Love that cover art—that could
be a poster. It’s reprinted as the
inside back cover minus the text. The
inside front cover is a surprisingly detailed map of Tian Xia. The book itself is divided into six sections:
The Dragon Empires, Archetypes, Combat, Faith, Magic, and Social.
“The Dragon Empires” (20
pages) provides players with an introduction to adventuring in Tian Xia. A useful sidebar reminds readers of the
difference between a loose analogue and a direct translation. Importantly, the section grounds several fantasy
races into the setting: kitsune, nagaji, samsarans, tengus, and wayangs all
receive some focus, as do the various human ethnicities grouped as Tians. The rest of the section is then devoted to
several pages of nation overviews (each covered in half a page). Each nation gets a couple of regional traits,
and I liked the colourful banners included for each one. The traits aren’t super original, but they’re
flavoured well (I do need to call out “wayang spellhunter” as I recall it has
proven very problematic in play). The
nation descriptions are really interesting, readable capsules—good inspirations
for players choosing a background for their character. I never knew there was a nation of aasimars,
a kraken-ruled nation, a Taldan colony, and a communist nation in Tian
Xia. Likewise, even the Darklands under
Tian Xia are very different than that under the Inner Sea.
“Archetypes” (2 pages)
introduces four new ones. Bards get the “lotus
geisha”—essentially it makes bardic performance a little better, but it only
benefits one character instead of a group.
“Sword saints” for samurais could be a fun, first-strike build. The “white-haired witch” for (naturally) witches
is pretty neat, though I could see it as repetitive in actual play. I’m not really sure about the “yokai hunter”
for rangers—it’s a special kind of undead hunter.
“Combat” (2 pages) consists
of several new martial arts-flavoured feats.
Monks are the class most likely to benefit from this section. I really liked a couple of them like “Hold
the Blade” and “Quivering Palm Versatility”, but there are some high
prerequisites for some of them.
“Faith” (2 pages) lists
the major deities of Tian Xia. It’s
mostly flavour and lore, but interesting and potentially useful for character
backgrounds.
“Magic” (2 pages)
introduces a new oni bloodline for sorcerers—it looks pretty good. There’s also a new elemental school, void,
for wizards—the “real weakness” power is *really* good considering there’s no
save against it.
“Social” (2 pages)
introduces a new rules sub-system, Honor Points. I like the idea of an honour-tracking system,
but I haven’t used this one and I’m always a little sceptical. I’d be willing to try it, though.
And that’s the book. All in all, I really enjoyed it, but I do
understand how players hoping to see page after page of new feats, equipment,
etc. (especially back in 2011 when there wasn’t as much Pathfinder material out
there) would be disappointed by a Player Companion book that probably would be
better suited to the Campaign Setting line.
But if you go in with your expectations suitably managed, you’ll surely
find something valuable for adventuring in the Dragon Empires.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment