Pathfinder Sells Out

Is it just me, or does that wizard look like the same one who's on the 4e PHB cover, aside from the hair color?

According to Paizo, as of Monday, their Pathfinder game’s core rulebook has sold out its first printing.  Now, this is mostly distributor orders — not actual sales — and there’s no indication of how large the first print run is.  Still, it’s a pretty impressive accomplishment.  I suspected that the initial sales would be very strong, and I hope it’ll bring people to the hobby, and not be confined to the existing 3.5 audience.

I have my doubts, though.

I haven’t seen the final revision of the rules, obviously, but the beta was not promising.  While the stated intent of the developers was to address some of the problems of 3.5e, and in particular to make melee characters a more viable choice, I found that the beta did the exact opposite — spellcasters were given a variety of bonuses.  Some problem spells were addressed, like Glitterdust and death spells, but there remained a wide variety of “I remove the enemy from combat” spells — including some new ones added by Paizo.  Fighters, on the other hand, were given more bonus feats… but they also need to spend more feats in order to achieve the same effect they used to get from a single one.  For instance, the +4 from Improved Disarm?  That takes two feats in Pathfinder.

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Of Possible Interest… (PDFs)

…EN World is offering a whole bunch of assorted PDFs for $1 each.  The sale runs until Gencon.  I know, I’m a little late with this one, but it slipped my mind.  My free time has mostly been occupied with writing a piece for Nevermet Press.  They’re a bunch of cool fellows.  Have you checked them out yet?  No?  Click the link, then.  Click it!  I’m watching you!

…Ahem.  Anyway.  You’ll see that piece toward the end of August, if all goes well.  More about that later, though.

The sale’s on 3.5e-era stuff, so it’s likely primarily useful to those who are sticking with that edition or Pathfinder.  A quick look shows at least a couple of options that would have utility in almost any game, though.  Need some inspiration for a thieves’ guild or two?  A city council to drop into your new city?  Ideas for some tournament or festival games?  Want to add some steampunk flavor to your game?

Maybe even try a new game?

There’s a lot of material on offer.  It’s worth a look through.

If I were still playing 3.5, I’d go for Everyone Else: A Book of Innkeepers, Farmers & More.  Almost 70 pages of ready-made statblocks for villagers, mooks, and other random NPCs in case that tavern brawl breaks out?  I’d buy that for $1 and save myself a whole chunk of work.

I may have to spring for Mutants & Masterminds…

I heard today that the new supplement, Mecha & Manga, is near release.  A little late, judging by Amazon’s publication date, but these things happen.

I don’t watch much anime these days, but I’m a fan from way back, and manga and anime style have informed my roleplaying for almost two decades.  A well-done anime RPG or sourcebook always catches my attention.  And this one is by my old friend Alejandro Melchor, who previously wrote the Kitsunemori campaign setting for third edition.  I know he does quality work.

All of that, on top of the good things I keep hearing about Mutants & Masterminds (and its previous sourcebook, fantasy-themed Warriors & Warlocks), makes this one very hard to resist.  Even though I doubt I’d play it any time soon, given my existing D&D, HERO, and Nobilis games, plus my Warcraft addiction (which might be “cured” when the Champions MMO comes out…).

Anyone have anything to report about Mutants & Masterminds that might help push me over the edge?  Or about Mecha & Manga specifically?

What are the Best 4e Ability Score Arrays?

I’ve been following an interesting thread about 4e ability score arrays at ENWorld.  Poster 77IM calculated all of the possible arrays on a 22-point buy, and posted the list.  Turns out there are 121 unique arrays, in case you were wondering.

Then the analysis began.

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Review: Divine Power

Divine Power

I was previously pretty happy with Martial Power and Arcane Power, and based on my initial reading, Divine Power seems to continue the trend.  As you’d expect from the book’s title, this supplement for fourth-edition Dungeons & Dragons offers new options for the divine classes:  avengers, clerics, invokers, and paladins.

As I mentioned in earlier reviews of the Power series, this sort of class-focused supplement has been pretty common in D&D’s history, with varying levels of quality showing in the finished products — but the Power books tend to fall toward the top of the quality scale.  This is still true of Divine Power.

I should mention, perhaps, that I’ve had a long-standing fondness for the cleric class, and that I’ve found avengers and invokers equally attractive since their introduction to 4e D&D.  So maybe I’m a little biased.  After looking through the book, though, I’d have to say even paladins come off pretty well now.  This might be my favorite Power book yet.

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