paizo.com - Paizo / Paizo Blog / 2008 / August

What Lurks Below

Thursday, August 28, 2008

With Gods and Magic off to the printer, we now officially turn our attention to the next Pathfinder Chronicles product on the schedule—Into the Darklands. For those tuning in for the first time, the Darklands of Golarion are a vast network of caverns hidden below the surface world. The Darklands are at once an iconic location that should feel familiar and a mysterious new frontier filled with surprises. Sure, we've got drow and duergar and derro and aboleths in the Darklands, but there are also degenerate humanoids known as morlocks, mysterious lost worlds inhabited by dinosaurs, a secret nation of intellect devourers, Lovecraftian horrors like gugs and serpentfolk, a hidden empire of humanoid blood-drinkers known as urdefans, and more—all awaiting discovery by brave new explorers of the deepest parts of the world.

We'll have a few more detailed previews of Into the Darklands over the weeks to come, especially as sections of the book are edited and polished up for public consumption, but since the interior art has started to arrive I thought I'd show off what happens when a PC lags behind in duergar-infested tunnels!

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief

Out of the Void

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Keen-eyed readers of Chapter 3 of the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting have noticed that the deity Groetus, God of the End Times (that creepy moon nearby is his holy symbol, by the way), granted one less domain than the other gods. The problem there is, of course, the fact that there’s just not a lot of good choices for a chaotic neutral god of the apocalypse among the SRD domains—my goal was to include a new domain for Groetus, but space considerations got in the way.

But never fear! In the upcoming Gods and Magic, Groetus gets his missing domain—the Void domain! Keyed to the darkness between the stars and secrets humanity was not meant to know, the Void domain bolsters the mind against harmful magic while granting access to spells that allow flight through the empty places and the power to call down outsiders from beyond the stars.

Void Domain

Granted Power: You gain a +4 insight bonus on saving throws against all mind-affecting effects.

Void Domain Spells

1 Feather fall

2 Levitate

3 Fly

4 Lesser planar binding

5 Overland flight

6 Planar binding

7 Reverse gravity

8 Greater planar binding

9 Gate

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief

Swamp Fight!

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Last time I discussed how Otis Adelbert Kline, author of The Swordsman of Mars, ties into the overall idea of Planet Stories—a forgotten master in the Edgar Rice Burroughs tradition, who set precedents both through his own work and as a member of the Weird Tales editorial staff (not to mention as the literary agent for Conan creator Robert E. Howard). This week, however, I'd like to focus the spotlight on the one reason for republishing The Swordsman of Mars that we haven't talked about yet:

Because it's fun.

In order to illustrate that, I've picked one of my favorite sections and included a snippet from it here. Though there are a number of memorable scenes, one of my favorite things about Kline is the new monsters he invents, and this scene features not just one, but three of his motley creations... and that's just on one page. Let's hear it for authors who aren't stingy with their beasties!

For some time the Earth-man was too busy getting his breath to take note of his surroundings. Then he looked around for his mount, and saw it swimming directly away from him at a distance of about three hundred yards. Although the gawr was moving at a speed which he could not possibly hope to equal, he was about to set out in futile pursuit when a huge and terrible reptilian head suddenly reared itself between them, a scaly, silver neck. The monster looked first at the retreating gawr, then at the man, and evidently deciding that the latter would be the easier prey, began gliding swiftly toward him.

Thorne glanced around him. Although it seemed utterly futile for him even to attempt to make the shore, about a quarter of a mile distant, where a dense fringe of trees nodded over the water, no other avenue of escape was open to him, and he struck out desperately.

It was manifest from the start that he could not hope to outstrip his fearful aquatic enemy. As he forged ahead with long, powerful overhand strokes, he glanced back from time to time, and saw that the monster was swiftly gaining on him. Soon the terrific pace began to tell on him. His arms grew numb, and it seemed that they moved automatically, while breathing momentarily became more difficult. But the thought of those dreadful jaws, now gaping close behind him, spurred him on.

With the shore but two hundred feet distant, he felt this last ounce of strength ebbing. A backward glance showed his monstrous pursuer so near that it was arching its neck for the kill. Then just ahead of him he noticed a tiny ripple of water, and there emerged a pair of jaws like those of a crocodile, but larger than those of any crocodile he had ever seen or heard of. There followed a broad, flat head, and thick neck, both covered with glossy fur, the head black, the neck ringed with a bright yellow band.

Hemmed thus between the two aquatic monsters, he did the only thing left for him to do. Filling his lungs, he plunged beneath the surface and dived under the oncoming beast. For a moment he heard the rush and swirl of the swimming thing above him, and felt the eddying currents which it kicked downward and backward. These passed, he forged onward, remaining under water until compelled to return to the surface for air.

When he had shaken the water out of his eyes, Thorne saw a fearsome sight. The two monsters had met, and were engaged in a terrific struggle. The silver-gray scales of the one which had been following him flashed in the sun as it endeavored to shake off its small adversary which had seized it by the lower lip.

Suddenly it reared its head until the black-furred creature was drawn completely out of the water, and he saw that the latter was a web-footed animal about as large as a full-grown terrestrial lion, with short legs and a leathery, paddle-shaped tail which was edged with sharp spines. With the exception of the tail and claws, the body was covered with fur. The scaly monster shook its head, dislodging its smaller enemy and losing most of its lower lip in the process. Then, as the furry creature splashed into the water, it arched its neck and struck.

Thorne expected to see the smaller creature instantly slain. Instead he saw a startling demonstration of its superior cunning and quickness. With a speed his eye could scarcely follow, it avoided the lunge of that terrible head, and turning, seized the slender, stalklike neck of its adversary in its own relatively large jaws. One powerful crunch, and the battle was over. The severed head sank from sight, and the huge body, floundering about with reptilian tenacity to life, churned the water to a foam and sent huge waves scurrying in all directions.

So absorbed had he been in this strange battle that Thorne had momentarily forgotten his own exhaustion and the peril that menaced him. Now, as the victor turned from the carcass of its vanquished enemy and swam straight toward him, the realization of his danger redoubled. He struck out for the shore, essaying the fast overhand stroke he had previously used on the surface, but his weary muscles had reached the limit of their endurance. A few feeble efforts, and a backward glance at the swiftly moving beast, convinced him that he was doomed. Better death by drowning than in those horrible jaws. He filled his lungs and dived. At a depth of about fifteen feet he found a large water plant to which he clung with his last remaining strength.
But it seemed he was not even to be given his choice of deaths. Suddenly he became aware of the dark object in the green water above him. Then a huge jaw closed around his waist...

James Sutter
Planet Stories Editor

Drow of Golarion

Monday, August 25, 2008

One of the great things about working on Pathfinder is that I get to work with my heroes. In Pathfinder #15, we have an article about the drow written by none other than Jeff Grubb, author of such products as Manual of the Planes, Spelljammer, The Finder's Stone Trilogy, and countless other classics. And as it works out, he worked on my favorite D&D adventure of all time, the super-module Queen of the Spiders. So his resume was pretty solid for the guy who we wanted to write about our drow.

In Pathfinder #15, we'll have just such an article—everything you wanted to know about how the drow of Golarion are different from those of other campaign settings, or how they're the same. Jeff did an excellent job capturing the depravity that is drow, but they're different enough that they're unique to Golarion.

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief

Good Versus Evil

Friday, August 22, 2008

One of the most rewarding parts of seeing the upcoming Gods and Magic come together is seeing each of Golarion's core 20 deities illustrated. We've seen a few show up here and there in Pathfinder already, but in this book, it's all of them! Pictured here are two of our world's deities—sinister Asmodeus and indomitable Iomedae.

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief

Gen Con Ephemera!

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Someone made the terrible mistake of giving James and I cameras, a lapse in judgment we heartily exploited over the past week at Gen Con. While many of the images we captured proved too terrible to inflict upon you gentle souls, here are a few quick highlights we snapped from the showroom floor. Special thanks to all the Paizo volunteers, everyone from the message boards we ran into (you guys are awesome!), all who voted in the ENnies, Tiffany, Boomer, and um... Sheila (sorry we forgot your name; blasted cloak of invisibility).

F. Wesley Schneider
Pathfinder Managing Editor

Plants from Space!

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

As you've probably noticed from all the recent talk about falling stars and strange new worlds, Pathfinder #14 looks to the stars. With spacemen and moon monsters featuring so heavily in "Children of the Void" and the volume's other articles, it seemed appropriate to take this rare chance and dedicate a portion of the month's bestiary to the truly alien. Full-fledged, undisguised, world-traveling extraterrestrials, that is. Taking cues from our favorite otherworldly menaces, Pathfinder #14 unleashes three new alien enemies. But don't expect flying saucers and chest bursting from all of these terrifying travelers. Some, like the star-spawned moonflower, take more subtle approaches drawn directly from similar inspirational invaders from fiction and film.

"All plants move. They don't usually pull themselves out of the ground and chase you! If we could find out how this thing functions we might figure out an easier way of killing it."
—John Wyndham, Day of the Triffids

Alien plants have long found their way into entertainment: from the triffids of John Wyndham's Day of the Triffids; to the alien pod people of Jack Finney's novel The Body Snatchers and its superlative big-screen spawn, 1956's and 1978's Invasion of the Body Snatchers and 1993's Body Snatchers; to the infamous "Feed Me!" of Seymore's Audrey II in Charles B. Griffith's Little Shop of Horrors. Roleplaying games are also no stranger to hungry plants from space, like those that appeared in 1980's Expedition to the Barrier Peaks. The moonflower owes its inspiration to these predecessors and dozens of other muses not of this world.
F. Wesley Schneider
Pathfinder Managing Editor

Gen Con and the Pathfinder Society

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Gen Con was a great success! We saw nearly 400 characters made for Pathfinder Society and handed out 600 registration cards for new players and Game Masters. Our fine volunteers rocked the Pathfinder Society room in ICC 101-102 and all of the players were enthusiastic, excited, and fun. The room was filled with laughter, chaos, and the roar of critical successes. Nick and I had a good time and everyone's positive and negative feedback was heard, written down, and (in many cases) will be incorporated in the next version of the guide. Season 0 is our playtest season—we're happy folks are helping us test it.

We learned a few lessons at Gen Con, both from the organization standpoint and from the standpoint of GMs and players. We know a little more about how to organize the event, how many tickets to sell for each slot, and how many GMs to gather to run it smoothly. We learned that a bull horn (thank you, Lou) is the most valuable asset of the room and we learned that people really DO want to sport the colors of their faction and wear their shirts with pride (and free re-rolls).

Thanks everyone who was there for making it a great success. We'll see you next year. Until then, found your local chapter of the Pathfinder Society and hook another bunch of recruits into becoming Pathfinders. We know they'll love it.

Joshua J. Frost
Director of Marketing

Gen Con 2008 Day 4 Report

Monday, August 18, 2008

As Gen Con comes to a close, we look back on what we've accomplished here this week and we couldn't be more happy. This week represents to us how strong our community is, how much they support us, and how unbelievably willing they are to sacrifice their time, their sleep, and their sanity to insure that our company is successful.

I want to say thank you, personally and publicly, to our GMs here at Gen Con:

Chris, Christopher C., Christopher S., Clinton, Coridan, Craig, Dan R., Daniel M., Dave, Erik, Geoffrey, Greg A. V., Greg V., Heather, James, Jared, Jeremy, Joe B., Joe R., John, Liz, Lou, Mark, Marshall, Mat, Matthew, Michael K., Michael M., Michael W., Neil, Philippe-Antoine, Randy, Rob, Ron J., Ron L., Russ, Shane, Stefan, Steven, Tim C., Tim H., and Will

And to our demo team:

Bill, Carie, Hunter, Neil, and Scott

Thanks everyone!

Joshua J. Frost
Director of Marketing

Gen Con 2008 Day 3 Report

Sunday, August 17, 2008

I'm tired. Let's do pictures!

Brian Lewis, Christian Doyle, and Scott C. Brown from The Gamers: Dorkness Rising.
SOLD OUT!

Juxtaposition.
Paizo won EIGHT ENnies Awards—7 golds, and 1 silver. Best Publisher (Gold) is the one we are most proud of and you, our community, made that happen. Thank you. These are all of last night's ENnie Award winners.

Victory!
Daigle at Ascension of the Drow.

Lou Agresta does horrible, vile things to the participants of Ascension of the Drow.
Clinton J. Boomer—exile, rogue, sycophant. (And a cool dude!)

Ed Greenwood, Michael A. Stackpole, Paul S. Kemp, and James Lowder signing Worlds of their Own.

See you tomorrow!

Joshua J. Frost
Director of Marketing

Gen Con 2008 Day 2 Report

Saturday, August 16, 2008

We did it: We sold out of our entire weekend's worth of stock of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Beta Release in less than two days. Less than one day plus one hour, really. Ok, so less than 9 hours total. That's a lot o' copies.

We're also mowing through The Gamers: Dorkness Rising DVDs so fast that we had to have another very, very, very large quantity overnighted to us here at the show—a quantity that ends in three zeros.

At opening today we had only four copies of the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting hardcover remaining; they sold out quickly.

Now that's I'm done showering you with OUR accolades and successes, let me show you YOUR successes:

Shot 1 of the Pathfinder Society Organized Play room on Friday afternoon looking from the main entrance. What you see there is a completely sold out slot—two full scenarios, 12 GMs each, 6 players per GM. I'd like to swear here in excited glee, but I'll keep it PG and say, "RAD!!!"

Shot 2 of the same room, same time, from the other entrance. The GMs that are standing are: Michael Kortes (in white and red, front), Knight Errant JR from the Paizo boards (in white t-shirt, middle), clight101 from the Paizo boards (just over JR's shoulder, in grey), SheKaKa67 from the Paizo boards (black hat, top left), Lilith from the boards (back right corner, green shirt), and Greg Vaughan (far right, green and white striped shirt). There are many GMs in this picture from the boards—these are the ones I can pick out of the picture.

Our community is awesome, and without our community's awesomeness, we wouldn't be around. That's YOUR success, community—being our support and our rock at shows like Gen Con (and stores, homes, and cons beyond).

Keep spreading the word.

My hat's off to you.

Joshua J. Frost
Director of Marketing

Gen Con 2008 Day 1 Report

Friday, August 15, 2008

Nearly sold out of Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Beta. STOP. Line at the booth stretches to Miami. STOP. Rabid gamers seen occupying every seat in the Pathfinder Society Organized Play room. STOP. Nick Logue taken over by zombie urges. STOP.

Hey, here's some pictures!

The entrance to the Pathfinder Society Organized Play cavern.	Paizo Contributor Michael Kortes takes a much needed drink between rounds of intense Pathfinder combat during Silent Tide.
Nick Logue, taken over by zombie urges.	Silent Tide and The Hydra's Fang Incident off to a good start at 8:00 A.M.
The Paizo booth.	James Jacobs, James Sutter, F. Wesley Schneider
Jason Bulmahn and his brand new baby book.	Paizo's awesome undead-horde-crushes-your-town (Falcon's Hollow) delve.

See you tomorrow!

Joshua J. Frost
Director of Marketing

It has begun!

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Or, at least, it will almost have begun when some of you start reading this. It had not begun as of me writing it, but Gen Con starts today and the Paizo crew couldn't be more excited. For two days, we've been delicately crafting our booth out of aged cheddar while letting the succulent roast beef floor stew in its own juices. The racks, carefully constructed from licorice and gum drops, sit majestically beneath our towering and quite delicious pecan sign.

Yes, you can say Gen Con is tasty. And we can't wait for the feast to begin. We're serving Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Beta and Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting, a new Flip-Mat, Flip-Mat: Basic, on the side, with Yetisburg, Key Largo, and The Gamers: Dorkness Rising for the second course. For dessert, we have Gary Gygax's lost final novel, Infernal Sorceress, and a brilliant short story compilation that gathers together a host of hobby gaming writers who have all written shared-world fiction (like R.A. Salvatore, Gary Gygax, and Michael A. Stackpole) called Worlds of Their Own. The delve is back with an all-new horror twist, we have the cast and crew of Dorkness Rising on hand for signings all day every day, and a mega-signing on Saturday with a handful of the authors from Worlds of Their Own.

And then there's Pathfinder Society. Nick and I prepared the room yesterday and we've had it simmering at a temperature of awesome for twelve hours. We can't wait to guide a bunch of hungry adventurers (just like us!) through many, many days of exploration and daring-do.

We hope to see you here. If not, start a party on the boards. Have a good time while we are.

Joshua J. Frost
Director of Marketing

Hail the Headless King!

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

There's more in the multiverse than just the deities of Golarion's civilized races. Amid the near endless realms of the Great Beyond lurk wonders and horrors beyond the imaginings of mortals, beings deserving of worship, and terrors of which no man was ever meant to know.

In addition to the twenty most prevalent deities of the Pathfinder Chronicles campaign setting, the next tome in the Pathfinder Chronicles line, Gods & Magic, sets its sights on the heavens and hells. From the serenity of Nirvana to the tortures of Abadodn, the deific inhabits of realms beyond the mortal sphere come to life. Along with familiar allies like Cayden Cailean and Desna, and soul-thirsty nightmares like Lamashtu and Zon-Kuthon, Gods & Magic reveals a host of new godly patrons and immortal perils. For example, legends of the scalefolk tell of one Ydersius, know to those who slither as the Headless King...

Ydersius (The Headless King): This ancient being was the patron god of the all-but-forgotten race of snake-men that battled mighty Azlant and lost. Forced to hide in the Darklands with his mortal servants, the Serpent King was decapitated by a mighty champion, but such was the power of the god that he remained alive in two pieces. Now his mindless body thrashes recklessly, and his head is lost and presumably rotted away to a skull. But there are some that say the skull still thinks and can control a tiny measure of power, and if it and the body were ever reunited, Ydersius would heal and lead his people in an attack on the surface world.

Gods & Magic, scribed by the newest addition to Paizo staff, theologian Sean K Reynolds, hits the shelves in October.

F. Wesley Schneider
Pathfinder Managing Editor

One of a Kline

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Otis Adelbert Kline, author of The Swordsman of Mars, is probably the author with the least name recognition on our current schedule.

And that's on purpose. You see, once upon a time, before we realized that we could actually get folks like Michael Moorcock, Piers Anthony, and Robert E. Howard, we set our sights on trying to bring back, not just the best authors of the genre, but the best forgotten authors. Yet once we opened our doors, we discovered a veritable horde of high-quality, big-name authors who'd been languishing out of print. As the roster started filling up with giants—both the folks I've already mentioned and people like C. L. Moore, the first female sword-and-sorcery author, or Leigh Brackett, who wrote the first draft of The Empire Strikes Back—I began to wonder if there was indeed still a place in readers' hearts for Otis Adelbert Kline. Then I sent the manuscript out to our typist, who's retyped all the old books in our line, from Moorcock to Howard. Shortly thereafter I received the typed manuscript along with a simple note saying:

"This one was my favorite by far!"
And why shouldn't it be? Though these days he's best known as the literary agent for Robert E. Howard and supposed rival of Edgar Rice Burroughs, at the height of the pulp era Kline was nearly as big a name as Howard and Burroughs himself. Though Kline's famous feud with Burroughs—in which Burroughs would publish a Mars book so Kline would publish a Venus one, prompting Burroughs to publish a Venus one, which in turn forced Kline to respond with a Mars saga, etc.—turns out to have been entirely the creation of imaginative fans, there can be no doubt that the two authors shared both style and subject matter. Indeed, Kline has frequently been called Burroughs's only true competitor. While he produced only a handful of novels before his death at the age of 55, Kline's presence on the original editorial staff of Weird Tales and his sword-swinging romances on the red and green planets did much to influence the genre, and his legacy lives on in the tradition of sword and planet novels to this day.

So will our grand experiment work? Can we fulfill the promise we made to our readers, not just to give them fun, historically significant works of fantasy and science fiction, but to give them great stories that they've never heard of before? Are today's audiences open to the Burroughsian derring-do of characters like Harry Thorne, the swashbuckling, Depression-era dynamo sent to the Red Planet in The Swordsman of Mars?

Buckle your seatbelts, folks. We're about to find out.

James Sutter
Planet Stories Editor

Into the Black

Monday, August 11, 2008

Ever since we started the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting, I've been thinking about the stars. Sure, developing the planet of Golarion is a blast, but what's beyond it? Look at how many stories we've managed to tell (and are currently gearing up to tell!) in just one region of one world—how many more could be out there on the eleven planets and dozens of moons in just Golarion's solar system? More importantly, how strange would they be? What dark mysteries and untold wonders reside on worlds not bound by Golarion's rules of evolution and magic?

Unfortunately for me, the stories weren't mine to explore. Publisher Erik Mona, though certainly open to suggestions, had staked his claim early on the solar system. Though both of us, as part of the Planet Stories team, love science fiction, his is a much pulpier view of the cosmos than mine. Where I saw hard science, astronomy, and almost unfathomable cultures at all stages of technological advancement, he saw Burroughs' war-torn Barsoom and Otis Adelbert Kline's lush Venus, filled with hard-jawed warriors and beautiful princesses wearing scanty moon-garments. Quietly, I shuffled my hopes of gas giants with floating sentient jellyfish and tidally heated moons into my desk drawer and moved on.

That is, until Erik got himself too busy with the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting and needed somebody to cover for him.

The result is Pathfinder #14's extensive overview of Golarion's solar system. Through Erik's love of pulp-era sword-and-planet, and my own affinity for hard SF, we came away with a compromise that I hope has something for everyone. Whether you're into steam punk or cosmic horror, bug-eyed aliens or familiar faces, our system has you covered.

Except for robots. Managing Editor Wes Schneider has long since made it public knowledge that his primary goal in life is to keep me from putting robots into our world all willy-nilly. (NOTE: There may still be robots.)

In any case, from Bretheda to Eox, Aballon to the Diaspora, I hope you enjoy the worlds we've created for you. To help give you a taste of what's to come, here's the entry for Akiton, the Red Planet:

Akiton, the Red: Colder and harder than Golarion, Akiton is a planet of brave four-armed warriors, their lances and flechette rifles gleaming against a backdrop of rust-red rock and sand. Monsters roam these cold mountains and desolate plains, and tyrannical empires raise stark and beautiful cities in the dried beds of ancient oceans. The tribes of the Shobhad-neh, 12-foot-tall behemoths capable of wielding a sword in each of their four hands, are fiercely territorial, and few sane creatures would challenge a single warrior girded in his battle harness, let alone one of the warbands and raiding parties that constantly redraw the giants' borders. Yet there are other races here as well: the timid and crafty Ysoki rat-men, or the red-skinned lizardfolk who hunt the great sand serpents with only crude spears and teeth. Perhaps strangest of all are the Contemplatives of Ashok, into whose soft and throbbing brain-sacs the ether occasionally whispers secrets of things past and those left to come.

James Sutter
Planet Stories Editor

D is for Darklands

Friday, August 8, 2008

Just a few weeks after handing over the incredible new cover for Gods & Magic, Wayne Reynolds turned around and dropped our jaws again, this time with the new cover for the next book in the Pathfinder Chronicles line, Into the Darklands. As always, Dr. Reynolds's images speak for themselves: a dark elf casting dark magic in the Darklands. What more could you ask for? Into the Darklands releases this December.

F. Wesley Schneider
Pathfinder Managing Editor

Guide to Pathfinder Society Organized Play Sneak Peak

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Though we're working hard to get the Guide to Pathfinder Society Organized Play PDF released on Friday, we thought we'd take a small break from the action and show you a few of the faction feats that'll be available in our organized play system. During character creation, after you've chosen your faction, you'll get to choose one free bonus feat from your faction's unique feat list. There are six available feats per faction to choose from—here's a sample feat from each faction:

FREEDOM FIGHTER
Your family has long battled the foes of freedom and you are skilled in waging guerilla campaigns against oppressors.
Prerequisite: Andoran Faction
Benefit: You get a +2 bonus on Hide skill checks. In addition, you receive a +1 circumstance bonus on attack rolls when you attack a flat-footed foe during the surprise round.

SCION OF THE NINE HELLS
Your bloodline is mingled with powerful fiends and you rarely fear their fire.
Prerequisite: Cheliax Faction
Benefit: You gain fire resistance 2. This resistance increases by +1 for every six levels you possess, to a maximum of 5 at 18th level.

STAY DEATH'S EMBRACE
Your studies of death and your devout worship of Pharasma have unlocked many secrets of the great beyond. As a result, it is harder to send you there.
Prerequisite: Osirion Faction, worshipper of Pharasma
Benefit: You have a 25% chance to stabilize each round when below 0 hit points. Once stable, you become conscious one round later, although you are still disabled.
Normal: You have a 10% chance to stabilize each round when below 0 hit points.

HORSE LORD
Your people are masters of battling on horseback and you have mastered their rare skill.
Prerequisite: Qadira Faction
Benefit: You get a +2 bonus on Ride skill checks. While mounted, you also receive a +1 dodge bonus to your Armor Class.

VINDICTIVE
Prone to endless fueds, your people simply do not forgive a slight easily.
Prerequisite: Taldor Faction
Benefit: You receive a +1 bonus on attack rolls made against creatures that damaged you in the previous round with a ranged or melee attack.

Keep your eyes on the Pathfinder Society Organized Play website this Friday!

Joshua J. Frost
Director of Marketing

Demon Lords of Golarion

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

So, if you'll allow me a moment here to go off on a tangent that's near and dear to my black, twitching, tainted heart—let me talk for a bit about the demon lords of Golarion.

I've always been a fan of demons. I've written at length on my personal blog, on messageboards, in editorials, and in various books about this admiration of all things Abyssal. The one person I've met who can match (or exceed) this perfectly normal and perfectly healthy obsession is Erik Mona. So with both of us pulling some key strings behind the scenes of Golarion, it shouldn't be too much of a surprise that demon lords are going to play a pretty key role in the world.

With the new Second Darkness Adventure Path starting up, we'll be doing quite a bit with those demon lords. In the months to come, you can expect to see a few new demons popping into the Pathfinder Bestiary at times (including at least one well over CR 20 menace), at LEAST one prestige class for demon worshipers, and in Pathfinder #18, an 8-page article about the demon lords themselves. For those who can't wait that long, we've put a preview into the hardcover Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting that lists nearly 30 of the world's known demon lords.

To long-time players of the game, many of the names on that list will look familiar. Many of the names are from real-world mythology (perhaps with a few spelling changes here and there), while more than a few are classic demon lords that, thanks to Necromancer Games' Tome of Horrors, are open content. For now, this list in the hardcover is pretty much all we've got on our demon lords, but since so many of the demons are established names, I thought it'd be helpful to list where they're all from.

Real-World Mythology: Abraxas, Aldinach, Baphomet, Dagon, Flauros, Haagenti, Kostchtchie, Lamashtu, Nocticula, Orcus, Pazuzu, Shax, and Socothbenoth are all from various real-world myths (although in some cases, like Orcus, the real-world inspiration is a mythological place rather than a being).

Open Sources: A few old favorites, like Baphomet, Jubilex, Kostchtchie, and Pazuzu, appear in the Tome of Horrors Revised. Of these, Jubilex is the only one who doesn't really have a real-world mythological source. (Those interested in keeping track of which version is the open content Jubilex and which one isn't the open one need look no further than the spelling of his name, by the way.)

Brand New Demon Lords: And that leaves us with 16 brand new demon lords: the razor-edged Andirifkhu, the brutish simian Angazhan, the mysterious sphinx Areshkagal, the poisonous and fungoid Cyth-V'sug, the insectoid infestation Deskari (whose freaky swarming minions are illustrated here), the froglike and ravenous Gogunta, the murderous werewolf Jezelda, the ghoulish Kabriri, the creeping spider-thing Mazmezz, the deformed and hateful hag Mestama, the dangerously seductive Sifkesh, the troll god Urxehl, the stony gargoyle Xoveron, the dinosaurian troglodyte Xevgavizeb, and beautiful but vampiric Zura. I think that's all of them. These guys and gals were created specifically for Golarion (or in a few cases, imported from my own home-brew campaign world), and beyond a few mentions elsewhere in print, we haven't said much about them yet. That's a situation I hope to change over the next few months, though!

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief

Oh I Wish That Weren't a Yeti, No Way

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Stand easy, men!

When Mike Selinker and I were designing Yetisburg, Mike had this awesome idea to write a bunch of Yeti-themed songs based on the actual soldiering songs of the American Civil War and sprinkle them throughout the rulebook. Unfortunately for Mike, those songs proved too big for our little rulebook and only one, Dixie, was left in. Fortunately for you, the outstanding Paizo blog reader, we're going to share all of them with you now!

Dixie
(Oh I Wish That Weren't a Yeti)

Oh I wish that weren't a Yeti,
No way, no way

In Dixie Land it's not so grand
To be eaten by a Yeti

Run away, run away,
Run away now from the Yeti!

Abominable Hymn of the Snowman

Mine eyes have seen a Yeti
On whose tusks my friends are gored;
He is trampling through the Cavalry
And cannot be ignored;
'Twould protest this incursion
But his rage I can't afford;
I hope he'll soon be gone!

The Yetis are Marching Home

The Yetis are marching home again,
Hurrah! Hurrah!
To join their belov'd Canadians,
Hurrah! Hurrah!
It was great when they battled by our side
And great when so many of them died
And we'll all exhale as the
Yetis go marching home!

All credit for the songs should go to Mike Selinker. Yetisburg is available now on paizo.com and will soon be available at your local game store.

Beware the Yeti!

Joshua J. Frost Yetisburg Co-Designer

Don't Go Near the Water!

Monday, August 4, 2008

So the waters of Riddleport harbor are alive with things that find people delicious. A pirate or smuggler who falls overboard generally has only a few minutes to get to shore or clamber back on board a ship before a shark, bunyip, reefclaw, or other predator catches his scent. In some cases, though, those hungry predators don't wait until someone falls into the water—they can flop ashore to hunt for food if necessary. One notorious local predator with this unnerving habit is the swamp barracuda.

Of course, the swamp barracudas have long been a menace along the shores of the Varisian Gulf, and the local Sczarni families in particular have a unique working history with these beasts. Take the following as an example as to why it's generally a bad idea to annoy these criminals.

The Fish Tank: Owned by Jaster Frallino, the head of the Magnimarian Sczarni gang known as the Gallowed, images of glassy-eyed sea serpents and scandalously clad mermaids stare stupidly from the timbers of this peeling sea-blue caravan wagon. Within, the roomy wagon holds a single battered stool and a four-foot-tall glass aquarium filled with murky water. Inside the glass tank laze Frallino's three fat pet swamp barracudas: Verna, Argarno, and Big Mal. In Frallino's displeasure, several lazy thugs and untrustworthy business partners have lost a toe, a nose, or a whole hand to "The Boss's Fish," and more than one of the crime lord's enemies have gone into the tank headfirst. It's also rumored that the Sczarni boss keeps a collection of mysterious, rusted keys at the bottom of his chummy aquarium, guarded by his beloved pets.

The swamp barracuda is one of four new monsters presented in Pathfinder #13's Bestiary.

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief

A Peek at Paperwork

Friday, August 1, 2008

On Wednesday night, Nick and I joined dozens of potential Pathfinder Society Organized Play players and GMs in a moderated chat to discuss lingering questions about Paizo's soon-to-launch RPG org play system. Moderator Lilith from the Paizo messageboards did a fantastic job fielding and then passing on questions to Nick and I. During the chat I said:

"The drop dead [to release the Guide to Pathfinder Society Organized Play PDF] is August 8. If we can have it out before then, we will. We'll be sneaking a few key items into Friday's blog, though, as a way to stave off the ravenous hunger of the early devotees of Pathfinder Society."

I have kept my word! Click here to download (820 KB zip PDF) a sneak peek at the Pathfinder Society Character Record Sheet and a sample Pathfinder Society Chronicle minus all the text it would normally have as a chronicle for Pathfinder Society Scenario 01: Silent Tide. I know it's not a sneak peek at character generation, but at least you have a clean slate to stare out for another week.

To read the rest of the chat log for Wednesday night's Pathfinder Society chat, click here and scroll down about halfway.

Joshua J. Frost
Director of Marketing

Elves of Golarion

What Lurks Below

Out of the Void

Swamp Fight!

Drow of Golarion

Good Versus Evil

Gen Con Ephemera!

Plants from Space!

Gen Con and the Pathfinder Society

Gen Con 2008 Day 4 Report

Gen Con 2008 Day 3 Report

Gen Con 2008 Day 2 Report

Gen Con 2008 Day 1 Report

It has begun!

Hail the Headless King!

One of a Kline

Into the Black

D is for Darklands

Guide to Pathfinder Society Organized Play Sneak Peak

Demon Lords of Golarion

Oh I Wish That Weren't a Yeti, No Way

Don't Go Near the Water!

A Peek at Paperwork