How about some love for Pathfinder. I might have slowly been getting worse all weekend, but I did squeeze one Pathfinder game in! And this is the feat they really needed.
Not only did you learn how to speak the modern, you also learned to speak the ancient version of every language you know.
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Benefit: Lean one additional language. You are considered proficient in the ancient version of all the languages you know for all tests and reading/speaking proficiency. |
Thoughts?
Book– Raising Steam
Author – Terry Pratchett
Price- $18
TL;DR– More of a world advancement then a story 90%
Basics– Hit the open rails! Steam power comes the Discworld (Much to the joys of cosplayers everywhere!). A new engineer invents the first steam powered locomotive and brings the invention to THE big city. Here, he beings to change the world. Moist von Lipwig is put in charge of coordination this new invention across the world. However, trouble comes as the dwarves splinter as conservative factions fight the future tooth and nail! Can Moist get the job done in time?
Setting– It’s Terry Pratchett and his Discworld! Of course it’s well done, he’s had over a quarter of a century to make this thing perfect. We’re done here. 5/5
Characters– This is another Pratchett trade mark-well done characters. If anything this book suffers from having to put EVERY character in from all the different Discworld story arcs. The book is less about characters or story and mostly about the setting as a whole progressing. Characters do change over the course of the story, but it’s mostly the people you love doing what you love. 4.5/5
Story– The book isn’t mostly about the story. Sure, you get a good Pratchett story, but not his best here. I liked it, don’t get me wrong, but I wouldn’t say you come here for the story. This book is about the world. The world is changing. The clacks forced some changes, but this book is about how the world really changes when steam pushes it along. Every character gets a mention to show the reader that they are involved in some way, and sometimes that felt a little forced. Nothing is bad here, but this isn’t my top Disckworld story. 4/5
Summary– I liked this one. I didn’t love this one, and it’s not my favorite of his books. Nothing is horrible in this, but I felt like the book was just a series of events that were related. The book spans a lot of time as Moist runs around putting out fires as he goes. That’s not bad. But Pratchett has the lucky problem of having gone to the mountain top and even if he slips a little with one book, he’s till MILES above most of the other writers out there! Give this one a chance; it’s a good book just not the one I’ll give to my friends first. 90%
Well, the DnD Next rules are almost done. I’m really liking what I’ve seen in the public play test and the latest DnD encounters season. With that in mind, how about a feat to help fighters out a bit?
You’ve trained yourself as a weapon. Now you’ve gone beyond most weapons and have truly become the double edged sword.
prerequisite: member of a class that has fighting style and has taken one fighting style
You can the following benefits
Thoughts?
Movie– Tangled
tl;dr– An awesome beta test for Frozen! 97%
Basics– This movie is loosely based on “Rapunzel.” The movie expands on the story by starting with the witch singing to a magic, sun-like flower to stay young. A Queen becomes deathly ill, and she sends men to find the flower. The queen uses the flower in a tea, become well, and later has a child with long blond hair. The witch returns and finds that singing to the hair will restore her youth, but when it is cut the hair loses its magic. She steals the child, puts her in the famous tower. This leads the King and Queen to release floating lanterns each year on her birthday in remembrance. Rapunzel wants to leave the tower to see the lights in the sky, but her witch “mother”, for obvious reasons, forbids her from ever leaving the tower. Near Rapunzel’s 18th birthday, a thief named Flynn Rider steals the stolen princess’ crown and runs into the forest abandoning his two cohorts along the way. He sneaks into the tower, and Rapunzel hits him with a frying pan. She steals and hides the crown promising to only return it when Flynn takes her to the lights. Flynn reluctantly agrees, and the adventure begins. Now the other thieves, the witch, and guards are all of the Rapunzel and Flynn! And it wouldn’t be Disney without some random sidekicks like a smart horse, a smart aleck chameleon, and some true love.
Plot-The plot follows the base story with lots of new fun elements. It’s a fun ride with some good songs, memorable moments, and crazy action sequences. After seeing all of Disney’s movies, it’s not Disney’s best. But, it’s up there. What costs it here is it’s not as memorable as many of their other films with a similar princess-kidnap-true love formula. 4.5/5
Acting-The characters do feel lifelike, and the actors do a good job of bringing them to that life. I didn’t recognize most of the voice actors, but two of the side characters did stand out: Ron Perlman and Brad Garrett. Obscure casting isn’t bad, but I was surprised. 5/5
Visuals-This movie is completely computer generated. It’s semi-realistic with comedic touches. I liked the style. After seeing a few of these, I think Disney is going to use this as their default style for animated pictures. 5/5
Summary- I really liked this movie. Not as much a Frozen, but it’s a good movie. I saw this after Frozen, and that might have hurt the rankings of this film. It’s never a good idea to go head to head with a major award winner! However, this film feels like a well done test of what Frozen was and brings back some classic Disney: some good songs, good acting, fun action, and nice visuals. You won’t leave the theater singing the songs like you did when you left Frozen or Mulan, but some family entertainment, it’s hard to do better! 97%
How about a fighting style?
You gain a +1 bonus to attack rolls you make with a sword.
Thoughts?
How about a new Totem Warrior Spirit? How about the Squid?
Spirit
Squid- You can a +5 bonus to checks to grab someone and to checks to prevent some one from escaping form a grab
Rage
Squid- When you have someone grabbed, you can perform a grab check to damage an opponent. If you succeed, you do 3d6+strength damage.
How about a feat for DnD Next that improves on Archery Master?
You are a true expert at the bow.
prerequisite: Archery Master
Thoughts?
Product– Pathfinder Adventure Path #58 Island of Empty Eyes
Producer- Paizo
Price- $20
System-Pathfinder
TL;DR- Another well done Pathfinder Adventure 90%
Basics- Shiver me timbers! If you’ve played the last three Skull and Shackles adventure path adventures, the players have won the Free Captains Regatta, and also won a chance to become Free Captains themselves. To do this they must clear the Island of Empty Eyes and prepare a feast for the visiting Free Captains who will judge the players on how well they have prepared. This sounds easy, but it never is…. This book also contains a section describing the Cyclopes, popular rumors of the Shackles, and the fourth part of the story continuing across all the Skull and Shackle Adventures.
Crunch or Mechanics- This adventure had some interesting mechanics associated with it. There players get to freely explore an island and decide what they will do with anyone they meet there. Overall I liked it, but some things were somewhat problematic like super high DC. My party doesn’t min/max much, so the higher, single DC tend to cause them to fail. 4.5/5
Fluff or Story- This is a pretty free form story for the main adventure. If your party needs to be a bit more on the rails, then they will falter when given some freedom. The story is well done, as are the Cyclopes section and the rumors. Well done. 4.5/5
Execution- Don’t have to say much here. Paizo is awesome at what it does, so they earn their score. Good art, reader friendly, but I could have used a few more section breaks or a better indicated area on how to fix up the island instead of having it buried in the middle of a paragraph. 4.5/5
Summary- I enjoyed running this for my players, and my players had a ball too. It’s not ship heavy, but it’s a nice break in the standard pattern. You will have to read your players to find out if they need a little helping had to keep on track on the island. But overall, it’s a well done adventure! 90%
Producer– Paizo
Price– $20
Set-up/Play/Take-Down– 1 Hour per scenario (5 scenarios)
TL;DR-Maybe one of the better expansions! 85%
Basics-Time to fight Giants! Players quest to a Jorgenfist to take the fight away from Sandpoint to the giants themselves. Along the way they will fight giants, necromancers, undead monks, and lamias. This game requires the base Pathfinder Adventure Card Game to play.
Mechanics- This game follows most the mechanics of the previous adventure card game expansions. Go through X locations, find the henchmen or villain and destroy them. This expansion doesn’t stretch the game extremely far, but some of the encounters are a pretty tough. Also, as each expiation introduces one scenario that has some odd ball, interesting rules, this one features a fight with two villains. I liked that twist. It doesn’t feel contrived. 4/5
Theme– I felt like I was an awesome warrior fighting giants. There are the random encounters like the goblin raid that you might have to deal with, but as the expansions become latter in the series, the rule of removing basic cards really does help focus the encounters you see. I wouldn’t say it’s perfect, but as you get further in, the random nature seems to become less random. That really helps the theme. Also, I really liked the villains and henchmen of this pack. Their powers really hammer home the feel of epic battles and dangerous foes. 4/5
Instructions-The instruction are ~ok. The cards do a good job of getting the point across. However, I really want more to tell me who these people and monsters are! The rules are good and the cards do have a bit of exposition, but if you want some rule so help hammer home theme, you won’t get that from the rules. 4.5/5
Execution-The art is well done. It’s standard Pathfinder art. Most of the art looks like it come from other sources, but that’s ok. However, after several games, I’ve noticed my cards are beginning to get chipped and ripped. I’d like heaver cards or card sleeves. Again, nothing is bad, but watch out shuffling (and you will do that a lot!). 4.5/5
Summary-This was a fun one. I felt like I was a mighty hero fighting monsters. My wife and I had a blast playing this. I felt like the challenge was right. We didn’t have any character death, but we were down to the wire a few times. That was great. While the game does use the same locations several times, I felt like I was moving forward in the story, and I wasn’t bored doing so. I want more story support to help know what the heck is going on, but I do feel like I’m moving in something. 85%
How about a movement based feat for Pathfinder?
You’re light on your feat. So light, they can’t even touch you.
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Prerequisites: Dex 13 |
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Benefit: When taking a 5-foot step, you move 1/3 of your total movement instead of just 5-feet.
Normal: You can only take a 5-foot step.
Throat Punch Games 