Pathfinder Player Companion: Heroes of the Wild (PFRPG)

3.70/5 (based on 3 ratings)
Pathfinder Player Companion: Heroes of the Wild (PFRPG)
Show Description For:
Non-Mint

Add Print Edition $12.99 $6.49

Add PDF $9.99

Non-Mint Unavailable

Facebook Twitter Email

From the frigid northlands of the Crown of the World to the steaming jungles of the Mwangi Expanse, the wilds of Golarion are as legendary as they are formidable—to say nothing of the adventurers who hail from these untamed regions! Embrace the laws of the wildlands, earn the respect of hardened wilderness natives, and command the powers of nature with Pathfinder Player Companion: Heroes of the Wild! Featuring dozens of all-new rules for wild characters—including feats, magic items, spells, and much more—Heroes of the Wild contains everything you need to make your characters as fierce and formidable as the wild itself!

Inside this book, you’ll find:

  • Details on prominent nature-focused groups on Golarion, including the Brimstone Haruspex, Storm Kindlers, and Wildwood Lodge.
  • New traits for characters with a bit of the wilderness in their blood, and alternate racial traits for those descended from fey.
  • New archetypes to help characters draw on the powers of nature, including the horticulturist, who specializes in harnessing alchemical power from plants.
  • Tips and advice on surviving in the wild, concealing your tracks, and building camps and strongholds in the untamed wilderness.
  • New equipment, feats, magic items, spells, traps, and other rules options to enhance your character’s effectiveness when ranging far from civilization.
This Pathfinder Player Companion is intended for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and the Pathfinder campaign setting, but can easily be incorporated into any fantasy world.

Each monthly 32-page Pathfinder Player Companion contains several player-focused articles exploring the volume’s theme as well as short articles with innovative new rules for all types of characters, as well as traits to better anchor the player to the campaign.

ISBN-13: 978-1-60125-733-8

Other Resources: This product is also available on the following platforms:

Hero Lab Online
Archives of Nethys

Product Availability

Print Edition:

Available now

Ships from our warehouse in 11 to 20 business days.

PDF:

Fulfilled immediately.

Non-Mint:

Unavailable

This product is non-mint. Refunds are not available for non-mint products. The standard version of this product can be found here.

Are there errors or omissions in this product information? Got corrections? Let us know at store@paizo.com.

PZO9456


See Also:

Average product rating:

3.70/5 (based on 3 ratings)

Sign in to create or edit a product review.

Great Resource

5/5

This book is great for anyone that likes to add a nature element to their characters. I especially like the new traits and archetypes.


Its filler, filler night

1/5

Not a heck of a lot here. Especially for the druids and rangers you'd think this book would be a sure buy for.

Its 31 pages

map of woods is ok

Table of contents..

A page explaining whats in the book...

A second table of contents..

The traits are ok

Some woodsey tricks and equipment

Kits.. kits.. kits.. these are a waste of space

The herbs are cool. The herbal witch is pretty thematic.

Obligatory background information is ok...

This skeeved me. 4 pages of optional building rules information for outdoor buildings.

2 pages of teamwork feats no one will ever take because.. teamwork feats. These really belong in an inquisitor book

poisons are ok.

The feats.... why is there more stuff here for a monk than a druid?

Magic items are kinda meh.

2 pages of spells. Thematic, don't see anything really eye-popping.

With all the druids i have there really should be more than one thing in this book i'd even consider taking.


My inner hippie is filled with joy :D

5/5

Disclaimer: I like nature based characters so this review may be a tad biased.
For those wanting a more down to earth upbringing traits abound with the core races each getting one & it includes a way to add some partial fey alternate racial options to each as well.
Witches get a lot of love here with 5 new patron options, a new Hex & a flavorful archetype. An herbalist system was touched upon that works great with this new archetype.
The Rogue has several thematic talents added that while a couple could be useful they seem mostly flavor. The same can be said about the inquisitior & alchemist archetype.
The Summoner got an archetype that seems interesting. Have yet to incorporate it in game but it definitely has potential.
The Shaman was also shown some attention with a new spirit (its always nice to get more options with the newer classes)
Many of the feats introduced are situational at best.
The main draw here (aside from the witchyness) are the traps, items & tools of survival. Normally I tend to gloss over 1/2 of the items introduced but everything here served an obvious purpose.
The information in this book is worth the buy, especially if you are a Witch, Rogue or Trapper.


201 to 218 of 218 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | next > last >>

deuxhero wrote:
Oasis has a clause "If there is already a natural spring within 1 mile" that it reduces output of that spring. The spell says earlier its effect is "similar to a natural spring". Does this mean you can have multiple Oasis spells running right next to eachother?

No. The effect is close enough to a natural spring that casting Oasis a second time reduces the output of any oasis spring within 1 mile.

deuxhero wrote:
Can Create Water's water be used for the material component?

Yes.


2 people marked this as a favorite.

Considering Create Water is free and unlimited, I am surprised divine casters don't create tons of oasises on a monthly basis.

Grand Lodge RPG Superstar 2014 Top 4, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

Barachiel Shina wrote:
Considering Create Water is free and unlimited, I am surprised divine casters don't create tons of oasises on a monthly basis.

The restriction mentioned above means that the spellcasters would only be moving the oases around, not actually increasing the total amount of water in any given area. Also, as mentioned in the spell's description, erosion will destroy any desert oases left untended, which explains why there aren't oases at 1-mile intervals along every desert road.

If an evil spellcaster is looking to flood an area or a good spellcaster is looking to end drought in a region, a decanter of endless water is a much more efficient solution, and it only costs 9k gp. (30 gallons per round vs 5 gallons per CL per hour.)


I just said in the other HotW thread, I really like this companion! The herbalism rules are surprisingly light and not the cluttered mess we've all seen in so many older d20 publications, and the witch archetype should win a prize for sexiness or something.

The only thing that's really bothering me is the spell nature's paths. It renders any kind of wilderness exploration (and hexcrawling, so beware all Kingmaker GMs!) trivial since it removes the time aspect of the time/effort ratio that normally goes into that sort of adventuring. Also, 8 hours and +1 creature affected per CL (meaning that right from the start two castings of this spell take care of a standard party of 4 1st-level heroes). Even as a 2nd-level spell I'd say this would be very strong contender, but as a 1st-level spell it's outright broken.

But like I said, other than that I like it and will probably use a couple of things in my current hexcrawl.


2 people marked this as a favorite.

IMO, one of the best of the Companion line thus far. Worth every penny. Love the Feyborn options for varying the core races, the various archetypes, the feats (particularly Fey Performance and the Summon Plant Feat!)...excellent work all around.

Scarab Sages Developer

1 person marked this as a favorite.

I'm glad people are enjoying it!

Silver Crusade RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16

3 people marked this as a favorite.

Me too! Everyone convince Owen to send me more assignments so I can keep writing similarly awesome stuff! :-D


Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber
Antariuk wrote:
The only thing that's really bothering me is the spell nature's paths. It renders any kind of wilderness exploration (and hexcrawling, so beware all Kingmaker GMs!) trivial since it removes the time aspect of the time/effort ratio that normally goes into that sort of adventuring. Also, 8 hours and +1 creature affected per CL (meaning that right from the start two castings of this spell take care of a standard party of 4 -level heroes). Even as a 2nd-level spell I'd say this would be very strong contender, but as a 1st-level spell it's outright broken.

The spell doesn't apply to hexploration, only to overland travel times THROUGH a hex. Exploring a hex is different than simply travelling through while enroute to someplace else.

From UCam under Exploration & Movement;

"The exploration rates presented in these rules differ from the travel rates found in the Core Rulebook, since characters are assumed to be taking time to fully explore each area they enter, which takes a great deal longer than simply walking through it."

Also as a side note, that paragraph incorrectly describes a hex being measured corner to corner, the correct way is center to center which is the same as side to side. Corner to corner distance is about 14 miles and the area of each hex is about 125 square miles.

It also makes more sense to replace "days" with "weeks" in exploration times so that characters are not zipping around at silly speeds inside a hex while exploring it.


Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber

Is there any chance of getting the kingdom stats for the new buildings? Or should they be considered Terrain Improvements?

Bandit Camp, Large ?
Bandit Camp, Small ? (apparently missing)
Druid's Grove ?
Redoubt ?
Treehouse ?
Witch Hut ?
Wood Shop ?


Queen Moragan wrote:

Is there any chance of getting the kingdom stats for the new buildings? Or should they be considered Terrain Improvements?

Bandit Camp, Large ?
Bandit Camp, Small ? (apparently missing)
Druid's Grove ?
Redoubt ?
Treehouse ?
Witch Hut ?
Wood Shop ?

My desire to own a copy of this book grows stronger upon reading these words. But why would a kingdom ruler want to have bandit camps in their own country? Wouldn't it make more sense to encourage them in a neighboring country?


Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber

I was thinking a Bandit Camp could be captured and converted into something, or upgraded to a Fort.


Queen Moragan wrote:
Antariuk wrote:
The only thing that's really bothering me is the spell nature's paths. It renders any kind of wilderness exploration (and hexcrawling, so beware all Kingmaker GMs!) trivial since it removes the time aspect of the time/effort ratio that normally goes into that sort of adventuring. Also, 8 hours and +1 creature affected per CL (meaning that right from the start two castings of this spell take care of a standard party of 4 -level heroes). Even as a 2nd-level spell I'd say this would be very strong contender, but as a 1st-level spell it's outright broken.
The spell doesn't apply to hexploration, only to overland travel times THROUGH a hex. Exploring a hex is different than simply travelling through while enroute to someplace else.

That's a false dichotomy - nobody forces players to fully explore every hex they come across, and unless the terrain or its inhabitants are so hostile that a straight ground-based journey through is impossible it's perfectly reasonable that the players might skip a few hexes (especially when they know that what they're looking for is far away). So my point still stands.

My problem with the spell isn't its very existence but the level it's sorted in. The classic hexcrawl where the journey itself is (part of) the adventure only lasts until the group has reliable access to 4th level spells anyway, so unless the campaign setting or adventure setup modify the implied setting of the rules a GM only has so many levels to place such adventures in. This spell basically reduces that range to 1.


Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber

You stated that the spell renders any kind of wilderness exploration trivial, because the spell removes travel time.

Then, you state that no one forces players to fully explore a (wilderness) hex they come across.

You're contradicting yourself.

If you want to travel through an unexplored wilderness hex in a hexploration campaign, then you don't use the Exploration Travel Times. You use the Overland Travel Times.

If you don't want to explore every hex, you don't have. Certainly, you can just explore whatever hexes you want. But to what purpose, if not to eventually claim them and add them to something.

Unless, you just want to find the bad guys, kill them, take their stuff, and never return. If this is the case, then just travel overland to the hex, explore it (i.e. look for the bad guys), then kick in their door.

Our GM btw, DOES make us explore every hex we want to move into and want to explore, AND all the Days equal Weeks! Taking 1 day to explore 125 square miles of plains, or 2 days for the same amount of forest, or 3 days for mountains is silly to him.

And we slough through every hex, especially the ones with no encounters.


Queen Moragan wrote:

You stated that the spell renders any kind of wilderness exploration trivial, because the spell removes travel time.

Then, you state that no one forces players to fully explore a (wilderness) hex they come across.

You're contradicting yourself.

Not in the slightest. Wilderness exploration is not just about turning over every stone in any given hex to see what's there, but also contains an element of being further and further away from home (or the next notable town). The fact that, if things turn sour, you're still far away from help adds to the sense of adventure.

If you take wilderness exploration as the sum of several of the game's aspects and not just the rules part with tables for overland movement or exploration time per hex, I think my point still stands. The spell nature's paths might no directly influence how long it takes to explore a hex, but it certainly does indirectly.

Queen Moragan wrote:
Unless, you just want to find the bad guys, kill them, take their stuff, and never return. If this is the case, then just travel overland to the hex, explore it (i.e. look for the bad guys), then kick in their door.

What's so bad with that approach? Like I said, nothing forces you to explore every hex if you want to just travel through or get a rough idea of the terrain's layout. You will miss lairs and secrets, sure, but you don't have to spend days to recognize that the area around you is a forest, or hills, or whatever.

Queen Moragan wrote:

Our GM btw, DOES make us explore every hex we want to move into and want to explore, AND all the Days equal Weeks! Taking 1 day to explore 125 square miles of plains, or 2 days for the same amount of forest, or 3 days for mountains is silly to him.

And we slough through every hex, especially the ones with no encounters.

That's cool, but that is it a houserule of your game and doesn't apply to every game out there (certainly not mine).

Liberty's Edge

Antariuk wrote:
Queen Moragan wrote:

You stated that the spell renders any kind of wilderness exploration trivial, because the spell removes travel time.

Then, you state that no one forces players to fully explore a (wilderness) hex they come across.

You're contradicting yourself.

Not in the slightest. Wilderness exploration is not just about turning over every stone in any given hex to see what's there, but also contains an element of being further and further away from home (or the next notable town). The fact that, if things turn sour, you're still far away from help adds to the sense of adventure.

If you take wilderness exploration as the sum of several of the game's aspects and not just the rules part with tables for overland movement or exploration time per hex, I think my point still stands. The spell nature's paths might no directly influence how long it takes to explore a hex, but it certainly does indirectly.

Queen Moragan wrote:
Unless, you just want to find the bad guys, kill them, take their stuff, and never return. If this is the case, then just travel overland to the hex, explore it (i.e. look for the bad guys), then kick in their door.

What's so bad with that approach? Like I said, nothing forces you to explore every hex if you want to just travel through or get a rough idea of the terrain's layout. You will miss lairs and secrets, sure, but you don't have to spend days to recognize that the area around you is a forest, or hills, or whatever.

Queen Moragan wrote:

Our GM btw, DOES make us explore every hex we want to move into and want to explore, AND all the Days equal Weeks! Taking 1 day to explore 125 square miles of plains, or 2 days for the same amount of forest, or 3 days for mountains is silly to him.

And we slough through every hex, especially the ones with no encounters.

That's cool, but that is it a houserule of your game and doesn't apply to every game out there (certainly not mine).

The problem becomes that there is a system called Exploration. And that system is not affected by this spell. That is what the other poster is trying to say. If you don't spend the time exploring the Hex, you have not explored the Hex. You seem to be thinking of the abstract concept of Wilderness Exploration as opposed to the system for Exploration in Ultimate Campaign.


Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber

Graywulfe explains it a little better, thanks.

The Exploration (movement) rules are a completely different system than the Overland Travel
Movement rules.

It looked as if you were considering them to be the same thing, which they are not. They just look similiar.

The spell would help Overland Movement, where you are headed someplace.
The spell would not help Explorstion Movement, where you are just wandering around.

Grand Lodge RPG Superstar 2014 Top 4, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

re: nature's paths

As you probably know, overland movement speed is affected by terrain as indicated in the following table (sorry about the lack of formatting):

Spoiler:

Table: Terrain and Overland Movement Terrain Highway Road or Trail Trackless
Desert, sandy ×1 ×1/2 ×1/2
Forest ×1 ×1 ×1/2
Hills ×1 ×3/4 ×1/2
Jungle ×1 ×3/4 ×1/4
Moor ×1 ×1 ×3/4
Mountains ×3/4 ×3/4 ×1/2
Plains ×1 ×1 ×3/4
Swamp ×1 ×3/4 ×1/2
Tundra, frozen ×1 ×3/4 ×3/4

Looking at the modifiers listed in the table, the spell gives no benefit whenever you're in any terrain with a highway. When you're traveling on a road or trail, the modifier changes from 1/2 --> 1 in 1 terrain type, and from 3/4 --> 1 in 4 terrain types. In 4 terrain types, your speed doesn't change. Assuming a land speed of 30 feet, on average your effective overland movement speed increases by 5 feet. Assuming a speed of 50 feet (=horses), it's +8 1/3 feet.

Using the same math, in trackless terrain the increase is +7 1/2 feet. If your speed is 50, it's +12 1/2 feet.

That's the math I used when I designed the spell, and it made sense to me to make it a 1st-level spell.


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Kalindlara wrote:

The rogue's Favored Terrain talent and the Ultimate Combat talent Terrain Mastery seem very similar as well.

Were these intentional?

I was wondering about this too...

201 to 218 of 218 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | next > last >>
Community / Forums / Paizo / Product Discussion / Pathfinder Player Companion: Heroes of the Wild (PFRPG) All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.