3pp Top Ten: March 18th 2016

Every week Paizo sends out an email detailing the happenings of the Paizo store. This includes top 10 lists of what sells on their stores. Each week I'll be focusing on the list, 'Top 10 downloads from other companies' and commenting on the rise of the companies involved and changes of the list.


1. New Paths 8: The Trickster - Kobold Press

I haven't reviewed this one yet but I have purchased and read it. I think it deserves it's spot on the list. The class has the appeal of a 20 level arcane trickster done right, filling in the same niche that other New Paths classes have filled like the Theurge and the Elven/Mystic Archer. It also doesn't try to be super fancy and sticks to it's premise so it's easy to see why it's on the list along with Kobold Press' deserved prestige giving it some weight.

2. Kineticists of Porphyra - Purple Duck Games

I've reviewed this one. Like the Trickster it reeks of gridfilling in the sense that it pushes into a niche that I'm surprised wasn't in the rules to begin with. I've seen it on the list before so others must have liked it just as much. More than that it allows Kineticist, a rather recent class, to play catch-up with the plethora of options that the core classes enjoy.

3. One on One Adventures Compendium - Expeditious Retreat Press

Another one that I have but haven't reviewed. It may not seem like much but when you're sitting at a table waiting for 5 out of the six players that are a part of the campaign or when you spend months trying to wrangle three other people into one schedule for a game, the concept of running a solo adventure starts to get really appealing. The product also has quite a bit of thought in it as it tells you what kind of class each adventure is designed for so you don't run into issues where you can't survive because you don't have the right amount of hit points or spells.

4. Kineticists of Porphyra II - Purple Duck Games

Well we liked the first one so much they decided to do it again I guess. Big week for Purple Duck Games as the Kineticist has bought them two tickets to the top 10 list this week. Author N. Jolly can be found on the Paizo forums having a strong amount of communication with players which fuels the acceptance of these book. I don't have this one yet but it is going on my wishlist.

5. The Genius Guide to the Talented Witch - Rogue Genius Games

Yet another product I have that has no review yet. This one I picked up as a part of the Ultimate Witch and Warlock Kickstarter. If you don't know why this one is here; This is another installment of Rogue Genius Games' Talented series, breaking down classes into a series of choosable edges and talents, many taken from archetypes but plenty of original stuff as well, allowing players to piecemeal their class together and allow it to flourish as itself without the baggage of some of the class features imposed on it. This worked out great for the Fighter, Monk and Rogue in making them more effective and are some of my top picks in terms of power balancing with the others simply adding new ways to envision your Barbarian, Cavalier and Ranger, making this product's place on the list very obvious.

6. Four Horsement Presents - Hybrid Class: Shifu - Rogue Genius Games

I know next to nothing about this one but the description of Monks crossed with Kineticist has to be the epicenter of appeal as two dynamic fan favorites with troubled past iterations combine. This one is going on my wishlist despite potentially stepping on the toes of the Mystic from Amora Game. If it is as interesting as the Mystic then the spot is definitely deserved, and with the minds from Rogue Genius Games behind it, that may be a given.

7. Advanced Races Compendium - Kobold Press

Another product from Kobold Press but this one I don't have. When the Kickstarter launched I was in the final stages of preparing for my wedding so I was too short on cash to participate and missing out on this has been haunting my mind despite not having a urgency for new races. (no new campaign that would need them) And who can blame me, I loved the Advanced Feats, Deep Magic and New Paths and this product looks so slick. With over 20 races inside it's the only third party thing that really compares to Paizo's Advanced Race Guide. This has been on my wishlist since it first appeared on Paizo.com.

8. Path of War - Dreamscarred Press

One of the poster children of solutions to martial/caster disparity and a grand successor to Book of 9 Swords, Path of War was sure to be popular. It makes combat fun, dynamic and powerful and breaks away from the 'full attack or die' format that combat can fall into which has garnered a lot of love for the folks that want to take things up a notch.

9. Psionic Bestiary - Dreamscarred Press

The Psionic Bestiary brings in some psionic monsters to the game allowing GMs to make a setting or campaign feel like psionics really do exist rather than some weird espers running around in your fantasy land full of magic. This may not be that important with  the ability to rules psionics and magic as being the same thing but this is especially useful with the advent of psychic magic and creatures to differentiate the psionic from the psychic and also in settings where psionics is different from magic. As an essential companion to the psionics system in general it's place on the list is more than understandable.

10. Ultimate Psionics - Dreamscarred Press. 

The big king that has sat upon the top ten list for a long time, Ultimate Psionics clings and refuses to let go of the list after being usurped. And it makes sense. Dreamscarred Press' psionic books have been top tier of the 3pp Pathfinder world in many people's minds and Ultimate Psionics basically serves as the one stop 'Core Rulebook of Psionics'. Although more material has been released, Ultimate Psionics remains a huge book that singlehandedly gives you all you need to keep you busy with psionics for numerous campaigns.


After a long stint of crowding up the top 10 list there are finally no Spheres of Power related books. For a while it looked like Spheres of Power was set to battle Psionics off the list but now there are triple Dreamscarred Press products. No doubt Spheres is lurking just outside the list waiting to strike although Dropdead Studios may see a surge once their product Skyborne starts hitting the shelves. Also potentially lurking is Strange Magic from Interjection Games, which had a heavy presence for a while.

This all makes me think about the popularity of alternate magic systems. Two popular products are only recently off the list  and the list itself shows some love for things beyond spells. The Kineticist is seeing a lot of attention with a hybrid class and two whole books full of new archetypes and powers. If not for the Trickster I could have thought that we were leaving behind spellcasting completely.

Company of the week is Dreamscarred Press but there is a lot of strong showings from Purple Duck, Rogue Genius Games, and Kobold Press as they each absorb more of the list with double products.