By Thilo Graf
This installment of the Anachronistic Adventurers-line from Super Genius Games is 15 pages long, 2/3 of a page front cover, 1 page editorial/SRD, leaving 13 1/3 pages of content, so let’s check this out!
The third of the Anachronistic Adventurers-classes is the Daredevil, who gets d8, 7+Int skills, medium BAB, good ref-saves and thus is probably closest to the skill-monkey classes like the rogue. In contrast to the rogue, bard, etc., the focus of the daredevil is acting under stress and influencing actions when it counts. The signature ability dauntless surge, which can be used a couple of times per day and continuously improves over the levels of the class, enables daredevils to add a flexible, dice-based bonus to their throws, especially when it counts. The ability to use dauntless surge can be used further via the usage of up to 5 daredevil talents as well as 4 so-called limited talents – both kinds of talents can be chosen from a list of 32 talents, some of which can’t be taken via limited talents, though. This vast selection of available talents ensures that the daredevil can fit a rogue’s feet, disable and spring traps etc.pp., but still remain true to the distinct thrill-seeker, to the man who walks away from explosions without looking back – perhaps because they have literally done it too many times.
Of course, the class stays true to the AA-line and also uses anachronistic archetypes, which are completely exchangeable with those from the two predecessor-files. This time, the new archetypes once again are rather interesting: If you ever wanted to play a Houdini-type of acrobatic character, the Escapist will suit your needs. For fans of James Bond and similar agents, the Secret Agent-archetype is what you’ve been looking for. Even better, the Masked Adventurer, a being like the Phantom, Bruce Wayne or masked wrestlers, who truly counts as different personas when wearing his or her mask and comes with 7 special talents. The final archetype includes once again a kind of crunchy masterpiece on par with the research-rules for the Investigator: The Occultist comes with working ritual magic rules. Essentially, it is possible to cast any spell as a ritual, but each ritual costs money, needs skill and each casting of the ritual has to be tailored towards the individual circumstances. These rules are simple, entwined slightly with the research rules and make it possible to finally run gritty, Conan-style campaigns while using the Pathfinder-rules and opens a whole new approach to magic. And the rules fit on approximately 2 pages.
The pdf also includes 4 new anachronistic feats (three of which deal with ritual magic) and information on progress levels with which you might already be familiar with.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn’t notice any glitches. The layout adheres to SGG’S 3-column standard and the B/w-artworks are fitting and nice, hearkening back to both comic classics and pulpy illustrations. The pdf has no bookmarks. This class and pdf has a terribly high expectation to fulfil on my side, seeing that the Investigator is my favourite PFRPG-class out there and that I loved the research-rules. The Daredevil surprisingly manages to fulfil my expectations in its presentation of iconic archetypes and a talent-focused class that oozes style and flavour. I do have some minor gripes, namely that I would have loved for the escapist and secret agent to get their exclusive talents like the masked adventurer. The ritual-rules, though, at least for me, come close in brilliance to the research-rules (though not completely reaching their level of abject awesomeness) and make up for this very minor shortcoming. All in all, I’m complaining here on the highest level possible, as this line has continuously baffled me with its brilliant ideas and while I did not like the daredevil just as much as the investigator, I still consider this pdf a stellar example of design. Thus, my final verdict will be 5 stars and the Endzeitgeist seal of approval.
Anachronistic Adventurers: The Daredevil is available from: