March of the Damned

Friday, November 20, 2009

Well, we're wrapping up the Council of Thieves Adventure Path here and along with it my series of new devils in each month's Bestiary draws to a close (on our end at least). At long last, let me reveal my ulterior motive. The new devils in Council of Thieves, when combined with those in Princes of Darkness: Book of the Damned Vol. 1, the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary, Pathfinder #12, and two stragglers from another project I'm still keeping mum about, all sync up to give you more than enough diabolatry to fill out twenty levels of infernal adventure. Check it out!

Illustration by Andrew Kim

CR	Devil	Source
1	Lemure	Bestiary
2	Imp	Bestiary
3	Gaav	BotD
4	Ukobach	Pathfinder #25
5	Barbazu	Bestiary
6	Magaav	BotD
6	Lesser Gidim	Pathfinder #29
7	Levaloch	BotD
7	Salikotal	Pathfinder #26
8	Erinyes	Bestiary
9	Osyluth	Bestiary
9	Chertov	Pathfinder #27
10	Phistophilius	Pathfinder #12
10	Uniila	Pathfinder #28
11	Hamatula	Bestiary
12	Ayngavhaul	BotD
13	Gelugon	Bestiary
14	Forthcoming
15	Greater Gidim	Pathfinder #29
16	Cornugon	Bestiary
16	Bdellvarita	Pathfinder #12
17	Deimavigga	BotD
18	Advodaza	Pathfinder #30
19	Forthcoming
20	Pit Fiend	Bestiary

Being told to "go to Hell" just became a much more daunting proposition, huh? I'll be sure to update this once those last two slowpokes come on across the finish line.

Wes Schneider
Managing Editor

Illustration by Steve Prescott

Introducing the Calikang

Friday, November 6, 2009

Sometimes, art makes the choices for me. When we ordered the cover to Greg A. Vaughn's "Mother of Flies," we asked Steve Prescott to paint us a scene in a thieves' guild treasury involving the iconics in a fight against a six-armed stone golem. The art, as you can see here, is great!

Unfortunately, by the time I got to the section in the adventure where this six-armed menace made its appearance, I realized something. A six-armed stone golem (particularly one armed with a pair of tree-sized-swords) would be something like a CR 15 monster. Not really a fair fight to inflict on 10th-level characters, and certainly not good design to have the dude guarding the treasury be tougher than the adventure's actual boss.

So, in a last-minute brainstorm in Wes's office when he was probably trying to go home, he, Crystal Frasier, Lisa Stevens, and I figured out what to do with the situation. The result is a new monster from distant Vudra, the six-armed calikang, a race spawned from a deity's failure and doomed now to seek atonement for an ancient sin. We ordered an extra piece of art for this volume's Bestiary, I wrote up the monster that weekend, and everything fell perfectly in place just in time to ship to the printers.

As for the calikang itself? You'll just have to wait for "Mother of Flies" to find out what he can do!

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief

Ecology of the Pathfinder Product, Part 6: Move 6d6 Tons, and what do you get?

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Illustration by Crystal Frasier

Cave raptors are sated; it's time to blog!

So far, we've uncovered the shocking details of raising an innocent idea into a rebellious roleplaying product, but if your beloved book never moves out of the house, then it will never really make anything of itself. Now is the time when a PDF, so self-important, must go out into the world by itself. And sure, it may come back wrinkled or torn, or even upside down, but without that life experience, it will never truly be its own book. It's time to talk about the physical, blue-collar side of game design: printing, warehousing, and distribution.

For all intents and purposes, Dwarves is ready to pack up and head off to college. Out of sight of its overprotective developers and even its best friend, the art director, it will grow into a bearded adult of glossy pages and the comforting scent of ink. Then it comes home, where its loving parents criticize its dress, notices it's gained weight, and implies that it should cut its hair because it looks like a hippy. Then it leaves again.

Printing of RPG products is arranged through horrible, arcane methods, often via deals with unseen and unknowable supernatural powers. Paizo prefers to deal through the fey, who are both adept at weaving physical products from ideas and accept readily available sandwiches as payment (in truth, lead developer Jason Buhlman's most important contribution to the company is his astounding egg salad, which pleases the fey queen Titania and ensures a lasting business relationship and a minimum of ironic curses). Once the electronic layout of a book is finished, it is transferred through a series of tubes to the distant faerie courts. The attending pixies immediately spin it into gold, and then press the gold itself into physical books and arrange for its return. Total elapsed time to print a Paizo product: 14 minutes. Sadly, due to the unstable chronological connection between the First World and our own mortal realm, upwards of two months may pass in our world during that 14 minutes.

Eventually, sprite couriers, glamered as UPS drivers, drop off multiple tons of product at the Paizo warehouse. This fabulous structure, adjacent to the production offices, is the realm of warehouse manager and 10th-level monk Jeff Strand. The warehouse stores not only Paizo's catalog of products, but also much of the stock for the online store, and so organization is vital. Inhuman physical strength is also important, as every pallet of products can weigh up to an Imperial ton (which is to say, it weighs as much as 2,000 pounds worth of emperors). Jeff and his able-bodied assistants work tirelessly to ship orders out as soon new product arrives, focusing first on Paizo's thousands of loyal subscribers. During these rushes, Paizo CEO Lisa Stevens and Vice President Jeff Alvarez can even be found braving the warehouse's icy trenches and lurking glabrezu in order to send books far and wide.

The enormity of Paizo's distribution efforts is staggering, especially to a little goblin. In addition to sending out literally tons of product at a time to subscribers and fans, pallets of each and every product to come through the door immediately goes back out to retail distributors like Alliance and Diamond. Like NBA scouts, these distributors then ship our MVPs all across the U.S. of A. and beyond, across the ocean to Europe and even north into the fabled Canada. And this volume doesn't even include our licensees who translate Paizo products for non-English-speaking fans.

Printing and distribution are vital to the lifecycle of a gaming product. Without that final kick out of the nest, to plummet or soar, pages would be doomed to constant revision. Roleplaying is built on a spine of pulp and glue, and losing the physical quality of the game book means losing an important piece of our heritage. Without that healthy respect for the past, the next generation will grow up cold and mechanical, controlled as they are by the fluoride in their computer screens. By the end, we'll bow before our PDF overlords, and soylent green will be people!

Plus, if you drop your latest Pathfinder in the bathtub, you can fix it with a hairdryer—try doing that with an e-reader!

This wraps up our quick review of the Paizo publishing process; you now understand as much about creating new products as I do. Starting next week, we'll take a look at existing Paizo products with our new feature, Sci-Fried.

Crystal Frasier
Production Assistant

Illustration by Jim Pavelec

To Hell and Back

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

With Book of the Damned: Princes of Darkness showing up in stores shortly and the Council of Thieves Adventure Path well underway, the keen-eyed reader might be noticing a few crossovers. Indeed, Princes of Darkness was very much meant to be a companion to our infernal Adventure Path, while at the same time, we've drawn more than in a little bit of diabolism in from that damnable tome. So if you're reading through Book of the Damned and come across a creature or two that you're unfamiliar with, look no farther than Pathfinder Adventure Path for all the details we couldn't fit between two covers. Already the subtly mentioned ukobach (#25), stymphalian (#26), cerberi (#28), and a whole host of new devils have appeared, with even more infernal lore to come. So stay watchful all you infernal scholars out there! The secrets of devilkind reveal themselves fully to only to the most cunning diabolists.

F. Wesley Schneider
Managing Editor

Ecology of the Pathfinder Product, Part 5: Layabout

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Illustration by Crystal Frasier

Cave raptors are sated; it's time to blog!

There comes a time in every game product's life when a developer has to learn to let go; to let his sweet, innocent babe go out, make mistakes, and grow into a book. A game product needs to stay out late, crash the car, and hang out with the wrong crowd. And that wrong crowd is the art director, in Paizo's case the amazing Sarah Robinson and the undefeated James Davis.

Welcome to the jungle we call layout.

When last we saw Dwarves of Golarion's's art director, she was a childhood friend helping to tutor the infant sourcebook in good grooming and healthy posture. But now that editorial puberty has hit, the art director becomes a corruptive influence. She'll introduce the book to page composition, gateway fonts, and the pagan ways of design. While the developer cares about making a good text, the art director (or humble-yet-beautiful production goblin) is only concerned with tarting the book up.

Once development and editing are finished, layout is everything else. It means making an attractive page that doesn't remind the reader of a junior-high science textbook. It means making sure the words, the art, and all the stat blocks don't trip over each other. It also means constantly harassing the developers and editors to cut or add words and send material to work with in a timely fashion. The process is arduous, often checking a work line by line for tight spacing or dangling widows (who hang around poorly laid-out products to get their kicks; during last month's move we uncovered no fewer than thirty-eight widows cleverly concealing themselves in the recycling bin). For any given product, the process may take hours, days, or even weeks, depending on how recently the art director has been fed.

In ye olden times, layout was performed by hand, using glue and a layout churn to mock up a page and send it away to the printer by horseless carriage. These days, much of the hard work of layout is performed by computer, where all the trimming and gluing are handled digitally. The common computer terms "Cut," "Paste," and "Churn" actually hail from these pre-computer layout processes.

This is the basic workspace, with the guides for page and column sizes. Boring enough.

Our text needs to live somewhere fancy, so first we design an attractive page.

We drop in the formatted text from the developer next.

Now we switch everything to a dwarfier font and adjust the text spacing a little.

Add some frames and titles, so we all know what we're looking at.

Now we drop in our artwork, wrap the text around it, and make sure everything fits.

And that's a finished spread!

Like a fancy show octopus with a mastery of sign language, a well laid-out product is a joy to look upon and easy to understand. While the prose might make a book beloved, its layout makes it popular, and often the only difference between a bestseller and a discount special is how well each page presents itself. Without good layout, even well-written books would languish in exile, their hideous countenances creating a wall between themselves and the general populace. Resentment would set in, and as their numbers grew alongside their discontent, murmurs of revolution would spread. Cries of "Viva la Composicion!" would echo through the winding streets, followed by bloody, horrific riots. Heads of editors and writers alike would roll as the dispossessed texts yearned for justice, but settled for vengeance.

To dodge that bloodshed, make sure to follow up your writing and editing with a loving layout. The bourgeoisie will thank you for your effort.

And now our baby manuscript has grown up into a finished book! Or has it? Still nothing more than a digital file and a pile of black-and-white printouts, Dwarves won't be it's own book until it has returned with a diploma from one of several prestigious printers. Next week, we'll examine what goes on once the book is out of Paizo's hands.

Crystal Frasier
Production Assistant

Ecology of the Pathfinder Product, Part 4: The Editor's Compositional Fitness Challenge

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Illustration by Crystal Frasier

Cave raptors are sated; it's time to blog!

Yes, editing: the sport of grammatically minded kings. So far we've examined the natural growth of Dwarves of Golarion, as well as its invaluable hours of education, and yet we've ignored physical fitness. Without a steady regimen of editing, our little manuscript could turn into a clumsy butterball, drawing ridicule and cruelty from other game products.

To keep a product trim, healthy, and happy, it's going to need editors to run it through its paces.

According to Paizo's editorial tag-team of Christopher Carey and James Sutter, an editor's job involves neither crushing the dreams of authors nor blindly hacking away at text, but instead is a carefully crafted routine to burn off flabby text and improve narrative posture. Like a cephalopod, any quality Paizo product needs to hit the gym regularly to keep it healthy. Just like any fitness-obsessed octopus will hit both the free-weights and the treadmill, Paizo products will rotate their editing to catch problems with grammar, spelling, word choice, continuity, voice, and even the occasional rewrite to adjust the word count. Even the greatest authors will occasionally dip into the candy-coated bacon of purple prose or forget to tie their punctuation, so a good editor can help make sure every product can fit into its cover before the big class reunion.

The amount of editing any given product needs is easily determined with the formula n+1, where n is the amount of time you actually have to edit the book. Because of this conundrum, it's important for editors to make the most of the time they do have. At Paizo, the ideal grammatical specimen sees four editorial passes: two from each of Paizo's own hard-nosed prose-wranglers. A 'pass' is a single read-through. Obsessive-compulsive as any wild pack rat, these editors greedily gobble up any mistakes they sniff out, trading it for proper spellings or active voice. And because anyone, even editors, can make mistakes, multiple passes and different editors help to ensure that no errors go unexamined.

For Paizo products especially, the editors also serve the dual role of security. They stand constant vigil over continuity of Golarion, ensuring that dead NPCs don't crop back up, that cities don't spontaneously shift location, and that worst of enemies aren't running around as BFF. The editors have the blessing and curse to read every product Paizo releases, from thrilling Planet Stories to mysterious modules, and serve as living repositories of the universe.

And yet they stay so svelte, just like the products they care for.

Editing is necessary for the health and longevity of a product. Without it, mistakes, typos, and plain, old dead wood can slip through into the final product, clogging intakes eventually leading to frustration overheating in readers. The heat released by frustrated readers contributes to the inconvenient truth of global warming, melting the polar ice caps, flooding coastal regions, and causing alligator populations to explode. Ultimately, mankind devolves into primitive tribes of swamp dwellers, hiding in terror from the maurading ultra-gators that have made this marshy, dystopian Earth their own!

So to keep your writing trim and healthy, and to ensure the survival of the human race, edit!

Now that our product is happy, healthy, and knows where its going in life, next week we're ready for that special time in every product's life when it truly becomes a book. Next week, we examine layout!

Crystal Frasier
Production Assistant

Carrion Hill Preview #2

Monday, October 12, 2009

The Pathfinder RPG Bestiary has reached our warehouse, and we've loaded it with hundreds of updated monsters for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. However, some of our favorites didn't quite make the cut and had to be left out of the book. Fortunately, we're clever and sneaky, and found a way to get one of the extra monsters into the Pathfinder Module Carrion Hill. After all, in an adventure with Lovecraftian horrors, this shapeshifting creature should feel right at home.

Illustration by Tyler Walpole	Illustration by Hector Ortiz

Sean K Reynolds
Developer, Pathfinder Modules

Ecology of the Pathfinder Product, Part 3: An Outbreak of Art

Tuesday, October 5, 2009

Illustration by Crystal Frasier

Cave raptors are sated; It's time to blog!

As it stands, Dwarves of Golarion is now written and assembled by its loving developer. Though awkward and gangly, we can see what it will finally grow up into. But at this point, this happy child is nothing more than a text document in the daycare that is a documents folder, happy rolling in the mud and receiving bowl cuts from mom. But there's an ugly truth for gaming products that this little production goblin's learned at her junior prom: you can be creative and brilliant, but if you don't look good, nobody'll pick you up.

Enter the art order, the good grooming of game design.

The majestic octopus mates for life, and hopes to find a sensitive and intellectually compatible lover that shares its appreciation of American Gothic poetry, but it will make its initial judgments based on appearance and health. Similarly, good art can make a product seem interesting and romantic before the first words are even read. It can make the difference between a product you don't tell your friends about, and one you take home to mom. But like an attractive octopus, a quality illustration must be carefully cared for if it is to be worthwhile.

The art order begins once the text for a product has begun development. By now, the developer knows how everything will shake down, even if the specifics remain a mystery. The developer will sit down with the decorator crab that is the art director, and with careful attention to the budget, they decide how much art the book can stand and what compelling elements to call out in pictorial form. With that list completed, the task is kicked back to the developer and his editorial cronies, who write up brief descriptions of all the illustrations they'll need to get their product a seat at the popular table during lunch.

By now, the art director is already comfortable in its den, combing through the preferred artists list and thinking about what to assign to whom. Just like writers and tutors, different artists' styles lend themselves better to different moods and fit different products*. A happy, bubbly, or wacky artist would be a terrible fit for Dwarves of Golarion's "quiet and cool" attitude, and would be better suited for its goofy sidekick, Gnomes of Golarion. Once the art orders are written, the art director mails them along to the illustrators of choice, together with the promise of great riches.

The first thing received from the artists are those embarrassing family photos we like to call 'sketches.' These are passed out among the editorial and art staff, who make crippling judgments about cowlicks, large ears, and crooked teeth that will haunt the product well into adulthood. They also make note of any changes the artist needs to make.

Finally, the finished images are received from the artists who, like the octopus, die shortly afterwards. This cruel cycle of nature provides the few glimpse of a grown-up, mature product that needs to be home by ten because tonight is a school night.

Illustrations by Jeremy McHugh

The art order is vital in a product's life cycle because it prevents the normally docile artists from breaking free of their enclosures and wandering the streets, mauling and tagging innocent civilians at random. It also serves as the cranial implant that prevents the art directors from seizing the reigns of power and assuming their rightful places as god-kings, directing the entirety of a company's funding into a single, penultimate illustration that makes children weep and grown men fall to their knees in prayer. Very important if you are a company looking to put out more than one product.

By now in the life cycle, our game product has begun to grow up and go through some awkward changes. Suitors have come calling, and its started wearing makeup. Tune in next week when we'll examine how to cope with your precious first draft's frustrating period of editing!

Crystal Frasier
Production Assistant

*Except for Wayne Reynolds, whose art is universal and can bring peace to warring nations.

GameMastery Guide Cover!

Monday, October 5, 2009

I may have mentioned this before, but the main villain of Pathfinder’s first Adventure Path, Karzoug, was no stranger to tormenting PCs. He was one of my homebrew campaign’s major recurring characters—a powerful wizard who served as the true menace behind the throne of an evil warlord. In my homebrew, Karzoug wielded a scythe and had already made the transition to lich and wasn’t as concerned with greed, but he was very much still the campaign’s poster child for “evil wizard.” He eventually met his end when a pair of heroes, the barbarian Verik and the wizard Zefram, confronted Karzoug in, of all places, Baba Yaga’s dancing hut. Karzoug was trying to claim the hut’s legendary power source for his own evil purposes, and while this certainly annoyed Baba Yaga, she wasn’t about to give the PCs uncontested access to her magical fortress. And so these two high-level PCs snuck through the depths of the dancing hut filled with fear about breaking or even touching anything, avoiding every single encounter and trap through an uncharacteristic caution that, in the end, served them quite well. I’d intended them to finally reach Karzoug and have the final battle with the evil wizard after the PCs had depleted much of their resources dealing with the natives of Baba Yaga’s hut, and when they reached Karzoug with much of those resources untapped, I figured they deserved the advantage. Turns out, they needed that advantage anyway. Even in the 1st edition of the game, Karzoug was a menace.

And so, when it came to deciding on a villain to inflict upon Golarion, it was with quite a bit of pride and nostalgia that I resurrected old Karzoug. He’d changed specializations (necromancer to transmuter) and weapons (scythe to glaive) and got a promotion (from the power behind the throne to the guy who sits on the throne), but in a lot of other ways he remained the same. Of course, getting Wayne Reynolds to illustrate him was one of the more surreal moments of my gaming career... and now, seeing him on the cover of our upcoming GameMastery Guide, that sense of surreal pride has returned. Wayne Reynolds has done a fantastic job making Karzoug epitomize the role of "super-powerful wizard." Take a moment to look through all of his stuff! Caged imp, pet blue dragon, throne manacles for prisoners, spellbooks casually stacked to the side, crazy crystal ball with some sort of apparatus wrapped around it, a throne that can probably see—and that doesn’t even touch all of his fancy magical equipment he’s got ready to ruin the next PC to step his way!

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief

Ecology of the Pathfinder Product, Part 2: The Awkward Development Years

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Illustration by Crystal Frasier

Cave Raptors are sated; It's time to blog!

When last we left Dwarves of Golarion, it was a mere egg of an outline, being fussed over by attentive parents and waiting to hatch. But now it is time for that blessed moment when an idea emerges into the world as written words! It is time for… the development phase!

Development is the process of growing a book from an idea and a few rough notes into written text, rearing the infant outline into a rebellious and hateful teenager who will keep you up at nights, drinking your secret stash of scotch and praying to god it turns out alright. Much like the rearing of the noble octopus, a game product requires two separate parties: the designer and the developer. Designers are the writers and artists (more on those wily and attractive artists next week), while the developers are the core who tie everything together. Where developers are comparable to an overprotective parent, designers are more akin to teachers: chosen carefully by the developer to impart information and direction to their snot-nosed offspring.

Of course, this is not an insult. Both octopi and game developers are widely known for their post-nasal drip.

Choosing a writer is a careful task. Like parents, developers want someone who will make their job easier. These choices are made by means of an arcane formula that takes into account past products, punctuality, and relative position of the stars. Managing Editor Wes Schneider admits that Paizo relies on a small, incestuous lot of authors to rear our products. Putting new designers through their paces requires time and branding irons, both of which Paizo has in painfully limited quantities*.

For roleplaying products, the ideal designer can fill three vital roles for the juvenile product: author, game mechanic, and artisan. Telling a good story and having a firm grasp of the mechanics are important, but just as vital and oft overlooked is the role of player-friendly artifacts in a young game's life. Like a sweater vest, legible maps and gripping player handouts are those little touches that decide if a product rides along on the bus or resides at the cool table at lunch.

The developers' job is just as challenging and vital to give their books the best chance at happiness. They need to organize everything those precious bundles have absorbed from their designers and make sure they play nice with the other products. A developer needs to tweak the mechanics to balance with the system at large, rewrite some fluff to keep the narrative canon, and embarrass the product in front of its friends. Even the best writing needs at least a week or two in development, says Schneider, because "folks aren't here every day, and they don't know exactly what we need."

Dwarves of Golarion and similar anthology products are like troubled foster kids: they get bounced between several authors and other corrupting influences. A firm and loving eyeball is needed to guide them through this troubled time. The twitterpated Sean Reynolds, developer in charge of this problem child, has had his hands full. Every line written by its savage gang of authors needs to be reviewed for balance and continuity, and he must occasionally search its room for illicit substances and pop culture references.

Without proper development, a game product suffers. Its already-overworked Paizo parents stretch themselves too thin trying to write thousands of words a day while maintaining their backbreaking day jobs in the grammar mines. Neglected and uneducated, the books would fall back into dull narrative habits and eventually turn to crime to make ends meet. Crime rates skyrocket, property values plummet, and we are all left unprepared for the forthcoming invasion of the reptimen from the Earth's core!

So, for a happy and contributing addition to the RPG landscape, make sure you follow the example of the methodical octopus. Keep a close group of talent to help raise your products, but don't give away your own parental responsibilities!

Tune in next week, when we examine the art of art, and stretch the octopus metaphor to it's breaking point!

Crystal Frasier
Production Assistant

*Wes also mentions that if you're a newcomer who'd like to write for Paizo and has a high pain threshold, you should still write and submit. Both the Pathfinder Society Open Call and RPG Superstar are Paizo's favorite tools for reviewing new blood in an organized setting. Publishing your own material online through a blog or website is a good icebreaker as well (check out Paizo's Community Use Policy for more details). Being on productive and nonviolent terms with other publishers also helps, as the RPG industry is made up of a mere 73 people, all of whom know each other personally and frequently gather for the imbibing of caustic organic solvents.

Ecology of the Pathfinder Product, Part 1: Hatching an Outline

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Illustration by Crystal Frasier

Cave raptors are sated, so now it is time for blogging!

Few things spring into the world fully formed, and game products are no exception. And if you aren't involved in the publishing industry, you might expect the life cycle of a supplement as unknowable as that of an octopus.

And it is.

As a neophyte nanny in the Paizo maternity ward, my elbows-deep, on-the-job training has been a real eye-opener. And if I have to suffer through that experience, then there's no reason not to share the pain. Over the next few weeks, we'll take a look at the stages of development of a young sourcebook, show off embarrassing baby pictures, and generally demystify the miracle of life as we follow Dwarves of Golarion from Outline, to Development, through Art Orders, Editing, Layout, Extra Editing, and finally Printing and Shipping.

The octopus knows it is time to reproduce when the seasons are right. Similarly, Paizo Publisher par excellence, Erik Mona, explains that a product first emerges when the various carriers demand a season's previews for their catalogs. At this point, the development team enters a furious ritual to determine whose memes are passed on to the next generation of Pathfinder canon.

Once the product ideas are agreed upon, each one goes on to outlining.

As a book egg, the outline doesn't tell us much, except that the book is healthy and to start preparing the office for its blessed arrival. We know who the proud papas are, and the outline hints if the book will grow into a fluffy nerd or crunchy jock, but nothing is set in stone just yet. Developers dig out warm nests in a hard drive to house the outline, lining it with file folders and sticky notes until writers can be assigned to help the book hatch and develop. A title (and adorable nickname) is decided upon, the chapters are parsed out, words counts are decided, and a handful of notes give developers and contributors an idea what the baby book will look like all grown up.

Unlike the noble octopus, the developer does not hover over the outline, constantly blowing salt water over it. Sean Reynolds occasionally spills latte on his, but more in a crude ritual to beg the gaming gods for the product's continued health.

Some things are immutable: Companions and Modules are Small sized (32pages), while Chronicles and APs will grow to Medium size (64 and 96 pages). Much like octopi, the largest, healthiest writers get first claim to the larger, healthier books, though until the outline hatches into development, even it's parentage can change.

Dwarves of Golarion Outline

As we can see from these adorable Dwarves of Golarion baby photos, the prenatal book doesn't resemble the adult product except in title. As the final draft of the outline, it's already showing the beginning signs of development: Exact words counts for each chapter have been decided and writers have been assigned to sit on the project until it hatches. We can also see in the bottom, left-hand corner that a goblin has chewed on this outline: an obvious indicator of superior product!

Without the outline, development would grow higgledy-piggledy, with chapters repeating each other, growing like tumors until they stretched the page count to breaking. Writers would run free, uncontrolled and burning things they shouldn't burn. Chaos would spill into the streets, and civilization as we know it would crumble.

So remember kids, be like the mighty octopus: plan your books carefully before getting started and save us all unneeded anarchy.

Crystal Frasier
Production Assistant

Bestiary Preview II

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Illustration by Peter Bergting

Although the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary is still several weeks away from its release date, that’s no reason why you can’t get started playing adventures like Pathfinder Adventure Path #26: The Sixfold Trial or the various Season 1 Pathfinder Society Scenarios!

The new Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary Preview II supplements our first preview (which was tailored to support Pathfinder Adventure Path #25: The Bastards of Erebus), and shows off more universal monster rules and an additional 11 pages of monsters taken directly from the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary itself.

Download the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary Preview II now!

They appreciate my mastery of fire...

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Illustration by Crystal Frasier

Greetings from the new Paizo caverns! As the newest addition to the war party, it falls on me to write today's blog. I am Crystal, and yes, I am named after a shiny rock. We can all thank my grandfather and his love of all things shiny.

When I first met the very talented Sarah Robinson in a hotel restroom and asked her about layout and design, I never expected that to turn into a real internship, let alone a job. My own experience in production work has been limited, but my enthusiasm, wit, and mastery of fire have impressed the Paizo staff enough to bring me into the fold.

It's hardly surprising, of course. Much of my life has been spent gaming or burning down peasant villages, the two skills the gaming industry demands.

My first experiences with roleplaying come from junior high, where I was none-too-politely barred from joining the gaming club for 1) being a girl, 2) never having played before, and 3) mauling the faculty advisor (see issue #1 and #2). My first play experience came in high school, thanks to Palladium Books' Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness. As a poor country goblin, I didn't even have my own fancy dice; instead I used paper lunch sacks. I filled them with numbered chits, and just drew my results instead of rolling for them. Some days I miss my "b20." Since then, games have filled my life, even to the point of writing and developing a few projects for small companies. Some of the stellar games I obsess over include Green Ronin's Mutants and Masterminds, Wizards of the Coast's d20 Modern and Ghostwalk, Hijinks (created by Paizo for Polyhedron #158), and Margaret Weiss's Serenity RPG, as well as the obscure and unheard-of Pathfinder RPG.

My mastery of fire is a meandering, unlikely tale and will need to wait for another day.

Working with the Paizo crew is exciting; these are some of the best writers, developers, and designers in the industry, and they work hard at jobs they love. Never have I seen such dedication in any career that did not include the words "chocolate factory" or "brewery." The offices themselves are delightfully non-Euclidean, and I've learned the hard way to keep my distance from the impossible corners and ignore the whispers.

As a production assistant, I help fill in the cracks and manage the grunt work for Paizo's savage art directors, James Davis and Sarah Robinson. This usually means managing the digital archives, making changes the editors want, and topping off the coffee. The harder I work, the easier it is for James and Sarah to weave their arcane rituals, transforming the mad, gibbering scrawls the editors create into those glorious Pathfinder and Gamemastery products we all know and love. Also, twice a week I descend into the sub-basement and feed the cave-raptors, lest their terrible hungers overwhelm them and they rampage through the offices, making books late.

And none of this would be possible if I hadn't worked up the nerve to talk to Sarah about learning the layout arts. So remember, if you really want to work for Paizo Publishing, the secret is propositioning someone in the bathroom!*

Crystal Frasier
Production Assistant

* The secret is not really bathroom propositions. Neither the author, nor Paizo Publishing, LLC endorse this course of action. Paizo will not be held liable for resulting criminal charges or civil lawsuits that may result. Offer not valid in Minnesota. Side effects include nasal discharge, headaches, and dice bags under the eyes.

They're Gonna Catch You All!

Wednesday, August 9, 2009

My evil murder dolls. Let me show you them.

Left to right, we have Draggy, Fluff Gugg, Mr. Straw, the too-scary-to-have-a-name Mwangi Fetish, and Molly Missy. They will be visiting your characters with their own special brand of pain and murder soon. And perhaps your nightmares even sooner!

Illustration by Tyler Walpole

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief

Book of the Damned: Heresy Devil and Erinyes Queen on Labor Day

Monday, September 7, 2009

Ahh, Labor Day! A day to relax, share the company of friends, and enjoy one of the last summer weekends in the northern hemisphere. Of course, if you're this heresy devil from Princes of Darkness, Book of the Damned Volume I, you've probably never had an honest day of work in your life—just beers, bratwurst, and corrupting existing religions to evil. He's really let himself go, the guy probably weighs like 2,300 pounds! And here's his nagging girlfriend, one of the Erinyes Queens. "Why can't you get a job? All you do is loaf around with your stupid friends! My mother was right about you!" Feels like home, doesn't it?

Illustrations by Eva Widermann

Sean K Reynolds
Developer, Pathfinder Chronicles

2009 ENnie Voting Ends!

Friday, July 31, 2009

Last time I'll mention it this year, promise. Voting for the ENnie Awards ends tomorrow, so if you haven't cast your ballot yet for your favorite games and accessories, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!? Intimidation? Is that's what it's going to take? Fine then, I'll leave that to Dave Allsop's mite from the upcoming Pathfinder RPG Bestiary. Now go vote!

Illustration by Dave Allsop

Wes Schneider
Managing Editor

Snagged from the Vault: Pathfinder RPG Bestiary

Monday, July 20, 2009

Work continues frantically as we put the final touches on the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary. In anticipation of the light at the end of this beastly tunnel, here's a host of new divine creatures preparing to come to your PCs' aid in just a few short weeks!

Art by Michael Jaecks	Art by Alex Schim
Art by Andrew Hou	Art by Kieran Yanner

F. Wesley Schneider
Managing Editor

Snagged from the Vault: Pathfinder RPG Bestiary

Monday, July 6, 2009

As promised, we shall continue to astound and delight you with pictures pilfered from the pages of the infamous Pathfinder Bestiary. Featured here today are four mighty and terrible creatures from the Great Beyond. We leave it in our readers' capable hands to determine which type of fiend each illustration represents...

Art by Tyler Walpole	Art by Tyler Walpole
Art by Ben Wooten	Art by Kevin Yan

Vadid and Nahk
Preview Purloiners

Snagged from the Vault: Pathfinder RPG Bestiary

Monday, June 29, 2009

While the denizens of the Pit have been slavishly wrangling hundreds upon hundreds of beasts both fascinating and foul, we've managed to slip in and liberate a particularly interesting few. Now behold! We bring to you, our faithful readers, the terrible visages of four terrifying creatures, taken directly from the pages of the fabled Pathfinders' Bestiary that nears completion deep in the Vault of the Golem. Some of these creatures are obvious, yet what the others are, we cannot say. Perhaps you, dear readers, can tell us what they are?

Art by Eric Lofgren	Art by Andrew Hou
Art by Kieran Yanner	Art by Michael Jaecks

Watch close for further glimpses into the gruesome Bestiary; next time, expect fearsome creatures from the Great Beyond!

Vadid and Nahk
Preview Purloiners

Free RPG Day Cometh!

Friday, June 19, 2009

The Free RPG Day is almost upon us, as is your chance to grab your copy of the limited Pathfinder RPG Bonus Bestiary for free! This Saturday, June 20th, participating retailers will be handing out this fabulous little full-color supplement featuring 13 classic monsters, each updated to the upcoming Pathfinder RPG rules! These critters won't be found in the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary, so if you want an early copy for your Pathfinder game, find a local participating retailer at www.freerpgday.com!

Hank Woon
Editorial Intern

Snagged from the Vault: Grand Sultan of the Efreet

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Behold! A portrait of the Grand Sultan of the Efreet, faithfully rendered by Ben Wooten. Look for the grand sultan within the pages of "The City of Brass" in Pathfinder Adventure Path volume #23: The Impossible Eye.

Vadid and Nahk
Preview Purloiners

Snagged from the Vault: Sepid Div

Friday, May 8, 2009

As my foolhardy companion and I limp away from our latest excursion into the vault, we leave for you as a weekend preview the sepid div, a terrifying entry in the Bestiary of the upcoming Pathfinder Adventure Path #23: The Impossible Eye, as depicted here by Jason Engle.

Four curling horns sprout from is giant's head and an inhuman tongue flickers among sharply filed teeth. Covered with pale, pockmarked and spiky flesh, this monstrous warrior stands fully twice the height of an average human and assumes a confident stance as it effortlessly hefts a sword large enough to cleft a horse in twain.

Vadid and Nahk
Preview Purloiners

Snagged from the Vault: Pathfinder #23—The Impossible Eye

Monday, April 27, 2009

It is with the greatest pleasure that we are able to bring you some fantastic art with which to start your week. Featured here is the cover to Pathfinder Adventure Path #23: The Impossible Eye, painted by Jesper Ejsing. Valeros looks like he's really gotten in over his head this time!

Vadid and Nahk
Preview Purloiners

Imprisoned by Flame
A world of fire and wonder awaits! The path of the planes is fickle and the PCs' road home proves far more difficult than any had anticipated. Emerging from the pleasure plane of Kakishon reveals all the wealth and terror of a vast efreeti palace tightly sealed by ancient magics and situated at the heart of the incredible City of Brass. In this lavish citadel of sculpted flame, the PCs find hints into the burning obsession of their hidden foe. But will their discoveries be of any help to their imperiled world, hidden away in some distant reality? And can they ever hope to escape a prison that has, for untold centuries, imprisoned some of the most powerful creatures of a realm of endless flame?

Illustration by David Bircham

Half-Elf, All Druid, No Tree Hugging

Monday, April 20, 2009

When you think of characters in game-world fiction, what first comes to mind are the fighters, wizards, and rogues. Priests are fine if they're sufficiently powerful and conflicted, otherwise, not so much. Bards generally play second fiddle, you should pardon the expression, and paladins are seldom cast in starring roles. The druids, apparently, are too busy communing with nature to bother with fiction.

Since the publication of my first shared-world book, Elfshadow, in 1991, I've hit most of the character classes with the exception of the druid. Channa Ti, the protagonist of the Pathfinder's Journal fiction in the Legacy of Fire Adventure Path, is my first.

I started with a typical D&D druid—a serene mystic who dwells in emerald groves, nurturing the woodland creatures and healing hapless passersby with potions brewed from rare herbs and crafted from recipes learned at the feet of wise, benevolent elven mentors. And then I put him in a cage match with Channa and observed while she stomped him into organic fertilizer.

Sometimes the creative process takes interesting turns.

Once I started thinking seriously about druids, one of Tennyson's more famous quatrains came to mind:

Who trusted God was love indeed
   And love Creation's final law—
   Tho' Nature, red in tooth and claw
With ravine, shrieked against his creed—

Why should druids embody calm serenity and selfless love rather than "Nature, red in tooth and claw"? Surely some druids would be more closely attuned to nature's predators. This notion was central to Channa Ti's creation. To her way of thinking, "A paladin's noble steed must eat, but then, so must a crocodile."

Another inspiration came from Pathfinder's ingenious addition to the druid class: the Nature Bond, which allows druids to specialize in one of the domains—Air, Animal, Earth, Fire, Plant, Water, or Weather—rather than forming a partnership with a companion animal. Since Channa is a loner by nature and circumstances, this suited her perfectly. An affinity for water also gives her considerable value in a desert clime. An expert dowser, she occasionally pays her way as a "water witch." Her ability to sense a coming rain is highly valued in a culture that still mourns the passing of the Age of Prophecy and is always seeking some way to foresee the future. Finally, her affinity with water gives her skills that interest people obsessed with an ancient, sea-swallowed realm.

Nature Bond offers intriguing potential for character development and storytelling, not just for fiction, but also for campaign use. For those of you who've never played a druid—and I'm guessing that's most of you—the Pathfinder setting is a great place to start.

Elaine Cunningham
Contributor

Hunting the Planes

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Readers with a keen eye might spot something a little different on the credits page to Pathfinder Adventure Path #22. Tucked in there amid all the who's-whos and what's-whats is a dedication to Spooky the Mighty Hunter, feline familiar and cat of legend. I personally didn't know Spooky, as he was Gary Teter's long-time partner in crime, but when Lisa came to us with the news that our web czar's slinky sidekick had moved on to hunt upon other planes of existence and suggested adding him into a Pathfinder adventure, we were all for it. Even Kevin Yan stepped up to the task of cranking out the super-fast portrait for the noble hunter before our deadline. So just a heads up to those thousands of players who tackle "The Edge of Eternity" in Pathfinder #22—keep an eye out for Spooky, a wandering kitty who proves just as reliable, just as tenacious, and just as adorable a companion in Golarion as he did out here. Good hunting!

F. Wesley Schneider
Managing Editor

Snagged from the Vault: Otyugh

Monday, April 13, 2009

From the upcoming Pathfinder Chronicles product, Dungeon Denizens Revisited, behold the vile otyugh, as depicted by artist Ben Wootten.

The strong scent of rotting garbage precedes this walking horror. It stumbles on three massive legs that end in flat stumps with broad toes. Atop these is a gigantic mouth full of crumbling teeth that seems to stretch from one side of its broad body to the other. Extending from its body is a trio of muscular tentacles, each one ending in a hooked pad, waving around menacingly.

Vadid and Nahk
Preview Purloiners

Worth Waiting For!

Friday, April 10, 2009

Even though Free RPG Day is still 70-some days away, we just got in our first look at this year's offering, the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Bonus Bestiary, here in the Paizo offices, and for a freebie, just let me say wow!. Way more than just a preview of the upcoming Pathfinder RPG Bestiary, this 16-page mini-manual of monstrosities shows off new rules for monsters straight from the Pathfinder RPG, a rundown of just 257 of the monsters you can expect to appear in September's Bestiary, and updated statistics for 13 classic monsters—including the allip, carytid column, faerie dragon, and shadow mastiff—not to mention a few other surprises slipped in there. Also, although it's been hiding on the product page for a while, here's Tyler Walpole's action-packed cover, which kind of gives away one more monster hiding in the book. You can pick up your totally free copy of the Bonus Bestiary in print at local game stores as part of Free RPG Day on Saturday, June 20th. Free PDFs of the book will also be available right here at paizo.com on Free RPG Day and thereafter (with a limited number of print copies also being available for cheap soon after). Good stuff, and I can't wait to show off more from it—like a ton of awesome new monster art—in the coming month.

Oh, and for cthulhudarren from the boards, you can expect to see stats for your favorite monster in here too. Enjoy!

Wes Schneider
Managing Editor

Snagged from the Vault: Two-Headed Ruhk

Thursday, April 9, 2009

From the Bestiary of Pathfinder Adventure Path volume #21 comes this twisted menace, the nightmarish two-headed ruhk, as depicted by Tyler Walpole...

Beating its greasy, night-black wings, this gigantic two-headed vulture picks across the ground upon two earth sheering talons. Craning its twin massive heads forward, the terrible avian opens its giant twin beaks to unleash a blood curdling shriek.

Vadid and Nahk
Preview Purloiners

Snagged from the Vault: Ratsheek

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

For those of you who have been following the adventures of the druid Pathfinder Channa Ti in Elaine Cunningham's "Dark Tapestry" Pathfinder's Journal, as featured in the , we bring you the visage of Ratsheek, the villainous gnoll, as depicted by artist David Bircham...

Vadid and Nahk
Preview Purloiners

The Shadow Under Sandpoint Campaign Begins!

Monday, April 6, 2009

Last Thursday an unlikely group of strangers gathered on the docks of Sandpoint, beginning what will doubtlessly be one of the most unfortunate misadventures in the usually peaceful town's history. This marks the beginning of the Paizo editorial pit's new biweekly Pathfinder RPG Campaign: James Jacobs's The Shadow Under Sandpoint! Watch the calamity unfold with ongoing character reports, missives, comments, journal entries, and sketches on the Shadow Under Sandpoint thread here.

And wish good luck to the people of Sandpoint—they're going to need it.

F. Wesley Schneider
Managing Editor

Snagged from the Vault: Dungeon Denizens Revisited

Friday, April 3, 2009

Closing out this week's blogs, we unveil a terrible creature that epitomizes the savage and insatiable hunger possessed by you, our ravenous readers: the bulette, illustrated here by Steve Prescott...

Of all the beasts that populate the wilderness, few are as feared as the bulette. Known sometimes as the landshark, the bulette is a sleek predator, moving as fluidly through earth as those primeval eating machines move through water. Bulettes possess insatiable hunger and view anything that moves as food. They hunt constantly, and when their attention turns to new hunting grounds they feed until nothing remains. They are the stuff of nightmares, the bane of the wilderness—a brutal, savage monster whose ferocious majesty was not evolved, but intentionally crafted.

Vadid and Nahk
Preview Purloiners

Snagged from the Vault: Dark Markets, A Guide to Katapesh

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Our latest foray into the treacherous Vault has met with success once again, dear readers! Today we bring you a preview of the dreaded ghul, the restless undead spirit of a fallen genie, illustrated here by Tyler Walpole. The ghul appears in the bestiary of Pathfinder Chronicles: Dark Markets, A Guide to Katapesh, due out in April. Fear the power of the genies, even in death!

Vadid and Nahk
Preview Purloiners

Sometimes a janni dies in a state of disfavor with Fate; as a parting curse from its race's age-old enemy Ahriman (lord of the divs), such an ill-favored genie may come back from the dead as a ghul, a ghoul version of genie-kind. Ghuls are easily recognized as inhuman by their donkey hooves, which shame them greatly; most ghuls take great pains to hide their hooves from view. Ghuls feed upon carrion much as their lesser ghoulish kin, but prefer the fresh blood of mortals, especially children and innocents. They haunt desolate cemeteries and necropolises feeding upon the interred as well as mourners and gravediggers they can catch. They despise the light of the sun (though it does not harm them), so such locations are usually safe during the day, though there are no guarantees that a hungry ghul might not brave the dreaded light to obtain a tasty-looking morsel.

Snagged from the Vault: The Great Beyond, A Guide to the Multiverse

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

From the depths of the vault we bring you another glimpse into The Great Beyond, illustrated by Sarah Stone...

Individual keketars range from 7 to 40 feet long, though they constantly shift and change like the unformed reality of the Maelstrom itself, altering color and serpentine banding patterns, shrinking or elongating, and undergoing even more radical physical changes. However, a keketar possesses two static features: first, whatever configuration its body takes, its eyes are always a piercing shade of violet; and second, a whirling ring of ever-changing symbols floats above and around its head like a shapeshifting crown. The cloud's symbols coil, snarl, and intermingle with one another, gradually merging and mutating without apparent pattern. Each keketar is marked by unique stylistic elements within the symbols and the general orientation and appearance of the crown—useful for distinguishing between different individuals. They can hide or manifest this crown at will, but they usually leave it visible.

Vadid and Nahk
Preview Purloiners

Snagged from the Vault: Dungeon Denizens Revisited

March 23, 2009

Though the golem has grown ever craftier and his traps ever more insidious, my colleague and I managed to distract him just long enough to swipe a quick preview of the upcoming Pathfinder Chronicles product, Dungeon Denizens Revisited, illustrated here by Michael Jaecks...

Vadid and Nahk
Preview Purloiners

Mimics are asexual, and reproduce via spores. When a mimic controls enough food and territory, it undergoes an involuntary internal change called spatter-spawning, laying out a large, thick glue-carpet of spore-rich protoplasm 30 or more feet in diameter. Having marked the walls and floor of a particular cavern or ruin with this stinking graffiti, it departs, never to return. Immature mimics bud out of the whitish glue-carpet, forming multi-hued, chitin-plated plasmoids the size of housecats; immediately ambulatory and capable of camouflage, these miniature mimics feed upon the glue-carpet, each other, and those helpless scavengers attracted by the stench and subsequently trapped by the glue.

Look for the full article on mimcs in Dungeon Denizens Revisited!

Snagged from the Vault: The Great Beyond

Friday, March 13, 2009

After yesterday's fateful misadventure, we have decided against heavily drinking Qadiran firewine before plumbing the depths of the Vault in the future. Today, dear readers, we promise to fetch only the finest art from the Golem's boundless treasury. Presented here are the axiomites and astradaemons from Pathfinder Chronicles: The Great Beyond, illustrated by Sarah Stone. Our deepest apologies for the errors of our last theft.

Vadid and Nahk
Preview Purloiners

The lords, caretakers, and architects of the eternal city of Axis, the axiomites possess a wide variety of outward forms, oddly unlike the uniformity displayed by their fellow natives, the hive-dwelling formians. A random cross-section of axiomite society contains those who resemble flawless, perfect humanoids of all descriptions—typically humans, elves, tieflings, dwarves, halflings, giants, and even gnomes—but these outward shapes belie their true forms, which can be seen briefly whenever the axiomites move or perform any complex actions. During such moments, their bodies partly dissolve into glowing clouds of golden, crystalline dust. The clouds move and contort on their own accord, temporarily congealing into twisting lines of mathematic symbols and complex tangles of equations. Each axiomite is actually an immortal construct of living, intelligent mathematics approximating a humanoid shape.

Astradaemons appear as ghostly, faintly phosphorescent, rail-thin humanoids with exaggeratedly long limbs. The fiends also have a seemingly random number of translucent tentacles trailing from their backs, shoulders, and upper arms, which wave and weave through the air. Their bizarre forms possess heads that are skeletal, elongated, and vaguely piscine, reptilian, or canine, always bearing hungry rictus grins. Wicked, curved claws sprout from their hands and feet, and each creature’s tail moves in rhythm with its tentacles, typically hanging toward the ground and almost doubling its length. As the perpetually ravenous servitors of Abbadon’s archdaemons, the astradaemons’ touch is corruptive and damaging to the spiritual material of souls. Their touch and especially their bite can cause horrific damage, akin to that of a wraith, to anything they attack. Most feared, however, is their ability to utterly consume the souls of those killed in their proximity, feeding off of their essence or dragging it back to their fiendish overlords.

Artist: Concept Art House

Snagged from the Vault: Pathfinder #21—The Jackal's Price

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Once again, the foolhardy Purloiners have braved the depths of the Vault of the Golem to bring you, our faithful readers, a glimpse of the future. Featured here today is the cover of Pathfinder Adventure Path volume #21—The Jackal's Price. Enjoy it, dear readers, before the Golem returns to claim his prize...

Vadid and Nahk
Preview Purloiners

A strange artifact discovered in the belly of an ancient ruin has all of Katapesh intrigued. Yet none can decipher the strange markings, nor confirm much about the scroll's purpose beyond the fact that the magic it contains is powerful indeed. In order to learn more, a trip to the sprawling market city of Katapesh itself must be mounted. Yet others want the map for themselves—scheming merchants eager to make their fortunes with its sale, enraged gnolls eager to reclaim what they feel rightfully belongs to them, and even a sinister hidden society willing to murder to claim the treasure as its own. What could be hidden within that could drive so many to such desperate acts of violence and mayhem? Is this artifact truly the one and only Scroll of Kakishon, and does the one who controls it control an entire world?

Roots & Beginnings: Genies of Golarion

Monday, March 2, 2009

One of the perks about being an intern at Paizo is that I have the privilege of reading and editing Pathfinder material that I would normally peruse in my free time. In my first week here at Paizo, in fact, I was handed a manuscript for an article that will be appearing in Pathfinder Adventure Path volume #21, "The Jackal's Price." This article describes the various cultures of genies and legends surrounding geniekind, and should prove very useful for those GMs seeking to expand their players' encounters with these mythological creatures in the Legacy of Fire Adventure Path. I had a chance to speak with Wes recently about the historical and mythological sources that were referenced in the creation of Golarion's genies.

One of the most comprehensive sources is The Encyclopedia of Middle Eastern Mythology and Religion by Jan Knappert. In the pages of this reference guide, sandwiched between the entries for Jilani and Jiris (the Arabic form of the name George, apparently), is a fairly long explanation of jinns. Knappert explains that in Islamic countries, spirits are divided among jinns, shaytans, ifrits, and marids, and that in Ancient Persia some jinns and other evil spirits were referred to as div (which also have a role as a new breed of fiends in Legacy of Fire). The entry goes on to illustrate examples of genies from myth, for instance, Knappert explains that many jinns "have ugly and terrifying forms" as a result of God's curse for copulating with animals.

Another source that was referenced is Everyman's Dictionary of Non-Classical Mythology by Egerton Sykes. Among other things, this book was used as a reference to further develop the shaitans, the new earth-based genie that was created as a replacement for closed-content earth genies. The brief entry explains that shaitan was the Islamic name for devil, and the it also "applied to the third species of jinn."

Wikipedia also proved to be an invaluable font of (sometimes questionable) knowledge about genies and Middle Eastern mythology in general. In the entry for ifrit, for example, an ifrit is described as "an enormous winged creature of smoke, either male or female, who lives underground and frequents ruins." The entry goes on to explain, "While ordinary weapons and forces have no power over them, they are susceptible to magic, which humans can use to kill them or to capture and enslave them." Already sounding like RPG text, entries like this can do a lot to spark GMs' imaginations.

Hopefully these sources can serve as a launching pad for your own investigations into the nature of the always-unpredictable and dangerous genies and can inspire you to flesh out the nature of genies in your own games. You can also look forward to a detailed exploration of genies and their society showing up in Pathfinder Adventure Path volume #21. Also check out Jesper Ejsing's djinni illustration appearing on the cover of that volume. He starts a series of four cover characters who, while not necessarily specific personalities in the Adventure Path, epitomize the genies featuring prominently in each.

David Eitelbach
Editorial Intern

Illustration by Tyler Walpole

Snagged from the Vault: Pathfinder #20—House of the Beast

Thursday, February 26, 2009

At much risk to ourselves, my colleague and I braved the defenses of Paizo's well-guarded vault to bring you, our loyal readers, this exclusive preview of Pathfinder Adventure Path volume #20, House of the Beast. Now we must flee, before our pursuers discover us...

Sunlord Thalachos is Sarenrae's favorite angel, liaison to the mortal world, the hosts of astral devas, and the ranks of superior angels (including the Empyreal Lords). At 8 feet tall and 300 pounds, he is an impressive figure with a rich baritone voice, always speaking with clarity and precision. His metallic skin is as hard as steel to any that wish to do him harm, but as soft as velvet to anyone kind, merciful, and good. He is the champion of the Dawnflower in Golarion and her favorite weapon against the spawn of Rovagug (though she only calls upon him for this when no mortal heroes are available). Before the death of Aroden he often delivered prophecies on behalf of the goddess, and several stories in The Birth of Light and Truth were penned by oracles whom he personally escorted through Sarenrae's realm. Now the only similar duty he bears is appearing at auspicious births.

Look for the full article on Sunlord Thalachos in Pathfinder #20's bestiary, along with the full description of Sarenrae's faith!

Vadid and Nahk
Preview Purloiners

Illustration by David Bircham

Osirion, Land of the Ph-rickin' Awesome

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Part of the joy of being an editorial intern is getting to read all the goodness that is Pathfinder. For free. And before the rest of the world. Recently, I was asked to give an editing pass over a few chapters of the new Pathfinder's Journal, "Dark Tapestry," penned by the prolific and outrageously talented Elaine Cunningham (seriously, who wouldn't want this job?!).

Set in the desert realm of Osirion, this new Pathfinder story does everything a piece of fiction set in an RPG campaign world should do: it reveals believable and interesting characters, it brings the setting to life, and most of all, it makes me want to play a Pathfinder campaign set in Osirion right now.

Really though, the story highlights for me everything I really enjoy about Pathfinder. There is a touch of the familiar, but at the same time, never once can I say, "Hey, I've been here before." While reading the Pathfinder's Journal, I recognized many well-known aspects—a magical item here, a class-name drop there—and even though I have been playing RPGs since I was in junior high, never once did I feel like it was just another tired rehash. And while Osirion clearly draws inspiration from ancient Egypt, never once does it feel like a shallow interpretation of real-life history. While reading Elaine Cunningham's words, it truly felt that if I could somehow peel back the crawling desert sands, it would reveal the bones of countless centuries, a deep, rich, and lived history filled with epic stories and sweeping tales of heroism and tragedy, of which the PCs' adventures comprise only the latest chapter.

So I think I'm going to slip on some sandals, slap on some sunscreen, and head on back over to Osirion. See you there!

Hank Woon
Paizo Editorial Intern

The Monsters of Adam Vehige

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Adam Vehige has been responsible for four of the cover monsters for the first fourteen Pathfinder Society scenarios: the sahuagin from The Hydra's Fang Incident, the ape from Mists of Mwangi, the zombie from Among the Living, and the giant crocodile from Eye of the Crocodile King.

For Pathfinder Society Scenario #15: The Asmodeus Mirage (coming this month), Adam brings us the imp, a little red devil perched on the skull of an inanimate gargoyle statue. Be sure to visit Adam's deviantArt page and check out more of his work.

Enjoy!

Joshua J. Frost
Events Manager

Pathfinder Society Scenario #13 & #14 Art Sneak Peak

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Check out the dretch and the giant centipede—featured monsters from next week's Pathfinder Society Scenario #13: The Prince of Augustana and Pathfinder Society Scenario #14: The Many Fortunes of Grandmaster Torch. The dretch was designed by Kevin Yan and the giant centipede was designed by Ben Wootten. Enjoy!

Joshua J. Frost
Events Manager

Divs: Daemons of the Desert

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

With Pathfinder #19, "Howl of the Carrion King," the Legacy of Fire Adventure Path introduces the first in a new breed of fiendish terror: the divs. Drawn from Persian lore, divs are neutral evil fiends born from the souls of fallen genies. Where the daemons of Abbadon seek to harvest souls from the Material Plane, divs seek to cause hardship, making mortal existence as painful as any hellish afterlife. Researched and designed by Adam Daigle, expect to see a new div every month, from the wicked-tongued doru (illustrated here by Eric Lofgren) to Ahriman, supreme lord of the div race. While wildly different, every div bears certain similarities. From Pathfinder #19, check out the fiends' nefarious traits:

The Nature of Divs

Divs are a race of fiends native to Abaddon that exist only to cause harm and destruction. They are closely related to daemons and the other fiends of the Outer Planes, though many planar scholars believe them to be descended from the spirits of the first evil genies. These creatures vary in power, yet all have similar traits that link them.

Divs commonly speak Abyssal, Celestial, and Infernal.

Div Traits: A div possesses the following traits (unless otherwise noted in the creature's entry).
—Immunity to fire and poison.
—Resistance to acid 10 and electricity 10.
—See in Darkness (Su) Some divs can see perfectly in darkness of any kind, even that created by a deeper darkness spell.
—Summon (Sp) Some divs share the ability to summon others of their kind (the success chance and type of divs summoned are noted in each monster description).
—Telepathy.

That's right, you can never, ever have enough fiends.

F. Wesley Schneider
Pathfinder Managing Editor

Artist: Eric Lofgren

Artist: Kevin Yan

Pathfinder: Goat vs. Chupacabra Edition

Monday, January 5, 2009

No one will believe me when I say this, but I absolutely did not plan to have Pathfinder #19 contain not only the Golarion version of the notorious chupacabra, but also a relatively significant goat NPC. The goat in question is a hapless chap named Rombard, and he's menaced not by chupacabras but by something else entirely in this volume's adventure, "Howl of the Carrion King," but that doesn't mean he can't be worried about the goat-suckers that are lurking later on in the same volume's bestiary.

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief

Artist: Tyler Walpole	Artist: Ben Wootten

Art of Dragons Revisited

Friday, January 2, 2009

So with all of the snow we've been having lately, I thought it'd be appropriate to show off some cold-weather-appropriate artwork. As it turns out, we've got just the thing in the upcoming Dragons Revisited—an entire chapter on white dragons! There's a chapter on all ten of the classic dragons, in fact, but it's those white dragons I'm afraid about whenever I wander outside these days.

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief

Bigger Beasts of the Black

Monday, December 8, 2008

So last Monday, I introduced you to the Land of Black Blood and listed a few of the indigenous creatures that dwell in this eerie underground world. But things like ghost bats and ether frogs and stirge hounds are small potatoes; they barely warrant stats at all when you're talking about an adventure for high-level characters. So you can bet that in Pathfinder #18's bestiary that there are quite a few strange and creepy creatures that should give the PCs a run for their money. Pictured here are but two of them—the earth-based shaitan genie and the thrice-envenomed demonic Xacarba, illustrated by Tyler Walpole.

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief

Beasts of the Black Blood

Monday, December 1, 2008

In Pathfinder #18's "Descent into Midnight," the heroes travel deep into the Darklands, into the nightmare realm of Orv. There, in an immense cavern known as the Land of Black Blood, the final enemy awaits. This volume of Pathfinder includes a short gazetteer about the Land of Black Blood that details the numerous strange locations therein and several of the region's dangerous denizens, like the aboleth pictured here.

But there are also less intimidating (but no less creepy) denizens of the Land of Black Blood than monsters ready to challenge a high-level party. Numerous rare and unique creatures make their home here as well, most warped from more common forms by ages of exposure to the vault's strange magics and the deadly black blood.

Ghost Bats: The pale bats native to the Land of Black Blood typically sate themselves upon large insects and other vermin, though in their swarms they have been known to attack larger prey. Possessing transparent wings and no hair—just white flesh—these small hunters sometimes grow to shocking sizes. Ghosts bats have the same stats as normal bats and bat swarms, though the species frequent mutants might grow to the size of dire bats.

Ether Frog: These creatures look like nothing more so than an oversized, four-legged blister with nostrils and a mouth. With an undifferentiated body and head, these ghost-white amphibians hide a single overdeveloped parietal eye beneath their bulbous backs, which grants them darkvision out to 60 feet despite their lack of normal eyes. Most creatures avoid the frogs, knowing of their natural poison—Ingested, Fortitude DC 14, initial and secondary damage 1d4 Dexterity. In all other ways they are simply largish frogs with the same statistics as common toads.

Stirge Hounds: These rare, unnaturally large stirges are often used as tracking animals, capable of following flying creatures through the Darklands. Stirge Hounds have the statistics of a stirge advanced to Small size and 4 Hit Dice. They are very aggressive and prone to hunting in packs or even swarms. Their proboscis is uniformly ivory-colored, while their bodies are usually dark rust-red along the wings fading to black upon the body.

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief

Twenty Years in the Making!

Friday, November 28, 2008

Self-plagiarizing is just one of many skills I've had to hone and develop after joining Paizo several years ago. Now and then, when I was under a deadline crunch for freelance, I'd dip into something I'd created for my homebrew campaign over the past 20+ years and steal a name or a monster or a spell from those documents, update it to 3rd edition, and continue on. When we decided to build an entire new game world to support Pathfinder, I did this a lot. Most of Varisia, about half of the world's deities, the Red Mantis assassins, Sekamina and Orv, and countless other tidbits first saw the light of day in Baria, my homebrew world, one that I've been using to run adventures and campaigns for friends and family since fifth grade.

As you see here, sometimes the things I produced for Baria got a wee-bit elaborate for a kid building his own adventures with a brand new electric typewriter and a stack of colored pencils, but what can I say? Growing up in the Northern California wilderness left me with a lot of free time on my hands. Little could I know at the time that I was planting the seeds that would eventually grow into the Second Darkness Adventure Path and the elven nation of Kyonin.

The Secret of Deathstalk Tower was a pretty straightforward adventure. An evil demon named Treerazer, who'd corrupted the elven homeland into a monster-infested forest named Tanglebriar, lived in a tower that could transform into an immense golem. This was, of course, Deathstalk Tower (although we renamed it the Witchbole in Golarion to match its evolution into an enormous evil tree). In the adventure, the PCs had to fight their way through Tanglebriar and then climb up the twelve levels of Deathstalk Tower to confront Treerazer before he could use his giant golem to crush civilization.

When I decided to transport Tanglebriar and Treerazer directly into Golarion, I knew that eventually I wanted to abuse my position of power here to get Treerazer professionally illustrated. The results of that you can see here. Ben Wootten's a much better artist than me, but I'm still amused and quite pleased with how close the official Treerazer matches up to my early version of him—I didn't send this picture to Ben, only described the demon to him in the art order. Seeing a childhood creation transform into something like this is a pretty strange experience, though.

Although Treerazer himself doesn't make an appearance in Pathfinder #17's adventure, he does appear in the volume's bestiary in all his CR 26 glory. Oh, and one more thing. That drow woman getting ready to cast a lightning bolt on the cover of The Secret of Deathstalk Tower? That just happens to be the first version of Allevrah, the cover girl for Pathfinder #18—in the adventure, she's the high-priestess of Treerazer's cult. The orange demon's a unique minion of Treerazer's named Lukarazyl (he's now a shemhazian demon but still works for Treerazer—see Pathfinder #5, page 87). Only the goofy-looking armored guy hasn't made the transition from this old cover to Golarion yet—he was Grotulth, the general of Treerazer's armies. Maybe he'll show up someday in a future Pathfinder?

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief

It's a Vargouille!

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Dude, it's totally a vargouille. Check it.

James Sutter
Editor, Pathfinder

Dragon on Dragon Action

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

With the runaway success of Classic Monsters Revisited, it was pretty much just a matter of time before we started work on the second in what is going to be a series of books that takes well-known monsters from the game and examines them in detail, ten per book. The fact that there are ten dragons in the core rules made the subject for the second book in the series a no-brainer. Check out the cover illustration for that book, Dragons Revisited, here!

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief

The Mad Artist of Manifest!

Monday, November 17, 2008

A few years back Sean K Reynolds had a hand in writing a particularly morbid and unusual book. That's probably not too helpful a statement considering that he cranks out like 35 a year*, so to narrow it down a little more, it was about ghosts. And to narrow it down even further, it was called Ghostwalk.

Since moving into the desk next to mine (and covering it with enough miniatures to give the tarrasque lead poisoning), Sean's been brimming with artistic fervor. To help with that, a few weeks back Lisa dropped a few big boxes of Ghostwalk at his desk and asked for signatures. That way, anyone who buys the book through the Paizo store gets a neat little collectors item.

But oh no! Sean "The 'K' is for Kreative" Reynolds couldn't just sign a box of books, he had to get out his colored pens... and pencils... and oil paints. Just check out a few of his unexpected masterpieces here. And if you've ordered a copy of Ghostwalk recently, good luck, 'cause there's no telling what you might get!

F. Wesley Schneider
Pathfinder Managing Editor

*(Expect more details on the SKR Book of the Week Club in the distant future.)

Blast from the Past

Monday, November 10, 2008

Two old favorites finally arrive on Golarion in Pathfinder #17. I'm pretty excited to get these two monsters into the game in particular, since they've been two "missing monsters" that I've always had a soft spot for. The first is the banshee, based on Irish legends of a female messenger of death. (It always seemed weird to me that the spell wail of the banshee was in the game, but there was no banshee in the SRD.) The second is a creature whose genesis in myth likely came about after travelers in a strange land had their first encounters with hyenas. When you think about it, a creepy doglike creature that eats bones and sounds like a laughing human madman would indeed be pretty unnerving to run across. In any event, hence the legendary leucrotta—a monster that mimics the voice of a friend in peril to lure you into the dark so it can pounce and kill.

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief

Could It Be Worse?

Friday, October 24, 2008

Through dark magic and foul rites drow corrupt the unworthy of their society into horrifying creatures—skittering, spider-legged abominations known as driders. But what about other races? If the drow work such perversion upon their own brethren, what terrors might they inflict upon their enemies? With demonic magic and deadly alchemy the fleshcrafters of Zirnakaynin rework their captives into terrible new forms, better suiting their cruel desires and sadistic pleasures. Take the muscle-burdened ghonhatine and pain-wracked irnakurse for example, just two of the new fleshwarps detailed in Pathfinder #16's "Abominations of the Drow." Can you guess what they use to be? And are you sure you really want to know?

F. Wesley Schneider
Pathfinder Managing Editor

Covers Unfettered!

Friday, October 17, 2008

As I've said before, I love my job! I get to take a look at things and see stuff before it comes out. As a gamer and as a fan, that right there is worth the price of admission. One of the things I like most about our products is our great artists and the fantastic illustrations they produce for us. Sometimes, however, a particular piece of art cannot come to the fore, as it's part of a greater whole, like a cover. So, because I can, I now present to you, unfettered from their PDF restraints, the art you see lurking behind the titles of the latest Pathfinder Scenarios Mists of Mwangi and Black Waters.

Jacob Burgess
Online Retail Coordinator

Please Don't Feed the Bebiliths

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

In Pathfinder #17's adventure, "A Memory of Darkness," the heroes get to travel to the idyllic realm of Kyonin, the homeland of the elves. But as you can see here in Steve Prescott's cover illustration, Kyonin's not wholly a nice and happy place. Particularly down south, in the demon infested reaches of Tanglebriar, where bebiliths and other menaces replace bears in the "Reasons to fortify your campsite" list.

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief

Massive Monster Muster

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

With sixteen volumes of Pathfinder and more than a dozen Pathfinder Modules under our belts we had a realization a few days back. That's a ton of monsters! Between Pathfinder's Bestiary and at least one new beastie in the adventures every month, we're looking at more than 100 never-before-seen nightmares, classic creatures, and fiendish foes over the course of the past year. Need proof? Take a look at a listing of the vast majority of new critters we've released from Pathfinder #1 to #15 including all the modules in between.

F. Wesley Schneider
Pathfinder Managing Editor

Where do Driders Come From?

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

In the Second Darkness Adventure Path, we knew we wanted to use the drow as the primary antagonists. And of course, where there's drow, there's driders. Yet with the changes to drow society in Golarion (and in particular who and what they worship) versus their classic representation in the game, the genesis story for driders had to change. This gave us a pretty interesting bit of new flavor for both driders and drow.

In (under?) Golarion, driders are not punishments meted out by the gods. They are punishments meted out by the drow themselves. One noble family of drow, House Parastric, has maintained their power due to their possession of a powerful secret—the art of fleshcrafting. On one level, this art lets a drow use various poisons to reshape parts of the body, granting a soldier large claws or a poisonous bite, for example, or a scout antennae so he can navigate even more easily in the dark. Yet this is just the beginning, for the drow of House Parastric also developed a method to reshape an entire creature—this is known as fleshwarping, and those that survive the painful and humiliating process are known as fleshwarps. Every race put through the process emerges as something different—all troglodytes come out as hulking behemoths; all surface elves emerge as twisted deformed monsters; all halfings come out as skittering quadrapedal beasts, and so on. But it was the drow themselves who proved the most impressive subjects for fleshwarping, for all drow that undergo the process emerge as driders.

In drow society, driders are seen as freaks and mutants. Becoming a drider is not prestigious—it's physical proof of punishment and a brand of shame. Yet driders are not frail or helpless fleshwarps; they're powerful creatures in their own regard. As a result, in drow society driders are often kept as guardians, soldiers, or bodyguards. Retaining little of their previous life's memories, most driders serve their drow lords and ladies without question. But not all of them.

Female driders in particular are more headstrong and aggressive, just as with the drow themselves. Most drider rebellions are instigated by a female, and today there are numerous small tribes of driders dwelling in the remote corners of the Darklands, free from drow rule. The majority of driders one sees in drow cities are male, as a result. And fortunately for those drow, it's real easy to tell them apart. Female driders retain their sleek, beautiful, and elven shapes above the waist; below, their spider bodies are similarly sleek and smooth. Males, though, are much more bestial. Their faces are a horrific blend of drow and spider, and their bodies are spiny and rough. Pictured here are examples of the sexual dimorphism driders present, a female illustrated by Ben Wootten and a male illustrated by Concept Art House.

In Pathfinder #16, we present "Abominations of the Drow," an article that discusses both fleshcrafting and fleshwarping so that if your PCs stumble into the hands of the drow of House Parastric, you'll know what kinds of things they'll have to look forward to.

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief

Denizens of the Darklands

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Although the Darklands are a dangerous place, one rife with strange monsters and eerie hazards, they're not completely uncivilized. Of course—in a place where a nation of undead passes as one form of civilization and an empire of forgotten aquatic fish-man slaves passes as another, civilization might not be what visitors from the surface expect.

Into the Darklands covers many different underground-dwelling races, providing details on many different races. A fair amount of these should be familiar—races like the drow, derro, duergar, aboleths, and svirfneblin exist in the Darklands. Other races exist there too, like vegepygmies, intellect devourers, skum, and ghouls. But this being a brand new world in the grand scheme of the game, you can bet we'll be introducing some new races as well. Deformed humanoid throwbacks to a savage time, for one (morlocks!), and a slumbering empire of ancient arcanists and cultists for another (serpentfolk!). There's even a few races who are completely brand new, such as the mysterious sanity-blasting seugathi. That's one of them pictured here, wielding a dagger in one tentacle, a wand of fireballs in the other, and a mouthful of poisonous teeth!

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief

But Spiders Make Great Monsters!

Monday, September 1, 2008

We've had an awful lot of spider-themed monsters in the pages of Pathfinder over the past year or so. Enough that we've actually heard some complaints about how many of the new monsters are spider-themed. Furthermore, when we revealed that the third Adventure Path was going to revolve around the drow, we heard an even more vocal outcry against spiders. I'm not sure how much of the spider backlash is due to all the spider stuff we've been doing in Pathfinder and how much is fueled by arachnophobia, but in the end we are trying to do less spider stuff.

But it's hard to say no to something like the cutlass spider, one of four new monsters appearing in Pathfinder #15's Bestiary. And even though we have a lot of drow in this month's adventure, the cutlass spider's not actually a drow creation. It's actually a construct that often sees use on pirate ships and other nautical locations, where they serve as guardians, bodyguards, or even assassins. One of the most interesting things about them, though, is that they can add magic weapons to their bodies, and in so doing gain the properties of that magic weapon to their natural attacks. A cutlass spider that snatches a vorpal sword would be a menace indeed. And guess what happens if a cutlass spider absorbs an intelligent weapon in this manner?

In any event, for those of you who are growing tired of spider monsters, I apologize. As it turns out, spiders are just too awesome a source of monster inspiration to resist for long!

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief

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

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

Ferretfolk!

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Yes, you read that correctly. Ferretfolk.

Under the auspices of Dungeons & Dragons, Gary Gygax created a number of iconic races, whether out of whole cloth or by combining a various different mythological and literary sources. So I guess I shouldn't have been surprised when, in his final novel, he did it one last time. At first, I balked—up to this point, Infernal Sorceress had been a fairly hard-edged and gritty fantasy romp. What were a bunch of talking weasel-people doing here? Yet once I got past my initial knee-jerk reaction (which said that such things were better off left in one of Brian Jacques's Redwall novels), I realized that, in fact, they fit the story perfectly. After all, what's the point of fantasy if not to mix things up and make the reader question their standard assumptions? In throwing in something totally out of left field, Gygax was rattling my cage and reminding me that there's more to the genre than just the same old white-bread elves and dwarves we all know and love. And besides, their accents are totally adorable.

So with that said, I thought I'd offer you all the first (and quite possibly last) appearance of the ferretfolk:

Below, Ferret stared a second in horror. What little light there was danced and swayed wildly, but it was sufficient to show him the ugly mandibles and head of the steelback as the monster came up into the cave. The hole's exit was a tight fit for it, but the myriapod was forcing its hard body through it all too quickly. Each segment through gave it two more legs with which to haul the rest of it out to get at its prey. "Oh, crap! Now what?" Ferret cursed as he turned to look for a really fast means of getting up to the passage he wasn't sure would save them from the hunting giant centipede. At that moment a braided leather rope dropped in front of him. Ferret needed no urging, and he swarmed up hand-over-hand. "Where'd you get the rope, Ra—"

His jaw fell slack as he saw the welcoming committee awaiting him. One of that number jerked him all the way inside, pulled him out of the way, as two others rolled a rounded boulder to the brink of the tunnel. "—ker?

His companion was as shocked as Ferret. Raker gave his head a slight shake as if to say, "I haven't the slightest notion," and then stared at the two lithe forms which were just in the process of shoving the big stone over the edge. They heard a thump and a sharp crack followed by scrabbling noises which slowly died away.

"Gottum!" One of the creatures who had sent the boulder down chittered in something which sounded vaguely like human speech as it turned and showed a mouthful of sharp fangs to the two men.

"That's trade talk," Raker murmured, referring to the pidgin Phonecian commonly used throughout much of Ærth to conduct business.

"And that's a... a... man-sized stoat," Ferret breathed.

"Sure, talk pretty fine with hewmuns allatime now and then, but no Stoatie. Nonono. Thurr we are—Ferretfolk you name we, us say Thurr." The creature trilled the r's as it pronounced the name of its folk. "See dead manyfoot?"

The creature talked as fast as it moved. Ferret couldn't believe this. They did look like huge, slender ferrets, down to their buff fur and black "masks." He gaped, then asked rather stupidly, "Real ferretfolk?" He had heard of them but never believed they existed. "I am called Ferret."

The one who had hauled him to safety ignored the question. "Come. See it broken. Good."

Both men went to where the creature proudly pointed with its nose, stared down to see the steelback below, forepart a gory ruin under the boulder. "You sure squashed the shit out of that head!" Raker said with enthusiasm.

"Bad thing, manyfoot. Kill hewmuns, kill you, kill Thurr, too, so we allatime kill 'em first. Pretty good, sure?" And as it rattled that off the creature showed its teeth again in what was surely meant to be an imitation of a human smile.

James Sutter
Planet Stories Editor

"There Are More Things In Heaven and Earth..."

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

In the past few weeks we've talked and teased a lot about what's in the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting hardcover. There have been mentions of peoples and races and countries and organizations, but what's beyond that? In fact, what's beyond Golarion? Does "campaign setting" have to mean just one land, one world, one planet? Or might it mean a whole reality?

The Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting tackles just that question. Personally, I've always been fascinated with planeswalking, and my favorite adventures usually take place in realms beyond the mortal world... and I think James wrote something about a demon once somewhere. It also turns out that the credits for this monster feature Todd Stewart, a modern expert and the go-to guy for fantasy cosmologies. So we got Todd to tackle a new take on the realms beyond the mortal plane. Welcome to the Great Beyond.

Chapter 3 of the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting delves into the realities beyond reality, the domains of the gods, and the organization of the spheres. Aside from deities both familiar and new, there are discussions of new races, non-godly powers fit for worship, musings on planar dragons, a complete map of the spheres, and details on more than a dozen planes (each an entire realm brimming with planar adventure). Looking through the chapter, a few tantalizing headers scroll by: "Norgorber: The Reaper of Reputation," "Sivanah: The Seventh Veil," "Thirteen Demon Lords," "Six Empyreal Lords," "The Whispering Way," "The Maelstrom"—the list goes on and on. In fact, for all you planeswalkers out there, here's a taste:

The Maelstrom/Limbo
Collectively referred to as the Maelstrom, vast swathes of uncharted, unclaimed terrain borders and surrounds each of the Outer Planes. Mysterious and dangerous wild lands untouched by the gods, these regions lack the cohesive stability present in all of the other planes; even the hellish depths of the Abyss possess a structure that the Maelstrom does not. Rather than some ever-changing sea of randomness, when viewed from the edge of another plane, the Maelstrom appears much like that of its adjacent neighbor. The differences grow more profound further away from the stabilizing anchor of the borderlands, eventually falling back into the mutable freedom of perpetual change. The Maelstrom defies the efforts of mapmakers, as its very character shifts and flows like the tide of an unseen ocean, to which the borderlands are but shores and calm shallows.

Crystalline forests melt like candle wax into shallow brine seas with jewel-like icebergs, and then sublimate to vast parched deserts, all within the stretch of days. Still, islands of stability do exist within the depths of the Maelstrom. These islands are ruled by petty gods, exiled fiends, and fallen celestials, and even the rare stronghold of a mortal wizard or priest-king can be found holding itself against the metaphysical lapping tide.

Creatures wandering in from the structured planes, long since grown native, populate the Maelstrom's borderlands, often possessing characteristics and behaviors at odds from their origins. Deeper still, chaos beasts, chaos incarna, and the mysterious serpentine proteans thrive within an environment of plastic potentiality. Claiming to be the first children of the Outer Planes, the keketar, imentesh, and naunet proteans worship godlike beings they refer to as the Speakers From the Depths, whom scholars speculate to be something akin to a pair of conjoined gods or a single dualistic entity.

The Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting hardcover and several infinities worth of new adventures hits shelves this August!

F. Wesley Schneider
Pathfinder Managing Editor

A Glimpse Into the Heart of the Beast!

Friday, June 13, 2008

The Pathfinder Campaign Setting Hardcover is soon upon us and the anticipation around here is palpable (tastes like pancakes, incidentally)! Getting to see, and be a part of, the flurry of activity here is a great part of the job! Allow me to foster and nurture some of that anticipation in you by sharing some of the fantastic art that is going into this beast of a book. Enjoy!

Jacob Burgess
Online Retail Coordinator

All Hail Mobogo!

Monday, June 9, 2008

Pathfinder #12 is off to the printer, and with it a block of four more new monsters! Of those four, three have roles to play in this volume's adventure, "Crown of Fangs." So to avoid spoilers, let's check out the fourth one—the dread mobogo! We first mentioned these immense frog-like monsters way back in Pathfinder #2 in the boggard entry, and I knew then that sooner or later we'd be seeing these monstrous lords of the swamp. Check him out! Doesn't he look happy to be here?

Mobogos reside in the most primal swamps of Golarion, grotesque eldritch wildernesses unchanged for centuries. The crude religion of boggard-kind says that when the massive goddess Gogunta deposited her frogspawn in the muddy morass of Golarion's still-forming continents, the mobogo were among the first creatures to emerge. Ever since, these Swamp Kings have slept and fed, preying upon the beasts of their fetid meres, growing huge and lethargic, dreaming inscrutable amphibious dreams of their godly mother's return.

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief

The Vale's Biology

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Numerous interesting plants and animals live in Golarion. The Guide to Darkmoon Vale offers looks at some of the vale's most iconic or infamous fauna and flora. First up here is a peek at the Fauna sidebar.

Darkmoon Vale Fauna

Most creatures in Darkmoon Vale are simply animals or vermin, with no darker agendas than mere survival. The following are some of the most common creatures of the region.
Firefoot Fennec: These red-footed foxes are common throughout northern Andoran and southern Isger. Their pelts are popular in Absalom and Molthune.
Dusk Spider: These foot-diameter spiders inhabit the Arthfell Forest in large communities that weave immense webs covering several acres. Dusk spider venom, when properly milked from a living creature, makes for a potent alcoholic additive.
Giant Mosquito: These pests are as large as small birds, but they tend to (thankfully) travel alone. Female giant mosquitoes (like their normal-sized cousins) drink the blood of warm-blooded animals.
Giant Moorsnake: These ophidian predators are active mostly at night. As constrictors, they prefer to sneak up on their victims while their potential meals are sleeping.
Mereswan: Unique to the Droskmere, mereswans are normal swans who can eat the mildly acidic popcarp within the lake and who only use a certain kind of volcanic rock for their gizzard stones. The combination of these two elements mean regurgitated gizzard stones of mereswans are smoothly polished semiprecious gems popular with dwarves.
Mountain Horses: Indigenous to the Aspodells, these long-haired, massive equines are popular with miners for their easy temperaments and flexible diets.
Popcarp: Mildly acidic flesh makes the popcarp of Droskmere an unpopular meal, except for the beautiful mereswans who live nearby. When threatened, a popcarp can explosively empty its gas bladder out its mouth to move quickly away, making a distinctive popping noise when it does so (hence its name).
Slurks: The slurk is the disgusting result of ill-advised dwarven efforts at breeding underground frogs. Kobolds prize the foul-smelling and slime-covered creatures as pets and mounts. Slurks live underground in damp caverns where the fungi and lichens they prefer to eat grow in abundance.
Zhen Worm: A smaller species of great worms roughly half the size of Qadira's famous alamien worms, the zhen worms of Andoran can survive in environs that would kill their larger cousins. Zhen worms thrive in warm, moist soil, and many of them migrate frequently to the areas around Darkmoon Vale's geysers, mud pots, and other geothermal features.

And not to be outdone, here's the Flora sidebar.

Darkmoon Vale Flora

Many varieties of unique and rare plants live in Darkmoon Vale. The following are those of greatest interest to residents and visitors of the region.
Appleleaf: These low-growing plants have leaves that grow in groups of four and taste of slightly bitter apples when eaten. Appleleaf grows all over within the forests of Darkmoon Vale and southern Isger.
Blackscour: A black-headed fungus that tastes hard, bitter, and sharp. It grows in the water and causes blackscour taint if any part of it, including its spores, are consumed (usually by drinking contaminated water). Blackscour is not native to the region and was only recently introduced to Darkmoon Vale.
Dowmberries: Although the plants that bear them contain massive thorns, dowmberries remain a popular desert treat when in season in late summer and early autumn. Dowmberries grow best in arid climates and grow all over the eastern side of the Aspodell Mountains and Wolfrun Hills.
Elderwood Moss: This semi-magical moss only grows on the oldest tree in a forest. As such, two known patches exist near Darkmoon Vale: one upon the forest elder in Darkmoon Wood and another on the Green Patriarch within Arthfell Forest. Elderwood moss, when prepared correctly, acts as a strong decongestant. Some people claim that, when prepared incorrectly, elderwood moss causes premature aging.
Glowmold: As its name implies, glowmold glows. Rather brightly, in fact. Glowmold grows very slowly on the undersides of igneous rocks, and the largest concentrations of this useful mold live for centuries under stones too large to easily flip or roll over. Smaller finds provide as much light as a torch. Regardless of the size of the moss colony, picked glowmold glows for 3 days once picked.
Ironbloom Mushrooms: These stunty fungi only grow in dark places thick with metal. The diets of Five Kings Mountains dwarves consist heavily of ironbloom mushrooms, mainly because the plants grow naturally in and around dwarven forges. Protein-rich ironbloom mushrooms bear a slight salty taste but otherwise contain no flavor of their own, making them excellent additions to many dwarven meals.
Pesh: This strong stimulant also has mild hallucinogenic properties, which together make its users easily agitated and randomly aggressive (and easily identified, with bloodshot eyes and frequent nosebleeds). Originally imported from Vudra, pesh cacti grow in warm, moist areas, like those around the vale's mudpots and hot springs. Wild pesh cacti threaten to choke out native species near the geothermal vents. Outside of Katapesh, Darkmoon Vale is the largest supplier of pesh to nations of Avistan.
Paueliel Trees: These silver-barked softwoods grow to immense heights, but never spread to more than a few feet in diameter. Lumberjacks claim paueliel trees are somehow connected with elves and give copses of them wide berth when logging.
Rat's Tail: When pickled, this exceedingly salty root acts as a mild analgesic. Used raw, rat's tail gives a strong salty flavor to whatever dish it is added to. Many of the poor residents in Darkmoon Vale use rat's tail to flavor their food, as salt remains out of the price range of most.

Mike McArtor
Editor

Visiting Belkzen

Monday, June 2, 2008

In Pathfinder #11, we journey into the hostile, orc-infested Hold of Belkzen. While the adventure “Skeletons of Scarwall” itself is primarily limited to one single ruin in this savage land, we also have a gazetteer of the Hold in case you want to do some sightseeing along the way. All manner of surprises and dangers await discovery therein—check out the following two sample locations excerpted from the article as examples!

The Brimstone Haruspex: Though highly independent, even proud orc chieftains sometimes seek advice. When this happens, most warlords send their seconds-in-command to the Brimstone Haruspex, the temple complex high in the caldera of a smoking volcano. Here a group of ancient and inbred orc monks offer guidance in exchange for massive tribute. In addition to maintaining the only supposedly complete record of orc history—a lengthy series of cave paintings stretching all the way back to the orcs’ initial emergence—the monks are also oracles, breathing in the vapors from the active fumaroles in order to spin weird and bloody prophecies. Unfortunately, the fumes that give them their insights are highly caustic, permanently scarring their faces and lungs. It is for this reason that most leaders choose to send their seconds-incommand with questions, as the cruel and prudent priests frequently opt to dangle petitioners in the sulfurous pits to gain the revelations firsthand.

The Skittermounds: These tall, sandy mounds stretch for miles across the foothills of the Mindspin Mountains, and are avoided by all but the truly desperate, as they represent the openings to a vast and complex series of ankheg nests. For the most part, the warring ankheg armies are content to battle each other in their leagues of underground tunnels, noticeable to those above only as a low buzzing, though foolhardy travelers might occasionally witness a colony raising a new mound entrance with frightening speed and efficiency. Every few years, however, runoff from intense storms in the mountains floods the plain, causing the colonies to erupt from their holes by the thousands and press eastward, consuming all in their path.

Sech Nevali: Also called the Hanging Monastery, Sech Nevali is a relic from Thassilonian times, a vast stone temple complex suspended over a mile-deep chasm by immense chains running between three high mountain peaks. Originally dedicated to the Peacock Spirit, the monastery is now inhabited by an order of secretive, isolationist monks who believe (correctly) that not even orcs would brave the most treacherous mountains in Belkzen in order to disturb their solitude. Yet what their ultimate purpose could be in such a remote and inhospitable place remains a mystery beyond Sech Nevali’s swaying walls.

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief

The Creepy Crepitus

Thursday, May 29th, 2008

Here's another peek at the forthcoming Pathfinder Module LB1: Tower of the Last Baron.

It is speculated that Asmodeus spawned the first crepitus devils, sometimes called magewretches, to tempt and corrupt mortal wizards into damning their souls. Yet while it is true that the crepitus is a highly intelligent creature with a gift for spellcraft and all things arcane, its great intellect is countered by its foolishness and inability to competently lure mortals to Asmodeus's will. As a result, specimens seen on the Material Plane are more often slaves than fiendish tempters.

Ecology

A crepitus stands 3 to 4 feet tall, with bright eyes in a saurian head that appears too large for its gaunt, rune-covered body. Its shoulders sprout bat-like wings that allow it to fly with ease, and its sharp talons are surprisingly nimble and capable of fine adjustments when conducting magical rituals. A typical crepitus weighs 30 pounds. Though, like other devils, crepituses don't require food, they take particular joy in consuming wizards' familiars (and sometimes the wizards themselves.) Crepitus devils are native to Hell, and many lurk around Asmodeus's infernal palace, often serving as messengers.

Habitat & Society

Left to their own devices, crepitus devils are cunning, malicious pranksters, content to while away their days flitting about Hell and tormenting lost souls and devils alike. Yet crepituses are rarely left alone for long, and it is likely from this fact that their long-standing racial hatred of wizards stems. Highly valued for their spell-like abilities and intuitive knowledge of magic, crepituses are frequently bound into contracts or enslaved outright by mortal wizards and other fiends, a situation the intelligent devils find exrtemely demeaning. This situation is not helped by the fact that crepituses are frequently the first gifts handed out by higher-ranking demons attempting to seduce mortal magic users. If given an opportunity, a crepitus goes well out of its way to destroy a wizard and burn his precious spellbooks to ashes (not necessarily in that order). Chelish wizards regularly bind crepitus devils as servants, and view having an enslaved crepitus as a mark of prestige.

Crepituses enjoy lording their power over their significantly weaker impish cousins, and referring to a crepitus as an imp is the gravest possible insult.

Mike McArtor
Editor

First Peek: Guide to Darkmoon Vale

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

It's still in development, but check out this awesome art from the upcoming Guide to Darkmoon Vale.

Mike McArtor
Editor

The Birth of Bugbears

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

What horrors and fearsome bogeymen await in Classic Monsters Revisited? Among the creatures presented in that savage-filled volume are the cunning and fear-mongering bugbears. And what spawned these foul creatures? Read on, gentle readers, and quake in fear!

"Bugbears are the loners of goblinkind. One creation myth claims the first bugbears were born to goblin parents, but emerged from the womb covered in shaggy fur. They soon proved far different from their kin, delighting in terrorizing other children and eventually murdering several members of the tribe, until they were cast out to wander aimlessly forever alone. Some skulked in the shadows surrounding their parents' communities and preyed on their own, savoring the fear. On occasion, adventurers discover goblinoid settlements reduced to ghost towns. Some whisper that such places are laid to waste when a family in the tribe birthed a bugbear and it hunted them to the last."
—Classic Monsters Revisited

Mike McArtor
Editor

Imps and Pseudodragons

Monday, March 24, 2008

While Mike was working on the Guide to Korvosa, he and I brainstormed ideas for what kind of perils might be dwelling in the Shingles. We'd both seen plenty of monster-infested city undergrounds, but we wanted something more with Korvosa; we wanted a monster-infested rooftop. Sort of. We didn't want things like dire bats or manticores stomping around up there—whatever ended up in the Shingles had to be relatively small and agile. Nick Logue's adventure already had a pseudodragon in it, and I liked the idea that these little dragons were perhaps native to the region and adapted to the rooftops as the city took over the landscape. And Mike had all these rogue, castaway imps flapping around. From there, the image of periodic imp-on-pseudodragon sky clashes popped into my head—it was too awesome an image to resist, and so the imp and pseudodragon battles became a part of the city's flavor.

This wasn't really meant to be much more than flavor; just something that makes Korvosa unique. But we got a little carried away, and suddenly two huge pictures in the book were of this supposedly rare event. With the extra weight lent by the illustrations, the imp and dragon clashes became THE iconic Korvosan event. Problem is, of course, that the game rules get in the way of this flavor. Pseudodragons can't actually hurt imps, so logically speaking, such huge battles should only ever happen once and after that, it's all imps all the time, right?

Not really. If you want more rules to back up how these battles work out, it's a relatively simple thing to come up with variants and additions for both sides to even things up a bit. Of course, you can just fake it, saying that with enough pseudodragons piled onto you, no amount of damage reduction will really help. Alternately, you can rule that Korvosa's imps have lived on the Material Plane so long that they're now considered native outsiders and have lost their fast healing and damage reduction as a result.

My preference? The Impslayer feat! Give it to all your Korvosan pseudodragons as a bonus feat, and watch the imp ichor fly!

New Feat: Impslayer

Many of Korvosa's nobles decorate their roofs with tiny amounts of precious metals, among them silver-lined weather vanes, shingles, and gutters designed to catch the sunlight to give their homes a distinctive sparkle in the sunlight. By spending years sharpening stings and teeth against these silver-enhanced decorations, or sneaking drinks of holy water from outdoor fonts at various temples, some pseudodragons have effectively transformed themselves into deadly weapons against the city's imps.

Prerequisites: Pseudodragon

Benefit:Your natural weapons bypass an imp's damage reduction. In addition, your great skill at fighting imps allows you to apply your Dexterity modifier to damage done with natural weapons rather than your Strength modifier, as your blows are delivered with great precision rather than force.

Special: Pseudodragons born and raised in Korvosa's Shingles gain this feat as a bonus feat.

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief

Sneak Peek: Classic Monsters Revisited

Friday, March 14, 2008

Get a quick glimpse of Paizo's reimagining of some of your favorite monsters featured in Classic Monsters Revisited. Goblins and trolls and ogres, oh my!

Carolyn Mull
Pazio Sales & Marketing Assistant

Pathfinder Chronicles: Classic Monsters Revisited

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Here is a quick look at one of many monsters featured in Classic Monsters Revisited.

"Games and activities that humans would call fun are not something trolls take time to consider. They are consumed with the need to hunt, leaving little time for other diversions. Troll female groups have one game (of sorts) that they play every spring solstice to honor their terrible demon god. Two lines of trolls form several yards apart and stare at each other, working up their aggression and hatred until their 'team' is a mass of frenzied berserker rage. The team mentality ends the moment one of the trolls breaks his or her line and charges at the other one. There seems to be no obvious starting point—a troll simply feels her rage wash over her and throws herself at the other group. The result is a chaotic troll melee where limbs are severed, bodies torn apart, and eyes gouged out—even some rage-induced cannibalism occurs. When it's over, one troll stands less injured than the others, all of whom lay strewn about the battlefield crawling toward severed limbs or gathering their entrails and stuffing them back inside their punctured bellies. Once everyone has recovered, they quietly go about their business."

Carolyn Mull
Paizo Sales & Marketing Assistant

Three Times the Evil

Monday, March 10, 2008

We've always kind of known what role devils and demons play in the game. In Pathfinder we'll be using the classic categories for the evil outsiders. Lawful evil outsiders are devils—these are the monsters interested in corrupting and destroying the mind. They infect faith, politics, and scholastic pursuits, and strive to turn mortals into traitors and heretics against their own nature. Chaotic evil outsiders are demons—creatures of primal destruction and ruin who have existed as long as life itself. They seek to destroy and savage the world, forces of entropy that exist to bring about the end of the world itself.

But that's just 2/3 of the equation. But what about the neutral evil fiends? They always seem to get left behind. Once you have groups out to corrupt the mind and corrupt the body... what else is left? In "Seven Days to the Grave", we've got the first new daemon to grace the Pathfinder Bestiary, the diseased leukodaemon (pictured here). We also reveal a bit more about the role of fiends in the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting.

For our neutral evil fiends, the daemons, they are embodiments of death. They care little about the physical world or pleasures and torments of the flesh, nor are they particularly interested in corrupting mortal life to serve their needs or to betray its kin. Daemons have perhaps the simplest desire—to feed on the soul. In many ways, the daemons are perhaps the most dangerous of the three, since you can continue to live even if your body and mind are broken after the demons and devils are done with you. When a daemon is done with you... you're just dead.

Actually, maybe that makes the daemons the most humane of the three fiends. At least they don't torment you as much.

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief

Sneak Peek: Escape from Old Korvosa

Friday, March 7, 2008

Enjoy this art sneak peek of a NPC in Pathfinder #9 — "Escape from Old Korvosa". That's one lucky kitty.

Carolyn Mull
Paizo Sales & Marketing Assistant

Free Player's Guide!

Friday, February 15, 2008

In a few short weeks, we'll begin shipping the first part of Pathfinder's second Adventure Path—Curse of the Crimson Throne. As with Rise of the Runelords, we've created a 16-page Player's Guide to help you not only build your characters for the new campaign, but also to help introduce you to the city of Korvosa, where the majority of Curse of the Crimson Throne takes place.

And as in the case of the Rise of the Runelords Player's Guide, the Curse of the Crimson Throne Player's Guide is free as a PDF. Even better? You can download it right now! (7.6MB zip PDF)

This 16-page product is packed with all sorts of flavor and crunch. An overview of the city of Korvosa, the largest city in Varisia, starts things off, including notes on the various districts and the important NPCs your characters might rub shoulders with. Notes on how all the core races and classes are represented in Korvosa come next, followed by some new equipment, weapons, and armor (some of which first appeared in the Runelords Player's guide, but others, like the sawtooth sabre, the doctor's mask, or the xxx, are brand new!). Several new feats are sprinkled throguhout the PDF as well (including one that gives fans of the crossbow some badly needed attention). The last few pages present several different background traits you can select for your new character to give him a instant "in" into Curse of the Crimson Throne's first adventure, "Edge of Anarchy." Oh, and the Golarion calendar is finally in print here as well—no more sifting back through blog posts to find out what day of the week and what month it is!

So go download your free Player's Guide, break out the six-sided dice, and start rolling up some stats! Korvosa's going to need all the heroes she can get before this Adventure Path comes to its concludsion!

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief

Sneak Peek: Seven Days to the Grave

Friday, February 15th, 2008

Enjoy this interior art from Curse of the Crimson Throne Chapter 2: "Seven Days to the Grave." Just don't breathe too deep...

Carolyn Mull
Paizo Sales & Marketing Assistant

Terrible Trio

Friday, January 25, 2008

During Ulduvai's final days, when its citizens were caught in the slow but inevitable decline of their once-great civilization, as one by one the other flying cities fell to decadence, disease, conquest, or other misfortune, a strange wanderer arrived in the city and brought with him a relic of uncertain origin but undeniable power. This mysterious outsider found within the city fertile soil: citizens both corrupt enough to submit to perversions that others would find unthinkable, and desperate enough to try anything to escape a fate that seemed as certain as the stars.

Before long, the cult had grown to control much of the city, and at its head were three powerful sorcerers. On a dark night when the time was right, these three leaders brought the cultists together and channeled arcane power through the artifact, seeking to unlock the mysteries of creation and become living gods. The results were not what they expected.

Now, centuries later, these three cultists still linger amongst the ashes of their former civilization. Each controls a separate area of the city, and each is convinced that, given the right tools and enough time, he can return Ulduvai to its former glory and banish the chaos that has warped the city almost beyond recognition. Yet no matter what they do and what secrets they unlock, they are no closer to the answers they seek now than they were on that fateful night centuries ago.

Jeremy Walker
GameMasteryAssistant Editor

Sneak Peek: Hangman's Noose

Friday, January 18, 2008

Here's an artistic sneak peek of our haunting urban adventure Hangman's Noose. Happy nightmares!

Carolyn Mull
Paizo Sales & Marketing Assistant

Monster of Madness

Thursday, January 17, 2008

"We had expected, upon looking back, to see a terrible and incredible moving entity if the mists were thin enough; but of that entity we had formed a clear idea. What we did see—for the mists were indeed all too maliguly thinned—was something altogether different, and immeasurably more hideous and detestable. It was the utter, objective embodiment of the fantastic novelist's 'thing that should not be...'

...It was a terrible, indescribable thing vaster than any subway train—a shapeless congeries of protoplasmic bubbles, faintly self-luminous, and with myriads of temporary eyes forming and un-forming as pustules of greenish light all over the tunnel-filling front that bore down upon us, crushing the frantic penguins and slithering over the glistening floor that it and its kind had swept so evilly free of all litter. Still came that eldritch, mocking cry—'Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!'"

H. P. Lovecraft
At the Mountains of Madness

Jeremy Walker
GameMastery Assistant Editor

Words of Wisdom from "Two Toes"

Monday, January 14, 2008

Back on November 14th, we had a sort of cryptic post here on the blog. Well, more of a warning, really: "THE YETI IS COMING!" Well, later this month, the yeti will arrive—just one of many dangers awaiting the PCs in "Spires of Xin-Shalast," the final adventure in Rise of the Runelords. Pathfinder #6 also presents a short article that talks about other dangers that await any who dare explore the Kodar Mountains, one of Golarion's most inhospitable regions. This article opens with some words of advice from one of Varisia's most widely traveled explorers—the currently missing Ronagard Roteshield.

"The cold's not your enemy. No, when you get it in your fool head to go gallivanting up to the top of the world, there's plenty else to be worried of. Up there, there's mountains that roar and try to eat you alive. There's air that quits caring and does you about as much good as trying to breathe a lake. There's rock that's solid as a fortress wall 'til it's the only thing holding you over a gap a mile deep. And then there's the things. The snowy, hungry things that don't let anything made of meat just pass on by.

"The cold, though, it'll kill you slow and quiet. It'll be there when you're fallen and broken, half-eaten at the bottom of some ravine. It'll make the hurting stop, wrap you up in that dull, soft numbness, and make your forget any thought of climbing back down.

"No, the cold's not your enemy. Up there, it's the best friend you've got."

—Ronagard "Two Toes" Roteshield, Mountaineer Extraordinaire

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief

Meet Freezemaw!

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

One of the early lessons I learned working on adventures for Dungeon was that RPG players have an extra level of demands when it comes to dragons. You can throw pretty much any other monster into an adventure without worry, but if you want to include a dragon, you'd best be sure said dragon has a history and personality. And honestly, the readers are right (as they often are). Dragons shouldn't be throwaway encounters. They shouldn't just wander by as a result of a wandering monster result. In Pathfinder, I'm going to try to make sure that whenever we have a dragon appearing in the adventure, he or she has a story. Especially, as in the case of Pathfinder #5, when the dragon appears on the cover.

The white dragon on the cover is Arkrhyst—called Freezemaw by the Shoanti—an old white dragon who has lived on Rimeskull for 50 years. In his youth several centuries ago, Arkrhyst was a great and hated enemy of the Shoanti; his raids on the nomads of the Velashu Uplands and the western Storval Plateau were legendary, and many of those tribes still sing of these dark times, and of the countless heroes who sought out his home on Rimeskull to defeat him. None accomplished this goal, but as Arkrhyst grew older, his urge to raid grew less. Content now with the reputation he earned, he sleeps for years at a time on his considerable store of treasure, dreaming of his youthful rampages.

Of course, Freezemaw's only one of many menaces that wait for PCs brave enough to seek out the legendary dungeon of Runeforge in Pathfinder #5—but he's certainly one of the adventure's more memorable villains!

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief

Sneak Peek: Curse of the Crimson Throne

Friday, January 4, 2008

Pathfinder #7 kicks off the Curse of the Crimson Throne Adventure Path. Here is a sneak peek of the interior art.

Carolyn Mull
Paizo Sales & Marketing Assistant

Happy New Year

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

And now, here we are in 2008! We've got a lot of exciting stuff planned for 2008, but there's just as much that's still evolving. Now's a great time to head on over to our messageboards and let us know what kind of products and adventures and blog posts you'd like to see from Paizo in the coming year. Who'd like to hear a Paizo Podcast? Is anyone interested in seeing a sequel to a particular GameMastery Module? Is there a market for Pathfinder miniatures? Don't be shy! We can't make things you want if you don't tell us you want them, right?

Anyway, I don't have all that much to say or show off today. The Paizo offices are closed, and I got the honor of writing today's post. And I'm too distracted by New Year-related shenanigans to write much more, so check out my favorite picture from Pathfinder #5—some foolish runelord calling upon the dread Oliphaunt of Jandelay!

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief

Quick Drop, Sudden Stop

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Hangman's Noose is the first real murder mystery adventure set in the Pathfinder Chronicles campaign setting. As such, it includes a host of suspects, both charming and nefarious. And while each one might have had a hand in the mistrial that caused the haunting in this adventure, one of them truly deserves to hang. If your PCs can't uncover the culprit by dawn, their necks might hang in the murderer's place. Here are just a few of the suspects.

Halgrak: (at right) Known as "Five Toes" due to his mangled foot, this menacing half-orc is a local smith by trade. When things begin to turn sour, though, he quickly becomes certain that everyone is doomed.

Patrissa: Despite her overindulgences, this former adventurer is still quite attractive, wearing a fine dress and expensive jewels. Once locked inside the courthouse, she is certain to turn to the heroes for protection.

Sir Rekkart: (above) This staunch, aging paladin of Iomedae was a part of the jury ten years ago, and is certain that justice was served. Persuading him otherwise might just be an impossible task without solid proof.

Tablark: This grizzled old dwarf has held just about every job one could have in the city of Absalom. When things seem grim, the heroes can count on this dwarf to remain steadfast and confident in victory.

Is one of these jurors to blame? Maybe it was one of the others. Next week, I'll be back to give you a few more suspects to investigate.

Jason Bulmahn
GameMastery Brand Manager

Making Monsters, Lamashtu Style

Monday, December 24, 2007

In Pathfinder #5, we have the second in our series of articles exploring the deities of Golarion. This time around, master of all things divine Sean K Reynolds talks about Lamashtu, the Mother of Monsters and one of Golarion's most notorious deities. After all, she's not just the one the goblins and gnolls and all sorts of other monsters worship—she's the one who MAKES a lot of the monsters in the first place. And if you happen to worship her, well, you might just learn how to make a few monsters of your own. We're not sure WHAT it is this gnoll ranger of Lamashtu is clutching, but it certainly qualifies as a monster!

Oh, and by the way, that's what a Golarion gnoll looks like. He's probably a lot better-groomed than most, though. Gnolls aren't that fond of personal hygiene as a general rule.

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief

Elementals of Magic

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Long ago, before the Age of Darkness, in a time when powerful empires of magic ruled the land the arcanatons were first seen on Golarion. Drawn by the confluence of magical power, these creatures are the raw stuff of arcane energy given life and form. Powerful in their own right, when given a source of magic upon which to feed, they become nearly unstoppable.

But times change and empires fall. In the darkness that followed Starfall, much was lost, and as power left the world these creatures of arcane energy withered and died, deprived of the magical power that they needed for sustenance. Only a few linger still, tied to the rare relics of power that still remain from those ancient times.

Long the self-proclaimed masters of magical power, the many races of dragons thrived on Golarion while humanity was still little more than savage beasts. It was they who learned the secrets of summoning and binding these creatures of elemental magic, and they yet remain the dragons' servants, ever watchful for arcane adepts that would plunder the treasures of their masters. When it came time to construct an important symbol of their power, it was inevitable that they would choose to include arcanatons among the Guardians of Dragonfall.

Jeremy Walker
GameMastery Assistant Editor

Faster Than A Speeding Buick

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

When flipping through GameMastery Module E1: Carnival of Tears, one thing immediately jumped out at me. There is a creature, known as a quickling, in the module with a speed of 240 feet. At first I though this must be a misprint, but Jeremy assured me that it was correct. This fey, called Prig in the module, is so blindingly fast that catching him is half the encounter. Fortunately for you, he is in the mood for mischief, not evasion. To celebrate the upcoming release of Carnival of Tears, I thought I would give you a few fun facts concerning this speedy antagonist.

1. Looking back at D1: Crown of the Kobold King, if Prig started at the beginning of the dungeon, he could make his way all the way down to the king, slap him in the face, and make it back to the surface in four rounds with time to spare.

2. If he had an open road, Prig could run from one end of the Bloodsworn Vale, featured in W1: Conquest of Bloodsworn Vale, and back again in a little over one hour, since he has a land speed of just over 109 mph.

3. With a running start, Prig could easily jump over the underground lake featured in D2: Seven Swords of Sin.

4. Check out U1: Gallery of Evil—Prig could run 16 complete circles around the Gauthfallow Mansion in exactly 1 minute.

5. Using his Spring Attack feat, if Prig started out 100 feet away from Scepter (from J1: Entombed with the Pharaohs), he could run up, pinch his nose, and then run away, ending his movement outside the range of every single one of Scepter's spells and his wand rifle.

6. In E1: Carnival of Tears, Prig can use his Jump skill (+100) to easily clear 25-foot-tall tents and cause no end of havoc for your PCs.

Jason Bulmahn
GameMastery Brand Manager

Dragons of Golarion

Monday, December 3, 2007

So in Pathfinder #4, we finally get around to talking about dragons in our world. We knew going in that this volume's adventure would feature Pathfinder's first official dragon fight (immortalized by Wayne Reynolds in the alternate cover to Pathfinder #1), but we didn't want to stop there. Dragons are the name of the game, and we needed to make sure that ours were distinct enough so that they looked different, but at the same point they had to look like dragons. That meant horns, sharp teeth, long necks, wings, the works. And further, we needed to know about their history, gods, society, clans and bloodlines, physiology and psychology, language, variants, and more.

Fortunately, Mike McArtor is not only exuberant when it comes to dragons, but he's also a great writer (and should it come to it, I know where he lives if his promised words end up being late). They weren't, and in Pathfinder #4 you'll be treated to "Dragons of Golarion: The Myth and the Flame," an article that covers the basics of the dragons of our world.

Oh, and it's got head shots of all ten classic dragons; the five chromatics and the five metallics. Wes will only let me show you two of those ten, so I guess I'll go for the two big guys: gold and red. Check out their majesty!

James Jacobs
Editor-in-Chief, Pathfinder

KARZOUG FHTAGN!

Friday, November 30, 2007

I've mentioned before my fondness for H. P. Lovecraft and his mythos of insane and malignant Great Old Ones, and starting in Pathfinder #4, the world of Golarion gets its first real taste of the Cthulhu Mythos—pictured here is a hound of Tindalos, one of the new monsters in this volume's bestiary.

These strange time-traveling, soul-eating monstrosities were invented by Frank Belknap Long back in 1929 in his short story, "The Hounds of Tindalos," but they should be no strangers to those familiar with the Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game published by Chaosium (itself one of the longest-lived continually-in-print RPGs ever—check them out at chaosium.com). Any self-respecting gamer looking for more inspiration on the hounds of Tindalos (or cosmic horror of any flavor) should certainly check out the huge line of books and adventures that have been produced for Call of Cthulhu for more. The actual game stats for the hounds as they appear here are pretty different than those from the Call of Cthulhu version, of course, but flavor transcends rules.

We'll be returning to Lovecraft country later on in Rise of the Runelords, getting a glimpse of the realm of Leng and unknown Kadath in Pathfinder #6, and now and then you'll be seeing other name drops occur. Yet don't expect don't expect Golarion to fall too completely into the clutches of the Great Old Ones. When the mythos rears its ugly head (or tentacles, or tongue, or color—whatever passes for a "head" in each monster's case) in Golarion, they have to be justified by the adventure's story and needs. In addition, that particular element needs to be something that doesn't feel out of place in the sword and sorcery genre. It also needs to not be tied to Earth. For example, Cthulhu himself is pretty much stuck in R'lyeh, which itself is located at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean (at South Latitude 47° 9', West Longitude 126° 43' for those of you with boats and death wishes)—it doesn't make sense to have him show up on Golarion, so don't expect his wiggly mug to pop in any time soon. Things that travel through the dimensions (like hounds of Tindalos) or come from remote corners of the universe (which are equally as far from Golarion as they are from Earth, really) or are from other realms entirely (or, in the case of Leng or Kadath, are other realms) are all fair game.

Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!

James Jacobs
Editor-in-Chief, Pathfinder

The Riders of the North

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

The fey of Darkmoon Vale were not always evil. For decades they lived and played under the spreading branches of the forest, content to remain close to the land that sustained them. But recently, things have changed within the forest. The establishment of the lumber mill in Falcon's Hollow has given rise to a veritable army of woodsmen bent on leveling the forest and plundering its wealth of darkwood. Hunters and trappers have descended into the forest, seeking furs and trophies to take back to the markets of Andoran. Slowly but surely, the creatures within the forest began to change. Anger and fear replaced the capricious playfulness of its fey guardians, and the icy grip of hate descended on the land. Far away, in her frozen palace in Irrisen, the Witch Queen sensed opportunity, and dispatched a cold rider to Darkmoon Vale.

With the first breath of winter's frost he arrived in the forest, and as ice and snow descended upon the land, his corrupting presence wormed its way into the hearts of the fey, transforming them into creatures of nightmare.

In E1: Carnival of Tears, the PCs must face off against this implacable foe who seeks to drive the humans from Falcon's Hollow, and in so doing, gain an unbreakable hold over the fey creatures that live there. Cold Riders are terrifying armored majesties, clad in sable cloaks of frost, a pair of almost ridiculously large crystal-blue antlers cresting their dread helms of ice and steel. These dark monsters were once princes of the forest. Brought living before the Witch Queen, she stole their songs and their love of green and beauty and replaced them with cold hate. The riders are her knights gallant and her favored minions in her war on the sun, the green, and all things that recoil from her frigid touch. They delight in perversion, slaughter, and the corruption of other fey. It is their solemn duty to bring fresh souls and candidates for transformation into cold riders back to their queen's court, and they relish this charge. The paired mini-whirlwinds of effervescent frost swirling in their visors can chill the hearts of the most stalwart with a frigid glance, and the vapor-fog floating from them often takes the shape of their former fair features, screaming in silent agony and twisting into malformed wisps in the rising wind.

Jeremy Walker
Assistant Editor, GameMastery

They're Huge!

Monday, November 5, 2007

At this point, what more can really be said about Wayne Reynolds? I mean, after one awesome Pathfinder cover, we were excited. After two we were elated. But now here we are at Pathfinder #6, and they just keep getting better. Not only are the giants great, but it's the little things—the architecture of Xin-Shalast behind them, the totally original yet authentic-feeling swords—that really make this piece for me. Plus, if you look closely, you'll see that our newest iconic, the wizard Ezren, has popped in just in time to get clobbered. Let's hope he survives long enough to get on a few more covers...

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

Beware the Mother of Oblivion!

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

You've heard the legends, now witness the awesome glory of Black Magga! Read all about her interdimensional horror in this sample spread from Pathfinder #3's Bestiary section: 552 KB zip PDF.

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

Wayne Does It Again!

Monday, October 15, 2007

Wayne Reynolds just delivered the cover painting for Pathfinder #5: Sins of the Saviors, and man, is it a doozy! Looks like Valeros has learned a valuable lesson about what it means to play meat-shield for the party when there's a dragon involved.... Click the image for a larger version.

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

You got GameMastery in my Dragonlance!

Monday, October 1, 2007

While seeing folks play in our campaign world is of course the biggest compliment we can receive, here at Paizo, we understand that many people have been playing in alternative game worlds for a long time, and simply aren't interested in switching over. As a result, we're always excited when we hear about someone getting jazzed enough about our products to mine out ideas or convert them over to their favorite setting.

Thus it was with great enthusiasm that we stumbled across this article over at the fan site Dragonlance Nexus, all about converting the kobolds introduced in D1: Crown of the Kobold King for use in your Dragonlance game. If you're a Dragonlance fan—and there are certainly a few of them around here—hit it up and check out the author's thoughts on the kobolds' religion, subraces, and more.

And if there's something else from the Pathfinder Chronicles campaign setting that you've been using in your Dragonlance game... why not submit it to the Nexus and spread the wealth?

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

Shadows Behind the Canvas

Friday, September 28, 2007

In his years of studying magical art, the sinister Imron Gauthfallow has collected a number of unique pieces from across the continent. But when he looted a spectacular piece from the abandoned mansion of a dead elven scholar, he got more than he bargained for. When he unveiled the painting in his own gallery, he unwittingly released a shadowy lurker.

These undead spirits of darkness were once the celebrated elven artisans. Betrayed by their own pride, ages ago they were tricked by the fey of the First World and bound away into shadow. Twisted by their hatred and loneliness, they were transformed into stunted, shadowy versions of their former selves. In time they discovered portals back to the real world. Ironically, these "portals" were in fact the paintings they had crafted so many centuries before, collected in galleries all across Golarion. Obsessed with their lost lives, the shadowy lurkers found their own works, and jealously guarded them from being seen by lesser beings. Over time, the shadowy lurkers have learned to manipulate the minds of people in the same way they used to play with paint and brush. Masters of light and illusion, they can be a deadly trap for the unsuspecting art enthusiast.

For more information on the perils of paint, be sure to check out GameMastery Module U1: Gallery of Evil.

Jeremy Walker
Assistant Editor, GameMastery

Masterpiece of Horror

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

The idea of paintings coming to life is certainly not new. It's been excellent fodder for horror movies for years. It's surprising, therefore, that not much has been done with the concept in classic fantasy. The upcoming edition in our GameMastery Modules line tries to fill in that gap somewhat by bringing you Imron Gauthfallow and his Gallery of Evil.

Some of Imron's most useful discoveries in his quest for revenge are the painted creations. These creatures are crafted from nothing more than paint and imagination. Crafted as facsimiles of real creatures, they posses the mindless obedience and indomitable nature of automations. Perhaps their most frightening quality, however, is that a painted creation can replicate almost any creature and, to the unobservant, can easily be mistaken for the real thing.

Jeremy Walker
Assistant Editor, GameMastery

Create-A-Monster Contest!

Friday, September 14, 2007

The folks over at The Saving Throw are launching a new monster design contest, and they've picked Paizo Publisher Erik Mona and Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief James Jacobs to be their celebrity judges. Read on to find out how you can win some swag and gain serious bragging rights!

From The Saving Throw:

Ever fancied yourself a master monster creator? Ever built a monster solely for the thrill of the TPK? Now is your chance to use that skill to score yourself some loot. Simply submit your monster, template, or new race to savingthrow@rpgamer.com. Be sure to include stats, a sample monster, a detailed description, and any other information such as tactics, ecology, and lore regarding the monster. Sketches are not necessary, but feel free to include them. The Saving Throw staff will narrow the submissions down to seven and then our guest celebrity judges, Erik Mona and James Jacobs, will choose a grand prize winner and runner up. We have a copy of Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk, autographed by the authors Erik Mona, James Jacobs, and Jason Bulmahn, and the other prize we have is a copy of Shadowdale: The Scouring of the Land. The grand prize winner has his or her choice of which title they want.

Rules:

1. All submitted materials must be submitted by October 7th at 11:59:59 PM PDT.

2. All submitted materials must conform to OGL/3.5 rules.

3. By submitting an entry in this contest, you give RPGamer the right to post said materials on www.rpgamer.com.

4. Winners will be notified via email on or before October 15th, 2007.

5. Winners must respond by within three business days, or another winner will be selected.

6. Judges' decisions are final.

7. This contest is open to anyone with a valid email address and valid mailing address, except for the employees of RPGamer and their immediate families, and the celebrity judges and their immediate families.

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

Kyle's Magnificent Menagerie

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Some of you may have already noticed a striking stylistic similarity between the fun cartoon goblin illustrating Pathfinder #1's introduction and those strange little monsters that used to appear in Dungeon to illustrate the Dungeoncraft column and the table of contents. That's because both series are done by one of our favorite artists and creative minds, Downer creator Kyle Stanley Hunter.

Much as he did in Dungeon, each month Kyle will be giving us his unique take on a key monster found in that month's volume of Pathfinder. For "The Skinsaw Murders," for instance, he's produced a fearsome ghoul, and future adventures will bring ogres, giants, and more.

We're all super-excited to have Kyle onboard for this and some other super-exciting secret projects a bit farther down the road, and for those of you unfamiliar with his work, I highly recommend checking out Downer: Wandering Monster or his personal website at www.superunicorn.com/kyle/, both of which contain galleries featuring dozens more of his trademark "mini monsters."

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

Pathfinder #2 Art Show!

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Pathfinder #2 is off at the printer, which means it's time to give you all a sneak peak at some of the fabulous art we've got going into this volume. From the lamia matriarch to the skinsaw cultist with his fearsome war razor, we're really proud of the visual element of Pathfinder #2, and these are just a drop in the bucket when you consider how much art we have jam-packed into this book. Enjoy!

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

First Peek at Pathfinder #2

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

With Pathfinder #2 currently on the proverbial slow boat from China, here's a sample spread from the bestiary to whet your appetite. Introducing: the boggard! Download the 528 KB zip PDF.

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

The Fey Are Coming

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

GameMastery Module W1: Conquest of Bloodsworn Vale has arrived in our warehouse and is about to ship to subscribers (although if you sign up now, you can still get the module and a free PDF). Although I've chatted about fey before, now is as good time to look at the fey in this module with some detail. If you plan on playing this module be forewarned—spoilers lurk below.

Here are some facts about the Roseblood Sprites, presented as a Knowledge (nature) skill check.

DC	Information
13	Roseblood Sprites are evil fey that live in an area known as Bloodsworn Vale. They are a menace to travelers and workmen alike, and even to adventurers if encountered in a large group (known as a bushel).
18	These fey have the ability to transform into ordinary rose bushes, and have a penchant for using the beautifully thorny plants in their armor and weapons.
23	Roseblood Sprites have a number of magical abilities involving trickery, and can pass through wooded areas with ease.
28	Roseblood Sprites who congregate in large groups are often led by a king who is far more powerful than his kin, with the ability to awaken rosebushes and turn them into sprites.

Beyond this basic information, the fey living in Bloodsworn Vale have another nasty habit. As of late, their victims have been found mutilated, missing one or both of their ears. Rumors hold that this is some sort of trophy gathering by the malicious sprites, but some say that something far more sinister is afoot.

Well, that's all for Conquest of Bloodsworn Vale. If you've not checked out this module, stop by your local game store, visit our booth at GenCon, or take a look through some of the other posts on this blog. Next week, we'll start "delving" into D2: Seven Swords of Sin.

Jason Bulmahn
GameMastery Brand Manager

Conquering the Vale

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

There are a lot of things I like about dragons. They're iconic, they fly, they have breath weapons, they're deadly in melee, and they're incredibly intelligent (for the most part). Unfortunately, this usually puts them in the role of "boss monster" or lone combatant. Fighting against a host of dragons either feels a bit out of place or is reserved for very high-level characters. True dragons are also kind of a pain to generate, unlike other monsters.

For GameMastery Module W1: Conquest of Bloodsworn Vale, I really wanted to include a dragon-like monster that was easy to use and could be used in a group, without having to resort to the oft-overused half-dragon template. Enter the flame drake. This offshoot of dragonkind is a degenerate cousin of true dragons that breeds true. Like true dragons, these drakes have breath weapons, can fly, and are dangerous in melee. Unlike true dragons, however, flame drakes are less cunning, prove far less resilient, and do not age like true dragons, making them easier to use both alone and as part of a group (in their case, a rampage of 3–12).

Flame drakes in particular (and there will be other drake types) can unleash a ball of flame that works like a fireball every few rounds. They also have a rather nasty bite that deals a bit of fire damage with each chomp. Finally, flame drakes can call on their draconic heritage a few times per day to take an extra move action. All in all, they're a nasty critter that falls solidly in the CR 5 range. Dangerous? You bet, but nothing that a group of PCs set on taming the deadly wilderness of the Bloodsworn Vale can't handle. Their master, on the other hand, is another story entirely.

Jason Bulmahn
GameMastery Brand Manager

The Sandpoint Devil

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

The real world is a great resource for monsters. Many of the game's critters come from real-world myth and legend, but one venue that seems to have been largely ignored are cryptozoological accounts. I'm talking about Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster, of course, but also about more obscure creatures like the hodag, Mokele-Mbembe, and the Yowie. And, of course, the Jersey Devil, the inspiration for one of Pathfinder's first new monsters. Rumors and legends of a rarely seen but terrible monster have preyed upon the fears of Sandpoint's populace for decades. The rumors listed below comprise the most common—though oft-conflicting—tales regarding the famed Sandpoint devil.

Bad Omen: It's bad luck to see the Sandpoint devil. Any who do are cursed to suffer an ill fate. Before tragedies, murders, and shipwrecks, it's said the devil flies unseen by all but the doomed through the night sky.

Devil-Spawned: The Sandpoint devil is the son of a widow named Agatha Leeds, a woman who used to live north of town and was said to practice dark magics and consort with evil beings. When she wandered into town round with child, she ignored all questions about her pregnancy. Weeks later, her home was found reduced to cinders with its mysterious owner missing. It wasn't long thereafter that the first sightings of the Sandpoint devil began.

Disappearances: Evidence of Sandpoint devil sightings often disappears before it can be examined. Tracks, bitten animals, weapons dripping with its blood, and similar such evidence simply vanish, no matter how well watched or guarded. In fact, even those who have sought to catch or kill the Sandpoint devil have disappeared without a trace, both during their hunts and in the weeks after returning home from a failed attempt.

Fire Starter: Paintings and reports of the Sandpoint devil mysteriously catch on fire, sometimes burning entire homes to the ground.

Immortal Protector: Some Varisians claim they Sandpoint devil has lived along the Lost Coast for thousands of years, and that it protects the coast's resources from those who seek to exploit the land. Its modern misdeeds are merely its way of fending off the most recent encroachment of civilization.

One of Many: The Sandpoint devil is sometimes seen in the company of other local legends and spooks, most commonly a white stag, the ghost of a young girl, and a zombie with missing feet.

James Jacobs
Editor-in-Chief, Pathfinder

The New Stat Block

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Since we have sent a number of modules out to the printer, we recently came to the realization that it was high time to show off the new stat block. Mind you, there are a lot of things you are going to find familiar, but some things are brand new. When it came time to start working on Pathfinder and the GameMastery Modules, we took that opportunity to improve and tinker, while still trying to retain the easy-to-use format everyone has come to know and love.

Specifically, we tried to streamline the information a bit, so that you can more easily get at what you need. For example, AC, hit points, and saves now come first in the defensive section. All other abilities (such as immunities, resistances, and so on) get grouped together beneath these (as evasion is in the example). The offense section gets a similar treatment, with the information you need most grouped toward the top.

Next is the tactics box. Instead of having a tactics section in the encounter, it made more sense to include that with the stat block, so that each monster could have its own information. You get a section for what it does before and during combat, as well as a small bit on its morale telling you if it ever decides to run away from the fight. Some kobolds make great use of this particular section.

The last section in our examples covers the creature's statistics. This information is not generally vital to every combat situation and thus gets referenced far less often. This is not always the case, though, so you might see some of these statistics noted in earlier section so you don't miss them. For example, if a creature has improved grab, you can be sure that we will note its grapple bonus up in the offense section.

The two particular monsters in our sample page from D1: Crown of the Kobold King do not have any special abilities that require in-depth explanation. If they did, this information would go at the very end in its own section. The slurk, for instance, has a pair of abilities describing how its slimy belly grease and sticky back goo work (and no, those aren't the real ability titles).

As always, we want to hear from you. What do you think about the new stat block? Let us know in the forums, and remember that tonight is also the weekly GameMastery and Pathfinder chat. Check out the blog post from 5/02 to learn how to join in.

Jason Bulmahn
GameMastery Brand Manager

Forge Spurned

Friday, May 18, 2007

In Crown of the Kobold King we introduce the dwarven deity Droskar, God of Toil. Droskar's following began as a reaction against the bon vivant trends that pervaded the dwarven society of their day, instating a dreadful dogma of salvation through endless toil and brutal subservience to the Dark Smith, as Droskar was often called. The dwarves became slaves to their own industry, producing heaps of weapons, armor, and gear to appease their dark god. The wilderness around them was fed to Droskar's fires of industry, until the dwarves choked on their own black fumes and starved in the dust.

The rise of this new religion also saw the first appearance of a new undead monster associated with such endless toil: the forge spurned. When a dwarven worshiper of Droskar perishes, he is brought before his divine lord and judged. If the Master of the Dark Furnace finds him unworthy, he is pierced with burning barbs and returned to the world as a tormented undead creature on an accursed errand to gather souls for Droskar's Furnace. Forge spurned are consumed with their need to forge their soul chains, and prey upon any creature they feel they can easily best. If a forge spurned is felled and its chain taken by another, it seethes with dark fury. A forge spurned stops at nothing to retrieve its chain, lest it be forced to forge another, extending its period of burning torment.

Forge spurned resemble hulking dwarves wrapped in heavy steel chains. Their faces, hands, and bodies are riddled with glowing hot hooks and half-melted razor wire. Black smoke rises from their smoldering beards, framing a freakishly contorted face covered in ash and soot. The tormented beings heft black iron hammers in both hands, and the chains that drape their forms possess the malevolent life of angry metal serpents.

Jeremy Walker
Assistant Editor, GameMastery

Leaping Slime

Thursday, May 3, 2007

Everyone knows about goblins and worgs. Going all the way back to Tolkien, the goblin/worg raiding party has been a staple of sword and sorcery fantasy. Giving the goblins an iconic mount to ride makes them that much scarier, and also that much more usable. No longer confined to their underground lairs, a mounted group of goblins can range far across the countryside, strike at numerous towns and villages, and generally wreak havoc.

But why should the goblins have all the fun? The poor, abused kobolds lack that traditional iconic mount creature, and while they do enjoy their traps, without mounts they are a much more stationary threat. With Crown of the Kobold King, we decided to change that.

Enter the slurk.

Long ago, dwarves dragged giant forest toads beneath the earth and altered their physiology with powerful magic in hopes of creating powerful underground beasts of burden that would be perfect mounts. The slurk is the disgusting result of their aborted efforts. The creature's unappealing slime and foul reek caused the dwarves to drive away their creation in disgust. Kobolds, on the other hand, are less picky.

Slurks are oozy abominations resembling pale, slime-slick toads. Their backs drip viscous mucus while their bellies are coated with a thick film of greasy slime. They use their slime as an offensive weapon, coating their opponents with the glue-like phlegm and making it easier to bring their gigantic, walrus-like tusks to bear on their hapless victims. Their sticky back-slime makes them ideal mounts for the kobolds, who can adhere to their backs without the need for a saddle. The slurks are powerful leapers, and are capable of moving along the walls and floor of rough underground tunnels at incredible speed. They are not the brightest of beasts, however, and more that one kobold has had his skull crushed when his mount smashed his head into the cavern ceiling with a mistimed jump.

Jeremy Walker
Assistant Editor, GameMastery

...And the Dragon Comes in the Niiiiiight!

Friday, April 27, 2007

Just wanted to drop by and give you all a sneak preview of some brand new cover art we got in just in time for the weekend. They say a picture's worth a thousand words, but I'd wager that this one's worth about 22,000... which, incidentally, is how long Jason Bulmahn's W1: Conquest of Bloodsworn Vale module will be when it's all finished. In this 32-page adventure, heroes will be pitted against twisted, evil fey as they fight to reclaim Bloodsworn Vale and reestablish overland trade routes between Varisia and the world beyond. But as this beautifully executed painting from WETA and Savage Tide alumnus Warren Mahy shows us, evil fey are just the beginning of the adventurer's problems....

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

Hail To The King

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Kobolds have been around for a long time. From the ratlike little dog-men of the early editions, to the more recent incarnation as draconic lizards, these guys remain one of the game's favorite foils. Usually depicted as sneaky, conniving trap-makers, they also have a history of being cute, pathetic monsters struggling to find their place in the dungeon, usually at the bottom of the local food chain. When we went looking for an iconic monster to kick off our line of 32-page modules, the kobold was an easy choice.

We couldn't just settle for the traditional kobold, though. Not when we had the chance to do so much more. When we asked Senior Art Director Sean Glenn to redesign the stale old monster and give it a fresh look, what we got back exceeded all of our expectations. (Sean, for his part, readily admits to sending Sam, the World's Ugliest Dog, along as reference. Can you see the resemblance?) Meaner, nastier, and definitely more evil, these guys have that special something that sets them apart from the pack. They have style. To give you an idea, here are some of the kobolds from "Crown of the Kobold King."

The reign of Merlokrep, first of his name, all-mighty Dragon King of the Truescale Kobolds, has suffered misfortune from the day of his coronation. But the sturdy resolve that saw him through the murder of his eighteen siblings and cleared his path to the throne has held his tribe together through the accidents, attacks by their new monstrous neighbors, and the king's own homicidal outbursts of rage over both. Merlokrep is always happy to offer visitors an honored place as Great Sacrifices to the Crown, ready to wine and dine them before ripping them open and pulling out their hearts.

Vreggma, Chief Consort and Only One Allowed to Nag-Nag His Greatness, loves to gaze at her own reflection. Her continued pursuit of shiny good-good causes an endless amount of trouble for her King, resulting in a third of her tribe perishing in haphazard mining excavations over the years. She immediately attempts the coquettish seduction of anyone that enters her lair, but if her advances are rebuffed or her collection of shiny good-good is threatened, she flies into a spitting rage that belies her sweet veneer and attacks viciously.

Jekkajak, called by many "He Who Forgets More Than You or He Knows," is the Truescale's shaman. His mysterious prophecies are taken very seriously by the rest of the tribe, at least when he is awake. Jekkajak is a walking corpse of a kobold, whose withered old white scales are stretched tight over bone. His puny skeletal snout contains a lone tooth and constantly dribbles drool. His milky eyes focus intermittently on his surroundings.

Merlokrep's cruel mining foreman, Lekmek, works a gaggle of slaves to death in search of "shiny good-good" for Vreggma. Sadly, gold is not on the menu in his glum mines, whose walls are riddled instead with veins of iron ore. Vreggma's displeasure at the lack of gold is the source of many headaches for Merlokrep, who in turn takes out his frustrations on Lekmek. The foreman vents this mounting aggravation through harsh beatings administered to his digger-slaves on an hourly basis.

Finally, its never really made sense that all kobolds should be brownish gray. Since there are five colors of chromatic dragon, we created five differently colored kobolds. But when we got the art back from our artist, we discovered that we had not five, but six colors. Which begs the question: what do we do with this guy?

If you've got an idea, post it to our messageboards and let us know!

Jeremy Walker
Assistant Editor, GameMastery

Monsters Are to Pathfinder What Icing Is to Cake

Monday, April 23, 2007

I've made no secret of my obsession for new monsters. I love them. I can never get enough of them. Will I ever use all the monsters I've collected through my decades of RPG enthusiasm? Absolutely not. But I wouldn't give up any of them.

Unlike magic items or spells, new monsters are things that a GM can introduce into a game without fear that they'll disrupt a campaign. If they prove too lame (as was the case of my home campaign's flying, slavering eradu—a sort of warthog-shark intended to be the "new bulette," but who ended up being glass-jawed, one-hit loser), it's easy enough to never use them again. But once your PCs get your hands on things like new spells and new magic items, it's much harder to back them out of the campaign without a lot of tears and thrown dice.

With Pathfinder, we're embracing the new monster completely. Every volume will feature a bestiary that spotlights roughly six new monsters. Some of them will have roles in that month's adventure while others might just be there to add flavor to our new campaign setting. A few might even be previews of an Adventure Path years down the road. Some will be drawn from real-world myth, some from cryptozoological reports, and some wholly from the minds of our authors. Hopefully we'll all have some new favorite monsters in the months to come!

But talking about monsters isn't enough. We don't have art in yet for the six new monsters that are going to be in the first volume of Pathfinder to support the first adventure, "Burnt Offerings," but we do have descriptions of them. And while names of these monsters are placeholders in many cases, their descriptions are locked in. Check them out! (Warning: as with most of these blogs, spoilers below!)

Attic Whisperer

This undead thing resembles a child's skeleton with the paws and grinning skull of a fox. It is gray and covered with cobwebs, and dust falls endlessly from its mouth. It holds a ragged stuffed child's toy, its eyes pierced by pins, in its skeletal, fox-like hands. The creature is dressed in a small sleeping gown that looks like it was partially burned in a fire, as if it were the remains of a child who had died in bed.

Giant Gecko

There are two breeds of giant gecko in Varisia. The first is the size of a small horse or pony, maybe 8 feet long from head to tail. His eyes are bright blue and his body brightly colored. His open mouth holds hundreds of fangs, and his feet have large flat toes.

The second breed is much larger and more muscular, running about 14 feet long from snout to tail tip. This gecko has horns and a ridge of spines running down its back. Its eyes are bright red, and green smoking drool drips from its mouth, indication of its venomous bite.

Goblin Dog

While goblins ride worgs, wolves, and giant geckos when they can get them, most goblins are stuck with these disturbing mounts. Shaped like a limber greyhound but with a feral, ratlike face and tail, goblin dogs share their masters' hatred of real dogs. Their front two paws are tiny, black, ratlike hands, and their attitudes are all snarls and froth.

Goblin Snake

This strange snakelike monster is about 6 feet long and coiled around the roots of a tree that hang down from the roof of a cave. The snake has a black body with a thin racing stripe down its flank. Its back is a ridge of tiny horns. Its head is actually that of a goblin, but with a forked tongue and no ears. It has wide white snake eyes and a large mouth with two large viper fangs in the front. Some sages hold that goblin snakes are atrophied, deformed nagas, while most goblins believe that they're reincarnated heroes sent back to this world to punish goblin enemies.

Runespawn

Humanoid but deformed, the runespawn is an emaciated horror with unnaturally long arms and legs. Its hands each have two talon-tipped fingers and a thumb, and their legs bend like those of a dog. It's dressed in tatters and rags that expose much of its skin; veins bulge all over their bodies, forming dark blue or red patterns that look like twisted runes. Their flesh is pale and hairless. The runespawn's heads are curiously elongated. They have only a pair of slits for a nose, and their eyes are bulging and red, with no visible eyebrows. Yet for all this horror, their mouths are the most disturbing, for their lower jaw splits in half at the chin into pedipalps that end in tiny three-fingered hands that writhe about, eager to feed delicious morsels into an open gullet with a lolling tongue.

Sandpoint Devil

This critter is heavily inspired by the northeastern U.S. legend of the Jersey Devil. The Sandpoint version of this monster is a horrible horse-like creature with a fang-filled mouth, large bat wings, and a reptilian tail. Rumored to have been birthed by a woman cursed by Lamashtu, goddess of monsters and madness, the Sandpoint Devil is one of the most famous local legends. Despite long-standing rewards for its capture, it has never been caught. But when hunters and travelers go missing, chances are you'll hear tell that the Sandpoint Devil got them.

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief

Cover illustration for volume 1. Click to enlarge.

Reinventing The Wheel

Friday, April 20, 2007

Originally, the main menace in "Burnt Offerings," the first Rise of the Runelords adventure, was going to be a tribe of kobolds, because let's face it—everyone loves kobolds. So much so, in fact, that they ended up being the bad guys for the first GameMastery Module, which hits the shelves two months before "Burnt Offerings." Which is cool for Crown of the Kobold King, but left "Burnt Offerings" without a pint-sized menace.

Enter Wayne Reynolds.

The decision to have Wayne paint the first dozen covers for Pathfinder had the exciting side effect of making Wayne the one to design the look for our goblins. "Make our goblins look almost as cute as they are scary," we told him, and he more than accomplished that goal with a swarm of flat-headed, toothy, red-eyed monsters wielding crazy jagged swords (which Editor-in-Chief James Jacobs immediately named "dog-slicers" because, as you'll see below, goblins hate dogs!). Based entirely on their look, Jacobs—who's also the author of "Burnt Offerings"—was able to come up with all manner of weird goblin affectations (the current staff favorite being the song they sing while marauding). Based on what Wayne did with goblins, we're all understandably excited to see his designs for our stone giants, ogres, and dragons... which you'll of course find sneak previews of right here.

Ten Fun Facts About Goblins

1: Horse Hate: Goblins excel at riding animals, but they don't quite get horses. In fact, their hatred of all things horse is matched only by their fear of horses, who tend to step on goblins who get too close.

2: Dog Hate: Although goblins raise horrible rat-faced doglike creatures to use as mounts (and ride wolves or worgs if they can get them—goblins are quick to explain that wolves are NOT dogs), their hatred of ordinary dogs nearly matches their hatred of horses. The feeling is mutual, so if your dog's barking at the woodpile for no reason, chances are good he smells a frightened goblin hiding in there somewhere.

3: Goblins Raid Junkyards: Garbage pits, gutters, sewers… anywhere there's garbage, you can bet goblins are nearby. They're weirdly adept at crafting weapons and armor from refuse, and are fond of killing people with what they throw away.

4: Goblins Love to Sing: Unfortunately, as catchy as their lyrics can be, goblin songs tend to be a bit too creepy and disturbing to catch on in mainstream society.

5: They're Sneaky: An excited or angry goblin is a noisy, chattering, toothy menace, but even then, they can drop into an unsettling silence in a heartbeat. This, matched with their diminutive size, makes them unnervingly adept at hiding in places you'd never expect… stacks of firewood, rain barrels, under logs, under chicken coops, in ovens, etc.

6: They're A Little Crazy: The fact that goblins think of things like ovens as good hiding places reveals much about their inability to think plans through to the most likely outcome. That, and they tend to be easily distracted, particularly by shiny things and animals smaller than them that might make good eating.

7: They're Voracious: Given enough supplies, a goblin generally takes nearly a dozen meals a day. Most goblin tribes don't have enough supplies to accommodate such ravenous appetites, which is why the little menaces are so prone to going on raids.

8: They Like Fire: Burning things is one of the great goblin pastimes, although they're generally pretty careful about lighting fires in their own lairs, especially since goblins tend to live in large tangled thistle patches and sleep in beds of dried leaves and grass. But give a goblin a torch and someone else's home and you've got trouble.

9: They Get Stuck Easily: Goblins have wiry frames but wide heads, and live in cramped warrens. Sometimes too cramped.

10: Goblins Believe Paintings and Writing Steal Your Soul: The walls of goblin lairs and ruins of towns goblins have raided are littered with pictures of their enemies. They never draw pictures of goblins, though—that's mean. Writing steals words out of your head. You can't get them back.

The Goblin Song

Goblins chew and goblins bite,
Goblins cut and goblins fight,
Stab the dog and cut the horse,
Goblins eat and take by force!

Goblins race and goblins jump,
Goblins slash and goblins bump,
Burn the skin and mash the head,
Goblins here and you be dead!

Chase the baby, catch the pup,
Bonk the head to shut it up!
Bones be cracked, flesh be stewed,
We the goblins—you the food!

-The Pathfinder Staff