Pathfinder Companion: Osirion, Land of Pharaohs (OGL)

3.60/5 (based on 13 ratings)
Pathfinder Companion: Osirion, Land of Pharaohs (OGL)
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The race is on to discover the lost treasures of ancient Osirion, seat of the Pharaohs of antiquity. Scoundrels, archaeologists, Pathfinders, and foreigners scour the sand-choked pyramids and temples of this once mighty kingdom. Pathfinder Companion: Osirion, Land of Pharaohs provides a comprehensive overview of Osirion from its star-crossed ancient history, to its treacherous modern politics. A complete gazetteer of the nation’s teeming, monument-laden capital of Sothis provides a great resource for player characters from—and for Game Masters running campaigns set in—the pulp-inspired nation of Osirion.

Pathfinder Companion is an invaluable resource for players and Game Masters. Each 32-page bimonthly installment explores a major theme in the Pathfinder Chronicles campaign setting, with expanded regional gazetteers, new player character options, and organizational overviews to help players flesh out their character backgrounds and to provide Game Masters with new sources for campaign intrigue that can be shared with players.

By Jason Nelson and Todd Stewart

ISBN-13: 978-1-60125-144-2

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

Hero Lab Online
Fantasy Grounds Virtual Tabletop
Archives of Nethys

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A Product of its Era

3/5

I love running and playing adventures in Osirion. You just can't go wrong with ancient Egyptian-themed drama: thousand-year old pyramids, devious riddles, competing archaeologists/tomb robbers, and much, much more. It's a downright interesting and intriguing setting, and speaks to me more than traditional "castles and jousting" motifs. I've now run a couple of classic modules set in Osirion (Entombed with the Pharaohs and The Pact Stone Pyramid) as well as some shorter PFS scenarios, and I can't wait to someday run or play in Mummy's Mask. All that's a lead up to saying I was looking forward to reading Osirion, Land of Pharaohs.

This 32-page entry in the Player Companion line definitely gets one's attention with a great cover (reproduced sans text as the inside back cover). I love how shocked Sajan is as the mummy arises, plus the creepy giant-head statue in the background. The inside front cover is a useful, player-friendly map of Osirion that notes the most important cities and ruins. There's one page for the table of contents, and then the book proper starts, divided into seven sections. It's worth noting a couple of things: this was one of the earlier books in the line (meaning it's far more lore/flavour heavy than game option crunch--a good thing, in my opinion) and it's from the 3.5-era, so some rules options would need to be updated for the PFRPG.

"Osirion" (14 pages) provides a brief introduction to the country and then a gazetteer of notable locations. The writing's a bit cumbersome, unfortunately. Still, it contains some good story seeds. I found myself interested in the Lost Fortress of Mekshir (an entire fortress--and regiment of troops--buried alive by a sandstorm) and the Pyramid of An Hepsu XI (containing the Incorruptible Pharaoh, who could not be destroyed but only contained). From a GM's perspective, there's a lot of information to draw upon. However, I can see that from a player's perspective it's just a lot of setting lore that they can't really interact with unless the GM specifically wants them to by setting an adventure in a particular location.

"Sothis" (6 pages) is an overview of Osirion's capital city, one of the largest metropolises in the setting. It features a good description of the city's bazaar, its slave market, and the memorable Black Dome--a truly massive hollow shell of . . . something . . . that dominates the city's skyline. For a GM, setting info like this is invaluable. For players, it'll give them a good feel for what Osirion is like (so they could make characters from the country), but it's probably more detail than they need.

We now move to a series of two-page-long sections that provide new character options.

"Combat: The Living Monolith" (2 pages) introduces a new prestige class. The Living Monolith is a warrior who seeks to emulate the legendary stone sentinels of the land. An interesting idea that needs a bit more flavour and development, in my opinion. It has some cool abilities, but I'd worry they're a bit unbalancing.

"Faith: Cults of Osirion" (2 pages) discusses worshippers of Apep, Wadjet, and Khepri--secret cults with deep roots in Osirian history. The section introduces three new magic items (one related to each of the three).

"Magic: Spells of the Dead" (2 pages) has, of course, necromancy themed spells. I really like canopic conversion, which literally eviscerates the target and places their internal organs into different canopic jars while the body arises as a mummy! Pity it's a Level 9 spell, so probably only an end-of-campaign boss would get a chance to use it . . . There's also a couple of important metamagic feats that allow death spells to pierce common protections like death ward and mind-affecting spells to affect undead creatures.

"Social: Dark Dealings" (2 pages) has new feats for black market dealings and more. I love "swarm dodger", which gives a PC a chance to avoid the damage and related effects from those peskiest of Pathfinder threats, swarms! (and in Osirion, one can find all manner of swarms--scorpions, spiders, snakes, beetles, and more) Because these feats were written for 3.5, some minor adjustments would be necessary to update them.

We finish with "Persona: Ruby Prince Khemet III, the Forthbringer" (2 pages), a full stat block and write-up for Osirion's ruler. The entry includes two of his unique magic items. Interesting, though probably not something even most GMs running adventures in Osirion are likely to need.

All in all, Osirion, Land of Pharaohs suffers from the problem that many of the early Player Companions did: it's sort of all over the place. Players looking for cool character options will find over have of the book is material that should be in the Campaign Setting line. GMs will find a useful overview to the setting but probably wish it were more in-depth. Modern Pathfinder gamers will find the 3.5-era rules require some fine-tuning. Still, with those flaws acknowledged, it's a relatively inexpensive introduction to a cool area to adventure in.


Portuguese - Br

4/5

Este livro não vale a pena para jogadores. Mesmo jogadores interessados na cultura Osiriana tem melhor sorte em outros livros, a informação aqui é realmente muito densa e voltada para mestres. O conteúdo de regra apesar de ter seus pontos interessantes, já foi atualizado em outras fontes. Já para mestres interessados em campanhas se passando em um cenário egípcio, esse livro é uma grande fonte de idéias e conteúdo. A informação não esta muito bem organizada, mas até que uma nova versão desse livro seja lançada, é o único que nós temos.


Osirion is MYSTERIIOUS

2/5

I bought this looking for Osirion-themed hooks. Unfortunately, almost all the book is only half-hooks. A location will be half-described, along the line of:

"There is this very interesting mountain with [unusual geographic features]. What's going on at this mountain? It's a MYSTERY!"

Why do I have to pay $10 for a book to tell me "something interesting is happening here, but you'll have to make it up yourself." Making things up myself is fun, but I can do that for free. When I buy a book like this, I'm looking for cool story ideas, not [[insert cool story idea here]].

The other function of a setting book, local flavor, is also rather weak. My friend bought the Qadira book and I was struck by how much better that book described local people, city life, cultural beliefs, etc. This Osirion book just isn't that big an aid in designing interesting NPC interactions.


Great Resource on Osirion

4/5

The book includes a nice overview of the Land of Pharaohs.

The PROS:
*Great map of Osirion
*Each area or location it covers has a great plot hook that you could build a session or even a whole campaign around.
*Adds great flavor to the Pathfinder world
*I enjoyed the necromancy spells in the book
*Great details on Khemet III and his two otherworldly servants.

The CONS:
*3 new gods without domains attached to them, booo!
*Some of the areas on the map aren't covered, but honestly Osirion needs a bigger book to flesh out everything in it
*No map of Sothis :(
*With a nation this ancient you would think adding a time line would be helpful

This is a great to give out to players of Osirion characters to get feel of the nation and plenty of awesome plot hooks for the GM to make this worth 4 stars despite it's shortcomings.

Favorite Part: Alashra, a Were-Hyena Cleric of Lamashtu, who is a respectable merchant in the Shai-Nefer and leads the Gnolls in ambushing caravans(even her own as to not rouse suspicion).


Excellent resource

4/5

Owning several of the companion supplements, Osirion is easily one of the best ones so far - the areas that are covered are evocative, imaginative, and interesting. A variety of additional areas on the map are left to the reader's imagination, thus providing a GM the opportunity to add his or her own influences on this interesting setting.


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Firstly, I hope that I am not the only one to be excited about the idea of the Pathfinder Companion series. I do have some questions for the great people working on the development teams though.

The information that will be present in this Companion, for example. Will this be different from the information presented in the Pathfinder/Golarion Campaign Setting that is coming out before long?

Will some of it be reprinted (I imagine that this is unavoidable to some degree)?

My fervent hope is that the Companion will function as an in-depth supplement that compliments and expands on the information that will be in the Campaign Setting. I hope that the people in development of this product and the others in the Companion line think like I do.

Best wishes, and to the developers, this line and others like it is why I love Paizo so much. Keep up the good work.


If they are anything like the Korvosa guide, they will be good as info for DM and players without having to hide or change much of the material.


Yasha0006 wrote:
My fervent hope is that the Companion will function as an in-depth supplement that compliments and expands on the information that will be in the Campaign Setting.

This is my understanding of the product line. :)

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

Yasha0006 wrote:

The information that will be present in this Companion, for example. Will this be different from the information presented in the Pathfinder/Golarion Campaign Setting that is coming out before long?

Will some of it be reprinted (I imagine that this is unavoidable to some degree)?

My fervent hope is that the Companion will function as an in-depth supplement that compliments and expands on the information that will be in the Campaign Setting. I hope that the people in development of this product and the others in the Companion line think like I do.

You've got it. The section on Osirion in the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting will be four pages long. While the Pathfinder Companion will have a small amount of information overlap with that, we'll nonetheless be able to provide a lot more flavor and crunch since it runs to 32 pages.

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

Patrick Murphy wrote:
If they are anything like the Korvosa guide, they will be good as info for DM and players without having to hide or change much of the material.

Even more so! The Pathfinder Companion line will be 100% player-friendly.


*rubs hands in anticipation*


Lovely! And thank you for the quick response Vic. That, and not saying
"If I told you...I'd have to kill you!"


Vic Wertz wrote:
You've got it. The section on Osirion in the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting will be four pages long. While the Pathfinder Companion will have a small amount of information overlap with that, we'll nonetheless be able to provide a lot more flavor and crunch since it runs to 32 pages.

Okay, this one I definitely want.

Paizo Employee Director of Brand Strategy

So who's writing this one? I think we have authors for everything before and after this one (save the second author on Elves of Golarion). Since we know April authors, can we get this one announced too?

Liberty's Edge

Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Adventure Subscriber

is Todd Stewart the lead on this project?

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

It's by Jason Nelson and Todd Stewart. (I'm adding the info to the product description.)


Jason Nelson...very nice to see that some of our RPG Superstars are getting so many good opportunities from you guys. Especially considering I was one of the people that voted for his egyptian-themed land in RPG Superstar!

Contributor

I'm working on the primarily fluff portions of the book (locations, history, etc). I'm honestly having a blast on this, given that it's breaking out of my pattern of writing almost exclusively planar stuff. And getting to pick up on the stuff that Mike Kortes has done to this point for Osirion is fun. He did some really cool stuff in J1 and the campaign setting hardcover.

And me handling mostly fluff as opposed to anything else probably prevents much wailing, gnashing of teeth, and unrestrained crying on the part of my editors if they had to look at any crunchy stuff from me. ;)

Contributor

Thanks Todd! I'm really looking forward to reading your guys' world-building for Osirion. I'm very excited to see the setting receive this level of development!


I can't wait for this... I'm very interested in Osirion and any parts of the Legacy of Fire that take place around it.

Scarab Sages RPG Superstar 2011 Top 32

*Squeals with joy*

I can't wait for this.

Liberty's Edge

I'm looking forward to this book, hopefully we'll get some info on the old gods of Osirion that they presumably worshipped before Sarenrae and Aroden came into the picture.


Yesssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss this will be mine

Paizo Employee Director of Brand Strategy

Todd Stewart wrote:

I'm working on the primarily fluff portions of the book (locations, history, etc). I'm honestly having a blast on this, given that it's breaking out of my pattern of writing almost exclusively planar stuff. And getting to pick up on the stuff that Mike Kortes has done to this point for Osirion is fun. He did some really cool stuff in J1 and the campaign setting hardcover.

And me handling mostly fluff as opposed to anything else probably prevents much wailing, gnashing of teeth, and unrestrained crying on the part of my editors if they had to look at any crunchy stuff from me. ;)

Will you be including information about the Jeweled Sages, as mentioned in the Pathfinder Society Player's Guide? I'm really interested in them, and the hints of astrological aspects to their power.

Scarab Sages

Ah yes, indeed, this shall be quite lovely.

Scarab Sages

How Freakin' Awesome is that new Cover Pic in the Blog!!!

Scarab Sages

Yeah! That is a sweet cover! I'm stoked about Osirion. I've always loved ancient Egypt and fictional settings based on it. I loved Mulhorond in Forgotten realms, and Stygia from Robert E. Howard's Conan. They just bring a sense of mystery and magic and timelessness.

Scarab Sages

KemKepi wrote:
How Freakin' Awesome is that new Cover Pic in the Blog!!!

I know. Is that a vampire sphinx in the background? This should completely rock.

Dark Archive

While this is my favorite of the five Pathfinder Society nations, I am now eager to hear about companions for Cheliax, Qadira, Taldor and Andoran. (Okay, not really for the latter ones, but I imagine we'll have to see them before we get Companions to Geb or the Mwangi Expanse or Numeria!)

Sovereign Court

Set wrote:

While this is my favorite of the five Pathfinder Society nations, I am now eager to hear about companions for Cheliax, Qadira, Taldor and Andoran.

Okay.

http://paizo.com/pathfinder/pathfinderCompanion/v5748btpy84bi

Contributor

Ok, that cover is pretty freaking sweet. :)

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

Yasha0006 wrote:

Jason Nelson...very nice to see that some of our RPG Superstars are getting so many good opportunities from you guys. Especially considering I was one of the people that voted for his egyptian-themed land in RPG Superstar!

Sorry, I just was looking at the Paizo Blog and saw the cover for this, so I'm obviously WAYYY behind the times on knowing exactly when this will come out, but this was a lot of run to write for. Obviously I like the whole desert theme, Al-Qadim, and all of that, and I had a fun time writing up the crunchy bits from the book. Hopefully people will enjoy that part as well as Todd's excellent fluffification!

Heck, I'm looking forward to seeing the final product!

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

Coridan wrote:
I'm looking forward to this book, hopefully we'll get some info on the old gods of Osirion that they presumably worshipped before Sarenrae and Aroden came into the picture.

As a matter of fact... it does! At least a few of them, with hints at others.

Sovereign Court

Are we going to get new traits in these books (and future race books, etc)?

At some stage, a book of traits might be helpful...

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

Bagpuss wrote:
Are we going to get new traits in these books (and future race books, etc)?

You can expect to see new traits in most—probably even all—Pathfinder Companions.

Contributor

Coridan wrote:
I'm looking forward to this book, hopefully we'll get some info on the old gods of Osirion that they presumably worshipped before Sarenrae and Aroden came into the picture.

Well at the very least, Nethys was once a mortal in pre-dynastic Osirion. And even before his apotheosis, there was Pharasma. As for anything beyond them or more esoteric, we'll see what makes it into the final edit of the book. :)

Sovereign Court

Vic Wertz wrote:


You can expect to see new traits in most—probably even all—Pathfinder Companions.

Excellent. I can see that it might turn into a bit of a ramble through multiple sourcebooks to find them all -- which is why I'd like some collated version, in time -- but the traits are good for colour and I like them.

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

Bagpuss wrote:
Vic Wertz wrote:


You can expect to see new traits in most—probably even all—Pathfinder Companions.
Excellent. I can see that it might turn into a bit of a ramble through multiple sourcebooks to find them all -- which is why I'd like some collated version, in time -- but the traits are good for colour and I like them.

In what sense are you using the word "trait"?

Paizo Employee Director of Brand Strategy

Bagpuss wrote:
Vic Wertz wrote:


You can expect to see new traits in most—probably even all—Pathfinder Companions.
Excellent. I can see that it might turn into a bit of a ramble through multiple sourcebooks to find them all -- which is why I'd like some collated version, in time -- but the traits are good for colour and I like them.

Given that the traits are themed, depending on your character's backstory only on or two should ever really be needed. The core 40 traits are in Second Darkness and then specifically themed ones for different deities/races/regions are in the related sourcebook. So if you're playing an elf from Osirion, you'd need at most 3 books, unless you worship a deity featured in another book. But only getting two traits per time taking Additional Feats should limit the number of books needed per character as well.

Sovereign Court

yoda8myhead wrote:


Given that the traits are themed, depending on your character's backstory only on or two should ever really be needed. The core 40 traits are in Second Darkness and then specifically themed ones for different deities/races/regions are in the related sourcebook. So if you're playing an elf from Osirion, you'd need at most 3 books, unless you worship a deity featured in another book. But only getting two traits per time taking Additional Feats should limit the number of books needed per character as well.

A lot of those books are things that we won't require players to have, though, which means chargen at the DM's house, which means PITA timewasting and waiting for other players to finish with the books, etc (this was an irritating problem with 3.5 splatbooks, but at least they were of more general use to the players and weren't embedded amidst campaign information that the DM is probably the only person to really care about). To my mind, these need to be collected in a book that players can own, some future version of the Gazetteer.


Out of interest am I the only one who is not seeing the final cover as it appeared in the blog quite a while ago but the picture on the product page still appears to be the placeholder cover.

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

Cheddar Bearer wrote:
Out of interest am I the only one who is not seeing the final cover as it appeared in the blog quite a while ago but the picture on the product page still appears to be the placeholder cover.

It takes a while to go from finished artwork (posted in the blog) to finished cover (posted as the product image). However, I think you might possibly be seeing the finished cover next week...

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

I've posted the final cover. If you don't see Seoni taking on a nasty mummy, reset your browser's image cache.

Contributor

Vic Wertz wrote:
I've posted the final cover. If you don't see Seoni taking on a nasty mummy, reset your browser's image cache.

That looks so cool! :D

Dark Archive

Shekment wrote:
KemKepi wrote:
How Freakin' Awesome is that new Cover Pic in the Blog!!!
I know. Is that a vampire sphinx in the background? This should completely rock.

Who's the artist? I certainly hope he gets to do more work for Paizo, because that is a beautiful and inspiring work of art! :)

Liberty's Edge

still waiting for this
wantto froce oneof our DM to jun J1 and J4 using this for us :D in the middle of a campaign, much the better :D

and about traits, i like them where they are, players should get their books too :P, they lay most of the expense on the DM so they should not complain
also msot Companions give background infromation, without manyof thesecrets, giving the players information to give more background and life to their characters

i know i do it with my elven bardfollowe of Desna and a friend wwith her elven conjurer follower of Calistria :D

Scarab Sages

Is this Pathfinder Companion similar to the supplements that gave greater detail to various areas of the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting published by Wizards of the Coast

Contributor

Ramses wrote:
Is this Pathfinder Companion similar to the supplements that gave greater detail to various areas of the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting published by Wizards of the Coast

Yes :)


Ramses wrote:
Is this Pathfinder Companion similar to the supplements that gave greater detail to various areas of the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting published by Wizards of the Coast

only Wizards is no longer doing that

Scarab Sages

I was aware of the fact that Wizards of the Coast had stopped. I have just recently heard of this publisher so I had to ask the question. I'm hoping that this publisher is around for awhile.


Ramses wrote:
I was aware of the fact that Wizards of the Coast had stopped. I have just recently heard of this publisher so I had to ask the question. I'm hoping that this publisher is around for awhile.

same here

Liberty's Edge

I cannot wait for this product. The cover art is fantastic.

I have been shuffling my feet impatiently since I saw it announced....

Paizo, you really have some great writers and artists. This is one incredibly happy Superscriber.


This has to be one of the greatest covers of any Pathfinder product. I can feel it channeling its inner Iron Maiden...

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber

It looks like the pdf doesn't have the inside or outside back cover page.

It just ends with the "what's in the next Pathfinder Companion" page.

Scarab Sages

I've just downloaded my PDF version, and paging thru it, I was disappointed to see NO regional traits, that was the main reason I wanted to get Osirion. The feats are cool, but no traits...a break from previous Pathfinder companions which I'm disppointed with.

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