Advanced Race Guide Preview: Kill it With Fire!

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Everyone knows goblins have an unnatural love of fire. They love to see it flicker and burn to the sounds of their enemies' screams. While goblin adventurers, in an effort to get along with other more squeamish races, may control their pyromaniac urgings, others learn to harness that power and focus it into devastating force.

Of course, since the goblin section of the Advanced Race Guide has plenty of options for fiery destruction, an alchemist archetype focusing on fire seemed like a good fit, so this week we present you with the fire bomber. As you'll notice from this archetype, there are many more options for goblin mayhem in this book, from a host of feats to some new discoveries, but you will just have to wait until the book comes out to check those out.

Fire Bomber (Alchemist)

Fire bombers are exceptionally good at using bombs to burn creatures and blow things up, but are not quite as good at creating other types of bombs or extracts. A fire bomber has the following class features.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A fire bomber treats torches as a simple weapon.

Illustration by Andrew Hou

Fire Bombardier (Su or Ex): At 1st level, when a fire bomber throws a bomb that deals fire damage, all creatures in the splash radius take an additional point of damage per die of fire damage dealt. Fire bombers only add their Intelligence bonus to damage from bombs or alchemical substances that deal fire damage. This otherwise works like the alchemist's bomb and throw anything abilities. This ability alters bomb and throw anything.

Bonus Feats: A fire bomber can select the Burn! Burn! Burn!, Fire Tamer, or Flame Heart feat in place of a discovery.

Fiery Cocktail (Su): At 4th level, whenever a fire bomber uses a discovery that deals damage other than fire damage, he can split the damage dice evenly between the bomb's primary damage type and 1d6 points of fire damage; when there is an odd number of damage dice, the odd die of damage comes from the primary damage type. For example, an 8th-level fire bomber could throw a concussive bomb that deals 2d6 points of fire damage and 3d4 points of sonic damage. Additional effects from the bomb still apply, but the save DC for admixture bombs is reduced by 2. This replaces the alchemist's 4th-level discovery.

Fire Body (Ex): At 8th level, a fire bomber adds elemental body I to his extract list as a 3rd-level extract. Elemental body extracts prepared using fire body are limited to fire elementals only. This ability replaces poison resistance +6.

Improved Fire Body (Ex): At 10th level, fire bombers add elemental body II to their spell list as a 4th-level extract. Elemental body extracts prepared using improved fire body are limited to fire elementals only. This ability replaces poison immunity.

Greater Fire Body (Ex): At 14th level, fire bombers add elemental body IV to their spell list as a 5th-level extract. Elemental body extracts prepared using greater fire body are limited to fire elementals only. This ability replaces persistent mutagen.

Discoveries: The following discoveries complement the fire bomber archetype: fire brand, rocket bomb (see sidebar); explosive bombs, fast bombs, inferno bomb, precise bombs (Advanced Player's Guide); breath weapon bomb, explosive missile, immolation bomb (Ultimate Combat); bottled ooze, confusion bomb, strafe bomb (Ultimate Magic).

Next week, WARK!

Stephen Radney-MacFarland
Designer

Illustrations by Andrew Hou, Michael Saas, and Florian Stitz. Wallpaper design by Crystal Frasier. Widescreen version here.

Goblins for All!

Friday, April 1, 2011

Because you asked for it, the following changes are coming to Pathfinder:

1. Introducing the next in our popular Players Companion line of products: Goblins of Purity!

   Goblins are popular. But they're not popular enough! With "Goblins of Purity," we're giving you what you've been asking for—the chance to fully embrace all of the madness and mayhem that is being a goblin—but in a way that allows you to still be a hero. This book is jam-packed with all manner of fun and exciting options for goblins dedicated to fighting against the rise of evil (as most often personified by greedy adventurers, slavering dogs, and those hateful horses with their sharp, sharp hooves and soulless eyes), all while maintaining the rip-roaring fun that being an arsonist or a baby-eater brings.

   Goblins of Purity includes:

   • Two dozen goblin archetypes, including the Dog Hunter ranger, the Friendly Picklechucker rogue, and the Peaceful Beachcomber paladin

   • An extensive discussion of brand-new goblin versions of your favorite deities

   • An exciting reworking of the alignment system that allows you to play arsonists and baby-eaters while still being good-aligned

   • A brand-new 20-level base class built especially for would-be goblin heroes—the Goblin Babysitter, a class that gets extensive use out of this book's new "innocent accident charts"

2. We're not there yet, but when we send the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook back for another reprint, we'll be adding goblins to the list of core player races. Now everyone can be a goblin!

3. Starting today, goblins are now mandatory for play in the Pathfinder Society. Every group must have at least one goblin in the party. I expect some awesome stories from your games this weekend!

4. Later this year, we'll release the Goblinomicon, a 64-page book that outlines the foes goblins confront in daily life—including true and accurate stat blocks for dogs and horses!

5. Spoiler:

   And... if you haven't figured out already, Happy April Fools Day!

Hyrum Savage
Marketing and Organized Play Manager

Illustration by Andrew Hou

Introducing Squealy Nord!

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Among the Licktoad Goblins, fame doesn't come easily. If you want to be taken seriously by His Mighty Girthness Chief Rendwattle Gutwad and allowed to undertake a dangerous mission—such as retrieving a load of fireworks from a goblin cannibal—you need to be ready to prove yourself. That means engaging in any number of deadly and disgusting dares, from eating a bag of bull slugs or braving the dreaded Earbiter to the most fearsome challenge of all: attempting to ride the infamous Squealy Nord himself! (Presented above is an artist's rendition of one such attempt. Images of the aftermath have been deemed too graphic for public display.)

For more information on Squealy Nord and your chance to join the Licktoad heroes on their epic quest, be sure to stop by your local game store on June 18th to pick up your free copy of our Free RPG Day adventure, We Be Goblins!

James Sutter
Fiction Editor

Illustrations by Andrew Hou. Wallpaper design by Crystal Frasier.

We Love Goblins!

Friday, February 4, 2011

We definitely love goblins here at Paizo. In fact, more than anything we love them blinded, helpless, and fascinated. And with this new wallpaper, you can too! This wallpaper uses artwork from the soon-to-arrive Condition Cards, the latest Game Mastery card set from Paizo. With these cards you'll be able to easily keep track of the Pathfinder RPG's most common conditions, making it so you'll never miss a modifier again!

Hyrum Savage
Marketing and Organized Play Manager

Where’s the “Gassy” Condition?

Thursday, November 18th, 2010

For some time now James has been warning the rest of the office of his general cheeriness or crabbiness with a printout of the goblins from the GameMastery Condition Cards and a Post-It arrow hanging on his door. Without the cards themselves, though, some of the meanings have been mysterious. Like the goblin below, for example: are his ears loose? Is he using mind powers? Could he be trying to keep the demons out? Yesterday it was hard to say, but not today, with the printer proofs of the Condition Cards that just drifted in.

Illustrations by Andrew Hou

Deafened, James? If only it was that easy to make the screaming stop.

F. Wesley Schneider
Managing Editor

Guest Blogger Blake Davis Announces Special PFS Event

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Illustration by Andrew Hou

The Year of the Shadow Lodge is coming to Redmond, WA! Clear your schedules, as you won't want to miss this unique Pathfinder Society event coming up this Saturday, October 2nd at the Redmond Games and Gizmos at noon.

Year of the Shadow Lodge is a unique Pathfinder Society adventure in which multiple tables of Pathfinders work together throughout the mission. Pathfinders from levels 1–11 are welcome to come join and share their skills to help fight an epic battle that threatens Absalom's Grand Lodge itself.

As a special treat, since Games and Gizmos is one of Paizo HQ's local game stores, several members of the Paizo staff will be present and participating in the event! Events Manager Joshua J. Frost will be dusting off his own PFS character to play alongside one lucky table, and Developer Mark Moreland will be GMing. Other Paizo VIPs may stop by to observe and mingle with fans and players as well!

Details for holding yourself a spot can be found in this thread in the Pathfinder Society messageboards. Players can show up on October 2nd and hope for a space, but signing up as indicated on that thread is recommended due to limited space and to ensure there are enough GMs.

The event is also still looking for a few GMs to lead their fellow gamers through the stunning adventure, and as with any PFS adventure, GMs can apply credit for the scenario to one of their own level-appropriate PCs.

Thanks everyone, and I hope to see you there!

Blake "Nethys" Davis
Paizo Fan & Event Organizer

Backup Blog!

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Sometimes, when we're trying to push a big book like Bestiary 2 out the door, it's five o'clock before anyone realizes we didn't put together a blog. So no one out there thinks the cave raptors finally got loose and gobbled us all up, please enjoy a new goblin from the upcoming Pathfinder Condition Cards and this picture of Sutter hard at work editing Plague of Shadows!

Illustration by Andrew Hou

Wes Schneider
Managing Editor

2 Many Monsters!

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

This is the final week of editing before we ship the Bestiary 2 off to the printer and that means the whole office is neck deep in monsters. Since we've nowhere else to put them in the ever-more-crowded editorial pit, I thought a nice way to get them out from underfoot would be to exile a few to the blog. So here are a handful of beasties we no longer need immediately on hand. Enjoy!

Art by Damian Mammoliti	Art by Andrew Hou
Art by Florian Stitz	Art by Andrew Hou

Mark Moreland
Developer

These Goblins Are _____, _____, and _____.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Goblins have the worst luck! Check back here in the coming weeks for more malicious misadventures from the upcoming GameMastery Condition Cards.

Sketches by Andrew Hou

Wes Schneider
Managing Editor

Oh, Yes We Did!

Monday, July 26, 2010

PRESENTING! The action scene you’ve all been waiting to see!

Illustration by Andrew Hou

James Jacobs
Creative Director

GameMastery Guide Preview: It's Here!

Thursday, June 17, 2010

	Illustration by Andrew Hou

As I write this Cosmo is standing in our warehouse, shin deep in packing Styrofoam, yelling about "peanuts" to anyone who passes by. Such strangeness might be chalked up to the daunting nature of his task—though it is hard to tell with Cos—as he's surrounded by huge walls of boxes filled with books. Guides, of a sort. GameMastery Guides, even. Which he's helping to ship out right now. That's right, the GameMastery Guide is shipping at this very moment. Tomorrow at PaizoCon hundreds of gamers will pick up their copies of our newest hardcover, getting one of the world's first looks at this indispensable new arsenal for Pathfinder GMs. In the days and hours to follow, subscribers and game stores should also be receiving their copies (if they're not there already), so keep an eye on your mailboxes and store shelves. And if you don't have your copy spoken for already... well, I won't get into numbers, but you might want to speak up soon! They're on sale now, so the time is finally here!

With the wait being almost over I could close this out here... but that seems lame. But what's left to talk about? We've looked at the rules, the art, the crazy extra elements, the dozens of pregenerated NPCs, the hundreds of charts, the art again, and tons more. Well, how about we look at it all again—in a totally new way. Below is the complete index for the GameMastery Guide, listing every topic, every table, and every NPC in this giant. That's it. That's everything. The whole book. How's that for a preview?

So thanks to everyone for reading, commenting, and being so excited about one of this year's biggest releases. And if you haven't checked out the GameMastery Guides and my past previews already, just click on the "Game Mastering" tag below for a look back at what everybody's been talking about.

As for what's next, next week it's time for something completely different.

F. Wesley Schneider
Managing Editor

The GameMastery Guide: Mascots & Masterpieces!

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Aside from a metric ton of advice, new rules, charts, tools, and the like, one thing the GameMastery Guide has in spades is awesome new art! As you might have seen on the snippet from the credits page last week, a horde of fantastic artists contributed to this tome. We also did something a little unusual. Rather than illustrating every topic with our iconic heroes or scenes of battle or whatever have you, Andrew Hou created a host of murderously adorable little mascots. A host of murderously adorable little goblin mascots. So, guiding you through the ins and outs, the perils and the pleasures of the GM's art, you'll find these mischievous little menaces causing all sorts of trouble.

Illustrations by Andrew Hou

But the goblins aren't alone. We've got an entire gallery full of incredible art, with quite a few familiar faces, to preview over the coming weeks. For now, check out a few of our mascots' hijinks, along with a sampling of some of the GameMastery Guide's other full-body illustrations.

Illustrations by Eva Widermann	Illustration by Florian Stitz

Next week, check in for a first look at one of the things sure to get you GMs drooling, a preview of the GameMastery Guide's expansive NPC Gallery.

F. Wesley Schneider
Managing Editor

Developer's Diary: They Came From Beneath the Sea!

Thursday, April 1, 2010

As Wes mentioned a couple of weeks ago, our Open Design partnership project From Shore to Sea has had a few problems on its way through development and editing. But I'm happy to tell you that we are now in the final stages of getting this thing out the door and into your hands!

Senior Art Director Sarah Robinson found a great artist, Damien Mammoliti, to pick up where the last one left off, and once that art came in, she put everything together in record time. Finally, there are some faces to go with the names (some of them pretty creepy, but faces nonetheless!). Coupled with Andrew Hou's fantastic, action-packed chapter openers, this adventure is finally coming together. And once we had the art, editorial questions like what is the correct plural of octopus (octopi? octopuses? octopodes?) were easily resolved. Here's hoping that the ocean between here and China is safely free of giant cephalopods.

Illustration by Andrew Hou

For a final sneak peek at From Shore to Sea, take a look here at Valeros trying to save some hapless (and disturbingly fishy) villagers from more of those pesky giant tentacles. And be careful when you go swimming. You never know what might be lurking beneath the waves!

Rob McCreary
Assistant Editor

Leeches!

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

One of my favorite parts of being an editor at Paizo is getting to read about the new monsters in each bestiary before they come out. My favorites are the ones whose descriptions make me shiver with a delicious sense of horror and disgust. If the players facing these foul beasts make the same expression that I do reading about them, GMs will be richly rewarded for including them!

Last week, James Sutter was casually describing some of the nasties in Heart of the Jungle as he handed over a copy of one of the chapters: "You know, giant botflies, giant leeches, and [...]" Oh sorry, could you repeat the rest of that sentence? I couldn't hear you over the sound of my inner child screaming in fear.

Illustration by Andrew Hou

You see, when I was about 10, I was reading my dad's Dragon magazine back issues while en route to a week of camping in northern Minnesota, and I came across an article called "Ecology of the Giant Leech." The description of foot-long ribbons of muscle whose bite you can't even feel slowly fattening as they fill with your blood horrified me—suddenly I was terrified to be spending a week canoeing and swimming in leech-infested waters. ("Leech-infested" is not an exaggeration; the water along the shore of every beach and campsite was thick with six-inch-long leeches.)

I studied over the article again and again, poring over the stats and descriptions of their attacks and vulnerabilities, so I'd know how to defend myself when the time came. (You can laugh, but clearly, it worked!)

Now giant leeches are back—and I can't wait to read about them again! Partly because I love being creeped out by things that go bump in the water, and okay, I confess, partly to learn whether leech-fighting methods have evolved over the years.

GMs, you're going to love these wriggly critters: monsters based on one of nature's actual horrors, and whose attack is so insidious that victims may not even notice until it's almost too late. The only thing more priceless than the expression on your players' faces when they find a couple giant leeches draining one of their comrades—and wonder about that crawling sensation on their own backs—will be the look on their faces when they realize they have to cross that swamp again on the way back.

Yours shudderingly,

Judy Bauer
Editor

So... Are the Body Cards Coming Out Next Month?

Thursday, December 10, 2009

There's some nonsense about face cards coming out. On the one hand, I GM, and would find them very nice to have. On the other hand, my players tend to lump NPCs into two groups, one of which is rated R but not for violence, the other is "dismemberable." They are motivated by things like money and loot, and if an old lady on a card asks them to get her cat out of a tree, they'll write "hobo, no money, hope cat dies," and then write a number which represents her physical attractiveness on a scale of 1–20. The kinds of notes they'd leave on the back of my treasured face cards would hopefully be written in pencil.

Illustration by Udon	Illustration by Imaginary Friends Studios
Illustration by Andrew Hou

That said, if you're like me and hope to one day train your players into the kind of people that are generally nice, roleplay with accents, and take feats which give bonuses to social skills, then, by all means, let them scribble on the back of something. You may be pleasantly surprised to find a card with "cool dude," or "super nice, wish her the best in Mendev," written on it. These kinds of idle hopes drive GMs to buying so-called, "nice things," and I, for one, am tired of hearing the responses my couch-seated group of closeted anarchists comes up with when I say, "blonde, good-looking, wears leather armor." I guess it's good they're just face portraits.

Tyler Clark
Editorial Intern

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, 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

Infernal Sorceress Nominated for Origins Award

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Here at Paizo we're pretty darn proud of our Planet Stories line of fiction. Reviving classic fantasy and science fiction by the likes of authors such as Leigh Brackett, Henry Kuttner, and Gary Gygax has been a labor of love for Publisher Erik Mona, Senior Editor Pierce Watters, and Editors James L. Sutter and Christopher Paul Carey. It's with great pride, then, that we announce that Gary Gygax's Infernal Sorceress has been nominated for an Origins Award! Take a look at the back cover copy:

"The underworld of the Iberian Peninsula is a dangerous place, filled with cutthroats and swindlers, and no pair is more infamous than the gaunt man known as Ferret and the broad-shouldered mercenary Raker. Yet when the swashbuckling comrades are framed for the one crime they didn't commit, the scoundrels are faced with a choice: bring the true culprits to justice, or dance a gallows jig. In order to do so, they'll need to pull out all their tricks, stretching magic and muscle to their limit as they invade castles, battle subterranean monsters, and bluff their way through courts of nobles and shape-shifters in their search for revenge. Yet can even this canny, ruthless duo prevail against the beautiful witch that plots their downfall?"

Gary's writing style was certainly unique, and for those interested in his influence on the modern English lexicon, this article by Stephen Chrisomalis is worth checking out. Among other things, the article discusses how he popularized the little-used words eldritch and psionic, and effectively created the word dweomer whole cloth. Well worth the read!

David Eitelbach
Editorial Intern

All Aboard for Absalom!

Monday, December 15, 2008

Earlier this week, we got in our first bound copy of Guide to Absalom. In the hectic "GO GO GO!" mentality that is the Editorial Pit, we're often surprised when books we send out do what comes natural and show up in completed print form back at the office. It sounds funny, perhaps, but that's the way it is in crazy Paizo-land!

Anyway, the book reminded me that we actually haven't shown off that much art from Guide to Absalom. This blog rectifies that! Behold, one of the First Guards of Absalom by artist Andrew Hou, and a nice view of the Starstone Cathedral by Ben Wootten.

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief

The Two Faces of Kyonin

Friday, October 10, 2008

In Pathfinder #17, the PCs visit the elven homeland of Kyonin. We'll be providing a gazetteer of this nation for GMs to use to expand adventures set in this verdant kingdom. As you can see by the two pictures here by Andrew Hou, though, Kyonin isn't just an idyllic sylvan setting with beautiful elven villages—there's a dark side to Kyonin as well. The fiend-haunted forest of Tanglebriar, empire of the demon Treerazer (that's his palace Witchbole shown in the not-so-friendly illustration), lies deep within the kingdom's borders, providing a constant source of high-level adventure opportunity for the brave and foolhardy.

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Editor-in-Chief

How good? Hou good!

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

While we haven't completely finished the cover for Michael Moorcock's Lord of the Spiders, the sequel to City of the Beast, we wanted to jump the gun a bit and show off this great new painting from Planet Stories' go-to artistic visionary Andrew Hou. His cover for our first Moorcock book is one of my favorites, and I'm excited to see such a fitting successor!

Michael Moorcock is a living legend, one of the writers who helped define sword sorcery fantasy (heck, he created the term "multiverse"), and I'm glad that in republishing his work, we're able to do it the sort of justice it deserves.

James Sutter
Editor, Planet Stories

City of the Beast

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

As the second book to be released by Planet Stories, City of the Beast couldn't be more perfect for the line. First off, you've got Michael Moorcock, arguably one of the most important sword and sorcery authors of all time, the man who created the original fantasy anti-hero, Elric of Melniboné, and popularized such concepts as the "multiverse." Now add in the fact that City of the Beast, the first in Moorcock's Kane of Old Mars trilogy, sends this aspect of his Eternal Champion to the red planet in an epic homage to Edgar Rice Burroughs, and you've got the makings of an epic sword and planet romp.

In City of the Beast, an accident in a high-security government lab sends top physicist and expert fencer Michael Kane hurtling through space and time to a Mars of millions of years ago, in an age when the planet was still rife with life. There he meets the beautiful princess Shizala, as well as the merciless blue giants who besiege her home. Using the sword training of his youth and a tactical mind earned in the jungles of Vietnam, Michael Kane bolsters the city's defense against the barbarians, earning the respect of the locals with his quick wit and wrist. But when Shizala is betrayed by one of her own and kidnapped by the giants, Earthman Michael Kane must set out across a hostile planet in order to bring her home.

With fantastic cover art by Andrew Hou and an introduction by Kim Mohan, former editor of Amazing Stories, City of the Beast is a work of love by a master of the field. Watch for it here and in stores everywhere this September.

James Sutter
Editor, Planet Stories

Points Unknown

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Since we just got in some great rough sketches of notable Varisian landmarks courtesy of Andrew Hou, we thought we'd introduce you to some of Varisia's more infamous adventure sites. Presented below are but a few—look forward to more in the upcoming Rise of the Runelords Player's Guide.

Bloodsworn Vale: A fey-haunted pass to southern lands which played an integral role in Varisia's break with the crumbling empire of Cheliax.

Celwynvian: The doom-haunted capital of the Mierani elves, abandoned by its people.

The Face Pyramid: A great, timeless stone edifice rising forth from the Mushfen's murk.

Hook Mountain: A peak of dark repute, bent to resemble a colossal hook and the ancestral home of several tribes of inbred, brutish ogres.

The Mobhad Leigh: A vast and deep pit, which the Shoanti say has no bottom.

Riddleport: A depraved and lawless city whose ancient harbor bears a massive, rune-carved arch.

The Storval Stairs: Titanic steps cut into the face of the Storval Rise, the cliff face separating the lower half of Varisia from the eastern plateau.

Viperwall: The Citadel of Snakes, its walls of carved serpents endlessly leaking a venomous gas.

Kaer Maga: A city built inside the ruins of a single great structure of unknown function, perched atop the Storval Rise and renowned for its anarchic population of squatters and outlaws.

Wesley Schneider
Associate Editor, Pathfinder

And Hou!

Friday, May 25, 2007

While Wayne Reynolds has been getting a lot of press for his Pathfinder covers (and rightly so!), I'd like to stop for a minute and call out one of the other exemplary artists that Paizo will be featuring heavily in the year to come.

Though so far we've only given you a tiny taste with the Sandpoint mayor headshot from Monday's blog post, artist Andrew Hou will be playing a key role in the visual development of Pathfinder. While you probably know him best from his work in Dragon and Dungeon, Andrew will also be signing on as one of the lead interior artists in charge of making Pathfinder one of the most visually stunning products Paizo's ever produced. In addition, he's also just finished work on several covers for the Planet Stories novel line, coming through with a perfect blend of nostalgia and modernity that captures the essence of the books' original covers while still making them pop from the shelves—to see what I mean, just look at the blue giant piece, which is currently slated to grace the cover of Michael Moorcock's City of the Beast.

We hope you're as excited to have Andrew on board as we are, and expect to see plenty of his new Pathfinder art previewed here in the weeks to come.

James Sutter
Assistant Editor, Pathfinder

Note: The illustrations above and at left are not available for use under the Paizo Publishing, LLC Community Use Policy.

Founded on Murder!

Monday, May 21, 2007

The foundation of a new town is not a matter to be taken lightly, nor one to be funded by one soul. Four powerful families from the city of Magnimar had designs on settling a region 50 miles to the northeast, and rather than work against each other, they consolidated their efforts and formed the Sandpoint Mercantile League. These four families, the Ameikos (glassmakers and jewelers), the Valdemars (shipbuilders and carpenters), the Scarnettis (loggers and millers), and the Deverins (farmers and brewers), sailed north to claim their land after securing the rights from the Magnimar Charterhouse. Yet when they arrived, they found the place already settled by a particularly large tribe of Varisians, who held the region as a traditional place to spend the winter.

Unwilling to change course, the Sandpoint Mercantile League began a series of talks with the Varisians, promising them an important place in the new township. Unfortunately, after a week of talks seemed to go nowhere, an impatient man named Alamon Scarnetti took matters into his own hands. Rounding up a group of his brothers and cousins, the Scarnettis mounted a murderous raid on the Varisian camp, intending to kill them all and leave evidence implicating local goblins for the deed. Yet the Scarnettis, too drunk and overconfident, only managed to kill five Varisians before they were themselves forced to flee, leaving behind three of their own. The incident caused a several-month delay, but eventually amends were made and the town of Sandpoint was born.

Despite these violent first months, in the forty-odd years since Sandpoint was founded, things have been rather calm and quiet. The late unpleasantness, involving Chopper's murderous spree and followed closely by the Sandpoint Fire, constitute the worst thing that's happened to the town. Yet Sandpoint's current mayor, Kendra Deverin (female human aristocrat 3/expert 4), can't shake the feeling that the unpleasantness was but a preamble, and that dark times indeed are coming to her home town.

The excellent headshot accompanying this post is one of several Andrew Hou's worked up for Pathfinder—Kendra Deverin herself. Kendra has served as Sandpoint's mayor for the past five years. Lawmaker, judge, and general peacemaker, she has proven to be both an adept diplomat and stern hand when need be, both skills honed during her youth in Magnimar. With a personal—some say sisterly—style of governing, most of Sandpoint's citizens hold deep respect for their fiery-haired mayor.

James Jacobs
Editor-in-Chief, Pathfinder