Ninja Division to Make Starfinder Miniatures!

Friday, March 31, 2017

As many of you may have heard over the last week or so, Ninja Division has partnered with Paizo to make prepainted miniatures for the Starfinder Roleplaying Game! While we are still in the early days, we're extremely excited, and wanted to give you a sneak peak of the sculpting process. These images are by no means final. All final miniatures from Ninja Division will be pre-painted. All ship bases will be hexagonal for use in space combat.

So, with no further ado, Lets start with the images of the Starfinder Iconics! These will all be sold in a single, or two sets, based on costs, price to be determined.

Here are some ships of Pact World and Eoxian design!

Keep your eyes open for more details on Starfinder Roleplaying Game and licensed product! Enjoy!

Michael Kenway
Director of Licensing

Blights of Bestiary 6

Thursday, March 30, 2017

So here's a secret about the text we create for the back cover of our books and the blurbs that go on our website and catalogs. They're usually done at the last minute by a developer who's been working on the product possibly for many months. In my case, that means I get a chance, finally, to play around with some writing of my own, even if it's only for a few paragraphs. When I wrote the blurb for Bestiary 6, I mentioned something called "strangely sentient oozes," because of the new category of ooze I came up with to include in the book. I didn't want to reveal their name or theme yet (that's for this blog post... read on for more!), but I did want to mention them in some way that felt nice to read and fun to write. And so I came up with the phrase "strangely sentient oozes," because I enjoyed the sound of the phrase; its consonance makes you hiss when you read it, which evokes in the mind (in theory) imagery of something slithering and sliding sloppily in subterranean sloughs or sepulchral sewers. See? I wasn't trying to give folks hints as to a new system of calculating intelligence for ooze monsters or trying to make folks deduce the nature of how a primordial ooze might become self-aware. It wasn't a clue as much as it was an attempt at lyricism.

But it was certainly a blast seeing folks try to figure out clues anyway!

So, the time is here to reveal a little more about these strangely sentient oozes. They comprise a new category of ooze called a blight. This is a subtype of ooze, all of which are very intelligent (the dumbest one in the group has an Int of 15), all of which are quite powerful (the CR scores range from CR 13 to CR 19—I can't see any blights coming in future products that are CR 12 or lower, but there's absolutely room for blights above CR 19!), and all of which are linked to a remote, wilderness terrain.

Blights themselves were created eons ago by serpentfolk druids who worshiped the raw savagery of nature, and when they discovered a way to infuse the terrain itself with malevolence and sentience to recruit the land as yet another minion against their enemies, the first blights were born. But when they performed the ritual, it backfired... not only did the land liquefy and awaken, but so did their culture and the druids themselves. These druids, their sacred grounds, and the surrounding terrain transformed into a protoplasmic monstrosity that viewed all civilization (yes, including serpentfolk civilization) as the enemy. The first blight split itself apart into countless blots of slimy hatred and infested several different regions. The nature of those regions further shaped and forged these first blights' powers. The least powerful of them settled in the relatively lifeless deserts, where they developed powers of drawing moisture out of surrounding life and cursing their domains with extreme temperatures. The most powerful seeped into the deep caverns in the heart of the serpentfolk domain, absorbing radioactive ores and developing the power to petrify at a touch. Others settled in forests or mountains, sewers or swamps, and even in the frozen tundra. All possess spell-like abilities, a favored terrain, the ability to curse that terrain, and a tendency to rejuvenate if you don't uncurse their realm after defeating them. Blights are also tailor-made to serve as "boss" monsters for wilderness-themed adventures, for while they detest other creatures that have intellects, they understand that such creatures make great agents and soldiers in their campaigns against civilization. That they save their agents for last in their murderous plans is an uncomfortable truth that all who serve blights eventually learn.

Although there's seven blights in all, I'm only gonna show off three of them, but that should be enough to get an idea of their shared physical traits and themes!

Illustrations by Damien Mammoliti and Andrew Hou

James Jacobs
Creative Director

On Hobgoblins and Hairpieces

Wednesday, March 29, 2017

We have stated in no uncertain terms that hobgoblins can't grow hair on their heads. Sometimes on the same page as an illustration of a hobgoblin with hair. But how can this be, you wonder? Surely this is a joke! Or maybe Paizo has screwed up yet again! Rest assured, loyal fan, that Paizo remains and lovable and infallible as ever with the release of the Ironfang Invasion Adventure Path. Those occasional hobgoblins you see with hair aren't mistakes, but rather part of a secret canon that we heretofore have not revealed for lack of page space and also because we didn't make it up until just now.

Hobgoblins must earn their hair!

Hair is important in hobgoblin culture, especially among warriors. Hair emulates the barghests and hero-gods that hobgoblins honor, and long, flowing hair is a resource that must be taken in battle—a hobgoblin can neither grow a mane of hair, nor skin hair—real hair—from animals in the hunt. Instead warriors strip a lock of hair from each human and elf they kill, and weave them into their hats or helms or else glue them to their own scalps. A proud soldier may show off his five or six locks—braided tightly to protect them—at social events or formal drills, while the most vicious warriors let their stolen hair flow free in battle, confidant they can replace anything lost with the coifs of their victims.

Not every hobgoblin follows this tradition, however. It is fundamentally bragging about one's skill as a warrior, inviting lesser subordinate to challenge the warrior to a kalech-mar honor duel for her position. Those hobgoblins especially lawfully-minded view the practice as a foolish excess and needless bravado, something that drives a wedge through unit cohesion with petty one-upmanship. Other simply seize too much hair in battle to wear it publicly.

So the only truly accurate summary is, if you see a hobgoblin with hair, run.

Illustrations by Mirco Paganessi, Maichol Quinto, Firat Solhan, and Valeria Lutfullina

And if you see a hobgoblin without hair, run faster.

Illustrations by Yigit Koroglu, Ilona Sopuch, Oksana Federova, and Firat Solhan

Of course, that's to say nothing of the minotaurs...

Crystal Frasier
Developer

The Embrace of Darkness

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Before we conclude Pathfinder Adventure Card Game designer Liz Spain's "romance novel" previews of the Mummy's Mask set with a look at Adventure Deck 6: Pyramid of the Sky Pharaoh—spoiler alert: it's going to end in tears—we have an announcement to make: Complete card sets for Season of the Righteous, Season of the Runelords, and Season of the Goblins are now available for sale at DriveThruCards!

Torchlight glimmered a pleasing peridot color through the alchemical soup that ran through the tunnels of the Crypt of Water. The queen's husband, Hakotep, took great pleasure in the elaborately cruel designs that protected his great flying tomb. Richly painted in scenes of the River Sphinx and guarded by mighty hydrodaemon marble statues, the crypt was a stately home to rest one's soul for eternity.

The queen resents your weapons and armors. A lot.

Queen Neferuset glided along the passages in a glass barge, disabling the many traps without a thought. A thousand times she had made this journey; her hands moved of their own accord with practiced grace. Ingenious in their design, the hidden traps that lined the opulent tomb had been their creators' last. A short career was the price of eternal honor in the service of the pharaoh. Behind, her sister's mournful wails echoed and shrieked with the sound of a human soul breaking. The queen had insisted her sister's souls be captured within his pyramid. The pharaoh assumed it some form of punishment for Nailah's betrayal and attempted coup. But no. The banshee was necessary to serve the weaving of the Dark Tapestry.

Visits to Nailah were always painful. Her sister's wails summoned forth festering memories of family and sunshine. But the queen's gods demanded pain in sacrifice. Death and thousands of years within this tomb had left Neferuset hollow. She fed them what scraps of soul she could scrape together. Her gods were hungry.

Seelah, meet Sehela. Seleha, meet... wait, where did you go?

The glass barge bumped against a wall as it entered the vast limestone Hall of the Crocodile Kings. Sehela, the engineer who designed the pyramid's vast propulsion mechanisms, stood there waiting, silent and ethereal. Tracks of ghostly tears shimmered on the old woman's face, her brow knit with a pained scowl.

The queen took her time gracefully stepping out of the glass barge. Sehela would wait to be acknowledged before speaking. What had once been decorum had been replaced by a habit of fear. Sehela remained silent and stared. With a word, the withered, ectoplasmic remains of the old engineer's heart could be sacrificed to the Void. As long as Sehela was useful, she would remain in bondage, cursed to watch over the machine of destruction she had given her life to build.

Queen Neferuset passed by the old ghost, gesturing her to follow with a wave of her cobra-headed staff. The gesture was small, but the authority the staff represented was deeply threatening; the ghost shuffled dutifully behind through many twisting passages, overseen by the ancient lords bedecked in their sacrificial wrappings. The curtain of chill and darkness that hung within the entry to the shrine stunned Sehela, causing her to stumble backward, her ethereal form wavering uncontrollably. The queen caught Sehela's wrist in a cold, hard grip that pulsed with overwhelming necromantic power.

We did not forget to include a mummy wearing a mask.

The ghost shook with terror as the queen dragged her, helpless before the altar. Neferuset's chanting echoed with a deep malice that made the black stone of the altar quiver. One by one, the necromancer poured out the still-juicy contents of canopic jars: a victim of the queen's nastier spells.

As the viscera slid across the stone's surface, whispered voices joined the queen's from the dark corners of the room. The hushed rain of language hovered at the edge of comprehension. Utterly alien, yet familiar in a way that made Sehela's soul yearn for release, yearn to join them in the darkness. So long the work. So long the journey through the skies. So long.

And then, the ritual was over. The queen turned to the silent ghost and raised a withered, inquisitive eyebrow. "It's all over," Sehela sighed. "The word of Ra is spoken. The elemental channels are shut off. The pyramid is falling."

Tears streamed down the engineer's face anew. The admission that her life and death's work was now over was too much to bear. Queen Neferuset produced a small glass bottle engraved with the symbol of death from her elegant sleeve, uncorked it, and caught the tears that hung from the ghost's chin. "And with this," the queen grinned wickedly, "we shall prepare for new sacrifices to come to us."

We did warn you about the tears.

Outside, as the fabled Sky Pyramid sank from its heavenly perch, the citizens of Wati looked up at the ever-burning sun. We must honor the departed, they said under their exhausted breaths. We must deem every slave's hut a memorial, they said. And above all, they said, we must remember how this came to pass.

Liz Spain
Adventure Card Game Designer

New Quests and Ancient Perils

Monday, March 27, 2017

Around the Paizo office, we've been really busy getting the upcoming Starfinder Core Rulebook out the door and launching the Starfinder Society Roleplaying Guild campaign—but not so busy that we couldn't bring you two great new adventures for the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild.

Perhaps two isn't quite the right number, as Pathfinder Society Scenario #8-16: House of Harmonious Wisdom is not a quest but a series of five Tier 1-5 quests. Every quest pack is a new opportunity and a new challenge—an opportunity to work with lots of new authors, and a challenge to find just the right location on Golarion to present a new set of adventures. This series presented even more opportunities because this is the first time we've released a full series of quests mid-season, it's the first time we've presented a full series of quests at multiple subtiers, and it's also the first series of quests we've centered in Tian Xia. Fortunately, the authors Jason Owen, Black, Katherine Cross, Sarah Hood, and Christopher Rowe all did admirably, creating engaging characters and fun encounters that show off the conflict between the three nations that each claims to be the rightful heir of the fallen Lung Wa empire: Lingshen, Po Li, and Quain. In collaboration with the retired folk hero Mai Chun (pictured here), the PCs must visit each of the three Successor States in search of a famous Lung Wa relic—all while evading envious rivals (like the scholar pictured here) who seek the same prize.

Because these mid-season quests with multiple subtiers are an experiment in the season's structure, we're eager to hear back from you about whether this is a something we should repeat in the future, whether it was useful for your area, and how we can improve this format.

If you're in the market for higher-level threats, you're in luck! We're also releasing Pathfinder Society Scenario #8-17: Refugees of the Weary Sky, a spiritual sequel to the Heresy of Man trilogy (though you don't need to have played the earlier adventure to enjoy this one). In collaboration with its new allies on the elemental planes, the Pathfinder Society has identified an ancient ruin dating back to the Jistka Imperium. This same ruin is one of the last holdouts of the Imperium's elementalists during its disastrous conflict with Osirion, and the echoes of that powerful magic still pervade the site. Fortunately, helping get the PCs started (and illustrated for the first time) is Venture-Captain Obo, the Society's steadfast liaison in Rahadoum, assisted by the Sapphire Sage Amenopheus, who has taken a special interest in the refuge of Osirion's ancient enemy. Don't miss this desert adventure by Jeffery Swank!

John Compton
Organized Play Lead Developer

Shoot For the Stars—Final Starfinder Core Rulebook Cover Revealed!

Friday, March 24, 2017

One year. It's hard to believe that only a year has passed since we first started working on Starfinder. So much has happened in that time. We've built a setting. Designed a whole new game. Charted out an Adventure Path. Somehow managed to squish 800+ pages of content down into a 528-page Core Rulebook. Successfully avoided throwing each other out of windows over design disputes. You know, all the challenges associated with a new game.

And now we're here. Today, the Starfinder Core Rulebook ships to the printer. It's been a monumental undertaking, and I'm incredibly proud of and thankful for everyone who worked on it, from all of the Starfinder design and development team to Managing Editor Judy Bauer and her editorial strike force and our Creative Design Director Sarah Robinson, who's been responsible for overseeing or creating literally every visual element in the entire book. It's been a massive undertaking, and we couldn't have done it without everyone here.

Cover Illustration by Remko Troost

In celebration, here's a first look at the final Starfinder Core Rulebook cover! After all this time, it's both exciting and terrifying to step back and know that, from this moment forward, the Core Rulebook is out of our hands. Will it make it to orbit? Will it survive reentry? We've done our best, and all we can do now is watch.

We are go for launch!

James L. Sutter
Creative Director

Here Comes the Riffraff

Friday, March 24, 2017

For this week's unveiling of fantastic Pathfinder Battles: Crown of Fangs miniatures, we are starting with the Emperor's Thug. This mini is a medium common in Crown of Fangs, and is highly versatile. Easily useable as a fighter, ranger, rogue, woodsman, trapper, of whatever you need a gruff, slightly bedraggled miniature for.

Hey, you guys should totally check out the Cabbagehead miniature. It is a mMedium uncommon, and is actually modeled after an Ogrekin that you encounter in the first chapter of the Curse of the Crimson Throne Adventure Path, Edge of Anarchy. While he is an Ogrekin, you could just as easily use this miniature as a stand in for a flesh golem, skinstich, or any variety of flesh warped creature.

Last but not least, we have The Emperor. He is a medium rare in this set, and is modeled after the NPC Pilts Swastel, a deranged bard that takes over part of the city of Korvosa in Curse of the Crimson Throne. He is also very well portrayed in the Pathfinder Legends representation of Escape from Old Korvosa, put together by Big Finish Productions. This miniature could be used as a jester, slayer, rogue, or other despotic NPC to bother and generally frustrate your players with.

Michael Kenway
Director of Licensing

Demigods of Bestiary 6

Thursday, March 23, 2017

With the reveal of Pathfinder RPG: Bestiary 6's fiendishly ferocious cover last week, the time is finally right to start looking INSIDE of this book... or should I say the STARS are right? Because yes indeed we've got three more of Lovecraft's Great Old Ones appearing in this book. In fact, one of the recurring themes you'll notice right away (it's right there on the cover) is that we're including more statistics for demigods in Bestiary 6 than any other bestiary we've done. Now, obviously a stat block for a creature of CR 26 to CR 30 in power isn't going to be useful for every game, but that's not the only way to use a demigod in your game. These are foes not only intended to be the end bosses for full-on mythic campaigns, but movers and shakers for multiple campaigns. Demigods work best when they're NOT just stacks of hit points for your players to deplete... but printing statistics for them helps to quantify in a player's mind just how powerful they really are. In addition, each demigod entry is fully supported with rules for how their worshipers function, including information on cleric domains, subdomains, and favored weapons. We've also added a new appendix to this bestiary at the very end that reprints several domains and subdomains that have never before been printed in the RPG line, making it easier than ever to play a character who wants to use powers from the Scalykind domain or the Revelry subdomain, for example.

But enough about that. The point of this blog (and the next several to come over the following weeks) is to show off some art!

In Bestiary 6, we've got 4 categories of demigod represented—archdevils, empyreal lords, Great Old Ones, and the Horsemen of the Apocalypse. We've also got representation from the next tier down—so called "quasi deities" like qlippoth lords or the verdant Green Man. I've chosen three of these to illustrate below, focusing on new illustrations for each: the archdevil Baalzebul, the aforementioned Green Man (of which there are multiples—some neutral, some good, and some evil), and Tawil at'Umr.

Illustrations by William Liu, David Melvin, and Will O'Brien

Actually, that last one's a somewhat unusual case. As an avatar of Yog-Sothoth, Tawil at'Umr has never really been quantified as a Great Old One before, but the Lovecraft mythos are nothing if not mutable and accommodating. And rather than invent a brand new category of demigod, I decided that this eldritch master of time and space would work best in the Great Old One category. He (she? they?) certainly fits into the category, rules-wise, with the ability to kill you in your dreams only to immediately reincarnate you into a new body on another world, or the power to hurl those who gaze upon its true form into their own permanent microcosms. Tawil at'Umr was first introduced to the world in "Through the Gates of the Silver Key" by H. P. Lovecraft and E. Hoffmann Price. In the story, the entity is referred to as 'Umr at-Tawil, but in Bestiary 6 I decided to shift the name around a little to match Chaosium's preferred (and more grammatically correct when one interprets the name as being inspired by the Arabic language) version used in their Call of Cthulhu RPG, but just like all of these mythos monstrosities, changes to names or roles in world likely won't matter if your character decides to throw down against them. Tawil at'Umr is probably the toughest monster in the book, and in fact, might be the toughest monster we've ever statted up in a bestiary. He's "only" CR 30, but as an avatar of Yog-Sothoth, killing it isn't gonna stop it. From the Great Old One's Immortality entry in it's stat block:

"If Tawil at'Umr is killed, Yog-Sothoth can create a new avatar immediately. The replacement Tawil at'Umr typically does not reappear where it was killed, and it usually does not seek revenge against those who slew its predecessor. Usually."

James Jacobs
Creative Director

Come to the Phaendar Market Festival!

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

The friendly local faces of Phaendar.
Illustrations by Dario Jelusic

Once a season we transform our town into the greatest celebration of trade and community in Golarion! Come meet hundreds of other Nirmathi for music, food, and trade! Join us all for a week of fun and community, and stock up for the coming season.

This season's festival will include:

• Traders from Tamran and Exotic Druma!
• The Varisian Musical Stylings of Jet!
• Archery Demonstrations by our Local Legend, Aubrin the Green!
• Fireworks!
• And Wee Patterson, the Tiniest Aurochs!

Anything and everything you want will be at the festival: fruits and vegetables, fine cured meats, furs and pelts, seeds and tools, and all manner of woodwork! Space at our very own Taproot Inn is limited, but ample spaces is available for pitching tents in the surrounding fields, so reserve early or bring your own camping supplies. Whatever you choose, everyone loves the festival!

Normally, celebrations are reserved for the tail end of the Adventure Path, but the Ironfang Invasion treats players to dessert first by starting everything off at a festival. The biggest social event of western Nirmathas is in swing as the adventure begins, bringing over a thousand attendees ranging from local farmers to trappers, to even the occasional adventurer! The PCs can spend their starting wealth on rare treasures, from fried squirrel to paper bullettes, all before raiding a single dungeon!

Sure nothing bad will happen at this delightful, local tradition. The PCs are free to let their guard down, if only for a moment. Death and destruction surely won't appear without warning...

Illustration by Mirco Paganessi

Oh... oh dear.

If you'd like to capture some of the feel of this Adventure Path in music, here are just a few soundtrack suggestions to get you started, lifted from a few of my favorite video games. In fact, I listened to many of these while developing the adventures you're about to play!

• Bastion
• Dragon Age: Inquisition
• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
• Final Fantasy 9
• Journey
• The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
• Ni No Kuni
• Never Alone
• Unravel
• World of Warcraft: Legion

Crystal Frasier
Developer

Precisely the Right Way to Play Mummy's Mask

Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Like scourges, triggers, and traders, precision is one of the subthemes of the Mummy's Mask Adventure Path for the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game. This topic doesn't get as much attention because it's not quite as flashy, but we like it because it's a different type of challenge. In this blog, I'll let you know where the idea came from and how it ended up.

Early on, Lone Shark designers Gaby, Paul, and Liz locked in on a key feature of the Pathfinder RPG version of the Mummy's Mask Adventure Path. Right at the start of the the first volume, you participate in a lottery to win the right to explore and effectively loot tombs in the Osirian city of Wati. The priests of the Grand Mausoleum have a set of three rules that restrict how much collateral damage your adventuring can inflict.

"Remember How This Came to Pass" is a reminder that the necropolis remains a holy place. "Every Slave's Hut Is a Memorial" instructs explorers that willful and unnecessary destruction of tombs will not be tolerated. "Honor the Departed" requires that the dead be treated with respect. These rules are enforced by a militant group within the church of Pharasma known as the Voices of the Spire.

We modeled that in a simple mechanic: If you achieve too high a number in your roll to defeat a bane or acquire a boon, you break something you shouldn't. This makes the Voices of the Spire angry, and they wail on your heads for it.

You break it, you buy it.

There are places you should also tread carefully. The Scorched Obelisk is a jittery lightning magnet. The Alchemical Laboratory is filled with fragile flasks of acid, so watch where you swing that greatclub. And Ptah knows how you're supposed to guarantee threading the needle in the pottery-littered Sculptors' Lair.

Even your allies don't let you get away with bashing about unchecked. The Stained Glass Elemental shatters at a moment's notice, taking the top card of the blessings deck with it.

Good news! If you close the unstable Sculptors' Lair, you can get an equally unstable Stained Glass Elemental.

We've offered up several banes that care about the number you roll. The Shasalqu will freeze you with cold if you hit it too hard. The Thriae Soldier will sting you with poison. The Shocking Chest will zort you with electricity. The Yellow Jelly will scorch you with acid. We expect you will fall prey to all those elements at one point or another.

The barrier Collapsing Scaffolding has an even trickier challenge. You must attempt two Dexterity, Acrobatics, or Perception checks, but if the result of your first check exceeds the result of the second, you get smashed by the scaffolding. You'll be tempted to shortchange the first check, even though you only need to hit a 4, maybe by trying that Perception check you never make. And then when you fail that check...

I admit I am not sure how to pronounce "Shasalqu."

Henchmen and villains get in on this act. If you overroll, the henchman Neqet won't bother damaging you himself; instead, he'll call a zombie buddy to rough you up. In Adventure Deck 4, the villain Half-Fiend Sphinx and the henchmen Userib and Cultist of Areshkagal damage you if you are too overbearing.

The Mining Construct goes the other way, offering you an item if you defeat it by 5 or less. The henchmen in the delightfully named scenario Tomb Raiders Gone Rogue are particularly touchy. Most raiders let you attempt to close your location only when you defeat them by less than 5; otherwise, you've got a lot more exploring to do. But if you do hit under their threshold, you can get a bunch of boons, so moderating your thuggery can pay off in the tombs.

The lamia villain Jamirah also gives you something for hitting a narrow window above what you need to defeat her. (Actually, you get to draw the card even if you roll too low to defeat her, but intentionally losing to a villain is not something we recommend.)

Hmmm. I wonder if she's related to the Wrath of the Righteous villain Shamira?

Debuting in Adventure Deck 6 is the Glass Boat, the first and only instance of a new type of support card called a barge. When you're in the boat (and the scenario Crypt of Water will make you want to be), being very precise can get you a free Alchemical or Liquid item. Being a lumbering ox means no potion for you.

We're gonna need a bigger boat.

Fear not, though! We've provided several new ways to get those numbers where you want them. Obviously, there are lots of ways to add static numbers to your checks. Reducing the number of dice you roll while increasing the static number you add will stabilize your roll, giving you some control over your result.

You can't beat the ability to adjust your number after you roll. We highly recommend shifting your object of worship to the law deity Maat. A Feather of Maat is a Luckstone that runs both ways, and the later Effigy of Maat gives you even more versatility. The Blessing of Maat not only allows you to add or subtract 3, but even change all your dice to d8s if that's what you need.

Who ever thought that you'd like seeing the word "subtract" on a card? Maat did.

You melee types might want to pick up the Scorpion Whip. Any spellcaster can pick up the Symbol of Fortune, which will add or subtract 3 after the roll. The loot item Tablet of Languages Lost is good for adding to or subtracting from your Charisma check, especially if you're playing a Sorcerer blasting your way through the catacombs; so's the Silken Ceremonial Armor.

The item Jet of Anubis can either add or remove a whole die. Trust me, you haven't lived till you remove the 12 you rolled on your d12. Similarly, the Blessing of the Lady of Graves lets you roll your Wisdom die and subtract it from your result.

I can't play Symbol of Fortune without imitating a game show audience.

Your friends can also help. The Cleric of Nethys can add or subtract 2 from your roll, while the half-orc ally Magha Threefingers adds 3 or subtracts 2. The banshee Ausetitha can add or subtract 5. (Fun fact: The designers are still snickering about Magha's power.)

Meanwhile, the promo ally Miau Pakhet lets anyone at your location reroll a die, which is quite useful when you need to be precise. Plus that second power is nothing to flick your tail at.

Dude, you have weird friends.

Then there are the more unhinged decisions you can make. If your party has a Remove Curse spell (or if you're Alahazra), you could even pick up a Curse of Withering. Replacing all your dice with lower-size dice can keep those high numbers under control.

If you're in the Garden of Ossumentals, consider adding the Bludgeoning or Fire trait—or both! The first can add a die, and the second can remove one.

You might consider trying to get all your dice to be small. A Wand of Scorching Ray might not seem great to you Arcane casters, except when not rolling that Arcane d12 is what you want. Suddenly just rolling 4d6 is interesting. Especially if you're playing in The Dragon's Garden...

You can even add two numbers to the roll in the Garden, if you roll two different doubles.

Hey, speaking of dragons, there's our favorite—and what might be your least favorite—use of precision in the whole game. Just like the villain Tef-Naju giving you his Trove only if you roll 35 or less to defeat him, the dragon trader Shardizhad is not impressed easily. She will only trade with you if the result of your check to acquire a boon is exactly equal to the difficulty of acquiring it. Yup, it must be bang-on. If you don't do it, you might be tempted to lose the scenario to get that ability to trade for Melee weapons.

You're about to find out how hard is it to NOT display 3 Elegiac Compasses.

Those are the precise ways you can handle the precision mechanic. Good luck with that, and we hope you enjoy the epic conclusion of Mummy's Mask, which we'll preview next week!

Mike Selinker
Adventure Card Game Lead Designer

Great Things Come in Threes!

Monday, March 13, 2017

The Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA) Trade Show in Las Vegas has wrapped up and I'm headed back to Seattle early next week. GAMA brings retailers and industry professionals together once a year at their trade show, as well as sponsors the Origins Gaming Convention every June in Columbus, Ohio. The Paizo team was busy this year! The Jasons (Keely and Bulmahn) ran lots of Starfinder ship combat demos, Erik Mona talked to loads of attendees about upcoming Paizo products, including the Starfinder line, Jeff/Cosmo/Pierce/Jenny spent lots of time in meetings, and I gave presentations on Paizo Organized Play. By the way, how many of you caught our live tweets from the presentations? That was the brainchild of our new Outreach Manager, Dan Tharp. You should see his fingers fly on a phone keyboard.

Between meetings and presentations, we all took a spin in the booth talking to retailers and other industry folks about our awesome games. Loads of drool over Starfinder, including the Free RPG Day offering, Starfinder: First Contact, a sleek book filled with monsters that work well in both the Pathfinder and Starfinder settings, and the shiny Buyer's Guide, listing the upcoming Starfinder products. Equally exciting to attendees, the news that Ninja Division will produce pre-painted miniatures for the Starfinder line. While at the show, I handed out over 150 Organized Play packets to stores looking to start organized play or expand their offerings. If you don't currently have Pathfinder Society in a location near you, one may be coming soon. Otherwise, email me at organizedplay@paizo.com and we can work together to get something started.

Starfinder Society and Know Direction

This Wednesday, March 22 at 8:30 PM Eastern time, the Starfinder Society team (John Compton, Thurston Hillman, and myself) will join Know Direction hosts Ryan & Perram for an evening of questions and answers. While focused mostly on the newly announced Starfinder Society Organized Play program, we can field some questions about Pathfinder Society as well. If you have a question you really want answered, put it in the comments and we will add it to our growing list. But be warned, some answers must stay under wraps until closer to the launch in August. In the words of the great River Song, "Spoilers!"

You can find the feed, and other Know Direction podcasts and interviews on their website. We'll see you there on Wednesday!

The OPC Needs a New Character

In my recent travels, I've gotten to play more than I've GMed or organized. Crazy, right? But it means all my characters leveled up and are now in the Tier 5+ range. So I need new characters to take on my great con tour this summer.

I've been trying to come up with ideas, but nothing really tickled my fancy, so I'm asking Pathfinder Society players to help me out. I'm actually making a contest out of it. Character concepts must fit the criteria below. Include a backstory of between 280 and 300 words that provides insight into the character and their motivations. Submit your entry as email text (no attachments!) to pathfindersociety@paizo.com (Subject: OPC Needs A New Character Contest) along with your Pathfinder Society number. Entries must be received by April 3, 2017 for consideration for the contest.

I've asked the Organized Play team (and maybe a few other staffers) to help me narrow down the options. We will put our top choices in a blog on Monday, April 10 for the community to vote on. The concept with the highest votes becomes my 23rd character. The winner receives $20 paizo.com store credit, as well as bragging rights and a named acknowledgement every time I play the character.

Criteria

• Race: Any legal without a boon
• Class: Any
• Gender: Any
• Name: No puns and suitable for playing with younger players
• Stats: Balanced (nothing lower than an 8)
• Resources: Any
• Format: Paizo stat block
• Play Style: I like to participate in all aspects of an adventure, so a mix of skills and combat, don't mind being a "face" but prefer not to be the front line fighter, and prefer cool concepts to min-maxed abilities
• Level progression: 5th for feats, skills, and selectable class features

I look forward to seeing what you all come up with for me to play!

Next week is John's scenario introductions, so I'll see you in two weeks with a wrap up of Who's Yer Con, which I'm attending March 31 to April 2 in Indianapolis, IN.

Until then—Explore, Report, Cooperate!

Tonya Woldridge
Organized Play Coordinator

The Darkness Looks Back

Friday, March 17, 2017

Hello, and welcome to your weekly download of Pathfinder Battles: Crown of Fangs reveals. This week I'm starting with the Deacons of the the Horseman of Pestilence. Everyone in the office is sick, anyway, so what's the worst that could happen? The Leukodaemon is a large, uncommon, and looks fantastic. If you ever tire of giving your players nightmares with devils, we suggest using this guy. You are welcome.

Speaking of devils (its almost like I knew what was coming next), we have the Bone Devil, also a large uncommon in this set. I love the raw sinew on the wings. The spinal ridges on the tail also looks fantastic.

Finally, we have the Horned Devil, another large uncommon. Wizkids did a great job with the armor plated scales on his abdomen, legs, and tail.

All of these creatures appear in the Curse of the Crimson Throne Adventure Path, as well as several other adventures. If you ever want or need high level outsiders, these three have got you covered.

Michael Kenway
Director of Licensing

Identify, Approach, Kill, Repurpose

Friday, March 17, 2017

Any adventurer can swing a blade, but it takes planning and training to fell the greatest beasts. Today we're sitting in on a crash course on monster hunting to show off some of the new Pathfinder Player Companion: Monster Hunter's Handbook!

"You want to fight monsters, eh? You? The lot of you are scrawny, sickly, sorry excuses for adventurers whose heads are more likely to be appearing as goblin chamber pots a month from now than the polite side of a commemorative coin. If you were serious about this business, you'd have signed on with real talent, like the Duskwardens, the Mendevian Crusaders, or hell, even the Pathfinder Society. See that lady in the heavy armor over there? She's a Hellknight in the Order of the Pike—all dedicated to killing monsters and just shrugging off punishment. That spear isn't to keep fiends at a safe distance; she's more dangerous the closer you get, so her killing something with a reach weapon's a professional courtesy! Nah, I figure if you're training with me, you're either rejects... or you want the real secrets to slayin' beasts.

Illustration by Kent Hamilton

"Normally I teach a six-week course, but I can tell from the burning village over there that some of you are in a rush to get back and defend your farms from whatever crawled out of your great-grandma's crypt. Lemme boil the profession down into four easy steps: identify, approach, kill, and repurpose. Master those, and you have a long and fruitful career ahead of you of sleeping in the rain, crawling through mud, reading scat, skinning beasts, and getting paid handsome purses of gold for your trouble! Now... 'scuse me as I gather a few educational illustrations."

Illustration by Forrest Imel

Identify

"If you don't know what you're up against, you're going to die. There, I said it. Now see this? The first key to monster-hunting is knowing what in the Abyss you're even hunting and how to identify it. As you can see here, Lirianne and Ezren are in for a brutal surprise because they believe owlbears are a form of caterpillar that dwells in the leaf litter. Rookie mistake.

"Some hunters can't tell the difference between a centaur and a centipede, much less between boggard and a boggart. The easiest solution is to team up with someone who knows what's what and can spot it coming from a mile away. Rangers and inquisitors are great for that—first one can forage a mean stew, besides, and the second can practically smell monsters... uncanny. As an added bonus, think of these friends as an early warning system; if he gets snatched up by a dinosaur and screams, ‘Oh sweet Erastil, I'm being eaten by an allosaurus," chances are good there might be a dangerous predator nearby. Be sure to ask him about any special weaknesses the beast might have before he gets eaten."

Developers' Note: Been failing a lot of Perception checks? Maybe the abolisher inquisitor archetype's ability to pierce disguises is for you. Don't forget new feats like Monster Spotter and Needle in a Haystack to trace a monster to its lair and get the jump on it.

Approach

"Right, so you know what you're after? Great. Monsters are canny scoundrels that have more senses than you have years of remaining life expectancy. The moment they notice you coming is the moment they flap off screaming, gather their friends, and choose a home ground advantage that going to be a real pain to navigate. Ideally, you're going to sneak in and snap the beast's neck, but looking at you, I'm guessing it's better to have some contingencies for approaching the creature's lair like magical flight, invisibility, teleportation, or, y'know, rope. But let's be clear: that's the old way of doing things. ‘Round here we've mastered a new technique called Monstrous Masquerade. Allow me to show off our winter collection:"

Illustration by Kent Hamilton

"Amiri is wearing triple-ply yeti hide harvested just this morning, as designed by the eminent Cronarg the Obliterator. Accessories include cold resistance, climb speed, and a sinister sense of recycling for a good cause—all for the low cost of a couple feats and some spare gold. Never underestimate the power of dressing like your enemy in order to get the drop on your enemy. So Amiri, how do you like the outfit?"

"MNYARRR! I'M A YETI!"

"Umm, of course you are. As I'm sure Amiri meant to say, taking a few ranks in Disguise and learning to speak Aklo can play a big role in the success of your disguise."

Developers' Note: New feats like Monstrous Disguise and Monstrous Masquerade allow you not only to disguise yourself as monstrous humanoids but also to replicate some of their abilities—flight speed, energy resistances, and more!

Kill

"Ah, the sweet song of steel ringing against a creature's scales... it's that cheerful reminder that brute force isn't always enough to cut through a gorgon's hide. You can't just hit everything with an axe until it stops moving—okay you can't always hit things with axes. Sometimes you need to apply some finesse. That's especially true if you're trying to make a living off of monster hunting. See those bounty posters? See how the monsters have faces? If you can't kill a monster without saving some recognizable piece to collect the bounty, you're never gonna get paid.

Illustration by Kent Hamilton

"Case in point: See Crowe here? He was sent to kill a bugbear chief, but he's gotten a little carried away with the slaying part and now doesn't have any monster parts. If he knew a bit more about goblinoid's he'd have a much cleaner kill and much cleaner boots. Rookie mistake."

Developers' Note: There are some intense options for monster slaying in here. If you're a fan of the ranger's favored enemy ability, you're going to love the Creature Focus feat, which provides you some similar benefits; the Focused [your most hated creature type] Expertise feats then build off that or the favored enemy ability, allowing you to apply that favored enemy bonus on other checks and saving throws your targets love to use. Another favorite is the green scourge druid archetype, which allows you to prepare flame blade and shillelagh using higher spell slots in order to grant the manifested weapon magical properties.

Also yes, we know that's a lemure. We've just seen Crowe in action and know he tends to reduce most foes to piles of glop.

Repurpose

"So let's make an assumption: let's say you prevailed, and the creature's dead at your feet. An amateur is going to lop of the beast's head, heave it before the constable, and get paid. A real pro doesn't let a good carcass go to waste! Scales, teeth, horns, eyeballs... it's all an organic treasure trove just waiting for some enterprising spirit with a carving knife and a little know-how. Chances are that if it came from a powerful monster, a wizard somewhere has developed a spell that uses it. Even if you don't have any friends in the spellcasting business, you can turn spare pieces into downright ferocious trophies and armor.

Illustration by Kent Hamilton

"Any yokel with a sword and PC class levels can wear dragonhide; that doesn't take any creativity. Talk to me when you've chased off a chimera by turning its cousin's horns into a bullroarer or its teeth into a set of wind chimes. If you want to identify a true master of the craft—like that one over there—watch for the weird trophies. Nobody makes armor out wing membranes if he wants to deflect attacks; he does it because he can kill any threat before it scratches him."

Developers' Note: That's right, there are rules for harvesting critter parts and turning them into magic items and temporary trophies that can spook similar kinds of creatures! If you think Mavaro's looking pretty dapper in his variant red dragon hide armor and array of grisly trophies, take a look at the psychodermist, an occultist archetype that swaps out conventional implements for magically preserved pieces of creatures you've slain (and whose powers you can channel)!

Final Exam

"So what have we learned? Travel with friends, learn what you're up against, kill efficiently, and let nothing go to waste. Right, that's all the time we have. Grab your weapon of choice from the corner, there, and go make a name for yourselves!"

Developers' Note: And most importantly, grab a copy of Pathfinder Player Companion: Monster Hunter's Handbook, full of everyday "solutions" for exceptional beasts!

John Compton
Organized Play Lead Developer

Into the Wild!

Thursday, March 16, 2017

Now that the very first volume of the Ironfang Invasion Adventure Path has begun making its way into subscriber hands, take a moment to download our free Player's Guide to the campaign, to give a sneak peak into the themes of the adventures to come and provide some insight on what kind of characters will be the most fun to play (or the most difficult to player) over the course of the AP. With the tip, insights, and Campaign Traits provided inside, you'll be ready to hit the ground running once the hobgoblins arrive and buildings start to burn!

If you want to maximize your player options for this adventure, also take a look at the Pathfinder Player Companions Heroes of the Wild and Animal Archive, as well as some of the wilder options in the Advanced Class Guide, as Hunters and Shaman are especially fitting for this campaign. And Game Masters wanting to understanding the ins and outs of Nirmathas should pick up Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Lands of Conflict to round out their setting knowledge and decide if the option militia system it includes is right for their campaign.

Crystal Frasier
Developer

Unveiling a New Starfinder Race: The Vesk!

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

For months now, we've been teasing the fact that Starfinder has seven core races, of which only five have been announced—humans, androids, lashunta, kasatha, and ysoki. What's more, we've hinted that the remaining two would be brand new races you've never seen before. So now, for the first time ever, we present... the vesk!

Resembling 7-foot-tall humanoid lizards with beards of spiky bone, vesk come from the nearest inhabited solar system to the Golarion system. Fiercely militant and highly organized, vesk have strict honor codes and social mores based on conquest and prowess in battle—a cultural focus that quickly led them to conquer all the other races in their solar system, establishing a massive empire called the Veskarium. For generations, their conquest ended there, stifled by the vast distances between stars. With the introduction of Drift travel, however, they quickly turned first contact with the races of the Golarion system into an all-out war of invasion (and inadvertently created the Pact Worlds as the governments of that system banded together in mutual defense). The brutal conflict lasted for centuries, until the sudden arrival of the Swarm threatened to annihilate all life in both systems. Forced to put aside their differences, the Veskarium and the Pact Worlds were able to join forces and drive off the Swarm, and the tenuous truce forged in that fight continues to this day—if only barely.

Illustrations by Remko Troost

While merchants and others with peaceful professions can advance economically in vesk society, political power is the exclusive domain of those who've proven themselves in armed conflict. Surprisingly, this proof doesn't need to come through military service, or even benefit the Veskarium. Many vesk attain similar elevation in social status through performing mercenary work, engaging in dueling, or providing security on exploration missions. Though obsessed with conquest, dominance, and social rank, vesk find an equally strong sense of honor and pride in fulfilling their agreements and treating subordinates of all races fairly. They are stoic and taciturn with strangers but capable of great bursts of emotion in private or in the heat of battle. Vesk society tends to be efficient, respectful, and law-abiding—especially since nearly any insult or violation of custom could trigger a brutally violent blood debt.

Vesk adventuring with races from other systems fall into two categories. The first are mercenaries or glory-seekers looking for a chance to engage in honorable combat and build up their prestige. The second are nonwarrior vesk who have rejected their home society for its obsession with combat and have chosen instead to seek opportunities among more open-minded races. Warrior vesk most often fit the soldier class, though a growing number have become intrigued by the path of the solarian. Noncombatant vesk often lean toward becoming mystics, though some overcome the traditional vesk culture's dismissal of education to become mechanics or even technomancers.

Stay tuned for more Starfinder blog posts in the coming weeks as we ramp up to the game's release at Gen Con 50!

James L. Sutter
Creative Director

Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Strategy #7—Attempting Your Checks

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

This is the seventh installment of our strategy blog written by game historian Shannon Appelcline. You can read all the installments here.

The heart of PACG is attempting checks to acquire boons and defeat banes. And every check starts with dice that need to be rolled.

Know Your Dice Results

Checks are all about rolling dice, so the heart of managing a check is knowing your dice. Obviously, if the results of a check aren't that important, you should just throw your dice and see what happens. However, if you really want to gain a boon or defeat a bane, then you should understand your odds.

You can calculate the odds of your dice in a number of ways. This listing goes from least conservative (you might lose!) to most conservative (you won't lose!):

• Count dice + sides then divide. Add up the number of dice and all their sides, then divide by 2, then add the modifiers. For example, if you're rolling 1d8 + 1d6+2, add 2 (the number of dice) + 8 (the number of sides on the first die) + 6 (the number of sides on the second die) to get 16. Divide that by 2 to get 8 (that's the expected value of your roll), then add 2 (the modifier) to get your expected result: 10. If the difficulty of your check is also 10, your odds of succeeding are a bit better than 50%. (The example given has 48 possible die combinations. 21 of them give a result less than 10, 6 equal to 10, and 21 higher than 10, so the odds of succeeding are 27 in 48, or just over 56%.) So if your expected result is the same as the difficulty of the check, you will succeed more often than not, but you will still lose often. This method of calculation is also a bit cumbersome for quick counting.
• Count half the sides. This author's preferred technique is to just count half the sides on each of the dice, then add the modifiers. For the 1d8 + 1d6+2 example, add 4 (half the sides on the first die) + 3 (half the sides on the second die) + 2 (the modifier) to get an expected result of 9. Not only is this quicker to count than the dice + sides technique, but it also underestimates a little bit: You'll be under the average by half of the number of dice, so it's a bit more conservative. (Using the example above, you'll want to look for a way to add a +1 to reach the difficulty of 10, which would increase your odds to 33 in 48, or nearly 69%.)
• Count every die as a 2. It may have been Obsidian's Nathan Davis who suggested that you should assume every die you roll comes up a 2. With this method, our 1d8 + 1d6+2 example gets you an expected result of 6 (2+2+2), so if the difficulty you're looking for is 10, you'll want to add 2 dice (of any size) to make up the difference. (Adding even 2d4 improves your odds to above 95% in the example.) This is a very conservative method, but if you use it for the most important stuff, you're rarely going to fail.
• Count every die as a 1. There's only one way to be 100% sure of success: your number of dice plus your modifiers must be equal to the target you're shooting for. Yes, this is ridiculously conservative, but you might want to use this criteria occasionally, particularly at the end of a game.

It's easy to use these methods as a basis for an even more conservative estimate without requiring much more work. Just look at the results in a more ad hoc manner: "I estimate these dice will get me a result of 12 and I need 11 to succeed, so if someone could throw in one more blessing, I'd feel a lot better about it" or "I need an 11 and I expect that from 3 dice, so an extra 2d4 will probably push me over.")

Corollary #1: More dice move things toward the average. If you're rolling just one die, the odds are spread evenly across all the possibilities, but if you throw a whole bunch, the odds will cluster toward the middle. For example, trying to get 5 or more on 1d12 has an 8-in-12 chance of succeeding (almost 67%). But trying to get that on the seemingly similar 2d6 results in a 30-in-36 chance, or just over 83%, while 3d4 gives you a 60-in-64 chance, or almost 94%. So if your expected result is a just a little bit above the difficulty, but you're using a lot of dice, you're more likely to be okay.

Corollary #2: Rerolling dice changes the average. Some monsters, like the Giant Hermit Crab, force you to reroll on success, while some weapons, like those that have the Polearm trait, allow you to reroll on failure. The math is tricky, but if you're going to have to reroll on a success, you want to be sure you can succeed twice in a row. In such a case, an average only a teeny bit over your target probably isn't going to cut it. On the other hand, when you get to reroll failures, you can be more comfortable with marginal averages.

"So... best 2 out of 3 then?"

Know What Blessings Can Do

Checks involve not just the dice that the cards say to roll, but also the benefits applied by various players, which often come in the form of blessings. Some checks are hard, so blessings can be the difference between having a poor chance of success and a decent chance.

The trick is that blessings also usually represent a potential extra exploration. Don't be afraid of using them, because you don't necessarily need a lot of extra explorations to succeed. But do ask yourself, "Is using this blessing to improve the odds on this check more valuable than having an extra exploration?" Often losing a card, losing a hand of cards, or losing out on a chance to gain a boon turns out to be less valuable than an extra exploration, in which case it's not worth spending a blessing for that check.

Corollary #1: Keep an eye on the blessings deck. Many blessings recharge if the same blessing is atop the blessing deck. Keep an eye on that and the blessings in your hand. If they match, be much more willing to use your blessing. It defers your extra exploration, as you usually have to go through your deck to get it into your hand again, but if you're playing aggressively, it's not lost to you.

The exception is, of course, late in the game. If you're not going to cycle through your deck and you're not going to get your deck shuffled by healing or some other means, then you should treat discarding and recharging the same (and burying too, for that matter).

Corollary #2: Don't bless low skills. Don't waste your blessings on d4 skills unless things seem quite dire. A blessing just doesn't add much to a bad skill. (To be precise, it adds an average of 2.5 to a roll, where spending that blessing on a d12 skill can be over twice as good, adding an average of 6.5 to the roll.) Heck, it can feel wasteful to spend a blessing on a d6 skill.

If a low skill needs help, look instead to powers and spells. If you need to help someone with a bad skill, it's more effective to use certain spells and abilities. Lem can often add up to 1d4+3, while an Aid spell can add a d6 and a Strength spell might add a +3.

Corollary #3: Don't bless excessively (or otherwise overcommit). Whether you're playing blessings, spells, ranged weapons, allies, or some other boon, you don't want to overdo it, yet there's a tendency for players to put too many dice into a pool. When you roll two or three times your target number, and the check wasn't to close a location or defeat a villain, you probably wasted resources that could have been used to take extra explorations or to give a player better odds on another check.

If you count your expected value and you're over your target by more than half, or you've got more than a few extra dice, consider if you really need everything that's in the pool, especially if getting there required discarding or burying cards.

Next time: Managing your encounters.

Shannon Appelcline
Game Historian

Keep One Eye Open, There's Monsters Out There!

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

In a few weeks time, a new tome of monsters begins making its way to game and book stores, and into the hands of GMs! Until then, take a look at the amazingly wicked cover illustrated by Wayne Reynolds for Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Bestiary 6 and stay tuned for previews, starting next week!

Chris Lambertz
Community & Digital Content Director

You Have Questions, We Have Answers

Monday, March 13, 2017

Hi Pathfinders! Early last year, we released the Campaign Clarifications document, which gave us on the Pathfinder Society team a way to answer rules questions and to adapt some rules to better fit the needs of an organized play campaign. When we put out the document, I asked the forums to tell us which rules questions have caused issues in their games. You all gave us a bunch of excellent feedback and we continue to keep an eye on the clarifications threads for new questions that crop up.

However, we ran into a bit of an issue. Campaign Clarifications works well for questions that involve a single rule from one book, but it's equipped to handle questions over multiple sources. We made lists of these more general questions and answered some of them Season 8's version of the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild Guide, but we wanted to limit the guide to only the most broadly applicable information. As a side note, Guide 8.1 is still in the works and we'll address some of the questions in that update.

In order to answer the remaining questions, we knew we'd need to make a significant update to our FAQ. We also wanted to clean out information that was already answered in the guide, or that was no longer accurate, as well as gather the forum posts from John, Tonya, and myself that had been serving as unofficial suggestions. Today's update has been a long time in the making, and I'm happy to present it to you all today.

So, what's changed? I'll go through some of the highlights by section. Please read the full FAQ entries for any of the changes below that interest you.

Organized Play Events

• Creating More Events: The instructions for creating and reporting events now take Core mode games and Adventure Card Guild games into account.

Roleplaying Guild General Questions

• Required Materials: There were some questions about what players needed to bring to the table in order to use material from a book other than the Core Rulebook. We cleaned up the language in the FAQ entry on legal sources to make some lesser-known options more obvious.
• Factions for pregenerated characters: You can now earn faction rewards when playing pregenerated characters, as if they were a member of the faction of the character who is receiving credit for the adventure.
• Caster level and spellcasting services: We've tightened up the rules on the caster level for spellcasting services, specifying which ones you can purchase at higher than minimum caster levels.

Wealth and Treasure

• Poisons: the list of available poisons from the Core Rulebook has been expanded.
• Upgrading Magic Items: We've expanded the rules for upgrading magic items to allow some upgrades that do more than increase a number.
• Intelligent Items: You can carry more than one intelligent item at a time, and 1st level characters are never at risk of dying from picking up an intelligent item during an adventure.
• Alternative Ammunition: We've created a blanket rule to allows you to purchase magical ammunition listed on a Chronicle sheet as a different form of ammunition; for example, buying +1 frost shuriken when the chronicle lists +1 frost bolts.
• Scrolls: We've cleared up the rules around scrolls, such as codifying their arcane spell failure chance, the rules for scrolls with multiple spells, and the rules for determining which ability score is appropriate to use when activating a scroll with the Use Magic Device skill.

Character Questions

• Race-Specific Options: We've clarified the rules around the Racial Heritage feat from the Advanced Player's Guide and other options that allow characters to take options initially written for other races.
• Legal Abilities Referencing Ones That Aren't: We've clarified what happens if your archetype or other class ability grants you an option that does not appear in Additional Resources.
• Spell Study: We've expanded the rules around learning spells from NPCs and filling spellbooks to make it clear that such actions are not restricted only to wizards.

Character Companions

• How Many Companions: The FAQ and the latest version of the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild Guide disagreed with each other about the rules for how many creatures a character can bring to the table and use at one time. We've updated the FAQ to more closely align with the Guide.
• Animal Companions and Shields: We've explicitly added shields to the list of tools that animal companions cannot use.
• Retraining Companions: We've added rules for retraining your companion creature's abilities and replacing a companion's tricks with different ones.
• Companions and Boons: We've added the rule from John's forum post describing what happens if a companion creature gains a boon during an adventure.
• Improved Familiars (Work in Progress): We have not yet updated the entry about which familiars have which item slots and which familiars can use wands and other magic items. An update for this entry is in the works, with the help of a team of Venture-Officers, but it will take some time to pull it all together.

Do you have any feedback about this update? What questions would you like to see added in our next update to the FAQ? Let us know in the comments below.

Linda Zayas-Palmer
Developer

Writing the Through the Gate in the Sea

Saturday, March 11, 2017

I've known Jekka and Mirian Raas for far longer than might be apparent. Their first adventure was published in the 2015 release Beyond the Pool of Stars, but two VERY similar characters with the same names appeared in one of my earliest published short stories more than a decade ago. Jekka was almost exactly the same; it was Mirian who lacked a little something to make her more unique. James Sutter suggested her dual heritage, and once that was added to her character, and I changed the setting to Golarion's Sargava, the rest snapped quickly into place.

Long before I started drafting Plague of Shadows, back when James and I were tossing ideas around about who would star in my first Pathfinder book, I showed him the rough draft of a novel I was working on about Mirian and Jekka. He liked it enough that it stuck in his memory, but back then the line was just getting started, and he understandably wanted something a little less experimental than a book featuring a magical salvage diver and her lizardfolk friend. But after two novels starring Elyana and Drelm I was wanting to try something a little different, and James still liked the pitch starring Mirian and Jekka, so he greenlit a project featuring them.

That meant that the pitch was approved; I still needed to get the details down and make sure any events in the book wouldn't tread on concepts being developed by other authors for other novels. That's why James wisely likes to examine detailed outlines. I'm used to drafting outlines, but not the way I did these. First, I was originally planning just one book, but I was having so much fun that I went ahead and kept outlining another tale right on the heels of the first. Second, a substantial chunk of the outline was written while I was sitting in The Three Broomsticks while my wife and daughter rode and re-rode a bunch of Harry Potter roller coasters. My own enjoyment of roller coasters has waned, you see. While drafting with my notebook I was struck that I was writing the outline for an imaginary adventure in an imaginary location. Or at least, a location that had once been imaginary.

Later during that same Florida vacation I pulled out the pocket notebook again while my daughter was riding The Tower of Terror over at Hollywood Studios and made some more additions.

I'm not sure what James first thought when he got two outlines instead of the expected one, but he liked them both, and signed me on for two new books. I actually wrote them back to back, one right after the other, as they're set only a few weeks apart, but Paizo didn't want to release them one after the other—how many underwater salvage books with lizardfolk co-stars do you need released in a single year, right?

But here the second one is at last. I think I enjoyed drafting it even more than the first. This time I wrote Jekka as one of the point of view characters, and man, did I have fun with that. And I added a new character by the name of Captain Ensara, and his point of view chapters were just as much fun to draft. Hopefully you'll see why when you meet this shady pirate captain, who's not as evil as he thinks he is but isn't as good as you'd like him to be.

I've been a roleplaying gamer since the mid '70s. I've had occasional hiatuses, but I don't think any of them have lasted more than a year. Maybe it's the storyteller in me, but I always come back to it. And I usually end up as the Game Master. I'd like to think all those years of practice have helped hone my storytelling. I've drawn upon some plots and villains to write my Dabir and Asim stories (the villain's plan in The Desert of Souls is straight out of one of my fantasy campaigns). But until these books I've never actually used any characters from my games in my fiction.

Captain Ensara is one of those, a recurring non-player character my players enjoyed who was slightly sinister yet retained a ragged code of honor. And Jekka's cousin, Kalina, is my wife's character, down to her name and even her weapons. If you like those weapons Kalina carts around, and their names, that's all my wife Shannon's doing. I based Kalina's personality upon the way my wife plays her.

Honestly, Kalina is so much fun to see in action that when one campaign with her wrapped up I encouraged my wife to carry her over into the next. Certainly Kalina's one of her all time best characters. I don't know if you've seen this in your own games, but sometimes there's a character that just "sparks" reaction in other characters and helps create situations that deepen the world and provide hooks for other players to hang things on. (I'm not talking about the sort of character who needlessly creates drama or pulls the adventure off track.) I'm actually very fortunate to have a group that's so experienced that they all manage that spark at different times, but so far the rest of those characters haven't made the transfer to my fiction. Who knows, maybe one day the world will be ready for Ash and Kol and Quirok and Tylin...

For now, though, you've got a chance to get to know Jekka even better than you did in the first book. All your favorite survivors from the first book are there as well, including the heroic Ivrian and, of course, the daring Mirian Raas. It's my hope that you'll enjoy reading this new adventure as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Howard Andrew Jones
Pathfinder Tales Author

The King is Dead! Long Live the Queen!

Friday, March 10, 2017

Welcome to the next installment of Pathfinder Battles: Crown of Fangs reveals. This week, I'm starting with the Gray Maiden Captain. This figure is based off of art from the newly released Curse of the Crimson Throne Adventure Path Omnibus. WizKids did a great job in getting the details right for her plate mail. Great for anyone looking to play a female badass, whether it be cavalier, fighter, inquisitor, cleric, or war priest. The Gray Maiden Captain is an uncommon medium in the Crown of Fangs set.

Next we have Trinia Sabor, an iconic NPC from the Curse of the Crimson Throne Adventure Path. I love the texture of her chain shirt. While Trinia is a bard, this miniature could easily be used as a rogue, bard, investigator, or slayer. Trinia Sabor is a rare medium.

Lastly, but far from being close to the least, we have Queen Ileosa Arabasti, complete with her crown of fangs and awesome looking rapier. As the arch villain of the Curse of the Crimson Throne Adventure Path, she is designed to ruin your player's day, and enjoy doing it. This figure could be used as a sorcerer, wizard, rogue, or any noble character or npc. Queen Illeosa is a rare medium, and a definite must have figure for your Pathfinder collection.

Also, be sure to check out the fantastic Pathfinder Battles: Deep Cuts miniatures now available for preorder on paizo.com!

Michael Kenway
Director of Licensing

Starfinder Society, Paizo's Newest Organized Play Program

Wednesday, March 8, 2017

Immediately after the announcement of the Starfinder Roleplaying Game last PaizoCon, our community started speculating about an organized play program to support the new game. We spent the ensuing months looking at workflow and charting out a course that would enable us to have both Starfinder and Pathfinder organized play programs. It delights me to end speculation and announce the launch of Starfinder Society at Gen Con 50!

Introducing the Starfinder Society logo, designed by the talented Sarah Robinson!

Before the questions flood in, I want to note that we are still in the active planning phase, and may not have answers to everything yet. Over the next few months, the team will release more information via blog, podcast, and forum posts. If you have questions, please put yours in the comments section, and we will work to get them answered.

Who is working on Starfinder Society?

The structure is very similar to the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild. Tonya Woldridge will oversee the program, with John Compton taking on the role of lead developer of both the Pathfinder and Starfinder organized play campaigns. Developer Linda Zayas-Palmer will continue to focus on Pathfinder Society. We've added Thurston Hillman to the team as the dedicated developer for Starfinder Society. Thurston has been a part of Pathfinder Society since Season 1, when he authored Pathfinder Society Scenario #55:The Infernal Vault. Since then, he's both contributed many scenarios (and special events) to the Pathfinder Society as well as writing regularly for various other Pathfinder RPG lines. Thurston brings his depth of experience to the team, along with a bit of zany humor.

Is it going to be called "Starfinder Society?"

The official name is Starfinder Society Roleplaying Guild, or SFSRPG for short. The Starfinder game takes place in the distant future of the Pathfinder world, and while much has changed (or been forgotten), the Starfinder Society traces its mysterious history back to the Pathfinder Society of present day. The campaign's official name reflects this connection.

Are you making two separate organized play programs?

Yes. Although many similarities exist in structure and format, including a shared volunteer team, they are two separate campaigns with different rules, documentation, and characters.

Do I get to keep my same Pathfinder Society number?

Yes. What was your Pathfinder Society number will now be your number for all three of the Paizo-operated organized play programs: Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild, Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild, and Starfinder Society Roleplaying Guild. Starfinder character numbers will have a unique starting number, most likely 700, making your first Starfinder character XXX-701. The number 700 works really well for this, not only because it leaves space for plenty of Pathfinder Society roleplaying characters, but also because the PZO number (the number we assign to each of our products) begins with 7. Who knows, this bit of trivia may make it in to the PaizoCon quiz.

How much is staying the same from Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild?

We still have quests and scenarios with Chronicle sheets. Adventures will be broken into tiers, grant XP, and provide other rewards. Three experience points (XP) grant a level. There are fairly cooperative factions within the Starfinder Society, based on their worldview and goals. We will reveal more information about the campaign as we get closer to its launch in August 2017.

Illustration by Sebastien Hue

If all that is the same, what is different?

Starship combat!

On a more serious note, we made a couple major changes for Starfinder Society. The first is the tier system. We are closing the gap between subtiers that resulted in so much confusion and consternation with calculating average party level (APL). Starfinder scenarios will include the following tiers: Tier 1-2, Tier 1-4, Tier 3-6, Tier 5-8, Tier 7-10, and Tier 9-12—perhaps more as higher-level play grows in popularity.

The second most noticeable change is that characters have a means of belonging to more than one faction at a time. Unlike the current Pathfinder Society faction rules, Starfinder Society characters will be able to gain favor with multiple groups, choosing which they want to champion on a scenario-by-scenario basis. But just like multiclassing, focusing on several groups won't see the same benefits as focusing on a primary faction. These changes to the faction system tie in with another issue that we are addressing: the handling of boons. One of our goals is developing a way to make the boons on Chronicles more relevant, and not just a stack of paper player's stick in the back of their folder. We'll reveal more about these changes in... the future (see what I did there?)

What is the release schedule?

The Starfinder Society Roleplaying Guild launches with 3 scenarios, 1 pre-generated character special, and 1 quest pack at Gen Con. From there, we will publish one scenario a month. Moving to a slower release schedule allows us to spin up the program and settle into the groove of running three organized play programs. During this time, we will solicit feedback and assess the rate of publication for 2018 and beyond.

When can I start playing Starfinder Society?

The fun begins Thursday, August 17th, at 8:00 AM Pacific time in the Sagamore Ballroom at Gen Con. After Thursday morning, anyone, anytime, anywhere, may schedule Starfinder Society Roleplaying Guild events.

Next week sees John holding down the fort while I travel to the GAMA Trade Show in Las Vegas to chat with retailers about our organized play programs. The following Wednesday, March 22, at 7 pm PDT, John, Thurston, and I join the Know Direction crew for a Question and Answer session about all things organized play related. If you have topics you wish us to cover, feel free to drop me an email at tonya.woldridge@paizo.com and we will fit as many answers on the show as possible.

Check out the blog next Monday for more exciting organized play news!

Until next time—Explore, Report, Cooperate!

Tonya Woldridge
Organized Play Coordinator

Order of the Amber Die—The Strange Aeons Experiment, Part 4

Tuesday, March 7, 2017

On the trail of the person who condemned them to an asylum with no memory of their former selves, the Order of the Amber Die tackles the fourth adventure of the Strange Aeons Adventure Path. It looks like they had a great time (as usual), and this time around it was great to read the live tweeting from the Order's newest member—former Paizo intern Savannah Broadway.

Here's their report from their marathon experience with Pathfinder Adventure Path #112: The Whisper Out of Time! As always, proceed with caution if you are playing in this Adventure Path or planning to do so, as spoilers may lurk within the following words.

After reaching the Taldan port city of Cassomir and recovering from the madness that plagued several of our party members, our group was eager to chase Count Lowls further into this Adventure Path. We knew we were in for a long run when our GM booked an extra day for this marathon. We ended up setting an Order of the Amber Die record, staying in the same house for 93 hours, and playing over 60 of those. We also saw three of Golarion's signature cities, and traversed nearly 800 miles.

Making this marathon even more significant for us was the return of Savannah Broadway, taking the role of Winter Klaczka and leading "Winter's Wolves" to victory once again. We opened up the first night of play with an official draft ceremony, fully inducting Savannah into the Order—our first new member in three years! After presenting her with an official Order of the Amber Die jersey, it was time to settle in for a few days of Pathfinder.

To keep us fully immersed, we used AdventureScents to overwhelm our olfactory senses with the myriad smells of an alchemist's lab, followed by the moldy paper of an ancient library. For the streets of Cassomir, we combined buildings from Custom Kingdoms with a 4 ft. x 6 ft. gridded cobblestone battlemat from Deep-Cut Studio.

Highlights from The Whisper Out of Time

• In the top floors of an old infirmary, we chased a three-armed derro vivisectionist through a maze of skin. Enough said.
• Searching for the Mysterium, one of the oldest libraries on Golarion, we rolled into majestic Katheer to the sounds of Mosavo's "Mystic Caravan." While many dungeons we've crawled have contained a library, in this adventure the largest dungeon was a library.
• Before we could figure out how to shut off the Mysterium's warped defense system, we faced packs of hounds—of Tindalos! Sixteen slain was the number, with MVP Quinn taking on four at once in a plan gone awry.
• Going into this adventure, we knew we'd be up against author Richard Pett. Gaming convention crowds and the Paizo messageboards helped confirm that with Xanesha from Rise of the Runelords, he possessed perhaps more TPKs than any contemporary author. Though we managed to best her in 2014, Xanesha still put 4 of our iconics in the ground. Pett delivered again in this adventure. In the extradimensional heart of the library, we faced off against a corrupted archon known only as "The Keeper," who shook off three banishments and two hold monsters while draining over 20 ability points on round one. At a critical moment, he succumbed to the 1st level spell ill omen, and we managed a clean game.
• In Okeno, we had to navigate a difficult parley with the Hyena Princess Njano. Since two members are lawful good, our party tried everything—which meant slipping into her milk bath to discuss terms.
• On the rooftop of a gnoll fortress known as Blossoming Thorn, we got ourselves into the largest melee of the campaign thus far. An airwalking Quinn engaged Biting Lash, one of the most notorious slavers in the Yellow City. At the same time, Erasmus took on her bodyguard, scimitar versus scimitar. Alahazra slowed the reinforcements with bursts of radiance, while Winter provided Pharasma's blessing through Fateful Channel. As Feiya engaged their enemy sorcerer in an arcane duel, Daji jumped into the scrap by going after Biting Lash's eagle animal companion. Just as we were about to be overwhelmed, we grabbed our quarry and called for the teleport extraction. Mission successful.

The Experiment

We kept hearing creepy whispers and a strange bell throughout the adventure. We've gotten so used to the unexplainable in this Adventure Path, that we just wrote them off as more Lovecraftian enigmas that will be revealed in time.

Character Deaths

It turns out the cult of Hastur was more widespread than we thought. Cultists hunted us through the damp streets of Cassomir, leading to two deadly ambushes that resulted in casualties amounting to: several townsfolk, a byakhee, a few dire bats, a keeper of the yellow sign, and some members of the city guard. With the help of our cult hunter, we fought our way out of their tentacles, but lost Feiya both times.

Best Quote from Marathon 4

Alahazra (after slaying a Dark Young of Shub-Niggurath): "We just pissed off a Great Old One."
Winter (in a Russian accent): "It is having a thousand young, I don't think it is going to miss one..."

Current Situation

We've exchanged dark and fog-shrouded Ustalav for more sun and heat than we ever expected coming into this AP. Armed with a map, ample supplies, and gnoll guides provided by the untrustworthy slaver named Biting Lash, we're headed deep into the Parchlands of Casmaron for part five. Semi-finals, here we come!

More Content

Read through the entirety of The Strange Aeons Experiment.

For character builds, questions about Strange Aeons, content and more, see our thread here on the messageboards.

Give Order of the Amber Die a Like on Facebook and follow us on Instagram for more!

So, they made it through and are on the move again. Tune in next time to see if they can survive the Parchlands and the mysterious ruined city of Neruzavin.

Adam Daigle
Developer

Comic Cons and GM Stars

Monday, March 6, 2017

Last night the Pathfinder Society community of Seattle and I wrapped four days of demonstrating Pathfinder games at Emerald City Comic Con. Before working at Paizo I traveled to a fair number of cons, but they were mostly gaming-focused. My first exposure to the world of comic con style events was Fan Expo in Toronto. Larger than anything I attended prior and packed with big names in the film industry, it exceeded any expectations. Over the past two years, I've attended several other comic cons and come to enjoy the loads of people, colorful costumes, and variety of activities the shows present.

As I worked the information desk in the Pathfinder Society area, I compared the differences between comic cons I'd attended and other large conventions like Gen Con, PaizoCon, DragonCon, and Origins. In the latter, we have many tables of Pathfinder Society, but most of the attendees are there to play our games. They come bearing dice and characters, ready to play games, win boons, and enjoy themselves for scenario-sized blocks of time. At Emerald City, and by association other comic con style events, our audience is mostly people who have not heard of Pathfinder and their schedule is determined by gaps in panels they want to attend. This got me brainstorming about how best to approach this style of event and what sort of presentation would work best to intrigue those walking by enough to pull them in to see our games.

With my experience of comic cons being limited to a few events, I ask those that attend these gatherings and who plan events for this style of "demonstration" environment: How do you approach the event? What tools would make your event pop more? As an attendee, what does a group do that motivates you to spend more time in an area? Please comment below with your thoughts!

One of the items that we need, no matter what style of convention or show we attend, is GMs. And GMs who spend lots of time at conventions or local game days start tallying up the number of games they've offered to the community. Soon, a GM reaches the 10-game mark and earns their first star. Many go on to achieve their 2nd star by running 30 games, 3rd star by running 50 games, and 4th star by running 100 games. A small portion of the overall GM pool makes the milestone of 150+ games, of an expansive variety of scenarios and with ten of them being special events. These GMs achieve their 5th star and the acknowledgement of the time and effort it took to reach the milestone. This month, I am please to introduce your newest 5-star GMs:

• Jerad Bailey
• David Creighton
• Ryan Force
• Brian J Fruzen
• Dan Hennessey
• Roy Lewis
• David Neilson
• Matthew Owens
• O.J. Pinckert
• Caedmon Tracey
• Emery VanderHart
• Jeremy Wenrich

This week my to-do list includes sending out letters to Gen Con and PaizoCon volunteers and preparing materials for next week's GAMA Trade Show. Hosted by Game Manufacturers of America, it is a week conference for hobby retailers and industry professionals in Las Vegas. But before I take off for GAMA, the team and I have a bit of information to share with the community. Come back Wednesday and check out the blog for our not-to-miss newsflash!

Tonya Woldridge
Organized Play Coordinator

Dirty, Cheating Halflingsesss

Friday, March 3, 2017

Good Afternoon and Happy Friday!

This week in the lead up to Pathfinder Battles: Crown of Fangs, I will regale you with tales of second breakfasts, elevensies, and supper, along with a miniature that would likely enjoy man flesh (if it wasn't a miniature). To start, we have the Halfling Rogue. This dapper fellow is based off of art from the Hell's Vengeance Adventure Path, and was a member of the Bellflower Network. But whether you are battling the house of Thrune, or merely picking your party member's pockets, this miniature is highly versatile for any small folk character or NPC. The Halfling Rogue is a small common.

Next, we have the Halfling Archer. This miniature could be used as a ranger, hunter, rogue, druid, or fighter. If you like playing small characters, and want one that looks more adventurer than "I miss the Shire", this is the miniature for you. The Halfling Archer is also a small common.

Finally, we have Ury Sevenskulls, the leader of a tribe of undead hunting orcs. If you are familiar with the Curse of the Crimson Throne Adventure Path, then you know this NPC for the machine of death that he is. If not, you are in for a pleasant surprise. Thank me later. While he is an Orc, one could use him as a miniature for any half-orc character as well. Ury is a medium rare.

Stay tuned for more miniatures reveals next week!

Michael Kenway
Director of Licensing