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This book is an interesting concept. It may not be for everyone, but if you want to take all of your books, pdfs, options, settings, and crazy ideas and make them all possible this setting is all about making that happen. If you are a DM who wants to tell your players "yes" when they have a crazy idea that they're excited about this is a setting to consider. It's all about allowing for these things without breaking the setting.
That said, you don't get a setting with a clear direction, focus, and theme like you do with more detailed, and thus more directed settings. But for the low price offered and 23 pages of mostly fluff you do get a lot of inspiration.
The only real crunchy mechanics to the whole product is a group of time-based monsters at the end.
All in all, this might be a good pick for you and at the very least it might provide inspiration for your own setting. Production quality is good. Artwork and layout are top notch and the writing meets any D&D product standa ... [read full review]
Rating:  [4 of 5 Stars!] |
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Alluria's Explorer class is fun and exciting and wholly originalthough at first it may seem like a one-trick pony. The explorer is, after all, very limited in his weapon selection and seems to rely quite a bit on the crossbow-whip combination.
Upon further investigation, however, I realized that the explorer can take up the mantle of many archetypes that gamers have enjoyed for a long time. The degrading explorer works great as a steely-eyed lone swordsman, manipulating the battlefield terrain through footwork, feinting, and intimidation. The disrupting explorer with a fowl companion makes an ideal rope-swinging pirate. The exploiting explorer reminds me of a jester, of all things, thanks to the way he picks on enemies that have attacked him.
The mechanics of the explorer's features and powers are no more complex than any other classes', even with the addition of two new keywords: discovery and trap. This surprised me, considering the fact that the explorer is a martial controlle ... [read full review]
Rating:  [5 of 5 Stars!] |
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As role-players, we tend to be neophiles. We are excited by that which is new and different; a new sourcebook, a new campaign setting, or even a new race are all seen as untapped possibilities which widen the pool of what we can draw on for our game and thus make it better. Alluria Publishing’s Remarkable Races: Pathway to Adventure plays right into that, with each product introducing a new race that’s markedly different in its own way. This is especially true for The Oakling, a product detailing a race of tree-people.
Usually, I like to review the technical aspects of a PDF product up front before I delve into the substance of what’s written there. In this case, I can’t help but blur the line, but I’ll get to that in a moment. Although short at thirteen pages, full bookmarks have been provided, which is nice. There is no printer-friendly version, but for a book this short it’s probably silly to have one.
It was the artwork, however, that stopped me cold. Not because it was bad – ... [read full review]
Rating: [5 of 5 Stars!] |
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Remarkable Races: the Obitu (Player Character Race) - Pathway to Adventure Edition is a 12-page PDF (10 after covers and OGL) for Pathfinder written by J. Matthew Kubisz and published by Alluria Publishing. This is part of Alluria’s Remarkable Races line which they have been adapting to the Pathfinder/OGL system.
The layout is in the standard clear two-column design. There are five pieces of art in support of the product, all of which is quite nice, very thematic and in full-color.
The Obitu are an unusual race, even among the other Remarkable Races of Alluria, initially created by a necromancer from his undead as a way to confound his enemies. The Obitu look like skeletons but are in fact living creatures in fact they reproduce by “infecting” undead and converting them into new Obitu. It is a unique construction of a race and rife with possibilities.
Next there are six new feats are provided to customize the Obitu. As the Obitu dislike the undead for all they originate from t ... [read full review]
Rating: [4 of 5 Stars!] |
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Remarkable Races: the Muse (Player Character Race) - Pathway to Adventure Edition is a 12-page PDF (10 after cover and OGL) for Pathfinder written by J. Matthew Kubisz and published by Alluria Publishing. This is part of Alluria’s Remarkable Races line which they have been adapting to the Pathfinder system.
The layout is a clear two-column design. There are five pieces of art in support of the product, all of which is quite nice, very thematic and in full-color.
The Muse are an otherworldly race, beautiful and charming, with decorative wings. Their abilities are mystical and based on inspiring their allies, giving minor bonuses and even the ability to reroll under certain circumstances.
Six new feats are provided to customize a Muse further, including one feat that allows them to use their vestigial wings to avoid falling damage and several that increase their ability to aid their allies. A new prestige class, the Golden Muse, which is an inspirational divine class enhancing t ... [read full review]
Rating: [4 of 5 Stars!] |
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Remarkable Races: the Anumus (Player Character Race) - Pathway to Adventure Edition is an 18-page PDF (16 after cover and OGL) for Pathfinder written by J. Matthew Kubisz and published by Alluria Publishing. This is part of Alluria’s Remarkable Races line which they have been adapting to the Pathfinder system.
The layout is a clear two-column design, though there are a few sections where the text is greyed by it closeness to the illustration, this does not overly affect readability but is noticeable. There are six pieces of art, all of which is quite nice, very thematic and in full-color.
The Anumus are a semi-anthropomorphic race (human bodies with animal heads and traits). Well, actually a set of races, created by magic from common animals (and new Anumus are created only by magic, as the race itself is sterile). The background for them makes them surprisingly easy to incorporate into most campaigns, if possibly away from the beaten path, and opens an interesting set of advent ... [read full review]
Rating: [4 of 5 Stars!] |
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Remarkable Race (Pathway to Adventure Edition): The Boggle is a short 13 page pdf file presenting a new player character race for the Pathfinder RPG. This race first appeared as a race for the 4e GSL system, but has since been updated for the recently released OGL Pathfinder RPG. It's hardly surprising that publishers wish to take best advantages of both leading RPG systems, and several publishers have already jumped on the wagon of dual releases of the same product for different systems. I suspect in the future that we may end up seeing more neutral products with system specific elements added as an Appendix, much like Green Ronin Publishing did with their fantastic Freeport Campaign Setting.
This product comes as a beautifully presented pdf file. Alluria Publishing offer fantastic presentation, great art, and good writing all in one package. The presentation standard is very high, with professional layout and editing, and more importantly, they offer excellent customer service and ... [read full review]
Rating: [4 of 5 Stars!] |
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+ September 22nd, 2009 (by Mark) [From the DM Sketchpad]
The following is a review of **Remarkable Races: The Boggle** (Pathway to Adventure Edition) by Alluria Publishing. This 13 page PDF (10 pages of useable content) retails for $2.50 at Rpgnow right now and details the magically transformed boggle race (formerly goblins).
All of the Remarkable Races line were developed for 4th edition Dungeons and Dragons and now appear to be being converted over to the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. The product provides you with background on the origin of the boggles, their description, their ecology, interaction with other races and religion as one would expect from any race supplement. Unlike other books, it also details how the boggles get along with other members of Alluria’s remarkable races line. At their heart the boggles are civilized tinker goblins with short exciting lives that end in madness. The class abilities do not look overpowering and they look like an easy race to slide into ... [read full review]
Rating: [4 of 5 Stars!] |
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Adding a new race to your game is a bit of a balancing act. It requires you to retcon in a new element, which can be more or less difficult depending on what part of your world you’re trying to shoehorn the race into. It’s believable that no one would have noticed a race of xenophobic tunnel-dwellers before now, but far less believable that a race of gregarious humanoids has suddenly shown up out of nowhere. Of course, if you’re new race has been artificially created by magic, then problems of where the race came from solve themselves.
Despite being known for their 4E products, this product marks the debut of Alluria Publishing’s foray into Pathfinder-compatible supplements, being a Pathfinder-ized version of a previously-released 4E supplement. While it can be confusing at-a-glance, the “Pathway to Adventure” moniker should make it clear which system supplements with that subtitle are for.
The anumus are a created race, the result of a magical substance fed to a beloved pet tha ... [read full review]
Rating: [5 of 5 Stars!] |
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Some publishers (and many fans) have attempted to make a martial controller, and the Explorer is one of them. However, I think this one is pretty interesting. The book itself has around 60 pages, and is very light. The layout is clear and the reading quite comfortable, even on screen.
The book begins with a description of the explorer, following the standard 4E format. A small complaint is that I would have seen the explorer proficient with all simple weapons, but this is not really important. The explorer has the alchemist feat from the Adventurer's Vault, and uses this feat better than others. The explorer can choose either to gain a beast companion (which is similar to both the arcane familiar of Arcane Power and the beast ranger of Martial Power), or to weaken an opponent when he rolls a natural 1. At last, the explorer can create difficult terrain around him, and is good at making range attacks. There is a list of companions (with their stats), and also 3 differents builds for ... [read full review]
Rating: [5 of 5 Stars!] |
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I am so in love with this class. I've wanted a martial controller option for the longest time. While I've enjoyed fan entries like FF6Shadow's lancer and CJ Lewis' guerrilla (both excellent works), the explorer does an fantastic job of handling martial controlling without feeling somewhat anime-like (lancer) or stepping slightly beyond traditional D&D technology (guerrilla).
The use of the whip as an off-hand weapon used to move and position your enemies for greatest effect is an idea I wish I had come up with myself. And the use of discoveries (powers that use your perception to get the greatest effect out of battlefield terrain) is great, as well. Imagine Indiana Jones with a crossbow instead of a pistol and you've got the explorer pretty much spot-on.
Jared Glenn did an excellent job on this class. Tim Adams and the Rogue Agent Solution made the document extremely readable. Samuel Flegal's artwork is top-notch.
The only fault I can find in this document is that some people ... [read full review]
Rating: [5 of 5 Stars!] |
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This is probably the best Remarkable Race book to date (I have them all) and they just keep getting better. The Xax are a weird, unearhtly addition to the roster, and while I shudder at the thought of one of my players getting their mitts on these creatures, I myself plan to use the Xax as a major source strange NPCs and monsters in the next campaign arc. Those of you who shudder at randomization elements (a classic old school trope I love) might want to think twice before diving in, but everyone else please grab it! I love what Alluria is producing for 4th edition, well worth the investment. A+++ ... [read full review]
Rating: [5 of 5 Stars!] |
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Judging from the average customer rating of Alluria Publishing (which stands at about 4 ¼ stars as I write this) it’s pretty obvious that these folks know how to make a solid supplement for a gamer’s fourth edition campaign. Being a relatively new player on the indie RPG scene, I wanted to get a feel for what a product from an above average publisher played, looked and felt like. Thankfully, I wasn’t disappointed in my selection.
Due to its focused content, Remarkable Races: The Anumus is a relatively short watermarked PDF. Weighing in at only fourteen pages, the supplement is jam-packed with useful information on the anumus race that any aspiring gamer or ambitious GM will use to bring a bit of pseudo-anthropomorphic fun to the gaming table.
The reason I use the term pseudo-anthropomorphic is because the anumus race, as penned by J. Matthew Kubisz and drawn by Tommaso Galmacci, is relatively similar to a standard human, albeit with a few outstanding characteristics like the ara ... [read full review]
Rating: [4 of 5 Stars!] |
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If you like the idea of warforged, but would prefer a more primitive feel to your construct PCs, you might do well to add Remarkable Races: Relluk to your library. In this supplement, Alluria presents the title race as a kind of tiki warforged, ancient constructs built from volcanic stone, gems, and metallic "circuitry." If you can picture a D&D galeb duhr with metallic tattoos, you've got something close to a relluk's physical appearance. Relluks have certain construct traits like warforged, a breath weapon like (but less powerful than) dragonborn, and a unique method of reinforcing their bodies to compensaste for their inability to wear standard armor.
If a DM includes the relluk as a PC race, I can imagine some players grousing about the relluks' armor emulation and the special abilities—Alluria should not have called them "powers," since they do not in fact constitute 4e powers!—that each type of emulation conveys. However, the special emulation properties make up for the relluk ... [read full review]
Rating:  [3 of 5 Stars!] |
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