Overall Impressions:
I was impressed by this book and do not feel that my money was misspent on purchasing it. The content presented within the book was all well written (though I find a few things to complain about) and the layout, as per usual with Paizo books, was well done. As always I greatly enjoye the art, as well. While my main gaming system is 3.5, there is enough material here to make this book not only worth purchasing, but worth spending the time converting back to 3.5 for gamers who prefer that system for one reason or another. Anyways; let’s get on with this review, starting with the text on the back cover!

From the Back Cover:
Explore new and uncharted depths of roleplaying with the Pathfinder RPG Advanced Player’s Guide! Empower your existing characters with expanded rules for all 11 Pathfinder Roleplaying Game core classes and seven core races, or build a new one from the ground up with one of six brand-new, 20-level base classes. Whether you’re designing your own monstrous helpers as an enigmatic summoner, brewing up trouble with a grimy urban alchemist, or simply teaching an old rogue a new trick, this book has everyting you need to make your heroes more heroic.

The Pathfinder RPG Advanced Player’s Guide is a must-have companion volume to the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook. This imaginative tabletop game builds upon more than 10 years of system deevelopment and an Open Playtest featuring more than 50,000 gamers trying to create a cutting-edge RPG experience that brings the all-time best selling set of fantasy rules into the new millennium.

The Pathfinder RPG Advanced Player’s Guide includes:

• Six new base classes: the monster-hunting inquisitor, the explosive alchemist, the noble cavalier, the prophecy-haunted oracle, the monster-crafting summoner, and the hex-weaving witch
• More than a hundred innovative new feats and combat abilities for characters of all classes, including Steal, Point-Blank Master, and Bouncing Spell
• Variant class abilities, rules subsystems, and thematic archetypes for all 11 core classes, such as the antipaladin, the hungry ghost monk, and the urban ranger
• Hundreds of new spells and magic items, from phantasmal revenge to the Storm King’s Cloud Castle
• A wealth of fantastic equipment, such as fireblast rods and fortune-tellers’ cards
• New prestige classes like the Master Chymist and the Battle Herald
• AND MUCH, MUCH MORE!

Preface:
A bad habit that I got when I first started buying books for roleplaying games was reading the credits page. While most books are pretty straight forward in these, Paizo manages to differentiate themselves. Sure, there are the credits and other information pertaining to the OGL and product identity, there is also something else. First, is a dedication to Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson; as far as I know, Paizo has been including this dedication in every book they release, I can imagine some people think nothing of this, but I appreciate the nod towards the game’s founding fathers. The second thing I notice (again, I’ve noticed it in every Pathfinder book I’ve perused) is the thank you given to the fans who spent time playtesting the game, again, something Paizo doesn’t have to do, but does anyways. Classy!

Chapter 1: Races
Overall: I really liked some of the options presented here; others, I felt to be mediocre with some being flat-out bad choices.

Bit By Bit: This portion of the book is dedicated to expanding the seven core races. Presented are alternate racial traits for each race, as well as favored class options.

I like the alternate racial traits; I think that they expand upon the flavor of each race in a unique way (come on, show of hands, who else wanted a half-orc that could actually use those tusks in a fight?!) and are, for the most part, worth what you trade them off for.

I don’t much care for the racial favored class options. When Pathfinder was released there was a great deal of contention between people on the Paizo boards about whether favored class bonuses (either a hit point or a skill point at each level) were going too far towards forcing races into specific classes. While I, personally, didn’t have a problem with it, many, many people did. Now we have this. While most bonuses are fairly benign, some are, what I feel, over the top; the primary example I have of this is the human sorcerer favored class option (gain a bonus spell as a favored class bonus; the spell has to be 1 level lower than the highest level you can cast) which, I feel, removes one of the sorcerer’s greatest weaknesses: his limited spell selection. Why play a sorcerer of any other race?

It doesn’t help that some bonuses really aren’t that powerful compared to others. The half-orc sorcerer bonus (boy am I stuck on sorcerers), for example, on gives 1/2 a point of fire damage per level in the favored class, this is not worth it, methinks. 20 points of extra damage at 20th level (or 5 at 5th, or 10 at 10th, or 15 at 15th) isn’t going to be game breaking, monsters at that point have boatloads of hitpoints to cut through, not to mention that fire is one of the most common of the energy resistances. Now, compare that to a half-elf’s bard favored class option which gives him an extra round of bardic music per level per day (which, by comparison, is a huge boost).

Chapter 2: Classes
Overall: I like almost all of the new classes (don’t like the cavalier; while a solid class, I think it should have been a fighter archetype) and I totally dig the archetypes as an idea, they remind me of kits from 2nd edition. I found most material presented here to be quite solid and there isn’t anything I’d recommend a player avoid.

Bit By Bit:We are presented with six new base classes (not referred to as core classes as Paizo is being fairly strict in what they consider "core" material); they are the alchemist, the cavalier, the inquisitor, the oracle, the summoner, and the witch. We shall poke at each to see what it has in store for us:

The Alchemist: I find the alchemist to be an interesting class; part drug addict (boy are those mutagens tasty) and part demolitions expert ("See this flask I’ve got in me hands, guv? It goes boom if I toss it just so!"). The class is based almost entirely around alchemy which, for the most part, functions similarly to spell casting. Alchemists pick up the ability to brew potions as a perk at first level, as well as the ability to concoct mutagens (imagine a monstrous transformation in a bottle and you’re about spot on as to what these do). They also begin play with the ability to throw bombs (albeit a small number of times per day, initially). As they gain levels their abilities all improve, and the start learning discoveries which let them do various things with their bombs, mutagens, and potions. A very cool class!

The Cavalier: The cavalier is a mounted warrior that has abilities allowing him to challenge foes (once a day initially) to single combat, and boss his allies around (in a good way, through tactical feats). Each cavalier belongs to an order (of which only six are presented; though each is different enough from the others to be quite interesting in its own right) which grants him additional abilities as he gains levels in addition to the other class abilities gained. If you like mounted warriors, or enjoy granting your allies boons while wading into combat yourself, you’ll enjoy this class; I, on the other hand, really don’t like this class. I like the idea of the class, but I think it would have been better off as a fighter archetype (more on those in a bit) than a full 20-level class. Still, it isn’t a bad class; I just don’t particularly like it (though I do think they could have thrown in a couple more orders to mess around with, six seems like too few).

The Inquisitor: The inquisitor is his god’s weapon in the world; trained to hunt his religions enemies and bring them to justice. This class is interesting; imagine a cleric that traded the ability to cast high level spells for the ability to call down fierce judgment upon his enemies, hunt them down wherever they may hide, fight slyly, yet well enough to employ his allies should they be there, and viciously exploit any weakness that his enemies present and you have an inquisitor. This classes’ primary ability is called judgment; when used (once a day at 1st low levels) you get to pick from a large list of abilities to grant yourself as a boon until the end of combat, cool! In addition, as you gain levels you gain the ability to masterfully identify your opponents, act without a moment’s notice, and hunt down those who have wronged your faith. Anyone who would want to play a more combat-oriented rogue with a religious bent will most likely enjoy this class a good deal. After being cooled a bit by the cavalier, I have to say that I love this class! Take a paladin, a ranger, and a rogue and smash them all together into one class and this is what you get. Totally awesome!

The Oracle: This class is pretty straight forward; take a sorcerer, make it a divine caster (drawing from the cleric spell list), give it a mystery instead of a bloodline, and strike it with a curse and voila, you have an oracle. That’s not to say this is a bad class, mind you, I find it to be a really cool class; the mysteries are all interesting (though the heavens mystery looks to be a bit close to the "too awesome" line) and the curses add a bit of flare to what would otherwise be a divine sorcerer. I like this class and I think fans of the sorcerer who want a more divine bent will like it as well.

The Summoner: An interesting class to be sure; part arcane caster, part conjurer of nameless horrors from beyond space and time. The class is based almost entirely around the eidolon that it is capable of summoning from first level onward; the eidolon itself is more an amalgamation of parts than anything. The summoner is given a number of points to spend towards augmenting his eidolon that can result in an incredible number of aforementioned nameless horrors; very cool! In addition, the summoner gains the ability to summon monsters (as the spell) should his eidolon be slain and he not have the time to revive it. At higher levels the summoner can tap into his eidolon to use some of its abilities for himself, a very cool feature, that, sadly, doesn’t come into play until 10th level. This is an interesting class; looking at it, I don’t see anything blatantly crazy on the power scale, though I can think of a couple ways to get an eidolon that would be VERY nasty in a fight; I don’t think it would be as nasty as a fighter, though (but then the fighter doesn’t have a caster tagging along with him everywhere, does he).

The Witch: The witch is an interesting class; they’re arcane casters with full spell progression at a normal rate (which is to say, they get 9th level spells at 17th level), but as they gain levels (and at 1st level) they gain a number of abilities called hexes (with a major hex at 10th level and a grand hex at 18th) which allow them to do a multitude of cool things (the cackle hex is a really cool example of this, flavor-wise; you basically laugh madly and it makes your other hexes last longer, awesome!). This class looks straightforward at a glance, but if you take the time to dig in, it’s very deep and I think I would enjoy playing it more than a wizard any day!

The Archetypes: Presented in addition to the new base classes, are a multitude of alternate class features that the Paizo developers are calling archetypes. While I won’t go in depth into them (there are a LOT of them), they are an excellent idea that I hope to see more of in the future. Some of them are fairly minor in what they do, while others can change the way a class functions entirely. Also, presented is the antipaladin, which, as you likely guessed, is the opposite of a paladin (that being chaotic evil and not a very nice fellow); the class itself is well put together and I wouldn’t want to fight one as a player, but I don’t find it particularly neccesary. It’s nice to have a 20-level class that fills the "Unholy Warrior" slot without having to go outside of the Paizo material, however.

Chapter 3: Feats
Overall: I like feats, a lot. There are a lot of feats presented here. Ergo, I am most happy. Nothing presented here seems like it would be useless in a game (there’s no Alertness here!), and I could see myself taking almost every feat presented were the character to call for it. There are no feats that immediately set of my "uh oh, overpowered" alarm, though, the Selective Spell feat would do so if Paizo hadn’t clarified that it was intended to only affect spells with an instantaneous effect (so it works on a fireball, but not on a cloudkill, for example), and I totally dig the idea of a Bouncing Spell pinging off of an enemy that resisted it and slamming into one of his buddies! Also, the Razortusk feat (gives half-orcs a bite attack) is awesome. Just had to get that out there.

Chapter 4: Equipment
Overall: Most of the new equipment is pretty tame; I’m glad that we’ve finally got a reach weapon that deals bludgeoning damage (the lucerne hammer), though I’m surprised it took this long to get one out there. Overall, I enjoyed this chapter, short though it was (only 11 pages).

Bit By Bit: Oooooh boy do I love me some equipment; I’m always looking for cool new things to carry around on my characters or to beat my enemies to death with. We’re presented with all kinds of goodies here!

Weapons: The weapons portion of the chapter adds twenty-six new objects to end lives with to the game. Of particular note are the bec de corbin and lucerne hammer which are awesome (both reach weapons that deal bludgeoning damage, yes!) and the double crossbow which sets the record as the worst weapon I’ll never spend a feat on (an exotic weapon no less; that forces a -4 penalty to hit onto you if you’re proficient with it, a -8 penalty if you’re not; ouch!).

Armor: Nothing particularly interesting here; the quickdraw shields are a cool idea (shields made so that you can equip or stow them as a swift action made as part of movement) but the armor is fairly so-so.

Goods and Services: Lots of new stuff here, most of which I’ll probably carry around on one character or another (I’m determined to have a character who carries a butterfly net, now!), and the new alchemical substances are all likely to get used a time or two as well (except the weapon blanches, those won’t, they’re too expensive for only lasting for one successful attack; if they lasted an encounter I’d use ‘em, though!).

Chapter 5: Spells
Overall: Oh boy did Paizo go wild with the new spells (almost 70 pages worth of them!). While I’m not going to go indepth with all of them, there were a few that instantly drew a grin from my inner evil DM. Based on the back cover of the book, the first one I looked for was what I found to be named snake staff; this spell functions similarly to the sticks to snakes spell in 2nd Edition D&D (which is to say, it’s not something you want cast in your general vicinity unless you’re the one casting it!). Other cool spells included (in alphabetical order): aqueous orb (think flaming sphere, but instead of fire it’s nonlethal damage and can engulf enemies), burning gaze (you look at things and they catch fire), cacophonous call (nauseates your enemies; I like this mostly for the hilarious illustration provided), feaster (healing spells cast on the target creature have to bypass SR), king’s castle (switch places with an ally; I like it ’cause it’s a chess reference, too), and xyz pit (a line of spells, actually, they range from simple spells like create pit, to acid pit; very mean! I love them!) just to name a few.

Chapter 6: Prestige Classes
Overall: None of the material presented here here really popped to me, though I like the battle herald and the rage prophetThe stalwart defender, while an improvement over the dwarven defender, is still pretty plain; they need something to either force enemies to attack them or the ability to keep enemies from attacking their allies.

Bit By Bit: In total we’re presented with eight new prestige classes, the battle herald, holy vindicator, horizon walker, master chymist, master spy, nature warden, rage prophet, and stalwart defender. Of these, the horizon walker and stalwart defender (a dwarven defender with the serial numbers filed off) are rewrites of prestige classes available in 3.5 that weren’t initially available in Pathfinder RPG. We’re going to go over each, so here we go!

The Battle Herald: The battle herald is a bard/cavalier hybrid that focuses more on direct combat and empowering his allies through inspiration than on spells. The main point of the class is the inspiring command ability which grants up to five abilities from a long list; also presented is a bonus for those who invest in leadership and a small boost to diplomacy and intimidate checks. As additional levels are gained the battle herald gains additional bardic and cavalier abilities that make it a solid choice for those who wish to have a bard with more melee presence or a cavalier with a slight bent towards empowering his allies even more.

The Holy Vindicator: The holy vindicator is an interesting class; paladins are likely to enter it earlier than clerics, but clerics will probably get more out of it. This prestige class starts off a bit slow, only granting channel energy (which you require to take levels in it; so it’s purely for stacking purposes) and vindicator’s shield (spend a channel energy attempt to grant you an improved shield bonus to AC until you are struck in battle) as 1st-level abilities. Over the 10 levels of the class you pick up 7 levels of spellcasting (so clerics won’t miss out on their 9th level spells), and a number of abilities that improve the channel energy and healing abilities of characters that take levels in the class. Also gained (early on; at 2nd level) is an ability called stigmata which allows the holy vindicator to suffer bleed damage to grant himself profane or sacred (depending upon the type of energy the vindicator channels) bonuses to various things. Overall this is a solid class that I could definitely see myself taking levels of were I a cleric.

The Horizon Walker: A rewrite of the 3.5 class of the same name; this class begins with the favored terrain ability which functions identically to the ranger ability of the same name. As the class gains levels it gains additional favored terrains, mastery over a number of terrains as well (each of which grants a different bonus; some of which are quite nice), dominance over yet more terrains (which, again, each grant bonuses; the majority of which are also nice), and finally at 10th-level, the class mastery over all lands, which is a fairly minor capstone ability, but still nice to have. I think this class is a solid choice for rangers who don’t mind losing caster levels and instead want to focus on mastery over whatever terrain they happen to reside in most of the time.

The Master Chymist: The alchemist prestige class. This class is interesting, really; it basically lets you trade your alchemist abilities for the greater combat prowess (picking up ten levels of full base attack bonus and d10 hit die) and the ability to go Mister Hyde several times a day. At first level you gain an ability that lets you add your master chymist level to your alchemist level to determine the damage dealt by your bombs. Additionally you gain the mutagenic form ability which drastically alters your personality (to the point of essentially being a different character (with a different alignment and everything) when mutated). You also gain the ability to mutate twice a day, which essentially allows you to employ your mutagen alchemist ability without needing to imbibe the mutagen. As levels are attained, you gain advanced mutagens which allow you to alter the effects of your mutagen in various ways; also gained is the brutality ability which gives you damage bonuses when wielding simple or natural weapons. I’ll be honest; I really like this class; if you’ve ever wanted to play a character ala Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde, this is your class.

The Master Spy: The master spy has rogue written all over it; their abilities all increase their survivability in situations where they must infiltrate a group of enemies. Initially the master spy is graced with a bonus to his bluff, disguise, and sense motive skills (+1 at 1st-level but it scales at a rate of +1 per class level, so it gets pretty good), the ability to disguise himself quickly and efficiently, and a bonus to sneak attack damage. As the levels pile on, the master spy eventually learns to hide various aspects of himself from prying eyes (magical or not) and becomes quite good at evading even magical scrying. Overall I think this class is pretty decent; it has a fairly narrow focus but, that’s basically what prestige classes were designed to be, so I’m fine with it; I could see a character taking levels in both this and assassin and making either an undetectable killing machine (rogue 5/assassin 10/master spy 5) or a suave killer that will make you trust him right up to the point where he puts a dagger into your heart (rogue 5/assassin 5/master spy 10). Very nice!

The Nature Warden: Another interesting class that also happens to be ranger-focused (I could also see a druid taking levels in this if he had access to the favored terrain ability (through either ranger levels or a level in horizon walker). The nature warden is a class more focused on communing with nature than warring for it; a ranger taking levels in this would be sacrificing base attack bonus and hit points, but would be picking up a more powerful animal companion and various abilities that allow him to commune with nature. Initially the nature warden gains an ability that allows him to stack nature warden levels with class levels that grant animal companions (a nice thing, to be sure), and natural empathy which allows the nature warden to stack his levels for determining the effects of wild empathy. As the levels build, the nature warden gains various abilities that empower his animal companion, the ability to better fight in favored terrain (which is another class ability they get as they level), the ability to speak with animals at will, and a number of other useful abilities. A druid would be better served by this class than a ranger, I think; it’s just a shame that it requires favored terrain as a prerequisite which puts some hurt on druids who want to get in on the bonuses granted without having to multiclass before the fact. Overall the class is "okay," I could see myself taking levels in it if I were playing a specific type of ranger, but otherwise I’d probably take horizon walker levels before I took levels in this.

The Rage Prophet: I’m going to begin by saying that I really like this class. This is basically for anyone who wants to play an oracle that, not only casts spells, but kicks copious amounts of butt whilst doing so. The class itself is odd in that it has a d10 hit die but average base attack bonus (I thought Paizo said this was a no-no outside of the barbarian; shame Paizo, shame!), though it does gain seven levels of spellcasting over 10 levels which is nice (though an oracle, with their delayed spellcasting progression, will not gain ninth level spells if they take more than 7 levels in this class, ouch!) and the abilities gained as they level are all quite good as well. Initially, rage prophets begin with an ability that lets rage prophet levels stack with barbarian levels for determining the length of rage (odd that the class doesn’t require barbarian rage as a class feature to take levels), and another ability that grants them a spirit guide. As the rage prophet gains levels he gains additional abilities that let him do things while raging that he normally wouldn’t be able to do (such as casting cure and eventually any spell with the personal range on himself while raging). Overall I view this class as fairly plain; I think it should require barbarian rage to take levels in, as most of its abilities focus on rage. I don’t see myself ever taking levels in this class, personally.

The Stalwart Defender: Take the dwarven defender from 3.5, now remove the dwarven, and give it more class abilities, and bam, you’ve got the stalwart defender. Upon reading, I noticed that this is another class with odd hitdie to baseattack bonus ratio (d12 hit die with full base attack bonus; again, I thought this was supposed to be the province of only the barbarian, Paizo?). The class itself is fairly solid if you can wedge yourself in somewhere in such a way that enemies have to get past you to get to your allies; in other situtations, however, enemies can just walk around you (this was my problem with the original class, as well). This class is focused around its defensive stance which allows the defender to basically hunker down and turn into a wall with pointy things coming off of it. As the defender gains levels he gains defensive powers (he gains 5 of them over 10 levels and he picks them from a fair-sized list) that improve his defensive stance in one way or another (intercept is a good one; it lets the defender take a hit in place of one of his allies). Sadly, the defender doesn’t get the ability to move in his stance until 9th level, and even then it’s only 5-foot steps (I’d have made this a defensive power that can be taken multiple times to allow more movement, personally). Overall, this class suffers from the same problems as the dwarven defender, but if you can get in the proper location (dungeons, for example), I can see this class shining.

Chapter 7: Magic Items
Overall: The magic items portions of books are often my favorite as a DM and the Magic Item Compendium is a book that gets heavy use in most home games I DM. Luckily, I was not disappointed here; I was a bit cooled by early portions of the chapter, but the farther I read the more I enjoyed myself.

Bit By Bit: This chapter is filled to the brim with new goodies for both PCs and DMs wishing to spice up their games a bit. Much of the content is new, and there is very little rehashed material presented (though there is some, it is minor enough that I don’t find it worth complaining overmuch about). Anyways, lets dig in!

Armor: The first section presented is that of magical armor. The armor and shield abilities presented disappointed me; four of the six presented abilities are essentially the same ability switched out for different alignments (think the anarchic/axiomatic weapon enhancements and you’re on the right track), while of the other two, only mounted characters will get much use from it (jousting armor), finally, the determination enhancement is quite good actually; it basically waits until a character is reduced to 0 or fewer hit points and then casts breath of life on him. To top it all off, the enhancement is a flat price cost, too, which is nice at higher levels! The specific types of armor offered are all quite neat (such as the boneless leather; which basically lets your character wildly contort himself and grants some DR as well) and I found them much more appreciable than the enhancements.

Weapons: Moving onto weapons we’re granted a look at 12 new enhancements (six for melee weapons, six for ranged weapons) all of which are fairly interesting (barring the compulsory acid damage enhancements (which really should do a d4 damage as opposed to a d6; at a d6 they’re pretty much superior to the other energy damage enhancements, very few things have acid resistance compared to other energy resistances)) and the specific weapons presented are all quite interesting as well (I’m in love with the ricochet hammer). Overall I was pleased with this portion of the chapter.

Rings: Overall I found the rings pretty mediocre; some were quite cool, though (I liked the ring of maniacal devices, the ring of retribution, and I could most definitely see myself using a ring of delayed doom). I didn’t find any of them uninteresting, per se, I just probably wouldn’t use the majority of them if I came across them and had something more standard ( I wouldn’t use a ring of arcane signets over a ring of protection +1, for example).

Rods: These were disappointing. All of the rods presented are simply metamagic rods of the new metamagic feats added in chapter 3. I was hoping for some new rods that actually did things besides snap metamagic feats onto spells for free.

Staves: The new staves presented were fairly plain as well. Nothing special, just spell batteries.

Wondrous Items: After being disappointed by the rods and staves this portion of the chapter made incredibly happy. There are a lot of really cool items presented here (including the apple of eternal sleep (that’s totally not a reference or anything *shifty eyes*)). A lot of the items presented here I could actually see myself using as a player if I found them in a treasure horde as opposed to just selling them off for additional coin to spend on whatever plain item is next up on the "must buy to survive" chart. There are a few items that drew chuckles out of me as well, among them are the annihilating spectacles (totally awesome, by the way) and the soal soap.

Cursed Items: The evil DM in my laughs insanely at this portion of the chapter whilst my inner player cries himself to sleep in a corner; I love me some cursed items and I’m not going to go too deep into them as I don’t want to spoil anything for players. Suffice to say: players, watch out!

Minor Artifacts: Some interesting items are presented here. The only one that really stuck out to me was the knucklebone of fickle fortune, which is basically a deck of many things in die form. Oh the evil!

Major Artifacts: Awesome; simply awesome. I absolutely love the artifacts presented; they’re all incredibly cool in their own rights and I doubly appreciative that Paizo is so kind as to provide methods of destruction for them (no matter how crazy that they may be). Of all of them, my favorite is probably the Cloud Castle of the Storm Kind.

Chapter 8: New Rules
Overall: I like this chapter; it’s like a miniature Unearthed Arcana full of rules that are both cool and useful!

Bit By Bit: There are a number of sections presented in this chapter so we’ll tackle each one of them separately.

Combat Maneuvers: Presented are four new combat maneuvers, dirty drick, drag, reposition, and steal. Dirty trick is basically a group of maneuvers rolled into one, throw dirt into an enemy’s eyes, kick a poor fellow in the nethers; if you can see a rogue doing it to some poor sap in an alley, it’s covered here. Drag is self explanatory, you grab somebody and pull them along with you (seen this one used in game where a trapdoor spider pulled a PC into its hole; very nice, and totally unexpected!). Reposition lets you move an enemy around without provoking attacks of opportunity; this could be useful to keep certain enemies away from some characters (and I could see it being put to good use by a stalwart defender). Steal is, likewise, self explanatory, you take something off of an enemy; as a player, this is cool, but I could see it getting abused (snatching spell component pouches off of casters, for example); still like it, though.

Hero Points: If you played much 3.5 you’ve probably heard of action points. Well, hero points are action points cranked up to 11. They let you do all kinds of cool stuff, but you’re fairly limited in the number you have (1 per level with a max of three), though a benevolent DM is encouraged to award them for PCs doing awesome things. Also presented is a rule for antiheroes, which, instead of hero points gain a bonus feat at 1st level. Personally, I think antiheroes get screwed a bit; hero points are worth much more than a single feat. I could see it being a feat at 1st level, 1 at 5th, and an additional feat every 5 levels thereafter. You are also given rules for spells, a few feats, and a number of items that deal with action points; the feats are okay, I don’t much care for the spells, and the items are all so-so in their usefulness (meaning, I’d take them if given to me, but I’d never buy them.

Traits: I’m really not sure where I stand on traits. I like the concept, but I don’t like feeling like I have to pay off players to roleplay their characters. As a player I don’t feel I should get a bonus for being an anatomist (if I were an anatomist I’d probably have a rank or three in heal and that’s all I need), but I won’t complain for being given one. Overall I can take or leave traits; they’re okay.

In Closing
I liked this book. A lot. I would recommend it to my friends, and really, anyone who plays or even has a passing interest in Pathfinder RPG. I’d also recommend it to anyone looking for some material with which to spice up their 3.5 game and doesn’t mind having to do a bit of conversion work.