[Let's Read] Secrets of the Masquerade Reveler

[Libertad]

http://i.imgur.com/3ngQX6d.jpg

Cover Artwork by Sai Kayden

Drive-Thru RPG link. (http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/129221/The-Secrets-of-the-Masquerade-Reveler-PFRPG)

An Introduction to Archetypes

One of 3rd Edition's main strengths was the loosening of enforced party roles in favor of more customization. Multi-classing was easier to do, and the advent of prestige classes replicated more specialized roles as well as unique orders for characters to join. The ideal was that it would be easier than ever to use the building blocks provided to make the character you want. In practice this often amounted to a complicated process which required more than a bit of system mastery to execute competently, not to mention the glut of substandard options which sounded fine on paper but didn't work once the game session began.

The advent of the Advanced Player's Guide for Pathfinder introduced the concept of archetypes, which are variants on existing base classes with alternate class features to trade out some of the standard abilities. As archetypes could be taken from first level and you can only have no more than one archetype per class at a time, this was intended as a better alternative to adding yet more full classes and prestige classes. A concept which could more easily be inserted into existing options, such as a planeswalker in tune with elemental nature, could easily be a druid or ranger archetype.


Masquerade Reveler Proper

Naturally, archetypes were a popular option among third party publishers. Secrets of the Masquerade Reveler is one such book dedicated to an interesting and rather versatile Barbarian archetype. The gist of the class is that a masquerade reveler (or reveler for short) is a being who came into contact with the land of Faerie and its people, as described from an in-character perspective from a practitioner of the esoteric art. They embrace the fluidity of change within the self, capable of manifesting as physical and supernatural alterations by entering into a trance-like state known as the Masquerade.

As most folk cannot abide the strangeness of the fey realms without losing their mind in the process, masquerade revelers are fundamentally altered by their experiences and tend to have a hard time adapting to more sedentary mindsets or returning to their old lives. Like standard barbarians they cannot be Lawful without losing access to the Masquerade. Revelers as a whole are a diverse bunch beyond the masks they wear, from background to motivation; for example, some revelers are loyal to Fey lords, others owe allegiance to nobody but themselves, and some venerate the gods as a way to keep in touch with their mortal nature.


The Archetype

The masquerade reveler is a barbarian archetype, although it has a tool set suitable to more than just melee roles as it really can be different mechanics-wise depending on its masks. The masquerade reveler gains Perform as a class skill and access to Masquerade instead of the typical Barbarian Rage. Masquerade functions as Rage, except instead of gaining the typical Str/Con/Will bonuses, the reveler can choose one of their Masks and apply its evolutions to herself. They still suffer a -2 to AC, but can still make normal use of Intelligence, Dexterity, and Charisma-based skills.

As for Masks, at first level and every level in the archetype thereafter the masquerade reveler gains access to a possible identity representing the many, many entities of Faerie. An individual mask has 4 points worth of Eidolon Evolutions (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/summoner/eidolons) which are accessed while the reveler is in a Masquerade state. Only one mask may be worn at a time normally, although there are feats which can grant limited access to multiple masks at a cost. Also, barbarian level counts as summoner level for the purposes of prerequisites. And yes, masquerade revelers still gain and can use Rage Powers.

There are a lot of potential Eidolon Evolutions to choose from, but the masquerade reveler is limited in the sense that they can only take evolutions which can are available to bipeds (there's a way around this with a feat in this book), and are limited in the amount of natural attacks they can take as though they had summoner levels equal to barbarian levels. The only evolutions which are outright banned are channel resistance, large, undead appearance, and unnatural aura. Finally, since these abilities can only be accessed while using Masquerade or Becoming the Mask abilities, they do not count as being possessed for the purposes of prerequisites.

At 7th level, masquerade revelers gain Become the Mask, which allows the reveler to keep some of the powers they possessed even when not wearing a mask. The can select a very small selection of evolution points (1 or 2 at 10th level) from the last mask she wore with Masquerade. This evolution is kept until she enters the Masquerade again. This class feature replaces trap sense and damage reduction, a fair trade-off IMO.

At 11th level, Elaborate Masks make the reveler's identities stronger, raising the evolution pool total for each mask from 4 to 6, and can trade in an old mask for a new one. This replaces Greater Rage.

The 20th level capstone ability Avatar of a Thousand Masks represents ultimate connection and power that the world of Faerie can bring. The evolution point total of all masks increases from 6 to 8, and can trade in any of her current masks for a new one 1/day as a standard action, meaning that level is no longer a limiting factor for them. Her type changes to fey and she gains Damage Reduction 10/cold iron at all times.

Although the initial 4 Evolution points cannot perfectly replicate the standard Rage (which would cost 8 evolution points just for the Str/Con bonus), the alternate class features provided are very strong choices, even with the limitations. Multi-attack, spell-like abilities, huge skill bonuses, charge on a full attack (once they take the Beast Reveler feat to gain non-biped abilities), flight, concealment, and that's not including the new Evolutions in this book specific to masquerade revelers! The main limitation is that the Masquerade is still a rounds-per-day power source like a Barbarian's Rage, meaning that some more long-term abilities might be of limited use, but once again there's a feat (Task Reveler) which can get around this for skill checks and wild empathy.

Thoughts so far: The masquerade reveler is a very strong and versatile barbarian archetype who makes up for the lack of standard Rage bonuses. The flavor is pretty cool and can make for some interesting PC and NPC concepts, tying the archetype more deeply into a setting beyond standard class feature replacements.

Although masquerade revelers are free to choose their own evolution points per mask, the book has a good assortment of sample Masks tailored to fey, animal, monster, class, and ideal-based concepts for those folks suffering from option paralysis.

In the next post, we'll cover the sample Masks and possibly the new Evolutions.

[Libertad]

Masks

All Mask artwork is by James "Devin Night" Hazelett


So the sample masks are grouped into a series of related categories: Fey (nature-focused fairy types), Gremlin (tricker-focused and macabre creatures), Beast (accessible only via Beast Reveler feat, grants access to non-biped evolutions), Theme (a set of related abilities such as All-Seeing, Endurance, Flames, etc), Forbidden (creepy undead stuff without actually being undead), Mythic (legendary abilities), and Tane (representing the most powerful of fey lords). Each category has its own in-character text demonstrating a masquerade reveler putting to use one of its Masks in action, and they all have pre-set Evolution points for 4, 6, and 8 point values.

These aren't just for thematic purposes. Certain feats and evolutions can only work for specific categories, and some evolutions are specific to a specific Mask or set of Masks. An example would be the Entangling Chains gained from the Thrasfyr Tane Mask. Additionally, many Masks have level-based prerequisites due to their use of Evolutions being accessible only at higher levels.

Fey Masks: There are 16 of these, covering a wide variety of fey. A few can turn you Tiny size, and nearly half grant access to spell-like abilities in the form of the Fey Magic evolution. Overall they're not very high-level to take (ranging from levels 1 through 7), and tend to be closely tied to a role. The Bogeyman grants skill bonuses to Stealth and Intimidate, detect thoughts, with Deepest Fear and Sneak Attack as later powers. Fossegrim is all about swim speed and water breathing with Enchanting Music and Transparency as later powers. The Erlking starts out with some energy resistances, but at 6 points they can deal bleed damage and at 8 points get that as well as persistent Blur and Haste. Gathlain starts out as a good mobile battlefield controller, starting out great with flight and entangle and gaining low-light vision and natural armor as later powers.

http://i.imgur.com/5r7GlYr.png?1

Gremlin Masks: By far the most populous category with 41 masks, it covers the more evil fey such as Redcaps, but oddly it includes entries such as the Nymph and Pixie which I thought would be better featured under Fey. Anyway, a lot of these masks are low-level, with the top few around levels 7 to 9 minimum to take. The Jinkin Mask is a tailor-made saboteur, with Skilled in Disable Device, tiny size, darkvision and prestidigitation with Skilled in Craft (Traps) and Dimension Door as later powers. The Grimstalker's a good melee debuffer, with claw natural weapons, poison, and Skilled in Stealth with sneak attack and tree shape as later powers. The Nymph is primarily defensive, with a Charisma boost and Wild Empathy with further Charisma and Unearthly Grace (Charisma to AC and saving throws) as later abilities. Pixies get flight and personal invisibility right off the bat, and spell resistance of increasing the more evolution points they get.

The Quickling is cool in that in addition to increased movement speed, it's Supernatural Speed ability makes you so fast that you're invisible while standing still and gain concealment while moving. Red Caps gain a boot stomp natural attack, and if they dip their hat in the blood of an opponent they gain fast healing and a bonus on damage rolls, along with bonus movement speed and higher blood-bonus modifiers as they gain in power. Satyr gets charm person, a gore natural attack, and boosts to Perception/Perform/Stealth with natural armor and dancing lights down the road. Adopting the guise of Spring-Heeled Jack nets you some cool abilities right off the bat: feather fall, sneak attack, and Vault which allows you to jump 20 feet vertically with no skill check required, with Dexterity and Acrobatics bonuses as additions. The Tooth Fairy starts you off as Tiny, and its Tricky Thief ability allows you to pinch fingers or remove teeth with pliers, dealing 1 Dexterity or Charisma/bleed damage depending on what's targeted; flight, bite, and darkvision as later additions don't really feel all that much, considering that you shouldn't be meleeing as tiny in the first place and there are better scout-based Masks out there.

http://i.imgur.com/ScjNjzw.png?1

Beast Masks: Normally these can't be taken until a Masquerade Reveler has 9 Masks and takes the Beast Reveler feat, opening up this category for them to learn. The selection is small, only 5, but it's great for what it offers. The Dweomercat grants you Pounce, Rake, and Skilled in Climb right off the bat, with spell resistance and spell link (an evolution I couldn't find in either this book or the SRD) as added abilities. Grodair grants swim speed, 2 tentacles, and a water blast evolution (ranged touch and combat maneuver to damage and push back targets), with Muddy Field (surrounding terrain is shallow bog and hard to move through) and darkvision as additions. Skrik Nettle grants you 3 beak natural weapons along with perfect flight and a levitation poison (pretty much what it says on the tin), with the ability to make said poison inflict melee attackers and gain additional range with one's beaks. Tunche is about Climb and Swim speed, Rend, and Enormous (become large) and Claws as additions. Finally, Zomak grants you flight, some plant traits, Enormous size increase, and wing buffet natural weapons.

Personally the strongest beasts are Dweomercat for the charge and full attack, and Skrik Nettle is good with its many natural weapons and the opportunity to add falling damage to opponents and render non-flying melee creatures useless.

http://i.imgur.com/5j2blkN.png?1

Theme Masks: These masks don't represent specific monsters so much as related roles and talents. Lots of them are mid-level (6 to 9), with the exception of a few skill-based masks which can be taken from level 1. Naturally we have the six ability score bonuses with Masks of Might/Eternal Endurance/Alluring Beauty/Dazzling Intellect/Timeless Wisdom/Uncanny Agility. Mask of Wizardry grants you Basic/Minor/Major Magic for access to a few low-level spells. Mask of Fjord/Taiga/Tapestry/Tarn's Breath grant Cold/Electricity/Acid/Fire damage breath weapon. The skill-based Masks include the Mediator's, Sage's, and Scoundrel's Masks, which can be taken from Level 1 and grant Skilled in Knowledges, social, and rogue-like skills respectively.

The Berserker's Mask can be taken from level 1 and grants bonuses to Strength and Constitution (albeit lesser than the ability Masks) if you must have a rage-like ability. The Penumbral Mask is pretty cool because it grants you the ability to gain concealment and affect incorporeal creatures while in areas of darkness, and can be taken from level 1. The Mask of Stone grants tremorsense and burrowing, while the All-Seeing Mask can grant blindsense, darkvision and other sensory features.

The Theme Masks are quite versatile and you can't go wrong taking most of them. You pretty much need to take the Task Reveler feat to competently use the skill masks, but you'll probably have it already if you take said masks.

Forbidden Masks: There are only two of these, the Banshee and Dullahan, taken at 11th and 5th level respectively. The in-character description texts shows a reveler making a pact with inscrutable powers from beyond, chanting blasphemous phrases in Aklo (Pathfinder's Lovecraftian Horror language). As both Masks have abilities with the [Undead] descriptor, you need to take the Fell Reveler feat to gain access to them.

The Banshee grants Flight and Lifesense initially, and Incorporeal at 8 evolution points. Dullahan grants cold-based energy weapons, along with unique abilities Death's Calling (mark a major debuff on the target to auto-confirm crits among other things) and Dullahan's Mount (summon a fiendish heavy warhorse which remains with you until dismissed or you're killed).

Personally I'd like to have seen more examples of Forbidden Masks, and only Dullahan gets actual unique abilities. Both are nifty, and the banshee can be good for spotting out hidden targets and short-term scouting.

Mythic Masks: Pathfinder released a supplement called Mythic Adventures, which was to be their answer to 3rd Edition's Epic Levels. Instead of artificially extending the game beyond 20 levels, characters can gain Mythic Ranks independent of level via great deeds of accomplishment. It's meant to simulate features such as children of the gods and landscape-shattering stuff. Personally I don't have much experience with Mythic, so I can't judge these masks much in relation to that system, but I can examine their effects.

So there are only 2 Mythic Masks, Chaneque and Leanan Sidhe, taken at levels 9 and 3 but must have at least 1 Mythic Rank.

Chaneque grants Steal Soul, which is a Save or Suck ranged attack where you throw a ritually-prepared skull at the target to steal its soul. The body can then be controlled as per Dominate Person. The duration is indefinite, but only one soul can be stolen at a time. Flight and Mythic Fey Magic (Fear) are gained as additional abilities.

Leanan Sidhe grants Deadly Blessing, which is a buff spell which is meant to encourage inspiration by literally making the beneficiary slowly work themselves to death. By taking the reveler's token, they can gain bonuses to skill checks or recall already-spent spell slots in exchange for Constitution drain (drain healed causes the regained spell slots to be lost, preventing infinite loop tricks). The reveler gains temporary hit points when their beneficiary suffers this way. The later abilities are Charisma increase and Unearthly Grace.

I really like Leanan Sidhe as a sort of "power in exchange for a deadly price." There are many caster PCs who will love you if your masquerade reveler PC takes this.

http://i.imgur.com/bVhBWI6.png?1

Tane Masks: These are the most powerful and legendary of fey, including dreadful monsters such as the Jabberwock and Jubjub Bird. The Tane Reveler feat is require to take these Masks, and due to the feat's heavy prerequisites they do not have associated levels. The full rules are in the feat itself, but the Tane Masks grant a lot of abilities in exchange for costing 3 rounds worth of Masquerade for every round spent in the form. The abilities are separated into Lesser and Greater Categories, with the Greater only gained with the 20th level capstone ability. The Tane Masks all count as Beast Masks as well.

The five masks include the Bandersnatch, which can charge through difficult terrain, is huge, has four rake attacks, is always treated as being on its home plane, along with pounce, climb, quill natural weapons which can be used as ranged attacks, and can lodge quills in melee opponents, sickening them.

The Jabberwock is huge, can fly, shoots fiery laser eye rays as a ranged touch attack, adds 6d6 fire damage to melee and attacks and when people melee it, only vorpal weapons can bypass its damage reduction, generates severe winds with every full attack action, and gains some natural weapons. A very nice, very intimidating Mask.

The Jubjub Bird is basically a big-ass bird which can fly, swallow people whole, its critical hit bite attacks are decapitation save or die, can shriek and potentially stun people within 60 feet, and has Fast Healing.

The Sard is a fast, thorny creature which has plant traits, fast healing, climb speed, poison and natural weapons deal electricity damage, is huge, vulnerable to sonic damage, can generate a lightning bolt at will, and is treated on its home plane.

The Thrasfyr has continuous air walk, can create an AoE damaging entangling chains effect within 30 feet, is huge, has a gore attack, immune to fire and sonic, is treated as on its home plane, and can gain additional natural weapons along with a fiery breath weapon, but is vulnerable to cold damage.

As you can see, all of the Tane Masks are focused around wreaking havoc on the battlefield. In comparison to the other Mask categories they have a lot of great abilities, and masquerade revelers are encouraged to reserve it for climactic battles or going nova due to the rounds it eats up. All of them also have ranged attacks save for the Jubjub bird, which can fly and its AoE Shriek stuns instead.



Sidebars

This section covers two flavor uses. The first talks about how fey generally regard masquerade revelers. The fey tend to treat them as mortals, although they have more respect for them and more than a few lords of Faerie seek to use them as pawns and minions. True respect is usually reserved for revelers who have a powerful patron, and some feel a sense of mutual understanding due to the mortals' mercurial nature.

The other sidebar talks about how to use the masquerade reveler reflavored without the fey, or in settings where these monsters have a minimal presence. The three samples include revelers as alienists who came too close into contact with terrible worlds and gain a sort of insane insight when they "masquerade." The second portrays the reveler as a person who taps into the collective unconscious fears of mortals, taking on the shapes of nightmare creatures. The third casts them into the role of shapeshifters, tricksters who use the power of other forms to better adept to any situation.


Thoughts so far: I'm happy to see that there are many options for the Masquerade Reveler in both combat and utility potential. The reveler isn't going to have a big bag of spells, but things such as flight and alternate movement speeds, special attacks, massive skill boosts, sensory abilities, spell-like abilities, natural attacks, and even pounce means that a party's reveler can more than adequately serve as a scout or party face in addition to melee fighter. Add the possibility of rage power combinations and this archetype is not at want for doing things.

Next post, we'll cover the new Evolutions for the Masquerade Reveler.

[Libertad]

Evolutions

So in addition to the typical Evolutions available to the Summoner's Eidolon, there are new ones in this book for Masquerade Revelers. The sidebar mentions that they were meant to be specific to the archetype and balanced as such. Most eidolon evolutions are always-on, whereas the reveler gains access via a rounds per day basis. The sidebar suggests carefully vetting them against this dynamic before allowing them, or to ask your GM ahead of time if taking such evolutions for an Eidolon.

Notably, some of these evolutions are not point value (1 to 4) but instead are automatic additions to specific masks. They are Tane evolutions, including some vulnerabilities.

I'm not going to list every evolution here, but rather highlight some of the more interesting ones.


1 Point:

Boot Stomp causes your shoes to grow sharp spines which can allow you to make a kick attack, even as a standard action partway through movement like Spring-by Attack.

Darkvision grants this all-too-omnipresent and useful sight ability.

Fey Cantrip grants access to dancing lights, detect magic, ghost sound, or prestidigitation at will. However, the reveler must have a charisma of at least 10 and have worn a number of different masks equal to her charisma modifier (minimum 1) that day before using this ability.

Increased Speed grants 10 foot bonus to movement and can be taken more than once.

Luminous constantly sheds light.

Misplacement allows you to rearrange the stored items of an opponent with a successful Sleight of Hand in combat, forcing them to move one action type up when retrieving said item (swift to move, move to standard, standard to full-round).

Panpipes increases the save DC of Fey Cantrip and Fey Magic 3/day by playing masterwork panpipes.

Poison Dust creates a 5 foot cloud of adjacent dust as a standard action which is an inhaled poison equivalent to getting drunk. It's supernatural so it doesn't provoke AoO, but it doesn't provide a sample effect of what 1 to 2 glasses of beer does mechanics-wise. It requires 7th level prerequisite.

Tiny, of course, reduces the reveler's size to Tiny, with a base reach of 0 feet and +2 to Dex and -2 to Strength. Given the huge Stealth bonus from this size alone, +8, this is great when combined with flight or some other evolution for scouting.

Vault allows the reveler to jump 20 feet vertically as a move action without provoking attacks of opportunity.

Weep causes the reveler to cry in a disturbing way and those within 30 feet are shaken on a failed Will save. 6th level prerequisite.

Woodland Stride functions as the druid ability of the same name.


2 points:

Allergen Aura: a constant 30 foot cloud which can be suppressed or resumed as a free action causes violent coughing and sneezing to those who fail a Fort save. They are sickened for 1d6 rounds and this counts as a disease.

Animated Hair: the constantly twitching hair can entangle adjacent opponents once per round as a free action if they fail a Reflex save. The targets affected can be selective.

Bleed applies to all the reveler's attack, inflicting 1d6 bleed damage. Bleed is a new mechanic in Pathfinder which inflicts a small portion of automatic damage each round until the target has the Heal skill applied or benefits from magical healing. It's a good death by a thousand cuts technique.

Blur is as the spell.

Bramble Jump allows for a limited Dimension Door by using shrubs/brambles/plant patches as the medium of travel.

Deepest Fear is a 30 foot aura of fear which shakens opponents inside on a failed Will save.

Fated adds the reveler's Charisma modifier on initiative checks. Sweet, but requires being 12th level to gain.

Fey Magic grants access to a large portion of potential spell-like abilities: She either gains charm person, entangle, feather step, grease, obscuring mist, or vanish (3/day); or blindness/deafness, detect thoughts, heat metal, glitterdust, gust of wind, hideous laughter, invisibility (self only), meld into stone, mirror image, or tongues (1/day). Charisma 12 and 6th level prerequisite.

Fiddle is kind of like Otto's Irresistable Dance when the reveler rubs their legs together to play an incredibly catchy tune, staggering those within 20 feet who fail a Will save. The duration is concentration-based and can only be used up to 10 rounds per day.

Prescient allows the reveler to act during a surprise round and is not counted as surprised. 9th level minimum. Of limited use due to the rounds per day limitation and the fact that activating the Masquerade is not an immediate action.

Puffballs cause deadly spore-filled balls to grow on the reveler's body. They can be thrown as a ranged attack at a target within 20 feet, not provoking AoO. It deals 1d6 damage and exposes the target to a disease which can inflict 1d6 Dex damage.

Putrid Vomit is an amusing ranged touch attack which can only be used every 1d4 rounds. Those hit must succeed on a Fort save or be nauseated for 1d4 rounds. 6th level prerequisite and gross, but deadly.

Shift Fate forces a target within 120 feet to reroll a saving throw, using the second result. It has no limitations on how much it can be used beyond consuming a swift (immediate) action for the round. The prerequisites are steep, 15th level and having Fated and Prescience to use.

Sneak Attack grants 1d6 for every time it's taken, to a maximum of 3 times.

http://i.imgur.com/eW1PVCT.png

Snip Thread by Arthur Rackham

Snip Thread requires Shift Fate and represents the ultimate power over a creature's life and destiny. It is a ranged touch attack as the reveler "snips" a target's mystical strings, inflicting 20d6 points of damage, and should they die from this damage they can only be restored to life via wish, miracle, or divine intervention. It's 3/day and 1d4 round cooldown, and 18th level to take.

Speak with Animals and Speak with Plants are constant effects of the spells of the same name.

Spell Resistance Lesser grants SR 5 + level.

Steal Skin is a grisly ritual which requires the reveler to cut off the skin of a slain opponent of Small to Large size and human shape. Although the total number of possessed skins is limited by Charisma modifier, they can be worn to double as the deceased person, lasting even until the Masquerade ends. However, once taken off the reveler cannot get a new identity until they gain the Mask with this ability again.

Transparency allows the reveler to become invisible and back again at will as a free action. 4th level prerequisite is quite good for this ability.

Vermin and Wild Empathy function as said class features, except using Barbarian level as druid level and with a +4/+6 racial bonus on the check. Vermin requires at least 5th level.


3 points:

Blend with Light grants total concealment to the reveler while in areas of bright or normal illumination. 5th level, but this is an awesome ability in that you can effectively gain concealment almost all the time (due to poor lighting in normal circumstances) if you play your cards right and fight the right kinds of opponents.

The Red Cap, Supernatural Speed, and Tricky Thief were detailed earlier under the Red Cap, Quickling, and Tooth Fairy entries.

The red cap's fast healing is the potentially nice one, and supernatural speed is gorgeous. The Tricky Thief is a little underwhelming for its cost, however.


4 points:

Death's Calling was the Dullahan's ability. It staggers an opponent within 60 feet on a failed Fort save, and automatically fails stabilization checks and automatically confirms all critical threats for 24 hours if the save is failed. 11th level and can only be used with Dullahan.

Haste is what else, constant haste. By the time you get it at 12th level, the party spellcaster can already grant it to the whole party at a much lower level, but hey.

Shadow Doubles is a unique way to manipulate the action economy. They only last for a very short time (Charisma modifier in rounds) but they summon four shadowy duplicates. They have all the reveler's melee attacks and special abilities provided by the mask, but they can't create more shadow doubles or use limited-per-day abilities. They have 20% of the reveler's total hit points, and can be disbelieved and dispelled as an illusion. It's 12th level, but a great way to overwhelm opponents with strong attacks.

Unearthly Grace requires at least 11th level and 19 Charisma, but it adds Charisma modifier as a deflection bonus to AC and an equal bonus to all saving throws.

Unluck Aura is really great: it causes 20 foot radius around the reveler to roll any D20 rolls twice and take the worse result. If this would cause a roll to fail the target rolls a Will save and if successful becomes immune to this aura for 24 hours. It is mind-affecting and does not work on animals, gremlins, gnolls (WTF?!), and creatures with any sort of luck bonus. It requires the reveler to be at least 11th level, but if they're 15th level they can spend 2 additional evolution points to make it so that no saving throw is offered to negate the effects.


Tane:

Most of the tane evolutions were covered back when briefly discussing the Tane Masks. Still, even the individual ones are pretty cool.

Adaptive Defense causes the reveler to gain energy resistance 30 the round after they're damaged by an energy attack of that type.

Bandersnatch Charges allows charging through difficult terrain.

Burble is a bunch of nonsense sounds which cause confusion on a failed Will save to those within 60 feet, or a 60 foot line of sound dealing 20d6 points of sonic damage.

Deadly Bite inflicts 1.5 times Strength modifier with the bite attack and automatically decapitates and slays Large or smaller targets with a head on a successful critical hit.

Entangling Chains entangle foes within 30 feet on a failed Reflex save and deal 10d6 slashing regardless of the save.

Eyes rays allows the reveler to shoot out two different ranged touch attacks within 60 feet, applying Jabberwock Burn damage (6d6 fire) to targets.

Lash Out resolves a single bite, claw, or tail slap as a swift action.

Plant Traits turns the reveler into a creature of the plant type and all the immunities therein.

Quick Recovery automatically removes a myriad of conditions at the start of the reveler's turn, ranging from confusion and fatigue to nausea and stunning. It also grants a bonus save the next round vs. ability damage/drain and mind-affecting abilities.

Tane Breath Weapon functions as the Breath Weapon evolution, save it deals 1d8 damage per barbarian level in an 80 foot cone or 160 foot line.

Tane Fast Healing grants Fast Healing 5, and can be taken multiple times.

Vulnerability applies to a specific energy type, dealing 1.5 times as much damage when exposed to those kinds of attacks.

Whiffling creates a 30 foot radius of severe winds whenever the reveler makes a full attack from the violent motions.


Mythic Evolutions:

The three here were covered earlier: Deadly Blessing, Mythic Fey Magic (fear or steal soul 3/day), and Steal Soul as detailed under the mythic mask abilities. They're pretty good abilities on their own, as outlined above.

Thoughts so far: A lot of these evolutions are pretty cool, granting a lot of abilities beyond the standard eidolon selection. My opinions on them more or less match my thoughts on the Masks: the versatility of options is great for a barbarian, and I do like the personal radius abilities as a nice touch for potential stacking effects.

Next comes the final post, where we cover Feats and Magic Items!

[Libertad]

Feats

This is by far the shortest section of the book, yet it's still an important aspect due to how the feats play upon the archetype's earlier masks and evolutions. We have 9 new feats, all specific to this archetype.

Beast Reveler requires 9 or more Masks, and grants access to Beast Masks and create one's own kind using the benefits provided. Although they can't get hands or wear armor, they do gain a natural armor bonus and a pre-select amount of natural weapons depending on the base form they take.

Chimerical Masquerade requires 3 or more Masks, and allows the reveler to divide their evolution points evenly (rounded down) among any number of possessed Masks, effectively gaining the benefits of multiple forms at the risk of losing access to more expensive evolutions. This can wear out the reveler quickly, as every round spent this way consumes a number of rounds-per-day equal to the number of simultaneous Masks worn.

http://i.imgur.com/uNlUgN2.png

Deep Masquerade by Michael Richards

Deep Masquerade is an awesome feat. The reveler can declare that they're entering a deep masquerade whenever they enter a Masquerade, representing a more complete substitution of self with their new identity. Deep Masquerades grant access to the next highest level of evolution powers the reveler can access (4 point Masks to 6 points, 6 to 8). For Masks not in the book, it grants 2 additional evolution points. The downside is that you can't access your rage powers while doing this, but for many of the Masks it's more than worth it. It's a good way to get those 8 point versions without having to slog all the way to 20th level, too.

Extra Mask grants one bonus Mask, and can be taken multiple times.

Fell Reveler requires 3 or more Masks, granting access to the Undead Appearance evolution while wearing masks with the undead descriptor (the Forbidden Masks) and 2 evolution points worth of their abilities. Elaborate Mask class feature grants access to 4 point version, and Avatar of a Thousand Masks grants access to 6 point versions. Oddly the two sample Forbidden Masks have 8 point versions, with the banshee requiring 11th level and 6 point evolution. Meaning that Deep Masquerade is required to get their full powers.

Fey Spirit grants Low-Light Vision and changes the reveler's type to Fey whenever they wear a Fey Mask. If the Mask already has Low-Light Vision, the reveler gains Improved Natural Armor. Could be worth a nice armor boost and some potential immunities, but otherwise not as useful as the other feats here.

Mythic Reveler grants access to the Mythic Masks, requires 3 or more Masks, and the reveler to be at least Mythic Rank 2. Donning any of these Masks requires the expenditure of one point of Mythic Power.

Tane Reveler grants access to the mega-powerful Masks, and its prerequisites are steep: 12 or more Masks, Beast Reveler, Deep Masquerade, and the Intricate Masks class feature (I believe they meant Elaborate Masks). The feat allows access to one Tane Mask, and must be taken additional times to gain new Tane Masks. Wearing such Masks costs 3 rounds worth of Masquerade for every 1 round worn, and extra evolutions are not gained from Deep Masquerade. The Greater Versions of said Masks are only gained via the 20th level capstone ability, and none of their abilities may be accessed with Become the Mask.

In spite of the restrictions, the abilities even just one Mask offers is pretty great.

Task Reveler is for all those skill-user Masks out there, and requires no prerequisites other than being a masquerade reveler. Whenever the reveler performs a skill, wild empathy, or vermin empathy check which takes more than one round to complete, they can spend two rounds worth of Masquerade as a swift action. In exchange, additional rounds spent doing nothing but furthering the task at hand without interruption do not count against the rounds-per-day limitation.

Naturally, Task Reveler is an awesome ability depending on what skills you take, and is all but required for scout and skill-based masquerade revelers.


Magic Items

The very last entry in this book has only three magic items. The first one is the Mask of Lost Identity: basically this skull mask seems to shift its shape and colors, and when worn it grants alter self at will (with no ability score bonus) along with a +5 Disguise and ignoring penalties to such skill rolls imposed by wearing a mask. Masquerade revelers wearing it gain 1 additional evolution point worth of abilities when using Become the Mask class feature. The only downside is that by no mundane nor magical means can the wearer conceal the fact that they're wearing a mask, which is not much of a downside.

As a 15th level minimum to craft it and 25,000 gp market price, so it's only really useful for masquerade revelers.

The other magic item is the Masked Shawl. Masquerade revelers who wear it and spend one hour dancing can store one of their non-Beast, non-Undead Masks within the shawl in the form of a brooch. When entering a Masquerade they cannot normally access said Mask, but can switch between it and another Mask as a swift action. Changing or removing stored Masks can be accomplished with another hourly dance, and the removal can be done should they lose the magic item.

Storing the Nereid Mask within the Shawl allows the Reveler to access to next higher tier of Evolution Points when using it in a Masquerade, and they can breathe underwater and have a swim speed even when not in a Masquerade. However, the reveler's life force becomes attached to the shawl and gain the weakness as the nereid monster. (http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/additionalMonsters/nereid.html)

This magic item is a good way to effectively gain the benefits of 2 masks a round without the restrictions of the Chimeric Reveler feat.

The final magic item, Stilettos of Dancing Forms, leave trails of glowing dust wherever the wearer walks. All squares they move through gain the benefits of a light spell for one round, and masquerade revelers gain an additional ability to enter into a "gradual Masquerade." Basically they only gain 1 evolution point worth of abilities for a Mask on the first round, with 1 more point each round thereafter. Rounds spent in a gradual Masquerade without their full complement of points count as only half a round for daily limitations, and should the reveler end their Masquerade the Masks' evolutions do not disappear all at once and instead fade away at 1 point per round. The fatigue at the end of this is twice as long as a normal Masquerade.

Given that most combat in Pathfinder is quite quick and rarely lasts up to 10 rounds, this magic item is more useful for Task Revelers and the like or if you really only need one particular evolution from a Mask.


Conclusion

And there you have it. Secrets of the Masquerade Reveler is a short but sweet book with a very cool archetype. The use of Eidolon Evolutions for a PC is a novel idea which isn't really present in most Pathfinder products, and it really does open up a lot of doors role-wise for a Barbarian. The fluff text is neat and lends itself well to interesting characters. Were one to use the Tier System for Classes, the Masquerade Reveler would be a 3: It operates on a round-by-round basis so it doesn't have the long-lasting, long-term power of primary casters. But access to flight, +8 for skills, tremorsense, radius auras, debuffs, Pounce, and many other abilities make it able to do a lot more things than most Barbarians and martials.

If you enjoy sprinkling fey-themed material in your games, want a good Barbarian who can Pounce, double as the party scout or face, and with access to some area of effect auras, and movement and sensory abilities, then Secrets of the Masquerade Reveler is a worthy entry to add to your collection!

[Dr_Dinosaur]

I haven't had a chance to use one (my Price of Immortality game fell apart before the mask-loving Barbarian had a chance to change over) but they look like a fun, flavorful archetype that I'm glad went to the Barbarian rather than the Bloodrager.

I'd like to note an error in the first post though: you can take more than one archetype, as long as they don't replace the same feature

[Manyasone]

I also have this one. It is a very well thought out archetype. Made me think of the vizored