Epic Review - Ultimate Combat part 2.5

What started as a simple review of Ultimate Combat turned into a monster of a review...because I wanted to review it a bit more in depth, but the sheer amount of crunch in that one book is quite insane. So here's...


The  fifth and final coverage of the new archetypes!


Rogue 
New Rogue Talents:  Plenty of new talents with 16 new rogue talents and 8 new advanced talents.
Black Market Connections, Convincing Lie, Deft Palm, Esoteric Scholar, Firearm Training, Getaway Artist, Grit, Hold Breath, Iron Guts, Ki Pool, Ninja Trick, Rope Master, Strong Stroke, Terrain Mastery, Underhanded, Wall Scramble. Advanced: Confounding Blades, Familiar, Getaway Master, Hard to Fool, Hide In Plain Sight, Rumormonger, Unwitting Ally, and Weapon Snatcher. I really like that they added Ki Pool/Ninja trick to the rogue tricks. It allows for plain old Asian-themed rogues without pigeon-holing the characters into being a ninja. Strong Stroke and Wall Scramble fill niche tricks for swimming and of course climb, while Black Market Connections is a good role-play oriented talent for getting a little extra on items, and for finding extra items for sale in larger cities. Firearm training and Grit talents give the rogue some of the gunslinger's blackpowder fun, but I was saddened that there was no dedicated blackpowder rogue, so I will be working on a Highwayman archetype. (already posted!)


Bandit
I'm actually surprised the Bandit didn't make an appearance in the Advanced Player's Guide. So, rogue archetypes usually either replace Uncanny Dodge/Imp. Uncanny Dodge or Trapfinding/Trapsense. This one replaces Uncanny Dodges. They gain Ambush (4th) and Fearsome Strike (8th), allowing the bandit to act in the surprise round and causing fear on confirmed criticals. Typo in the Fearsome Strike ability, it should read replaces Improved Uncanny Dodge instead of Uncanny Dodge.

Chameleon
Replacing the trapsense and trapfinding abilities, this archetype is a master of misdirection and stealth. Misdirection grants a pool of stealth points based upon their bluff ranks each day, Effortless Sneak at 3rd gives the rogue the ability to take 10 on a stealth check in a favored terrain, gaining one terrain at 3rd and every 3 levels. This is a pretty cool archetype if you don't mind losing the trap abilities.

Charlatan
The silver tongued scoundrel, with Natural Born Liar is a bluff modifier, granting a -2 against bluff checks for those affected by the Charlatan's bluff for 24 hours. Grand hoax grants the rumormonger advanced talent at 3rd level. (traps)

Driver
This is more of an archetype for a pulp game, getaway drivers aren't a big thing in fantasy games typically. It does work with the vehicle rules presented in Ultimate Combat however. This is a pretty limited archetype, taking away the trap abilities for bonuses to driving, I actually think this archetype would have been better as a ranger or fighter Teamster...perhaps even an expert archetype. (traps)

Knife Master
This archetype is a knife specialist. Replacing traps, the 1st level Hidden Blade gives 1/2 level to sleight of hand rolls to conceal a blade weapon. Sneak Stab replaces Sneak Attack, focuses on a list of small bladed weapons, increasing the sneak attack damage for them to d8s, while decreasing the sneak damage of all other weapons to d4s. Blade Sense at 3rd gives dodge bonuses against light blades. This is a nice archetype to give extra flavor for the lesser damage weapons. Kukri is included, so criticals can be fun with nice d8 sneak attacks. I like it, and Ian is actually going to run one for our next PFS group, we're going to run a Sczarni family...Varisian knife master.

Pirate
The pirate is what everyone wants, unfortunately this isn't the one we really want. Sea Legs at 1st grants the Sea Legs feat, at 2nd they get a pirate only rogue talent, granting a special rogue talent. Now, the talent itself sets a new precedent, it allows an acrobatics roll to make a swinging charge or bull rush, and a 5 foot move afterwards. Unflinching at 3rd, grants a save bonus to mind-affecting/fear effects. So while it has some interesting bits, this isn't the pirate I wanted to see. I was disappointed when I read it the first time, and I haven't changed my mind. (traps)

Roof Runner
Playing an Urban campaign? This is a great rogue archetype for certain concepts. Roof Running at 1st gives them the ability to move at full speed even on unsteady rooftops, say, a tile roof with tiles coming loose for example. Tumbling Descent is cool since it allows a rogue to drop from great heights of a rooftop to street level without injury, as long as they make their acrobatics roll. (traps)

Sanctified Rogue
A Holy Rogue....This is the most interesting of all the rogue archetypes, but it falls short in that you lose uncanny dodge and improved uncanny dodge for a +1 sacred bonus to Will/Fort that doesn't improve as you level, then you get a once a day use of augury, which is still an open ended divination spell. Great concept, poor execution. (dodges)

Survivalist
If you're playing in an adventure where the elements are against you, perhaps in the desert or arctic type conditions, this is a good archetype, providing double the number of days without water and triple without food, then at 3rd gaining endure elements as a spell-like ability. (traps)

Wizard
No warmage type archetypes in this book, as the magus is the new combat mage in town, and they don't want to ruffle his feathers for fear of a dervish dancing magus visiting them.


Arcane Bomber
This archetype mixes alchemy with magery, with great power (real or imagined) comes with great sacrifice in this case. School of the Bomb...FOUR, count them....FOUR (4), opposition schools (That's pretty painful).
In place of the normal arcane bond, the Arcane Bomber gets bombs, no discoveries, but basic bombs (Though no mention of how many...). Instead of Cantrips, the bomber can empower his bombs with a spell...+SL to hit and +2xSL damage as a Swift action. All in all this archetype seems to give up way more than it gains.

Siege Mage
This is an interesting variant, but only if you're allowing siege engines in normal play, this archetype is not allowed in PFS play. The Siege Mage forms a bond with a siege engine that's nearby, has 3 prohibited schools, can channel energy into the engine similar to the Arcane Bomber, but gets 3x damage instead of 2x (in place of cantrips again). They also get Siege Engineer in place of Scribe Scroll. At 10th the archetype really comes into power as he no longer needs a crew to reload, aim or fire the engine. Would be fun to have an NPC Siege Mage manning his Wizard's tower...

Spellslinger
The final arcehtype of the book. The Spellslinger is a blackpowder wizard. The Spellslinger forms his arcane bond with his weapon. He gains exotic prof (firearms). Gunsmith and a battered firearm replace the scribe scroll bonus feat. The Spellslinger like the other two wizard archetype give up additional prohibited schools, four, though the spellslinger gets far more than the arcane bomber. Mage Bullets replaces cantrips, but it far and away better than empower bombs. Of the three Wizard archetypes, this is the only one I'd play as a PC.

Part 3 will be coverage of the feats I hope to have that review up by Wednesday, then I'll cover the rest of the Book in Part 4. After that, back to regular reviews! Especially as it's OCTOBER!! Realms of Cthulhu and Munchkin Zombies will be getting a review.

PFRPG Trophy Hunter Fix

Here's my fix for the Trophy Hunter that I will be using in my own games. 

Trophy Hunter (Ranger Archetype)

Armor and Weapon Proficiencies: Trophy Hunters are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, firearms and light armor.

Have Gun will Travel: At 1^st level, the Trophy Hunter gains the Gunsmithing feat as a bonus feat. He also gains a battered musket identical to the one gained by the gunslinger. This replaces medium armor proficiency.

Improved Tracking: as the power on page 67 of Ultimate Combat.

Firearm Style: as the power on page 68 of Ultimate Combat.

Hunter’s Aim: as the power on page 68 of Ultimate Combat.

Epic Review - Ultimate Combat part 2.4 (archetypes)

Finalizing the archetypes.

Monk 
To start with, the monk has the worst typoed archetype with the Tetori monk. Somewhere along the line certain feats were removed, the specific feats which the Tetori monk has are required feats. Can't wait to see the remedy for this faux pas.

Flowing Monk
 This is a really interesting archetype.First off they have their own bonus feat list to choose from. The redirection ability replaces stunning fist and is quite powerful, getting better as you level. It allows redirection and trip maneuvers in response to an attack as an immediate action, this in itself makes it better than stunning fist, but it can also make the opponent sickened, and the bonuses increase with level. At 8th they can do both trip and reposition simultaneously; 12th they can even do the maneuvers against someone that attacks them with a reach weapon! Unbalancing counter is great,  the target of a successful attack of opportunity is rendered flat footed until the end of the monk's next turn. Flowing dodge grants a +1 dodge bonus (up to Wis bonus) for each adjacent opponent in lieu of fast movement. Elusive target is an insane ability letting the monk make reflex saves to reduce damage taken when they're hit. Volley Spell uses the diamond body spell resistance to attempt to redirect a spell back to the caster using ki. This is a very MAD monk, moreso than the normal monk, as they rely on CMB, Dex and Wis bonusesto make them effective. Combat Reflexes is almost a given, as is lightning reflexes, improved trip and improved reposition, it's a very focused archetype.

Maneuver Master
The maneuver master gets additional bonus feats to choose from. The Maneuver master starts off by trading flurry of blows for flurry of maneuvers, allowing 1 additional maneuver at 1st level. This increases to 4 total maneuvers at 15th level, but each additional maneuver attempted has increasing penalties. (2@-2, 3@ -3, 4@-7). At 3rd they gain maneuver defense is pretty nice, since others attempting a maneuver on them that they have improved level of training in provokes an AoO. Reliable maneuver allows 1 ki to be spent to roll twice and keep the highest when performing a maneuver. Maneuver Master grants a WIS bonus to a single maneuver type for the turn as a swift action. They get sweeping maneuver at 11th; allowing them to make two combat maneuvers without penalty either 2 maneuvers against 2 opponents or 2 different maneuvers against a single opponent. Finally at level 15 they get Whirlwind Maneuver, once per day they can make a single combat maneuver against every opponent they threaten. A rune giant performing a trip against everyone in 20 feet is hilarious to me!!!

Martial Artist
The martial artist is the dip archetype, allowing any alignment, but at the loss of several ki related abilities. Errata will be coming on this class as they still have access to a ki related ability but no ki pool. So if you ever wanted to play a Barbarian/Monk, this is how you can do it.

Master of Many Styles
The Master of Many Styles is one of the most interesting monk archetypes, gaining bonus feats at 1st, 2nd and every four thereafter which can be used for style feats. These feats replace the normal monk feats, but ignore the normal requirements (except for elemental fist). Fuse allows them to maintain 2 or more feat stances, but at the cost of Flurry of Blows. at 20, the Master of Many Styles can maintain 5 stances.

Sensei
The Sensei is a mix of bard and monk, gaining bardic performance instead of flurry, fast movement and improved evasion. At 2nd, they can use WIS instead of STR or DEX on attacks or CMB (replaces evasion and a bonus feat. Mystic Wisdom seems to have an issue as it allows the Sensei to grant abilities they lose as part of the archetype. This replaces bonus feats at 6th, 12th and 18th. I personally feel a Sensei should be a PrC instead of an archetype, as a Sensei is a master, you shouldn't be a 1st level master.

Sohei
This isn't one of my favorites, but if you like mounted combatants, this might be the monk for you. They differ from standard monks in the weapon and armor choices, gaining simple and martial weapon and light armor proficiency; however they still appear to gain WIS and AC Bonus of normal monks (this seems like something they should have used as a replacement). They can choose mounted feats in addition to normal feats for their bonus feats. They gain Monastic Mount in lieu of both fast movement and increased unarmed damage. They gain Ki Weapon and weapon training.

Tetori
This is the largest error in the book. It has required bonus feats that aren't in the book, it happens, just wish it had been caught before print, it's a pretty decent archetype. It gives up flurry for graceful grapple, making him a grapple monster, able to threaten while grappling, even retaining their Dex bonus. Then it improves with grab at 8th and constrict at 15th. The ability is a bit broken as it gets more powerful the same as some other archetypes, but only has to give up flurry of blows. Other archetypes don't get as much for what they receive. Inescapable Grasp replaces several abilities, at 9th, he can now suppress freedom of movement effects, at 13th dimensional anchor and at 17th his unarmed strikes gain ghost touch and incoporeal creatures gain the grappled condition (Reflex save). At 13th He gains form lock which can negate a polymorph effect. At 19th he gains Iron Body, a ki ability duplicating the spell. Once the archetype is errataed, it can be quite the spoiler class for game masters.

Paladin
Divine Hunter
The antithesis of the classic OG Paladin, killing from range...not only do they use ranged weaponry more often than melee weaponry, they grant their powers to allies.They gain precise shot in lieu of Heavy Armor Proficiency at first level. At 3rd level they replace Aura of Courage, with shared precision, in which they share precise shot with their allies. At 5th level they gain Divine Bond but it must be with a ranged or thrown weapon, they swap defending and disruption with distance, returning and seeking abilities. aDistance Mercy at 6th lets them use mercy powers at 5ft/paladin level. Aura of Care at 8th level makes allies not block targets with ranged attacks. At 11th, Hunter's Blessing let's the paladin expend a use of smite evil to grant allies within 10ft Deadly Aim, Precise Shot and Improved Precise Shot, instead of Aura of Justice. Finally at 14th Righteous Hunter makes his and his allies weapon good aligned for overcoming DR. Pretty interesting, though I would tend to think of Elven Paladins being divine hunters rather than other races.

Empyreal Knight
I really like the concept around this one, but I was surprised there wasn't an anti-paladin Infernal Knight archetype, especially with the Knight of the Sepulcher being in this book. It starts off slow, replacing divine grace with the ability to read and write celestial. Celestial Heart makes up for it, replacing mercy you get celestial resistances 5 at 3rd, +4 racial save vs poison at 6th, 9th resistances improve to 10, and at 12th immunity to petrification. 15th grants truespeech as tongues, and 18th gives a magic aura that acts as a magic circle against evil. Celestial Ally replaces channel, allowing the Empyreal knight to summon celestial allies as the summon monster I, improving every 2 levels by the next spell level. Divine bond is really nice, granting the celestial template at 8th, and fly at 12, as the mount sprouts wings. Empyreal Champion at 20, transforms the knight into an outsider. All in all, if you want to play a truly goody goody paladin, that has more selfish abilities, this one is pretty nice. I think I want to make a tiefling one!


Holy gun
The archetype that puts firearms into the hands of the holiest of holies, delivering smites by the bullet! The Holy Gun gains firearm proficiency and simple/martial weapons, but only light armor proficiency. "Have Gun" the holy gun gains gunsmithing and amateur gunslinger at first in addition to a battered gun exactly like a gunslingers. At 2nd they gain access to an exclusive deed, Smiting shot, more powerful because it grants smite at range, but more limited in that it's grit powered. At 5th level they form their Divine Bond with their firearm, similar to the Divine Hunter. 13th level brings Holy Grit, this brings the holy smite up in power level as they now gain grit equal to charisma, and they gain a gunfighter deed at 13, 14, 17 and 20. the Capstone is Holy Slinger, allowing the firearm to deliver banishment, just as the holy champion does with their weapon.

Holy Tactician
The Holy Tactician is a group buff paladin, Weal's Champion let's her give competence bonuses to her allies after they successfully hit with a smite evil attempt. At 3rd and every 4 levels, Tactical Acumen grants a bonus teamwork feat; Also they get Battlefield presence, which allows the Holy Tactician to share their teamwork feat with allies (nice ability, since teamwork feats can be difficult [read annoying] to coordinate). The Holy Tactician can Guide the Battle, granting allies a bonus 5 ft move. At 11th, Weal's Wrath allows those affected by Weal's Champion to maintain the bonuses until each creature hit by the smite is slain. The capstone, Masterful Presence, grants, a second tactician feat to the his allies, and grants automatic confirmation on critical threats.   [Note: In my campaigns, the Unholy Tactician will be making an appearance] 

Knight of the Sepulcher
ANTI-PALADIN ARCHETYPE!!! We need more of these! This is a pretty cool archetype, especially if you want to create a "death knight" type of character.  Touch of the Crypt transform the Knight into a partially undead creature, light fortification, bonuses against mind-affecting, poisons and death effects. In addition to being affected by positive/negative energy as undead. At 8th, instead of Aura of Despair, they gain Fortitude of the Crypt, granting darkvision 60ft and immunity to poison. 10th level brings Cloak of the Crypt, and immunity to energy drain and harmful negative energy effects, and 50% fortification. Will of the Crypt increases the saves to +4 at 11th level. 14th brings Weapons of Sin, making the Knight of the Sepulcher's weapon's evil aligned for purposes of overcoming DR. 15th level brings the Knight closer to undeath, Heavy Fortification, immunity to sleep, death effects, stunning and paralysis, he no longer sleeps, and exhaustion causes fatigue, while fatigue effects he's immune to. 17th brings him closer to undeath, DR good and bludgeon. The capstone brings undeath.

Sacred Shield
Think...Prince Charming in Sleeping Beauty, when he's fighting Malificent as the dragon, his shield protecting him from dragon fire. The Sacred Shield's bond is to his shield rather than to a weapon or mount. Bastion of Good at 1st replaces smite evil and causes the evil-doer to cause half damage to the paladins allies, however they do full damage to the paladin, but they gain a scaled deflection bonus. Holy Shield at 4th allows the Paladin to shield adjacent allies as well. Their divine Bond at 5th, is with a shield. Improved Bastion increases the range to 20ft. Perfect Bastion adds a regeneration effect to Bastion.

Ranger
The Ranger archetypes as a whole are pretty weak, the only one with real potential is the deep walker and that's primarily as an NPC.

Battle Scout
A party buff ranger, at the cost of their favored enemies., starting at 4th, their hunter's bond must be with their companions. At 5th this allows Advantageous Terrain, by studying the terrain they can gain bonuses within their favored terrain. At 10th they can gain a temporary favored terrain. Superior tactics lets them arrange their allies initiative rolls. The capstone is lackluster; increasing the range of Advantageous Terrain and saving two whole rounds. The problem with this class is "once per day"; two of their abilities are only usable once per day....

Deep Walker
Great archetype if you're playing an underdark campaign, and it you have underdark denizens that are rangers, there's no point in NOT taking this archetype. Deep Knowledge at 3rd level, the deep walker swaps the normal favored terrain, gaining +2 on intiative, Dungeoneering, perception, stealth and survival underground, Improving +3 every 5 levels. At 5th Woodland Stride is replaced by Rock Hopper, ignoring underground difficult terrain, and +5 on acrobatics and climbing in those tones. Deep Walker Camouflage replaces the normal camouflage, and One with the Stone is the equivalent to hide in plain sight.

Falconer
The falconer is intersting, in so far as it grants some cool extras available to only the Falconer. You just have to get past 1st level, as you get a druid pet (bird only) but it only has half hit points until 4th level, when the ranger normally gets hunter's bond. They also get two exclusive tricks at 1st level, roam and distract. At 4th, Hunter's Bond, his companion gains full hit points. Swoop for the Kill at 6th brings another trick, swooping charge which for some reason doubles the damage of its bite instead of claws, and increases the critical to x4, and staggers the target, replacing the combat style.

Trophy Hunter
This is supposed to be the Ranger blackpowder class, but due to the way it's constructed, I can't see it being used unless it's as a multi-class dip. The archetype doesn't grant a weapon at the start, nor does it grant gunsmithing, rangers are supposed to be more self-sufficient, this archetype is horrible.

Warden
I can't see EVER taking this archetype, it is far too focused, giving up their favored enemies for additional terrains. It's very specialized around terrain, though it's an extremely under powered choice.

Wild Stalker
A hybrid of ranger and barbarian, at 1st, gaining low light vision and bonuses to perception instead of the 1st favored enemy. At 2nd they gain uncanny dodge instead of a combat style. Rage of the Wild swaps with hunter's bond. They gain rage powers which replace the other favored enemies. The 6th level power seems to have a typo, as it should have replaced the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th combat styles, rather than the favored enemies which were replaced by the Rage powers at 5th.

Up next! Rogue & Wizard 
Sorry but due to real life and the sheer amount of information, this has to be split again, especially since the rogue info includes the new talents.

Epic Review - Ultimate Combat part 2.3 (archetypes)

Continuing the review of the archetypes of Ultimate Combat.

Gunslinger


Gun Tank - The gun tank is the heavy armor gunslinger, Dwarves in Stone Plate come to mind. They gain heavy armor and tower shield proficiency. They have two gun tank alternate deeds, Gun Tank Resolve (1st level) and Gun Tank Resilience (15th level). They gain Bullet Deflection and Armor Training in lieu of nimble and the bonus feats gunslingers normally receive.

Musket Master - The musket master is a specialist in two handed firearms, they only gain proficiency in the two handed firearms, and must use feats to gain other firearm proficiencies.. They are masters of the quick reload with Rapid reload as a bonus feat at 1st level, and a 3rd level deed called Fast Musket, which allows a 2 handed firearm to be reloaded as a one handed firearm. They gain Musket Training instead of Firearm training.

Mysterious Stranger - A Charisma based gunslinger, excellent for multiclassed bards or sorcerers.  The focused aim deed at 1st granting them CHA damage bonus to their damage for grit.

Pistolero - The Pistolero is the one handed specialist, the counter to the Musket Master. Pistol training, instead of firearm training, and three of their own deeds, making them deadly shootists.


Inquisitor


Inquisitions - These are alternates to normal domains. The first is the the Blackpowder Inquisistion, which obviously, grants gunsmithing and Exotic Proficiency (Firearms); and spellcasters hit must save or suffer Concentration penalties. (Not too bad, but not PFS legal unfortunately, so no Soloman Kane in PFS games).
The second is the Spellkiller, which gains Disruptive, and a bunch of bonuses.

Spellbreaker - With multiple types of bonuses, and spell breaking abilities that stack with Disruptive, this can be a powerful combination is combined with the Spellkiller Inquisition! As a capstone they gain immunity to 1 entire school of arcane magic, even granting the same spell immunity to all allies within 60 feet once per day, that can come in pretty handy, at the cost of Final Judgement, is it worth it? Perhaps, but sounds like a fun combo to try.

With Hunter - Ah the classic with hunter, complete with spell scent. Like the Witch Smeller Puissant, from Black Adder! They're adept at spellcraft, gaining their WIS as a bonus to identify spells, items and to decipher scrolls. Knowledgeable defense gives them bonuses to save versus identified spells. Their 14th level bane ability causes AC and save penalties against arcane casters.


Magus


19 new arcana begin the Magus entry with a bang.  Here's a quick summary:
Arcane Strike 9th (resolve all attacks as touch for the round) 2 pts
Arcane Cloak +INT stealth/bluff to hide checks. 1pt
Arcane Edge 9th INT bleed damage. 1pt
Arcane Redoubt Shield bonus affects touch AC also 1pt
-greater Shield bonus to REF saves, 1pt evasion 2pts, greater evasion 4pts
Bane Blade 1 add'l pt, add bane to weapon [This is an EXTREMELY good ability] 15th
Devoted Blade 1 add'l pt add alignment dmg  12th
Disruptive as the feat 6th
Enduring Blade 1 add'l pt, duration of arcane point powers becomes 1minute/level  6th
Ghost Blade 1 add'l pt, ghost touch obviously
Lingering Pain damage becomes lingering, forcing harder concentration to cast on the next rd; 1pt  (This is a great idea to add to wound rules if so inclined.)
Pool Strike, Arcing pool strike affects add'l enemies 1pt 12th
Pool Strike,Clinging pool strike does add'l half dmg following rd 9th 1pt
Pool Strike,Thunderous 1pt 6th pool strike deals sonic dmg & deafens 1 target....strange...should affect an area..
Prescient attack  1pt 6th immediate action after hitting to deny dex bonus to target until next rd.
Prescient Defense 1pt 9th immediate action after hitting to gain INT bonus to AC/REF.
Rod Mastery similar to wand mastery
Rod Wielder add INT bonus to break spell resistance.
Spellbreaker as the feat. 9th

The one Magus archetype continues the Asian themed alternates with the Kensai, or Sword Saint. Another archetype that drops a spell per level, this one also loses the armor spellcasting in favor of the duellist prestige class ability Canny Defense. They gain proficiency in all simple weapons plus a martial or exotic weapon of choice (how many people would actually choose a martial? In fact most I'm sure will choose the Katana.) Whether the increased combat abilities (Weapon Focus, Perfect Strike, Fighter training, and other abilities) can make up for the lack of BAB is an interesting question, I might actually try this one out soon.

Epic Review - Ultimate Combat Part 2.2 (archetypes)

Wherein I continue the review of the new archetypes in Ultimate Combat. 

Fighters

With TEN archetypes and new expanded weapon groups there's a lot of new toys for what used to be the most boring class in 3rd edition.

The Armor Master, is truly the master of defense, replacing his weapon mastery with increased defensive abilities, a deflection bonus to AC while using a shield, increased damage resistance which scales with level, up to 12/- at 19th level while wearing heavy armor. He gains fortification, up to moderate fortification, at 13th level. The capstone grants complete immunity to criticals and sneak attacks, similar to the 3.5 heavy fortification.

The Brawler  is a very interesting archetype. Granting bonuses to bull rush, drag, and reposition maneuvers (though it does not grant the improved versions) and defenses. At 3rd level the get a nice +1TH/+3 dmg with close weapons, this includes the new scizore a 1d10 dmg close weapon; this increases up to +3/+7 at 19th. It also includes spiked armor, which would make for an extremely effective grappler. They also are very threatening to opponents, and at 9th level making it hard to escape their threatened squares without injury. 

The Cad is the just that, a dirty fighter, using dirty tactics and the dirty fighting maneuver. They only gain proficiency in light armor and normal shields. They also gain access to some additional class skills (acrobatics, bluff, escape artist, sleight of hand and stealth). They make an interesting alternate thug class. The Razor Sharp Chair Leg feat from beta returns as an alternate fighter ability for the Cad. 

The Dragoon is a mounted fighter that is the master of the spear and lance. They gain Mounted Combat and Skill Focus (ride) at first level in lieu of the standard bonus fighter feat. Instead of weapon mastery they gain bonuses with the spear group. which gains +1TH/+2DMG up to +4/+8 at 17th level; devastating on a critical, charge or brace. They also gain the banner ability as a cavalier, which replaces weapon training 2-4.

The Gladiator is designed for the new Combat Performance rules. There's not much benefit if you're not using those rules. 

The Tactician is the skilled fighter, gaining 4+int/level and several class skills (Diplomacy, Knowledge (geography/nobility), Linguistics, and Sense Motive) for the cost of heavy armor, tower shields AND their bonus feat. It's too much taxation for those abilities. That kills the entire archetype for me. It should be one or the other, but that's effectively 3 feats lost. 

Thunderstriker is pure gain, at the cost of armor training, they can use a buckler and a two handed weapon at the same time. Even using two weapon fighting! Combine this with the Shield Mastery feats and you're creating a monster. 

Tower Shield Specialist; horrible name, good archetype. For ultimate defense behind the iron wall, replacing bravery allows the TWS to hide behind his shield even against "burst" spells. Eventually the TWS, gains a shield bonus to touch attacks, no attack penalties while using a tower shield evasion, and improved evasion.


Unarmed Fighter This is it, the non-monk hand fighter, a hybrid of the monk and fighter classes, able t use light armor, and all monk weapons. They gain Improved Unarmed Strike AND a non-prerequisite style feat instead of the normal bonus feat at first.  That's pretty tough. The Unarmed fighter doesn't get access to ki, or the monks other abilities, but he does get a bunch of niche maneuver abilities, which can make his quite dangerous in close. Sucker Punch is fun, get in close to an opponent denied Dex (say from being grappled), and the Unarmed Fighter gets a free trip or dirty fighter maneuver as a swift action. Talk about a fun magekiller.


Unbreakable is kind of a bit of an oxymoron, getting two feats for 1 at first, Die Hard and Endurance in lieu of the Fighter Bonus Feat. An improvement over bravery, as it affects all mind affecting saves rather than just fear. He gains Heroic Recovery and Heroic Defiance as he levels, and eventually will become inmmune to mind affecting affects. (This will be nice for BBEGs!!!)


Stay Tuned for the Gunslinger, Inquisitor and Magus Archetype EPIC coverage next.

Epic Review - Ultimate Combat Part 2.1 (archetypes)

In the second part of this review, I'll be covering the many archetypes and class options in Ultimate Combat.

Alchemists

Alchemists don't get a lot in this book, just a few discoveries, and two archetypes. Some of the discoveries are great though, giving nice variety between the immolation and breath weapon bombs, also explosive missiles is fun for the archer/gunner types. Nauseating flesh is an interesting discovery if you end up fighting purple worms a lot. Also included are poison conversion and siege bomb. The two rage archetypes, are the Beastmorph and the Ragechemist, both nice combat oriented archetypes, though the ragechemist needs a great INT to offset the penalties from the greater strength increases. Beastmorph grants access to beastshape abilities while under mutagen effects.

Barbarians

Being Ultimate combat, it's only fitting that barbarians gain lots of new toys. 32 new rage powers, including 3 totem based chains, dragon, hive and world serpent. There are also some nice upgrades to existing rage powers, bleeding blow to add bleed damage to powerful blow; greater ground breaker (ground breaker), lethal accuracy (surprise accuracy) and greater guarded life (guarded life). Though I think my favorite new rage ability is the eater of magic rage power, which give a second save and possible temporary HP.

The new archetypes range from the Heavy armor wearing Armored Hulk to the Wild Rager. The Armored Hulk I'm a bit leary of, it seems a little too powerful, granting heavy armor proficiency, while eventually retaining full speed at the cost of fast movement, and uncanny dodge lines. The Scared Rager is an interesting archetype especially for people who like body modification in real life. I can see many people playing Dwarven or Half-Orc Scared Ragers. The Sea Reaver is one of my new favorite NPC archetypes, Conan's reavers!! The The Titan Mauler brings back monkey grip albeit without the brokeness. The True Primitive is the classic illiterate barbarian, with a specific armor and proficiency list for a Caveman, I think I'll make one named Geico. Urban Barbarian, interesting mix, they lose medium armor proficiency but get a rage that doesn't cause AC penalties. The Wild Rager...and behold the Frenzied Barbarian returns...not fan of the PC Killer barbarian.

Bard

Three new options for bards. The archaeologist, daredevil and dervish dancer. The archaeologist is nice, giving up some of the performance abilities for some roguishness, part bard, part rogue, I like it, and already plan on making a certain whip toting archaeologist icon. The daredevil and dervish dancer are combat bards, replacing knowledge skills with more combat oriented abilities. I can see lots of halfling bard dervish dancers in the future with the dervish blade feat from the Inner Sea Guide. Strength won't matter so much when you're scimitar does d4+4 or 5 and a hefty 18+ crit range. This is really effective at 8th level with Razor's Kiss to have improved critical while using his battle dance. At 12th level, the Dervish Dancer gains Dance of Fury, allowing a full attack while making a move action, and being able to attack at multiple points along the way. I like all these bard options and I can easily see myself playing them.

Cavalier

3 new orders are presented, though I feel the Order of the Tome, probably should have been in Ultimate Magic as they gain the ability to cast from scrolls. The Order of the Seal is the guardian type, similar to the protectors of the grail in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. This cavalier option will make a nice NPC option using the keeper ability.

The 8 new archetypes vary from Beast Rider to the Strategist. The Beast Rider gives up heavy armor for a more powerful exotic mount. The Emissary gains mounted combat as a bonus feat, followed by Mobility, Trick Riding, and Mounted Skirmisher, he's mobile both in the saddle and out of the saddle. The Gendarme is another mounted master, but does not come fully to power until 20th level when he becomes a charging terror, causing triple damage (quad dmg with a lance) and max damage if he criticals, luckily the two archetypes can't be combined. The honor guard is the cavalier bodyguard, pretty simple archetype. The Luring cavalier is interesting, as it is a ranged specialist, allowing the cavalier to challenge at range, and gain ranged attack bonuses. The Musketeer is the first of the archetypes which grant weapon proficiency firearms to the class, in addition to a gifted firearm and nice abilities. The Standard Bearer is the bannerman, one thing it does is just switch the banner and mount abilities. Then he gains nice party bonuses to his allies. The strategist actually makes teamwork feats worthwhile at 4th level when he gains Drill Instructor, granting up to 4 allies use of one his teamwork feats. As I've said, I'm not a huge Cavalier fan, thus I'm not super excited to attempt any of these archetypes, though in my GMing I can see some of them being used.

Clerics

Combat oriented clerics are presented in this book. The first is the crusader, at the cost of a domain AND one fewer spell each level, he gains access to a slew of bonus feats and the ability to cast a group heal or buff (though at a cost of a slot 3 levels higher, just like a mass spell.) There's a typo on this one, it says you gain a bonus feat at 1st and 5th and every 5 levels, max 6, but at 1st, 5th, 10th 15th and 20th, that's only 5. I'll never use this archetype as a PC. NPC....probably. The Divine Strategist loses a domain, then instead of channel, they gain some initiative bonuses. This archetype falls short, I don't like it. Evangelist lose medium and shield proficiencies, and of course gain perform as a class skill. They gain a partial bardic performance ability at the cost of reduced channeling. I could see using this class. It's not bad...Evangelist of Asmodeus...HAH! The Merciful Healer trades channel utility and his second domain for the ability to remove conditions with their channel, at 8th they get to reroll any 1s rolled on a channel, NICE! Of all the cleric archetypes, I think I like the Merciful Healer the most, it doesn't lose more than it gains. A Fighter/Evangelist Hellknight would be kind of fun though.

Druids

Druids gain 4 new archetypes, but 3 are just new shaman types, the Ape, Bat and Boar Shaman. I really like the shamen archetypes, though I prefer the Saurian from Ultimate Magic most. The World Walker is a Ranger/Druid hybrid of sorts, gaining favored terrains in lieu of trackless step and nature's lore. Then at 9th they get to teleport between trees. I'm surprised there's not a more combat oriented shapeshifter archetype in this book.

Epic Review - Ultimate Combat Part 1

This is a review of the Ultimate Combat for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, as published by Paizo, under the OGL.

With 3 20 level classes to cover in addition over two hundred feats, this will be a 2 or 3 part review. Without further adieu....the review:

From Paizo's Page:

Seize the initiative and chop your foes to pieces with this exhaustive guide to the art of martial combat in this exciting new rulebook for the smash-hit Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, suitable for players and Game Masters alike!

This comprehensive 256-page hardcover reference reveals the martial secrets of the Pathfinder RPG rules like never before! Tons of new tricks and techniques for combat-oriented character classes put a sharp edge on your weapons and a sure step in your tactics, ranging from new barbarian rage powers, new cavalier orders, tons of new rogue talents, and more than 60 new archetypes for nearly every Pathfinder RPG character class, including spellcasters like wizards and clerics.
Ultimate Combat also introduces three new Pathfinder RPG classes: the ninja, samurai, and gunslinger! The ninja blends the subterfuge of the rogue with high-flying martial arts and assassination techniques. The samurai is an unstoppable armored warrior who lives by a strong code of honor—with or without a master. The gunslinger combines the fighter’s martial prowess with a new grit mechanic that allows her to pull off fantastic acts with a pistol or rifle. All this plus tons of new armor and weapons, a complete treatment of firearms in the Pathfinder RPG, a vast array of martial arts, finishing moves, vehicle combat, duels, and new combat-oriented spells for every spellcasting class in the game!

Ultimate Combat includes:
• New player character options for 14 Pathfinder RPG base classes, including alchemist discoveries, barbarian rage powers, cavalier orders, combat-cleric archetypes, animal shaman druids, new fighter archetypes like gladiator and armor master, inquisitor archetypes like witch-hunter or spellbreaker, combat-themed magus arcana, monk archetypes based on mastery of martial arts, new paladin archetypes like angelic warrior, ranger archetypes like big game hunter and trapper, new rogue tricks, and wizard archetypes like the gunmage
• The ninja, samurai, and gunslinger, brand-new 20-level alternate classes specially designed to get the most out of combat
• Hundreds of new combat-oriented feats including martial arts feat trees, finishing moves, and combination feats
• In-depth overviews on a variety of combat-related topics, such as armor, Asian weapons, duels, fighting schools, guns, siege weapons, and more
• A complete system covering vehicle combat, including wagons, boats, airships, and more
• Tons of optional combat rules like called shots, armor as damage reduction, and new ways to track character health
• …and much, much more!

This book promises a LOT. But if you're expecting your two-handed fighter who already does massive damage with every hit to get even more power, this isn't where to look. Ultimate Combat yes, but other aspects.

Part 1 will cover the new classes.

First Glance: The cover art grabs you right away, another great Wayne Reynolds cover. Flipping through the book, I see lots of new options, Eastern Options, from weapons to armor. A New Base class: The gunslinger, and two alt classes, the ninja and the samurai.

Main Review:

Chapter 1: Classes

First and foremost is the Gunslinger. The most anticipated and yet hated class in the book. I personally love the class. I don’t think the guns themselves do quite enough damage, but let’s cover the class first. The class starts with the Gunsmith feat, which helps alleviate the excessive cost of ammunition in early firearms era. The class is based on the fighter, but with a few changes. 4+int skill points, light armor, and of course proficiency in firearms. Grit and deeds, this is what makes the Gunslinger. Deeds are a type of talent powered by the wisdom based grit. Used in various circumstances to perform cinematic stunts, everything from the gunslinger’s dodge, to the utility shot to scoot an unattended object..like a hat… At 3rd and every 4 levels after gunslingers gain access to more powerful deeds.

Gunfighters get bonus feats and gun training similar to a fighter. Guntraining gets a damage bonus equal to their DEX bonus for one type of firearm per advance. Nimble grants a +1 dodge bonus while wearing no or light armor at +1/4 levels beyond 2nd.

This is a great class, and with the additional archetypes allows much more variation. While it's not for everyone it is a solid class.

NINJAS

OK, so you can't have an Asian themed game without ninjas...well, you can't but it's not really the same. this is one of the hotly debated class changes. Some felt the ninja could be easily done with just rogue talents. To a certain extent, this could have been done. But, I prefer seeing an alternate class, with ki. The ninja is an alternate class, this it counts AS a rogue, which means no Rogue-Ninjas. There is some play between the two classes as a rogue may take ninja tricks and a ninja may take rogue tricks, further blurring the line between the two classes.

I like the class, and in one of my Play-by-post games I'm going to get to see one in action.

Samurai.

Samurai are an alternate Cavalier class. I'm not usually a cavalier fan personally. I'd definitely play a samurai before I'd play a cavalier, as I like resolve more than tactician. In addition, the honorable stand and weapon expertise abilities are more along my play styles. Last Stand is an especially cool ability making the samurai nigh unstoppable once per day. Weapons deal minimum damage except on criticals, and they cant be killed by by opponents that are not the target of his challenge. Lastly samurai get an order just like cavaliers. (Note, the samurai really feels like an archetype. and perhaps should have been written as one.)

Sadly neither ninja, nor samurai receive archetypes in this book, though the gunslingers got four.

In part 2 I will be covering the archetypes. So it's more a part 1.5