Where I Read: The Paranet Papers

[Sanctaphrax]

Over on RPGnet, people sometimes read through books and post their impressions as they go. This thread is a place for me to do that with The Paranet Papers.

I've already skimmed the book, but I'm just reading it properly now. So a lot of this will be new to me.

[Sanctaphrax]

Awesome interior cover art. The actual cover is nice enough, but I like the posterboard with all the notes and strings especially. This is gonna be a pretty book in print.

The introduction is an introduction. Got nothing to say about it.

I read the Vegas chapter back when it was previewed. Might as well just copy over my comments from then.

Okay, finally read this thing. My (very nitpicky) thoughts, recording as I read:

The writing is really good. It's interesting, has a strong tone, and looks very game-able. And the side notes are both amusing and informative.

I'm curious what it means for the Accords to not be binding. My impression has always been that the Accords were enforced mainly by threat of violence, so...are Las Vegas-ians protected from Mab and company?

I'm disappointed by the approach to powerful characters here. With the exception of Fortunato and maybe Brianna, I don't think any of the characters written here are likely to survive more than a moment in a fair fight with Chest Deep or stronger PCs. And even Fortunato and Brianna could probably be taken out one-on-one by a Submerged character with a few FP to burn. This wouldn't be a real problem, except whenever someone's stronger than Fortunato Evil Hat leaves them stat-less.

Also, I wish they would list skills in the rating-first system they use on PC sheets. Much easier to read, I think. But that's just me being nitpicky.

Surprised that Corin doesn't have Rapport and Empathy skills listed. His description makes it sound like he should have high ratings in both.

Kinda neat to see a White Court Vampire with no Deceit skill to speak of. (I'm talking about Nelson.)

Wow, Arlene has a lot of skill points.

I don't get the animosity in the page 24 notes. Why is Murphy threatening Butters?

Freeing Hand looks like a decent custom Power. Maybe a bit on the weak side, but not useless at all.

Fortunato's description says that his Greater Glamours are of Legendary quality. But they're actually of Legendary + 1 quality.

Brianna's writeup should say Bows (Guns) instead of just Guns, like Fortunato's. Also, is her bow really weapon 4?

What foci do Brianna and the Ice Queen use?

I don't think a sword battle between Brianna and the Ice Queen is likely. Brianna's better with her bow, and they both have pretty strong attack spells. Also, I don't think much of the Ice Queen's chances in a fight with Brianna.

Silk's writeup is wrong. Lawbreaker's cost caps at -2. Unless there's some new rule in the Paranet Papers, of course. Also, enthralling people with Channelling seems a bit much. I wouldn't let a PC do that without Ritual or Thaumaturgy.

Bibliomancy is terrible. The flavour is there, but the power just isn't.

They should specify which Lawbreaker Power Moira has. I'm guessing First, since she killed that guy in her backstory. A bit indirectly, but it probably counts. Also, she needs at least Fair Lore for that focus. Unless they changed the rules, of course.

The Ghostly Concord stunt looks rather weak.

Not totally comfortable with the glorification of vigilante cops and hitmen here.

Not sure how Worldwalker is meant to work for Tommy. It almost looks like it's supposed to let him teleport from place to place, but Worldwalker doesn't work that way at all.

The idea of casinos making attacks to drain people's money is neat. Not sure if Resources is the best defence skill, though, it seems more like a stress track skill. Discipline could be used to resist temptation, or Empathy could be used to see through it.

I like the way everyone reacts to this talk of a demon and a seal. After all, if someone tells you their evil is necessary they're probably lying...but you can't just assume that they are. Wonder if this is gonna come up in the novels later...I mean, Jim is involved with the RPG to some extent. Maybe he shares plot seeds.

[Sanctaphrax]

This Russia chapter looks really cool. I like the idea of a historical setting a lot. And the Russian Revolution is a good choice.

On page 57, the paragraph that starts with "a few years ago" is missing an indent.

I like the setup here, with the letters and the history lesson and such.

Heh, Simon Petrovich even writes with a Russian accent.

The backstory here is interesting. I like the idea of biomancer Rasputin, and I'm curious about how the apprentice situation went down. Interpreting Simon's letter as a kill order sounds like the sort of thing Lawbreaking would drive you to do...

Also, about the big Scottish Warden...was Morgan Scottish?

Odd that they had Rasputin shot by a hired gunman here. The way it went down historically was so much more dramatic...though it is a nice Harry parallel.

Normally I'd ignore this sort of thing, but since there's still time to fix typos..."Non-official mass communication—pamphlets, papers, and the like—are suppressed severely." looks off to me. "mass communication" isn't plural, so shouldn't that be "is suppressed severely"?

Similarly petty: "Investigating accusations of crimes against the Party and punishing them." is a dubious sentence. It's not the accusations that they're punishing.

I like the mortal-centric power balance here.

The suggested PCs are pretty awesome. Interesting characters, tied together by a common home, with a good mix of skills and personalities.

I wish they were a bit more optimized, though. They're pretty darn weak for Submerged characters, and I think pregenerated PCs should be on the strong side since they'll often be used by new players. Newbies need a leg up.

Also, two odd things: Sveta lacks a Trouble Aspect, and Lara apparently needs a focus to cast a 4-power fire spell despite her base fire power being 4.

Oh, goddamn it. Are they really going to let people use mental evocation attacks? Ugh...how can they possibly think that that's a good idea?

Huh, a two-Refresh Stunt? That's a new one. I like the idea, though.

Missing period in Boris's Motivation.

Is Presence really the skill for negotiating business deals? Eh, I guess it's as good as any.

Trappings of Summer is not a +1 Catch.

I'm not sure if the Saboteur Stunt does anything. Isn't that a standard Craftsmanship effect?

Dmitiri's church is a pretty cool setting element. But Sharik seems a bit weak. Even with BCV Powers, someone with Fair Fists is gonna struggle against a real fighter. Though I suppose the people thrown to him aren't real fighters.

Koschei's statblocks are a bit messed up. It says "OTHER ASPECTS" above the skills of his wizard version, and the spacing between skill names and ratings is inconsistent on both sheets. And the wizard version has a total Refresh cost of "-27 or more", but I count 45 Refresh of stuff on his sheet. And the vampire version has no listed Discipline, even though he's got 4 Hunger stress boxes and an extra Hunger mild.

All typos aside, the wizard version is surprisingly similar to the Koschei I'm using in Enduring the Apocalypse.

"any purely supernatural source of damage" is not a +0 Catch.

I thought Mother Winter was Baba Yaga.

As for her horsemen, "doing everything at Superb" does not a plot device make. It's not even enough to make a character scary. A Chest Deep combat character should be able to shred someone who "does everything at Superb" unless they have other Powers. Some stats for those horsemen would have been a good idea, I think...though space is an issue.

Hm. No stats for Rasputin or Simon. That's a shame.

All quibbles aside, though, I really like this setting. If I wasn't in three DFRPG games and an Ars Magica game I might give it a try. Though come to think of it, CanGames is coming up. I could run a one-shot there.

[Sanctaphrax]

And now, the Neverglades.

Those beasts sound pretty cool. I guess I'm a sucker for magical wildlife.

"Don't brag or claim more than you are"...this is really nitpicky, but shouldn't that be "claim to be more than you are"?

That slang sidebar actually made me laugh out loud.

I think knowing the Fount's location might be a worthwhile Supernatural Sense. And since "any purely supernatural source of damage" isn't actually a +0 Catch, Alec's got a point of Refresh to spare...

Also, Alec should probably have at least Average Performance. He says he plays the fiddle.

Interesting to see the WHITE COUNCIL TRAINING on Miss Lizzy...

There's a period missing in the note about giving Manny the Pure Mortal bonus. Which you should do, by the way. Charging someone 2 Refresh for Wizard's Constitution is pretty unfair.

Manny's Driving stunts seem redundant, since Stunts generally don't stack fully.

Dougie's tracking skills probably deserve a Stunt or a Supernatural Sense.

The suggested PCs here are decent in my opinion. Not as cool as the Russians, but while they're hardly optimized they don't seem as weak as the Russians either. And it's not like they're badly written or anything, it's just that the Russians are really neat.

Bit weird that they talk about Albus not messing up machinery right next to a statblock with Mana Static in it. Regardless, Machine Speaker is pretty neat.

Coat-Like-Midnight has a typo in his statblock: it should say Pack Instincts, not Pack Instinct. Also I was really surprised to see that he doesn't have Cloak of Shadows. Still, I like the character a lot.

The Colonel's statblock claims he has Good defences, but they only look Fair to me. And he's weirdly lacking in any ability that'd let him zap someone into ashes. I was expecting Channelling or something.

I don't see why the Conquistador is labelled a plot device. It sounds powerful, but not that powerful. And it's likely that it'll attack the players at some point, so some numerical stats would be really useful.

The Sentinel seems more plot-device-y, but it has stats. And it seems to be stronger than the Conquistador, so...really, the Conquistador seems to have no business being beyond stats.

That aside, the Sentinel statblocks are hinky. Ritual and Seelie Magic seems redundant. There's a missing space between "Supernatural Sense (Sonar)" and "[-1]". There's a missing comma between "+1 mild consequence" and "Armor: 2" in the Fomor version. The Catches seem undervalued. And it's weird that one version has Hulking Size and the other doesn't...the thing's size isn't in dispute, is it? I guess maybe it's to let the Fomor version use Stealth...

I'm pretty sure Listening is a Power on Harry's sheet now. It should probably a Power on Missus Simmons' sheet too, for consistency's sake.

Swampjack should probably have foci.

I thought "politesse" was a typo, but no. Turns out it's a word.

If Withered Jim is creating giant mutant bugs, then his Insectomancy probably isn't just Summoning and Binding with a different type of being.

Are there really no stats for the Savages?

Overall I think this is a solid setting, but it's not really to my taste. Small town drama isn't my thing. Exploring the wilderness is more my speed, but that's only a side element here.

Ah well. Not everything is aimed at me.

[Sanctaphrax]

As for Las Tierras Rojas...

I'm with Murphy regarding the Mexican police. Seriously, they're horrible.

I'm liking the art in this book. That doesn't just go for this chapter, but I forgot to mention it before.

Missing space in "Such a thing was simply inconceivable.You keep using that word."

Dubious sentence: "This threat can hammer that home to the PCs, either by using it to complicate their lives with all sorts of enemies or by tempting them with that power." The threat isn't using itself.

This stuff about ancient being re-emerging ought to be useful in my own post-Changes game...

This bit about the Keepers being kicked out of the Council is odd, in my opinion. There aren't so many Wizards that the Council can afford to do that sort of thing casually. And sabotaging the enemy in a war doesn't seem like a bad thing at all. Maybe Peabody had them doing some seriously nasty stuff...but then why not go further than kicking them out?

Interesting plot hook with Thomas and the Old Gods there. I guess the Inca pantheon is a Venator target.

Information obtained through torture is generally rubbish, so I'm not sure how seriously to take the details about the Old Gods. Interesting, though, that the thirteen Lords of the Outer Night cannibalized thirteen gods.

The first paragraph on page 163 is indented. This is odd, since the first paragraphs of sections in this book aren't generally indented.

Being petty again: "Some of these are pretty much guesswork, while some of it is based on other notes that Alejandra included" sounds off to me. The use of "some of these are" doesn't match with the use of "some of it is".

I wonder how canon this all is. Will future Dresden novels deal with this stuff?

Alejandra's Extensive Training Stunt looks a bit overpowered when you compare it to Armed Arts.

I just noticed that the way focus bonuses are worded in this book varies from statblock to statblock. Probably not a problem, though.

Not sure why "Perception" is capitalized in the description of Mitchel's veil.

Izel's statblock is really weirdly laid out.

No idea why Galena is labelled as a plot-level NPC. From the sounds of things, she could be weaker than an ordinary mortal. Or stronger than Mab, who knows. But it seems odd to assume she's so strong.

Vargas has only Average Contacts and Resources. Which is odd, since her description says "She uses her position, her wealth, and her contacts to gather allies for Winter in their war with Summer over Gran Chaco."

Capac's mental Catch is missing. And he has an earth power specialization despite not actually being capable of earth evocations. Maybe it was meant to be spirit, to match his amulet?

Ramirez is surprisingly good at fistfighting and surprisingly bad at mind magic. I wouldn't let him do the stuff he's described as doing without using Ritual.

The last paragraph of the pink post-it note on page 189 is almost exactly the same as one of the paragraphs on page 188. That must be a mistake.

[blackstaff67]

I thought Mother Winter was Baba Yaga.

Baba Yaga made an appearance in my first DFRPG adventure...and yes, so did I.

[wyvern]

On Baba Yaga: I think she's Mother Winter in the same way that Vadderung is Kringle: same person, different aspect or mantle.  And the thought that she's looking for a mortal champion of her own meshes fairly well with (Cold Days spoiler)

(click to show/hide)

some of her comments in Cold Days about the Winter Knight and how she shouldn't have let Mab be responsible for that...

[Sanctaphrax]

And I'm back. Time to read the Nevernever chapter.

I've got high hopes for this one, because I really like the Nevernever as a setting. My players will confirm; my games tend to end up there an awful lot.

Why is Butters saying he used to be a monster? Is it an "arrow to the knee" joke?

The other notes are pretty funny, I'm liking the tone here.

This Faerie Bargain campaign looks interesting.

"we are cheese upon the sauce and dough of creation"...I like Peregrine, I think she and I would get along.

Huh, I've been mispronouncing demesne. I think I'll stick with my way.

I like the PCs for Faerie Bargain quite a bit. Interesting personalities, strong relationships, and solid stats. My only real complaint is that Emily's Saboteur stunt seems to do nothing. I might also restrict Leave No One Behind to maneuvers and blocks, and give Ian some Fists/Might, but whatever.

I like the themes and threats, too. And the advice for wilderness play looks like good stuff, though I disagree with the comment about micromanaging supplies being boring.

Missing space in "But that doesn’t mean you can’t use Resources to make a declaration about what youalready have." Might not be much point in mentioning it now, but oh well.

The Magical Geographic Society and Underground Railroad game ideas sound like a lot of fun.

Windsnap's Catch should only be worth +1, since he only has 2 Refresh of Toughness to attach it to.

Is that an evil beaver-man? I should write stats for that.

The episodic campaign advice reminds me a lot of admiralducksauce's Highway to Hell game. I wonder if that's still going on? And that reminds me, is Undertown still going?

Saul's Catch shouldn't be worth +2, since he's only got 2 Refresh of Toughness. And also because it doesn't give him any weakness that Item of Power doesn't already give him.

Stat quibbles aside, I like the scrapyard scenario.

Argh, they're allowing mental attacks with evocation. Why? Why? Why?

I like the approach to "plot device" characters here. The mountain and the tree have good reasons not to have full character sheets and the things they can do are spelled out clearly enough for play.

Huh. They're interrupting each other in the notes. How's that even possible? You can't really interrupt text...

Why do so many of these NPCs have stunts from Your Story? The whole message of that chapter was "don't stick to these, make up your own stunts".

Then again, making up stunts has its perils. Home Defence probably shouldn't give +2.

That threshold-revocation trick would probably make a good Power. Would need something a little extra to be worth a Refresh, though.

Maybe I should take back my praise for their handling of "plot device" characters. The Tarantula definitely deserves a sheet. It's exactly the kind of monster that I'd want for a big fight scene.

I think there's a typo in the stats of its brood. Their stunt says says that they make Great Endurance rolls to spin webs, but they only have Good Endurance. Maybe there's a +1 bonus from the stunt that's not explicitly mentioned?

And that's an iffy use of "Human" Form, if you ask me. If you can't change back, that Power doesn't belong on your sheet. And why's their total Refresh cost unknown? Their Powers are right there.

The Piasa also deserves a proper sheet, but if they wanna stick to an outline and conserve space I see no problem with that. Though I do kinda wish they'd stop using the term "plot device", it's getting on my nerves.

Seems to me that the existence of this book breaks the pact with the Piasa. Tom's Crossing might not be happy with Paranet once this comes out.

Entropy as an evocation element, huh? I like it.

"an old woman who isn't much use in a fight"? She can toss out accuracy 6 weapon 6 attacks without breaking a sweat! (Which means her rote is underpowered, incidentally.) And with a defensive item, she could be pretty durable...

Control probably shouldn't be bolded in Auntie Ten's Thaumaturgy specializations.

It would be very easy to turn a "Safe Place" hobo sign into a "Dangerous Place" sign into a "The Shit Has Hit The Fan" sign. Wouldn't be so easy to change the sign back. Wonder if that's intentional...

Kinda tragic how lame the demon's Breath Weapon is. Makes me glad I use Natural Weaponry.

Blah, Demonic Co-Pilot.

Some odd bolding in Vincent Garrow's specializations. Also, his statblock seems to think that he has a Crafting strength of 5. He doesn't, though.

Vasiliki's statblock is off in a number of ways. No Lore skill, odd bolding in the specializations, no space between (Seelie Magic) and [-2], no mental toughness Catch, no comma between the Evocation specializations.

"You want to see a mad scientist, Borden? Keep it up!" is a great line. I should use it sometime, though it's debatable whether statisticians are actually scientists.

Why does the axe-wielding madman in the bunny suit have Great Empathy?

The Jersey Devil's Supernatural Strength should cost 4.

Turns out Evil Hat doesn't let Strength apply to Breath Weapon. It's starting to seem like they always interpret ambiguous rules in the way that makes the game less balanced. I mean, did Breath Weapon really need to be worse? Especially when you already have Claws and Fists > Weapons...

Man, that Cursed Car statblock is a mess. 4 Refresh of Powers, +2 rebate...-4 final cost? And why does it give Claws and Hulking Size? Why would driving an evil car turn you into a giant with claws? Because the car is big and dangerous, and therefore its driver should also be big and dangerous?

Okay, that's enough complaining. It might not be obvious, but I actually really liked the Urban Legends section. And the chapter overall, actually. I think this one has displaced the Russia chapter as my favourite.

[Sanctaphrax]

Man, I can't believe I'm still not done this book. Anyway, onto the spellcasting chapter.

I'm a bit apprehensive about this one, since there are a lot of ways it could mess up the game. The spellcasting rules are a bit delicate, balance-wise. And they already screwed up deeply by allowing mental evocation attacks.

Looks like Evil Hat has come around to running sponsor debt the way I run it. Good to see.

"it’s unlikely a sponsor will allow debt to accumulate higher than a character’s spent refresh" wow, that's really generous. I'd cut off the debt supply well before that. There's also a suggested rule for letting sponsors slap characters with mental attacks, which strikes me as deeply stupid.

The new Soulfire rules look pretty good. A definite improvement on the Your Story rules. But it has serious clarity issues.

Is the +1 power or complexity bonus for creating things applicable to enchanted item strength? By a strictly literal reading it isn't, but it looks like it's meant to be.

More importantly, does Soulfire's cost get reduced with other spellcasting powers the way most Sponsored Magic costs do? If so, holy crap this is powerful.

And does Soulfire give item slots? Balance-wise I don't think it should, but by default Sponsored Magics do and there isn't anything saying Soulfire doesn't...

The Magic in the Nevernever section is fine. I think the benefits outweigh the drawbacks, which is kind of a shame, but it's well-executed.

"lock-picking rote"? Rotes are evocation-only.

"a lot of psychomancy involves getting into someone’s mind, which means they’ll be able to use Discipline to resist (also, that’s very close to Lawbreaking; tread carefully)"...I don't think that's close to Lawbreaking. I think that's an incredibly clear example of what the Third Law prohibits.

"So, assessment with magic should be really, really easy (Good or less) if the target can’t resist your spell"...well, that's one of the sillier things I've read recently.

"Attacks cover any magic intended to harm or permanently change the physical and/or mental state of a target. Pretty much any magic in this category, directed against mortals, is a violation of the Laws of Magic."...no, that's not how the laws work at all.

"In normal cases, presume the complexity is based off the target’s Discipline, and equal to the severity of the hit you’d need to do in order to inflict the effect you want."...why Discipline? Most magical attacks don't really affect the mind.

"Let’s presume he doesn’t know about the attempt, so he doesn’t get to roll."...what? That's not how this game works at all!

"Keep in mind that all the normal rules for stress and consequences apply here, so you have to take that into account. Just like with evocation, you can’t control how your target elects to take the damage—you can only throw your power at them and see how it lands."...pretty sure that's the opposite of how it works in Your Story. Are they changing the rules? Do they not know them? Is the original book just written misleadingly? Who knows.

It says "if you’re in a place where people are inclined to believe in magic (or alone, such as placing a maneuver on a scene or casting a spell on yourself ), this may go down all the way to Mediocre." and "Remember! You can do more than one maneuver and add their value together, for multiple invokes." so if I'm reading right, Wizards are supposed to be capable of placing infinity aspects on themselves with a 1-shift ritual. That must be a mistake.

The advice on blocks isn't very good, but at least it doesn't contradict the rules.

Did they just change the base duration of conjuration spells?

The combat Thaumaturgy rules seem decent.

"slapping a consequence or two on an entity can gain you a powerful ally"...this blatantly contradicts what you said earlier about thaumaturgical attacks.

Power-granting thaumaturgy rules have apparently been completely rewritten. And the new rules look abusable to me. But if used as intended they're probably fine.

The necromancy rules are not so fine. Even if you ignore the blatantly mis-costed Catches in the examples, these rules are garbage. I don't even recommend reading them.

"Forcing your target to take one of their physical, mental, or social consequences. (Example: Direct damage spells like Victor Sells’ heart explodey spell, invasive mental trauma, and so on. These are always Lawbreaking—YS232—so don’t do these.)"...that's not true, and YS232 doesn't say that. This is depressing to read.

Cheer-Saving Thaumaturgy rules look pretty good apart from that. People who find thaumaturgy tedious will probably be really glad for them.

Elemental philosophy sections are fine, but I'm not sure exactly what they're useful for.

Reflexive shields...bah. Power-creeping rubbish.

"If you try to do this in your game, understand that it’s impossible to do with thaumaturgy"...Harry totally does it in Changes. It doesn't seem terribly difficult for him.

I really don't understand why using evocation elements you don't know is an option now. Does Evil Hat think that Wizards weren't versatile enough?

"If you allow this in your game, it shouldn’t be an excuse to just throw together a cherry picked list of powers that seem cool."...why not?

Mental Toughness rules look pretty solid. Different from how we did them, but not necessarily worse.

Overall...there were some good bits in this chapter, but it's a very mixed bag. I wouldn't recommend using most of it in your games.

[Locnil]

Woah, hold on. Been away for a while. Paranet Papers is finally out?

[jeditigger]

Woah, hold on. Been away for a while. Paranet Papers is finally out?

Well, the PDF is out if you preorder the book, which comes out around June 1. http://www.evilhat.com/home/the-paranet-papers-instant-pdf-preorder-is-live/

[jeditigger]

And I'm back. Time to read the Nevernever chapter.

I've got high hopes for this one, because I really like the Nevernever as a setting. My players will confirm; my games tend to end up there an awful lot.

....The other notes are pretty funny, I'm liking the tone here.

....Okay, that's enough complaining. It might not be obvious, but I actually really liked the Urban Legends section. And the chapter overall, actually. I think this one has displaced the Russia chapter as my favourite.

Thank you.

[Sanctaphrax]

You're welcome. Did you write that one?

The credits list you as a "Secret Weapon", whatever that means.

[jeditigger]

I've only worked on a few Evil Hat projects, but collaboration is the deal. And I think my fingerprints are the clearest on "The Ways Between."

[Sanctaphrax]

Good job, then.

Don't take my criticism too harshly; even if I think some of the decisions here are bad or baffling or bafflingly bad, I've been pretty impressed with the book overall. I probably come across as unusually negative because the errors are almost all errors of mechanics or editing, and mechanics and editing happen to be what I'm good at.

Anyway, onto Goes Bump.

It says that only one or two people per generation are likely to see an archangel, but I'm pretty sure more people than that have seen archangels in Chicago in just the last few years.

For some weird reason the Ick has no listed Athletics skill. The description says they have Fantastic defences, which implies Great Athletics, but if they're counting the bonus attachers get from Hulking Size it could mean they have Superb Athletics. Also the Catch math is wrong; I'm pretty sure that's a +2 Catch. Researchable and only exploitable by a small class of people. Description says the thing is probably an exceptional tracker, but the statblock gives it no tracking skills at all.

God section probably shouldn't recommend running away. If someone in this game is really powerful, they're probably also almost inescapable.

Implanted humans are surprisingly tough. About as good in a fight as the Red Court, I'd say, if reasonably well-equipped.

Balance of Fomor Magic looks iffy. On many characters it'll be weak, but that specialization double-dipping could get scary. And why does it cost 5 here when it costs 4 on the Sentinel's sheet?

Couple of minor errors in the Fire Jotun statblock. Notes say it has Great initiative and +17 lifting/breaking Might, but it actually has Good initiative and +19 lifting/breaking Might.

Channelling is amusingly bad on something like a fire giant. It can make a Superb weapon 9 attack with a club, or it can make a Good weapon 3 attack that costs stress with a fireball...even if it has foci that weren't mentioned, the magic's a bit feeble.

Skinwalker statblock is a mess. Even ignoring the miscosted Mythics...the Catch is miscosted, Modular Abilities and Supernatural Sense are missing, it probably shouldn't have Mimic Form when it already has True Shapeshifting, and it really should have skills.

Mistfiend statblock is a bit off. Skill formatting is bad, the Always On addition to Gaseous Form is a drawback that costs Refresh for some reason, and the Catch it too broad. If magic hurt it normally, any Senior Council member could have snuffed it out pretty easily. Made of Death is okay, but shouldn't cost so much for characters who don't have Gaseous Form. And I can't say I'm happy to see Myrk return.

The Einherjar aren't meant to be PCs? Why the heck not? They seem like perfect PC material to me.

Odd that Bogeymen are described as weak when they have 12 Refresh of Powers including Physical Immunity. Just going by stats, one of them could take out a lot of the stuff in this chapter.

I think they're overselling the Lords of the Outer Night here. Harry and company aren't much stronger than a Submerged group, and they beat those guys. Sure, they had help, but so did the Lords. That aside, the advice to run is bad given how Speed and spellcasting work. Better to surrender and try talking.

Even with complete immunity to sunlight, a red court vampire's Catch would still be worth at least +2.

I really don't think that centipede deserves Physical Immunity. And its notes seem to have forgotten that Speed adds to Athletics defence rolls.

The Web power is interesting. Pretty close to multiple actions. It looks more or less balanced to me, though, assuming the block lasts until broken.