Topic of the Day: 10 products that need more.

Sometimes I'll really like a product but there just isn't enough of it. Often it will tackle a subject that really needs to be tackled but doesn't go as far as I really want it to go or involves a lot of things that the game really could use but doesn't have enough of them. Usually these come in small packages with a limited scope. Sometimes it's a series that just moves on to the next subject and could use another instalment. In each case there's potential untapped that could be the next mega-hit. Here is my top ten list of products I've read that could really just use more to it.These are all good products, I don't want to diminish them, but I personally could stand to see more material come out related to them.

10. Culinary Magic from Flaming Crab Games.

This one is fairly recent so there's no fault to it being short but really it could use more of the same, specifically the recipes for magical dishes, particular ones with exotic ingredients. Imagine it; a chef that cooks magic by hunting down monsters as ingredients for fantastical dishes. How many times have you had players that want to make monster bits into weapons and armor only to be dismayed that there's nothing mechanically special about doing so, or worse yet that unless you're going to enchant it having dragonclaw gloves does absolutely nothing. Making monsters into magical food with actual benefits is something that can bring some magic and adventure to monsters. It may turn them into murderhobos but a dragon omlette that gives you a breath weapon is hard to turn down. Plus it gives some realistic prep time and usefulness to food. Rules as written you could have max ranks and still take a week to make a sandwich that does nothing.

9. Book of Marial Action from Necromancers of the Northwest.

Before Pathfinder Unchained came out I recognized that the hinted martial pool sounded very similar to the martial pool presented in the Book of Martial Action. When it did come out it was indeed similar in a lot of ways, to the point where I just merged the two ideas. Now Stamina is a main part of the Fighter class and can take martial techniques. Its been fun but there are some flaws in BoMA and it's sequel. At this point the martial pool and stamina are practically the same thing so a revamp of the system to integrate it with stamina would be nice, especially if the costs get readjusted to fit with how stamina functions. Besides that, the concept is a bit outclassed by the sheer scope of Dreamscarred Press' Path of War. To me the martial actions have a niche where techniques can easily be the maneuvers for non initiators but the scope of the product is rather limited. I love the martial action books but I really could use more and less conservatively costed material and probably a revamp for what it does. If this was a big book that came with a $20 price tag I'd quickly buy it.

8. Fantastic Technology from Fat Goblin Games.

I never really looked at Fat Goblin Games before this aside from one or two products that I didn't like, but Fantastic Technology made me rethink their offerings. I love me some scifi in my Pathfinder, and Fantastic Technology handles so much in it's short amount of pages that I couldn't help but to love it. But after introducing Magnitude as the technological version of weapon/armor enhancement it feels like it doesn't cover enough of it from the item side of things. In the end Fantastic Technology feels like the first couple of chapters of a Paizo hardcover sized book that was going to have hundreds of pages of magnitude effects and specific technological items.

7. Feats of Runic Might from Rogue Genius Games.

For a long while I was looking for ways to put just a little magic in the hands of martial classes. Runic Might helped out a bit in that regard. With some of the runes they've been able to get out of a few jams that they normally would be completely helpless to, and it's a great way to interact with magic without being really magical yourself.  This can be key in a lot of cases as some monsters are impossible to interact with or fight without something magical leaving some characters to sit on the sidelines. Unfortunately Feats of Runic Might and it's sequel don't go the full mile on that range and stick with being neat little pseudo magic feats without getting too out there. They're nice little addition that someone might take instead of the outrageously interesting options that someone can't wait to take the way they could be.

6. Way of Ki from Legendary Games.

Same story as Feats of Runic Might only it actually does solve a few problems with the Monk, Samurai and Ninja, but I'm greedy. There needs to be more ki feats that do more things. Maybe even style feats that interact with ki. Or even new ki using base classes, because lets face it, the Monk and Ki kind of hide in it's own niche and each concept related to ki gets shoe horned into Monk when Monk already has enough problems. Way of Ki is an indispensable addition to any game that has a Monk or Samurai but it can easily be Way of Wuxia with a lot more content.

5. Fighter Nuances from Forest Guardian Press. 

Michael Sayre's Bravery Feats could have easily been on this list but even though he admits that the product was more conservative than he would have liked it feels kind of 'done'. It set out to make some feats that made bravery awesome and it succeeded. But bravery is a limited subject and you can only go so far with it, Fighter Nuances on the other hand feels like it opened some doors and now there are a ton of things that could go through that haven't yet. It basically gives fighters a new class feature but gives you one book worth of material for it when the Fighter is over a dozen hardcovers into the game. I may just be greedy but I think there needs to be at least two more of these. 13 pages just doesn't cut it.

4. A Fistful of Denarii from Tripod Machine.

I already want to poke Tripod Machine with a stick to see when that Conquest of the Universe will come out but out of the things that they already have out, I have a soft spot for A Fistful of Denarii. It is not common to have a book full of spell-less classes so AFoD is already a bit ahead of the game but it also brought up a lot of feats for mundane classes and class features for them. As much as I use some of the feats and as much as I love the the Scholar class the book is kind of old and not enough people at my table will give it a second glance. The book could use a refresh and/or some additions. New archetypes and options to differentiate them from their parent classes, a new name for the Hunter, and most importantly just more mundane goodness including more feats to help them out.

3. Whatever the heck ARMR is doing. 

I've only taken a real look at three of their products but I'm having the same reaction to each one. They're kind of cool but it could use some options, and other stuff. Based on the Chemist and Zephyrus alone these free classes need to be compiled into one book, given a bunch of options and archetypes and feats and items and junk, printed and sold. The crunch is there and they seem to be hitting points that are hardly hit but honestly if they had just a bit 'more' I would argue that they don't deserve to be free products and need to have a price tag.  Right now I just see a bunch of neat base classes for free when they do have incredible chassis that are the makings of great classes if more was attached to them.

2. Mystical: Kingdom of Monsters from Northwinter Press. 

Being a big book you wouldn't think that this needs 'more' but if you look at the book, it has a lot of space dedicated to the bestiary of 'mons leaving the class with some options but for me not enough. There is a lot of flavor throughout the rest of the game that it just doesn't really interact with and I see it capable of really going places.

1. Anachronistic Adventures from Rogue Genius Games. 

I've said it before but this product goes way past it's premise in terms of what it can be used for. The general idea is to get someone from the 1940s and have him fall into a portal to Golarion or something along a similar vein, but I've seen at least two products that use it as a basis for post modern classes, and I'm currently using it as a basis for futuristic space adventures. Rogue Genius Games needs to recognize what they unleashed here. This is basically a d20 Modern/Future port only it better integrates itself with the Pathfinder ruleset. This is why I was actually a bit dismayed that the progress levels for proficiencies stopped at the information age. No, don't stop. Keep going. This book needs modern and future equipment, spaceship rules, power source conversion rules, and mecha. It needs mutations, cybernetics, alien races, FX abilities and of course more archetypes and feats. Broken Earth has you handled on some of these things and maybe Conquest of the Universe will handle the rest, but unless CotU is everything we could ever need Anachronistic Adventures is currently half of d20 Modern/Future and I really want need the other half.