secret from the other priests, which leads me to believe the text is actually of Skosian origin.

I spend each day reading the opening text of the book, to renew my mind with the powers contained within.  Several weeks ago I began to have a suspicion that the text itself was shifting, changing.  So I decided to test this.  As best as I was able, I copied down the opening page with quill and ink.  The next morning I compared the texts and they were, in fact, different.  Only slightly, but different nonetheless.  I tried it again, to rule out the possibility that I had made an error in my transciption.  I had not.  The text was changing.  What it is changing into, I know not.  I do suspect, however, that this is the key to the expansion of my abilities.  Further study is still needed, but I suspect that it will not be long before duty to my companions calls me away.

-M.E.

More specifically, I rather like the Summoner and the Witch.  I like what they did with the Oracle, but it doesn’t particularly strike my fancy, and I think the Cavalier is a little redundant.  I’ll go into each class a little more specifically.

Summoner: d8 hit die, 3/4 BAB, Strong Will Save, 2 Skill points per level from an odd list (includes UMD), simple weapons, light armor, spontaneous spells from a limited but useful list with slightly better than Bard-ish progression, Summon Monster as a spell-like ability 3 + Cha mod times per day (which scales up as if you were a Wizard casting it) for 1 minute per level, and a bunch of supernatural abilities.

Unique-ish abilities: Starting at 1st level you get an Eidolon (basically a pimped out arcane Animal Companion), which you can summon once per day, and it stays with you until it dies or you dismiss it. The Eidolon improves as you gain levels. Notably, it is not tied to your caster level and does not officially count as a Special Mount or Animal Companion, which means that if you multi-class or enter a PrC, your Eidolon will quickly become useless. So Summoner 20 is pretty much your only viable Summoner build. You can also sacrifice hit points to keep your Eidolon alive (and vice verses at 14th level), which makes tanking a viable option.

The eidolon is my favorite part of this class.  You get a pool of points each level to build your pet.  You give it limbs, attacks, defenses, SLAs, skills and movement types.  As you progress in levels, you get more points.  You can just add new features or you can entirely rebuild your critter.  It’s up to you.  The spell casting is a nice addition, but the real focus of this class is the eidolon and the SLA of Summon Monster that you get.  The summoner’s Summon Monster is a standard action (rather than one round) and it lasts for a minute, rather than one round per level.  So, up to level 10, your summons last longer than anyone else’s (barring Metamagic Extend).  Combats rarely last longer than 10 rounds anyway, so it doesn’t make much difference if your fiendish dire tyrannosaur is there for one minute or two.

There are still some issues to work out with the summoner, such as the ability to summon 7 extra attackers to the field straight out of the box. (Yes, it takes 7 rounds and then you are done for the day, but with the one minute duration, you can summon them right before opening the door to attack the BBEG.)  Some of the “evolutions” (that is, the modifications for the eidolon) are either way too useful or way too useless.  But that’s what a playtest is for.

Overall opinion: Excellent class that I would love to play when it is finalized.

Witch: d6 hit die, 1/2 BAB, Strong Will Save, 2 Skill points per level from a Wizard-ish list plus UMD (does every Pathfinder class get UMD?), simple weapons, no armor, prepared spells from a good but limited list with Wizard spell progression. You also get a Familiar, which adds bonus spells known to your list depending on which Familiar you choose.

Unique-ish abilities: You gain Hexes at 1st and every even level, which are for the most part basically debuff oriented Invocations. They allow a Save, but are Supernatural abilities, so you don’t have to worry about Spell Resistance or AMF.

I really like the witch.  It seems like an excellent, flavorful class.  It seems rather well balanced (I’d put it high tier 3 or low tier 2).  If you play Pathfinder core only (no 3.5 books) then this class fares very well.  If you start bringing in splatbooks from 3.5, then it starts to get rather weak, as it has a unique spell list, with a mish-mash of arcane and divine spells.

One thing I like (and am hesitant) concerning the witch is that its familiar doubles as its spellbook.  This is great, flavor-wise.  The witch doesn’t get its spells through books, but by a commune with a pseudonatural being.  Each familiar also gives the witch a set of bonus spells that differs from familiar to familiar.  The problem is that the witch familiars are no tougher than the wizard/sorcerer’s familiar.  Meaning they die pretty quickly when it comes down to it.  Something needs to be done about this.  I suggest treating the familiar as a summoned creature (like the eidolon, for instance) that you can summon each day as a level 1 SLA.  That way, if it takes more damage than its current HP, it just gets un-summoned and you can get it back tomorrow.

Also, one other problem with the witch is the hexes.  They are (for the most part) excellent buffs/debuffs.  The only problem is that, while they are (Su) abilities, they explicitly provoke AoOs.  This wouldn’t be too terrible if it weren’t for the fact that the vast majority of them are touch attacks.  Not ranged touch attacks, but “walk up to the scary creature with your d6 hit die, low strength, no armor and poor BAB and try to punch him without dying” touch attacks.  This, I am sure, is being changed.  The current fix seems to be that they simply don’t provoke AoOs.  This still means you have to wade into melee but with a feat or two, you can skirmish with these.

Overall opinion: Fix the hexes and I will stat this up as my next villain without any question

Cavalier: d10 hit points, Full BAB, Strong Fort Save, 4 Skill points per level with the Paladin’s Skill list, simple/martial weapons and all armor and shields (except Tower Shield). You get a Druid’s animal companion as a mount (using the same rules) but without the Share Spells ability. You get a some Fighter bonus feats.

Unique-ish abilities: Once per combat you can “Challenge” a foe, gaining scaled Precision damage against them (7d6 at 19th level), but you count as being Flanked against everyone else (buy armor of Heavy Fortification or something similar to protect against Rogues). You must join an Order, and you gain some abilities and roleplaying restrictions based on which Order you join. The abilities are a mixed bag and you generally can’t change Orders without a lengthy conversion, so choose carefully. You also must take an Oath, which gives you a very minor bonus and imposes another roleplaying restriction. At 11th level, you get a free Special Attack (Bull Rush, Trip, etc) when you Charge. At 20th level, your Charge damage is multiplied and Stuns enemies for 1d4 rounds (and notably, if they Save they are still Staggered for 1d4 rounds).

Like I said earlier, I don’t see any real reason for the cavalier.  It’s essentially a fighter/paladin focused on mounted combat.  The orders/oaths are an interesting idea, but poorly implemented, I think.  You get mechanical bonuses for roleplay.  I understand that roleplay is very important.  I am a big fan of it, but my archivist doesn’t get mechanical bonuses for playing him like a bookish scholar rather than a juggernaut of destruction.  The party cleric doesn’t get mechanical bonuses for making sure to face east every morning and bowing to the west every night because he worships the sun.  But the cavalier gets mechanical bonuses for not having sex if he takes the Oath of Chastity.  Bleh.

Other than that, the “challenge” ability seems a little messed up.  You challenge a specific enemy, which lets you toss a couple extra d6s at him when you hit.  However, this makes you considered flanked to everyone else on the battlefield.  Just hope you aren’t fighting anything with rogue levels!  It seems to try to mimic the “marked” condition that 4e introduced, but it does it poorly.  This ability, in my opinion, needs to be completely scrapped.

Overall opinion: mounted combat is too limited in most campaigns to justify a whole base class.  Cut this into a 5-10 level prestige class for paladins/fighters/rangers and I would love it.

Oracle: d8 hit die, 3/4 BAB, Strong Will Save, 4 Skill points per level from a Cleric-ish list, simple weapons, light armor, shields, Spontaneous spells drawn from the Cleric’s list using the Sorcerer’s spell progression.

Unique-ish abilities: You are cursed in some way (blind, deaf, etc) but also gain a special abilities based on your curse (darkvision, tremorsense, etc). You also gain “Revelations” as you gain levels, which are Supernatural and Extraordinary abilities. Which abilities you get depend on your chosen “Focus.” Like the Cavalier’s Order, they are a mixed bag in terms of power level and usefulness.

This is, in my opinion, what the Favored Soul should have been.  Spontaneous divine caster that actually works.  I’m sad to say that I probably spent the least amount of time reading this one.  This is largely due to the fact that this class just isn’t really my thing.  It’s well built and I like that the mechanical bonuses come with mechanical drawbacks (rather than roleplay ones like the cavalier).  No real complaints or suggestions.

Overall opinion: if you liked the favored soul, but thought getting wings was silly, the oracle is for you.

Overall overall opinion:  I like what Paizo is doing with their game.  While I wouldn’t play all of these classes, I do like the lack of power creep and the diversification.  I can’t wait to see their final versions.

I will put up a review of the next two playtest classes when they appear.