EZG Essentials Part III – Classes *I* love

So, I was asked what my favorite 3pp classes are – and answering this question proved to be surprisingly hard.

 

This has many reasons, first of all being that I like complexity, options and player agenda and so do my players – meaningful choices have always been of the utmost importance. The original intention of the EZG Essentials-series was to provide books I always require my players to know; The indispensable systems and kits, so to speak. Hence, the EZG Essential-tab is reserved for exclusives that fulfill this criteria. At the same time, I’m aware that some of you may want to know which classes have changed my game for the better and why.

 

So here we go – while none of these classes is strictly required and thus an EZG Essential-candidate as per the definition of the category, on a very personal level, *I* consider them indispensable. It should be noted that I am consciously excluding the Akashic Mysteries-classes here since they are WiP as per the writing of this post. The akashic classes may still end up with a proper EZG Essential-tag.

 

One more caveat: This post is devoted to single classes, NOT subsystems. This means you won’t find the psionic classes from ultimate Psionics, The Occultist from Pact Magic Unbound or all the Strange Magic-classes here – why? Because they *do* have my EZG Essential-tag and as such would take up most of the slots. ;P

 

So without further ado, here are the classes I consider “essential” without being strictly required, the classes I, as a person, not as a reviewer, really like. Note that while not all classes here may be perfect, they are all capital letters FUN to play. I present to you, in no particular order, 20 (21 if you count Time Thief and Warden as separate classes) great 3pp-classes:

 

Technician by Radiance House (in Age of Electrotech)

Why it’s great: Complex, yet easy to grasp and highly modular, the sheer array of awesome customization options of this class and the wonderful ideas render this an absolute star among classes. Rewarding to build and play, a total, absolute blast.

Link: OBS

 

Tinker by Interjection Games

Why it’s great: This is a class for the PROS. Go customizable or go home, this brutal beast of a class requires some getting used to; Once you do, though, its copious amounts of support allow for vast combos, building of mechas, Ironman suits and so much more. Rewarding to play and highly complex, this is a class for the discerning tinker. Get those expansions (use the tinker-tag here) and never stop cackling!

Link: OBS

 

Swordmaster by Dreadfox Games

Why it’s great: This is the best Dex-based melee class I’ve seen for any iteration of d20. With an intriguing concept of moves that build on one another, the swordmaster features heavily in my campaigns, to the point where I have written quite a few expansions. While Dreadfox Games is dormant right now, there also are some archetypes by Rite Publishing, should you require them. And yes, I actually saw this guy work as a low-CON elven bodyguard tank. My group’s tank had, due to abysmal luck, less HP than the witch and still worked. Love this class!

Link: OBS

 

Masquerade Reveler by Rite Publishing

Why it’s great: Yes, I know – this is an archetype of the barbarian. It’s also perhaps the best barbarian archetype I ever saw, extremely modular, flavorful, extremely awesome and changes so much of the base class, it lost most semblance of it. Oh, and it’s intelligent and easy to grasp. Superb.

Link: OBS

Time Thief & Time Warden by Rogue Genius Games

Why they’re great: They may not be the most powerful of classes, but what can I say? For one, I’ve been a fanboy of Prince of Persia since the original game and loved the reboot, Warrior Within and its harsh difficulty and Conan-esque aesthetics in particular. These are the classes for just this feeling of time-control. Adore them, love them – just be careful with the expansion.

Link for Time Thief: OBS

Link for Time Warden: OBS

 

Luckbringer by Rite Publishing

Why it’s great: Great fluff, the chassis of the time thief modified and a theme of insane luck. This class is FUN. Especially coming up with weird new ways of making improbable accidents and happenstances.

Link: OBS

 

Spell-less Ranger by Kobold Press (in New Paths Compendium)

Why it’s great: Aragorn doesn’t cast spells. ‘Nuff said.

Link: OBS

 

Medium by Purple Duck Games (in Legendary Classes: Covenant Magic)

Why it’s great: A complex class with player agenda high on the list, the class can be easily combined with Pact Magic and is simply interesting to play. Still the reason I’m annoyed by other classes being called medium. It also sports two great expansions!

Link: OBS

 

Illuminatus by Purple Duck Games (in Legendary Classes: Illuminatus)

Why it’s great: Quite frankly the best take on the Chaos Mage (as opposed to only spells/a school that works like it) I’ve seen. Random, yet controlled and all awesome.

Link: OBS

 

Magpie by Little Red Goblin Games (in Necropunk Campaign Setting)

Why it’s great: A class of guys who can see and manipulate the flow of fate due to a strange parasite they willingly ingested? Heck yeah! It should be noted that you’ll need to do some conversion work to make it gel with vanilla-PFRPG, though, since its Necropunk-specific rules need some modification.

Link: OBS

 

Direlock by Forest Guardian Press

Why it’s great: Mechanically innovative, with an awesome fluff, this is hands down my favorite gish-class for PFRPG, blowing all others, including the magus, out of the water for me. Yes, i loved these sinister guys!

Links: OBS

 

Savage by Forest Guardian Press:

Why it’s great: This is a glorious hybrid of monk and barbarian. It also represents what I wanted to see from the ACG. This class has made me perceive the failure that the ACG is to me in the sharpest of possible contrasts.

Links: OBS

 

Nightblade by Ascension Games (in Path of Shadows):

Why it’s great: Because this class takes the shadow-themed secret agent/shadow-caster trope and beautifully uses it. While I’m not sold on all design-decisions, generally, this is an absolutely awesome, flavorful addition to one’s game.

Links: OBS

 

General by Legendary Games (in Ultimate Commander):

Why it’s great: Because this pet class not only provides easy rules for having your own unit, it also bridges the gap between kingdom building, mass combat and regular adventuring.

Links: OBS

 

Battle Lord by Amora Game (in Liber Influxus Communis)

Why it’s great: The Battle Lord is essentially the personal commander of the PCS and best take on the balanced front-line buffer/smart fighter I’ve seen in PFRPG.

Links: OBS

 

Demiurge by Amora Game (in Liber Influxus Communis)

Why it’s great: It’s a philosophy-themed class, highly complex and has utterly unique mechanics while making a great leader! I adore this class, even though there is one particular component that needs a bit of nerfing (see my review of LIC).

Links: OBS

 

Survivor by Amora Game (in Liber Influxus Communis)

Why it’s great: Where the spell-less ranger is Aragorn, this is the survivalist, Rambo, however you’d want to call him. Also, it’s pretty rare that I like a simpler class to this extent.

Links: OBS

 

Malefactor by TPK Games

Why it’s great: One word – Schadenfreude. It also doesn’t hurt that this class really helped a player of mine with abysmal luck enjoy the game again.

Links: OBS

 

The Assassin: A Modular Momentum Maneuvers Base Class by Interjection Games

Why it’s great: Because it *FINALLY* makes an assassin that is fun to play, has a TON of unique options, gets balancing right and, as a whole, just flat-out annihilates in awesomeness pretty much all classes/options that tried to fill the trope. I’ve seen a ton of d20-assassins. This makes ALL of them look like boring rogue-ripoffs. Must-friggin-have!

Link: OBS

 

All right, so there you have it – a huge bunch of classes for everyone who’s tired of the same old mechanics being recombined, with cool, oddball ways of handling things. These classes have enriched my game and I firmly believe they can do the same for you.

 

I’ll be back off to reviewing now, and yes, I will further expand this type of lists once I’ve reviewed new classes worthy of the praise!

 

Endzeitgeist out.

Comments

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6 Responses

  1. Michael P says:

    This is awesome! 3pp support is one of the great parts of Pathfinder and you, Thilo have become such a key component to this success. Not only do you help us players and GMs discover great new resources for our games, but on numerous occasions your reviews have directly resulted in “good” product becoming “great”. Now if only these publishers could get together and turn this list into a Kickstarter for a hardcover and make a “real” advanced class guide. Thanks again for all your hard work!

  2. Thilo Graf says:

    Hej Michael!

    Thank you SO MUCH for your kind words! Whenever someone supports me like you do, whenever I get some feedback in the ether, I feel more like I actually matter, so thank you for making my day! Never hesitate to post or contact me! Cheers!

  3. Interjection Games says:

    Also, your dual comments stuff is confusing. Sheesh.

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