Gobloween is Upon Us!

Thursday, October 31, 2013

It's that time of the year again to don your costumes and hit the streets for a night of candy, goblins, pumpkins, and spooky galore! Check out this awesome pumpkin submission from Pathfinder fan, Jory!

Every year my friend and I carve pumpkins for Halloween, with the most creative designs we can think of, then hand them out to children or donate them to the shelter for battered women and children. This year, we were so inspired, that we decided to create a Pathfinder jack-o'-lantern, and decided to share them with you!

Have your own Pathfinder Pumpkin or Pathfinder costume? Let us know! You can email pictures to cosplay@paizo.com or post them to our Facebook page.

Jenny Bendel
Marketing Director

Inheritance

by Gabrielle Harbowy

Chapter Four: People and Causes

The camp's last remaining healer had died two days before, infected by some foul colony of demonic parasites. Learning further details prompted Zae to add "never pray barefooted" to her list of life lessons.

Leodar, the knight who had greeted Keren, led the way with confidence through the broken landscape, while Carom and Saric, two young but weathered knights, brought up the rear. Strange geysers dotted the ground, some swelling like pustulant wounds, others rising and falling as if the land was a breathing beast. Above, beyond churning black clouds, the sky glowed the sickly color of rust, giving off just enough light for gnome eyes to see by. Under the cover of night, things clacked and slithered and grunted, distracting Zae with hints of movement in her peripheral vision. The others didn't seem to notice.

Leodar rode unerringly toward an outcropping of stone—the crumbling ruins of an old smithy, barely sturdy enough to serve as an outpost. A clash of swords rang out from beyond the building, followed by a blaze of firelight.

Leodar lowered his visor. "Seems we're not too late."

Keren took a deep breath and nudged her horse forward. "Ennis! It's Keren. I've come from Lastwall."

A burst of fire bloomed above the smithy, leaving blinding afterimages in Zae's vision. The knights charged toward the fray, and Zae nudged Appleslayer to follow the horses. They rounded the structure in time to see a half-dozen cloaked and hooded figures, all chanting in unison, surrounding a single knight in mismatched armor.

Ennis is devoted to his cause—even unto death.

Ennis Rhinn might once have looked very much like his sister, before the demonplague. Now he looked barely human—gaunt as a corpse, face mottled purple and red with bruises and open sores, and just a few thready strands of greasy, ash-dusted hair.

"Ennis!" Keren shouted again, and circled around to charge one of her brother's attackers.

"Begone, demon!" he shouted, hurling something as she passed. Keren deflected a jagged rock with her shield.

"Foul hallucination!" he screamed. "Do you lack the stones to face me in your own form?"

Keren cast a worried glance back at her companions. Leodar lifted his shoulders, as if to say This was your idea. Zae nudged Appleslayer forward to join her.

"Ennis, it's truly me. I'm here with Leodar, and others from your camp." She rode down one of the sword-wielding cultists, then turned Eridem and charged another. "Ennis, by Iomedae, I swear to you..."

A wordless scream interrupted her—one of fury, not agony. "I'll hear no more! I'll bash out my own brains before I let you defile my goddess, or the memory of my sister! Go back to the Abyss, demon!"

Zae sighed. "Well, at least he still cares about you."

At a signal from Leodar, the other knights rode in, blades drawn. They ignored Ennis's shouts of challenge and focused only on riding down his attackers. All the cultists were armed with sickles and other blades, and there was something about that which wasn't quite right.

"Wait!" Zae called. "Weren't there—"

A burst of flame exploded in Carom's face, setting his mount's mane ablaze. The horse panicked and reared, throwing its rider and trampling him before bolting away into the night.

"—sorcerers..."

Ennis slashed with his longsword at anything within reach, armored knight and robed cultist alike. Keren and Saric rode down cultist after cultist, beheading them or hacking off limbs with long sweeps of their swords, while Leodar took off after a sorcerer attempting to circle around and flank them.

Anticipating Zae's command, Appleslayer bounded to where Carom had fallen from his horse and lay unmoving on the ground. Zae tugged off one of his scorched gauntlets to reach his skin and explore the extent of his injuries.

The broken ribs were worse than the burns. Calling on Brigh, Zae pushed healing warmth through her fingers and into him, steadying him, then fished into the satchel still slung over her shoulder for a salve for the burns. Hail began to fall from the roiling clouds, small crystals pelting Carom's armor like pebbles. Zae pulled up her hood and ignored them, sheltering her patient with her small body while she repaired the worst of his wounds. Appleslayer stood vigil over them both.

Presently, Zae became aware that the annoying chanting had stopped. Instead, under the clash of battle, she heard human voices.

"Why do you aid me, demon?"

"I'm not a demon, Ennis. I'm your sister."

Zae stole a glance toward the siblings. Keren, Saric, and Ennis were on foot, parrying and dodging a grotesque flying demon. It looked as if a giant, bloated snowball of phlegm had consumed a few stray humans and a bat, with only wings and the odd nest of misshapen limbs protruding from its mass. One of those limbs held a long, barbed whip.

The cultists, and their chanting—they must have either been summoning the demon, or protecting it.

"Why'd you come?" Ennis asked. "Did Father disown you, too?"

"Father's dead, Ennis. I came to find you."

Saric swung upward at the demon's underbelly, but it only flew up beyond his reach and lashed out with a flick of its slender whip, capturing the crusader's arm. It turned with tug that knocked him to the ground and sent his sword skittering away. Zae crept up toward him, praying under her breath.

Keren hacked at one of the demon's wings while its whip was entangled, but it rose out of range. Another of its arms was reaching for something. At first Zae thought it was feeling for damage to its wing, but instead it looked to be extracting a chunk of its own viscous flesh. As Saric struggled to his feet, clutching the whip to keep the demon from pulling it free, a burst of fire caught him in the chest.

There was the sorcerer from before—the one Leodar had evidently not run down. Demonblooded, with wicked, curved horns, and tiny motes of fire that hovered around her like moths. She flung them toward the three knights with flicks of her wrist. Keren dodged the flame, and charged at the spellcaster with a fierce battle cry.

Zae was almost to Saric. His grasp on the whip only served as another tool for the demon, which jerked away so sharply that the man's shoulder wrenched from its socket. He lost his hold and slumped to the foul ground, where Zae was instantly at his side. Before she could do more than lift Saric's visor, however, Ennis let out a shout and dove toward her, knocking the gnome onto the prone man and falling atop them both.

A thick, caustic rain splattered around them. Ennis jerked against Zae's back and screamed, his breath rattling in his chest like nails shaken in a cup. Face inches from the ground, Zae watched the acid carve tiny pits in the rocky terrain. It was doing the same to Ennis's armor, and to Saric—by Brigh's shiny eyeholes, she'd just exposed Saric's face moments before the viscous attack.

Ennis tried to rise and failed, slumping back heavily on top of them. From beneath him, Zae saw Keren approaching, silhouetted against the night, longsword gleaming with the sorcerer's blood. She took a fierce overhead swipe, splitting the demon's belly. A loud squelch—the sound of a stalk of celery stabbing through an overripe tomato—heralded a second deluge. Zae ducked her head, squeezing eyes and lips shut until it passed and all was silent. She couldn't twist around far enough to reach Ennis's skin, or Saric's.

"Ennis...?" she asked.

His weight on her didn't move, and a wave of guilt and nausea flooded her.

Keren's voice answered as Ennis's weight eased away. "Careful what you touch."

Zae rose unsteadily to her knees. The ground around them, everywhere that Ennis's body hadn't shielded, was pocked and still quietly hissing. She was dry, as far as she could tell, but Saric's helm was full of viscous acid. He had choked on it even as it burned through his jaw and throat, and though she had been right there, she hadn't been able to save him—either of them. Not the knight she'd been about to heal, nor the one who, already plague-ridden, had sacrificed himself to shield her... even without knowing what she meant to his sister.

They walked gingerly, Keren carrying her brother's still hissing and popping corpse, to the ruined smithy. There, Carom waited with two horses and Appleslayer. His breaths were shallow, favoring his tender ribs, but he was whole.

Ennis was not so lucky. Keren set him down with care, supporting his shoulder to keep him from leaning his raw back against the stone, then realized that she needn't bother. He was already gone. Keren set her face in a mask of calm to hold the pain away until there was time for it.

It was a somber ride back to the encampment, with Ennis's body draped across Keren's saddle. When they passed the wardstone that marked the border and Zae pulled back her hood, white crystals fell from the folds. On closer inspection, she saw that they were tiny teeth.

∗ ∗ ∗

Keren traced her brother's medallion with her fingertips, lost in thought. Zae came to sit on the tent's carpeted floor beside her, and Apple padded over to rest his chin in her lap.

Keren fished her necklace out of her tunic and set the medallions on the box, side by side.

"Is it killing you that I haven't opened it yet?" It was a pale attempt at teasing, but it heartened Zae that Keren was up to trying.

"You're apprehensive. I can't blame you. But the hardest part is over, isn't it?"

Keren pushed Ennis's medallion toward Zae. It was more weathered than Keren's, but its intricacies were still intact.

"Together?" Keren asked.

They each placed a disc to an impression on the box. There was no sense of anything clicking into place, but the lid opened smoothly at Keren's touch.

A parchment envelope nestled on cream-colored velvet lining. Keren took it and examined both sides, but it was unmarked. She took a deep breath and lifted the unsealed flap.

Zae could see that the thick page bore neat lines of writing, but she couldn't make it out through the back side of the paper. She rubbed Apple's head and waited, watching wetness gather in Keren's eyes.

"It's a peace offering. He accepts that Ennis went his own way, and he's proud of both of us for fighting for what we believe in. Here: ‘There are three of these rings, which I had forged. I will wear mine into eternity, and the others are for you, to mark us as family. You bear a piece of me, and my blessing, always. The people are more important than the cause, Keren. Victory is meaningless without the people for whom we fight, and the people we go home to.'"

Keren caught her sleeve and swiped her wrist across her eyes, then let out a trembling sigh and upended the envelope into the box. "He just wanted me and Ennis to be together again. And at the end, I guess we were."

Two rings tumbled onto the velvet, gleaming and, to Zae's eye, quite finely wrought of gold and platinum. Minutes ticked by, but Keren didn't reach for them.

"What will you do with them?" Zae asked.

Keren looked up. Stubbornly, she still refused to let her tears fall. "He wanted these to mark us as family, but I don't have any family left—except you. Will you wear one?"

Zae arched one thin blue eyebrow. "Are you sure he'd approve of that?"

"He'd want me to be happy, and I'm happy with you. Your cooking is dangerous, and you perform dog surgery in my house, and every moment with you is full of wonder and something new."

Zae stood and wound her arms around Keren. "I'd be honored," she said. "I wish I'd gotten to meet Ennis in health, or your father, or see more of the Worldwound."

Keren laughed weakly. "Sometimes I think your curiosity is a death wish in disguise."

Zae touched her nose to Keren's cheek. "Oh, but it's not just curiosity. It's informed curiosity. I know how big and complicated and dangerous the world is. What fascinates me is all that variety—how the world can be so full of parts that are so complex and weird and beautiful, and interconnected. I'm not fascinated by birds in flight because I think flight is mystical and impossible, I'm fascinated because I understand how it works, and how it works is fascinating. That's the kind of wonder I see in the world. But to your second point?" She grinned. "Yes. Probably."

Keren rolled her eyes. "You'll need me to protect you."

"Definitely. And you'll need me to stitch you up after you protect me. I hear some creatures think I'm a tasty snack. They might be relentless."

"Are you a tasty snack, pixie?" There was a gleam in Keren's eyes.

"Are you relentless?" Zae countered.

Though—or perhaps because—Zae knew that both answers were yes, she was glad to have a long voyage home in which to explore them fully.

Coming Next Week: A sample chapter of Howard Andrew Jones's new novel Stalking the Beast, featuring the return of Elyana and Drelm from Plague of Shadows!

Gabrielle Harbowy is an editor for such SF publishers as Pyr, Seven Realms Publishing, and Dragon Moon Press, as well as co-editor of the When the Hero Comes Home anthology series with Ed Greenwood. Her short fiction has been a finalist for the Parsec award, and has appeared in such anthologies as The Beast Within 2, Metastasis, Cthulhurotica, and more. For more information, visit gabrielle-edits.com.

Illustration by Kelly Perry

Independent Ilsurian

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Illustration by Mark Molnar

The many settlements from Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Towns of the Inner Sea show smaller locations throughout the world of Golarion that are perfect for telling stories on a small scale. Radically changing the political or cultural face of a large city make be a massive ordeal taking up most of a campaign, but doing so in a town might take only the course of one adventure and happen at a lower level. The Varisian town of Ilsurian is a primarily peaceful place, but the dangers around the town could close in at any moment!

Ilsurian was founded by the Chelish expatriate Ilsur, and their independence from the tyranny of that diabolic state gave the town their identity. They pride themselves on their independence and discipline, and everybody who comes of age in the town knows how to use a weapon. Think of them like fairweather patriots: they talk a good game and know a few things, but they're no soldiers.

If you want a good kick-off to a campaign that starts in Ilsurian, Pathfinder Module: Murder's Mark takes you there, and you can use the description in Towns of the Inner Sea to flesh out the adventure further. And not to say too much about the plot of that adventure, but it's possible some real estate might free up in town for the PCs to snag on the cheap so they can set up a home base...

Logan Bonner
Developer

This One's for the Munchkins!

Sunday, October 27, 2013

The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game is today's pre-eminent fantasy RPG, with richly detailed civilizations full of ominous portents, history whose echoes still affect today's world, and terrifying foes, some monstrous and some all too human. Munchkin is the fast-paced, silly game of dungeon exploration, monster slaying, and loot acquisition. A perfect match!

Developer Andrew Hackard, in consultation with the Paizo team, has taken many of the iconic features of the world of Golarion and the Pathfinder rules and given them the Munchkin treatment. Now you can play a Pathfinder Alchemist with the Decemvirate Helm, the Boots of the Mastodon, the Aluminum Foil, and the Armor of Insults. (You have to cheat to wear that armor...good thing there's a card for that!)

You'll need that equipment when you fight famous Pathfinder monsters such as the Whispering Tyrant, the Sandpoint Devil, or even Lamashtu herself! And don't forget the goblins...

"The most important thing in developing this game was to be true both to Munchkin and to Pathfinder," says Hackard. "Munchkin fans expect a wacky game full of backstabbing and larceny. Pathfinder fans are passionate about their game and the world behind it. I think Munchkin Pathfinder successfully merges them into a game that appeals to both groups."

Munchkin Pathfinder has plenty of the humor that Munchkin is known for, with cards such as the Cloak of Dis Guy, the Anti-Curse Purse, and Shoot the Messenger (for a level!). Andrew Hackard has been part of the Munchkin team since the first game was released in 2001, and he counts getting to play around in the Pathfinder world as one of his signature achievements. Munchkin Pathfinder artist John Kovalic has turned in another classic set of illustrations, including the fantastic game cover based on the original Pathfinder Core Rulebook.

Munchkin Pathfinder is available now from stores that carry Steve Jackson Games and Paizo games—including the Paizo webstore and SJ Games' Warehouse 23.

(Oh, before we go—you want more goblins, right? Of course you do! Make sure you get Munchkin Pathfinder: Gobsmacked! in November!)

Pawns of Winter

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Fall may be here, but winter is right around the corner—just in time for the Reign of Winter Adventure Path Pawn Collection! With more than 100 individual cardstock pawns, this Pathfinder Pawns collection brings to life 90 key monsters and NPCs from the Reign of Winter Adventure Path for use in your campaign. All of these allies and enemies appear in the Reign of Winter Adventure Path, but the Reign of Winter Adventure Path Pawn Collection also includes pawns for characters who have never been illustrated before. To whet your appetite for these tiny cardstock figures, here's a preview of some of the brand-new art for these characters!

Illustrations by Dieter Miller, Maichol Quinto, and Aaron J. Riley

Rob McCreary
Developer

Pathfinder Battles Preview: First Looks at Wrath of the Righteous!

This month's Legends of Golarion set of prepainted plastic Pathfinder Battles miniatures is in stores now and on its way to subscribers as I write this blog. I hope you're enjoying that collection of creatures and NPCs inspired by the Pathfinder campaign setting. It was certainly great fun putting it together.

Now that that set is upon us, it's time to focus on the NEXT set, Wrath of the Righteous! Like many of our previous sets, Wrath of the Righteous is inspired by a Pathfinder Adventure Path campaign. In this case it's the current campaign that runs through January, a heroic struggle against demons in the twisted chaos of the Worldwound, at the edge of the Inner Sea's civilization. The set includes lots of heroic warriors and even more hideous monsters and demons, including several that have never before been produced in prepainted plastic.

Oh, and one more thing, the set's formal release month has been moved from DECEMBER to JANUARY. We've listened to what collectors and fans have been telling us about the pace of Pathfinder Battles releases, and we'll be slowing things down a bit in 2014 to make it easier for folks to keep up with their collections. As usual, thanks for the great feedback you guys have provided throughout this whole process. It really does help us a lot as we plan sets and make decisions about what figures to include and how to paint them.

This week, I want to show off several figures from Wrath of the Righteous. Several more will follow in the weeks to come. In a few minutes from the moment I'm writing this, WizKids will be bringing by paint masters for the two Huge figures in the upcoming Reign of Winter Monsters encounter pack, so we'll also be showing off those behemoths some time in the relatively near future.

Until then, there are demons to discover!

Our first character to reveal for this set is not a demon at all, but another of the popular Pathfinder iconic characters. Here we have Alain, Human Cavalier, who first appeared in the Pathfinder RPG Advanced Player's Guide a few years ago. Alain makes the perfect knight to go up against demonic hordes, and it goes without saying that he also makes a great proxy for any kind of heavily armored male warrior. Alain is a Medium uncommon figure, a testament to how awesome this set's rares really are. The detail and paint steps on this guy are pretty amazing, and I think you're going to love him. I do.

Here we have another of my favorites from the set, the goat-headed Schir Demon. These badboys come from real world mythology, and they make great shock troops in any Abyssal army. Standing about 7 feet tall, they loom over even burly player character types, whom they also like to stab with their intricate pole arms. Cool! The Schir Demon is a Medium, common figure.

This here Low Templar exemplifies the sort of questionable characters attached to the various crusades designed to push back the demonic threat. As such, he's a good example of why the player characters are necessary to save the world. The rank and file can't exactly pull their own weight. Of course, with chain mail armor and a cool axe, this guy works great for a player character, henchman, cohort, follower, or just about any sort of armored soldier dude you might need. He's human, he's Medium, and he's uncommon.

Of course, the Worldwound crusades attract more than a few actually righteous good guys (other than the player characters, of course!). One of the best is Irabeth, a half-orc paladin with a golden breastplate, a massive shield, and a cool sword. She is one of several recurring allies the PCs will encounter throughout the Wrath of the Righteous Adventure Path, and it goes without saying that she makes a great proxy for female half-orc warrior player characters, too. She's also the cover model for Pathfinder #73: The Worldwound Incursion, where you can find her stats. Irabeth is a Medium, rare figure.

But enough Medium-sized figures. Wrath of the Righteous also contains lots of Large menaces, such as this amazing Half-Fiend Minotaur. This miniature is one of those rare examples that actually improves upon the art that inspired it (from the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary). When WizKids brought in this figure for approvals, everyone's jaws hit the floor. Simply put, this is a great figure I am confident you will want to add to your collection. And since the Wrath of the Righteous Adventure Path focuses heavily on demons, minotaurs, and the cult of Baphomet, I promise you'll have plenty of opportunity to kill characters with this guy, too. The Half-Fiend Minotaur is a Large, uncommon figure.

I have always believed in second chances. Way back in our first set, Heroes & Monsters, we released a Chimera that, while better than the several attempts we made during development of that set, still lacked a certain something, that something being "awesomeness". I've been looking for a chance to revisit the creature ever since, and when I heard that the Wrath of the Righteous Adventure Path would feature the Mythic Chimera illustrated by Eric Belisle in Mythic Adventures, I leapt at the chance to include the monster in this set. WizKids delivered with an amazing sculpt. The Mythic Chimera is a Large, rare figure.

That's it for this week. Come back next week for more Pathfinder Battles previews!

Erik Mona
Publisher

Inheriting a World: On Writing "Inheritance"

Friday, October 25, 2013

For today's blog, we've given Pathfinder web fiction contributor Gabrielle Harbowy, whose story "Inheritance" is running right now, the chance to talk a little about what it's like to write for Pathfinder Tales. Take it away, Gabrielle!

When I was eight, my third-grade teacher brought in a bag of dice and a couple of player guides, and taped a masking-tape dungeon over the tiles on the classroom floor. Every Wednesday, instead of Reading, we'd have Roleplaying time. People who didn't want to play could read quietly, but dragons and slime creatures and bold adventurers had the room.

To call that experience "formative" would probably be an understatement.

I haven't had a regular, local gaming group since I was about 15, but I've never lost my love of the tabletop RPGs, and I play whenever I can. When I started exploring RPG tie-in fiction as a reader, I was drawn in by the adventure, the drama, and the high quality of the writing. I never actually thought that it was something I would have the chance to do, but I've been Chris Jackson's editor at Dragon Moon Press since 2009, and he's the one who got me into Pathfinder. When Chris's Scimitar Seas series ended, it was an honor to hand him off to James Sutter and Pathfinder Tales for Pirate's Honor. Chris writes nautical fantasy like no one else, and his enthusiasm for Pathfinder as a gaming system was infectious. And it seemed that once I heard about Pathfinder, I started hearing about it everywhere. The paperbacks were in the bookstores, the gamers I work with all had great things to say about the game and the gaming system, and I even learned that Scott Purdy, the artist who created the covers for my first two anthologies, had illustrations in some of Pathfinder's bestiaries.

I was excited when James Sutter told me he had enjoyed my story in When the Hero Comes Home, and invited me to pitch a piece of web fiction for Pathfinder Tales. I love Pathfinder's take on gnomes, and knew I wanted to show a gnome mindset, and explore adventuring from an outsider's perspective. Writer-friends and Paizo staffers were incredibly supportive and made the planning and writing a great experience for me...but there were a couple of aspects of writing in a shared world, and an RPG's world in particular, that surprised me when I started gnomestory.doc, which eventually became "Inheritance."

Since GMs are never, ever control freaks, let's just say—hypothetically, of course—that you're watching your players hit dead end after dead end, or argue all night about a decision that doesn't even matter, while you sit back and try really hard not to guide them too much, enlighten them too much, or inflict blunt force trauma.

Not that that ever happens. But if it did, then the idea of being able to send characters exactly where you wanted them to go, to do exactly what you plan for them to do, might have some appeal.

Writing RPG tie-in fiction is like GMing a game where you control ALL the players. And the NPCs. And the bad guys. And all the dice rolls come out exactly the way you want them to, every time.

The thing is, the off-the-wall creativity of your players is what makes a campaign so much fun. They may not take the straight path from A to B, but it would be boring if they did. Think about how often they surprise you. Then think about what it would be like if they never surprised you, ever. What would be the point?

For an experienced cat-wrangler, writing solo is surprisingly difficult. You have too much control. You don't have someone else's unpredictability to turn your scenario on its head in interesting ways.

Making it look like your players' off-road diversions were things you planned all along? Is an art.

Making it look as though you're still getting that input and unpredictability, when really it's all just coming out of your own head? That's a skill.

Interpreting the reference texts into a full environment is also a skill. GMs do it, but they have maps and miniatures and hand gestures; they have dice and rules. Writers have only the text, into which they must breathe life and logic, and plausible reasons for the world to act as it does.

There's so much material out there, but some of it only touches the surface. When there's only one sentence IN EXISTENCE ANYWHERE to sum up an entire town, you can't go to Google Maps and see what the place looks like, or go to Wikipedia to find out about its demographics and economy, or to YouTube to see how the locals dress or hear their accents. What there is, is ALL that there is.

Maybe you're looking in the wrong places, but maybe the information doesn't actually exist. You don't want to reinvent the wheel and go against canon...but you don't want to waste too much writing time chasing down things that don't exist. And sometimes those things do exist in production, but aren't published yet. That means they're important for continuity, but there's no way you could have found them on your own.

In "Inheritance," Zae makes a device that basically contains an augury spell. She can manipulate it, expend some expensive component materials, and it answers weal or woe. Well, that's great. But there's nothing in the spell text to indicate what form it gives you your answers in. Just about at the time I realized I'd created a steampunk Magic 8 Ball, I also realized that there was no way James Sutter, you the readers, or my own conscience would let me just throw in a Magic 8 Ball because I was too lazy to think of something original.

I delved into the messageboards to see how anyone else had done this sort of thing (to no avail), and then took a hard look at the essential augury spell components—incense, and the implication that incense needs to be lit and expended—and figured out how to put them together with a device to create a mechanism capable of indicating multiple different answers.

And felt like I'd leveled up when I got feedback that it was approved. Successful foray into someone else's world? Achievement unlocked!

Gabrielle Harbowy
Pathfinder Tales Contributor

Hometowns of the Inner Sea

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Illustration by Mark Molnar

The other day, Wes showed up in our cube with a treat: a peak at an advance copy of Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Towns of the Inner Sea. I finally got to see my town, Solku, in print!

When the list of available towns came out, I immediately jumped on Solku, excited to explore this diverse corner of our world. Solku isn't as famous as the much larger city of Katapesh, but it's a fascinating place: founded by cultists fleeing persecution, preyed on by gnolls and fellow Katapeshi alike, at once pious, mercantile, and afraid. It's decidedly good, but that doesn't mean life there is easy (as exemplified by the story of Solku's most famous resident, the iconic paladin Seelah)—the town is plagued by frequent attacks by gnoll bandits and slavers, and crowded with long-term refugees. Being good also doesn't guarantee the well-intentioned inhabitants all get along; the widening rift between the civilian government and Sarenrae's church is another major source of tension in the town. And, of course, Solku also has its fair share of con artists, madmen, and more!

I tried to write about Solku like it was my own hometown—with a tangled mix of love and pride and frustration. After all, while this book is partly about showing that adventure isn't found only in dungeons and major cities, it's also about exploring places and cultures that your characters could call home!

Judy Bauer
Editor

Inheritance

by Gabrielle Harbowy

Chapter Three: The Wound of the World

The next town, Bladswell, wasn't so much a town as a ferryboat station that happened to have an inn and some farms attached. Still, the inn had vacancies and Zae appreciated spending a night in privacy, in something resembling a real bed, after days on the trail. They treated themselves to something resembling a real meal and then a real bath, as well.

She gathered her long indigo curls in a towel and wrung her hair from dripping to damp, then carefully dried her ears—specifically, the line of shining bronze rings that pierced each, all the way from lobe to tip. "Wouldn't it be romantic to sleep in the hayloft instead?" she offered.

Keren, lounging on the bed in only a towel, made a face. "It may sound romantic, but trust me, hay is sharp and unyielding in all sorts of romantic-mood-killing ways."

The gnome raised an eyebrow. "And how do you come by this knowledge?"

Keren stretched and gave an exaggerated yawn. "Oh, look how late it's gotten!"

"Right. You won't distract me that easily."

Standing, Keren slowly and deliberately unwrapped her towel.

Zae, it turned out, was distracted that easily.

∗ ∗ ∗

Zae is always up for an adventure.

Keren became increasingly restless as they sailed nearer to the Worldwound. Her anxiety wanted very much to be contagious, but Zae refused to catch it. She sat on the uncomfortable bed with Appleslayer at her feet, and assembled the bits and parts she'd picked up in Chastel. There was something meditative about handling gears and wire. Partly because it was an activity she associated with prayer, but partly because she liked to fix what was broken. She knew the difference between the sentient and the inanimate, of course, but on a more theoretical level, she had always thought that healing a body and fixing a machine were much the same kind of action. Everything ticking along smoothly.

"Like clockwork..." she murmured, and Keren lifted her head.

"Hm?"

"Just thinking aloud," Zae answered. "Welcome back."

While Zae immersed herself in her tinkering, Keren had paced their small cabin, and then the deck, and then the cabin again. The knight refused soothe syrup—travel up the river was safer than travel along its banks, but not by much, and she wanted her wits about her. Zae could respect that, and was grateful for it.

Keren joined her, sprawling beside the dog and trailing her fingers through his snowy fur.

Zae enjoyed conversation while she worked. "You said you joined the crusade because your father wanted you to. Was it what you wanted, too?"

Keren frowned. "There was never any other option. Me and Ennis, we were groomed for it from birth. I got my first set of armor at age five. Not in the white and gold, of course, since I hadn't taken my oaths yet, but Father made the Knights sound like the worthiest goal in the world, and there wasn't anyone around to tell me otherwise. I don't know...I'd probably have been an artisan, and made beautiful things with my hands. Maybe I still will, someday." She sighed and rolled onto her back. "What will your contraption be when it's done?"

Zae cradled one half of a brass sphere carefully between her bare feet while she worked on the other half, occasionally switching off or testing to make sure that they still fit together. "It'll be a divining rod. Well, ball. Divining ball. It'll tell us which way your brother is, if we ask it the right questions. Except when it doesn't, of course. These things are never completely reliable. And I only have so much incense, so we won't be able to consult it too many times...but I thought it might get us started."

Keren studiously rubbed under Apple's chin. "That had to be stupidly expensive."

"It was," Zae said quietly. There was no point denying it. "But worth it. And don't even think of trying to pay me back. I've never gotten to build one of these before, and... well, I've never had a chance to do something so big and totally selfless for someone I care about before, either."

Silence stretched out comfortably for a moment. "Surely you've..." Keren ventured.

"Had lovers, as you know. Even almost married once—a halfling. He stole my heart, but I got it back."

The comfortable silence returned, broken only by the dog's quiet snores and the lapping of water against the hull. When Zae assembled the halves into a sphere and looked up, Keren was asleep.

It always surprised the gnome how soft even the most hardened humans became when their features relaxed. Curled up around Appleslayer as she was, it was easy to see her youth. Humans lived so briefly and so brightly, and felt things so intensely. Zae didn't think she'd ever truly understand what made them tick, but to get to share even a bit of that—not to mention being on the receiving end of those feelings—was a gift she didn't take for granted.

∗ ∗ ∗

Apple got his land legs back sooner than Zae did—perhaps because he had more of them to balance on. For gnome and human, the swaying of the riverboat became the swaying of a moderate gait in the saddle, gradually acclimating them both to solid ground.

Just in time to see it fall away. They drew to a halt just shy of the border of the Worldwound, staring out at the ravaged landscape. Overhead the sky was low and leaden gray, but in the distance it churned an unnatural palette of bile and sweet corn.

"Got your gadget?" Keren asked.

Zae fumbled in her satchel and withdrew the orb. She knew she had polished it to a shine, but the oppressive air seemed to take away all that was bright in the world. From a side pocket, she unwrapped a small purple cone of incense, added a few drops of clear oil to it, and slid it point-first into a perfectly sized hole in the orb. Making sure she was facing the ruined landscape, she closed her eyes to concentrate.

"Masked clockmaker, she who drives our gears, abide with us a time and be the whisper in our bronze. We seek Ennis Rhinn, and we travel overland. Is a path to the east toward weal or woe?"

For a few moments, nothing happened. Then the orb began to vibrate with the muffled whir of gears turning in their casing. After perhaps half a minute, it stopped. "There."

Zae turned the orb, and the smoke that filtered out was white and sweetly scented. "Thank you, Lady Brigh." She smiled up at Keren. "We go east."

∗ ∗ ∗

The first crusaders they met were a pair on patrol, wearing gouged, pitted armor that had seen many adventures. One look at Keren's white and gold told them her origin, and when she lifted a hand in greeting Zae wasn't surprised to see the Lastwall shield on the guardswoman's palm when it rose in response.

"Here to join the ranks?" the guard called. Keren dismounted and approached on foot. Zae remained on Appleslayer. The knights spoke briefly, clasped hands, and Keren returned to her horse.

"We're heading in the right direction," she said, and nudged Eridem onward.

A mile or so along, an outpost was set up at the edge of the Worldwound, only feet from where the ground turned from dirt and rock to foul wasteland. They reined in before the tent with the largest banner.

All the crusaders looked just as worn as their scouts had. Some were in makeshift armor or had chipped weapons. Scars abounded on roughened faces. One boy looked barely to have reached adulthood, but already had a pink gash cutting down over the socket of one milky eye.

"What've we here?" he called out, and the dozen or so others perked up and took notice. "Fresh blood from the south?" One of the other men coughed, and spat something green and phlegmy that wriggled away toward the cursed ground.

"That's right," Keren answered. "Making our way east." Zae could see her studying every face, looking for her brother among them. "We'll lend you our strength if we can share your camp tonight."

One of the older men laughed, a harsh sound like a file rasping across stone. "It's clear you're confident with your sword, lass, but what of your little friend?"

Zae straightened in her saddle. "I can make water for you."

A round of raucous laughter answered her. "Isn't a one of us who can't make water, tiny lass. What need have we of yours?"

Zae's cheeks flushed hot. "That's not what I meant! Holy water, to fight the demons. Purified water, to drink."

The older soldier pointed out toward the ruined land. "Can ye purify that, miss?" He shrugged and returned to sharpening his jagged sword. "Get on with you both. We don't need the faces of the fresh and eager to disrupt our lives or end 'em with your carelessness. Make water on someone else."

Zae exchanged a look with Keren, who shook her head minutely and put gentle heels to Eridem's sides.

They continued along the border, mindful of keeping to healthy ground. "Maybe our good fortune is still to come," Zae said, but Keren gave no response.

The sun was setting, turning the sky from an unnatural green to an unnatural reddish-brown. No lights shone in the Worldwound, but occasionally something cracked or slithered.

"Did you see them?" Keren finally asked as they rode along.

Zae's heart pounded. "What?" She scanned the horizon, but Keren shook her head.

"No. Those soldiers. They were so..."

"Close to death?" Zae supplied.

Keren frowned, but nodded. "I expected things to be shiny and organized here, like they are at Vigil, but it's all so... fractured. Desperate."

Another fortified outpost loomed in the distance. They arrived at it just at nightfall proper, as the last of the natural light gave way to an eerie malevolent glow.

"If they're anything like the last," Keren said as they walked their mounts up toward the cluster of buildings, "I wonder if we'd not be safer keeping to ourselves."

"Safer, perhaps," Zae answered, "but less likely to find Ennis."

"What about Ennis?" one of the sentries called.

Keren froze. It seemed to take her a moment to find her tongue, so Zae answered for her. "Ennis Rhinn. Is he part of your unit?"

The guard, who looked healthier and more whole than anyone Zae had seen at the border thus far, pursed his lips. Behind him, three more ragged soldiers limped into the camp, two supporting the weight of the one between them. "For now. By morning I suspect that'll change." He nodded out toward the scarred land. "Demonplague's got him. He's making his hours count."

"He's my brother." Keren rested her hand on her sword hilt, gaze hard. "Take me to him."

The knight held up his hand, showing his sigil. Keren and Zae both did the same. "Well met, Rhinn." When he signaled two more knights to join them, the gnome saw Keren's posture relax; she'd been tensed for a fight. "Been out into the 'Wound before?"

"Not yet."

"Figured not; your armor's too clean. That'll change quick. You sure you don't want to wait till morning? Riding through the Worldwound is nothing like picking off a few stray ghouls in the Hungry Mountains. And it's busiest at night."

"You just said morning might be too late. I'm ready." Keren looked at Zae, brown eyes aglow. "What do you think: weal or woe, when we find him?"

The guard lowered his visor. "Naught out there but woe. You'll see that for yourself soon enough."

Coming Next Week: Meetings and endings in the final chapter of Gabrielle Harbowy's "Inheritance"!

Gabrielle Harbowy is an editor for such SF publishers as Pyr, Seven Realms Publishing, and Dragon Moon Press, as well as co-editor of the When the Hero Comes Home anthology series with Ed Greenwood. Her short fiction has been a finalist for the Parsec award, and has appeared in such anthologies as The Beast Within 2, Metastasis, Cthulhurotica, and more. For more information, visit gabrielle-edits.com.

Illustration by Kelly Perry

Pathfinder Comic #10 Preview

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

When the Pathfinder adventurers are hired to scare away bandits who've taken over the abandoned outpost prison called Raven's Watch, they get a lot more than they bargained for! Pathfinder #10, the newest issue in the hit Pathfinder Comics series, hits stores on Wednesday. Here's a sneak preview of the adventure awaiting our heroes!

Subscribers to Pathfinder Comics through paizo.com receive a 20% discount off the cover price, 15% off back and special issues, a special subscriber tag for the paizo.com messageboards, and a limited-edition collectible paizo.com exclusive cover for each issue.

You can also find digital issues of Pathfinder and Pathfinder: Goblins on Comixology.

Jenny Bendel
Marketing Director

Bestiary 4 Table of Contents

Monday, October 21, 2013

Eager to snag your copy of Bestiary 4? Here’s the complete run down of all the monsters you’ll be missing if you don’t.

Spoiler:

Abaia	7
Agyra (kaiju)	166–167
Almiraj	8
Alpluachra	9
Ankou	10
Aoandon	11
Apocalypse locust	12
Archaeopteryx (familiar)	96
Argus	13
Astral leviathan	14
Bakekujira	15
Barometz	16
Beheaded	17
Bezravnis (kaiju)	168–169
Bhole	18
Blood golem	130
Blood hag	19
Bodythief	20–21
Boilborn	22
Bokrug (Great Old One)	136–137
Brethedan	23
Broken soul	24–25
Buggane	26
Bull shark	241
Catrina (psychopomp)	218
Cephalophore	27
Cernunnos (empyreal lord)	88–89
Chaneque	28
Changeling	29
Cliff giant	126
Clockwork dragon	30–31
Clockwork mage	32
Clockwork steed	33
Colour out of space	38–39
Comozant wyrd	40
Contemplative	41
Coral golem	131
Cthulhu (Great Old One)	138–139
Dagon (demon lord)	46–47
Dark caller	42
Dark dancer	43
Death dog	44
Devilbound creature	56–57
Dimorphodon (dinosaur)	58
Diplodocus (dinosaur)	58
Dire weasel	275
Divine guardian	60–61
Dodo (familiar)	96
Dorvae	62
Dossenus	63
Drakainia	76–77
Drowning devil	52
Ectoplasmic creature	82–83
Einherji	84
Elder thing	85
Elohim	86
Emperor walrus	271
Erlking	94
Executioner’s hood (lurking ray)	186
Fachen	95
Festering spirit	98
Flesh colossus	35
Fleshdreg	100
Flying polyp	106–107
Fomorian titan	261
Formian myrmarch	109
Formian queen	110
Formian taskmaster	111
Formian warrior	112
Formian worker	113
Fossegrim	114
Freezing flow	115
Fungal creature	116–117
Gaki	118
Gallowdead	119
Galvo	120
Gashadokuro	121
Gathlain	122
Gearghost	123
Geist	124
Gholdako	125
Ghonhatine (fleshwarp)	102
Giant emperor scorpion	232
Giant flea	99
Giant locust	183
Giant seahorse	234
Giant tortoise	263
Giant water strider	273
Giant weasel	275
Giraffe (herd animal)	150
Goliath spider	252
Graeae	134
Great white shark	241
Greensting scorpion	232
Grendel	145
Grimple (gremlin)	142
Grothlut (fleshwarp)	103
Guardian dragon	146–147
Halsora (fleshwarp)	104
Hamadryad	148
Haniver (gremlin)	143
Harionago	149
Hastur (Great Old One)	140–141
Host devil	53
Huldra	151
Hungry flesh	152
Hyakume	153
Hypnalis	154
Ijiraq	155
Immense tortoise	263
Immortal ichor	156
Incutilis	157
Irminsul	158
Irnakurse (fleshwarp)	105
Iron colossus	36
Isitoq	159
Jack-o’-lantern	160
Jinmenju	161
Juggernaut	162–163
Julunggali	164
Junk golem	132
Juvenile seps	237
Kapre	172
Karkinoi	173
Kasatha	174
Killer seahorse	234
Kitsune	175
Korada (empyreal lord)	90–91
Kostchtchie (demon lord)	48–49
Lampad	178
Lava drake	78
Leaf ray	179
Leanen sidhe	180
Living topiary	181
Living wall	182
Locust swarm	183
Lorelei	184
Lunar dragon	66–67
Lunarma	185
Lurker above (lurking ray)	187
Maenad	191
Mammoth flea	99
Manitou	192
Mi-go	193
Mindslaver mold	194
Mist drake	79
Mogaru (kaiju)	170–171
Monaciello (gremlin)	144
Morrigna (psychopomp)	219
Mudlord	195
Mummified creature	196–197
Myrmecoleon	198
Nagaji	199
Necrocraft	200–201
Nemisis devil	54–55
Nependis	202
Nightgaunt	203
Nightmare creature	204–205
Ningyo	206
Nosferatu (vampire)	268–269
Nosoi (psychopomp)	220
Nycar	207
Nymph water strider	273
Ocean giant	127
Oceanid	208
Oma	209
Ostiarius (kyton)	176
Owb	210
Pard	211
Pazuzu (demon lord)	50–51
Peluda	212
Phantom armor	213
Pickled punk	214
Pipefox	215
Platypus (familiar)	96
Pooka	216
Qallupilluk	224
Rat king	225
Ratling	226
River giant	128
Rokurokubi	227
Rukh	228
Sacristan (kyton)	177
Saguaroi	229
Samsaran	230
Sayona	231
Scarlet spider	252
Sea cat	233
Seaweed siren	235
Selkie	236
Seps	237
Shadow creature	238–239
Shadow drake	80
Shard slag	240
Shobhad	242
Shredskin	243
Shriezyx	244
Shulsaga	245
Skinstitch	246
Slag giant	129
Sloth (familiar)	97
Snallygaster	247
Solar dragon	68–69
Soulbound mannequin	248
Soulbound shell	249
Soulsilver	250
Spawn of Yog-Sothoth	251
Spire drake	81
Spring-Heeled Jack	253
Stag (herd animal)	150
Star-spawn of Cthulhu	254–255
Stone colossus	37
Styracosaurus (dinosaur)	59
Svartalfar	256
Swan maiden	257
Taniniver	258
Tiberolith	259
Tikbalang	260
Time dragon	70–71
Tooth fairy	262
Trapper (lurking ray)	187
Trox	264
Trumpeter swan	257
Tuatara (familiar)	97
Tunche	265
Tyrant jelly	266
Udaeus	267
Vanth (psychopomp)	221
Velociraptor (dinosaur)	59
Vildeis (empyreal lord)	92–93
Void dragon	72–73
Vortex dragon	74–75
Vouivre	270
Walrus	271
Warsworn	272
Wax golem	133
Wayang	274
Weedwhip	276
Werebat (lycanthrope)	188
Werecrocodile (lycanthrope)	189
Wereshark (lycanthrope)	190
Wickerman	277
Wikkawak	278
Winter hag	279
Wyrwood	280
Wyvaran	281
Xanthos	282
Xenopterid	283
Yamaraj (psychopomp)	222–223
Yaoguai	284
Ypotryll	285
Zombie lord	286
Zomok	287

Not seeing your favorite monster on this list? Well let us know on the Bestiary 5 Wish List thread. Though it might never happen again, if we decide to do another massive book of beasts that’s the first place we’ll check.

Bestiary 4 is available October 30th, so be sure to check out our newest collection of creatures right here!

F. Wesley Schneider
Editor-in-Chief

Bestiary 4 Preview #4

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Bestiary 4 will be hitting store shelves in the next week, ready to transform your game by adding a new host of deadly foes, cunning beasts, and cruel villains. For the past four weeks we have been examining some of the more interesting creatures in this book, from the adorable pipefox to the arm-wrenching Grendel. As our final look into this book, I thought I would take a moment to show off one of the truly titanic creatures you will find inside Bestiary 4. We wanted to include mythic creatures of different types in the book, but when it came to constructs, we had a real challenge coming up with a concept that was cool enough to be mythic. Enter the colossus, a construct so large, that it could change shape into another gigantic thing entirely. In this case, the stone colossus can turn into a fully functional castle!

COLOSSUS, STONE CR 19/ MR 7

Illustration by Damien Mammoliti

XP 204,800
N Colossal construct (colossus, mythic)
Init +11^M; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +11
Aura selective antimagic aura (30 ft.)

DEFENSE

AC 31, touch 2, flat-footed 31 (+29 natural, –8 size)
hp 265 (21d10+150)
Fort +7, Ref +7, Will +7
DR 10/epic; Immune construct traits

OFFENSE

Speed 40 ft.
Melee 2 slams +32 (3d10+19/19–20) or
 stomp +32 (6d10+28 plus pinning stomp)
Ranged light ballista +13 (3d8/×3)
Space 30 ft.; Reach 30 ft.
Special Attacks mythic power (7/day, surge +1d10), mythic quickening, pinning stomp
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 15th; concentration +16)
 3/day—wall of stone (DC 16)
 1/day—repulsion (DC 17)

STATISTICS

Str 48, Dex 11, Con —, Int 5, Wis 10, Cha 7
Base Atk +21; CMB +48 (+53 sunder); CMD 60 (65 vs. sunder)
Feats Cleave, Deadly Aim^M, Great Cleave, Improved Critical (slam), Improved Initiative^M, Improved Sunder^M, Improved Vital Strike, Point-Blank Shot^M, Power Attack, Precise Shot, Vital Strike
Skills Intimidate +11, Perception +11
Languages Common
SQ alternate form, movable keep, mythic creation, mythic resilience, self repair, siege tower

ECOLOGY

Environment any land
Organization solitary or mobile fortification (1 plus 6–12 Medium humanoid archers)
Treasure none

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Alternate Form (Ex) A stone colossus can take the form of a small keep as a full-round action. Its DR increases to 20/epic, and it gains fast healing 10. While in this form, the colossus cannot make melee attacks.

Movable Keep (Ex) In either form, a stone colossus holds up to 12 Medium creatures. Those on its ramparts gain cover. Any inside when it’s destroyed take 3d10+20 points of damage.

Selective Antimagic Aura (Su) Spells with the earth or force descriptor or that transmute or manipulate earth or stone are unaffected by this field.

Self Repair (Ex) A stone colossus can expend one use of mythic power as a swift action to gain fast healing 20 for 5 rounds.

Siege Tower (Ex) A stone colossus’s ballistae don’t provoke attacks of opportunity, and they reload themselves at the start of the colossus’s turn.

I am just giggling over the concept of a construct that can fire ballistae at you, or a keep that suddenly turns into a towering war machine. There has got to be an awesome adventure idea in there somewhere. Well, that about wraps up our look into Bestiary 4. We hope that you will give this monstrous tome a home at your game table.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer

Author Q&A with Howard Andrew Jones

Saturday, October 19, 2013

With our latest Pathfinder Tales novel, Stalking the Beast, about to hit physical and virtual store shelves, we got in touch with author Howard Andrew Jones for a peek inside his technique...

In your own words, what's Stalking the Beast about?

Elyana and Drelm lead a team of professional hunters and woodsmen after a strange monster that’s haunting remote settlements of the River Kingdoms. Before long they realize there may be sinister forces behind the monster’s seemingly random attacks, and not everyone within their group may be who they claim...

Without spoilers, what was your favorite aspect of this novel? What was the most fun part to write?

There are a couple of key action scenes that really please me, and I am proud of the various twists and turns. I think the moment I grew secure with the book was when I introduced the bounty hunter Lisette in chapter three while she was taking down one of her targets. I knew then that I was on to something that would work. I was pleased with the way the whole book turned out in the end, even though that end took a turn the outline hadn’t predicted...

Who's your favorite character and why?

That’s like asking me to choose a favorite child! That said, of the three characters in the book, this time I enjoyed writing the newest of them, Lisette, just a little bit more than writing Elyana and Drelm. Perhaps that’s because she was new to me, or perhaps it was because of her character arc, but her chapters more or less wrote themselves.

We haven't seen Elyana and Drelm since Plague of Shadows—how have the characters changed since then, both in-world and in how you approached writing them?

I know Elyana well enough that slipping into her POV is pretty simple for me. She hasn't changed much in a long while, having settled into her personality some decades ago. Drelm, on the other hand, is more complex, even though he's not as sophisticated as his elven friend, because he's still finding his place in the world. He's still growing and changing.

In the years since we last saw them they have come to depend upon one almost without question, so there are very few of those “what are you doing” moments between them anymore.

One of the point-of-view characters in this book—Lisette—is a gunslinger. What made you decide to include a gunslinger in such a prominent role?

I’d like to say it was a complex choice borne of careful consideration, but the truth is she walked into my subconscious with her personality and gear and her backstory. She virtually insisted upon being in the narrative... so there she is!

What drew you to this particular region of Golarion as the setting for a novel?

I wanted a wilder portion of the world, but I wanted one that wasn’t too far from where Drelm and Elyana had last adventured. The River Kingdoms proved to be exactly what I needed. I loved the idea of a region that wasn’t thoroughly explored or detailed so that I could plop a little settlement into the midst of it and do what I wanted with the place. And I have to admit I was drawn to the evocative setting that its authors had created – I could practically smell the trees and the mist off the river.

What's your favorite part of Golarion that you haven't written about yet?

Sargava. I can’t emphasize that enough. I can barely wait to write some stories set down south in Sargava. I can’t believe there’s been so little written about it already. It’s just rife with possibilities! I think some Pathfinder writers are drawn to populous places, but I prefer writing in less detailed areas so that I have a lot more freedom to make things up. And after a visit to the Hawaiian islands a few years ago I’ve been dying to try my hand at some exciting tropical stories. I’ve been wondering if Paizo would sponsor a trip back to the isles for me. You know, for research purposes.

How did you first get into writing?

I’ve always wanted to tell stories. When I was a little kid I used to draw pictures and my mom kindly wrote down what was happening underneath them (I couldn’t write yet). She once told me she knew I’d end up being an author because the details about the picture were a lot more involved than the pictures themselves... but she might just have been kind, because I was a bad artist. (My son’s tremendous artistic talent comes from my wife, not me.)

Once I started telling stories, I never stopped. Come high school I was writing what’s now called fan fic set in the original Star Trek universe, but with my own characters. I was big into both science fiction and fantasy and I just kept writing, even as the rejection letters flowed in. Gradually the ratio between acceptance and rejections flipped, and then I landed a book deal for some historical fantasy novels through St. Martin’s, which opened the door for writing some Paizo Pathfinder stories. I’ve been here ever since.

Any advice for aspiring writers?

If you’re serious about writing, keep at it. Be open to criticism yet know when to stick to your guns, because not every critique is right. Know what every character wants in the scene before you sit down to write it. Writing only happens if you make it happen. Taking the time for a single page a day equals a novel by year’s end.

What's an interesting bit of trivia that our readers might not know about you?

I actually own horses, which plays into my fiction, and I have a black belt in Shotokan Karate, which almost never does, except that I think knowing how to spar informs the writing of my combat scenes.

Last but not least: if you had only 30 seconds to convince someone to read this particular novel, what would your pitch be?

Elevator Pitch: The 13th Warrior crossed with Aliens! Okay, sort of, but with a wily elven ranger and a valiant half-orc warrior as the leads, joined by a dangerous gunslinger/bounty hunter. You want driving action, compelling characters, life and death choices? Sword-slinging, intrigue, and surprises? Elyana and Drelm will lead you there. If you enjoyed the first novel, everything that you liked is ratcheted up a couple of notches.

Check out Stalking the Beast, available October 30th in paperback or ePub format!

James Sutter
Senior Editor/Fiction Editor

Pathfinder Battles Preview: Power Preview

Friday, October 18, 2013

This week sees the official release of the Legends of Golarion set of Pathfinder Battles prepainted plastic figures, and I couldn't be more excited. This set is extra special to me, because unlike previous sets, it takes its inspiration not from one of our Pathfinder Adventure Path campaigns, but instead from the whole breadth of all Pathfinder releases to date. This set, more than any of its predecessors, includes lots of original Pathfinder creatures like the Sandpoint Devil, Seugathi, and Marsh Giant.

Due to an ill-timed vacation on my selfish behalf, the world was left without a Pathfinder Battles preview last week, and I felt the reverberations and gnashing of teeth all the way across the country on the floor of New York Comic Con. So as penance for my breach of etiquette, I feel the only remedy is to preview ALL FIFTEEN remaining figures from Legends of Golarion, from the lowest mooks to the mightiest demons!

We have a ton to cover today, so let's get started!

Up first we have the Tooth Gang Knifer, a masked street thug from the cover of the Guide to Absalom sourcebook on the city at the center of the Pathfinder Campaign Setting. I've long wanted to add some thugs to the Pathfinder Battles line, and this guy fit the bill perfectly. He's got a simple, dark paint scheme fitting with his common rarity, but also fitting with the fact that the only money he has to spend on clothes he intends to steal from the purses of dead player characters. The Tooth Gang Knifer is a Medium common figure, and he is not alone…

I like this guy even better. Here we have the Tooth Gang Brute, positioned mid-scream with a big old club he plans to use to see what the inside of someone's head looks like. He is garbed similarly to his companion in the Tooth Gang, and both wear a tooth on a necklace, identifying their allegiance. The Tooth Gang Brute is a Medium, common figure.

Next up we have the Akata, inspired by the classic Second Darkness Adventure Path adventure "Children of the Void,"wherein threats from outer space make themselves known on the world of Golarion. Akatas live on dying planets, asteroids, and even comets, terrorizing the galaxy as only blue space lions with two tails can. (They also dwell, of course, in Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 2!)

And while Legends of Golarion gives us the opportunity to focus on purely Golarion creatures like the Akata and certain NPCs, it's also a chance for us to fill out the ranks of common creatures and adversaries, and it's difficult to find creatures more common or more adversarial than orcs! Here we have a great Orc Archer. The detail on the sculpt is really fantastic for a figure at the common rarity, and you can combine your Orc Archers with other orcs in this set and those in Heroes & Monsters to build a huge orc warband! The Orc Archer is a Medium, common figure.

That orc warband is going to need a lot of rank and file troopers. Might I suggest the Orc Soldier? This handsome devil comes complete with his own sword and armor. Just provide the player characters and let him do his dirty work. The Orc Soldier is a Medium, common figure.

Any good orc warband needs to have a lot of heart, and the Orc Mystic is only happy to provide, since he happens to be holding one in his bloody left hand! Looking at this figure I am again amazed at the sculpt quality WizKids is able to work into their common figures. The Mystic's screaming face and double-skull staff would look cool on a rare figure. The Orc Mystic is a Medium, common figure.

Back to Golarion, for a bit. Here we have the Eagle Knight, brave warrior of the goodly kingdom of Andoran, on the Inner Sea. Andoran is one of the most popular factions in the 55,000-player Pathfinder Society Organized Play campaign, where Eagle Knights are a very important player organization. They've also played a role in the campaign setting since the very beginning. This female Eagle Knight wields a cool greatsword and wears the traditional colors of her order. The Eagle Knight is a Medium, uncommon figure.

This Eagle Knight Officer makes the perfect companion for the Eagle Knight. He has a great mid-swing pose and a cool ponytail. The Eagle Knight Officer is a Medium, uncommon figure.

This scummy aquatic humanoid comes from the most prolific and successful of the countless races created by ancient aberrations who once ruled the world. The Ulat-Kini makes a great stand-in for any sort of subterranean or aquatic lurker. The figure has surprising paint gradients and details for its rarity, and is one of my favorite "rank and file" figures in the set. The Ulat-Kini is an uncommon, Medium figure.

This Snow Leopard is a perfect match for Droogami, the animal companion of the iconic druid Lini (who also appears in this set). It also makes a good generic great cat figure, with or without its gnomish partner. The Snow Leopard is a Medium, uncommon figure.

Golarion has many heroes, but few have such a strong claim to that title as the Knights of Ozem, ancient protectors of Lastwall and outright enemies of evil in all its forms. This female Knight of Ozem wears beautiful golden full plate and rushes toward enemies with a longsword held aloft and a mighty shield ready to defend her from certain doom. With a heroic pose and a paint scheme that screams "I'm a paladin," this figure makes a great proxy for a heroic player character, as well. The Knight of Ozem is a Medium, uncommon figure.

The imposing Calikang comes straight from the pages of the Inner Sea World Guide. Legend holds that, an untold number of eons ago, one of the thousand deities of distant Vudra failed at a task, and the first calikangs were born from that god's severed fingers. They have a powerful sense of guilt and shame of their divine source's ancient failings, and they believe that if enough calikangs protect worldly holdings from robberies or destruction, this inherited sin will someday be wiped clean. That makes them awesome treasure guardians, and the fact that they're CR 12 makes them awesome enemies for your greedy PCs. The Calikang is a Large, uncommon figure.

Here we have the croaking Toad Demon, a hideous creature that dwells in vast Abyssal swamps and waterways. Toad Demons prefer torture, slumber, and other lazy activities, but man, they pack a mean punch in a fight. The Toad Demon is a Large, uncommon figure. You'll want to stock up on a few of them before playing the Wrath of the Righteous Adventure Path, I imagine.

Speaking of minis that will be helpful with the Wrath of the Righteous Adventure Path, this unusually colored Serpent Demon has six swords of different skymetal to kill you six different ways. She looks amazingly cool, and at the uncommon rarity she'll be a great encounter builder with other figures from the upcoming Wrath of the Righteous Pathfinder Battles set. The Serpent Demon is a Large figure.

This is probably my favorite figure in the entire set. Here we have the mature form of the Death Demon, creatively named the Greater Death Demon (you'll have to wait one set to get the junior version). I like pretty much everything about this figure, from the cool cross-armed forward-lunging pose to the blackfire weapons to the gradient paint job on its fleshy wings. Whatever you do, don't let it eat you! The Greater Death Demon is a (sweet-looking) Large, uncommon(!) figure.

The last figure we'll preview today is the Fire Demon, an amazing adversary that dwells on the top of the normal demonic food chain. He's got a cool flaming whip sculpted in clear plastic and a neat face that took us something like 9 tries to get right. I'm very happy with this figure, and hope you will be too! The Fire Demon is a Large, rare figure.

And THAT'S IT for the Legends of Golarion set. We've got a ton of figures from upcoming sets to preview in future weeks, so be sure to come back next Friday for absolutely 100% new figures no one outside the office or the factory has ever seen before.

Until then, please consider setting up an Ongoing Pathfinder Battles Case Subscription. This option is the best way to make sure you don't miss a single figure, and comes with great discounts on Encounter Packs and single figure purchases!

Or, check out the new Legends of Golarion Singles we've just put on sale and pick your figures one at a time.

And after revealing fifteen figures, I'm exhausted and need another vacation! See you next week!

Erik Mona
Publisher

Something Wicked Arrives Soon!

Thursday, October 17, 2013

With the release of The Skinsaw Murders fast approaching, Paizo has once again let me peel back the curtain a little to show off the new Adventure Deck. Since last time, we all have a great deal more experience with the game, and some of you have even started to speculate on what you might see in the second Adventure.

Those of you familiar with the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path—or who've pored over the box for The Skinsaw Murders—know that there's going to be some creepy undead action ahead, perfect for an October release. Keeping with that theme, we'll jump right in with a little Undead Uprising. During this scenario, the restless dead keep rising all around Sandpoint until the adventurers manage to defeat a most unfriendly chap that we'll meet in a moment.

Our goal here is to create an ever-rising wave of undead all around town, combined with a sense of urgency without overwhelming the party. Adding henchmen to locations helps keep the undead presence high while making it more likely that the adventurers will close the locations before time runs out.

While the adventurers are probably in good shape to deal with a simple farmer or shopkeeper risen as a zombie, there are more menacing threats lurking in the dark places of Sandpoint, including these vile fellows:

Hiding ghouls inside the numerous scarecrows that dot the farms and fields outside of Sandpoint? Genius! Experienced Pathfinder players already know what a tremendous pain ghouls can be, and we think we've lived up to that promise here. In addition to the typical undead immunity to mental and poison effects, losing a fight with a ghoul scarecrow doesn't just hurt you; it also leaves you paralyzed for a short time. In PACG terms, in addition to taking damage from the Ghoul, you'll lose the ability to explore any further that turn.

What might be causing these undead uprisings, anyway? By the end of The Skinsaw Murders, you'll no doubt figure that out, but along the way, you might run into a particularly gruesome example of evil afoot, a Skinsaw Ritual.

During these macabre events, several cultists attempt to carve and mutilate the heroes as part of a grisly offering that hurts everyone present, including the cultists. If you've encountered cultists before, you already know how they advance the villain's plot—unless you can stop them.

Not all the news is bad, of course. Now that the adventurers have proved themselves heroes, the people of Sandpoint lend a hand, as best they can. For example, the noted sage Brodert Quink can be very useful, especially if called upon at just the right time.

Some characters will be able to call upon Brodert's sagacity more than once, but any of the adventurers can put the sage to good use. Changing the order of cards in a location deck is a very powerful ability, and Brodert can give you a peek at part of location deck that's otherwise very hard to see.

With the help of the estimable sage, you might find one of the new items, spells, blessings, armor, allies, or weapons added for the adventure. One especially thematic example is the Scythe +1:

In trained hands, this weapon can make quick work of any Ghosts or Spectres that might have plagued you in Burnt Offerings. As a "high crit" weapon, the scythe can land some devastating blows, adding as much as 16 to a combat check!

Speaking of devastating, let's take a peek at the troublemaker behind the uprising, and see what new tricks our villains have learned. Unsurprisingly, there's a necromancer behind it all (at least for now), and Caizarlu Zerren doesn't disappoint.

In addition to being constantly surrounded by a cadre of mindless undead, Zerren has picked up one of the favored tricks of the heroes: a mirror image effect! To top it off, the foul necromancer deals poison damage, neatly bypassing many forms of protection. All in all, we're hoping that Caizarlu is someone that you'll love to hate, and he's just the first of many. You'll also encounter ghosts, ghouls, ghasts, haunts, strange abominations, and more ghouls (more ghouls!) as you unravel the riddle of The Skinsaw Murders.

Thanks for playing!

Chad Brown
Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Developer

Inheritance

by Gabrielle Harbowy

Chapter Two: Adventure

Zae took care of cleaning Keren's home and procuring supplies for the journey, while Keren trained Appleslayer to be a riding hound. In just a few busy days, bags were packed, and homes and infirmary were closed up. Keren secured permission to ride along with a party of crusaders patrolling the Virlych border. Zae had wanted to strike out on their own and "rough it" through the Hungry Mountains, just the two of them, but Keren had been resolutely against that plan. It was just as exciting, Zae conceded, to be riding with a squadron of five knights. It certainly made her sit up straighter in her borrowed white-and-gold military saddle.

In short order, it became obvious that Appleslayer had been trained to ride with cavalry and showed no fear of horses. A few days of Keren's expert care groomed the big white dog into a pleasant and eager mount. Apple had obeyed her, but his devotion was to the little gnome who had healed him. They rode alongside Keren and her white war steed, Eridem, like a study in forced perspective.

The pace felt easy, but productive. Every few miles, they passed guard sentries in the white-and-gold armor of Ozem or the more mundane livery of the regular Lastwall military. That meant they were still skirting Virlych, where the Whispering Tyrant lay. Each time, the knights nodded to the sentries and exchanged some meaningless pleasantry, and each time the soldiers nodded back.

Appleslayer is a fine steed.

For a time, they kept the Path River between themselves and Virlych. Adian, the knight in the lead, called a halt to water the horses just as it turned west and dwindled to modest tributary, easily crossed on horseback—or dogback.

"So... where are we actually headed?" Zae was glad of a chance to have a rest from the saddle and stretch her legs. "You know where Ennis was going, but that was how long ago? Can you be sure he actually arrived there?"

"He sent messages to me and Father about a year ago—a sort of peace offering, which Father rejected." Keren took a breath as if was about to say more, then shook her head and lapsed into silence.

Zae clicked her bronze lip ring against her teeth. "Mm. Then you know he got to the Worldwound. That's a start."

"Maybe." Keren sounded surprisingly noncommittal.

"Are you afraid that he's dead, too?" Zae asked.

"I've heard tales of the Worldwound. Some of the strongest, bravest crusaders I've known have come back limp and skittish as week-old cats, jumping at their own shadows and dreading the things they see behind their eyelids in the dark. Am I afraid he's dead? No. It'd be a kindness to him if he is."

"Well, soon we'll have those stories," Zae said.

Keren shook her head and sighed. "Is this all so exciting to you? As much as you yearn for the new, I would think you'd have seen the world twice over by now."

Zae narrowed her eyes, peering past the company of knights and off toward Gallowspire. She wondered what the ruins looked like, and how sturdy the locks on the Tyrant's prison really were. "Oh, I certainly hope I never get to the point where I've seen the world twice over. Then there'd be nothing new to see. You know, I've never even been to the Eye of Abendego."

Keren gave her a sidewise glance. "Why would you want to go there?"

Zae shrugged. "To be honest, I'm not even sure what it is. I've just heard people say it and think it's an excellently fun word. Abendego!" Appleslayer perked his ears and barked.

"Good boy," Zae said, but then the bark turned into a whine and a low growl.

Adian and Marisol, a sorceress in white and gold leather, were already mounted again. "The horses sense it, too," Adian said quietly, and all the soldiers drew their weapons. Zae traced a finger around the tooled gear she wore at her throat.

Unfolding from the barren ground were five beige figures—skeletons, Zae realized, their bones the color of the dirt, slumbering at the base of the mountains that led to the Tyrant's tomb.

Keren swung herself up onto Eridem, but Zae remained on foot with the other knights. She drew her hammer from her belt and whispered a prayer to Brigh. Just as a collection of gears with no motor shouldn't run, a skeleton was a collection of bones with no heart or mind. If it did have a mind, Zae thought, it would have the good sense to remain a motionless pile of parts... especially in the presence of six holy crusaders.

A few dirty scraps of cloth and broken weapons were all that signified the people the skeletons might have been in life. They moved as one but with no particular group mind, only individual focus on the same goal. The knights, on the contrary, were skilled at group tactics. With just a few hand signals, they took to a practiced formation, each focusing on a specific enemy.

Zae mostly healed from her shopfront infirmary in town—healing on the front lines was an honor usually reserved for the paladins and battle clerics of Iomedae and other gods—so the knights' fluid battle tactics were a foreign and beautiful dance to her. It made her proud to see Keren a seamless cog in the crusaders' workings, singling out a skeleton with a shouted challenge and lopping half of it away with her first charge. Zae called upon Brigh's holy light, and a wave of energy blasted the skeleton, overpowering the dark force that animated it.

The gnome let out a gleeful shout, and two of the other skeletons altered their approach, turning toward the sound of her voice.

"Oops," she muttered, but Adian and the sorceress were already upon them, and both were slain before they could reach her. Zae shot Adian an apologetic look when he thundered by on his mount, preparing for another pass at one of the remaining foes, but secretly she was disappointed to have lost her chance to strike again. By the time she was in range of Keren's skeletal target, it was legless and almost sad, flailing its arms and fruitlessly clacking its jaw. She brought her holy light down upon it, just to make the noise stop.

A good thing about fighting skeletons, it turned out, was that they made for relatively bloodless battle. Apple paced around Zae, whimpering. At first she thought he had somehow been injured, but when she stopped him and ran her hands over his coat, she realized his tail was wagging expectantly.

"Okay, boy, go ahead."

He darted into the rubble that had been their attackers. The dog shifted bones with his muzzle, finally picking out a relatively whole forearm. He trotted back proudly with it and settled down at Zae's feet to gnaw.

"We're going into Witchgate Forest, but we can part ways at the tree line and you can skirt around, if you'd like," Marisol said. "Don't get too sure of yourselves, though. Only reason we took out five so fast is that we outnumbered them. It'll be a different game when it's only the two of you."

Zae and Keren exchanged a look, and Zae dipped her head in a slight, canted nod. It was Keren's quest, so the choice was hers.

Keren turned her palm up, tracing the Vigilant's shield marked there with her other hand, the way she did when she was of two minds about something. "It's important for me to get to the Worldwound, but I've sworn oaths to protect these lands. Even though I haven't been assigned with this patrol, I want to stay and honor my oath."

Zae's chest swelled with pride. She turned over her own palm, which bore a similar shield. She only had the one mark, proclaiming her an oathbound citizen of Lastwall; Keren and the others had Iomedae's symbol on their other palms, the sunburst sword signifying that they were also sworn defenders.

Witchgate Forest itself was something of a letdown. Zae saw cultists and orcs, skeletons and shambling, oozing things—all of which she and the knights duly put to rest—but no witches and no gates. When she asked if they might detour past one of the infamous gates, the request was soundly denied.

Though it was early morning, the forest was dark and foreboding, with only the occasional shaft of dusty light peering through the branches. "Hangman Trees over there," Adian said, pointing with his drawn longsword. He led the company off the well-groomed path and onto a side path that had initially looked less inviting.

"I suppose you patrol through here enough to know the landmarks," Zae said to Marisol.

"Indeed. We've tried to take the grove out, but they just grow back. Easier to avoid them, now."

"That's why no one wants to divert past a witchgate?" she surmised, and was pleased with herself when Marisol nodded.

"No sense weakening ourselves on the flora when we should be saving our resources for real threats."

It made sense. Zae was grudgingly glad to have experienced guides, even if it meant fewer chances to sightsee. She was still just a bit grumbly about not having seen a witch or a gate, and she resolved to make up for it by cantering toward the first wall she should happen to see in Canterwall.

They made camp in the forest that night, with soldiers standing guard against the shriekings and moanings. It was oddly disappointing to pass out of the forest the next day and into the relative safety of the fertile plains. They would part ways with their escort and ride north through farmland and rolling hills to the Vistear River, while the crusaders continued their patrol along the northern Virlych border.

The knights clasped hands with Keren, one by one, and then, to Zae's surprise, Adian extended his hand to her. She clasped it, shield to shield, and that seemed to please him; the others followed, exchanging handclasps and warm words of parting.

"Nice to see you getting along with my friends so well," Keren teased her as they rode away.

"I don't know... it's a big step for us," Zae said, playing along. "First we get a dog, then I meet your friends... Maybe I'll get to meet your family next?"

Keren laughed, her shoulders visibly releasing tension. "That's the plan."

Gently but more seriously, Zae asked, "So, where do we start? That's a long, creepy border up there."

Keren touched her fingers to her key medallion. "I was thinking of volunteering at the first outpost we come across once we hit the front lines, and then asking around."

Zae didn't realize her lip ring was clicking against her teeth until Keren gave her the stern "stop that" look. "I was just thinking... We've got a ride up a river between now and then, right? How long do you think that'll take?"

Keren shrugged her nearer shoulder. "I don't know. I've never done it. A couple of days? Why?"

Zae rubbed her hands together. "Give me a couple of hours to poke around for supplies in the next town, and I should have something useful for you by the time we disembark."

Keren eyed her warily. "It's not going to be something that explodes, is it?"

Zae straightened in the saddle and responded with a haughty sniff. "Presumptions! Cruel racial presumptions! When have you ever seen anything explode because of me?"

Keren tilted her head in thought. If Zae squinted, she could almost picture Eridem's rhythmic hoofbeats as the ticking of gears turning in Keren's mind.

"Dog guts all over my kitchen?" she ventured.

Zae patted Appleslayer's neck. "Don't listen to her. Your guts never left your body."

"Well, there was that one time when you tried to cook me dinner..."

Zae huffed, trying to hide her grin by lifting her chin and looking away in high dudgeon. "Pfff. Cheater. You know very well that's not the kind of explosion I meant!"

Coming Next Week: Up a river toward demons and death in Chapter Three of Gabrielle Harbowy's "Inheritance"!

Gabrielle Harbowy is an editor for such SF publishers as Pyr, Seven Realms Publishing, and Dragon Moon Press, as well as co-editor of the When the Hero Comes Home anthology series with Ed Greenwood. Her short fiction has been a finalist for the Parsec award, and has appeared in such anthologies as The Beast Within 2, Metastasis, Cthulhurotica, and more. For more information, visit gabrielle-edits.com.

Illustration by Kelly Perry

Bestiary 4 Preview #3

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Any day now, Bestiary 4 will be arriving at game tables, ready to unleash a terrifying horde of beasts, demons, psychopomps, dragons, and mythic foes. Last week, we took a look at one of the cutest, cuddliest monsters in the book, the pipefox. But all that sweetness can lead to an upset stomach and tooth decay. Fortunately, the tooth fairy is here to help you with that, by forcefully yanking out your teeth! These obnoxious fey are sure to keep you up at night. Just don't expect them to leave a gold piece under your pillow when they're done with their grisly work.

TOOTH FAIRY CR 1/4

Illustration by Damien Mammoliti

XP 100
CE Diminutive fey (extraplanar)
Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +7

DEFENSE

AC 16, touch 16, flat-footed 14 (+2 Dex, +4 size)
hp 5 (2d6–2)
Fort –1, Ref +5, Will +5
DR 2/cold iron

OFFENSE

Speed 15 ft., fly 60 ft. (perfect)
Melee +1 pliers +8 (1d4–2/ 19–20), bite +7 (1d4–3 plus paralysis)
Space 1 ft.; Reach 0 ft. (5 ft. with pliers)
Special Attacks death throes, paralysis (1d3 rounds, DC 11), pliers, tricky thief
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 5th; concentration +7)
 At will—mage hand, open/close
 1/day—invisibility (self only), sleep (DC 13)

STATISTICS

Str 5, Dex 14, Con 9, Int 8, Wis 15, Cha 14
Base Atk +1; CMB –1 (+3 dirty trick, +7 steal); CMD 6 (8 vs. steal)
Feats Weapon Finesse, Improved Steal^B, Greater Steal^B
Skills Acrobatics +7 (+3 when jumping), Escape Artist +7, Fly +16, Perception +7, Sense Motive +7, Stealth +19; Racial Modifiers –4 Acrobatics when jumping
Languages Sylvan

ECOLOGY

Environment any urban or plains
Organization solitary, pair, or gang (3–12)
Treasure standard

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Death Throes (Su) When killed, a tooth fairy explodes into a cloud of sparkling white fairy dust that clings to creatures within 5 feet. This glittery substance has a stench so foul that it sickens any creature coated by it for 1d4 rounds (Fortitude DC 10 negates). This is a poison effect. The save DC is Constitution-based.

Pliers (Su) Each tooth fairy owns a pair of pliers it uses to torment its victims. In the hands of a tooth fairy, the pliers deal damage as a +1 dagger wielded by a Medium creature. The pliers have hardness 10 and 3 hit points. If its pliers are destroyed, a tooth fairy is stunned for 1 round. If the tooth fairy is killed, the pliers rust away into worthless splinters 1d4 rounds later. A tooth fairy can create a new pair of pliers by spending one hour crafting (no materials required), which destroys the previous pair. The pliers grant the tooth fairy the Greater Dirty Trick feat and a +4 bonus on dirty trick and steal combat maneuvers.

Tricky Thief (Su) A tooth fairy can use a dirty trick combat maneuver with its pliers to pinch an opponent’s fingers, or a steal combat maneuver to steal an opponent’s tooth. A finger pinch deals 1 point of Dexterity damage. Stealing a tooth deals 1 point of Charisma damage and 1 point of bleed damage. If the stolen tooth is reattached within 10 minutes and the character receives any amount of magical healing, the tooth reattaches, the bleed damage ends, and the Charisma damage is cured.

And here I thought the dentist was bad. At least they bother to use anesthesia. That’s all for this week. Next week, we will close out our look at Bestiary 4 with a foe that is more than meets the eye!

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer

A Year of Crunch

Thursday, October 10, 2013

It’s been over a year since we relaunched and revamped the now-monthly Player Companion back in August of 2012, and I thought it would be a great time to recap all of the exciting new things we’ve covered in this time. In addition to making animals a viable companion for every class and race and detailing lands and peoples from the top of the map all the way to the bottom, the Player Companion line has given players new and old a slew of new rules options for their characters. Here’s a breakdown of just some of the character options we’ve presented in Player Companions since we released Varisia, Birthplace of Legends all the way up to Mythic Origins.

 8 new alchemist discoveries
 7 new barbarian rage powers
 5 new bard masterpieces
 33 new class archetypes
 3 new cavalier orders
 142 new feats
 159 new magic items
 78 new mythic path abilities
 236 new pieces of equipment
 17 new ranger traps
 87 new spells
 10 new subdomains
 232 new traits
 6 new witch hexes

Special thanks to our intern Cassidy Werner for compiling this list!

The best part is, this list is truly just the tip of the iceberg in regards to what kinds of new rules we’ve been playing with in the Player Companion line. If you haven’t taken a look already and are interested in making an impact on future Player Companions, I encourage you to take part in the active product suggestion thread in the Player Companion subforum.

I’d like to end this blog post by asking you for your thoughts in the comments section below. I’m particularly interested in your responses to the following question: What is your favorite new rules option to come out of the Player Companion line in the past year? There’s clearly a lot to choose from, but I want to hear your favorite one!

Patrick Renie
Developer

Inheritance

by Gabrielle Harbowy

Chapter One: Unexpected Arrivals

Keren Rhinn, Knight of Ozem and Vigilant Defender of Lastwall, stood sputtering in the doorway, her face turning fascinating shades of crimson.

"Hello, darling!" Zae looked up from her work to greet her favorite human with a smile. "Long day?"

Keren had many talents, but the one that impressed Zae most was her unnatural sense of timing. Without fail, Keren always seemed to be able to walk in on a situation at the precise moment that would confound, annoy, or disarm her the most.

Case in point: there was a perfectly good explanation for the bloody, unconscious dog currently staining the floorboards of Keren's kitchen. If the crusader had looked beyond her initial confusion and anger, she would no doubt have seen Zae's surgical kit by her side and the needle and suturing thread in the gnome's nimble hands. But humans were quick to emote, and even quicker to jump to conclusions. It was one of the things Zae loved about them, and about this one in particular.

Since Keren seemed lost for words, Zae took it upon herself to fill in the conversational gap while she resumed her work. "He followed me home," she said. "Can I keep him?"

The hardened warrior made a strangled little sound. That particular set to her jaw meant she was reciting her oath to herself. Zae clicked her shiny bronze lip-ring quietly against her lower teeth and savored the countdown in her head. 3...2...1...

"You're lucky you're oathbound, pixie," Keren said, right on cue. The oaths sworn by all who wished to be citizens of Lastwall included a vow not to harm other oathbound residents. But Zae wasn't afraid of real violence, even though Keren was significantly larger than her own three-foot-three, and carried a sword that weighed more than Zae did. The use of the pet name told Zae that she was already forgiven, even if only on some deep subconscious level. Before Zae had taken the oaths to Vigil and Lastwall, it had been, "You're lucky you're cute."

She had it on assurance that her oath had not robbed her of cuteness, so the update to Keren's ultimatum didn't bother her in the slightest, especially when she accompanied it with some playful epithet. When Keren was truly angry, she was cold and silent, and her hand twitched for the weight of her sword hilt.

Keren fears no blade or magic, but family is a different story.

Zae thanked her by not squealing in delight at Keren's predictability. For some reason, big, tough warriors didn't like being giggled at. Even ones who thought you were cute.

Keren came to kneel by Zae's side, stroking gentle fingers through the healer's indigo curls. She observed a moment, then rose and stepped past the gnome to swing the kettle over the fire, as if resigned to the fact that dog surgery in her kitchen wasn't the strangest thing she was likely to encounter this week.

In fairness, it probably wasn't.

"Seriously." Zae knotted off the thread and snipped it carefully. "I want to keep him. He's obviously lost his person in battle, and we've got good rapport. Just look at him."

"He's unconscious," Keren pointed out.

Zae grinned. "But he wasn't unconscious when I brought him here. He was wounded and scared, and he still nuzzled my hand and followed me home. It's not like I'd have been able to carry him."

Keren poured boiled water into a bowl and brought it to Zae's side, along with some clean cloths. Zae poured in a packet of herbs, and together they washed the blood from Zae's instruments. And, when the water had cooled a bit, from the patient.

"Maybe he thought you were a snack. He's a big one."

Zae laughed. "I'm not very tasty."

Keren raised an eyebrow, glancing at her sidelong.

"All right, then: I'm not very filling. Is that more accurate?"

Under the dirt and blood, the dog's coat was a gorgeous white, and he had a cute black nose. Zae had guessed that he was a cold-weather sled dog from the shape of his ears and muzzle, his barrel chest and sturdy legs, but now she was certain of it. And a gorgeous one, at that.

"So," Keren said. "He was wounded on the front, and you brought him here because it's closer than your infirmary—or your own kitchen?"

"Am I so predictable? I'll have to try harder. Oh! And I was hoping you'd help me train him as a mount, once he's well."

"And you also promise you'll clean my floor?"

Zae grinned. She had won. "Every drop."

∗ ∗ ∗

Zae typically woke before Keren and took the small hours of the morning for her meditation and prayer. Brigh had no temples in the city of Vigil, but Zae always kept a traveling shrine with her. Polishing her treasured brass gears kept her hands busy and her mind free. She had crafted a special gear with a feminine mask engraved on its face, and she wore this on a leather string around her neck, using it to keep her morning worship on track. She ticked her thumb down the teeth one at a time as she prepared her spells for the day.

Warm breath washed across her cheek, followed by a very large, very wet nose, and something hard and wet landed in her lap. She opened her eyes into the dog's pale blue gaze. Something in there shone with intelligence, but before she had time to contemplate it, he dipped his muzzle to indicate the gift he'd just brought her.

Atop her gears and polishing cloths sat a very well-chewed apple, most of its red skin nearly gone, with a tooth pattern that suggested gnawing rather than eating.

Zae ruffled his rounded ears and scratched under his jaw with both her hands. "Good boy! Thank you!" His tail started to wag at that. She suspected the apple was thanks for healing him, and the gesture touched her. Presents stolen from your host's kitchen were still presents, after all. It was the intent that mattered.

She cleaned sweet juice from her gears and folded them back into their pouch. It wasn't just the one apple, she noticed as she rose—the entire basket of apples from the kitchen table had been systematically destroyed, all over the floor she had just cleaned to spotlessness the night before.

"You fierce apple-slayer," she praised the dog, giving his ears another rub. "You'd better help me clean this up, or Keren won't be pleased with us."

As if the improbability of the situation had summoned her, there was the crusader, rising from bed and padding barefooted toward the commotion. She halted at the door, but for once, her words were quiet and unexpected.

"When did this come?"

Zae turned to see beautifully disheveled brown hair, a jade silk robe hanging askew to frame the lime-sized metal medallion she always wore around her neck, and an ornately carved wooden box cradled in Keren's strong hands. The crusader's face was unusually ashen.

She hadn't even noticed the apples. Zae wasn't sure whether to be relieved or concerned. She supposed that rushing to clean them up would only draw attention to them, so she left the dog to finish off his prey and approached Keren instead, pulling out a chair for her.

"Oh! Right. It came yesterday, in the middle of dog surgery. A messenger brought it. I put it aside where it wouldn't get bled on, and then I must have forgotten all about it. Is it important?"

Keren sank into the chair, letting her hands ease onto the table, the box still between them. "It means my father is dead." She exhaled a slow, shuddering breath, staring at the box as if it was a nightmare made solid. "Do we have anything stronger than ale?"

Knowing Keren's high tolerance for drink, Zae took the liberty of choosing a supplement from her healer's kit instead of the pantry. Soothe syrup was a bit cloying on its own, but it added a pleasant flavor to strong tea. "Your father? You've never spoken of him." She rolled a light coating of syrup around the inside of an earthenware mug, then filled it with the tea she'd already brewed with her breakfast.

"He retired from the front, and was teaching up at the War College. I joined the Knights of Ozem in his footsteps, but Vigil is all we have in common now. We haven't spoken in a while."

Zae set the tea in front of Keren and climbed up into the chair beside her. The dog sprawled on the floor under the table, gnawing on a stray shoe and soaking up comfort from their proximity.

Keren turned the box toward Zae and cupped her hands around the tea, clinging to it and bringing the mug to her face to inhale the steam. Like Keren's medallion, the box was carved with painstakingly detailed castles and clouds and rolling waves. The seam of its lid disappeared into the carvings, and its hinges looked to be internal. On one side, two round concave impressions stared side by side like abstract eyes.

"It's beautiful," Zae said, because she felt she ought to say something. Loss didn't visit the knight's face often, and it looked interesting on her. While Zae supposed she shouldn't just watch the mesmerizing sight of Keren, half dressed and drinking her tea, she wasn't sure how to address that sentiment. Most of what she knew about human family structures had been gleaned from her patients. Which was to say, she knew that family was where you got your corpse sent when you died.

Keren tugged the medallion on its leather thong around her throat. It was etched with the same sorts of carvings, giving it an abstract quality unless one examined it closely, as Zae often had. But she had always assumed it to be a religious thing, like her own gear pendant, and never thought to ask about its purpose. "This fits in one of the locks. Ennis has the other key. If we force it, we destroy the contents."

Zae darted her hands innocently back to her lap. "Ennis?"

"My brother." Keren released the medallion and returned her attention to her tea. With half the brew gone, she already seemed to have shed her anxious edge. Now she was merely subdued. "He's up at the Worldwound. Or was. Iomedae keeps her own counsel where he's concerned—he could be demon food and fertilizer twice over by now, for all I know."

Zae sat silently for a few moments, integrating this new information into her mental portrait of Keren. "Do you know what's in the box?"

"No idea. He said it was our inheritance, but that's all he said, and that was years ago. Before Ennis left for the Worldwound and split the family apart."

Zae frowned, puzzled. "But aren't a lot of the Worldwound crusaders from here?"

Keren made a dismissive noise into her mug, then set it down, empty. She sighed. "Fine for other families, but not for mine. My father disowned Ennis—he raised us here, to fight this fight. He said our purpose was to defend Lastwall against the return of the Whispering Tyrant. Ennis said his purpose was to defend against the greatest threat, wherever it might be." She nudged the box, picked it up, and shook it gently. Nothing rattled. "I was finished with my father, for being finished with Ennis. Father put cause before kin. I say you have no cause when you forget the people you're fighting for. But there's no reasoning with my father."

Zae rested her hand on Keren's back, feeling the shift of powerful muscle and the faint shudder of emotion. "And now you have his inheritance, all the same. Do you still want it?"

Keren slumped forward, sighing, until her forehead rested on the wood with a faint thud. She lifted it an inch and thudded it down again.

Zae gently sifted her fingers through Keren's hair."We're going to the Worldwound, aren't we?"

Keren turned to look at Zae, amber eyes calm from the tea. "We?" She leaned sideways until her cheek rested on Zae's shoulder.

Zae brushed unruly brown hair aside and kissed her head. "Of course I'm coming with you. Me and Appleslayer both."

"Oh, pixie. You don't have to come."

"It'll be an adventure," Zae said. Under the table, the dog's tail wagged an eager beat against the floor.

Coming Next Week: A ride north for the Worldwound in Chapter Two of Gabrielle Harbowy's "Inheritance"!

Gabrielle Harbowy is an editor for such SF publishers as Pyr, Seven Realms Publishing, and Dragon Moon Press, as well as co-editor of the When the Hero Comes Home anthology series with Ed Greenwood. Her short fiction has been a finalist for the Parsec award, and has appeared in such anthologies as The Beast Within 2, Metastasis, Cthulhurotica, and more. For more information, visit gabrielle-edits.com.

Illustration by Kelly Perry

Bestiary 4 Preview #2

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

In just a week or two, Bestiary 4 will be sent out to subscribers and game stores around the world, packed full of deadly terrors and gruesome beasts. Each week, we are going to be taking a look at one of the horrifying monsters from this book, waiting to consume your PCs. This week, we are investigating a truly mind shattering foe! None can resist it. All will bow before it. Every character will want to cuddle with it?!?

PIPEFOX CR 2

Illustration by Brynn Metheney

XP 600
N Diminutive magical beast
Init +7; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +5

DEFENSE

AC 17, touch 17, flat-footed 13 (+3 Dex, +4 size)
hp 13 (3d10–3)
Fort +2, Ref +6, Will +1

OFFENSE

Speed 30 ft., climb 20 ft.
Melee bite +10 (1d2–5)
Space 1 ft.; Reach 0 ft.
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 3rd; concentration +5)
 Constant—comprehend languages
 3/day—augury, vanish
 1/day—detect thoughts (DC 14), divination, greater invisibility (self only)

STATISTICS

Str 1, Dex 16, Con 9, Int 14, Wis 11, Cha 14
Base Atk +3; CMB +2; CMD 8
Feats Improved Initiative, Weapon Finesse
Skills Climb +7, Knowledge (arcana) +5, Knowledge (religion) +5, Perception +5, Sense Motive +2, Stealth +19
Languages Common, Draconic; comprehend languages
SQ compression

ECOLOGY

Environment any
Organization solitary
Treasure standard

A pipefox is a foot-long, furry, magical snake with the head of a fox. Often found either climbing in trees or snaking around pipes, these curious and stealthy creatures prefer to skulk about to observe and learn. Neither malicious nor particularly beneficial, pipefoxes love to gather knowledge and sometimes disseminate what they’ve acquired to those they find worthy.

There is no way your players will be able to resist the cuteness that is the pipefox. That is all for this week, next week I think we will take a look at a creature that will be very unhappy about all this sweetness.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer

Ascendance Day

Monday, October 7, 2013

Illustration by Fabio Gorla

Here at Paizo, the end of convention season can seem like a holiday, enough so that it calls for a new holiday blog. The anniversary of Iomedae's successful venture into the Starstone Cathedral was only yesterday, and given the goddess's key role in the Mendevian Crusade that is so central both to Pathfinder Society Organized Play's Year of the Demon and the Wrath of the Righteous Adventure Path, it seems particularly appropriate to honor the Inheritor today.

Below, you will find a special Chronicle sheet that you can download and apply to a Pathfinder Society character. Iomedae's Ascendance Day is mentioned on page 249 of Pathfinder Campaign Setting: The Inner Sea World Guide as well as page 70 of Pathfinder Adventure Path #26.

To many, the Test of the Starstone represents the greatest of all challenges, yet for Iomedae it was one of three storied promotions in her rise from Aroden's herald to a goddess in her own right. On the 6th of Lamashan, the Inheritor's faithful observe the heroism of Iomedae's life before her moment of ascension and celebrate the anniversary of the apotheosis itself.

The celebration takes place in several stages. Early in the day, troupes of performers—as often passionate amateurs as professionals—stage morality plays featuring the Eleven Acts of Iomedae, the heroic near-miracles and sacrifices she made leading up to her trials in the Starstone Cathedral. Scripts vary by region, city, and even neighborhood, but despite differences in setting, performance medium, and word choice, the themes and morals are all the same.

As the day continues, the priests organize jousts and mock battles, allowing anyone to participate so long as she can demonstrate enough skill to not be a risk to herself or others. The winners of these contests then face tests of mental acuity such as solving riddles, deciphering philosophical quandaries, and answering questions of honor and justice. Those who prove themselves in both contests are awarded a white cloak—representing the Inheritor at peace—styled after Iomedae's own red garment to wear for the rest of the celebration. Feasting and singing follow the competitions, mirroring the jubilation that followed Iomedae's ascension. This is occasion for making pledges of friendship and forgiving enemies, and priests circulate about the crowd offering the Inheritor's blessing to those who do and providing a moment's counsel or mediation for those who need an extra nudge.

The celebration typically ends before midnight, and the following day the priests and previous day's champions gather up the blunted swords from the mock battles, sharpen them, and distribute them among the church's armory and those of like-minded organizations so that all may remain vigilant against evil and prepared to strike it down.

Click here to download the Ascendance Day 4713 Boon! — 135 KB (zip/PDF)
This content is no longer available.

John Compton
Developer

Want to Join the Golem?

Monday, October 7, 2013

Would you like to see behind the scenes of the RPG publishing industry? Want an inside look at how Pathfinder gets dreamed up, realized, and put in the hands of our customers? Are you an enthusiastic gamer who lives in the Seattle area?

If so, we'd like to talk to you about interning at Paizo!

We're looking for interns to work with both our editorial team and our marketing department. If your school offers college credit for interning, we're happy to work with them. Internships with Paizo are unpaid, but they do have other benefits:

• Free copies of the products we release each month you intern with us;
• Your name in the credits of our products;
• Opportunities to build professional relationships with industry insiders;
• Chances to create freelance content for Paizo publications;
• Mentorship, feedback on your work, and experience working for an industry leader; and
• A chance to hang out with and learn from the Paizo staff!

The two positions we have open are:

Editorial Intern: Build your editing skills while helping us produce a variety of Pathfinder products, from novels and modules to accessories like maps and cards. If you're a wizard with words, with an exacting eye for good grammar and style, send an email to jessica.price@paizo.com with your cover letter, resume, and a writing sample!

Marketing Intern: Help us share Pathfinder with gamers from around the world! You'll be working with our marketing director to develop new awareness campaigns, report on the success of our outreach efforts, and create our marketing materials. Send your cover letter and resume to jessica.price@paizo.com.

We look forward to working with you!

Gaming as Storytelling

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Widescreen version here.

Writing and gaming are inextricably linked for me, so I suppose it's little wonder that I ended up authoring game books. I've been playing various roleplaying games since junior high, starting with Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, and I soon saw that one of the biggest differences between a good and a passable GM is the ability to spin an exciting yarn. Gamemastering isn't just about knowing the rules—to be honest, I've always been a little loose in that regard. I think it's more important to be able to vividly describe things and to impart a sense of forward momentum—to know when to run with the die roll, and when to fudge things.

For instance, I believe that if the players come up with a clever way around a challenge, it's more rewarding to let them succeed rather than to insist they solve the challenge as scripted. If a monster still has ten hit points after the characters ran some cinematic tactic against it, I usually tell my players they've finished the thing off. It feels a lot more satisfying than forcing them to hack it a few more times.

I talk a lot about my literary influences, among them Harold Lamb, Leigh Brackett, Robert E. Howard, Fritz Leiber, and Roger Zelazny. I learned a lot about storytelling from these and other writers. But I gained a lot of practical storytelling experience from the games I've run. The villainous plots of numerous Dabir and Asim short stories, not to mention the central conceit of my novel The Desert of Souls, were adapted from adventures I created on my homebrew game world.

Oddly enough, the events from both Plague of Shadows and Stalking the Beast don't come from any games I've run—not a single scene! A lot of the material in my own campaign world is suffused with elements of gothic horror, and while there's certainly horror and suspense in the Elyana books, in neither one have I played up on the gothic (I haven't ever sent her to fog-shrouded Ustalav). Elyana herself has some of the attributes of my wife's usual characters—she's oriented to the wild and is quite intelligent—but Elyana herself is more grim and jaundiced than any player characters in my group. I think we like to play a lighter game—not a jokey one, but a game where the characters aren't weighed down by the kind of troubles we get too much of in the real world. Elyana and Drelm have some baggage.

And that, I think, is something different between storytelling with a group and storytelling in a novel. When you're gaming, it can wear a person down to play a character haunted by their past and worried about the prejudices of his or her fellow creatures—at least if you have the sort of traumatic jobs some of my players have. In fiction, though, those complexities round out protagonists and make them a lot more compelling.

Howard Andrew Jones
Pathfinder Tales Author

Pathfinder Battles Preview: Kobolds, Kobolds Everywhere

Friday, October 4, 2013

I'm visiting family in Minnesota this week, but even the ties of blood cannot stop the inexorable march of Pathfinder Battles previews! This week we continue our look at this month's Legends of Golarion set of prepainted plastic miniatures. Unlike previous sets like Rise of the Runelords, Shattered Star, or Skull & Shackles, Legends of Golarion does not focus on a specific Pathfinder Adventure Path. Rather, the set travels around the whole of Golarion to cover monsters and characters from the entire breadth of Pathfinder products.

This week, we travel back to one of the earliest adversaries ever to appear in a Pathfinder product: KOBOLDS! These little buggers appeared in the now-classic Nick Logue adventure Crown of the Kobold King, a module so early that it predates the official birth of the Pathfinder brand itself. The scheming Kobold King was one of Paizo's first archvillains, even eventually coming back from the dead to hound player characters in the free adventure Revenge of the Kobold King. Given all that, we thought he made a great candidate for inclusion in Legends of Golarion, along with several of his (un)trusty kobold servitors.

Here he is in all his scaly glory, the Kobold King Merlokrep himself! This fighter/sorcerer, the scourge of Falcon's Hollow, is one buff dude. WizKids did a great job with his physique, his cool crown, and his armor and cape. This Small, rare figure definitely commands the respect he deserves.

Here we have the Kobold Archer, a black-scaled sniper ready to put an arrow into the eye (or perhaps more likely, the kneecap) of your player characters. If you doubt his deadeye aim, do your best not to pay attention to the human skull hanging from his quiver. The Kobold Archer is a Small common figure.

Straight from the pages of the Pathfinder Bestiary comes this spear-wielding soldier. The Kobold Warrior is a Small common figure.

This green-skinned Kobold Mystic (clearly an alchemist) comes complete with a potion in both the hand AND the tail, so you know he's ready to carpet bomb any attackers. The paint job on this guy is really superlative, and I can't wait to field him against my players. "Oh nooo. I kobold. I'm soooo scar—BOOM!" The Kobold Mystic is a Small uncommon figure.

The last kobold today is the Kobold Chieftain, a shamanistic ruler that easily doubles as some kind of cleric or mystic. Watch out for his spear, his bone club, and his overall nasty disposition. The Kobold Chieftain is a Small uncommon figure.

Since the set has so many kobolds, I wanted to sneak in a Paizo-original creature that goes right along with them—the Slurk! Long ago, dwarves bred subterranean toads to create the ultimate beasts of burden, but things did not work out as intended. Slurks exude a stinky, sticky slime making them repulsive to dwarves. Since kobolds are already repulsive, they took to the creatures and use them as mounts. My favorite thing about the Slurk miniature is that the whole thing was cast in clear plastic, and you can really see the slime dripping off its skin. Ewww! The Slurk is a Medium uncommon figure.

That's it for this week! Stay tuned to this space next Friday for another Legends of Golarion preview containing never-before-seen figures from the set! See you then!

Erik Mona
Publisher

Goblins! #3 Sneaksie-Peeksies!

Thursday, October 3, 2013

The third issue of Pathfinder Goblins! is now available! This new issue features two goblin tales written by Ron Marz and Ray Fawkes. Check out the preview below!

Subscribers to Pathfinder comics through paizo.com receive a 20% discount off the cover price, 15% off back and special issues, a special subscriber tag for the paizo.com messageboards, and a limited-edition collectible paizo.com exclusive cover for each issue.

Jenny Bendel
Marketing Director

King of Chaos Sample Chapter

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

In King of Chaos, Count Varian Jeggare and his hellspawn bodyguard Radovan head north into the infamous Worldwound on a mission of vital importance to the entire Inner Sea region. Joined by the elven paladin Oparal, a mysterious Sarkorian god-caller, and a team of crusaders and mercenaries, they'll need to infiltrate the chaotic demon-lands in order to locate a legendary tome with the godlike power to close the demonic portal forever. Yet the heroes aren't the only ones pursuing the Lexicon of Paradox, and if it falls into the wrong hands, all of Golarion may pay the price...

Chapter Two: The River

Radovan

The boss peered through his spyglass. "There."

I squinted at the Ustalav side of the river. In the distance, the Hungry Mountains had just gnawed the sun to death, smearing the sky with blood. Shadows huddled on the west bank. On account of my devil blood, I see just fine in the dark. At a distance, not so much.

"Let me see."

He handed me the glass, but the barge captain snatched it away. She put it to her eye.

Zora Gorcha was a tough old bird. She looked a good ten years older than the boss, but she couldn't have been much past half his age, which was working on a hundred. Even so, more red than gray curls spilled out of her headscarf. I didn't mind that. Even the rope of garlic around her neck didn't put me off. I like garlic almost as much as redheads and older women.

Everybody on deck was wearing garlic, including Arni. The big dog hated the stinky collar, but the boss taught him to leave it alone. Arni listened to me sometimes, but he always obeyed the boss.

Even the big bay draft horses tethered beside the Red Carriage wore loops of garlic. At first they'd eaten the bulbs off each other's necks, which Zora said was good for repelling mosquitoes, but the boss disagreed. He made the crew adjust their tethers, saying too much garlic was bad for horses. Besides, bugs weren't the bloodsuckers he was worried about.

Zora peered through the brass tube of the spyglass. "Is a different man, no?"

"A different man," said the boss. "Yes."

"You have dangerous enemies, Count Jeggare."

"I did not conceal this fact from you, Captain. I trust you are not frightened."

"Not frightened," she said, looking him up and down. "Impressed."

The boss clicked his heels and made a little bow.

"Come on," I said. "Let me see."

"Wait your turn. I am boat captain. You are only...What did you say?"

"Bodyguard."

"Bodyguard," she said, all dubious-like. "I wonder."

"Come on, you've had your look."

Zora slapped the spyglass into my hand. She tilted her head back to look down her hooked nose at me.

She fancied me, all right.

It took a few seconds to find the cultist. He wore the same kind of tattered cloak and leathers, but he wasn't the tall, lean guy we'd seen the night before. This one was built like a wrestler, kind of like me. Bigger, maybe. Hard to judge without somebody standing next to him. I wanted to get my mitts on his neck and work out which one of us was stronger.

Zora gasped and stepped away.

"Radovan," said the boss. At his heel, Arni whined and put his head on his gigantic paws.

"What?"

"You ...growled."

"I didn't."

Did I?

Zora shot me the Varisian evil eye, which looks kind of like the tines, only low and backward. I got the feeling she fancied me a little less. She shouted at her crew to keep well away from the Ustalavic shore.

We'd been hugging the eastern bank ever since we got clear of Razmiran. Even so, the first night we spent alongside Ustalav, these mooks began showing up. They just stood there watching us. They hadn't tried anything.

So far.

The boss studied my face like a page in a book.

"So what if I did growl? You hate these Anaphexis jerks as much as I do. Aren't they pretty much the evil opposite of your little club?"

"The goals of the Anaphexis are indeed the antithesis of the Society's," he said. "And please, for the thousandth time, I ask you to cease referring to the Pathfinder Society as my ‘little club.'"

"Aren't you still on the outs with them? Or did that last letter change your mind?"

The boss touched his coat pocket. He had at least three different letters there, two of them from queens, all of them asking for the same favor. "I have yet to decide, but that is beside the point. The Anaphexis merely remind us of our oath."

"Your oath. I never promised those mooks nothing."

"The word of a count of Cheliax binds both him and his—"

"Don't say ‘servant.' Don't say ‘henchman.'"

"You know perfectly well I never refer to you by those terms. I was about to say ‘friend.'"

"Yeah, yeah."

"In any event, you know I made that agreement for your sake as much as my own. More so, in fact."

He had me there. One look at me, most folks realize my family tree has roots in Hell. The Anaphexis, these killers of knowledge, they knew my big secret: my family tree also has roots running under the throne of Ustalav.

A light came up where we'd seen the Anaphexis twerp. He waved a torch over his head. Like his buddies on the previous nights, he wanted to make sure we saw him.

We got the message, all right. If we broke the deal and landed on the Ustalav side, it meant trouble for my people: the wolves, the witch, and the freaks.

I felt the copper coin I wore around my neck. Scratched and half-melted, the face stamped on one side did kind of resemble me if you were looking for a family resemblance. A dozen times I almost lost the coin, but somehow it always turned up. It was damned near the only thing I still had since the last time I was in Ustalav. Well, that and the starknife.

The starknife hung from my hip. Its double-edged blades shot out at compass angles from a ring around the grip. I'd learned to throw it all right, but it never seemed like something I ought to bloody. Most of the time I kept it with my pack. Since we'd gotten close to Ustalav, I'd hung it from my waist for I don't know why.

Maybe I thought I'd see the woman who gave it to me, and she'd see that I'd hung on to it. I kissed my thumb and drew the wings of Desna on my heart.

Are you there, girl? You standing there, hidden on the black shore, waiting for me? I've lugged this promise around a thousand miles. Sometimes I think it's getting heavier, but tonight it feels—

The boss coughed.

I'd been talking out loud. That was worse than growling.

"Why, Radovan," he said. "You are a poet."

My blood turned cold. "You take that back right now."

"Whatever for? I meant it only as a compliment."

"You take it back, or I will beat your ass right here in front of the gods and everybody."

He started to laugh, but then he saw my eyes. One thing we have in common, he's only half human, too. His elf blood lets him see plenty good after dusk. What he saw in my pretty yellow eyes sobered him up.

"Very well, you are nothing like a poet. Please permit me to withdraw my careless and utterly unfounded inference to the contrary. Your untarnished reputation deserves not the least such blemish, and I implore you to forgive my hasty and misinformed—"

"All right, all right! Forget it."

He raised an eyebrow to let me know he'd humored me.

Feeling like a dope, I took another peek through the spyglass. On the shore, the cultist waved the torch overhead. In the firelight, I could make out the dried-blood color of his cloak. I saw the lumps of his black mask. The boss said Anaphexis assassins made those masks out of the flayed faces of their first five victims.

As the cultist watched us watching him, a dark shape moved in the woods behind him. Its eyes reflected the torchlight.

"Hey!"

"What is it?" The boss reached for the spyglass, but I shrugged him off, careful not to give him a spur in the heart. I wasn't really going to rough him up, poet talk or not. At least, I was pretty sure I wasn't.

Out of the shadows, a black wolf jumped the Anaphexis guy. It knocked him down and tore a hunk out of his middle. He drew a blade, but another wolf ran in to clamp its jaws around his wrist. The first wolf went for his throat as another two melted out of the woods to join the feast.

A second later, we heard the scream. Just the one, and then all we could hear was the sound of waves lapping around the barge.

"Tell me what you see," said the boss.

"Looks like our enemies ain't the only ones watching us tonight. We got some friends out there."

Three wolves tore the body to pieces while the first one stepped away. It stood up on its hind legs, shifting gradually into a familiar figure.

I knew that figure.

She picked up the guy's torch and let its light show off her body. The flame turned her skin to gold. A moment later, she brushed back her long black hair to make sure I had a good view.

It was a real good view.

"That's my girl." This time I knew I was muttering out loud.

"The witch?"

"The harrower. She's sending us a message."

"Let me see."

I shrugged him off again. "She ain't decent. I wouldn't want you to be scandalized. She's got company, though. Three of them. Can't tell which ones unless they shed their skins."

"Please tell me they didn't kill the Anaphexis agent."

"Well ..."

He sighed.

"If it makes you feel any better, it don't look like they're leaving any evidence."

"Let us pray not. Their master is not a fool, but it's possible he will attribute the loss of one agent to mishap. What is she saying?"

He must have thought she'd learned his Pathfinder hand signs or something, but her message was a lot simpler. "She misses me."

"Malena does?"

"All the girls miss me, boss. You know that."

"No doubt they, too, have been dealing with the encroachment of the horde."

That was the thing, the reason we weren't going home just yet.

The demons.

All winter, fiends kept popping up all across Elfland—which the boss insists I call Kyonin, but my way's funnier. At first we thought it was fallout from our caper in the Fierani Forest, but they weren't coming from the Witchbole. They were showing up all across the Inner Sea, and they were all coming from the one place they were supposed to be stuck: the Worldwound.

The first summons came from Telandia, Queen of Kyonin, Wearer of the Viridian Crown, High Protector something something—I forget the rest. On account of we did her a good turn, she asked us to check out why these demons were pouring out all over the world. The boss was inclined to help, seeing as she'd done him some good turns, too. Anyway, it never hurts to have the queen of the elves owe you a favor.

The elves put us on a riverboat, along with the Red Carriage and the boss's fancy new horses. They took us up the West Sellen between Razmiran and the River Kingdoms. Those guys were having their own demon troubles.

Unlike some of the river towns we'd passed, the people in a city called Tymon weren't running from the fiends. They unleashed their gladiators on them. Those demons they didn't kill they enslaved for the arena. That didn't seem like the smartest idea, but it stopped them breaking up the joint.

Tymon was also where the boss's mail caught up to him. He'd already had a few magic messages from Queen Abrogail's sorcerers back home in Cheliax, as well as from some wizard with the Decemvirate, his little club's inner circle. I half expected him to rip up their note, but the Pathfinder letter was the one that got his attention, on account of they used the magic word: "book."

While everybody around the Inner Sea wanted to know what had gone wrong at the Worldwound, the Decemvirate had an idea how to sort it out. Whoever it'd been that first opened the door to the Abyss a hundred years ago did their homework first. That included something called the Lexicon of Paradox.

Radovan has no problem putting undead back in the ground.

The boss knew the title. It was some kind of famous evil book, like the Lacuna Codex we'd found and lost and found and lost again. Once the boss knew the Pathfinders were interested, he wanted to be the one who found it. Whether he planned to deliver it to Elfland, Cheliax, or the Pathfinders' headquarters in Absalom was anybody's guess. I had a feeling what he really wanted was to put it in his own library back at Greensteeples. That didn't seem too smart of an idea, either, but he's the boss.

The elves left us in Tymon, where we hired Zora Gorcha. Her crew included men from both Ustalav and the River Kingdoms—but no Razmirans, those lunatics who called their king a god.

I liked having the Ustalavs on the boat. Even though I was born and bred Chelish, the human part of my blood was all Ustalavic, far as I knew. It was about time I brushed up my Varisian, too. I'd been forgetting all the best curses and getting bored of the ones I remembered.

"Captain!"

One of the sailors pointed up at the southern sky. Zora yelled at her sailors to finish setting torches along the gunwales. I gave the boss the spyglass before he could ask for it. "Is it him?"

The boss fiddled with the spyglass until he got it in focus. His hand dropped to the hilt of the Shadowless Sword. A princess from the other side of the world gave that to him. No lie.

He drew it an inch out of the scabbard, letting its magic pierce any illusions. When he stood up a little straighter, I knew the answer before he said the name: "Kasiya."

"That guy don't know when to quit."

The boss snapped the spyglass shut and put it in the pocket of his long coat. Like my new leathers, it was elf-made but in the Chelish style.

The horses snapped and stirred. During the river voyage, they'd kept quiet as long as I kept my distance. With Kasiya on his way, they sensed something wickeder than me.

From the sky came the sound of barking dogs. Arni grumbled to hear it. The ruff of his neck went up.

Zora ordered her men to double-double-up. A pikeman joined each of the sailors poling the boat upriver. A third man hustled over to each pair with a covered fire pot. A fourth lowered buckets into the river and drew them back onto deck.

The little dot in the sky became a blob. I could start making out details.

A pack of long-legged dogs flew through the sky. They pulled a chariot driven by Prince Kasiya, the Osirian vampire.

I'd seen the gold-masked creep a couple times since Kyonin, and the boss knew him from way back. Kasiya's cloak floated up behind him. He shook a javelin that crackled with red lightning.

Something hung off the sides of his chariot. Whatever it was was heavy, because each time he shifted his weight the whole thing tilted one way or the other.

As they got closer, I saw the four other guys hanging off the sides. It was hard to make out details, but there was no mistaking their pale skin, clawed fingers, and red eyes.

Kasiya had been busy making little vampires.

I pointed. "Boss—"

"I saw them." He handed me his loop of garlic and drew the Shadowless Sword.

"You sure about this?"

"Let Arnisant defend the horses," he said. He sent the wolfhound toward the Red Carriage while he moved toward the side of the barge nearest the chariot. "You support the crew. Drive any boarders toward me."

"Got it." He shot me a look. I must have had a tone. "I said I got it. It's just I'm used to being the mayhem."

The boss smiled at that. We'd been a couple years in the field, and he was becoming more and more a regular guy. Or maybe he'd always been one, and it was just showing more since we'd been away from Egorian and all his fancy peers.

One of the passengers dropped from the chariot. Kasiya's vampire minion howled as he saw he was going to miss the barge by thirty yards. He plunged into the river. A moment later, he came up screaming, flesh sloughing off his arm. He went down again, water boiling where he'd been.

"Idiot," the boss spat. "Even his spawn are susceptible to running water." Then he looked at me and added, "But Kasiya is no less dangerous for his stupidity. Do not allow any of them to touch you."

"Check." I pulled the big knife from the spine of my new jacket.

He shook his head at the blade. "I wish you would learn to use a sword or a spear—anything with reach."

I shrugged. "What can I say? Old dog."

"Try the scrolls."

"Boss, you know I can't—"

"Just try one before they close with us."

I sighed. No matter how often I tried using the flippy scrolls, they never worked for me—except for the one time. But that was before I knew they weren't supposed to work for me.

That was the problem, the boss said. It worked when I didn't know better, so I must have had a knack. The problem was that the more I thought I couldn't use the riffle scrolls, the less chance I could make them work.

That's what you call a paradox.

Before I could dig a scroll out of my jacket, I saw a flicker of light above us. "Hey, look out!"

A tiny red flame shot down from Kasiya's javelin. It got bigger as it got closer.

The boss plucked a riffle scroll from the bandolier beneath his coat. It was a stack of paper strips the size of my thumb, one end shut with a brass brad. The boss pressed his thumb against the other end, pulling back the edges to let the pages snap free one after the next. Each page glimmered for an instant, the glow of one blending into the next to form fragments of arcane symbols. Riffled like that, the pages cast a spell.

The boss's magic shot up at Kasiya's fireball, barely visible even to my devil eyes. When the spells met, the fireball flickered and vanished with a whoosh.

The rest of Kasiya's vampire slaves flew down at us. Not "flew" flew. More like "fell screaming" flew.

"Brace yourself, boys!" I said it again in Varisian, even though all the Ustalavs spoke Taldane better than I spoke their language. Speaking Varisian made me feel more like a vampire-slayer.

One of the vamps hit the deck, rolling until its claws clung to the planks. It crouched for a second, hissing. Its eyes fixed on one of the pikemen, a fat, bearded Ustalav. The man's jowls went slack. He pulled the ring of garlic off his neck and threw it over the side before walking toward the vampire.

I ran in, sliding to take out the fat man's legs. He fell beside me, stunned but getting mad when he realized I'd knocked him down. There was no talking to him since the vampire put the whammy on his mind. I headbutted him. It took two shots to knock him out, and was I going to regret that later. I dropped the extra garlic rope around his neck to make him bite-proof.

Kasiya's vampire slave hissed at me, lashing out now and then to keep the other sailors at bay but still unwilling to get close to the garlic. I got to my feet and shot it the tines.

That's one Chelish gesture that never needs translating. The vampire showed me its teeth.

I showed it mine.

The vampire damn near swallowed its tongue.

"All right, boys," I began. I wanted to drive this mook toward the boss, but one of the sailors had a different idea. He swung his fire pot, but the vamp leaped right over him. It landed neat as a cat on the gunwales.

From the clothes I figured the vamp had been a man of the River Kingdoms. Death grayed its face and hollowed its cheeks. Its nails had grown dark and ragged. The thing lashed out at the sailor.

I slapped my arm, filling my hand with darts from the secret pockets in my sleeves. I flung them hard. Two struck deep into the vamp's face. The third went flying past, into the river.

Snarling, the vampire plucked one out of its cheek and made a show of licking off its own half-congealed blood.

The nearest sailor broke his pole across the vampire's neck, but the monster hung on to the gunwales.

I looked to either side. The boss had just snapped another scroll at Kasiya, whose chariot was about to fly right over the barge. Two pikemen had one of the other vamps pinned to the deck. The third vamp was nowhere in sight.

The horses screamed.

Another vamp—this one a patchy-bearded dwarf—came scrambling out from beneath the Red Carriage, Arni on its heels. Maybe the garlic collar helped, but I had to think anything with half a brain would run from the big wolfhound. Arni was so big he could barely squeeze under the carriage as he chased his prey.

I tumbled forward and kicked the feet out from under the former dwarf. The creature's momentum threw it across the deck to slide toward the boss, who finished snapping another scroll straight up as the chariot passed overhead. Lightning crackled above us, but none of it touched the boat.

The dwarf vamp grabbed the boss's ankle.

I winced to see it. A vampire's touch was supposed to suck the life right out of you. The boss said that wouldn't happen to him, but I wasn't so sure.

The boss looked down like he'd stepped in something nasty. All casual, he thrust the point of his sword three times into the dwarf's head before turning his attention back to the sky, where Kasiya's chariot circled back toward the barge.

The vampire dwarf rolled away, mostly dead. Or dead again. Deaderer. There's got to be a word. I'd ask the boss later.

A couple of sailors smashed their fire pots against the thing. The bucket brigade waited for the vamp to stop struggling before dousing the flames. They timed it just right. The river water hit the burning thing just in time to turn its ashy skin to mud on the deck.

The same thing was happening with the vampire skewered by the other pikemen. Their buddies lit up the monster, and they held it out over the water until its screams became just the sound of its last fatty bits sizzling away. Then they dunked the charred remains into the river. The water boiled more from the unholy flesh than from the heat.

The rest of the sailors were still playing tag with the vampire who'd taken the darts. The garlic wasn't doing the trick anymore. The vamp had ripped the necklace off one sailor and grabbed another one by the throat. The sailor's face withered before our eyes.

I remembered the boss's warning: You don't want those things touching you.

I ran two steps, jumped, and came down with all my weight on the vamp's knee. The impact felt like kicking a pile of rocks, but it annoyed the thing enough that it let go of the sailor and came for me.

The vamp had already picked my other dart out of its face, leaving only a black sliver of a wound. You had to kill these guys fast, or they just got back up.

"Finish that one," said the boss. He ran past us, snapping off scroll after scroll as Kasiya's chariot flew by again. I kept one eye on the boss while backing away from the vamp. These things have some wicked quickness.

The boss's first scroll sent bolts of silver at Kasiya, but they splattered like raindrops against an invisible globe. The second scroll didn't seem to do anything except cover that magic shield with a web of white light before vanishing. The third was a fireball. I expected to see it fail as it hit Kasiya's magic barrier.

Instead, it exploded.

The chariot dogs fell in all directions as the chariot drew a smoking arc above the river. Kasiya and his fancy little cart made it to the Ustalav bank before crashing into the woods.

"Good job, boss!"

Just then I remembered the riffle scroll the boss told me to use.

The sailors stabbed at the vamp with their pikes, but it dodged them and came for me. It hammered a careless sailor to the deck as I got my thumb on the scroll's edge. I could smell its decaying breath as I snapped the pages free. The scroll tingled against my thumb, and a little cloud of dust blew into the vampire's face.

The vamp flinched, maybe thinking it would burst into flames or start choking on poison.

But there was nothing. I hadn't cast a spell. I'd only blown paper dust in its face.

The vamp hit me straight in the chest, hard as a mule's kick—and I know what I'm talking about when I say that.

The blow threw me back into a couple other guys. We hit the gunwales tangled together. We all moaned, but when I tried to get up I really felt it, like the vamp had put a hole right through me.

Now I can take a punch. Desna knows I've taken plenty before. This one knocked more than the wind out of me. I half expected to hear my heart splash into the river behind us.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the gray blur of Arni racing toward the vamp.

"No!" I tried calling him off, but he didn't listen. He don't like seeing me or the boss get hit.

"Arnisant, down!" At the sound of his master's voice, the wolfhound flattened his body on the deck.

A whooping sound cut through the air. A whirling silver flash passed through the vamp's neck. Black-red spray covered the deck between the monster and me. Its head tumbled off and slid toward me through the gore. Startled eyes looked up at me where it came to a rest between my knees. Its body collapsed a second later.

The Shadowless Sword flew back to the boss. He caught it with a casual gesture. As the hilt touched his palm, I saw a glimmer of magic. He'd done some spell I'd never seen before. Maybe he'd been doing more than "diplomacy" with Kyonin's other queen last winter, and the scaly old gal had taught him a few new tricks. Probably she'd just let him loose in the library, but I can dream, can't I?

He wiped the blood on the cloth hanging from his scabbard before putting the sword away. I saw a gleam in his eye. He was proud of his stunt. Couldn't blame him for that. It was a pretty slick move.

The crewmen were helping each other stand up. One or two were hurt pretty bad, but everybody was alive. That was something that didn't happen to us all the time. Desna smiled.

Zora Gorcha offered me a hand up. Behind her, some of her crew were waking the other guy a vamp shook by the throat. He looked thin and gray, but he was alive, with no bite marks anywhere I could see.

When she saw that all her men had survived and her boat wasn't on fire, Zora grabbed my face and planted a garlicky smooch on my lips. My knees went all weak, but not from the kiss. Not even from the garlic.

I'd taken one hell of a hit from that vamp.

"The Count Jeggare, I am thinking he saved your life." Zora laughed as she looked me up and down. "Tell me again, Radovan, which of you is bodyguard?"

Purchase the whole novel here.

Coming Next Week: A new story of love, crusades, and big fluffy dogs in "Inheritance" by Gabrielle Harbowy!

Dave Gross's other adventures of Radovan and the Count include the Pathfinder Tales novels Prince of Wolves, Master of Devils, and Queen of Thorns; the novellas “Husks” and “Hell’s Pawns”; and the short stories “A Lesson in Taxonomy,” “A Passage to Absalom,” “Killing Time,” “The Lost Pathfinder,” and "The Fencing Master," all available at paizo.com/pathfindertales. He also co-wrote the Pathfinder Tales novel Winter Witch with Elaine Cunningham, and has written novels for the Forgotten Realms and Iron Kingdoms, as well as short stories for such anthologies as Tales of the Far West and Shotguns v. Cthulhu. Dave is the former editor of magazines ranging from Dragon to Star Wars Insider to Amazing Stories, and was a writer for Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition. For more information, visit frabjousdave.blogspot.com.

Illustration by Roberto Pitturru.

Bestiary 4 Preview #1

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

In just a few weeks, Bestiary 4 will be making its way to your table, ready to terrorize players and delight GMs with over 300 new monsters! Each week, we are going to be taking a look at one of the terrible foes you will find in this meaty tome. First up, we have a creature from myth and legend, ready to rip your foes limb from limb! Grendel is one of the mythic monsters you will find in Bestiary 4, but you can use him in any campaign!

GRENDEL CR 19/MR7

Illustration by Roberto Pitturru

XP 204,800
CE Large monstrous humanoid (mythic)
Init +4; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +15
Aura frightful presence (60 ft.; DC 20, DC 16 against mythic creatures)

DEFENSE

AC 34, touch 13, flat-footed 30 (+4 Dex, +25 natural, –1 size)
hp 340 (20d10+230); regeneration 10 (unarmed strikes or natural weapons)
Fort +16, Ref +16, Will +16
Defensive Abilities ferocity, unstoppable; DR 10/epic; Resist acid 10, cold 10, fire 10

OFFENSE

Speed 40 ft.
Melee 2 claws +32 (3d10+13/19–20 plus grab), bite +27 (4d8+6)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.
Special Attacks blood rage, brutal surge, gruesome dismemberment, mythic power (7/day, surge +1d10)

STATISTICS

Str 36, Dex 19, Con 26, Int 9, Wis 15, Cha 8
Base Atk +20; CMB +34 (+38 grapple); CMD 48
Feats Bleeding Critical, Combat Reflexes, Critical Focus, Exhausting Critical, Great FortitudeM, Improved Critical (claw), Iron WillM, Power AttackM, Skill FocusM (Stealth), Tiring Critical
Skills Acrobatics +19 (+23 when jumping), Intimidate +12, Perception +15 (+23 sound-based checks), Stealth +24, Swim +31; Racial Modifiers +4 Acrobatics when jumping, +8 Perception (sound-based checks)
Languages Common
SQ display of strength

ECOLOGY

Environment cold swamps
Organization solitary
Treasure standard

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Brutal Surge (Su) When Grendel expends mythic power to add a surge die to an attack roll, he also adds a surge die to that attack’s damage roll. This is not an action and does not require him to expend any additional uses of mythic power to use this ability.

Gruesome Dismemberment (Ex) When Grendel successfully holds a creature he has grappled, he may expend one use of mythic power to attempt to dismember that creature. He attempts a grapple check; if successful, his target takes double his normal claw damage and the attack pulls off one of the target’s legs or arms. The target is sickened until it receives magical healing (or until it recovers to full hit points by natural means), and takes 2d6 points of bleed damage each round. A creature with only one an arm cannot perform actions requiring two arms or two hands. A bipedal creature with one leg missing cannot walk or run; it can crawl or hop, but is denied its Dexterity bonus against all opponents. A quadrupedal creature with one leg missing is reduced to half normal speed. At the GM’s discretion, creatures with more than four legs affected by this attack may be able to move at normal speed.

Limb ripping fun! That’s all for this week. Next week, we will take a look at a monster that is quite a bit more cuddly.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer