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Echelon Explorations: Polyhedral Pantheons
Publisher: Echelon Game Design
by Siobhan B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/12/2021 22:17:16

Fantastic product, I consider it indispensable for world building. The methodology presented is stimulating and provides all the limitations needed to aid the creative writing process. I frequently recommend this book to colleagues in the industry.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Echelon Explorations: Polyhedral Pantheons
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Creator Reply:
Hi Siobhan, I had not seen your review until today, thank you for your kind words. I'm proud of this title, and I'd be interested in seeing what you've done with it. Keith
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Legendary Kineticists II
Publisher: Legendary Games
by Siobhan B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/02/2018 14:37:59

I was provided a review copy of this product.

--The Content--

N. Jolly and Onyx Tanuki hit it out of the park again with Legendary Kineticists II, delivering the quality you'd come to expect from the authors' other works and the first Legendary Kineticists.

The first section is full of new archetypes which not only expand the kineticist with a slew of new thematic options, but also provides other classes like cavaliers, druids, oracles, and even animal companions(!) with a taste of kinetic powers. I'm a huge fan of the Bestial Kineticist animal companion archetype in particular, as it blows the door open for thematic character builds. Now, anyone with access to an animal companion can evoke the long-standing image of an animal charged with elemental or psychic powers. In particular, it's great for obtaining a unique and flavourful sidekick who can stand their own in combat, unlike most familiars. It also isn't as involved as an eidolon, and simplicity is golden in my books. This is one I'd like to personally use in a game, and that's a high bar to jump for something that builds on first-party content.

Talents comprise a short section, providing support for ice and electricity-themed kineticists, undead specialists, and a good number of quality-of-life and miscellaneous talents to enable countermagic, shillelagh-style fighting, and more. Kinetic Lich catches my interest as a capstone ability which turns you into a special kinetic lich, complete with phylactery. It's rather simple for what it does and doesn't really involve applying a template to your character, so it's far cleaner than more traditional options in that regard.

Feats on offer provide options for kineticists in general, support for specific kineticist archetypes, and multiclass support. I'm always a fan of feats that facilitate multiclassing in Pathfinder, and Legendary Kineticists encourages you to experiment with kineticist/monk, kineticist/magus, and kineticist/arcanist hybrids. Of course, with the slew of kinetic content that the authors have previously published, there's room for even more creativity within the scope of those feats.

There are a few kineticist-themed spells provided, though most of them either work better against kineticists or otherwise apply burn to enemies. Delayed Burn is the exception here, which does what it says on the tin. As a 2nd/3rd-level spell, it's another incentive to multiclass kineticist with a caster class rather than strictly being there for a caster ally to support a kineticist. It can also be used thematically to great effect if a character is willing to sacrifice long-term health for short-term power, like a punishing limit break or heroic sacrifice.

Kinetic Mystic is a prestige class on offer which acts as a dual-progression class for kineticist/arcane casters or kineticist/psychic casters, further cementing the multiclassing theme present in this book. It features 6/10 casting progression, synergistic abilities for blending the two parent classes, as well as exclusive kineticist talents. This prestige class stands out as one that is incentivized through multiple different types of content in the book, which I appreciate from both a design and a play standpoint. Most prestige classes are poorly thought out and suboptimal at best, but Kinetic Mystic has enough support within Legendary Kineticists II that it manages to become an appealing option for creative character builders. I'm impressed to say the least.

The Legendary Kineticist is the main attraction of this book, and why most kineticist fans will want to pick this book up. For those unfamiliar with Legendary Games, their legendary class series often introduces alternate classes which are more or less a strict upgrade from Paizo's offerings to account for poor balancing. The Legendary Kineticist is no exception, making the class far more user-friendly and less punishing to use. While it is chock-full of tweaks and additions, the meat of the class's changes is how it handles burn. Burn is changed to a penalty to Strength and Dexterity-based ability and skill checks, meaning that you can use your class features without dying to a stiff breeze! It's an innovative way to offer a penalty to the character while keeping them happy, and creative GMs will find new ways to challenge the players as burn's new penalties open up more ways to challenge kineticists without simply removing their hit points.

Finally, variant multiclassing support is offered for the kineticist, and we're given a sample Legendary Kineticist. The VMC kineticist works with both the regular and legendary versions of the class, as does all the other content in the book. GMs who want to allow the content in the book but are wary of the radical change to how burn works should take comfort in this fact, even though it is the opinion of this reviewer that the change to burn should be embraced. The sample character is a great way to introduce the book's content into the game as always. Trueno, Herald of the White Sky comes with beautiful artwork, detailed backstory, advice for how GMs can use her in their games, and even an optional mechanical benefit should the players befriend her!

--The Aftermath--

Legendary Kineticist II is an impressive work on all levels, from clean game design to creative content to much-needed boosting of the traditionally weak Kineticist's power level. Any fan of the class will want to pick this up, as will game balance afficionados and game designers who want to research quality material in the industry. As a game designer myself, I've benefited from studying this book, regardless of if I get the chance to use it in actual play or not.N Jolly and Onyx Tanuki should be proud of this accomplishment, and publishers should take notes as to the capabilities of the authours. I whole-heartedly recommend the book to anyone interested.

-Siobhan Bjorknas



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Legendary Kineticists II
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Spheres of Might
Publisher: Drop Dead Studios
by Talore V. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 10/13/2017 20:09:45

Do you want to make a martial character that does something other than full attacking? Do you want easy access to unique and memorable abilities for both allies and enemies? Do you like fun? If you answered yes to any of these, Spheres of Might is worth your time.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Spheres of Might
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