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| Sigfried |
 Posted: Tue Oct 26, 2010 6:37 pm Post subject: Advanced Feats: The Summoner's Circle - Collected Reviews |
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Hi folks,
This is simply a collection of reviews for Advanced Feats: The Summoner's Circle.
These are posted by yours truly and collected from various locations. These reviews are not edited other than formatting so they are readable in this forum.
If you wish to post your own review, you are by all means welcome and encouraged to do so. |
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| Sigfried |
| Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2010 1:10 pm Post subject: Dragonborn3 - 4 of 5 stars |
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Reviewer: Dragonborn3
Website: Paizo
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
This is an interesting pdf, to say the least.
While the feats are the main focus, and there are feats any class can use, I liked the silhouettes and character builds at the end the most. For example..
The Chess Master: A Summoner who turns the battlefield into a giant chess board, calling extraplanar creatures and making walls and pits to halt the enemies movement and trap them.
For the Chess Master, life is a game, and he plays it well..
So, considering all the good feats, the art, and the helpful builds, I give this product 4 stars. |
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| Sigfried |
| Posted: Wed Nov 03, 2010 10:44 am Post subject: Megan Robertson |
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Reviewer: Meagan Robertson
Website: RPG Resource
Rating: Recommended
Summoners are a particularly interesting addition to the roster of character classes available for Pathfinder players. The Introduction states the purpose of this book, to provide carefully-designed feats chosen to make the most of the special abilities of this particular class, and - through the suggested 'career paths' - demonstrate how to use them to good effect in constructing effective and interesting characters.
Next is an overview of the summoner and, as always with this series, a good knowledge of the basics from Paizo's Advanced Player's Guide is recommended before you settle to explore the potentials laid out here. Suffice to say, he's an arcane spell-caster specialising in summoning creatures to do his bidding and has one particularly intriging feature: his eidolon. This is a powerful outsider with whom the summoner forms a lifelong attachment, being able to summon it like any other creature except that it can stay until dismissed. It acts in accord with the summoner's wishes but has free will as to just how it goes about it! Fun indeed and in the hands of a creative player far more than an adjunct to combat. Although a regular spell-caster outside of summoning ability, the summoner is relatively weak in this regard and his lists concentrate on defence, enhancement and things related to summoning - such as calling up walls and pits, which can lead to some interesting and unusual battlefield tactics, if that's the way that your summoner is inclined.
So, on to the new feats. Many are available to any character who can meet the requirements, although they are aimed at this particular class. One thought for effective use of an eidolon is to have one which can fly, so feats like aerobatics and balanced spellcaster (which lets you dispense with Concentration checks when you try magic on the move) are of particular use if you have taken that path. One of the most unusual requirements for a feat must be that for multihanded weapon - you need 3 or more arms! (As you can imagine, it's mostly intended for eidolons.) If you take a tactical approach, wall mastery is useful as it permits you to have holes in walls that you have summoned through magic, while enlarge wall lets you have bigger ones than the opposition might expect. Another feat with potential for fun must be clockwork summoning which enables you to summon a mechanical version of the creature you wish to summon. There's one minor problem: in the headings to the feat descriptions, somehow the letters 'ft' - as in shifting wall and sizeshifter do not render correctly, although a quick play with the copy tool shows the right letters are actually there!
Next, three character builds are presented - which for summoners include builds for both yourself and your eidolon. First is the Chess Master, and it's a real gem, using the varied abilities of the Summoner to take control of a battlefield, manipulating the terrain and the movement options available to your opponents to your advantage (and, of course, their detriment). If you enjoy a calculating and tactical approach to combat, this build is worth your consideration. The others are Mythic Rider, based around using your eidolon as a mount, and the Master at Arms, where both character and eidolon are carefully-crafted battle-monsters, fighting side-by-side! The work rounds off with a 'character sheet' specially tailored for eidolons, as you are going to need to track its capabilities as much as you need to document your own.
Overall, this is a good addition to the series, very combat-oriented but opening out some very interesting possibilities - now to learn all the wall spells I can and take the wall-manipulation feats...[url][/url] |
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| Dark Mistress |
| Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2010 8:17 am Post subject: |
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My review reposted her from Paizo, it is also listed at ENworld.
The Summoner Circle by Open Design
This product is 19 pages long. It starts with a cover, ToC and credits. (2 pages)
Next we get into a introduction and examining the new Summoner Class. (1 page)
This is followed by new feats for the Summoner. (7 pages)
Aerobatics
Balanced Spellcaster
Cannibalistic Casting
Clockwork Summoning
Controlled Charge
Enhanced Scent
Enlarge Breath Weapon
Enlarge Wall
Fast Spell
Fleet of Foot
Giant Step
Hardened Spell
Improved Concentration
Improved Multiweapon
Fighting
Improved Resistance
Improved Shield Ally
Multihanded Weapon
Raw Magic
Shifting Wall
Sizeshifter
Spirit of Vengeance
Stay Down
Strengthen Link
Tail Tricks
Toss Foe
Touch of Grace
Unstable Evolutions
Vampiric Summoning
Wall Mastery
Weaken Link
Usurp Spell
The final section is advice for building summoners with three example builds, it also includes suggested builds for the Eidolon for each summoner build as well. (7 pages)
The Chess Master – Battle field control focused build.
Mythic Rider – Summoner Rides their Eidolon into battle and fights astride it.
The Master of Arms – Fights along side their Eidolon in battle. They fight as a paired warriors.
It closes with a Eidolon character sheet and OGL. (2 pages)
Closing Thoughts. Like the others in the series while the feats are all useful to a Summoner many of them would be useful to other classes as well. Also some of these feats are more geared for the Eidolon with a few of them being only for them. Most classes could find a few useful feats. They seem fairly well done and I didn't notice any obvious spelling errors or area's where they was hard to understand.
There is virtually no art, just one silhouette. The borders are pretty and the book is pretty print friendly. In this book I felt the weakness was in the builds section. They are not bad but to of them are a bit similar. Though with the focus of the Summoner I am not sure I could have thought of better builds concepts. But regardless I found these less useful than the previous books personally. The Eidolon character sheet was a nice bonus. All and all I am giving this one a 4 star review. Good but I thought it could have been a little better. |
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| Sigfried |
| Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2010 8:56 am Post subject: Robert N Emerson |
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Reviewer: Robert N Emerson
Website: Emerson's Bookshelf
Rating: Recomended
Advanced Feats: The Summoner's Circle (PDF)
by
Sigfried Trent
Published by Open Design
Disclaimer: The copy used for this review was provided by the folks at Open Design.
If all I saw was the Eidolon Character Sheet, that would be enough.
Yeah, I know, I paraphrased a quote from A Knight's Tale, I'm cool like that. It could have been Roar, as my Heath Ledger man crush is that dated. I'm just warning you all.
Anyhow, on toward the review...
Seriously, there's an Eidolon Character Sheet...how cool is that?
Sigfried Trent offers further exploration of the new classes found within Paizo's Advanced Player's Guide for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, this time the focus is upon the Summoner. As with prior Advanced Feats works, we've a series of new feats (30 in total number), example builds (3), discussion of builds, and an examination of the classes its self.
I know, that's a wee bit dry, but that's just the quick and short version.
See, I like the Summoner as it's hits that boy-and-his-monster vibe for me. Whether it's Stanley and his Monster, Puff the Magic Dragon, or what not, there's a vibe that taps into a child and his uncanny companion that I like a lot. In fact, I'm fairly certain that early readings of Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea instilled some of that in me, too, but I digress.
Trent hits the nail on the head, with respect to the Summoner, as it really is a class that folks can tinker around with and customer to their particular desire. Not only do you get a class, but you get a companion as a sort of two-for-one character.
There is a lot of focus on building the right Summoner for you, but there is also a fair amount of focus on fine tuning your eidolon and that's a big win for this product. Yes, the character sheet is useful, however the volume of focus on various things to do with and to an eidolon is full of utilitarian joy and win.
Are you in the mood to be all steampunky, then how about summoning clockwork beasts instead? It's right there.
Wanna go all Shiva on your foes? Multi-arm is there, too.
On that note, I should point out that there is a fair amount of advice on balance for GMs who might be worried, which is always a nice touch.
Overall, The Summoner's Circle is a continuation of the useful series that Open Design has been offering. It is a solid treatise on the class with useful feats, solid examples of build ideas, and is very helpful for those interested in the class. |
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| Sigfried |
| Posted: Mon Nov 15, 2010 10:46 am Post subject: Satyre of Fame and Fortune 4 or 5 Pentacles |
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Reviewer: Satyre
Website: Fame and Fortune
Rating: 4 of 5 Pentacles
Review: The Summoner's Circle by Siegfried Trent
Metric: Pentacles. Pokéballs came a close second but let's not go there.
DISCLAIMER: This review is based on a PDF copy provided by Open
Design
Overall: 4 pentacles. The walkthrough brings people up to speed on an ambiguous class and expands it's options, the feats are versatile and provide pointers on how to get the best out a class with hidden depths though a couple are a bit shaky and one is missing. The builds illustrate the virtues of the class though GMs may want to review the master of arms build before allowing it at the table.
Content: 4 pentacles. The walkthrough shows how a summoner sits ambiguously to more traditional roles. Spells like a sorceror specialised in conjuring and buffing, a cleric's hit points, thief armour and weaponry. This chimera is a tactical nightmare with the right player and Siegfried Trent gives some insights in how to do that which is seriously needed for some players who want to try something a bit different without breaking the flow of an established game while they find their feet.
The feats are a balanced selection and fill in some gaps though a few will cause discussion at the table (I'm looking at Improved Multiweapon Fighting and Multihanded Weapon primarily) and Usurp Spell is missing but if you have Advanced Feats: The Witch's Brew you'll find it there. The feats are a mix of class specific and versatile, particular favourites include Hardened Spell, Improved Shield Ally and Touch of Grace.
The builds are interesting stuff. The Chess Master is an excellent tactical build and my favourite of the three as it showcases the archetype. The Mythic Rider will appeal to the players who want something a bit different from their summoner. The Master At Arms is ambitious in building a combat tag team and at high levels is a holy terror but most GMs will try to apply some sanity - something that Siegfried himself admits needs to happen.
Art & Layout: 4 pentacles. The cover art by Michael Bielaczyc is good and shows the distinctive nature of the eidolon. Interior art and design suggests otherworldly flavour with some silhouettes reminiscent of Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu. Layout is clean and concise and the winged eyebeasts add a touch of whimsy.
Overall this is a good product and for the price a worthy addition to your Pathfinder toolkit. There are a couple of glitches on content which surprised me given Open Design's recent exceptional quality - it went a bit Wizards of the Coast there! It would be an interesting exercise to see how some of these feats combine together but that may be a subject for another article. |
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| Sigfried |
| Posted: Mon Nov 22, 2010 12:16 pm Post subject: Sunglar of Stargazers World - Recomended |
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Reviewer: Sunglar
Website: Stargazer's World
Rating: Recommended
On earlier posts I have reviewed the two previous installments of the Advanced Feats series by Siegfried Trent, Secrets of the Alchemist and The Witch’s Brew, published by Open Design. This third outing, The Summoner’s Circle, focused on another classe introduced in the Pathfinder RPG Advanced Players Guide, doesn’t disappoint. On the contrary I would say that with every installment the series keeps getting better and better!
Open Design was kind enough to provide a review copy of the book and I have put it to good use. While the Alchemist was a interesting read and the Witch’s book helped me create a dastardly villain the players will soon face in my weekly Pathfinder game, the one class that has been in use since the Advanced Players Guide came out has been a Summoner. This book will surely see use at my table. If you are intrigued by the Summoner, itching to play one, or are currently battling the forces of evil with an eidolon at your side, this book is for you.
Want to learn more? Read on…
Like the other Advanced Feats electronic books this is a 19 page PDF (17 pages of actual rules when you discount the table of content and the Open Gamin License page) with a general, but very useful, overview of the class, 30 new feats and three character builds. This book however also covers the eidolon, the mythical creature the Summoner calls to aid him, and includes the builds for the eidolons for the three Summoner builds as well as rules discussions for various details unclear in the rules for “evolving” eidolons (that’s the rule terminology, sorry for any Pokemon flashbacks that might have caused) that could possibly arise when you have a Summoner at your table. Mr. Trent is very mindful of rule balance and shows his excellent grasp of the rules when discussing possibly thorny points.
As usual the feat selection is excellent, from feat that would be useful to any spellcaster, such as Canibalistic Caster, which allows you to take Constitution damage in order to cast spells (and the author recognizes this may be abused and explains so in the commentary for the feat), Clockwork Summoning, which allows your summoned creatures to be clockwork constructs, and Improved Concentration, to feats useful to all classes. In fact I think this is the Advanced Feats book with the most feats usable to other classes beyond the one featured in the book.
Of course the Summoner is not forgotten in the feat selection. Many play off the strengths of the class and a few eidolon specific feats greatly enhance the creature as well as reinforcing their otherworldliness. A feature I loved on previous Advanced Feats books, the commentary on feats, is present in all the feats in The Summoner’s Circle giving even greater insight into the designer’s choices and the rationale behind them.
The three builds are varied and play off the versatility of the class. One build is focused on controlling the battlefield through walls and such effects, the other is a rider and the eidolon is a mount to be reckoned with and the last one is more a combatant fighting alongside the eidolon. The book finishes with a really useful eidolon record sheet, which is something that makes a lot of sense and is even necessary for this class but I had not thought about, kudos to Siegfried Trent for thinking of everything.
I know you are expecting my mandatory nitpicking and who am I to disappoint. After the wonderful cover last time around in The Witch’s Brew, the cover for The Summoner’s Circle is not my favorite. It features a halfling Summoner and his eidolon, the runes marking the Summoner and its summoned companion are there, and it tries to capture the fun that a Summoner can design the way his or her eidolon looks like, but this eidolon looks like the love child of a rancor and an ewok. That said, the interior art, while sparse, is very appropriate. I loved the silhouettes of eidolons through the book, I think they evoke the mystery and possibility of the creature so much more than the cover.
But don’t be fooled, this is a book that can’t be judges by its cover. The Summoner’s Circle is my favorite book of the Advanced Feats series. It’s only $3.95 and like previous PDFs in the series these 19 pages will get a lot of mileage in any game using the Advanced Player’s Guide. I recommend it; summon it to your game today! |
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| Sigfried |
| Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2010 1:09 pm Post subject: Game Knight Reviews: Recommended |
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Reviewer: Game Knight Reviews
Website: Game Knight Reviews
Rating: Recomended
Though I played Dungeons & Dragons 3.5e for quite a while, I have to admit I never really got into the use of feats. I was always more interested in playing the character, not necessarily in taking advantage of all the bells and whistles of a system. That’s been true for as long as I can remember. However, I do appreciate the hard work of not only creating new feats but balancing these additional capabilities for play in a game.
Advanced Feats: The Summoner’s Circle seems to strike a balance between creativity and playability, which is a tough feat in and of itself (though “Improved Game Balance” doesn’t seem to be in the list). Author Sigfried Trent and the rest of the gang at Open Design have done a good job of producing a thought-provoking and potentially usable supplement for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game from Paizo as well as good old 3.5e.
That said, even though I found a resource chock full of information, I was left more than a little confused. Let me focus on the good bits first.
The summoner in the title isn’t exactly what I’ve played in the past. With spells such as “Summon Monster” and “Summon Nature’s Ally”, wizards in Pathfinder and 3.5e have had the ability to “summon” critters to fight for them on a field of battle. Though the summoner here has the ability to summon critters and cast spells, they trade some of their flexibility for the ability to summon a unique critter to fight alongside them.
This unique critter is called an “eidolon” (Greek word for an “ideal” form) – a creature that can be as simple as a champion used to protect the character or as complex as the player wants. The example builds include some rather interesting eidolons. For “The Chess Master,” the eidolon is a “hulking, multi-armed brute with sizable physical defenses and excellent grappling ability.” For the “Mythic Rider,” it’s a vicious flying mount. And “The Master of Arms” has an eidolon that works as an intelligent, multi-armed bodyguard trained in the use of magical devices, shields, and weapons. The upshot is that the player can design just about anything for their eidolon.
Honestly, this trade by the wizard to gain a bodyguard they can count on is quite cool. Imagine if you were the geekiest kid in school and could instantly summon a bodyguard to beat up the bully stealing your lunch money! Not only can the wizard summon other things and cast spells, but they can call their genie out of the bottle to help them in a pinch.
Of course, that’s not all – the book goes on to describe 30 new feats. These range from feats like “Balanced Spellcaster” giving the character the ability to cast without Concentration checks while in motion (while riding a mount for instance) to being able to move walls created by spells (“Wall of Fire”, “Wall of Stone”, etc.) with “Shifting Wall” and reducing full-round spells to a standard action with “Fast Spell.” I also found “Vampiric Summoning” very interesting, offering the ability to summon a critter and then drain HP from it.
I’d worry if some of these feats were used in a game with novice roleplayers, but it says right in the title “Advanced Feats” so I’d hope that the GM and players were more experienced.
Layout-wise and art-wise, I think the book is great. The text is broken up with italics to emphasize titles, paragraphs are indented consistently section to section, feats are described succinctly each with its own description plus a summary table, and the commentary and boxes with GM-specific text provide additional details and considerations when adopting particular rules from the book. The consistent use of silhouettes throughout breaks up the text and adds a decorative touch without being distracting.
So that’s the good. Now let me get to the confusing parts.
Maybe it was a conscious decision by Trent to avoid describing what exactly an eidolon is or how it works, but I found it distracting because I had to reread the first page multiple times before it clicked for me. Once I figured out that an eidolon is simply a specialized creature that the summoner can summon with their Summoning spell-like ability – I figured it out. But I struggled with the first couple of pages before that happened.
Everything clicked after that, but another paragraph on that first page in the “Examining the Summoner” section really would have helped set the stage for the rest of the book.
If you’re looking for a cool new class to offer your players, I think the summoner and their eidolon described in Advanced Feats: The Summoner’s Circle can definitely spice things up a bit. My nits aside, this short (19 page) PDF provides some great new abilities to consider for starting characters. I’d have seriously considered playing this summoner in my last campaign where my wimpy druid wasn’t doing much to help in combat! |
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| Sigfried |
| Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2010 12:47 pm Post subject: Jerall of 10 Letter Press: 5 out of 5 |
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Reviewer: Jerall
Website: 10 Letter Press
Rating: 5 of 5
Open Design has teamed up with the Netbook of Feats to launch a new line of Pathfinder RPG supplements: Advanced Feats. I was fortunate enough to get hold of a review copy of the third product from the line: The Summoner’s Circle by Sigfried Trent.
The Summoner’s Circle follows the same format as the first two products in the line: first, an examination of the summoner class, then a collection of new feats and, finally, a look at 3 character builds.
To be honest, until recently, I have not been really interested in the summoner class (due to my general dislike of summoning and the related admin) and therefore hadn’t really looked at the class prior to my reading of the Summoner’s Circle. Therefore, unlike with the Witch and Alchemist, I read Trent’s examination of the summoner from a more novice-like point of view. Read from this point of view, I found Trent’s examination to be very helpful, highlighting class strengths and weaknesses, clearing up a few misconceptions, and even changing my view of the summoner for the better.
The feats, as I’ve come to expect from Trent, are well presented, with additional explanatory commentary, sidebars and tips for incorporating them into your game. Though the feats were designed with the summoner and/or eidolon in mind, many of them can be used by other characters or even monsters. As always, there were few that stood out from the rest:
Stay Down: Finally, a feat that let’s you keep prone enemies prone. Normally, an attack of opportunity resolves before the action that provoked the AoO resolves. So, when an opponent uses a move action to stand up from prone, you cannot use your AoO to trip the enemy to keep him prone, because you can’t trip a prone opponent.
Clockwork Summoning: There are a number of feats in the Summoner’s Circle that add to the Spell Focus (Conjuration) tree. Spell Focus (Conjuration) was generally considered a poor choice when compared to Enchantment or Evocation, for example, due to the lack of conjuration spells that require a save. These new feats fit nicely next to Augment Summoning and Clockwork Summoning is my favourite of the lot. Clockwork Summoning allows you to summon a construct version of a standard summoned creature. Now I can finally build my confused modron druid!
Vampiric Summoning: Vampiric Summoning, another feat that requires Spell Focus (Conjuration) as a prerequisite, allows you to reduce your summoned creatures’ hit points and heal yourself by an equal amount. This feat just oozes flavour – brilliant.
Overall, I really enjoyed reading through the Summoner’s Circle. The character builds presented at the end are interesting and I am quite fond of the mounted summoner idea. I think that my next character might just be an eidolon riding gnome. Visually, the Summoner’s Circle is the best-looking of the Advanced Feats series. I love the use of creature silhouettes, which hint at possible eidolon builds, that are peppered throughout the PDF.
As an added bonus, the Summoner’s Circle also includes a well designed eidolon character sheet – a definite plus.
If I had to assign an arbitrary score to the Summoner’s Circle, I’d give it: 5/5. |
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| Endzeitgeist |
| Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2011 6:47 am Post subject: |
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This is the as-of-yet longest installment of the Advanced Feats series, containing 19 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial/ToC, 1 page SRD.
As all the books of the advanced feats series, this one starts with a discussion/introduction of the class.
After that, we get the meat of the book, the 30 new feats.
The feats are:
Aerobatics: Gain flying maneuverability and speed
Balanced Spellcaster: No concentration checks for motion
Cannibalistic Casting: Lose Con to cast more spells
Clockwork Summoning: Summon clockwork versions of the normal summons
Controlled Charge: Charge without reducing AC
Enhanced Scent: Double the range of the scent ability
Enlarge Breath Weapon: Innate breath weapon Increase area by 50%
Enlarge Wall: Double the dimensions of walls
Fast Spell: Reduce full round spells to a standard action
Fleet of Foot: Turn while charging
Giant Step: Increases the size of 5-ft. steps
Hardened Spell: +5 bonus to spell DCs against dispelling and identification
Improved Concentration: +2 bonus to concentration checks
Improved Multiweapon Fighting: Gain additional off hand attacks
Improved Resistance: +2 bonus to spell resistance
Improved Shield Ally: +1 bonus to shield ally benefits
Multihanded Weapon: Use more than two hands on a weapon
Raw Magic: Sacrifice spells for level bonus to d20 roll
Shifting Wall: Walls from spells can move
Sizeshifter: Forgo size evolutions
Spirit of Vengeance: +1 bonus to attack and damage against last opponent that hit you
Stay Down: Prevent opponents from standing up
Strengthen Link: Share magic item benefit with eidolon
Tail Tricks: +1 bonus to CMB for trip and grapple
Toss Foe: Throw grappled opponent
Touch of Grace: +1 bonus to all saves
Unstable Evolutions: Adjust 2 points of evolution when eidolon is summoned
Vampiric Summoning Spell: Drain health from summoned monsters
Wall Mastery: Add holes to walls you create
Weaken Link: Eidolon and summoner can both use a chosen itevm slot
Comments on the feats:
Cannibalistic Casting: Ability damage for spell-casting. The comment admits this feat to be potentially being prone to abuse and I agree, though in another way: PCs will find it hard to to heal the damage in most campaigns, due to magic not working in healing them. What about another feat I didn't like from "Witch's Brew" that reduces ability score damage by 2? That would lead to unlimited 1st and 2nd level spells.
Clockwork Summoning: As a Zobeck-fanboy, I really like this one.
Enlarge Walls: Nice idea, as area control via walls is something I can see summoners excelling at.
Fast Spell: Cast faster at cost of half the spell's duration. God is this broken. How many battles are long enough for the high-level spells to actually run out during the battle? This will lead to almost ALL SPELLS that are eligible being cast like this. No way, not in my campaign.
Multiweapon Fighting and its mini-feat-tree gets some advice on how to e.g. balance it with multiple sets of arms.
Spirit of Vengeance: +1 to attack and damage against the last enemy who damaged you. This feat actually seems underpowered to me and I don't really get why it's in this book.
Strengthen Link: I'm not sure whether this has a benefit if only the summoner and not the eidolon has the feat or vice versa. the text only mentions what happens if both have this feat.
Toss Foe: Cool feat, but I feel it should have been a combat maneuver instead that gets stronger by using a feat like this.
Touch of Grace: + 1 to all saves. Come' on. NO ONE buys books due to feats like this. This is filler, plain and simple. Also, it's a boring feat-choice. And has nothing specifically to do with the summoner.
Vampiric Summoning: Leech the energy of your summoned creatures. good idea, solid mechanics.
Wall Mastery: Huge possibilities for PCs to fight clever and dirty. I really like this one.
Then, we get three sample builds, the chess master, the mythic rider and the master of arms, all including eidolon builds.
Finally, as a neat bonus to this installment, we get a 1-page Eidolon char-sheet.
Conclusion:
I do consider the summoner-class to be quite complex and thus was not exactly looking forward to do the math for this review. Surprisingly, the signature feats for the eidolon presented herein (at least as long as you heed the balance-warnings from the boxes!) are balanced. Editing is top-notch, I didn't notice any obvious typos. Formatting suffers from one glitch: The table of feats lists 31 feats, one of which is not in the book and actually is featured in "Witch's Brew", namely "Usurp Spell". While many of the feats actually feel "Summonerish", i.e. use his battle area control, enhance his eidolon etc. ("Vampiric Summonings" being among my favorites), some are just plain filler. "Touch of Grace" and "Spirit of Vengeance", I'm looking at you! All in all, while most are mechanically cool, some just felt like either filler or simply not as focused on the class as I would have liked them to be.
In addition, I don't like the cover (which more or less made me giggle...)as well as the cut-out black silhouettes throughout the book. They look somewhat amateurish.
Thus, my final verdict will be slightly lower than for "Witch's Brew", a good 3.5 stars, rounded down to 3 for the purposes of this platform. |
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| Sigfried |
| Posted: Tue May 31, 2011 12:05 pm Post subject: Sean Holland of RPGDrivethrough - 5 of 5 stars |
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Reviewer: Sean Holland
Website: Drive Through RPG
Rating: 5 of 5 stars
If you wish to understand the Summoner class and to expand the options available to these magical masters, the Summoner’s Circle is an excellent sourcebook. Summoners and conjurers will especially benefit from the feats but others will too.
The Summoner’s Circle: Advanced Feats is a 19-page PDF (17-pages if you remove the cover, ad and OGL page) for the Pathfinder RPG written by Sigfried Trent and published by Open Design. This is part of Open Design’s Advance Feats line for Pathfinder.
The layout is primary traditional two columns and the table of feats clear to read. The cover is full color while the minimal interior art is black and white and supports the theme. An eidolon character sheet is included at the end.
The Summoner’s Circle begins with an introduction to this product and its aim, which is to provide a detailed look at the Summoner class and ways to play it as well as providing additional options for the class. It does a good job laying out the basic ins and outs of the summoner and provides a grounding in the class’ abilities with a good look at the role of the eidolon.
Much of the product is the thirty new feats, only four of which are tied to Summoner class abilities though several are primarily monster-type feats, and each has paragraph or so of commentary that talk about the reasoning behind the feat and discusses balance issues -if any- with each feat. Personally, I appreciate this insight into the design process. The feats are solid mechanically and certainly aimed toward what the Summoner does well, which is creating and manipulating things.
Concluding the product are three example 20-level character and eidolon builds, showing feat and ability progressions: the Chess Master (battlefield manipulator), Mythic Rider, and the Master of Arms (combat summoner).
Disclosure: As a featured reviewer for RPGNow/DriveThroughRPG, I received my copy of this product for free from the publisher for the purpose of this review. |
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