#1. Power Knowledge
The path of an adventurer is never even, never perfect. There are many ways by which a hero can gain their strengths, master their spells, and present their faith. Power Knowledge is a means by which any character can learn additional powers and interchange them to play up a more versatile character without affecting the rules for power usage in the 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons game.
#2. Bleeding
There's more than one way to kill a villain...
Bleeding
creates a new damage type and keyword for 4e, presented here as a free PDF from Emerald Press PDF
Publishing. Part of our Combat Advantage series, these free PDFs
provide previews, optional rules, and playtesting material for the 4e
game.
#3. The Centry
Created for the upcoming adventure, The Key of the Fey, Combat Advantage presents this exclusive preview of this new creature for your campaign. Designed as a playtest preview, we're looking for some input on this creation to see if it meets the needs and goals required for the adventure in the way that only a few dozen playtests can do.
#4. Heroic Talents
Powers are useful in combat, but some characters excel in their
non-combat training. Experts in Dungeoneering can enhance their
ability to infiltrate a dungeon; a well-versed student of Nature can
recover from a failed attempt to track someone down or pull themselves
out from the deepest woods; and anyone in touch with their Insight can
feel a tingle on the back of their neck when danger approaches.
Heroic Talents
are powers available to trained skills and used to substitute utility
powers in the heroic tier, giving characters an extra tool for dangers
other than monsters and guards. If your campaign makes use of
non-combat encounters, these talents can come in handy and may even safe your character's life.
#5. Paragon Talents
Hot off the heels of Heroic Talents, our fifth installment of the Combat Advantage series for 4e continues with Paragon Talents. Continue to turn your skills into utility powers called "talents" for abilities on and off the battlefield. Making use of action points and level-based modifiers, paragon talents can up your game for situations in which initiative and attack rolls bear no matter.
#6. Reputation Feats
The sixth release of our Combat Advantage PDFs for 4th Edition
features Reputation Feats, a new type of feat that can be awarded to
PCs or purchased from successful adventures.
Minor reputation
feats grant a PC a minor benefit when encountering townsfolk,
purchasing or selling items. They are never bought, but granted by the
GM to award a PC for a job well done and are meant to represent the
infamy a hero gains as he makes a name for himself.
Major
reputation feats work as normal feats, but have unique requirements.
For example, the Dragon Slayer feat can only be purchased by any
character who has slain a dragon at least three levels higher than
himself. Learning from his experience, the hero earns special
advantages against other dragons, but leaves himself vulnerable against
other dragons in the future.
"...a
neat and simple idea to codify a character's past in game terms, and
may well suggest further ideas for role-playing over and above the
advantages and disadvantages suggested."
- Megan Robertson, OBS Reviewer
#7. Sidekicks
Originally designed as a "gag copy," this one can actually work in your campaign. Sidekicks are a special role for NPCs allied with your party and can grow to become a template character or even a full-out PC! This special edition of CA includes full details for creating a sidekick, four examples (the helpful guide, the young follower, the lone survivor, and the apprentice), and optional rules for expanding your sidekicks over the course of a campaign.
#8. Celestial Champion Paragon Path
Paladins
descend from an ancient tradition of honor, truth, and justice handed
down by the gods of Law thousands of years ago. While their abilities
and tenets have changed, some have taken to these traditions as
absolutes with their brothers as weaker versions of their former
selves. Celestial champions are specialized paladins trained in the old
ways of their orders - as a new paragon path available to any existing
4e paladin, you can now restore the original abilities of the paladin
from previous editions. Turn undead, banish diseases, and summon a
heavenly steed with the power of the celestial champion.
Designed
by Shawn O'Leary, this expanded edition of CA presents the first theme
of our Not Suitable For Work contest and a personal letter of apology
from the Head Honcho of Emerald Press PDF Publishing.
#9. The Revenant
Death is never the end. There are powers in the multiverse given duties and roles for all existence to flow in harmony - they care not for the limitations of death. When a great wrong has been committed, there is no one better to avenge these injustices than the fallen. This edition of CA presents the revenant, a new paragon path for fallen PCs to continue on after they have died in pursuit of their quest. Included is a fully detailed path, guidelines for utilizing resurrected characters, and an open call for the upcoming product, Risen.
#10. The Rawl
The
rawl is a new player race designed for 4e. Huddled from the outside
world by the mountains, they are brutal opponents sporting sharp blades
of hair on their backs and arms. Slicing through armor and injecting
their victims with twitching poisons, their solitude has been
interrupted by the prophecy of doom forecast by the spirits. Presented
as a fully detailed race, this edition of CA includes rules for
creating rawl player characters, as well as standard monster stats.
As
a bonus, CA10 provides the first sampling of our Not Suitable For Work:
Darkvision entries. Get three examples of how your characters can gain
darkvision in ways that could be more interesting than you would think.
#11. Gol the Orc Sorcerer
Who
says orcs are left only for the heroic tier? Not us. Presenting an epic
level encounter with orcs, complete with full stats and encounter
groups for all tiers of play. And we've got something else you're not
supposed to play: tiny races. Five new races - all tiny - come from the
minds of the gaming community.
#12. Epic Talents (1st Anniversary Issue)
On
July 29, 2008, we released our first edition of Combat Advantage with
the idea of a free irregular release to showcase unique 4E concepts too
small to sell on their own. In honor of this anniversary, we showcase
what makes Combat Advantage for what it's become - epic!. Talents
receive the epic treatment in the third and final part of the series on
skill-based powers; we take a look back at the first CA for a second
look at Power Knowledge; and there's a 5-page preview of Risen to whet
your appetite.
"It’s
really enjoyable to see rules variants that add a lot of flavor to a
game, especially when they are imaginative, exciting, and logically
well thought out." - Neuroglyph Games
#13. Dark October '09
SPECIAL
UNDEAD EDITION!! Weeks away until All Hallows Eve, we're marking the
month with Dark October and it begins here. "Ghosts of Tieflings Past"
provides a cursed valley plagued by the ghosts of fallen warriors; the
morue are a race of body snatching spirits, slipping from one body to
another; and a special preview of the chaostician - resurrected as a
psionic mutation - for Risen. There's also an interview with Andrew
Wilson from Silent 7 Games talking about their latest release, Huxtropy.
#14. Savages and Mercenaries
Make
your 4E campaign brutal this winter with our latest installment of
Combat Advantage. Try your hand as a mercenary (the pay's better but
don't count on getting a good night's sleep anymore), tap into your
inner beast with a new paragon path designed exclusively for barbarians
with the druid multiclass, and read up on a goblin who refused to
become a low-level pest like his brothers - Blades the Goblin Warlord
offers up a challenge for all epic-level parties.#15. Video Games & Amethyst Preview 
Ever notice how similar 4e is to World of Warcraft? Yeah, us too... so we took it a step further. Incorporate other elements from computer and video games to your campaign such as action surges (unlockables), Sor'Lune, the Inn of Respite (respawning), one of the most infamous villains in gaming history (Bh'ouser), and even pausing the game (the Delightful Prism of Games). Plus there's an Artist Spotlight on Kieron O'Gorman, an up-and-comer, and a review of the Night Reign Sneak Peak.Plus an exclusive preview for the upcoming Amethyst Campaign Setting where 4e gets a sci-fi makeover!!
Check out 2 NPCs suited to test your players skill, including the Master of Time and wielder of the Prism of Games!!
#16. The 3 Rings of Cassia
Three rings encircle a solar orb, each ring rotating around in an endless cycle of motion.
And when two rings pass over each other, incredible magic happens. Introducing our first mini-setting, The 3 Rings of Cassia, and the messenger specialist class. Learn about this wondrous planar locale for your campaign using any of the six realms or create a character using one of the four new races provided.
Plus we have TWO previews from the upcoming Buan campaign setting and the Doombringer Saga, a review of Soundscapes, and our Sketchbook spotlight on Martin Hanford.
#17. Traits, Talents, and Endera
The ENnie-nomiated free-zine dedicated to 4e is back after a short break with the largest issue to date. Devise a system of traits and talents for your character; explore the deepest mysteries of the Wandering Dominion of Endera, summon the elements with the Relic Guard, read all about PAX 2010, and help yourself for the complete first chapter of The Key of the Fey. It's all here in CA17.