Embrace Elemental Might!

Thursday, September 15, 2016

From the Jade Regent Adventure Path and Dragon Empires Gazetteer that drove the Year of the Ruby Phoenix to the Iron Gods Adventure Path and Technology Guide that inspired the Year of the Sky Key, the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild has borrowed heavily from upcoming Pathfinder literature when designing a new season's setting and feel. About two years ago, the organized play program set a course for storylines independent of the ongoing Adventure Paths, and the elemental planes were always that under-appreciated portion of the campaign setting's cosmology where the Pathfinder Society could make its mark. We're making that happen in the new Year of the Stolen Storm!

Illustrations by Nikolai Ostertag

The trouble is that by divesting our metaplot from the Adventure Paths, we'd entered fairly undocumented territory. The Great Beyond provides valuable information upon which Blood of the Elements built, but we had still written fewer words about these nigh-infinite planes than we had about most countries in the Inner Sea region! This time, rather than react to and incorporate other product lines, the Pathfinder Society team pitched Planes of Power, secured it a spot on the schedule, and outlined it so that players, GMs, and authors alike could learn more about the elemental planes we're featuring over the next year.

Planes of Power also provided us with an opportunity to make the elemental planes stand out as the truly bizarre, wondrous, and primal places that they are. We aimed much higher than simply describing the Plane of Fire as a place that's hot or the Plane of Air as a floating realm. Rather, the nuances of each plane are lovingly detailed in 10-page chapters, which describe the realms' unique histories, inhabitants, places of interest, political intrigues, and more. Each chapter also includes a section of ground-level details about a planar metropolis.

Rounding out the book are chapters full of planar beasts and character options, including tools to help PCs explore the elemental planes and wield elemental energies no matter the setting. We're excited to say that Planes of Power also provides a look at the elemental lords, including the unholy symbols for the evil lords shown above.

Aside from this breadth of information, the book flat out looks gorgeous. From its dynamic cover to its thematic page elements to its beautiful illustrations, we hope that Planes of Power's visuals inspire readers with infinite ideas for planar characters and adventures.

Illustrations by Tomasz Chistowski, Helge C. Balzer, Roberto Pitturru, and Jorge Fares

Take a look at the illustrations above for a taste of what we mean!

John Compton and Amanda Hamon Kunz
Developers