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Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Inner Sea Temples (PFRPG)

3.50/5 (based on 2 ratings)
Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Inner Sea Temples (PFRPG)
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Houses of the Holy

Nearly every settlement in the Inner Sea has at least one temple, ranging from the modest shrines of remote hamlets to massive cathedrals in metropolises. Temples can act as centers of commerce, community, healing, and sacrifice for adventurers and common folk alike.

Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Inner Sea Temples helps Game Masters and players explore six of the Inner Sea region's most iconic seats of faith. Each entry comes complete with a detailed map and gazetteer; profiles of the temple's notable members; a history of the structure and the organization of its clergy; and a wealth of magic items, occult rituals, and spells favored by the resident priests.

This book contains details on the following temples:

  • The Cathedral of Exquisite Agony, a dark temple to Zon-Kuthon in Nidal.
  • Cayden's Hall, a combination church and tavern in the heart of Absalom sacred to the Drunken Hero.
  • The First Colonial Bank of Sargava, a bank-temple of Abadar in the city of Kalabuto.
  • The High Temple of Pharasma, a prestigious temple in Osirion dedicated to the Lady of Graves.
  • The House of Dawn's Redemption, a grand cathedral to Sarenrae in Taldor.
  • Imvrildara, an ancient shrine to Calistria hidden deep within the forests of Kyonin.

Inner Sea Temples is intended for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and Pathfinder Campaign Setting, but can easily adapted to any fantasy world.

ISBN-13: 978-1-60125-893-9

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

Hero Lab Online
Archives of Nethys

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3.50/5 (based on 2 ratings)

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very good with a few sour notes

4/5 —

I wasn't sure exactly what I would get when I picked this up. I wanted to see how they treated the Zon-Kuthon temple in Pangolais, and the temple to Calistria with its honeycomb ossuary intrigued me. I run and play Pathfinder 2e, so I hoped that the art (maps included) and lore would significantly outweigh the less useful 1e mechanical elements mentioned in the product description.

There are more 1e mechanical elements than I would have hoped for. That said, most of them elaborate upon the strong lore elements introduced for each temple. While I can't port it over right away into a game I might run or play in, the stories and lore to which they are attached seem like they would travel well. If you are running or playing in a 1e game, these might be perfectly fun and useful as-is; I am too rusty on Pathfinder 1e's mechanics to be sure, though.

The worst art in this book is still good. The opening spreads showing off some feature of the temple are all evocative, the maps are clear and easy to read, the NPCs well-rendered characters. With some qualifications, I can say the same thing about the lore.

The temple to Zon-Kuthon was pretty cool in that Hellraiser-cum-Catholic way Nidalese Zon-Kuthon lore tends to go. It wasn't all to my taste, but it gave me a lot of ideas for that daydream Nidalese campaign I will probably never run. It definitely does nott shirk on the torture chambers, some of it consensual and some of it entirely the opposite. It has a fair bit of presumed ableism, too, which I really do think could be peeled out of Nidal's brand of evil in a way that would make everything better for it (& I'll stop myself from ranting on there; that's some other discussion). Definitely not for every reader or gaming table, but quite good.

The temple to Calistria was great. The temple and its occupants provide a number of different perspectives on what vengeance means. No spoilers, but there is enough dramatic tension built into the temple's description that I could easily see it being the focal point for a series of adventures, or even possibly a campaign. I enjoyed seeing Calistria as patron of elven vengeance against Treerazer, too.

None of the others quite captured my imagination as the temples of Zon-Kuthon and Calistria, but I mostly liked them. Cayden's temple in Absalom is presented as a warm and inclusive and rollicking place perfect for even the most eccentric mix of good player characters. It could easily be a touchstone location for PCs operating in the city, as long as all the players involved can deal with alcohol's pride of place.

Pharasma's temple was pleasantly weird, suited to her deep mysteries. The undead-hunting Night Jars (a cool organization in itself) included two named NPCs with different ideas about what moving the undead on ideally looks like, which provides immmediate grist for the storytelling mill.

The temple of Sarenrae presented her worship in a way that helped me better understand her place in the setting. I so wish they had managed to find a better term for her ecstatic dancers than "whirling dervishes." The term is simultaneously dated, gratingly colonialist, and too tightly linked to real-life regional communities to be anything but distracting and irritating to me.

Abadar's temple...meh. He doesn't have to be the god of Inner Sea colonialism, but this temple sure makes him feel like it. And there is a chunk of 1e-era bad habits that transport nasty European colonial biases into the Mwangi expanse and Golarion and, yeah, Paizo has gotten so much better about this that this chafes all the more.

All in all, very good with a few sour notes. I am glad to have it in my collection.

Good temple illustrations, items & spells, bad NPC stats, no adventure seeds

3/5 —

GOOD:
The interior cover has a map of Avistan and northern Garund with icons that show the six temples from the outside and place them on the map.
There is a sample cleric (level) 5 on page 2 for placement in the locations. Each of the 10-page sections has a sidebox which describes how to customize this priest to each deity.
Each temple gets an (upper half) 2-page spread of an interior view (with the rest being history and organisation description), a half-page outer view, a full-page "flip-mat"-style birdsview, four pages of room descriptions and two pages of magic items and spells.
The outer view and 2 page interior illustrations are gorgeous.
The "High Temple of Pharasma" fits on a "bigger Flip-mat", as does "Imvrildara".
Most magic items and spells are either very flavorfull, useful or both.

BAD:
Half of the full-body illustrations for NPCs are so dark, that details are hard to make out.
Four temples are too big to draw on a bigger flip-mat, one doesn´t even fit on two!

UGLY:
None but the first and last temples scream "adventure location that needs to be fully depicted" to me.
The challenge rating for the largest Zon-Kuthon temple of Nidal is way too low with a maximum of CR 10.
None of the high priests of the supposedly largest and/or most prominent temples of six gods in Golarion are awe-inspiring.
There are no adventure- or quest-ideas presented at all.

A good book if you need pre-drawn high-temple locations for low-level characters or some very thematic magic items or spells for Zon-Kuthon, Caiden Cailean, Abadar, Pharasma, Sarenrae or Calistria.
But you still have to come up with your own adventure seeds or NPC stats for characters higher than level 8.

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Hayato Ken wrote:

This makes me think of:

-Dancehalls of the Inner Sea

Let's not forget the companion volumes, Ultimate Revels and Blood of Terpsichore.

Dark Archive

November 2016: "The First World"!

December 2016: "Qadira"!
Liberty's Edge

That's information from PaizoCon, Marco?
Dark Archive
Samy wrote:
That's information from PaizoCon, Marco?

Yes Samy, it is. :-)

I also hope for a "Nirmathas" and/or "Molthune" Campaign Setting, as the first half of Adventure Path#20 (starting february 2017) is taking place there. ;-)
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

I´m sceptical. Nirmathas and Molthune don´t strike me as that much difficult from the regions Giantslayer took place.
It seems a little bit like selling the north alps as very different from the south alps.
Hopefully the Nirmathas parts are full of swamps, mosqitos and other nice swarms as well as terrain rules and modifiers that will annoy the heck out of people!
1 person marked this as a favorite.

Those Alps are very different: the Southern Alps are in New Zealand!

I welcome info and adventures for Nirmathas and Molthune. Those two have very little of either in print.

Qadira? Eh. The First World!?!?! NOW we're talking!

Temple / shrine to Arshea that doubles as a burlesque parlor based in Magnimar! PLEASE PAIZO! I NEED THIS SO VERY BADLY!
Silver Crusade
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

I hope this doesn't get delayed.

September can't come soon enough...
Dark Archive
Funny Skeleton Friend wrote:
September can't come soon enough...

Make that october 26th!

Is that confirmed Marco?
Pathfinder Maps, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Afraid so -- just look at the top of this page and on the subscription page for the Campaign Setting line.

Thank you David.

I hope they update the cover soon.
Dark Archive
Polski Ninja wrote:
I hope they update the cover soon.

Updates for the october products should come next wednesday or thursday.

Usually in time to release the newest August Batch. :)
Dark Archive
1 person marked this as a favorite.

Tomorrow or bust. ;-)
Community & Digital Content Director
2 people marked this as a favorite.

Updated with final product image and description!

Sweet!!! I love that artwork Chris! :D Kudos!

Also love the updated info too! :)
Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Product Description wrote:
The House of Dawn's Redemption, a grand cathedral to Sarenrae in Taldor.

O.O

How did a GRAND CATHEDRAL for Sarenrae exist in TALDOR?!

I am not saying this because of the existence of a place of worship for her exists for her in Taldor. But a GRAND CATHEDRAL? I have got to read about this!

Zerg,

Maybe this happened before Quadira formed. I dunno.
Dark Archive
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Thomas Seitz wrote:

Zerg,

Maybe this happened before Quadira formed. I dunno.

Or the scuffle between the two, most likely.

Decius,

Probably. Like I said, we'll find out when the book arrives. :)
Dark Archive

This sounds like a winner.
6 temples in a 64 pages book means a whopping 10 pages for each!

Also a good mix of locations:

2 in northetn Avistan (Kyonin & Nidal)

2 in southern Avistan (Absalom & Taldor)

2 in Garund (Osirion & Sargava).

That reminds me - i'm expecting a "Campaign Setting: Taldor"
in 2017, it's the last big human nation not adapted from the Player's Guides.

Sargava could also use an update.

But 2017 being the 10th anniversary of Pathfinder, i absolutely expect a VARISIA CAMPAIGN SETTING, preferably in form of a hardcover or boxed set with maps.
But i guess it's gonna be the normal 64 pages.
Silver Crusade
4 people marked this as a favorite.

Glabrezu: NO! Ish my priest! Get your own.

Glabrezu: I shall love him and hug him and cuddle him and call him Geroge.

I hope we get previews soon.
Silver Crusade
2 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

*sigh* standing in for Dragon78 in product threads is hard work, especially given the rather limited palette of posts that are appropriate ;)

Wow finally updated and...not a single deity I am interested in.
Silver Crusade
2 people marked this as a favorite.

A hidden forest temple to Calistria? Interesting.
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Rysky wrote:
A hidden forest temple to Calistria? Interesting.

Me too....as are the other ones as well.

All though the Zon-Kuthon...is meh. Never a big fan of Evil Pain gods...would like to see a neutral pain God for once...
2 people marked this as a favorite.

That's Calistria...
Dragon78 wrote:
Wow finally updated and...not a single deity I am interested in.

Maybe they're saving Apsu and Dahak for another volume, Dragon.

Marco,

Not sure I'd hold my breath for a Varisia Campaign Setting hardcover. Not even sure if they'll do one that's a softcover either.

Rysky,

I'm sure you and the demon can work it out...
5 people marked this as a favorite.
John Kretzer wrote:
Rysky wrote:
A hidden forest temple to Calistria? Interesting.

Me too....as are the other ones as well.

All though the Zon-Kuthon...is meh. Never a big fan of Evil Pain gods...would like to see a neutral pain God for once...

Ever read Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel novels?

Silver Crusade
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Thomas Seitz wrote:
Dragon78 wrote:
Wow finally updated and...not a single deity I am interested in.

Maybe they're saving Apsu and Dahak for another volume, Dragon.

Marco,

Not sure I'd hold my breath for a Varisia Campaign Setting hardcover. Not even sure if they'll do one that's a softcover either.

Rysky,

I'm sure you and the demon can work it out...

lol, I was just commenting about the cover, I don't have a horse in that race.

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Rysky wrote:
Thomas Seitz wrote:


Rysky,

I'm sure you and the demon can work it out...

lol, I was just commenting about the cover, I don't have a horse in that race.

Well if you did, I'm sure you'd win. ;)

Silver Crusade
4 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Kajehase wrote:
John Kretzer wrote:
Rysky wrote:
A hidden forest temple to Calistria? Interesting.

Me too....as are the other ones as well.

All though the Zon-Kuthon...is meh. Never a big fan of Evil Pain gods...would like to see a neutral pain God for once...

Ever read Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel novels?

*embarks on a Slavic longboat*

*sails north*

*salutes Kajehase for his good choice in books*
4 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber
Gorbacz wrote:
Kajehase wrote:
John Kretzer wrote:
Rysky wrote:
A hidden forest temple to Calistria? Interesting.

Me too....as are the other ones as well.

All though the Zon-Kuthon...is meh. Never a big fan of Evil Pain gods...would like to see a neutral pain God for once...

Ever read Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel novels?

*embarks on a Slavic longboat*

*sails north*

*salutes Kajehase for his good choice in books*

*joins in salute*

Hayato Ken wrote:

This makes me think of:

-Dancehalls of the Inner Sea
-Casinos of the Inner Sea
-Guide to Inner Sea Cakes
-Inner Sea Taverns & Inns
-Inner Sea Cities
-Inner Sea Hideouts
-Inner Sea Outbacks
-Inner Sea Rivers & Harbours
-Inner Sea Mountains
-Inner Sea Metropolies Edition

Then, one maybe not too far away day comes:
Inner Sea Lonely Planet edition. Anything you need for the Inner Sea, everything you could think of and a lot more.

Even better, after that is done and there´s literaly nothing left unexplored in the Inner Sea, perhaps, but only perhaps, can some select few other places be explored :D

No "Inner Sea Islands"?

1 person marked this as a favorite.
The Gold Sovereign wrote:
Hayato Ken wrote:

This makes me think of:

-Dancehalls of the Inner Sea
-Casinos of the Inner Sea
-Guide to Inner Sea Cakes
-Inner Sea Taverns & Inns
-Inner Sea Cities
-Inner Sea Hideouts
-Inner Sea Outbacks
-Inner Sea Rivers & Harbours
-Inner Sea Mountains
-Inner Sea Metropolies Edition

Then, one maybe not too far away day comes:
Inner Sea Lonely Planet edition. Anything you need for the Inner Sea, everything you could think of and a lot more.

Even better, after that is done and there´s literaly nothing left unexplored in the Inner Sea, perhaps, but only perhaps, can some select few other places be explored :D

No "Inner Sea Islands"?

That's probably after Inner Seas Brothels.

Dark Archive
4 people marked this as a favorite.

Need Inner Sea Trade, with caravan and shipping routes (and what sort of products get shipped between countries, what is the Golarion equivalent of the slave/rum/sugar triangle?).

From a gaming perspective, the important factors would be which areas of a trade route or more susceptible to bandit attacks, monster raids, dragon turtles, etc. 'cause that's what will matter to a bunch of PCs either riding a ship, or travelling with a caravan!

Although, to continue the theme of Inner Sea Temples, books related to the other 'core four' classes of Cleric, Fighter, Magic-User and Thief would seem reasonable. Inner Sea Mercenary Companies (for Fighters). Inner Sea Guilds (for Rogues). Inner Sea Academies (for Wizards).
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Set wrote:

Need Inner Sea Trade, with caravan and shipping routes (and what sort of products get shipped between countries, what is the Golarion equivalent of the slave/rum/sugar triangle?).

Cheliax - Okeno - Mwangi/Shackles, perhaps a bit Qadira involved.

YOu do realize there´s already books like Inner Sea Magic, Inner Sea Fighting Styles (or what´s it called, too lazy to look up right now) and Inner Sea Intrigue kinda covers the rogue stuff under the mantle of vigilantes.
RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 8
1 person marked this as a favorite.

*big grin*
Dark Archive
Hayato Ken wrote:
YOu do realize there´s already books like Inner Sea Magic, Inner Sea Fighting Styles (or what´s it called, too lazy to look up right now) and Inner Sea Intrigue kinda covers the rogue stuff under the mantle of vigilantes.

I do, although I'm not sure if I have Inner Sea Intrigue yet, and I am pretty sure that Inner Sea Magic and Inner Sea Combat (IIRC) don't have the same sort of maps and layout that Inner Sea Temples has. (That said, I don't own Inner Sea Temples yet, so it may have nothing like the ad text suggests;

Quote:
Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Inner Sea Temples helps Game Masters and players explore six of the Inner Sea region's most iconic seats of faith. Each entry comes complete with a detailed map and gazetteer; profiles of the temple's notable members; a history of the structure and the organization of its clergy; and a wealth of magic items, occult rituals, and spells favored by the resident priests.

That's the sort of thing I'd want to see from an 'Inner Sea Academies' or whatever. Actual write-ups for Magaambya, or the Arcanamirium, or that conjuration-focused school in Korvosa. Six 'wizard's guilds,' in somewhat more detail than normal. (Although the one in Korvosa has already been detailed pretty well, it even appears in a module, so that's a bad example on my part...)

First off, CREEPY GLABREZU BEARHUG.

Secondly, are these temples intended for downtime, NPCs, and roleplaying? Because I can't seem combat encounters happening in most of these (besides the Nidal one) unless they're attacked by someone else.

Axial,

I'm sure you can work some kind of combat into them if you wanted. I mean I once had a fight in a temple of Rao for goodness sake back in 2nd edition.
Grand Lodge
2 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook Subscriber

Just got my PDF and started skimming, on first blush there are half a dozen frivolous things that I love from this book, but the number one has got to be the Neverspill Goblet. It doesn't need as big a write up as it has, but the corner cases its write up gives are amazing. I would like to raise a toast to the Neverspsill Goblet and its designer, cheers!
Sovereign Court
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Starfinder Society Subscriber

I liked the Neverspill Goblet as well. For utility, I also enjoyed the universal lock. Not happy with the simple lock on the door to your rented room? Apply a universal lock to thwart the common theif!
RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 8
1 person marked this as a favorite.
KingOfAnything wrote:
I liked the Neverspill Goblet as well. For utility, I also enjoyed the universal lock. Not happy with the simple lock on the door to your rented room? Apply a universal lock to thwart the common theif!

I'm glad you liked the u-lock! I had a lot of fun with this project!

Dark Archive

p. 7 SHAKRENISTRE

seems to be a "Kyton, Evangelist (Chain Devil)" even though the stat block says just "kyton"
Lantern Lodge RPG Superstar 2014 Top 4
3 people marked this as a favorite.

Glad to see people interested in my weird Calistrian temple! Rob and Owen did some fine work on the development and the art is fabulous! Hope you folks like creepy ossuaries in your beehives.
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