A Review of the Role Playing Game Supplement Faces of the Tarnished Souk: Primus Gearheart, the Clockwork King (PFRPG)

Faces of the Tarnished Souk: Primus Gearheart, the Clockwork King (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 12-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 are ads.

Primus Gearheart, the Clockwork King starts by explaining that the craftsman has been in the Tarnished Souk of the Coliseum Morpheuon setting for centuries. They are most interested in constructs and attempt to know all such. How Dreamburning affects Primus is next. There are details on interacting with Primus, and his lesser replicas, and a sidebar on how to use him.

Three different versions of Primus follow. The first is the CR 21 version, an ironborn battle sorcerer 22, a complex being with nearly two pages of stats, details on his replicas and another page of magic items. The Ironborn and Constructed Bloodline is from Ironborn of Questhaven.

Next is the CR 14 version, an ironborn battle sorcerer 15, another formidable foe, though a lesser one.

Finally, there is the CR 7 ironborn battle sorcerer 8, much weaker than the other two.

Clockwork Creature is a new template.

Primus Gearheart, the Clockwork King (PFRPG) in Review

The PDF is reasonably bookmarked, with major sections linked. Navigation is decent, given the length. The text maintains a two-column black and white format and appeared to be free of errors. There are a handful of black and white illustrations; the one from the cover is probably custom. Presentation is okay.

Primus is presented as an NPC to interact with, yet most of the supplement seems to be taken up by how they will fare in combat. Admittedly, a dangerous foe, but that doesn’t appear to be their use, so concentrating on this aspect does seem a bit odd. Perhaps it’s difficult creating Pathfinder NPCs without covering their combat options. There are multiple references to a rival called the Jack of Diamonds. This rival isn’t detailed anywhere in the supplement and it isn’t clear if it’s detailed anywhere at all, nor is the entity called the Black Glass Spade. This seems like tantalising hooks that haven’t been properly developed. Primus Gearheart, the Clockwork King (PFRPG) is a formidable foe but does give the impression of being misused, and can be found by clicking here.