Amazing Books: The Inventor (Aardvark Press)

With this post, I begin a new column on my Patreon presenting books by my friends. If you wish for me to present your books too, just give me a call!

This post already appeared for patrons only on my Patreon page. If you wish to see stuff in advance and have access to other rewards, please consider donating!

I want to tell you about a new ebook recently released by a writer friend of mine, by Julian of Aardvark Press, on DriveThru.

Conversion Series: The Inventor

Presented in this book is a conversion of the inventor class for Pathfinder First Edition, from the Pathfinder Second Edition Guns & Gears book. The inventor is a technology-focused skill-based class that can perform a variety of roles. Inventors are intelligent characters who use their inventions to good effect. They may be melee-focused, defense-focused, have some ability to deal blasting damage, and/or focus on creating gadgets (consumable one-use items that last for the day) that provide them with options on adventures.

An inventor gains an innovation that represents their preeminent work, which can be a suit of armor, construct, or weapon. In addition, inventors gain unstable actions, which are experimental applications of their innovation that even the inventor can’t fully predict. Unstable actions can be used to create explosions or many other effects.

Like an alchemist or investigator, inventors gain discoveries that allow them to improve their innovation, gain additional uses of unstable actions, gain the ability to create temporary gadgets, and much more!

Also included are sixteen archetypes for the class, all but one of which are new. Finally, there are new discoveries and innovations that are in addition to the converted Pathfinder Second Edition ones, and a miscellany section (including new equipment, new feats, sample build suggestions, and more!).

This new class might be perfect for your campaigns!

Review: “Into the Breach: The Druid” from Flying Pincushion Games

 Flying Pincushion Games asked me a review of their latest product, Into the Breach: The Druid. Hey, this is the first time someone wants a review from me, and the first time my blog and my Patreon page host one, so I am deeply honored, very thrilled and a little troubled. Will I be able to do a honest and professional work? Well, there’s only one way to know.

The Into the Breach line not only provides additional options for characters under the existing lines, it also creates additional rules to use with the class, adding more flavor and/or crunch. This is maybe what I like the most, so I was positively struck by the elementalist archetypes, that create an “elemental shaman” druid similar to the animal or terrain shaman archetypes we already know. The idea of “druid groves” (akin to monastic orders) is intriguing, too, and easily implemented, as all it requires is to take some feats, receiving very pretty bonuses from each of them (like spell-like abilities). Pathfinder had presented us ONE specific druidic circle with the Uskwood, but it was only for evil druids, and I feel more of them were highly required!

Nature traits are a welcomed new category of character traits, and are not restricted to druids, so with them, every character could have a more natural or feytouched feel to themselves. Among those there are traits tied to the seasons, that I love in particular (but where is the summer one!?). I also like the new weapons presented, most of all the ice axe, that adds a great deal of flavor to an arctic-themed hero.

Other options focus on different facets of a druid’s personality, as the herbalist, the meteorologist, or the shapehanging mercurial and monsterblood shifter (magical beast wild shape, at last! If anything, I would require even more optional forms!). The extremophile guardian, the fungus gardener, and the origamist also may select among new intriguing kinds of companion creatures, which are always a good thing.

Lastly, we have three new prestige classes to complement it all. The amalgamate FUSES with her animal companion to create one powerful entity (how come I didn't think of THIS before?!?!), the feytouched farmer grows enchanted crops and befriends the nature spirits to gain dairy or agricultural bonuses of all sorts (sweet! I can imagine letting my party rest for a while in such a farm!), and the syncretic priest joins together druidic and clerical/oracular abilities (it could be LG/LE/CG/CE too, if I read correctly- are there penalties for alignment change if you take this PrC? If not, it could be what I ALWAYS WISHED FOR to create a true Brown Friar character for Pathfinder!)

Am I too enthusiastical? Well, it's my first time reviewing, but I see good stuff here. All in all, it's almost everything I wanted from a book with this title. Buy it!