Pathfinder Player Companion: Chronicle of Legends

Great sale, as described, great condition

Got this hoping it was useful for high level play. Not worth it.

ProsWhilst difficult to succeed at, (and up to hijinks from Secondary Casters), the Forbidden Ritual Egoist's Militia is intriguing. Attempts at fleshing out some of the less considered Classes, as well as some Prestige Classes, are welcome, (if not especially useful due to theme over substance issues).Cons'Powerful capstone abilities for 20th-level characters, including general capstones available to all classes and alternate capstones for every one of Pathfinder's character classes.'FALSE : Both the Alchemist and Witch are *not* given capstones, nor are what they are given equivalents. The Grand Hex is appalling, it is on par with a Common Hex ... The Cleric and the Wizard are given 'Class-specific Capstones', (with the Wizard getting an amazing one!); whilst not stated in the introduction, Sorcerers too gain a Capstone. This discrepancy is only heightened by the Witch not being able to take any of the 'Other Capstones' as they have nothing to trade out - these include 'Perfect Body, Perfect Mind (Ex)', where you can allocate +8 to one Ability Score or split it across multiple!Legacy Items ought to be clearer that they are just Relics under another name, (i.e., you cannot get any access to them without G.M. fiat). A minor bugbear is that the Bracers of Antiquity, having constantly been touted as working off of Ioun Stones embedded in them, have artwork that shows both sides without a place to insert any ... The Carved King's Band starts out grants Skill Ranks in Perception, then losing them for Kn.History and Spellcraft, then finally Kn.History, Spellcraft, and Sense Motive. Did they forget what they were granting when writing this?The weak but cool Magic Tricks in this product yet again exclude the Witch - only one of the seven Spells is on the Witch Spell List, (e.g., Unseen Servant). Even the (N.P.C. Class) Adept gets two Spells, (i.e., Daylight and Obscuring Mist).Theme over substance issues - attempts at thematic design are more like throwing awkward ideas at a wall and hoping something will stick. Most choices are a novelty that at best would be retrained/sold/ignored after a short while, at worst be a waste that holds your Character back. In a smaller number of cases no attempt at usefulness or thematic sense is made, showing a begrudging sentiment towards some Classes/builds, whilst favouring others.Many of the things here are really for G.M.s to play with/offer, not for Players themselves, (e.g., Legacy Items, suggested G.M. fiat restrictions to Collector's Boon Equipment Sets, a reminder that for "reasons" Players should not be allowed to take multiple Magic Trick Feats or even utilize one fully in contradiction to what they state). Scratching my head on that one.OverallI have only bought two Player Companions and both have been ... offputting, to state it mildly. There is just always so much personal bias on the behalf of the writers and an increasing lack of thought generally. Sad when I enjoy the game and will be staying with Pathfinder over its upcoming successor.EDIT: There seems to be official confusion over the Witch Class, as the product provides no way for the Witch to gain Capstones, yet both the back cover and the official reference site indicates that it can gain General Capstones.

ProsWhilst difficult to succeed at, (and up to hijinks from Secondary Casters), the Forbidden Ritual Egoist's Militia is intriguing. Attempts at fleshing out some of the less considered Classes, as well as some Prestige Classes, are welcome, (if not especially useful due to theme over substance issues).Cons'Powerful capstone abilities for 20th-level characters, including general capstones available to all classes and alternate capstones for every one of Pathfinder's character classes.'FALSE : Both the Alchemist and Witch are *not* given capstones, nor are what they are given equivalents. The Grand Hex is appalling, it is on par with a Common Hex ... The Cleric and the Wizard are given 'Class-specific Capstones', (with the Wizard getting an amazing one!); whilst not stated in the introduction, Sorcerers too gain a Capstone. This discrepancy is only heightened by the Witch not being able to take any of the 'Other Capstones' as they have nothing to trade out - these include 'Perfect Body, Perfect Mind (Ex)', where you can allocate +8 to one Ability Score or split it across multiple!Legacy Items ought to be clearer that they are just Relics under another name, (i.e., you cannot get any access to them without G.M. fiat). A minor bugbear is that the Bracers of Antiquity, having constantly been touted as working off of Ioun Stones embedded in them, have artwork that shows both sides without a place to insert any ... The Carved King's Band starts out grants Skill Ranks in Perception, then losing them for Kn.History and Spellcraft, then finally Kn.History, Spellcraft, and Sense Motive. Did they forget what they were granting when writing this?The weak but cool Magic Tricks in this product yet again exclude the Witch - only one of the seven Spells is on the Witch Spell List, (e.g., Unseen Servant). Even the (N.P.C. Class) Adept gets two Spells, (i.e., Daylight and Obscuring Mist).Theme over substance issues - attempts at thematic design are more like throwing awkward ideas at a wall and hoping something will stick. Most choices are a novelty that at best would be retrained/sold/ignored after a short while, at worst be a waste that holds your Character back. In a smaller number of cases no attempt at usefulness or thematic sense is made, showing a begrudging sentiment towards some Classes/builds, whilst favouring others.Many of the things here are really for G.M.s to play with/offer, not for Players themselves, (e.g., Legacy Items, suggested G.M. fiat restrictions to Collector's Boon Equipment Sets, a reminder that for "reasons" Players should not be allowed to take multiple Magic Trick Feats or even utilize one fully in contradiction to what they state). Scratching my head on that one.OverallI have only bought two Player Companions and both have been ... offputting, to state it mildly. There is just always so much personal bias on the behalf of the writers and an increasing lack of thought generally. Sad when I enjoy the game and will be staying with Pathfinder over its upcoming successor.EDIT: There seems to be official confusion over the Witch Class, as the product provides no way for the Witch to gain Capstones, yet both the back cover and the official reference site indicates that it can gain General Capstones.