For D&D4: The Witch Player Class
A decent witch class for D&D4. Predates the witch that appears in Heroes of the Feywild by a few years, but is roughly compatible.
For Witch Girls Adventures: Original Witch Girls (OWG)
The comic that came before the RPG. The first 200 or so pages are comic content of various artists, but all in the WitchGirls School and world. The next dozen or so pages is the Coventry School written up for the Witch Girls RPG. And we end with WGA write-ups for all the characters that appeared in the comics.
One of the great things about the Witch Girls game are the characters. So this is a nice treat really.
If you are a fan of the game and want some more NPCs for your own school or need some ideas on adventure then this is a great book to have.
For Colonial Gothic: Witchcraft
I enjoy the Colonial Gothic game quite a bit. I love how it weaves the earliest American history with horror and monsters.
I was set to like this book quite a bit and I do, don't get me wrong, but it wasn't quite what I was expecting given how much I enjoyed all the other CG books.
This book gives us Witchcraft for the CG world and it does a great job of researching, but it only gives us the "evil" sort of witchcraft associated with summoning demons. Granted, that is perfectly fine for this game. I think I wanted to see a little more.
The first half deals with Witchcraft in the CG world and is great. The second half is from the writings of King James and frankly he was more than just little bit paranoid.
In the end it is still a good book for the game and something to grab if you are interested in thoughts a views on witches of the time.
Of course for my own take, if you are going to assume that King Jame's witches are real then why not Margaret Murray's witches too? I guess I just like having the option of playing a witch in my games.
For Mage: The Sorcerer's Crusade: Witches and Pagans
A great resource for the Renascence era Mage: The Sorcerer's Crusade.
For Mage: The Ascension: Tradition Book: Verbena (1st) (Revised)
More Verbena goodness and more rotes based on the Verbena's sphere of Life.
Both are full of great background information on "witches" in the Mage game and are full of wonderful ideas and great art. This is WW at their peak and there is so much care and detail here that I couldn't not get these books.
For Basic Role-Playing (Call of Cthulhu...): BRP Witchcraft
I reviewed this one in detail here: http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2010/07/brp-witchcraft.html
Witch Hunter: the Invisible World
I reviewed this one in detail here: http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2011/03/review-witch-hunter-invisible-world.html
Quest of the Ancients
I have talked about this one before too: http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2011/04/q-is-for-quest-of-ancients.html
The witch in this book is roughly compatible with AD&D1. Lots of new and fairly cool spells.
Friday, August 17, 2012
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Witch Books, Part 4. The New Old
The New Old.
These are new products to play old school style witches. Generally speaking these are all throwbacks to the Basic or First Edition days for games like Labyrinth Lord, OSRIC or any OSR game.
Classic Fantasy Review: Volume 1, Issue 2
This might be one of the first Old-School style witches that I purchased. In this supplement for OSRIC we get the Diabolical Witch. A witch that gains her powers and spells from the various demon and devil lords. Its a cross between a cleric and wizard, maybe with more emphasis on the cleric side of things. The level progression is closer to the cleric than the wizard to be honest. There are new spells, just a redistribution of current OSRIC spells. They get a number of special powers, some make sense (clerical turning and shapeshift) others not as much (limited thief abilities). A nice feature is how witches of different demon lords, devils get different powers.
Darker Paths 2: The Witch
I am always a bit hesitant to review other peoples work on witch-related classes since I have products of my own out there. I fear of being too critical or too lax, each to out weigh the other. In the end I think I just need to review the product as is. Like DP1: The Necromancer this product is for the "Adventures Dark and Deep" RPG, OR any other near-clone of AD&D. Also like the first Darker Path book this presents the witch as an evil character class; not the Earth loving priestess of old faiths or even the spiritual seeking witches of modern tales. This must be recalled when reading the rest of this book. These witches are more Baba Yaga and not Circe for example. There is the obligatory disclaimer on Contemporary Witches and how this game is not that. (As an aside, as someone that has written these myself this one does seem more of a disclaimer of "don't email me" rather than a "I am not trying to offend", but that could just be me. EDITED: I did get an email clarification on this and the author was very much in the "I am not trying to offend, but these are different things" camp, which is cool by me.)
Witches in this game are all evil and their main ability is Wisdom. Their Charisma must start high, but it degrades as the witch rises in level. Interesting. I am not sure I like that since it seems here that Charisma is used as an "Appearance" proxy and not as a "Force of Personality" one. It would make it hard to make a character like Circe, who was evil, attractive and had a lot of force of personality, as a witch in these rules. That is fine, she would have to be something else, but I do want to point it out.
Witches advance to 13th level; so reminiscent of the druid. She has a nice variety of spells to choose from (more on this) and there are rules for her brewing potions and poisons. Like other witches of folklore, this witch can also have multiple familiars. A nice touch in my mind.
The spells are the real gem of this book. Nearly 50 new spells there are a lot of classics here. There are spells on Candle Magic (and done differently than my own) and nearly every base is covered (curses, storm summoning, afflicting others).
Like with DP1, the art is a mix of new and public domain art, but all of it is appropriate to the feel of the book. In the end this is a very good evil witch class. It does make me wonder how the author might do a good witch.
ACKS Player's Companion: The Witch
This one is not out yet for the public, but I have seen the witch for it. It was actually based on some OGC I produced a while back with some significant changes. I didn't write it, but it has it's DNA in stuff I did write. So I have recuse from a proper review, but I will say this: I like it a lot. It is compatible with my two other "OSR" witches but still covers new ground on it's own. At the same time is still new and fresh.
The Complete B/X Adventurer: The Witch
I have talked about the the TCBXA before, but I want to focus on the Witch class from it.
For starters the class works best if you also own the B/X Companion.
I have to play special attention to the witch. Not just because it is a witch class, but because it is different than the other spell using classes. For starters the witch can cast in groups to cast higher level spells. That is a nice feature really and something very much in tune with the archetypal witch. The witch is the class in the book that is stated up all the way to 36th level AND built to gain powers to that point, also something I rather like. Why? Because a 36th level witch is the only class that can cast 10th level spells. Yup. This one goes to 10!
Crafting spells. The witch does not memorize a spell, but she does have a limit on how many she knows. The witch needs both a high intelligence (to know the spell) and a high wisdom (to learn and scribe it down in the first place). So a first level witch with a high Intelligence knows 1+Int mod 1st level spells. She can also scribe spells of 1st level + how ever many extra levels equal to her Wisdom mod. I like it. It is a nice quick way to know what can be done. In fact I would like to use that for clerics since gods should know ahead of time what spells their flock need and then they just give them to the cleric at that time.
For the witch though I would reverse it. Intelligence to write or scribe the spell and Widsom to know how many they can cast. Witches are often called the "Craft of the Wise" afterall. But all in all I like it.
10th level witch spells are nothing at all to sneeze at. This is a powerful witch class.
The 10th level spells are a nice solution to the "Coven spells"/"Powerful magic" vs independent witches. I can't see too many witch covens in groups. Maybe two or three at a time. With what JB has done here is given us a way to have powerful magics in groups at lower levels and keep those same magics out of the hands of solitary witches till much later. This then does not make them a more attractive solution over Wizards/Magic Users.
These are new products to play old school style witches. Generally speaking these are all throwbacks to the Basic or First Edition days for games like Labyrinth Lord, OSRIC or any OSR game.
Classic Fantasy Review: Volume 1, Issue 2
This might be one of the first Old-School style witches that I purchased. In this supplement for OSRIC we get the Diabolical Witch. A witch that gains her powers and spells from the various demon and devil lords. Its a cross between a cleric and wizard, maybe with more emphasis on the cleric side of things. The level progression is closer to the cleric than the wizard to be honest. There are new spells, just a redistribution of current OSRIC spells. They get a number of special powers, some make sense (clerical turning and shapeshift) others not as much (limited thief abilities). A nice feature is how witches of different demon lords, devils get different powers.
Darker Paths 2: The Witch
I am always a bit hesitant to review other peoples work on witch-related classes since I have products of my own out there. I fear of being too critical or too lax, each to out weigh the other. In the end I think I just need to review the product as is. Like DP1: The Necromancer this product is for the "Adventures Dark and Deep" RPG, OR any other near-clone of AD&D. Also like the first Darker Path book this presents the witch as an evil character class; not the Earth loving priestess of old faiths or even the spiritual seeking witches of modern tales. This must be recalled when reading the rest of this book. These witches are more Baba Yaga and not Circe for example. There is the obligatory disclaimer on Contemporary Witches and how this game is not that. (As an aside, as someone that has written these myself this one does seem more of a disclaimer of "don't email me" rather than a "I am not trying to offend", but that could just be me. EDITED: I did get an email clarification on this and the author was very much in the "I am not trying to offend, but these are different things" camp, which is cool by me.)
Witches in this game are all evil and their main ability is Wisdom. Their Charisma must start high, but it degrades as the witch rises in level. Interesting. I am not sure I like that since it seems here that Charisma is used as an "Appearance" proxy and not as a "Force of Personality" one. It would make it hard to make a character like Circe, who was evil, attractive and had a lot of force of personality, as a witch in these rules. That is fine, she would have to be something else, but I do want to point it out.
Witches advance to 13th level; so reminiscent of the druid. She has a nice variety of spells to choose from (more on this) and there are rules for her brewing potions and poisons. Like other witches of folklore, this witch can also have multiple familiars. A nice touch in my mind.
The spells are the real gem of this book. Nearly 50 new spells there are a lot of classics here. There are spells on Candle Magic (and done differently than my own) and nearly every base is covered (curses, storm summoning, afflicting others).
Like with DP1, the art is a mix of new and public domain art, but all of it is appropriate to the feel of the book. In the end this is a very good evil witch class. It does make me wonder how the author might do a good witch.
ACKS Player's Companion: The Witch
This one is not out yet for the public, but I have seen the witch for it. It was actually based on some OGC I produced a while back with some significant changes. I didn't write it, but it has it's DNA in stuff I did write. So I have recuse from a proper review, but I will say this: I like it a lot. It is compatible with my two other "OSR" witches but still covers new ground on it's own. At the same time is still new and fresh.
The Complete B/X Adventurer: The Witch
I have talked about the the TCBXA before, but I want to focus on the Witch class from it.
For starters the class works best if you also own the B/X Companion.
I have to play special attention to the witch. Not just because it is a witch class, but because it is different than the other spell using classes. For starters the witch can cast in groups to cast higher level spells. That is a nice feature really and something very much in tune with the archetypal witch. The witch is the class in the book that is stated up all the way to 36th level AND built to gain powers to that point, also something I rather like. Why? Because a 36th level witch is the only class that can cast 10th level spells. Yup. This one goes to 10!
Crafting spells. The witch does not memorize a spell, but she does have a limit on how many she knows. The witch needs both a high intelligence (to know the spell) and a high wisdom (to learn and scribe it down in the first place). So a first level witch with a high Intelligence knows 1+Int mod 1st level spells. She can also scribe spells of 1st level + how ever many extra levels equal to her Wisdom mod. I like it. It is a nice quick way to know what can be done. In fact I would like to use that for clerics since gods should know ahead of time what spells their flock need and then they just give them to the cleric at that time.
For the witch though I would reverse it. Intelligence to write or scribe the spell and Widsom to know how many they can cast. Witches are often called the "Craft of the Wise" afterall. But all in all I like it.
10th level witch spells are nothing at all to sneeze at. This is a powerful witch class.
The 10th level spells are a nice solution to the "Coven spells"/"Powerful magic" vs independent witches. I can't see too many witch covens in groups. Maybe two or three at a time. With what JB has done here is given us a way to have powerful magics in groups at lower levels and keep those same magics out of the hands of solitary witches till much later. This then does not make them a more attractive solution over Wizards/Magic Users.
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
White Dwarf Wednesday #28
White Dwarf #28 takes us to Dec 1981/Jan 1882.
Again this feels like a transition issue, but I am not sure if that is the natural feel of it or because I know what sort of changes are coming up. An aside, though I have mentioned this before. At this point in my life I was a HUGE Anglophile. Still am, but not like I was back then. If it was English, British or somehow associated with the UK then it was gold in my mind. My music collection of the time reflected this and so did my tastes in RPGs.
We get an interesting cover of blaster wielding centurions fighting giant war robots. Not sure what it is about, but there is no part of it that isn't awesome.
Jumping through the ads for a bit we see something new, an ad for these new Personal Computers! There was the one I really wanted back in the day, the Atari 400. Though I ended up with the Tandy Color Computer 2. Soon PCs and RPGs are going to become linked in a way that we could never have imagined back in '82.
Ian Livingstone phones in the editorial this issue by asking reader what genres of "Role-playing games" (again we are seeing this term more and more) they want to see. He correctly predicts the explosion of the next 2-3 years.
First article is Magic Jar by Andy Slack. It is a basic character conversion matrix. It is based on the premise of percentage conversions, ie what is percent does "4" account for on a 3d6 and so on. It is a nice quick and dirty way of converting characters and materials. It is also not a bad article, but it makes the mistake of assuming that normal, min and max in all games are the same. I have pointed out in conversions of my own that a Strength of 18 in D&D (max on a 3d6) is not quite exactly the same as Strength of 6 in Unisystem (human max) even if mathematically they are the same. Still though, back in the day I would have eaten this article up. I say "would have" because I have recollection of reading this issue when it was out.
Starbase includes a quick Traveller scenario designed to cure trigger happy players.
Open Box has a treat for us, the Fiend Folio. Jamie Thomson gives the hometown publication a solid 8/10. ICBM is a nuclear war mini-game that is described as too easy and only gets a 4/10. Ley Sector is a Judges Guild Traveller add on. It only gets 6/10 due to many typos. There are two new Traveller books from GDW, Marooned/Marooned Alone (adventure 4) and Library Data A-M (supplement 8). They get very high marks for novices earning a 10/10 and 9/10 respectively. Experienced players will find them useful, only not as much so, dropping their scores to 9 and 7 respectively. Steve Jackson has a new mini-game out Undead that follows the story of Dracula and gets an 8/10.
The War Smiths are the new class from Character Conjuring. A subclass of the fighter these guys excel making armor, shields and weapons of war. They even have some minor magic to allow them to perform their trade better. While I don't think it makes for a very good class, it does make for some interesting background. The War Smiths could be an esoteric order that learns magic and fighting skills to make better weapons.
Steve Cook presents On Target, a critical hit system for Traveller, but easily adapted to other systems.
Operation Counterstrike by Marcus L. Rowland is an AD&D scenario that blends fantasy and sci-fi and inspired by War of the Worlds. It is longer than most scenarios and the font is tiny. So this one is a long one. A very interesting idea. What your characters do if they were suddenly invaded by alien technological lifeforms.
Letters and then Treasure Chest. Someone was watching the old Spider-man cartoons, we have Web devices and boots of sticking to walls.
Fiend Factory has an assortment of woodland beasts including a black unicorn and an undead Dryad.
There is a recap of the Games Day and then ads.
One of the ads is for the TSR mini-games including Vampyre. I think that for the longest time I confused Vampyre and Undead. Both were mini-games focusing on Dracula. I never owned Undead, but I did buy Vampyre. One day I should see if I can get a hold of both of them.
Again this feels like a transition issue, but I am not sure if that is the natural feel of it or because I know what sort of changes are coming up. An aside, though I have mentioned this before. At this point in my life I was a HUGE Anglophile. Still am, but not like I was back then. If it was English, British or somehow associated with the UK then it was gold in my mind. My music collection of the time reflected this and so did my tastes in RPGs.
We get an interesting cover of blaster wielding centurions fighting giant war robots. Not sure what it is about, but there is no part of it that isn't awesome.
Jumping through the ads for a bit we see something new, an ad for these new Personal Computers! There was the one I really wanted back in the day, the Atari 400. Though I ended up with the Tandy Color Computer 2. Soon PCs and RPGs are going to become linked in a way that we could never have imagined back in '82.
Ian Livingstone phones in the editorial this issue by asking reader what genres of "Role-playing games" (again we are seeing this term more and more) they want to see. He correctly predicts the explosion of the next 2-3 years.
First article is Magic Jar by Andy Slack. It is a basic character conversion matrix. It is based on the premise of percentage conversions, ie what is percent does "4" account for on a 3d6 and so on. It is a nice quick and dirty way of converting characters and materials. It is also not a bad article, but it makes the mistake of assuming that normal, min and max in all games are the same. I have pointed out in conversions of my own that a Strength of 18 in D&D (max on a 3d6) is not quite exactly the same as Strength of 6 in Unisystem (human max) even if mathematically they are the same. Still though, back in the day I would have eaten this article up. I say "would have" because I have recollection of reading this issue when it was out.
Starbase includes a quick Traveller scenario designed to cure trigger happy players.
Open Box has a treat for us, the Fiend Folio. Jamie Thomson gives the hometown publication a solid 8/10. ICBM is a nuclear war mini-game that is described as too easy and only gets a 4/10. Ley Sector is a Judges Guild Traveller add on. It only gets 6/10 due to many typos. There are two new Traveller books from GDW, Marooned/Marooned Alone (adventure 4) and Library Data A-M (supplement 8). They get very high marks for novices earning a 10/10 and 9/10 respectively. Experienced players will find them useful, only not as much so, dropping their scores to 9 and 7 respectively. Steve Jackson has a new mini-game out Undead that follows the story of Dracula and gets an 8/10.
The War Smiths are the new class from Character Conjuring. A subclass of the fighter these guys excel making armor, shields and weapons of war. They even have some minor magic to allow them to perform their trade better. While I don't think it makes for a very good class, it does make for some interesting background. The War Smiths could be an esoteric order that learns magic and fighting skills to make better weapons.
Steve Cook presents On Target, a critical hit system for Traveller, but easily adapted to other systems.
Operation Counterstrike by Marcus L. Rowland is an AD&D scenario that blends fantasy and sci-fi and inspired by War of the Worlds. It is longer than most scenarios and the font is tiny. So this one is a long one. A very interesting idea. What your characters do if they were suddenly invaded by alien technological lifeforms.
Letters and then Treasure Chest. Someone was watching the old Spider-man cartoons, we have Web devices and boots of sticking to walls.
Fiend Factory has an assortment of woodland beasts including a black unicorn and an undead Dryad.
There is a recap of the Games Day and then ads.
One of the ads is for the TSR mini-games including Vampyre. I think that for the longest time I confused Vampyre and Undead. Both were mini-games focusing on Dracula. I never owned Undead, but I did buy Vampyre. One day I should see if I can get a hold of both of them.
Witch Books, Part 3. Pathfinder
To many Pathfinder is the heir-apparent to the legacy of D&D, to others it's the biggest retro-clone out there. But regardless of how you view Pathfinder, one thing is for certain, it is wildly successful.
Pathfinder also has it's own witch class from the Advanced Player's Guide. It is nice and has a cool vibe about it, there are somethings I don't care about it. I talked about it detail here, and offered up a couple of Prestige Classes here and here.
Other companies though have filled the gaps with their own Pathfinder-compatible witches.
A Necromancer's Grimoire: Secrets of the Witch
This book offers up the Green Hag as a playable race for the Witch class. Sort of. It is more of a race-as-class, but close enough to the witch to work. Anyone that played D&D back in the late 70s will have no issues with this really. There are also plenty of new feats and hexes that can be used by the witch or Green Hag. There are also plenty of new spells. This is a good book if you are a witch completest like me, or would like to use hags in your pathfinder game.
For a fuller witch I would also grab The Book of Faith (spells) and Paths of the Druid (for some Prestige Classes and ideas for familiars).
Advanced Feats: The Witch's Brew (Pathfinder RPG)
Certainly one of the more interesting books for the new Pathfinder witch class. You will need the Advanced Player's Guide to get the most of of this book obviously.
We start off with a brief overview/analysis of the witch class. Not bad really, but nothing we can get from the APG.
On to the meat of the book, the 30 new feats. They are a mixed bag, but for the most part they add a lot flavor to the witch. There are some familiar affecting feats which is nice, and commentary/sidebars on a few.
There are also 3 sample witch builds that you can use to make your own.
Witch Spell Cards for the Pathfinder Role Playing Game
Exactly what is says on the tin. Spell cards you can print out and use with your Pathfinder APG Witch.
If you like cards then these are great. If you prefer sheets then they can still be used.
Paths of Power
Described as a source book for Base and Prestige Classes. This book features a new Witch class. This witch has "Circle" magic and gets spells based on Wisdom as do the witches in the 3.0 book I did years ago. This witch is a nice alternative to the Pathfinder Witch. If you were to use both I would call this one a "Witch" and the APG one a "Warlock". In addition to the witch we get the Anti-Paladin, elemental wizards, gladiators, samurai and the Voyager. NPC classes include the Courtesan, Captain and Sycophant. Truthfully I only found the Courtesan useful. Prestige classes include the Child of Bast, Crypt Stalker and the Envenomed. Personally I would have liked the PrCs to be a little more related to the base classes.
There is though plenty of magic items and spells. There are also plenty of new witch-related feats.
Since I bought it for the witch alone, I am actually pretty satisfied with what I got.
Book of Arcane Magic
Another great book from 4-Winds Fantasy Gaming. This one focuses on the Arcane Spellcaster in Pathfinder. While the book predates the APG Witch, a lot of these new spells and ideas can be used with the witch. Of course they are all also fine to use as they are. In particular I liked all the new Sorcerer bloodlines and colleges of Wizardry. I like the idea of my wizard doing post-graduate work in magic.
There are new familiars, spells and magic items. So it is worth it just for these.
The Book of Divine Magic
Likewise, the Book of Divine Magic adds more material to your cleric, druid and paladin classes (and Rangers). There is a list of gods and their domains. Plenty of new spells. Rules for temples and divine animal companions (like familiars) and new magic items and relics. Avery densely packed 94 pages.
Up next are a the "With a Bullet Point" series on witches from Super Genius Games. Designed to be quick guides that can be used with a minimal of prep time and minimal cost. I like the idea.
#1 With a Bullet Point: 5 Magic Witch's Daggers
Here we have 5 magical Athame ("ath-a-may") or daggers that can be used by witches. These weapons work in conjunction with the witch's hexing ability, though they can be used as magical weapons as well.
Short, sweet and to the point. There is nothing to complain about here.
#1 With a Bullet Point: 13 Witch Hexes
Again one page, one buck. This time we get 13 hexes that can be used by the witch. Some blur the line between what could be a hex and what could be a feat, but all in all they work fine.
#1 With a Bullet Point: 9 Witch Hunter Feats
Hard to mess with a good thing. A page for the cover, a page for the OGL and then a page of nine feats for Witch hunters to either protect them from witches or to help them when battling the forces of darkness. If you enjoyed the Genius Guide to the Witch Hunter (below), then this is a great addition. If you don't have that you can still use this product.
Super Genius Games also produces the "Genius Guides" which are larger and go more in-depth.
Advanced Options: Witches' Hexes
This book surprisingly has no overlap with SGG's With A Bullet Point: 13 Witch Hexes. The hexes listed here are all new and there also Major and Grand hexes detailed. There are even some hex-related feats.
The Genius Guide to the Witch Hunter
Where there are witches there will be witch hunters. This is a full 20-level class devoted to witch-hunting. Plenty of powers, abilities and feats are detailed. I think this would have worked as a prestige class, but this is pretty good.
Legendary Levels II
This book, like the first LL, deals with Pathfinder "Legendary" Levels, of levels 21 to 30. What 3.0/3.5 called Epic Levels. I think they picked "Legendary" as not to confuse it with D&D4. There is a Legendary Witch in this book, which is why I got it, but the rest is pretty good as well. In particular I liked the Legendary Samurai and the Dragon Lord prestige class. I Would have enjoyed seeing more prestige classes myself, but the book's focus was "Legendary classes" and note really prestige ones. Plenty of new feats and I REALLY liked the art in this book. So at the end of the day it was worth it to me.
Pathfinder also has it's own witch class from the Advanced Player's Guide. It is nice and has a cool vibe about it, there are somethings I don't care about it. I talked about it detail here, and offered up a couple of Prestige Classes here and here.
Other companies though have filled the gaps with their own Pathfinder-compatible witches.
A Necromancer's Grimoire: Secrets of the Witch
For a fuller witch I would also grab The Book of Faith (spells) and Paths of the Druid (for some Prestige Classes and ideas for familiars).
Advanced Feats: The Witch's Brew (Pathfinder RPG)
Certainly one of the more interesting books for the new Pathfinder witch class. You will need the Advanced Player's Guide to get the most of of this book obviously.
We start off with a brief overview/analysis of the witch class. Not bad really, but nothing we can get from the APG.
On to the meat of the book, the 30 new feats. They are a mixed bag, but for the most part they add a lot flavor to the witch. There are some familiar affecting feats which is nice, and commentary/sidebars on a few.
There are also 3 sample witch builds that you can use to make your own.
Witch Spell Cards for the Pathfinder Role Playing Game
Exactly what is says on the tin. Spell cards you can print out and use with your Pathfinder APG Witch.
If you like cards then these are great. If you prefer sheets then they can still be used.
Paths of Power
Described as a source book for Base and Prestige Classes. This book features a new Witch class. This witch has "Circle" magic and gets spells based on Wisdom as do the witches in the 3.0 book I did years ago. This witch is a nice alternative to the Pathfinder Witch. If you were to use both I would call this one a "Witch" and the APG one a "Warlock". In addition to the witch we get the Anti-Paladin, elemental wizards, gladiators, samurai and the Voyager. NPC classes include the Courtesan, Captain and Sycophant. Truthfully I only found the Courtesan useful. Prestige classes include the Child of Bast, Crypt Stalker and the Envenomed. Personally I would have liked the PrCs to be a little more related to the base classes.
There is though plenty of magic items and spells. There are also plenty of new witch-related feats.
Since I bought it for the witch alone, I am actually pretty satisfied with what I got.
Book of Arcane Magic
Another great book from 4-Winds Fantasy Gaming. This one focuses on the Arcane Spellcaster in Pathfinder. While the book predates the APG Witch, a lot of these new spells and ideas can be used with the witch. Of course they are all also fine to use as they are. In particular I liked all the new Sorcerer bloodlines and colleges of Wizardry. I like the idea of my wizard doing post-graduate work in magic.
There are new familiars, spells and magic items. So it is worth it just for these.
The Book of Divine Magic
Likewise, the Book of Divine Magic adds more material to your cleric, druid and paladin classes (and Rangers). There is a list of gods and their domains. Plenty of new spells. Rules for temples and divine animal companions (like familiars) and new magic items and relics. Avery densely packed 94 pages.
Up next are a the "With a Bullet Point" series on witches from Super Genius Games. Designed to be quick guides that can be used with a minimal of prep time and minimal cost. I like the idea.
#1 With a Bullet Point: 5 Magic Witch's Daggers
Here we have 5 magical Athame ("ath-a-may") or daggers that can be used by witches. These weapons work in conjunction with the witch's hexing ability, though they can be used as magical weapons as well.
Short, sweet and to the point. There is nothing to complain about here.
#1 With a Bullet Point: 13 Witch Hexes
Again one page, one buck. This time we get 13 hexes that can be used by the witch. Some blur the line between what could be a hex and what could be a feat, but all in all they work fine.
#1 With a Bullet Point: 9 Witch Hunter Feats
Hard to mess with a good thing. A page for the cover, a page for the OGL and then a page of nine feats for Witch hunters to either protect them from witches or to help them when battling the forces of darkness. If you enjoyed the Genius Guide to the Witch Hunter (below), then this is a great addition. If you don't have that you can still use this product.
Super Genius Games also produces the "Genius Guides" which are larger and go more in-depth.
Advanced Options: Witches' Hexes
This book surprisingly has no overlap with SGG's With A Bullet Point: 13 Witch Hexes. The hexes listed here are all new and there also Major and Grand hexes detailed. There are even some hex-related feats.
The Genius Guide to the Witch Hunter
Where there are witches there will be witch hunters. This is a full 20-level class devoted to witch-hunting. Plenty of powers, abilities and feats are detailed. I think this would have worked as a prestige class, but this is pretty good.
Legendary Levels II
This book, like the first LL, deals with Pathfinder "Legendary" Levels, of levels 21 to 30. What 3.0/3.5 called Epic Levels. I think they picked "Legendary" as not to confuse it with D&D4. There is a Legendary Witch in this book, which is why I got it, but the rest is pretty good as well. In particular I liked the Legendary Samurai and the Dragon Lord prestige class. I Would have enjoyed seeing more prestige classes myself, but the book's focus was "Legendary classes" and note really prestige ones. Plenty of new feats and I REALLY liked the art in this book. So at the end of the day it was worth it to me.
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Hex Girls: Lord Salem on TV?
Faithful reader Danny pointed this out to me the other day.
On the new Scooby Doo Mystery Incorporated there was a character, Hebediah Grim, who is very similar to my own "Lord Salem".
The episode was called Grim Judgement and I guess the character was the ghost of a Puritan judge (thus the mallet).
http://scoobydoo.wikia.com/wiki/Hebediah_Grim
http://scoobydoomysteryincorporated.tumblr.com/post/29064054832/happening-now-on-mystery-incorporated-a-puritan
http://scoobydoo.wikia.com/wiki/Grim_Judgement
I am not surprised they come up with a character like this. Using a Puritan judge or witch-hunter is kind of a no-brainer really.
I will have to watch this episode sometime and see if I get any ideas. Maybe for the game I can rework it into an CAH2 episode where the girls Lord Salem/Grimm are attacking actually are witches. Maybe this is the first time we see him.
On the new Scooby Doo Mystery Incorporated there was a character, Hebediah Grim, who is very similar to my own "Lord Salem".
The episode was called Grim Judgement and I guess the character was the ghost of a Puritan judge (thus the mallet).
http://scoobydoo.wikia.com/wiki/Hebediah_Grim
http://scoobydoomysteryincorporated.tumblr.com/post/29064054832/happening-now-on-mystery-incorporated-a-puritan
http://scoobydoo.wikia.com/wiki/Grim_Judgement
I am not surprised they come up with a character like this. Using a Puritan judge or witch-hunter is kind of a no-brainer really.
I will have to watch this episode sometime and see if I get any ideas. Maybe for the game I can rework it into an CAH2 episode where the girls Lord Salem/Grimm are attacking actually are witches. Maybe this is the first time we see him.
Witch Books, Part 2. d20 years
Continuing on my previous post on the witch classes for the D&D game. In this post I'll focus on the the early batch of d20 and later books.
DMG Witch
Let's not forget that the witch was a "sample" character in the 3.0 edition DMG. She was basically a Sorcerer that had a different spell list. Dropped some of the iconic damage spells of the Wizard in favor of some minor Cleric spells. I always considered this the baseline witch. Though since it was not in the SRD I avoided reading about it. When working on Liber Mysterium back in the day I was very, very strict about what I would read. In fact I have a spread sheet full of spells and I would have discussions on what was and was not a witch spell. In the end I ended up with a list that was not too unlike the witch spell list in the DMG, but I have tons of documentation of how I got it. We were more concerned back then that WotC was going to stomp out any d20 infraction they found. Still glad I did all the work though. I was able to go back to it for all my other witch books.
Relics & Rituals
While not a book about witches per se, there is a lot in this book to like.
This was one of the very first additional magic books available for the d20 game. It has a number of things that would be expected. There are a good number of Prestige Classes for starters and I particularly liked the Blood Witch and the Sea Witch. There are new feats and hundreds of new spells. But the real gem of this book and the reason why it is still good to have today are the ritual casting rules. There was a time that including a copy of these was mandatory in any new d20 book magic it seemed. They were frankly some of the best mutli-caster rules I had seen to that date and I have not seen anything else in the d20 world that has since come close. Throw in scads of magic items and the book is a steal at twice this price really.
The Quintessential Witch - Mongoose (Print) (PDF)
I am not a huge fan of the older Mongoose books. There are number of issues with the classes all over over the place, odd editing and art that runs the gambit. This book is not any different. The witch class is pretty typical of the time (early days of the d20 boom). There is a wide variety of Prestige classes, which is nice, but not all of them are usable. The book tends to be full of a lot cliches. Though the ones that are good (Occultist, Puppet Mistress) are very good. There is a good section on new uses for skills including telling fortunes and a good section of feats. There are new spells and new magic items, as expected, but the coolest thing might be the Places of Power. Some Times of Power ends the book (also a good section).
The Witch's Handbook - Green Ronin
Certainly a great effort. There is a lot I really like about this book. The gems of this book are the ideas for skills and of course the fantastic cover art by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law. Like my own d20 book this witch uses Wisdom to cast Arcane spells. I still kinda like that to be honest. There are a lot of nice Prestige Classes here. There are new spells and like Way of the Witch below it uses the Ritual Casting rules from Relics & Rituals which were very much in vogue at the time.
There is no PDF of this I can buy which is disappointing really.
Way of the Witch - Citizen Games
Style-wise this is the best of the lot of the early witch books for d20. Hard cover, with some of the most beautiful art I have seen in a book. I mean look at that Thomas Denmark cover.
The witch is basic and has a lot a really nice features. The prestige classes are simple, but functional, dividing the witch into White, Black, Grey and Brown witches. There are some other nice ideas as well. The authors really took their time and care with this one and it really shows.
Alas, Citizen games did not make it out of the d20 boon alive. They were going to come out with a second witch book, Seasons of the Witch, and I had heard a little about it. I had high expectations really.
I am also disappointed that there is no pdf of this I can buy anywhere. It would be great to have all my witch books in one place on my hard drive(s).
Lions' Den Press: Classes of Legend: The Witch
This one is different enough from the Pathfinder or DMG versions of the witch class to merit it's own product. There are some new feats and spells. All 20 levels are presented as well as some "High Witchcraft" alternate levels. Some good ideas here and not bad for the price.
The Enduring: Witches and Shamans
This book gives us a Faery Witch and Shaman class. There is some natural overlap between the two. In addition there are also 3 new prestige classes and 22 new feats. There are a fair number of new magic items and a lot of new spells. There are also quite a few new monsters that are likely to exist in the same worlds as witches and shamans. The classes seem a bit overpowered for straight d20 ones, but might make good Pathfinder classes. The feats and spells are mixed bag. I have seen similar sorts of feats and spells in other books, some better, some worse. But for the price, this is a good deal. I am not a huge fan of the art, but it is not bad.
Unorthodox Witches
A lot of different types of witches built from the d20 rules. A few new ideas and a lot recycled art.
If you are looking for new ideas for witches, wizards or other types of spellcasters.
After going over this book again all these years later there is actually quite a bit more for your money. 55+ pages, and plenty of classes, there is a lot here that can use right out of the box or combine for something new. The key word that I was forgetting here was "Unorthodox" and these certainly fit. While I see this primarily as a GMs tool, there is likely to be a class in here that you will want to try if you are into witches. Just because it is called a Beguiler or Crescent flyer, doesn't matter, that is just to separate them all out from each other.
There is something good here if you like arcane classes. Or any class with a bit of mystery to it.
Actually I would not use them as classes, but edit them a bit for Prestige classes for the Witch.
Lost Classes: Chaos Witch
Some products you buy for the content, some for the art. This was both. I was working on the Chaos Witch for WitchCraft a while back and I wanted to see what is was all about. Plus the witch on the front looks like Raven from the Teen Titans. I didn't actually use anything here for the WitchCraft Chaos Magick, but I did enjoy this.
It is an interesting Prestige Class that adds a bit of randomness to her spell casting effects. She gains a few extra spell-like abilities and a random "hex" to curse people with.
A lot of fluff is given for the class, but the crunch does not quite match up. Still an interesting class for an NPC or a witch-themed game. Only 3 pages, but the price is low.
Dept. 7 Adv. Class Update: NeoWitch Guardian
An advanced class for d20 Modern. Has some nice features and powers. I particularly like the broom (Besom) attacks. Great for d20 modern with magic.
DMG Witch
Let's not forget that the witch was a "sample" character in the 3.0 edition DMG. She was basically a Sorcerer that had a different spell list. Dropped some of the iconic damage spells of the Wizard in favor of some minor Cleric spells. I always considered this the baseline witch. Though since it was not in the SRD I avoided reading about it. When working on Liber Mysterium back in the day I was very, very strict about what I would read. In fact I have a spread sheet full of spells and I would have discussions on what was and was not a witch spell. In the end I ended up with a list that was not too unlike the witch spell list in the DMG, but I have tons of documentation of how I got it. We were more concerned back then that WotC was going to stomp out any d20 infraction they found. Still glad I did all the work though. I was able to go back to it for all my other witch books.
Relics & Rituals
While not a book about witches per se, there is a lot in this book to like.
This was one of the very first additional magic books available for the d20 game. It has a number of things that would be expected. There are a good number of Prestige Classes for starters and I particularly liked the Blood Witch and the Sea Witch. There are new feats and hundreds of new spells. But the real gem of this book and the reason why it is still good to have today are the ritual casting rules. There was a time that including a copy of these was mandatory in any new d20 book magic it seemed. They were frankly some of the best mutli-caster rules I had seen to that date and I have not seen anything else in the d20 world that has since come close. Throw in scads of magic items and the book is a steal at twice this price really.
The Quintessential Witch - Mongoose (Print) (PDF)
I am not a huge fan of the older Mongoose books. There are number of issues with the classes all over over the place, odd editing and art that runs the gambit. This book is not any different. The witch class is pretty typical of the time (early days of the d20 boom). There is a wide variety of Prestige classes, which is nice, but not all of them are usable. The book tends to be full of a lot cliches. Though the ones that are good (Occultist, Puppet Mistress) are very good. There is a good section on new uses for skills including telling fortunes and a good section of feats. There are new spells and new magic items, as expected, but the coolest thing might be the Places of Power. Some Times of Power ends the book (also a good section).
The Witch's Handbook - Green Ronin
Certainly a great effort. There is a lot I really like about this book. The gems of this book are the ideas for skills and of course the fantastic cover art by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law. Like my own d20 book this witch uses Wisdom to cast Arcane spells. I still kinda like that to be honest. There are a lot of nice Prestige Classes here. There are new spells and like Way of the Witch below it uses the Ritual Casting rules from Relics & Rituals which were very much in vogue at the time.
There is no PDF of this I can buy which is disappointing really.
Way of the Witch - Citizen Games
The witch is basic and has a lot a really nice features. The prestige classes are simple, but functional, dividing the witch into White, Black, Grey and Brown witches. There are some other nice ideas as well. The authors really took their time and care with this one and it really shows.
Alas, Citizen games did not make it out of the d20 boon alive. They were going to come out with a second witch book, Seasons of the Witch, and I had heard a little about it. I had high expectations really.
I am also disappointed that there is no pdf of this I can buy anywhere. It would be great to have all my witch books in one place on my hard drive(s).
Lions' Den Press: Classes of Legend: The Witch
This one is different enough from the Pathfinder or DMG versions of the witch class to merit it's own product. There are some new feats and spells. All 20 levels are presented as well as some "High Witchcraft" alternate levels. Some good ideas here and not bad for the price.
The Enduring: Witches and Shamans
This book gives us a Faery Witch and Shaman class. There is some natural overlap between the two. In addition there are also 3 new prestige classes and 22 new feats. There are a fair number of new magic items and a lot of new spells. There are also quite a few new monsters that are likely to exist in the same worlds as witches and shamans. The classes seem a bit overpowered for straight d20 ones, but might make good Pathfinder classes. The feats and spells are mixed bag. I have seen similar sorts of feats and spells in other books, some better, some worse. But for the price, this is a good deal. I am not a huge fan of the art, but it is not bad.
Unorthodox Witches
A lot of different types of witches built from the d20 rules. A few new ideas and a lot recycled art.
If you are looking for new ideas for witches, wizards or other types of spellcasters.
After going over this book again all these years later there is actually quite a bit more for your money. 55+ pages, and plenty of classes, there is a lot here that can use right out of the box or combine for something new. The key word that I was forgetting here was "Unorthodox" and these certainly fit. While I see this primarily as a GMs tool, there is likely to be a class in here that you will want to try if you are into witches. Just because it is called a Beguiler or Crescent flyer, doesn't matter, that is just to separate them all out from each other.
There is something good here if you like arcane classes. Or any class with a bit of mystery to it.
Actually I would not use them as classes, but edit them a bit for Prestige classes for the Witch.
Lost Classes: Chaos Witch
It is an interesting Prestige Class that adds a bit of randomness to her spell casting effects. She gains a few extra spell-like abilities and a random "hex" to curse people with.
A lot of fluff is given for the class, but the crunch does not quite match up. Still an interesting class for an NPC or a witch-themed game. Only 3 pages, but the price is low.
Dept. 7 Adv. Class Update: NeoWitch Guardian
An advanced class for d20 Modern. Has some nice features and powers. I particularly like the broom (Besom) attacks. Great for d20 modern with magic.
Monday, August 13, 2012
D&D Next next playtest packet
The next playtest packet is out for D&D5 (I still hate calling it "Next").
There is a lot more material including character generation (novel concept you ROLL for your abilities) which already has some of the newer guard complaining. Though there is the standard array.
First thoughts:
- I like the monster write-ups. They are simple and easy to read and can summarized in a module easy.
- Character creation is really fast, as it should be.
- Some feats now seem to be maneuvers, which I like.
- Classes focus on the Big 4.
- Backgrounds and skills together. This is an improvement over 4e since you can now play that kid just off the moisture farm.
- I can see Witch as being a Specialty of a Wizard. This reminds me a lot of the 2nd Ed Kits.
- Races are the other Big 4.
All in all I see the strands of DNA from every edition of D&D here.
I will buy this game, I am not sure if I'll play it much but who knows.
There is a lot more material including character generation (novel concept you ROLL for your abilities) which already has some of the newer guard complaining. Though there is the standard array.
First thoughts:
- I like the monster write-ups. They are simple and easy to read and can summarized in a module easy.
- Character creation is really fast, as it should be.
- Some feats now seem to be maneuvers, which I like.
- Classes focus on the Big 4.
- Backgrounds and skills together. This is an improvement over 4e since you can now play that kid just off the moisture farm.
- I can see Witch as being a Specialty of a Wizard. This reminds me a lot of the 2nd Ed Kits.
- Races are the other Big 4.
All in all I see the strands of DNA from every edition of D&D here.
I will buy this game, I am not sure if I'll play it much but who knows.
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