I've long been a fan of both HP Lovecraft's horror stories and of Golden Age superhero comics, so here's a combination of both -- Ken Hite's Adventures Into Darkness: H.P. Lovecraft's Superheroic Horror!

The book is meant for both Hero Games and Mutants & Masterminds, and presents itself as being from an alternate reality where Lovecraft survives his 1937 illness and, to cover the bills and with some encouragement from real-life HPL associates/friends Robert H. Barlow and Julius Schwartz, starts writing comic book adaptations of his novels and then writing directly for the Nedor superhero lines. Including adapting both Randolph 'the Dream Master' Carter and Nodens along with several of the villains and monsters from his print stories into superhero comic form. Normally this would just consist of some game write-ups for various HPL monsters and characters, but Mister Hite goes the extra mile by presenting a fake bibliography focusing on Lovecraft's post-1937 fiction career, including the films he made out of 'Charles Dexter Ward' and 'Shadow over Innsmouth' after moving to Hollywood and working with Val Lewton, Orson Welles, and Jacques Tourneur. He even has a price list from the Comic Buyer's Guide covering HPL's work for Dream Master Comics and Adventures Into Darkness, the latter a real-life Nedor horror anthology comic.

The listed characters are mainly Nedor comic heroes like Doc Strange and Mystico and more, though with all of them given a Lovecraftian twist. He also has write-ups for a dozen villains, two of them original Nedor characters and the rest adapted Lovecraft villains. My favorite is probably the Devilfish, a crime boss from Innsmouth who is basically a Deep One hybrid as a Dick Tracy villain.

It's also got some brief essays in the back on how to combine both HPL's 'cosmic indifferentism' and his more light-hearted 'Dunsanian' works with Golden Age superheroics. It's definitely an odd little book and not for everyone but if you like the Golden Age of comics as much as Lovecraft's stories I think you'll enjoy this.

The latest entry in Legendary Games 'Legendary Heroes' line, Legendary Shifters is 32 pages long, of which things like the table of contents, back and front covers, and OGL leave twenty-five pages for the actual content. But they are twenty-five well-used pages.

Recently Paizo released their Ultimate Wilderness book. A major selling point to many was the promise of a martial class based around shapeshifting called the shifter. Many people had their own expectations of what the class would be and not quite all were met. In this PDF Legendary Games, which has already created and re-created some amazing classes like the swashbuckler, gunslinger, and kineticist, gives us their re-imagining of the shifter. And a very amazing and delightful re-imagining it is.

The class itself is still a martial class, but things are different from the start. It can wild shape starting at first level, and they are not limited to forms derived from their aspects. It lasts slightly longer than a druid's, as they add their wisdom bonus to hours-per-level duration. They can also shapeshift from one form directly to another wild shape at the cost of some of their per-day duration. The legendary shifter gets faster at shapeshifting as they rise in level, eventually doing it as an immediate action. They are normally limited to animal and magical beast forms with a size range of diminutive to huge, but some archetypes and feats give ways around that.

They still get aspects, and as they rise in level can combine two or even three of them. They can also combine their aspects with their wild shape forms or any polymorph effects, and they get a few more aspects as they level up.

Instead of just claws they can use fangs as well with all these natural weapons being primary attacks that ignore magical DR. If they use weapons, however, their natural attacks become secondary. They get more powerful over time in terms of both what types of DR they can penetrate and how much damage they do, topping out at 2d10 at level 20. Size has no effect on the damage they do: a shifter can become a dire bear or a mouse and they'll still do the same damage. The shifter can apply their natural weapon level benefits to whatever natural weapons they may possess in their wild shaped forms. I like that as it encourages the shifter to wild shape while permitting them to keep the improved natural weapons the class grants. It is unclear, however, if the Improved Natural Attack feat can be applied to the shifter's claws and fangs.

The legendary shifter still gets wild empathy and track, and defensive instinct. It provides an untyped bonus to AC and CMD, full Wisdom bonus if unarmored and without a shield, half the bonus if armored. The bonus increases every fourth level and applies against touch attacks and when the legendary shifter is flat-footed. They get woodland stride and trackless step at later levels.

The legendary shifter now gets bonus combat or wild shape feats starting at fourth level. And unsurprisingly, their keystone ability is the ability to shapeshift at will. They also gain the shapeshifter subtype and are only affected by transmutation affects when they allow it.

The basic class information is followed by an expanded list of aspects. The old ones are all here and the new aspects of Chameleon, Narwhal, Porcupine, and Shark are listed with their full benefits. Chameleon makes you stealthier, Narwhal provides a gore attack, Porcupine inflicts damage on anyone striking you in melee combat, and Shark increases the damage you inflict on wounded opponents.

Then comes the new archetypes, and here we get some truly glorious ones. The Bound Beastmaster gains an animal companion. She increases its natural weaponry damage rather than hers, though she still gets the base claw and fang damage, and over time can share both her aspects and her wild shape with her companion. Dragon Touched get a breath weapon in place of claws, improved senses and wings as they level up. They can also wild shape into a small dragon at first level. Their form is limited in several ways at first – not as many attacks and no flight speed. However it improves over time until they can finally become a huge dragon. They start out with one type of dragon they can become but eventually become capable of turning into three different dragons, gaining their breath weapons as well.

The Elemental Kineticist gains some of the kineticist class abilities including kinetic blast, though only when done as a kinetic fist. They can transform into elementals and gain a few wild talents as they grow in power. The Fairy Shifter can wild shape into fey. They can also cast druid and ranger spells up to 6th level at the cost of a reduced hit die and lowered BAB.

The Giant Shifter turns, well, into a giant. Very simple and straightforward but if you have the room and want to crush your enemies underfoot it works wonderfully.

The Lycanthropic Warrior gets fewer aspects and a smaller pool to choose new ones from. They also lose defensive instinct and gain DR/silver equal to half their character level as well as immunity to lycanthropy. They can also use a hybrid form of their base and alternate forms, with legs to walk on, hands to hold with, and they are able to talk. They also keep their gear. I think this archetype is going to be popular.

The Metamorphic Genius has a reduced BAB and hit die, and uses intelligence rather then wisdom for defensive instinct. In exchange they get alchemy and extracts as the alchemist class, together with a reduced level requirement for any transmutation extract the alchemist can normally use and extended duration on them all. And a limited number of times per day they can change the form granted by one extract either to another one permitted by it or to one granted by another extract of equal or lower level. I recall some people wanting a shapeshifting-focused warrior-like alchemist, here they get one.

The Mimickin turns you into a Mimic. No, really. You can secrete glue, turn into objects, and eventually swallow people whole. Plus you get improved Disguise and Stealth skills. The somewhat similar Oozeling turns you into an Ooze, allowing you to resume your normal form whenever you like. You can't become a magical beast but you eventually turn into a Huge ooze. You get other oozy abilities as you level up as well. These two are so bizarre people are going to love them.

Probably the simplest and shortest Pathfinder archetype I've ever seen is the Mystically Trained one. You lose your bonus feats and trackless step in exchange for ranger spells.

The Necromorph is as the name suggests undead-related. You lose your aspects in exchange for getting the ability to cast a few spells to create and control undead. You gain 'undead empathy' that can be used with mindless undead and can transform into vaguely humanoid shaped undead. You can eventually turn into incorporeal undead, though your duration takes a serious and game-balancing bite if you do. Creepily, instead of woodland stride you learn how to preserve the body of anyone you kill with a natural attack for later reanimation. You also can hide in plain sight and eventually become a lich.

Protean Mutants lose aspects but gain evolutions like a summoner's eidolon. He gains a small pool he can use even on his base form and a larger one he can use on his alternate form. The former points can be changed every 24 hours and the latter whenever he changes his form. A bizarre archetype that will be a big hit with everyone who ever loved the summoner.

Last comes the Polymorph Savant prestige class. If the legendary shifter can become animals and magical beasts, this can become just about anything. Vermin, monstrous humanoids, ooze, fey, plant, dragon, you name it. If you truly want to become anything and everything this is for you.

There are some new feats. Animal Spirit allows you to use Charisma rather then Wisdom to determine any shifter class effects. You can also add your Charisma bonus to your Will save instead of Wisdom, up to a limit equal to your shifter level. Basic Alteration allows you to become a Small or Medium humanoid with shifter shape, and to speak in all your forms. I love those two. Bestial Roots permits many of the archetypes to transform into animals like the base legendary shifter. Miniature Reach allows you to treat your natural reach as 5 feet even when size Tiny or smaller. The last three feats – Morphic Berserker, Morphic Lyricist, and Morphic Stalker – all allow you to combine levels in barbarian, bard (and I assume skald), or stalker with your legendary shifter levels to determine things like your defensive instinct bonus and how long you can rage, use bardic performance, or the bonus studied combat provides. Berserker also allows you to use Intimidate to demoralize as a free action when you active both rage and your shifter shape in the same round. Lyricist permits you to speak, spellcast, and use bardic performances while under a polymorph effect. And Stalker lets you use shifter shape as an immediate action whenever a studied target makes an attack roll against you.

There are also three new polymorph spells, object form I-III. They do what you think and turn you into an object. Sadly they don't let you become a golem or construct but statues count as objects too. The PDF ends with a sample character, Ines, who has a backstory and a fey-like love of mischief that can make her both a useful if fickle ally and a maddening antagonist as required.

In conclusion? I love this one. Good as the original shifter may be this is a wonderful improvement while still keeping with the simplicity of the original class design. Everything that needs to be explained is, and clearly. And it is just plain fun. Want to become an animal, a dragon, an undead, an ooze, a statue? There are options here for all of them and more besides. Legendary Shifter is an amazing improvement on the original class and leaves me hoping we may get a few more archetypes for the class from Legendary Games or someone else. A new Fiendflesh or Verdant shifter, perhaps? Maybe a Hagskin or something else monstrous humanoid focused?

Seriously though this one has you covered if you want martial or arcane or improved druidic/natural shapeshifting. It's like getting half a dozen new classes with the same central theme but all-new angles on it.

If you want shapeshifting action for your character or campaign, if you're just curious, maybe even if you don't think you'd ever need it, GET THIS ONE. Five stars and one of the heartiest recommendations I've ever given.

This Everyman Mini is a write-up of a classc but long overlooked Asian monster, the Korean kumiho. In legend these fox spirits are murderous beasts that destroy entire families, ripping out their victims' hearts after parading in the form of a loved one to deceive them. That's pretty much what you get here, though author Alexander Augunas changed them to neutral rather than evil. This is a CR 22 heart-ripping, shape-shifting, spell-casting horror of an encounter that can probably take most groups of PCs apart with minimal effort. Thankfully Mister Augunas also gave us stats for versions with fewer tails and less potent powers, though they're never an easy opponent.

Really, it was great to see someone make a kumiho for Pathfinder whie at least trying to stick close to the original mythology. I wouldn't have minded a little more setting information on them but you get enough here to be able to use them i mosts ettings that have kitsune, use Asian myth, or both.

With this latest PDF from Legendary Games we return to both their 'Ultimate' and their 'Kingbreaker' lines. Ultimate Factions follows in the trails blazed by such fine products as Ultimate Rulership, Ultimate War, and Ultimate Battle in that it mainly deals with some new problems that can arise for the rulers of a nation.

Politics. We all hate them but we all have to deal with them too. They can make your life exciting, yes, but infuriating as well. However, they are part of running a nation and dealing with society, yet they rarely show up as a force in their own right in campaigns. Oh, they may be an enemy to be defeated or an ally or patron to provide work and aid, but rarely do we get much insight into what they specifically want and how they intend to attain it aside from what directly affects the PCs. Ultimate Factions was written in part to address these problems as well as a way to give the poor downtrodden NPCs a voice in the councils of the mighty. How well does it work?

The PDF proper consists of 28 pages. There's one for the cover, back cover, a splash page, credits, OGL, introduction, table of contents, an ad for the rest of the Ultimate line, and a basic rundown on what to expect, which leaves us with 18 ages of content. Like the rest of the series, they are eighteen well-done pages.

We first get a definition of 'faction' for the purposes of the game: 'an organization or group within a kingdom which is attempting to assert political, economic, or social control over the entire kingdom, or some part of it'. This covers a lot of ground for possibilities ranging from a thieves' guild attempting to reduce the effectiveness of the town watch to a secret society seeking domination behind the scenes to the patrons of a particular tavern seeking to keep their favorite watering hole open. It does get recommended that even the smallest kingdom have at least two factions to represent the interests of the leadership and the public.

Factions have alignments that affect their stats, much like kingdoms. They also have goals that they try to gain through operations, and for stats they have power, resources, and reputation. They also have size and type, for just what sort of a faction they are. As kingdoms have Build Points, factions have Wealth Points that the spend to achieve their goals. And while kingdoms have Unrest, factions have Tension. The higher a faction's Tension gets, the more difficult it becomes for them to achieve their goals. Eventually they may fall apart entirely.

The initial size of a faction is determined by both their type and what sort of buildings your kingdom has. The faction's type also influences their stats. For instance, a civil faction is usually a large group of citizens working to a common goal, and they get a boost on Reputation. A Judicial faction is working for (or against) the kingdom leadership and gets a bonus on both Power and Reputation. Other kinds of factions include Academic, Foreign, Military, Religious, Social, and Trade. Factions can also have different levels of secrecy. Some are Open, some are Covert like thieves or the secret police, and some are Disguised, pretending to one sort of goal on the surface while seeking something else entirely.

They also have Goals – Major Goals that can drive adventures or even a while campaign and Minor Goals that are more the day-to-day efforts. Goals further divide into Aim – do they want to control, boost, reduce, or eliminate something or one, and they all list what effect this has on various Kingdom rolls – and Scale, for how large a group they want to affect. Everything from one single shopkeeper to all trade in the land to the rulers themselves is covered. Goals can also be Public or Secret, with the latter much harder to achieve but known only to the Faction leadership.

We also get a new 'Faction Turn' meant to be set after the Edict phase of the Kingdom turn. First they perform Upkeep to see how well they're doing, then they do Operations to see what they can accomplish and how many WP they can add. Many operations can affect the Kingdom stats, but they have to be paid for with WPs. This can get expensive, but the faction can accept a lower modifier if they pay less WPs.

Operations cover a lot of ground. Factions can abandon a goal or advance it, aid another Faction or their Kingdom, make allies, fight enemies, get more wealth, spy on other factions or subvert them, subvert the kingdom, go recruiting, or even just engage in lobbying for ruler support, do a publicity campaign, or let their members know how appreciated they are so they stay loyal. The latter can be very important to avoid the Faction splintering or even falling apart entirely.

You can do a lot with these rules. A Faction can channel support and cash to another group. If, say, the citizenry faction likes what the leaders are doing, they can support them. If not, they can balk them at every turn. We also get rules for how to use skills to learn about factions and guidelines on how to create factions for already existing kingdoms. There are also very simplified rules for people who don't want more bookkeeping, allowing for the faction that does best every turn to affect one single aspect of the Kingdom or to weaken other factions. The kingdom Ruler can do the same to weaken or strengthen any faction. There are also rules for how to use factions with the downtime organizations from Ultimate Campaign or the organization rules from Ultimate Intrigue. There's even a new Edict for kingdoms to use allowing them to support a loyal or suppress a troublesome faction, at the price of dinging your kingdom Loyalty.

We get some guidelines on how to use factions in play. The most interesting idea here is that you should allow some players to control some factions, including ones that are working against their role in kingdom leadership. I can see this working great for some groups.

A section on why factions matter lays out some more guidelines for why and how to use these rules. Basically, until now, the people of a kingdom had little opportunity to let their desires or complaints be heard while your PC rulers were building the kingdom. Not everyone is going to agree with the rulers and their 'brilliant' ideas or agree with how much or little they tax everyone or just what kind of an army or diplomatic deals they try to make. Using the rules in Ultimate Factions, now their support or lack of it becomes something PCs have to deal with. It opens up the door for intrigue and (hopefully) non-violent interactions between the rulers and the ruled. If some of those subjects support you on one point but oppose you on another, it all just gets even more exciting.

The PDF ends with a list of sample factions to give you some ideas on what you can accomplish with the rules.

For people who like role-playing and the intrigue rules from Ultimate Intrigue, this PDF is a delight. It can help anyone who ever wondered what the ordinary citizens were doing while the rulers were running the kingdom. Or those who just think that the current kingdom rules somehow make things 'too easy' for PCs and want to make their rule a little more exciting. There are one or two minor typos in the book but those aside I noticed nothing that would interfere with using this PDF. This is one of those PDFs that will make you wonder why you never knew you needed it before reading it. I give it five stars, and if you use the rest of Legendary Games' Ultimate line, my unreserved recommendation.

Kid heroes have always been around, but for some reason options for playing one have been few and far between. You'd think someone out there would want to do Harry Potter, the last Airbender, or even Taran the Assistant Pig-Keeper, but if they did their choices were limited. Until now, anyway.

Young Character Options is a 15 page PDF from the Four Horsemen and Rogue Genius that offers some character ideas, archetypes, feats, and traits for playing child characters. Let's see how they do, shall we?

The PDF proper is fifteen pages long, with one for the cover, one for the credits, and one for the OGL, giving us twelve pages of content. And very fine content it is. It starts with some general information on what a childhood in a mostly-Medieval fantasy world would be like. Basically, you're going to be put into more 'adult' roles and work very early on, and even childhood games will be as much about teaching you adult skills like hunting or crafting. Basically, no one can afford to coddle their children, as the world about them is too dangerous. There are sub-sections that go into detail about the age range for children from the main races, as well as what upbringings among them are like.

Let me say that I really love this part. Far too many game writers seem to assume that life in the usual fantasy setting would be more or less like modern life. These writers know it wouldn't and make sure we get that.

Also, there are cultural differences between the various races that feel right. Gnomes give their kids their head but keep a wary eye on them; halflings have large families, dwarves grow up in communal clan nurseries, half-orcs grow up fast and hard, etc. Very nice background information.

Next comes some words on just why kids would run off to become adventurers. Is the child a reincarnated hero? Some older person subjected to an overly potent youth spell? Or just an orphan or precocious child?

A section follows that explains just how and why child characters should be freed of the limits given in Ultimate Campaign, as well as a trait if you need to justify it in gamespeak. Some traits follow, and we get some rather clever original ideas here. One really good one is 'Innocence'. You basically look and have the air of being such an innocent cherub that even divination spells will be confused. Even evil kids 'look' harmless to the spells. Budding Rhoda Penmarks may wish to take note! 'Pass for Smallfolk' enables you to trick people into thinking you're a halfling or gnome. And 'Scrapper' is for kids who had their share of brawls and know how something about self-defense as a result. Rather a good selection here.

The 'Prodigy' family of feats follows. These are feats that give your character a few extra edges when they use magic, or fight, or perform, etc. Not just the same old '+2 on two skills feats', these provide bonuses that adult heroes would enjoy but that feel right for kids. Like the Martial Prodigy, who can use certain combat maneuvers without an AoO, but they take a whole round. Or the Magical Prodigy, who can use a metamagic feat with a spell without increasing the casting time at the price of losing another spell slot equal to the level increase of the normal metamagic feat. There are more for budding bards, rogues, and more.

The archetypes follow, starting with the Ageless oracle. This is an oracle with a unique curse. They can't grow any older. At all. Not so bad? Ah, but they're stuck as preteen children for all eternity. True, magical aging has no affect on you, and you slowly increase your mental characteristics, but who wants to be carded every time they try entering the tavern? It comes with a nasty alternate bonus spell list, heavy on the necromancy, and a pair of revelations that permit you to either retard aging in others or force them to age faster. Both are neat ideas.

Next is the Destined Blade magus, for a child who discovers a destined blade that increases in power alongside the wielder. You also get a much weaker arcane pool that can't be used to enhance your weapon, and it also contains your spells. And you can't put new spells into it by any means other than level advancement -- so scrolls, spellbooks, etc. I'd say this all balances out rather well given the potency of the destined blade itself. Something else I like is that at levels 5, 11, or 17, instead of a new feat you can reach adulthood. That provides you with a much better arcane pool as well as bonuses to Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. Pretty good way of handling it in game.

The Reincarnated Master is for a master monk who awakens to his past lives a little early. They use the damage dice for a Small monk as well as gaining some of the Prodigy feats as bonus monk feats. Starting at 6th level the reincarnated master can use a bonus feat slot to achieve adulthood with much the same effect as the destined blade. Their past lives also play a role, with the reincarnated master gaining new Knowledge skills, eventually figuring out how to explore past lives as a divination, and at his capstone spending Ki gain temporary style feats. This one sounds like it would work great for Samsaran characters.

The Street Rat rogue is your basic orphan turned thief, with them gaining some extra feats to represent their hard-earned lessons in survival and self-defense at first level at the price of a penalty on Strength or Dexterity to represent their half-starved upbringing. They can also use the Steal combat maneuver without provoking AoO, with the normal Small size penalties becoming bonuses. If they learn Improved Steal they can do even better at it. Also, when in any community larger than a small town they get a bonus on initiative, Knowledge (local), and Survival. And at any point from 4th level on they can replace a rogue talent with adulthood, which also removes the penalty from half-starved. Sweet and simple but a very well done archetype!

Last is the Wunderkind wizard, a magical child genius. She begins with less spells in her spellbook and some of the Prodigy feats. She also loses her 1st level arcane school power in exchange for the ability to use any one metamagic feat per day on her spells, even if she doesn't normally have the feat. Also, she can replace any of her bonus feats with adulthood, which in her case also grants the ability to use one of her opposition schools if she's a specialist. If she's a universalist, she instead gains a bonus on Spellcraft checks with any one school.

So there you have it. It's a short PDF but it is jammed full of goodies for anyone who wants to use child characters in their campaign. Several of the options work just as well with adult characters. All in all this is great for anyone who wants to have their character's heroic career start out even sooner than others.

This PDF has already been covered to the usual high standard by Endzeitgeist, so I'll limit myself to a few comments here in praise.

This class is basically taking the Dragon Disciple PrC from the Pathfinder rulebook and turning it into a Charisma-based version of the magus from [i]Ultimate Magic[/i], with the big difference being that in this class you slowly transform into a sorta-dragon. I.e., you get scales, claws, fangs, a breath weapon, wings (at 15th level) all combined with a very decent BAB and saves. You also get spellcasting up to 6th level spells.

Really, this is for everyone who wants to start scaling up (sorry) from 1st level rather than take five levels of a spontaneous spellcaster class first.

I like it mostly because I've always been big on 'monstrous' PCs. I like alchemists with their mutagens, inhuman looking tieflings, and other oddities -- like dragon-people PCs. That said the math of the class works out well and I'd call it balanced for the sort of games I like to play, though it may be a bit tough for lower-powered ones.

You also get a sample character statted out at 1st, 10th, and 15th levels if you want to get an idea of one way to make the character.

I'd say this class and PDF is definitely worth the price.

This PDF covers the oddly-ignored cavalier class. It has 31 pages, of which 26 are devoted to the crunch, so here goes. It is primarily a collection of new archetypes, alternate classes, and prestige classes for the cavalier, and it certainly does provide on that score, with eleven archetypes, one alternate class, three prestige classes, some new orders, and some new magical item properties and mundane gear.

Please do note that I was given a free copy of the PDF in exchange for a review that is, I hope, both honest and useful to other potential buyers.

First of the new archetypes is the Airborne Knight, whose main change is getting a flying mount in exchange for some armor proficiencies, the normal mount and all tactician abilities. You can choose from several creatures, ranging from the 'normal' hippogriff, pegasus, and wyvern, to oddities like the giant wasp and roc. Stats and their by-level improvements are listed for all mounts save the giant wasp, pteranodon, and roc. I admit, I've always been iffy about flying mounts. That and to me, the cavalier works best as an armored melee fighter and leader. That said the archetype seems rather balanced and folks who just have to have a flying mount from first level on will be delighted.

Next is the rather odd Briar Knight, who gives up their mount in exchange for living plant armor(!). Said armor gets better over time, becoming able to reach 15 feet with vines for trip and disarm attacks, hurl razor-sharp thorns, and advance as the crawling vine plant companion from ]i]Ultimate Magic[/i]. The Briar Knight can also gain photosynthesis for fast healing, root fast to the ground, and eventually become of the plant type. Let me say, this one is bizarre and strikingly different from the usual cavalier, but at the same time very flavorful. I love it just for its weirdness. My main concern is that the plant armor starts off providing +5 armor and then adds +2 every three levels. That seems like it might be an awful high armor class at the higher levels. But still -- you're a knight wearing armor made from a living plant that can go crawling off to attack your enemies! This is a wild idea like the ones that turned me on to fantasy RPGs way back when in the first place, and I really like it.

Next is the Charioteer, who gives up a mount but gets, well, a chariot as well as a new trick to work with it every level to make it more useful. Maybe it's the weirdness preceding and following it, but this one just seems kind of blah to me. Then again players running a Bronze Age campaign would love it.

Next is the Clockwork Knight, which is almost as wild as the Briar Knight. This guy gets to make their very own clockwork steed, and to upgrade it over time. They have some very cool ideas for this, involving everything from making it bigger to granting it intelligence to rebuilding its body from darkwood, mithral, or adamantine. Truly an awesome idea, and it would fit in well in any steampunk campaign, or one set near a fallen spaceship or the like.

The Crudus Domitor is a dark knight of evil who can terrify enemies and gain strength from their fear, literally, as well as get a mount that once it has been offered a blood sacrifice become more potent over time and eventually turns undead. He also can create ever-worse states of fear in enemies and inflict more damage on them. And he can chase fleeing and frightened enemies down as well as use fallen foes to heighten his defenses. Nasty piece of work, but might go best as an NPC enemy.

The Formation Rider sacrifices his Tactician abilities in exchange for making better charges when leading a group of cavalry. Again, this seems like an archetype better suited to NPCs unless you're running a mass combat heavy campaign. But in that it would work very well.

The Lord (or Lady) in Burlap is basically a peasant knight, using simple weapons, especially the staff, and farm animals to defeat high and mighty enemies. Rather a potent archetype and well suited to anyone who wants to play a peasant hero of legend and folklore.

Mounted Brigands are robber knights, getting some rogue talents and a sneak attack that they can use in a mounted charge against the target of the challenge. They also get their normal Order abilities at a slower rate than more honest cavaliers. Oath-Bound Protectors take an oath to defend one particular being and in exchange get a modified version of their Orders normal challenge (and yes, they list this information for EVERY Order in official Pathfinder material as well as this PDF).

Shieldmaidens can gain the power to use deathwatch and heightened skill with their shield and lose their mount. She can eventually block any one attack per round, use the shield's base bonus on her saves, and gains other talents with it. The Spirit Rider learns how to enchant his weapon temporarily and can summon a ghostly steed that can eventually walk on water, air, and fly. Steadfast Challengers refuse to let anything get between them and their challenged enemy, and will plow across a battlefield after him with improved movement, a better chance of avoiding attacks, and more.

After this we move on to the new alternate base class, the Sword Sworn Troubadour. This is basically a Cavalier/Bard who's more of a fighter when compared to the Barbarian/Bard Skald. He also doesn't get bardic performance but rather Battle Hymns that can provide any of a number of advantages to allies. To me it seems lacking when compared to the ACG's Skald, but if you want a warrior-bard that's more of a fighter and not a spellcaster, you'll love this. It also provides for a lot of teamwork feats. That said unlike the base cavalier it gives no way to share these with others even briefly, so better make sure the other PCs take a few of the feats.

The Fey Warden is the first Prestige Class. It looks to be best suited to multi-class Cavalier/Druids or Cavalier/Hunters, as it requires spellcasting abilities along with an Order and wild empathy. In exchange you get a new order, the Order of the Fey, learn fey magic over time, and can even sprout butterfly wings (but the barbarian will be laughing at you). You also get Unearthly Grace and can add your Charisma modifier on your saves and your AC, which can be rather potent. Really a great PrC for Faerie Knights, though.

If the elves and fey get their knights then it's only fair for the dwarfs to get one, and they do in the Obsidian Knight. Mainly multi-class cavalier/clerics, they can literally control the ground under their opponents' feet. Dwarf fans may like this one. That said, none of the usual cavalier class abilities (mount, challenge, order, or tactician) are aided at all here as compared to the Fey Warden. It might work as well as a straight divine PrC.

The Rime Reaver requires a multi-class cavalier/boreal bloodline sorcerer. It allows you to take a polar bear as a mount (thus we finally get that Large bear animal companion) and increases the powers of your Boreal bloodline much like the Dragon Disciple. It also allows you to make weapons of ice as hard as adamantine and that can entangle with frozen rime. Lastly at tenth level your mount/companion gets the Mythical Animal template, and I'd like to know just what and where it is.

The new Order of the Bow makes your cavalier into a better mounted archer. The Pummeling magical weapon property makes bludgeoning weapons and shields better at trip and sunder maneuvers. They're both okay. Last comes a few bits of gear like an alchemical weapon to frighten mounts and special tip for jousting lances that makes them do nonlethal damage, among other things.

There's a lot in this PDF, and it's hard to see how you can't find something you can use and even love (like the Briar Knight and Clockwork Knight, at least for me). And even those who don't will probably be happy to see so much attention given to the cavalier class. I'll go with four stars and a recommendation just for the wonderfully weird Briar and Clockwork Knight archetypes.

Urban Dressing: Traders & Craftsmen is another PDF from Raging Swan covering a variety of people your PCs can meet in town, willing to buy and sell whatever they might need. It's 13 pages long, with 1 page for the cover, 1 for the back cover, 1 for contents, 1 for credits, 1 for other products available from Raging Swan, and 1 briefly detailing this PDF and the Urban Dressing line. That leaves seven for the contents, so here goes.

First of all, it should be said that I was given this PDF for free by Raging Swan in exchange for a review. That said, it's got some very good stuff in it. The first two pages go into detail about 100 different shops your PCs can enter, ranging from rather nice places to the sort of shops people probably hire murderers in. Many of them are described in such a way as to make it obvious that they've had prior owners, and who knows what they could have left behind?

The next page covers a variety of different goods and services that can be offered. It's rather plain, but still very convenient. The next page lists twenty different odd events that can be occurring in a shop when PCs visit. They can be anything from local color to a combat or social encounter to the lead-in for an adventure. The last two pages cover any potential NPC you might meet in the shop. None of the information covers potential character levels or classes, but it does give some quick ideas for their appearance, rumors about them, and their purpose in visiting the shop among other things.

The PDF gives you exactly what it promises, and it does so effectively. I would have liked a trifle more information about the owners of the shops and any more unusual trades, but it still does a great job. I'll go with 4 stars. Definitely worth the price.

Wilderness Dressing: Plains is a 13-page PDF from Roaring Swan detailing various sights and odd encounters PCs might have when traveling through, well, a plains area. It consists of 1-page front cover, 1-page back cover, 1-page listing other products available from Roaring Swan, 1-page for credits, 1-page contents and foreword, and 1-page briefly describing the PDF's contents. This leaves six pages for the good stuff, so here we go.

First of all, I was given this PDF for free in exchange for a review. That said, this is a very well-done PDF. It promises you fun and strange sights and encounters to use when PCs travel through the plain, and that is exactly what it gives. Two pages cover minor events, many of which are basically begging to be used as seeds for larger encounters, such as a swarm of ants carrying a skeletal human hand along or finding the skeletal remains of a dog topped by a human skull. We get 98 more bits of weirdness like this.

The next two pages cover odd features, ranging from a shattered house with a massive battle axe in the middle of it, surrounded by giants' footprints and a frozen-in-horror statue pointing towards the tracks of a six-footed lizard. Again, there are a hundred of these all together, and they can all easily be used as anything from some random oddness to the seed of an encounter to the start of an entire adventure.

The final two pages cover encounters and some minor features that can simply be helpful to remember, covering perception ranges, cover from hedgerows and fences, etc. The encounters range from CR 1 to 12, and involve everything from wandering ponies to the angry spectre of a hanged man to a lich returned home for revenge. These are all rather clever and can be adjusted for use with PCs of almost any level, depending on what sort of an encounter (combat or nonviolent interaction) you want to use.

This is a splendid collection of encounters and sights for use in a game. No typos and very professionally done; five stars easy.

Fields of Blood is a book for the 'old' D&D 3.5 system, but it can work with Pathfinder very well. The book covers running a realm and fighting battles in d20, and it handles it very well. The rules for realms are clear and concise, offering a multitude of different styles of government and cultures that can be combined to produce a wide number of potential societies. You are given a number of options for things like resources (you need to stay solvent somehow, after all), guilds (thieves, wizards, etc) and the things they can do for you, temples that can bless your land in a variety of ways, and more.

The bigger part of the book is given over to mass combat. It gives you a system to raise and improve troops for yourself in a wide variety -- foot and horse and other sorts of cavalry, air troops, missile troops, specialists like combat engineers, monsters, etc. It also provides a system of mass combat that is among the better done in D&D, making combats exciting and quick and allowing for PCs to affect what happens.

The book ends with a few new prestige classes and spells, as well as guidelines on how a great many spells and magical items can be used to affect a realm's prosperity or the result of a battle.

It's an amazing value for the price, and if you want to run campaigns that involve ruling realms or warfare, you'll be happy that you got this one.

10 Inquisitor Feats is exactly what it sounds like, 10 brand-new feats for the Pathfinder RPG Inquisitor class from the Advanced Player's Guide. The question is, it it worth the very low asking price? The answer is a resounding yes! These are some very fine feats here, listed following:

Anathema Strike -- Inflict cursed unhealing bane damage.

Astute Advantage -- Get the drop on your enemies, even if you are surprised.

Bane Burst -- Your bane weapons explode with even greater power on a critical hit.

Chastising Stare -- Inflict agony on your enemies with merely a stare.

Instant Judgement -- Activate and change your judgements much more swiftly.

Know Thy Enemy -- When you know an enemy's alignment and can figure out their weaknesses, you have a better chance of hitting and hurting them.

Pronounce Weakness -- The nastiest feat here! Allows you to force a vulnerability on an enemy. One problem, we get no official ruling on just how long this affects someone.

Stalwart -- Can provide yourself with temporary hit points if you get weakened too badly 3/day; once per day, you can maximize them.

Strike Down The Liar -- What it says on the box, 3/day you gain the ability to blast someone with a lightning bolt if they lied to you.

Track Magic -- You can track someone by their constant or active spells, spell-like abilities, or magic items. This can make for some interesting hunts, whether or not it's being used by or on your PCs.

One more note, all of the above feats can be taken as bonus teamwork feats by an inquisitor and can be switched out by them using solo tactics.

A great, great PDF for the price, this one comes highly recommended!

The latest in Super Genius Games' series "Anachronistic Adventurers", the Daredevil is a new base class for Pathfinder that allows you to play a world-crossing adventurer.

The PDF itself is 14 pages long; 15 if you count the OGL. It is laid out in the usual style used by SGG, and it presents both the class proper and several archetypes which its intended to be used with. These include: the Escapist (think Harry Houdini and professional escape artists); the Secret Agent (like James Bond and other cinematic spies); and my two personal favorites, the Masked Adventurer (like Batman, or the Spider, or a million other guys who fight crime and the forces of darkness) and the Occultist (which can vary from a two-fisted occult detective to a full-blown ritual magician).

The two best parts of the PDF are the new Dauntless Surge mechanic, which allows your daredevil to engage in reckless feats with a slightly better than usual chance of survival; and a section on ritual magic in Pathfinder. It does a good job of presenting a workable and not overly complex system which can be modified by gamers as needed. I would love a longer and more complex ritual magic system myself, but this works just fine with the pulpish tone of the class.

In the end, the Daredevil PDF does all that it intended to do. Yet another fine and worthwhile purchase from Super Genius Games.

I'll have to be quick but I will say this:

This book is amazingly well-done and written. If you ever wanted to run an evil campaign/adventure path, then you want this book. Aside from a well-done multi-part adventure, starting with a jailbreak, going to a test of your abilities from your new master, then delivering weapons to an ally and then lastly a sandbox-style part in which you have to take down a well-staffed and armed border fortress all by your lonesome, you get a gazetteer of the land this all happens in (one littered with adventure ideas), and a primer on doing evil campaigns that is very well done.

This is an amazing start to what looks like it'll be the very best 3rd party AP I've ever seen.

And on the POD aspect, I got my book, in perfect condition, just TWO DAYS after the order went through. That is amazing and it deserves to be mentioned here.

Five stars easy. I just wish i could give it six!

Yet another of the well-done Rite Publishing PDFs on haunts, this one with the theme of, as the title says, haunted objects. These are not haunts hidden away in creepy castles or haunted mansions. These are haunts that can show up virtually anywhere.

We get the usual in-character prologue, and then the haunts themselves.

In order and with CR, they are:

Common Shiny Haunt, CR 2 (Object appears as it did when its ghostly owner was alive)

The Bloody bed, CR 1 (Haunted bed that can kill badly wounded yet stabilized people laid in it)

The Charred Chair, CR 2 (Corpse of a torture victim animates and answers anyone question; oddly helpful for a haunt)

The Cruel Crop, CR 2 (Bloodsoaked riding crop that frightens animals)

The Decadents' Dance, CR 8 (Sculpted dancers freeze onlookers in place until they can escape)

The Determined Device, CR 1 (Haunt repairs and resets a disarmed trap; a nasty surprise for overconfident rogues)

The Doomed Diary, CR 2 (You get the terrifying memories of the last owner; very classically Lovecraftian!)

The Fascinating Flute, CR 5 (Flute forces its player to dance until they can break free)

The Ghostly Guardians, CR 7 (Throne manifests phantom warriors)

The Greedy Garden, CR 1 (Get attacked by spiked vines)

The Hellishly Hot Handle, CR 1 (Haunted doorknob burns the hands of anyone touching it)

The Lonely Locket, CR 6 (Alters appearance to that of former owner)

The Malicious Marionette, CR 5 (Classic nasty animated marionette)

The Mortician's Mirror, CR 5 (Deathly reflection tears away some of your soul)

The Mortician's Mirror II, CR 9 (And if you touch it, you get trapped inside of it!)

The Murderer's Mannequin, CR 3 (When it laughs, so do you...)

The Necromantic Necklace, CR 3 (Animates a zombie to attack you)

The Paranoid's Portrait, CR 5 (Picture fills you with uncontrollable fear)

The Phantasmal Feast, CR 3 (Makes rotting or poisoned food look safe)

The Philanderer's Flask, CR 1 (Turns contents into poison if a woman is near)

The Possessive Pane, CR 6 (Window traps souls and forces them to stare out forever)

The Shaitan's Shadow, CR 7 (Shadow puppet who manifests killer illusions)

The Sightless Skull, CR 2 (It blinds you when you touch it)

The Tenacious Trap, CR 3 (Activates a bypassed trap)

The Tarot's Terror, CR 5 (Haunted Tarot deck inflicts any number of baleful effects)

The Tyrant's Toy Puzzle Palace, CR 11 (Toy palace that imprisons anyone who opens it within; a very cool idea!)

The Willful Wife's Wardrobe, CR 2 (Summons a swarm of spiders)

Then comes the best part of this PDF, three interconnected haunts together with a ghost and adventure location, the Temple of the Worm God. Suffice to say that, combined, this will make for one truly nasty encounter, and one that can easily have long-lasting repercussions if you don't figure out exactly how to defuse the last haunt!

Great piece of work, and a steal at the price.

Rite Publishing has a well-deserved reputation for producing the nest 3rd party Pathfinder PDFs, and this collection of six of their best only reinforces my opinion.

It consists of six PDFs which have been released individually, so be warned, if you have them this won't contain too many major revisions.

It starts with In The Company of Gargoyles, which takes the D&D/Pathfinder Gargoyle and turns it into a PC race. The background information is given in first person, and very well presented. There is also a 20 level racial paragon class, the Stonewarden, which has a number of unique powers called 'Enticements' to choose from to individualize your gargoyle, all of them centered around being more closely connected to the earth or becoming a better guardian. The chapter closes with some new feats, spells, and even a few magic items for gargoyle and non-gargoyle PCs alike.

Next is In The Company of Giants, which does for giants what the prior chapter does for gargoyles. You wouldn't think you could turn Large-to-Colossal giants into a PC race, but you'd be wrong. It has a 20 level racial paragon class which has been modified to allow multi-classing, a welcome change. Like the first chapter, BG info is given in first person from a jotun (the race's name), and new feats made for them round it out.

Then is a chapter on Ironborn. In many ways these are Eberron Warforged, with adaptable bodies and a very open-for-customization racial template, but their backgropund is quite different. No paragon class, but it has its own bloodline for sorcerers and feats for building your own Ironborn.

Then comes my favorite chapter, In The Company of Minotaurs. It describes minotaurs as a PC race, making them both unpleasant and yet honorable in their own way, and gives them a 20-level racial class with feats, a sorcerer bloodline, alternate racial traits and favored class options. And it gives some examples of weapons and other gear for the minotaurs to boot. VERY well done!

Then we get a chapter on Restless Souls, basically a template for PCs who died but have returned to something like life. They're not undead, but they come close in ways, and they have a distinctly creepy feel. There are a number of feats and spells to choose from for your new revenant which cover a great many of the 'classic' undead abilities from legend and gaming.

Last is the Wyrd of Questhaven, easily the most original in the book. Crossbred elves and ogre magi (!), the Wyrd have a flavorful 7-level paragon class, a prestige class, their own sorcerer bloodline, and a number of feats and spells along with a sample character using rules from another Rite Publishing PDF, the Luckbringer, which is not included here (but all the necessary rules are included for using her).

Truly an awesome array of new and original PC races for any campaign, with plenty of supplemental material even if you don't use the races themselves.