Howl at the Moon!
Thursday, September 26, 2013
 Illustration by Lloyd Allan October is looming nearer, and with it comes the promise of new Paizo books that deal in the horrific, the supernatural, and the downright creepy. Chief among our offerings this year is a book I am very much excited for—the much-anticipated Pathfinder Player Companion: Blood of the Moon! This spiritual sequel to last year's Blood of the Night contains everything players need to know about werecreatures and their distant descendants, the skinwalkers, including rules for this all-new race of lycanthrope-kin and dozens of new mechanics to complement bestial adventurers of any race or path. Whether your skinwalker heritage emerged amid an assuming rural village or you were a human raised by wolves to become an animalistic barbarian, Blood of the Moon provides infinite inspiration and options for characters who have more than a tinge of the wild side running in their blood.
Anyway, it's probably about time we spilled some of the beans on this book. In no particular order, here are some of my favorite parts of Blood of the Moon.
- Bestial Powers for All: While a lot of the focus of this book is on skinwalkers, there's also no shortage of new info and new character options for players of any race or background as long as they have a flair for savagery and are willing to embrace the animal within.
- Eight Faces of Lycanthropy: Since skinwalkers can be descended from any type of lycanthrope—including familiar beasts such as werewolves, wererats, and werebears, as well as Golarion's more unusual werecreatures like weretigers and werecrocodiles—it made sense to include details and rules for each of these distinct lycanthrope races and their half-blooded brood. Whether you're playing a skinwalker, a natural or afflicted lycanthrope, a hunter of these creatures, or an adventurer who simply has a tendency for nocturnal bloodshed, each of the eight facets of lycanthropy presented in this book give characters of all walks ample opportunity to hone their deadly skills toward a path that best represents their tactics and personality.
- La Luna: No book on lycanthropes and their kin would be complete without an examination of these creatures' special relationship with the moon. In addition to exploring the mystical connection between lycanthropes and the moon, Blood of the Moon features the new lunar oracle mystery and even suggestions for how to play with lycanthropes on worlds with multiple moons (such as some of the planets in Golarion's own solar system).
Of course, there's much, much more in Blood of the Moon than the tidbits I've hinted at. In addition to explorations on skinwalkers' status in Golarion, in-world accounts of these creatures and their lycanthropic forebears, and a thorough analysis of lycanthropic infection and the process of transformation, this Player Companion features tons of new rules crunch, including new magic items, spells, feats, magus arcana, and witch hexes, to name just a few.
This was a very exciting Player Companion to develop, and I'm stoked to see what readers think of this no-holds-barred volume on all things lycanthrope. Take off the collar and get ready to unleash the beast within, because Blood of the Moon hits shelves next month!
Patrick Renie
Developer
More Paizo Blog.
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Lloyd Allan
Pathfinder Player Companion
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10 people marked this as a favorite.
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"Insert joke about the right to bear arms"
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6 people marked this as a favorite.
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I've no idea howl compete with that joke! >.>
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The puns in this thread are going to be unbearable.
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We'll just have to endure. Grin and bear it, you might say.
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Would have loved a lycanthropic sorcerer bloodline.
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These puns are as charming as a Kodiak moment.
Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber
Dragon78 wrote: Would have loved a lycanthropic sorcerer bloodline. This would be a nice addition.
Reading this description, it makes me want this book even more. I prefer to play the more primitive/savage type of character, and this book appeals to me greatly. It can't come soon enough.
Love the artwork shown in the blog as well.
Now that the puns have died down, I have to say that I really like the design of the skinwalker in that picture. It isn't just the usual 'human with claws an funny ears' beast race. The fur on the arms and legs makes the person look like she's stuck halfway through a lycanthropic transformation. That's pretty neat if that's a representation of what most of the skinwalkers look like.
I wonder if this is the person's true form, or if she had to shapeshift into that form?
Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
This is starting to look even more awesome! Can't wait to see it!
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Matrix Dragon wrote: Now that the puns have died down, I have to say that I really like the design of the skinwalker in that picture. I'm quite liking that approach too. Like selective lycanthropy. Can't help but imagine any battlefield she's on being quite grizzly afterwards.
Also, stuff for alien lycanthropes #%*€ YES
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MMCJawa wrote: "Insert joke about the right to bear arms"
As long as there's not a right to arm bears, then we'll be fine... I mean a werebear is bad enough, but letting them have weapons... seesh.
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Patrick Renie wrote: ... how to play with lycanthropes on worlds with multiple moons ... holy crap. That's something I've never thought about before, but hot damn, I'm looking forward to it now!
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El Ronza wrote: Patrick Renie wrote: ... how to play with lycanthropes on worlds with multiple moons ... holy crap. That's something I've never thought about before, but hot damn, I'm looking forward to it now! Eberron had that problem. Essentially, it was full moon time, all the time.
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
If you think you'll get away without anymore werewolf puns you're barking mad.
Every time I’m kind of meh about a product, you guys bring me around with these teaser previews! Once again, kudos Paizo!
Will the ratfolk/catfolk/tengu/samsaran/grippli, being the animal-ish races, be supported despite not being were-animals? Especially with the ratfolk, these seem relevant to a book of animal-ish races.
NoncompliAut wrote: Will the ratfolk/catfolk/tengu/samsaran/grippli, being the animal-ish races, be supported despite not being were-animals? Especially with the ratfolk, these seem relevant to a book of animal-ish races. Very doubtful.
This should be awesome! I love Wolves. : )
Does this mean we are going to get some info on the wereshark? As it stands I think he counts as one of the original 8.
Mikaze wrote: Also, stuff for alien lycanthropes #%*€ YES The brethedan malleability of form doesn't really lend itself to a lycanthropic heritage, sadly, but what about kalo lycanthropes? Their jellyfish-like flesh constantly burbling as they chaotically shift- wholly and partially- between their normal and were-forms (whatever alien creature that may be), the dozens of moons of Bretheda playing havoc with their curse?
Not a lot for PFS play then I guess...
doc the grey wrote: Does this mean we are going to get some info on the wereshark? As it stands I think he counts as one of the original 8. Let's see:
Werewolf, wererat, werebear, wereboar, weretiger. That's 5 lycanthropes from the bestiaries.
Werebats, werecrocodiles, and weresharks have appeared in the Adventure Paths.
That's eight, though perhaps they're going to throw some other lycanthropes in aside from the 5 bestiary ones instead.
EDIT: Just noticed they explicitly call out the croc, so probably the shark and bat, too.
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Patrick Renie?
Werellama!!!
Cthulhudrew wrote: Mikaze wrote: Also, stuff for alien lycanthropes #%*€ YES The brethedan malleability of form doesn't really lend itself to a lycanthropic heritage, sadly, but what about kalo lycanthropes? Their jellyfish-like flesh constantly burbling as they chaotically shift- wholly and partially- between their normal and were-forms (whatever alien creature that may be), the dozens of moons of Bretheda playing havoc with their curse? I'm honestly wondering what will be said for worlds that don't have a moon at all. Like vercite lycanthopes...
Or...hell...the Diaspora. Gangly sarcesian werewolves(wereakatas*?!) flying through space at your face on luminous wings....
*Oh...oh $%&*.
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This is going be more interesting that I thought, it seems.
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Telä’fēär Ärōmär wrote: This should be awesome! I love Wolves. : )
I'm lycan the idea of this book a lot too. :)
If only this book came sooner, I could have used the Werecrocodile Skinwalker in a new S&S game, which will start this weekend.
Cuàn wrote: If only this book came sooner, I could have used the Werecrocodile Skinwalker in a new S&S game, which will start this weekend. You could always talk with your gm and see if you can just convert your character most of the way now and have your character try to hide his heritage until the book hits shelves.
I'll probably pick this one up. We are playing through Carrion Crown, and there's a chance that one of the players may contract Lycanthropy.
If you want to keep the Werebears happy, just give them porrige!
Keeping Werewolves happy is a little harder. Were do you find a steady supply of grandmothers and red-riding-hood wearing children?
-AT
NoncompliAut wrote: Will the ratfolk/catfolk/tengu/samsaran/grippli, being the animal-ish races, be supported despite not being were-animals? Especially with the ratfolk, these seem relevant to a book of animal-ish races. Nope. This book would simply be stretched too thin if we included animal-esque races beyond lycanthropes.
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Shifty wrote: Not a lot for PFS play then I guess... I assure you, there will be plenty of options for PFS players.
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More Monsters as PCs...sigh.If I wanted to play Werewolves I'd be on the White Wolf Boards not the Paizo ones.
I'm really looking forward to seeing what this book has to offer. I've got a concept for a pretty feral PC that I'm having trouble executing at the moment. Maybe this will be the solution.
We'll see what the PFS team deems suitable for society play.
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DM Wellard wrote: More Monsters as PCs...sigh.If I wanted to play Werewolves I'd be on the White Wolf Boards not the Paizo ones. What if you wanted to play as the bestial witch of a remote Mwangi tribe that has stitched the spirits of nature into his soul, able to channel it outward into fractional savage elements via his diluted heritage to the weretigers of myth that founded his tribe?
You know, instead of a werewolf?
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DM Wellard wrote: More Monsters as PCs...sigh.If I wanted to play Werewolves I'd be on the White Wolf Boards not the Paizo ones. I've never seen someone who was upset about being uninterested in a product before.
Alexander Augunas wrote: DM Wellard wrote: More Monsters as PCs...sigh.If I wanted to play Werewolves I'd be on the White Wolf Boards not the Paizo ones. I've never seen someone who was upset about being uninterested in a product before.
** spoiler omitted ** There's a post from Wellard on pretty much every product that introduces new, more monstrous races that echoes this sentiment.
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Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook Subscriber
DM Wellard wrote: More Monsters as PCs...sigh.If I wanted to play Werewolves I'd be on the White Wolf Boards not the Paizo ones. And that's fine for you, but I *am* playing a weretiger in solo campaign right now, so this book feels tailor made for me. XD
Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber
I look forward to reading the fluff and stuff about the skinwalkers. The lycanthrope expanded information doesn't really concern me, as I don't play in any AP that has the chance of contracting lycanthropy (crimson throne and second darkness). But the skinwalkers... mmmmmm yes please. Love the savage and more primitive races, and the more the better (as it gets annoying only being able to play half-orcs, really).
Well, this certainly solves the 'problem' of the Shifter (alà Eberron) character in one players' background... Now I won't need to do as much editing :) Only bummer is, it probably won't be here until November, unless I'm lucky...
Another fun product and hoping Paizo does a great job as usual.
I know the were-creature PC race idea has been tapped into by various D20 projects and indie PDF market. White Wolf of course did an awesome job with the original "Werewolf the Apocalypse".
Although if you need some information/inspiration on other types of "thropes", under their revised "Werewolf the Forsaken" line they did come out with a book detailing make any type of were-animals (Elephants, Stags, Whales, rabbits, etc....) The book is called "The Changing Breeds".
I want to know what happens to a werewolf who is on the Moon. o.O;
Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Evil Midnight Lurker wrote: I want to know what happens to a werewolf who is on the Moon. o.O; Turns into one of these.....
Evil Midnight Lurker wrote: I want to know what happens to a werewolf who is on the Moon. o.O; That is all
Kitsune werefox here I come!
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In case you missed the Paizo Store Blog post, I recently released Bite Me! Wereblooded by Ennie -winning author Ben McFarland. These aren't shifters but the scions of natural lycanthropes and humanoids, and there is a playable monstrous humanoid version of the race, as well. I will be releasing more options for lycanthrope characters and related races over the next few weeks. These can be complementary options to what Paizo's book will present.
Christina
BigNorseWolf wrote: Evil Midnight Lurker wrote: I want to know what happens to a werewolf who is on the Moon. o.O; That is all Oh hey, I remember that now. John Jameson Jr., right?
BigNorseWolf wrote: Kitsune werefox here I come! As self-proclaimed Champion of the Kitsune and lover of logic, I say begone, vile harbinger of madness!
banishes the crazy Norse wolf back to the Maelstrom
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