Golarion Day: Inner Sea Magic Preview

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Illustration by Roberto Pitturru

Well, because you asked for it, here's a preview of some elements taken from the upcoming Pathfinder Campaign Setting book, Inner Sea Magic. I'm including excerpts from two different sections of the book—one of the possible results for unleashing primal magic (as might occur if you try to cast spells in the Mana Wastes) and one new hex that the winter witch archetype grants access to (and yes they do gain a bonus on all cold spells they cast).

Excerpted from "Sample Primal Magic Effects": 75–78 Strange telekinetic forces rip through the area, attempting to trip all creatures in a CR x 10 foot radius. The event makes a trip combat maneuver check against all available targets, using a CMB of 10 + CR. Any creature tripped by the event has its equipment reorganized and tangled by the mischievous telekinesis. Until a creature takes a minute to reorganize its belongings, retrieving a stowed item is a full-round action.

Excerpted from "Spells": Frozen Caress (Su): Whenever the winter witch casts a touch spell, she can infuse the magic with cold as a swift action. This grants the spell the cold descriptor, and adds 1d4 points of cold damage to the spell's effect. If the touch spell allows a saving throw, a successful save negates this additional cold damage.

And here's one more preview—the names of all 39 spells that appear in the book, presented in alphabetical order:


Aroden's Spellbane
Bladed Dash
Bladed Dash, Greater
Blast Barrier
Call Weapon
Crusader's Edge
Eaglesoul
Eldritch Conduit
Eldritch Conduit, Greater
Fleshcurdle
Forceful Strike
Geb's Hammer
Geniekind
Hungry Darkness
Hunter's Lore
Ice Spears
Impart Mind
Khain's Army
Kiss of the First World
Light of Iomedae
Martial Marionette
Martyr's Bargain
Music of the Spheres
Orchid's Drop
Pugwampi's Grace
Shadow Barbs
Shining Cord
Siphon Magic
Song of Kyonin
Spell Absorption
Spell Absorption, Greater
Spellscar
Suppress Primal Magic
Tattoo Potion
Transfer Tattoo
Vengeful Comets
Vex Giant
Weaponwand
Zone of Foul Flames

James Jacobs
Creative Director

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Tags: Golarion Thursdays Pathfinder Campaign Setting Roberto Pitturru

Cant wait to have this.I am curious what kiss of the first world does.

Shadow Lodge

Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

I love you guys... my wallet is cursing you quietly but I love you :-)

Dark Archive

Thank you guys alot!!!
Eldritch Conduit looks like some sorcerer love can wait to find out!!!

Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 4

Personally, I'm looking forward to Varisian tattoo magic, and it looks well supported with a couple of spells. Neat!


It all looks good. But... art that's been blogged before? Boooh! ;)

Dark Archive

Ok People I Can't Wait How Soon Is Late July?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Kajehase wrote:
It all looks good. But... art that's been blogged before? Boooh! ;)

Oops... sorry about that.


3 people marked this as a favorite.

Two words: Pugwampi's Grace

Consider all your minds blown.

I am still not sure how to break this to my players. A faked concerned tone while laughing on the inside? Or scream it in their faces, followed by the promise that all NPCs are going to use that spell all the time now. Even those who normally can't do magic.

I think that after two sessions - three tops - I can wind them up tighter than the steam tunnel guys.

Liberty's Edge

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

James,
What does the CR refer to in the sample? CR of the caster (weird, why wouldn't it be CL or SL?) CR of the target (what if there are multiple targets?) CR of the mana zone? (that might make sense)


I thought that this book would just be, "Here are some flavorful spells and a page or two of feats." But now it looks much more appealing.


Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

Hell yes! I love tattoo spells!

Dark Archive

KaeYoss wrote:

Two words: Pugwampi's Grace

Consider all your minds blown.

Every now and again KaeYoss, you make a post that needs no further embellishment.


I can't wait for this little book.

I like the sound of "Kiss of the first world", "Pugwampi's grace", and "vengeful comits".

I hope the Eldritch conduit spells are some sorcerer love as well.


Am I the only one intrigued by the spell Geb's hammer?

Dark Archive

Arazni, Harlot Queen of Geb wrote:
Am I the only one intrigued by the spell Geb's hammer?

It's intriguing. Particularly since Geb's most legendary use of magic was *transmutation.* (Army of maidens to stone.)

Sure, the cheap seats might be thinking Geb = necromancy, but that's not necessarily the case...


I am particularly interested in Vengeful Comets and Martial Marionette. The temptation to get to scream "DANCE, PUPPET, DANCE!" is almost overwhelming.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Reckless wrote:

James,

What does the CR refer to in the sample? CR of the caster (weird, why wouldn't it be CL or SL?) CR of the target (what if there are multiple targets?) CR of the mana zone? (that might make sense)

Heh... I was waiting for someone to notice that.

Basically... a primal magic event is a hazard. When one occurs, there are variable effects that increase or decrease based upon its CR, so that a room that, say, fills with fire might do 1d6 points of damage per CR. This allows us to present a page of different effects that can remain challenging and dangerous for all levels of play.

As for what sets a primal magic event's CR—that varies. If the primal magic event is triggered by someone casting a spell in an area with unstable magic, the CR of that event is equal to the spellcaster's Caster Level—in this way, you more or less get events that are closely keyed to the power level of the party or the foes they're facing, so that has a built in way of scaling primal magic events to the party itself.

A primal magic event's CR might also be set by the GM for specific regions, though, if, say, he wants to say something like "This room is filled with chaotic magic; every round, it unleashes a primal magic event." And say he's writing that adventure for a 18th level party—he can then just say, "All primal magic events this room unleashes are CR 18."

In any event, we retained the phrase "CR" because we like continuity—CR is already what we use to indicate an encounter's power, a monster's threat level, a trap's threat level, a hazard's threat level, and so on. Since primal magic is, essentially, a random hazard generator, there ya go.

Silver Crusade

Imagining how tattoo potion fits into Shoanti society is fun. :)

A lot of these look like they present fun possi

blog wrote:
Pugwampi's Grace

D:<


James Jacobs wrote:
Reckless wrote:

James,

What does the CR refer to in the sample? CR of the caster (weird, why wouldn't it be CL or SL?) CR of the target (what if there are multiple targets?) CR of the mana zone? (that might make sense)

Heh... I was waiting for someone to notice that.

Basically... a primal magic event is a hazard. When one occurs, there are variable effects that increase or decrease based upon its CR, so that a room that, say, fills with fire might do 1d6 points of damage per CR. This allows us to present a page of different effects that can remain challenging and dangerous for all levels of play.

As for what sets a primal magic event's CR—that varies. If the primal magic event is triggered by someone casting a spell in an area with unstable magic, the CR of that event is equal to the spellcaster's Caster Level—in this way, you more or less get events that are closely keyed to the power level of the party or the foes they're facing, so that has a built in way of scaling primal magic events to the party itself.

A primal magic event's CR might also be set by the GM for specific regions, though, if, say, he wants to say something like "This room is filled with chaotic magic; every round, it unleashes a primal magic event." And say he's writing that adventure for a 18th level party—he can then just say, "All primal magic events this room unleashes are CR 18."

In any event, we retained the phrase "CR" because we like continuity—CR is already what we use to indicate an encounter's power, a monster's threat level, a trap's threat level, a hazard's threat level, and so on. Since primal magic is, essentially, a random hazard generator, there ya go.

Clever and intuitive.

Now I'm keenly awaiting the follow-up: Inner Sea Fighting Styles.

PS - just don't go overboard and do it too soon, I've got a great idea for RPG Superstar and don't want it scooped before I have a chance to present it! ;)

Silver Crusade

LoreKeeper wrote:


Now I'm keenly awaiting the follow-up: Inner Sea Fighting Styles.

Again, I can't express my desire for such a product enough.


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

I'm interested to see what Fleshcurdle is about.

The name makes me think of one of my favorite spells from v3.5, fleshshiver, a spell in which you broke your opponent's bones with magic.

Scarab Sages Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games

Ravingdork wrote:

I'm interested to see what Fleshcurdle is about.

The name makes me think of one of my favorite spells from v3.5, fleshshiver, a spell in which you broke your opponent's bones with magic.

That spell also exists in Pathfinder: boneshatter.

Fleshcurdle goes in a slightly different direction. I think you'll like it, though. If you're a sadistic GM. :)


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Jason Nelson wrote:
Ravingdork wrote:

I'm interested to see what Fleshcurdle is about.

The name makes me think of one of my favorite spells from v3.5, fleshshiver, a spell in which you broke your opponent's bones with magic.

That spell also exists in Pathfinder: boneshatter.

Fleshcurdle goes in a slightly different direction. I think you'll like it, though. If you're a sadistic GM. :)

It is a sonic attack, involving a chalk board isn't it? ;)


KaeYoss wrote:

Two words: Pugwampi's Grace

Consider all your minds blown.

I am still not sure how to break this to my players. A faked concerned tone while laughing on the inside? Or scream it in their faces, followed by the promise that all NPCs are going to use that spell all the time now. Even those who normally can't do magic.

I think that after two sessions - three tops - I can wind them up tighter than the steam tunnel guys.

I LOLed :D

Sovereign Court

Well, I'm totally going to get that book. I'm currently world-building and I wanted an evil Witch in the great North for my campaign, and that Winter Witch got here right on time!

The only thing I still need is a variant of Shadow magic for classes other than wizard, and I would be under the impression that Paizo is trying to fulfill all of my need before I ask for anything by probing what I have in mind!

Thanks for what seems to be another great book!

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