So, I'm curious to see what other (generally more Elder magic-y people) think about this supplement. I think that the now codified rules for Kurenthe' are very interesting, even if they are not Living Campaign Legal.

Also, I can't wait to see an underwater mod at Tier V with a group of Berokenes riding massive Sharks into battle

I don't play an elorii but the found a lot of it very interesting.

Fluff side: big reveal was the force of "chaos" as an adversary in addition to "oblivion." I am guessing that chaos equates to the "core" of the cosmic onion model of the universe. We now have a center being attacked from both ends.

Mechanically I thought the book was interesting too ... but I found the base part of the pact confusing. And at tier 2 it's prohibitively expensive. I would note that each of the Tier V summoning spells calls forth a specific named creature so I don't believe you can call multiple copies of one up at the same time.

i think playing a table full of berokene arcanists would be foolish to begin with...

But they make for one heck of a firefighting team if the sword of heavens ever reappears.

I don't play an Elorii character but I build many pre-gens because we get a fair number of people interested in our games.
I like the Sorcerous Pacts addition, but I wouldn't build a pre-gen towards them, because I feel the player has to make a conscious choice towards going for them. val Holryn is right they are very expensive. I know that if that story element is important to the player then they will go for it regardless of cost. A semi-elemental being summoning elemental beings or effects to fight for them sounds cool to me. Besides 1.5 pre-gens only gets you half way there.

Sorcerous Pacts is a great little product, and I'm excited to have a copy. Kudos to Henry and everyone else involved with putting it together. I especially enjoy the stories behind the creation of the pacts. As usual, Henry does a great job of telling a story rather than merely presenting facts. Even if I never see any of these pacts/spells used in a game, I'm glad to be able to read the material for the backstory. The art is also beautiful. I'm glad that I contributed to the Kickstarter and have consistently bought everything that Paradigm has published for Arcanis.

As for the rules, I haven't given much thought since I don't have any current PCs who are eligible to use them. At first glance, the monetary costs seem high for the low-level spells, but I do not know whether they are too high to be practical. The number of spells presented seems reasonable given the limitations on the pacts.

IMO yes the costs are usually "absurdly" high for what they do. Cast a spell in one scene or stock up on permanent runes? But the Tier II & III Summoning spells might have utility at higher tiers if PCs are flush with cash to burn. There's a lot more cash at Tier II than there was at Tier I. That trend may continue in Teir III and beyond. Or not - we'll see. Since there are no other Tier V spells in the game, the cost is just the price of admission to greater power than you could normally get.

Given the way the pact/binding works (its a binding you cast in a preceding scene that lasts until you summon the creature) I think you can use the sorcerous pact summoning and then cast another binding spell/summoning (like summon elemental) ... which could be cost appropriate if you were in the final fight of a BI fighting something like Uhxbractit and needed two extra soldiers on your side.

Whether or not Elorii PCs choose to use these pacts & spells, the eloran nations have access to them. Anyone attacking an eloran fortress would probably have to face these spells. In preparation for the War of Retribution, the Elorii have probably been stockpiling the appropriate resources to give to the sponsors of the pacts.

Keep in mind that our reference in terms of money available is specific to the living campaign and the way the campaign staff wants that done. The product is for wider use. The price of entry might be negligible or reasonable in the right home campaign settings.

With a sweep of his hat,

Paul

Everyone should also keep in mind that these are not "bread and butter" spells that get whipped out at every fight. They are designed from a story basis, not a mechanical cost/benefit analysis. They reflect a rare (and, i believe, prestiious) relationship with an Elemental Lord. These beings want their due for the benefits they give and probably dont want to be bugged each time an Elorii summoner has to fight a pack of rabid koala or other random mooks.