What about The Complete Advanced Feats? A review…

When I read the author’s preface to The Complete Advanced Feats by Sigfried Trent and the author said that the compilation and publication in print was borne of the request of fans I could only say, “right on”! I felt I did my very small part by reviewing the electronic books here in the blog. From the beginning I was a fan, despite my misgivings about the cover on the very first installment, the series just got better and better. As a matter of fact you can read my reviews of all the individual books that make up this compilation here:

The Alchemist, The Cavalier, The Inquisitor, The Oracle, The Summoner, The Witch

The larger part of the book are obviously the feats. They are all here, in one unified list, which is a big plus. Like I said before, while many of these feats will enhance the classes they were written for, they will be useful for other classes. There are some corrections done, and all the things I liked, such as commentary on the reasoning behind the feat’s design, and sidebars appropriate to the feats. I am not a fan of feat books for feats sakes, but this does not feel like a random list of ideas, there is a theme and focus here unlike other feat books I have read. This may be my favorite book of this sort in print.

And of course the other big part of the books is here, the builds. This is where the author shows you how all this get’s put together and how the feats make these types of characters unique. I must commend the author for showing so clearly his vision on what feats should be, not by telling us but by doing it. The build each feature archetypes of the classes and yet makes them different.

So what about the art? I must say I love all of it! There wasn’t a single one I did not like, a mix of color and black and white art with very fitting decoration on the page. Some are a little tongue in cheek, like the one accompanying the Lighten Weapon feat (which allows the character to use oversized weapons) with the little war Chihuahua pulling the cart where his mistress carried her giant hammer (the art is FAR cooler than I am able to describe it) and the pet lover in me just loved the cat sleeping on top the giant from on page 16. Many pieces were reused from the previous books, but put to good use. The few new pieces illustrate some element of the feats on the page. The art is sparse but appropriate, the layout clear and very elegant.

So indulge me here for a moment as I type out a few partying words. Thanks to Mr. Trent for writing an excellent series, to Shelly Baur for giving me the opportunity to review it, and to the whole Open Design team for the high quality products you keep churning out! I don’t know what you are feeding that kobold, but you keep doing it. Here is looking forward to Mr. Trent working his magic on the other classes in the Pathfinder RPG game, specially the Magus. I would love to see what he does with it…