From the article:

One thing we certainly saw over the course of 2nd edition was the audience did tend to age along with the game. The game was a very playable, a very entertaining system, but it didn’t necessarily speak to the people who were coming up into the optimal RPG age category through new ways. When we were all playing 1st and 2nd Edition, we didn’t cut our teeth on MMOs or console gaming or Facebook or any of those things. At best, maybe we had experience playing Monopoly or games like that, Risk, so that D&D was a totally foreign thing. That’s just not true anymore.

To me, D&D is a different experience from anything computer-related.  It’s more social.  It’s group storytelling.  That’s fine, if that’s the population that Wizards wants to go after now, but as older, veteran gamers we feel a bit left out.

People today, the young kids today, are coming into exposure from D&D after having playing games that have very similar themes, often have very similar mechanics … they understand the concepts of the game. So in some ways they are much more advanced as potential game players. But in other ways, they are also coming from a background that is short attention span, perhaps, less likely interested in reading the rules of the game before playing.

What he seems to be saying here is that 4th Edition is aimed at the ADHD MMO player.  I’m not an MMO player.  I’ve never played WoW, Everquest, or Guild Wars.  Some players in our group have, but they see it as merely a diversion.  Our D&D world is a different recreational activity.  It’s not that MMO’s aren’t a fun game, but they usually lack the depth that our tabletop games do.

The eladrin is more recognition that the elf race historically in D&D has really been two races – it’s been the sort of super-smart, arcane, Elrond style elf, but it’s also been the primal, woodsy, archer-Legolas type elf. We wanted to make that distinction more apparent to the reader. And for eladrin we had a name and a concept for sort of the super-fey sitting out there and we felt that that was a good one to tweak a little bit and turn into a character race.

This built-in flavor is what annoys me the most about 4th Edition.  We play in our own world, we have our own history, and know where populations of each of the races are.  To have Elves split into two races was really inconvenient for us.  Plus the Eladrin are just kind of silly.  It seems a little specific anyway.  I mean, there are humans that live in cities as nobles, and there are humans that live alone in the mountains.  Both are still human.   I don’t see why Elves have to be different races to fill two different niches.

GT: You guys mentioned D&D Insider, which I do think offers some really great tools for D&D. Wizards has talked for a long time about creating a virtual tabletop – where are you guys with that?

LS: Well I can tell you that it’s still part of our plans, we haven’t announced anything yet, but we will.

AC: We unfortunately learned the hard way that it is often best to wait until you are really, really ready to announce digital offers, so we’re taking the conservative approach.

LS: But it’s definitely still part of our plan.

Yah, I was surprised when they announced the Virtual Tabletop.  I was intrigued to see it, and was aghast at all of the functionality that it was going to have.  Right now, I have to call it like I see it: vaporware.  It’s obviously over-promised and under-delivered.  I know a thing or two about software development, and it’s always better to release a minimal product first, then build on that, rather than promise the panacea to begin with.

AM: There’s been this return to classic D&D in the blogosphere. Do you guys see the old school renaissance as a good or bad thing for 4th edition D&D?

AC: I think anything that has people thinking about D&D, talking about D&D, playing D&D is a good thing. There are an awful lot of those old school experiments that lead to, “Well how would I do this with the new rule set? Or how would I use the new character archetypes in these older adventures?” I know that I ran a whole 4th edition playtest that lasted 6 or 8 months with my home group and all I did was pillage 1st and 2nd edition adventures.

I think the return to ‘classic’ gaming should be noted by Wizards as a referendum on 4th edition.  Many players are tired of  roll-playing over role-playing.  Instead of the mechanical “you do x and y happens,” they long for the older systems where exploration and being in character was rewarded.

AM: The stereotype of the 3rd edition buyer was the teenager from the 1st and 2nd edition who returned with money to spend and just bought a ton of books. Who is the 4th edition buyer? Who do people think the 4th edition buyer is and who is he actually?

LS: I think we see a pretty wide range of buyers. We see some of the people who you’re describing, who have aged through the editions, but we are also seeing new players coming to the game, a lot of them from MMOGs. We see some of that conversion from digital gamers who run through what MMOGs have to offer and they’re looking for something more.

But we’ve also got a new line of what we’re calling Dungeons and Dragons Essentials coming out this fall. Those products are really geared towards the new player… The Red Box actually kicks off those Essentials. The Red Box, being true to the original Red Box, is a complete game experience in a single purchase.

The Red Box sounds like a neat idea, but they seemed to just gloss over the veteran gamer in favor of the new gamer.  That’s what 4th Edition feels like to many of us, a ‘dumbing down’ of the game we’ve known and played for so long.

That said, I do think that 4th Ed could be fun for short, one-shot games.  I respect how easy it is to throw together an encounter and run monsters in 4th Edition.  I might even pick up a Red Box just to have around if we want to throw together a dungeon crawl on a slow night.  But that’s not typically the type of game we play — our games are usually planned out, and tied to a larger storyline.

The conversation about the OGL in the original article is almost a whole different discussion.  I do believe that its abandonment is a mistake, however.

GT: Many gamers are happy with D&D 3.5 and have stated that they’re sticking with Paizo’s continuation of that system. What do you think about Pathfinder?

AC: It’s based on a tremendously well-designed game. [Laughs all around] Obviously, we know all those guys, we worked side-by-side with many of them in years past. It doesn’t surprise me that there are companies out there that are looking to continue to support the third edition of the game. I remember somebody came up to me at one of the last couple Gen-Cons, sort of apologetic that they liked 3.5 better than 4th, and I had to remind them, “You know, I worked on both of those. It doesn’t make me feel bad that you like one game I helped design better than another game I helped design.”

I think they’re both great games, and if they were more similar the hobby would be worse for it. I think it’s better to have games that are more distinct from one another that gives people clear choices. “Well this is the style of game I want to play, or this other one is the style of game I want to play.” Nothing wrong with that. I think the 4th edition has a much greater growth potential than previous iterations of the game, I think it’s friendlier to the audience, I think it’s a little more cognizant of what new generations of gamers are looking for in an experience.

Again, they seem to be focusing on the new player.  That’s fine with me, we’re having fun with Pathfinder.  We’re excited to see what Paizo comes out with in the future.  It’s a better ‘flavor’ for us.

I can see the appeal of an easy-to-grasp edition of D&D for the MMO set.  I can continue to respect Wizards for their decision to go that direction (they are a business, after all).  We’re just not that audience.

Finally, all you job hunters out there can quantify your ranks in ‘rope use’ or ‘disable device’, and brag about your +10 to hit with a keyboard.

So, roll up some confidence and get out there and slay an interview or two!  Any experience points are good experience points.

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.

Computing at the gaming table is nothing new, due to the prevalence of laptops and smartphones.  However, the first is obtrusive and obstructive, and the second is often too small to read.

So, that leaves an opening for the iPad.  It seems that it would be large enough to be readable, without standing between the players like a laptop does.  The first obvious solutions are digital versions of game books, and dice rolling apps.  But, I think there’s more options here.

With the size of screen on the iPad, and the coming herd of iPad-specific apps, I think there are other options as well.  There could very easily be a tool with everything needed by a DM — initiative tracker, dice roller, reference books, etc.  There could even be a game board app for very close quarters combat.  Zoomable maps are another possibility, since we consistently reference maps of our game world as we play.  If tablet computers became common enough, everyone could have quick access to their rulebooks in the same app that contains their character sheet.  This would greatly clean up the gaming table.

While it may replace books and character sheets, I think that people still prefer the physicality of dice and miniatures, so it can’t replace everything.  But, I do definitely see the advantanges.

What do you think?  Will tablet computers help or hinder the gaming process?  What features would the ultimate gaming app include?  Tell us in the comments!

Halswood was indeed under threat – allies of the Redstone Spur threatened the town.  As you know, Halswood sits on the southern shore of a vast, clear, cold mountain lake, which was once the home of terrible predatory monsters until they were all hunted down by Rhenic some years ago.  At first it seemed merely as if the monsters had returned – but it was more than that.  Great grey fish with massive teeth were again loose in the lake, but they were controlled – by a coven of hags who dwelled in the waters with them.

Worse, Mauril and Athelas determined that these were creatures of the open sea – that had been brought here by some means still unknown to us.  Something more was going on – and we suspected it was going on in the ancient runs of Eriad, on the north shore of the lake.

Our attempts to travel there ended in battle with the hags and their minions.  We managed to defeat the horrible witches, and in doing so, we stole the magics they were using to control the sea monsters.  Using the weapon of the enemy against them, we were able to defeat the largest, strongest guardian set before the shores of Eriad – a massive dragon turtle.

That overcome, we docked out battered ship and scouted Eriad.  Instantly we were set upon by Jarls – soldiers in the service of Redstone – but these Jarls were different; younger and clad in blues instead of reds.  Though the fight was harrowing, we drove off or killed the Jarls – and took a prisoner.

Our captive – little more than a boy – told us there were more of his kind in the ruins, and that they were merely scouts for a larger force.  We resolved to destroy this scouting force utterly, in the hopes that any following force would deem Eriad unsafe, and turn elsewhere.

We approached the stronghold of the Jarls – an ancient temple of Archgate, still standing when all about it was tumbling down.  Knowing we were outnumbered and forewarned that a Druid was leading the Jarl force, we attacked from concealment with Longbows, attempting to whittle down the numbers of our foes.

The Druid replied with lightning from the skies.  We countered, killing more of his men.  The battle grew heated – and the enemy attacked with his most powerful force – a white Dragon.  She was considerably smaller than the great beasts which besiege Tir Castellan, perhaps twenty feet nose-to-tail, but even such a modestly sized creature is a great threat.  The ruins helped us greatly, as did my study and training – knowing that Dragons besiege my home, I have spent the last months seeking out all I can learn about slaying such creatures.  This knowledge and the bravery of my comrades allowed us to strike the beast from the skies – and slay its Druidic master.

The scouting force was wiped out – the Druid slain, his attempt at building a northern version of the Redstone Spur crushed – barely.

I traveled from Halswood to Queen’s Landing, where I am moving my War Griffons-in-training.  With Baron Caig’s permission I am establishing a Ranger station down the coast from Queen’s Landing to train my mounts – as I have accepted a Knight-Leftenant’s commission in the Aruthien army and am now responsibly to raise and lead a company of Rangers.  With Tir Castellan besieged, I know serving my Kingdom is my duty.  I hope in good time I am able to come against the enemies of our home alongside you and father.

in the meantime, I am well – though another message has arrived, warning of some trouble in Caliban.  I suspect I will again be sent abroad on the Kingdom’s business.

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.

The second conclusion that my time in these dank walls has brought me to is that I want more of it.  There is nothing in this world, or any other, that I could possibly desire more than the knowledge contained within this book I carry with me.  But first, I must recount my journey to this point.

After escaping the seige, I spent my days studying in Newholm.  I had desired to study the exclusive knowledges contained within the libraries there as well as testing the abilities I had unlocked.  Even the simplest casting of a spell brought chills to my spine.  When I received word from Holly that my help was needed, I jumped at the chance.  My life had changed much over the year since my exodus from Firforge.

I joined my companions not far from the Spaarthan city of Salynndra.  They too had been informed of disturbances in the area and had come to investigate.  When informed that Holly needed help, we agreed to enter the city and begin a search.  Her message was vague, but word in the city lead us to believe that the increased pirate activity was likely linked.  There is, for those who do not know, a great diviners’ college near Salynndra.  We decided that our best option was to seek clues there.

We sat down with a young acolyte who gave us very little useful information.  That is, until we returned to out inn to discover a note which indicated that things were not as they seemed in the school of seers.  We returned and were able to surmise that Holly was captured there along with several other wizards, while the sorcerers who inhabit the college had been kidnapped and taken elsewhere.

After some brief action which had blood coursing through my veins, we subdued the captors and freed the wizards.  We then went out to discover that the source of the increased pirate activity and the capture of the sorcerers was in a lake in the Tantathian March.  This had us all very puzzled but we agreed that something needed to be done.  So we messaged various authorities of the incident and set out to Lake Fum to follow the intriguing leads we had.

After many days at sea, we arrived in Tir Arnoth and immediately started our journey southeast to the lake.  On the road we stumbled upon a house that we determined should not be there.  We entered to find a man who claimed to be the Fire King, something of an elemental prince or guardinal.  To this day, I am still not sure who or what he was but he knew things about me that he should not have known, which made me more than uncomfortable.  He also entrusted me with mineral nugget deeply steeped in layers of magic.  He said it would right the wrongs of the past.  What wrongs, he did not specify.

I didn’t, and on some levels still don’t, trust him but I took the stone and we journeyed on towards the lake.  Long ago, this lake had been a mountain but catastrophic events not only destroyed the mountain but created a crater that became the lake.  The creature who had called himself the Fire King had said that taking the stone to the right spot in the lake would make things right again.

We set camp that night only to find a group of zombies marching into the lake.  This had me curious and I, with the protection of Alder, went to investigate.  In our absence, Holly – who had all this time been an impostor – escaped with the stone.  We did not discover this until it was too late and no trace of her could be found.  We did, however, find more zombies and the real Holly.  We liberated her and a few more wizards and made our way to the center of the lake.  We knew that the impostor planned to use the stone and we believed it to only work in one place.

We arrive to find her ritual almost complete.  Through the effort of the warriors, she was stopped and the stone recovered.  Most of the wards had been removed from it.  We had surmised that the stone would bring back the lost mountain.  It appeared that the false Flen had planned to do that very thing.  Having stripped the wards, doing so would have immediately bring back the lost mountain, emptying the lake into the surrounding plain, downing or crushing everything for miles.  Also, it would immediately kill us, should we have chosen to activate it.

Rath agreed to ferry the stone back to its creator to see if it could be repaired.  He returned to tell us that it would take a year to fix the magicks but that the crisis involving the other plane was over for now.  There was little more that we could do, so we parted ways.

I decided to come here, to Perdaith, to continue my studies and my experiments.  My studies had gone well but I believe my experiments have only increased my addiction to the knowledge that burns through my limbs with each spell I cast.  As I said in my first entries, I believe that this power will be my eventual downfall.  Now I also believe that I will find that downfall out of my own lust for the energy that both danger and this magic brings me.  I believe, much to my chagrin, that I have become a true adventurer.

-M.E.

We’ve tried several mechanisms to work around this issue – mass Aid Another works, but it feels cheesy – six people are crowded around one guy, helping him be quiet?  It feels wrong even if it’s legal.  Having only one character Aid Another feels more reasonable, but it’s also kind of weak sauce at high levels … oh, boy, a +2.  The guy listening for us has a +18 Perception …

After some discussion, we came up with a possible House Rule – Aid Another on Skill Checks might confer a scaled bonus based on the margin of success.  For example, a Rogue Aids the Cleric on his Stealth check.  Normally this would be a DC 10 for a +2.  Perhaps for every 5 ranks of success, we get another +1?  So the low-level Rogue rolls a 21, and grants a +4 Stealth.  If the same Cleric was being aided by a 19th level Ranger with some Skill Focus, he could reasonably roll say a 38, which would confer a +7 … after all, he knows a lot more about sneaking than the low level Rogue.

It’s a thought at least, and something that might make Aid Another seem like a good investment of an action even at high levels.