Faces of the Tarnished Souk: Balduros Thundrsen, the Roaring Hammer (PFRPG) by Matt Banach and Justin Sluder is a role playing game supplement published by Rite Publishing for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. As such, it is covered by the Open Game License and some parts are considered to be Open Game Content as a result. This is a single NPC at three different CRs.
The supplement is available as a 14-page PDF from DriveThruRPG for $2.95 but was purchased at a reduced price as part of a special bundle. One page is the front cover, one the front matter, one the Open Game License and two pages are ads.
Balduros Thundrsen, the Roaring Hammer begins as usual with some background on this dwarf, an adventurer who retired to the Coliseum Morpheoun. They are the local equivalent of a rock star, a bard with an outgoing persona but prone to extreme mood swings due to self-inflicted tragedy in his past. This also covers Dreamburning, lore and how to use the dwarf in game.
The three different versions follow, arranged in the book from high to low CR.
The CR 6 version is a dwarf bard (thunder dancer) 6.
The CR 12 version is a charming dwarf bard (thunder dancer) 11.
The CR 18 version is an advanced charming dwarf bard (thunder dancer) 16.
An alternate dwarven racial trait is a resistance to magic.
A new archetype is a bar archetype, thunder dancer, creating magical effects via dance and percussion.
Feats has five new feats, one for making a hammer return, the others related to combat and dance.
Traits has two new traits.
There are six new bardic masterpieces, related to dance and percussion.
There is a new standard item and some new magic item; boots useful for kicking people, a barrel for making beer and powder for sobering up afterwards.
Finally, there are the advanced creature and charming creature templates.
Faces of the Tarnished Souk: Balduros Thundrsen, the Roaring Hammer (PFRPG) in Review
The PDF is bookmarked with major sections linked. Navigation is decent. The text maintains a two-column format and appeared to be free of errors. As well as the custom cover illustration, there are some stock black and white images. Presentation is fine.
This dwarf, is in his own way, quite a tragic figure who masks his true feelings under an outgoing persona, but his mood swings mean this isn’t a perfect mask and he can swing from friendly to unfriendly quickly and dangerously. A fun performance could easily turn into a brawl. There’s a concentration of abilities to go with the new archetype, but compared to many of the NPCs in this line, Balduros is quite a simple build, lacking the depth and complexity often seen. Which may be a good thing, depending on your personal opinion. Faces of the Tarnished Souk: Balduros Thundrsen, the Roaring Hammer (PFRPG) can be found by clicking here.
Leave a Reply