Janira consults her notes, then stares at the box in her hands. She feels around the carved surface, fingers tracing the grooves etched in the wood. She pauses, her fingers splayed across the surface, as she looks back to the parchment spread out in front of her. Holding still, her fingers not moving from their assigned points on the box, she skims the notes again, then looks up at the grey-robed Pathfinder Initiate sitting across from her.

“Okay, Sidney! Before I apply pressure, I want you to confirm I’ve got the right points.”

The initiate reaches for the notes sitting before Janira, pulling the paper closer to them. Reading off the list of notes, they indicate pressure points necessary to open the box.

“Rose. Nasturtium. Gallardia. Poppy. Anemones. Strawberry. Primrose. Viola,” they intone.

Janira turns the box, careful not to move her fingers. “Check! Alright, step back now. If something goes wrong, only one of us needs to pay the consequences.”

Sidney moves across the room and opens the door, weight shifted to the balls of their feet for quick movement. They turn and look at Janira. “Are you sure you don’t want help?”

“Nope. I got this!” she replies cheerily, though a slight waver underlies her concern. “Ready?”

She applies pressure, her fingers depressing the centers of the flowers. A faint click echoes from deep inside the box. She smiles and tries to lift the top. Unsuccessful, she sighs. “Nope. Back to the notes. This puzzle won’t answer itself.”

Sidney returns to her side, shaking their head. “Unfortunate. We thought we had the answer.”

Janira frowns briefly and lets out a little sigh. “Not this time. But we won’t give up. There are more records to comb and papers to go through. How about you head down to the library and see if they’ve dug up any more information. I’ll go check with Master of Scrolls Kreighton Shaine and see if he’s in a mood to talk about the box or still waxing poetic about the new blooms in the south garden.”

Clapping Sidney on the shoulder, Janira smiles. “Don’t give up hope, Sidney. We’ll get through this sooner or later.”

---

A quick Pathfinder Society (second edition) Achievement Point (AcP) update. We’ve dug into the issues, kicked a few things loose, and as a result, seen some changes in player and GM AcP numbers. Unfortunately, they still aren’t reflecting all games at the right totals. Looking into the number discrepancies, we think we have identified some of the issues holding back the rollout of Achievement Points. This week, we’re working on some implementation plans and will have another update next week as part of the May Update!

For those that didn’t see it yet, PaizoCon is back as PaizoCon Online! Check out Monday’s blog post for more information.

Until next time,

Explore, Report, Cooperate – and Wash Hands!

Tonya Woldridge
Organized Play Manager

Immerse yourself in the adventure with the colorful Extinction Curse, Attack of the Swarm! and The Threefold Conspiracy Dice Sets.

Q WORKSHOP has unveiled official Adventure Path dice sets designed and manufactured for the Pathfinder Extinction Curse, Starfinder Attack of the Swarm! and Starfinder The Threefold Conspiracy under a license with Paizo. Each is a complete set of seven polyhedral dice (d4, d6, d8, d10, d100, d12, d20) made from durable plastic and designed with precision engravings.

Two Pathfinder Extinction Curse Adventure Path Dice Sets

Pathfinder Extinction Curse Adventure Path Performer's and Entertainer's dice sets

The Extinction Curse Adventure Path is a six-part, monthly campaign in which the heroes lead a traveling circus as they unravel a plot to eradicate all life from the islands of the Inner Sea. These sets include dice in red and blue, with yellow painting in complexly carved engravings. The Performer's set contains a blue d20, d10, and d4. The Entertainer’s set is made with a red d20, d10, and d4. On the highest face, there is the symbol of a circus tent to help players take the stage and win the crowd.

Starfinder Attack of the Swarm! Adventure Path Dice Set

Starfinder Attack of the Swarm! Adventure Path dice set and limited edition dice set

The theme for this campaign is the invasion of the Swarm - a highly intelligent and always hungry monolithic hive-mind with gargantuan living ships. This set is glacier blue with cloudy admixture that resembles mist covering dangers, emerging out of the blue. Q WORKSHOP adorned the faces with pale yellow painting to mark the digits looking like insects and larvae. On the highest faces of all dice, there are symbols of the archenemy of the campaign - the Swarm.

You can also aquire a Limited Edition with deep black painting to mark the digits and engravings.

Starfinder The Threefold Conspiracy Adventure Path Dice Set

Starfinder The Threefold Conspiracy Adventure Path dice set

The Threefold Conspiracy Adventure Path is a six-part, monthly campaign in which the heroes unravel the machinations of insidious aliens who have infiltrated galactic society. Imagine that there are dice for revealing cosmic conspiracy theories. These dice could be a player’s best choice in their fight against twisted alien masterminds and their sinister plot. This set is dark gray with yellow paint to mark the digits and rich engravings. The whole design is inspired by science fiction movie thrillers, where the enemy is alien, unknown and hidden in dark corners of spaceships. On the highest face, there is the symbol of mysterious three triangles that symbolize three layers of space conspiracy.

Each dice set has a $13.00 MSRP and available today at paizo.com and q-workshop.com.

Adventures Ahead!

Aaron Shanks
Marketing and Media Manager

Continuing our series looking back on Pathfinder fiction, including free web fiction and short fiction, we now turn to novels!

Pathfinder Tales Novels

Draw your sword and charge forth into a world of adventure with Pathfinder Tales, official novels that further explore the fascinating world of the Pathfinder and the Lost Omens setting. Within these pages, the fantastical world of Golarion comes to life as never before, exploding with wild tales of sword and sorcery from the genre's master storytellers.

Pathfinder Tales novels are standalone adventures written by some of fantasy's bestselling authors, all set in the lovingly detailed world of Golarion. Here are the same nations, characters, and monsters that have inspired gamers around the world to new heights of imagination. Now journey through Golarion as you never have before, through the eyes of canny warriors and flippant scoundrels, and see firsthand why the Pathfinder world has twice earned the prestigious ENnie Award for Best Campaign Setting.

Thirty-eight titles are available in print and 42 are in ePub format and all are on sale now! Additionally, some are also available as a digital eBook Edition at Kindle, B&N Nook, iBooks, eBooks.com, Google Play, Kobo, and Audiobook Edition at Audible and iTunes!

From New York Times best seller Elaine Cunningham comes Pathfinder Tales: Winter Witch, a fantastic new adventure of swords and sorcery!

From New York Times bestselling author and legendary game designer Ed Greenwood comes Pathfinder Tales: The Wizard's Mask, a new adventure of magic, monsters, and unlikely friendships.

From Hugo Award winner Tim Pratt comes Pathfinder Tales: Reign of Stars, City of the Fallen Sky, and the trilogy Liar's Blade, Liar's Island, and Liar's Bargain!

And there are so many more. At these prices, you can read them all!

Adventures Ahead!

Aaron Shanks
Marketing and Media Manager

From ancient dungeons and chases, to dinosaurs, squads, and pawns, Paizo’s April 2020 new releases offer an abundance of riches for you and your friends to embark on heroic escapades!

Pathfinder Adventure Path #154: Siege of the Dinosaurs (Extinction Curse 4 of 6)

The heroes and their circus arrive in Willowside, a swamp community in dire need of diversion from the relentless expansion of the blighted land known as the Welt. Willowside soon experiences a problem of a different sort, as dinosaur-riding xulgaths blockade the town. The heroes mount a defense of the village and learn what has brought the xulgaths to this isolated settlement. When the heroes break the siege, they learn that the xulgaths follow a monstrous ex-slave and have forsaken their directive to assault a nearby aeon tower. The tower's current occupants know more, and put the heroes on the path to reach the fifth and final aeon orb.

“Siege of the Dinosaurs” is a Pathfinder adventure for four 13th-level characters. This adventure continues the Extinction Curse Adventure Path, a six-part, monthly campaign in which the heroes lead a traveling circus as they unravel a plot to eradicate all life from the islands of the Inner Sea. This volume also includes a gazetteer of the town of Willowside and lore about the inhabitants of the Abyssal realm of Gluttondark, as well as new monsters and xulgath-themed rules.

Each monthly full-color softcover Pathfinder Adventure Path volume contains an in-depth adventure scenario, stats for several new monsters, and support articles meant to give Game Masters additional material to expand their campaign. Pathfinder Adventure Path volumes use the Open Game License and work with both the Pathfinder RPG and the world's oldest fantasy RPG.

Watch: Pathfinder Second Edition: Extinction Curse

Pathfinder Chase Cards Deck

Whether you're the hunter or the hunted, Pathfinder Chase Cards make your choices during the pursuit matter. Each full-color card in this beautifully illustrated 55-card deck contains obstacles to overcome during your chase, from an angry barking dog to an imposing stone wall, each one using checks from the Pathfinder Second Edition Roleplaying Game. Make the right check to overcome the obstacles and you might just catch your prey, but fail and you might be left with a cold trail. Lay the cards down on your table to create the path of your chase, allowing you to track each character's progress and determine the die rolls needed to avoid or navigate unexpected dangers. Lay out a desperate pursuit through a crowded city, a dangerous race through hostile wilderness, and a nerve-wracking run through deadly ruins and abandoned buildings—or mix and match the cards to create a chase that moves through multiple regions!

Watch: How to use Infiltration & Chase Rules from the Pathfinder 2E Gamemastery Guide

Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Bigger Ancient Dungeon

Some dungeons are older and greater than others! Each side of this Flip-Mat features a different massive ancient dungeon. One side features an enormous and ancient dungeon sprawl on the edge of a volcano, while the other is ancient mausoleum under a ruined city. Don't waste your time sketching when you could be playing. With Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Bigger Ancient Dungeon, you'll be ready next time your players want to delve deep into the ancient past, with all its dangers!

Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Bigger Ancient Dungeon measures 27 by 39 inches, which gives you 45% more gaming space than the standard Pathfinder Flip-Mat. On tabletops across the world, the Flip-Mat Revolution is changing the way players run their fantasy roleplaying games! Why take the time to sketch out ugly scenery on a smudgy plastic mat when dynamic encounters and easy cleanup is just a Flip away?

Pathfinder Society Scenario #1-18: Lodge of the Living God

A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for levels 1–4 (subtiers 1–2 and 3–4).

An unexpected alliance begins! The masked priest Narsen invites the Pathfinders to the city of Xer in Razmiran, a closed nation dedicated to Razmir, the Living God. Normally insular and isolated, access to Razmiran represents a unique opportunity for the Pathfinder Society. Narsen has even sweetened the pot by offering to fund the repair of an old keep to serve as the Society's new lodge. As the first Pathfinders arrive to oversee repairs on the lodge-to-be, will this mark the historic first moment in an unlikely partnership, or will it trigger a disaster of unmitigated proporitions?
Written by: Alex Greenshields

Pathfinder Society Scenario #1-19: Iolite Squad Alpha

A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for levels 3–6 (subtiers 3–4 and 5–6).

The newly formed hobgoblin nation of Oprak has reached out to the Pathfinder Society in the name of diplomacy. Mindful of the aid Oprak could provide against the threat of the Whispering Tyrant, the Society has dispatched the PCs to escort a trial squad of hobgoblin recruits and run them through some in-the-field Pathfinder training. Will the Iolite Squad be the first in a new wave of Pathfinders, or are Oprak’s attempts at diplomacy doomed to go up in smoke?
Written by: Mike Kimmel

Pathfinder Society Quest #9: Wayfinder Origins

A Pathfinder Society Quest designed for levels 3–6 (subtiers 3–4 and 5–6).

The Pathfinder Society has sent an expedition to a previously uncharted island! The island contains a door sealed with a type of magical technology thought lost with the ancient Azlanti empire. What secrets lie behind the door, and what dangers may lurk beneath the island's surface? To find out, the PCs will first have to solve the magical "puzzle" sealing the door and preventing contact with whatever lies beyond.
Written by: Dustin Knight

Starfinder Adventure Path #27: Deceivers’ Moon (The Threefold Conspiracy 3 of 6)

On their voyage through space back to the Pact Worlds, the heroes and their new Stewards allies begin to realize disturbing gaps in their recent memory, missing moments of lost time replaced with dreamlike impressions of imprisonment, surgery, and shadows. A Stewards base on a fiery moon of the gas giant Bretheda seems to offer respite from paranoia and pursuit, but unseen enemies lurk even in the heart of the system's most powerful institutions, and the web of alien conspiracy enshrouds all of the Pact Worlds!

“Deceivers' Moon” is a Starfinder Roleplaying Game adventure for four 5th-level characters. This adventure continues the Threefold Conspiracy Adventure Path, a six-part, monthly campaign in which the heroes unravel the machinations of insidious aliens who have infiltrated galactic society. This book also includes an article describing the insidious reptoids, a catalog of starships used by the Unseen, and a selection of new monsters, including cryptids from the Starfinder setting.

Each monthly full-color softcover Starfinder Adventure Path volume contains a new installment of a series of interconnected science-fantasy quests that together create a fully developed plot of sweeping scale and epic challenges. Each 64-page volume of the Starfinder Adventure Path also contains in-depth articles that detail and expand the Starfinder campaign setting and provide new rules, a host of exciting new monsters and alien races, a new planet to explore and starship to pilot, and more!

Watch: How to run a Conspiracy Campaign - Game Master Advice

Starfinder Pawns: Attack of the Swarm! Pawn Collection

Key aliens and NPCs from the Attack of the Swarm! Adventure Path come alive on your tabletop with the Attack of the Swarm! Pawn Collection, featuring more than 100 creature pawns for use with the Starfinder Roleplaying Game or any tabletop science-fantasy RPG! Printed on sturdy cardstock, each pawn presents a beautiful full-color image of an alien, NPC, or starship from the Attack of the Swarm! campaign, including the devouring Swarm, brave soldiers, beneficent mystics, and dozens of unique creatures.

The Attack of the Swarm! Pawn Collection, together with the creatures and characters from the Starfinder Alien Archive Pawn Box and Starfinder Core Rulebook Pawn Collection, provides pawns for nearly every Attack of the Swarm! encounter. Each cardstock pawn slots into a size-appropriate plastic base from the Alien Archive Pawn Box, making the pawns easy to mix with traditional metal or plastic miniatures. With tons of distinct images, the Attack of the Swarm! Pawn Collection brings to life the enemies and allies from all six adventures of the Attack of the Swarm! Adventure Path.

Watch: Starfinder: Attack of the Swarm!

Starfinder Society Scenario #2-21: Illegal Shipment Starfinder Society

A Starfinder Society Scenario designed for levels 1-4 (subtiers 1-2 & 3-4).

As the Swarm invades the distant Suskillon system, a notorious collector of alien life captures several Swarm lifeforms with the intent of selling them to interested buyers. Bringing these creatures to Absalom Station as part of a clandestine trade, events go awry and the trader's preserved wildlife escape into the station. In order to prevent station-wide panic, the Starfinder Society sends its best agents to find out what happened, track down the escaped Swarm lifeforms, and stop a full-scale infestation at the heart of the Pact Worlds!
Written by: Joseph Blomquist

Starfinder Society Scenario #2-22: Rasheen's Reception

A Starfinder Society Scenario designed for levels 5-8 (subtiers 5-6 & 7-8).

Hot on the trail of the lost treasure fleet of the famous Pact Worlds explorer, Jelev Rasheen, the Starfinder Society finds the next clue in the path leading to the Near Space territory of the Marixah Republic. The PCs travel to this burgeoning stellar nation in search of the next leg of Rasheen's journey, and soon find themselves thrust into the politics of the region and as sudden facilitators of an ancient family pledge.
Written by: Mara Lynn Butler

Adventures Ahead!

Aaron Shanks
Marketing and Media Manager

Get ready to stay safe at home as you play awesome Pathfinder and Starfinder games with friends around the world!

Paizo is excited to announce that PaizoCon 2020 will be online! The annual game convention of all-things-Paizo, originally scheduled for Memorial Day Weekend in Seattle, will fall-back, regroup, and expand to six days of gaming at a safe social distance online May 26-31.

The event will include seminars and live-plays on Twitch, games scheduled via Warhorn and run on a variety of VTT platforms such as Roll20, Fantasy Grounds, Astral, and D20Pro, an official PaizoCon Online Discord server as a general hangout for con-goers, plus blogs on paizo.com, and more!

A PaizoCon Online 2020 homepage with schedules, game registration, and more details is scheduled to go live on May 1. Players can create a paizo.com account and get an organized play number in preparation today. GMs can sign up at Warhorn. For more information, email paizocononline@paizo.com.

Adventures Ahead!

Aaron Shanks
Marketing and Media Manager

Welcome again to another exciting week! We hope you have been staying safe and sound with all the troubles going on in the world. As we are all stuck at home, we invite you to join Paizo and friends during our daily broadcasts where we play Pathfinder & Starfinder with you!

Be aware that some of the shows on the schedule may be canceled at any moment. We prioritize our employees and content creator’s safety over their productions as we all deal with the current pandemic, we apologize in advance if plans abruptly change from what’s scheduled here.

So here is what’s happening this week at OfficialPaizo on Twitch!

Pathfinder 2E Extinction Curse with Squiiddish, April 27, 1:00 p.m. Pacific

The Circus of Wayward Wonders has just arrived in the remote town of Abberton, and the 2 Perception crew are the stars of the show! After an unfortunate event the crew finds themselves in charge of keeping the show alive. But, how will they fare?

Squiddish with the 2 Perception crew streams the Pathfinder Second Edition Adventure Path Extinction Curse every Monday at 1:00 P.M. on Squiiddish’s Twitch channel here. We will be hosting this show on the OfficialPaizo Twitch channel.

Crits & Giggles by Dragons & Things April 27, 5:00 p.m. Pacific

Join the Dragons & Things crew as they adventure through the Pathfinder First Edition Reign of Winter Adventure Path! Feature Jamie Mills as the Game Master controlling the fates of Candice Berge, Ben Burch, Katie Wilson, Jim Jam, and Meghan Caves. Will these amazing actors survive this winter? Tune into their twitch channel at 5 p.m. Pacific to join in the adventure!

Pathfinder: Kingmaker with Paizo, April 28, 1:00-4:00 p.m. Pacific

Did you know that our Social Media Producer Payton Smith never played Kingmaker? I know right!? We brought in Pathfinder’s Creative Director James Jacobs to hop in and be Payton’s Guide to Golarion. So if you’ve been curious about the history of Pathfinder, it’s lore, or overall want to get to know us. Join us on Paizo’s Official Twitch Channel and for all that is good in this world, help keep Payton alive as he journeys through the River Kingdoms corner of Golarion.

Starfinder X.T.R.E.M.!, April 29, 2:00-5:00 p.m. Pacific

Whether for fame, fortune, or just for the sport of it, various planets and cities host underground wrestling matches where the rules are as light as your wallet. But even before the matches begin, there are mysteries and problems to solve.

Join our XTREM! adventure where Managing Developer & co-creator of Starfinder Amanda Hamon tells the story of how four star-fairing Paizo employees handle themselves in the amateur wrestling ring!

Your wrestlers are…

• Social Media Producer Payton Smith as Kord aka “Bear Drills”, the Vanguard Uplifted Bear
• Front-End Engineering Lead Andrew White as Daeve "The Litigator" Palanchuk, the Dirindi Witchwarper
• Developer Jason Tondro as Hieronomo Jones, the Kasatha Solarian
• Senior Developer John Compton as Trehwas, La Malscripcion, the Embri Biohacker

Pungeon Crawl, April 29, 5:00-9:00 p.m. Pacific

Note: Pungeon Crawl will now be hosted on the Paizo Twitch channel instead of being streamed directly. You can find BBWolfe’s twitch channel to support the show here.

"The results of the breakfast sweepstakes are in and The Biggest Darn Heroes of the Pact Worlds are about to get a new set of legally-distinct sidekicks as the Pungeon Crawl returns! Join the Deep Space Defenders as we find out if a handful of breakfast cereal contest-selected weirdos can keep up with your favorite syndicated space saviors! Sent on a mission with REAL HEROES, they’ll be put to the test as things go wrong, while on camera the entire time! As their situation develops the heroes’ morale may falter, but with the help of you, the faithful viewers, your favorite heroes can grip success from the jaws of failure! Wednesday nights 8e/7c only on Paizo!"
- BBWolfe

Streamed on OfficialPaizo on Twitch.

Side Quest Side Sesh by GlassCannonPodcast April 30, 5:00 p.m. Pacific

Our heroes travel through the inter webway of the world wide web to gather together and battle in a game of rolling dice to achieve critical success in these various side quest side sessions playing through various Pathfinder stories.

Catch the GlassCannonPodcast crew live on their twitch channel, or hosted on Paizo’s Official Twitch Channel.

The Band of Bravos!, May 1, 2:00 - 5:00 p.m. Pacific

A troupe of performing adventurers find themselves hired to put on the show of a lifetime, but when the curtain rises, they quickly learn that they are the stars of a far more dangerous quest.

Join Paizo employees as they brave the absolute horrors that Director of Game Design, Jason Bulmahn has prepared for them.

Your adventuring party comprises…

• Social Media Producer Payton Smith as Lorn Barnes, Human Wizard
• Web Content Manager Maryssa Lagervall as Ilana Thistlefoot, Halfling Druid
• Developer Jason Keeley as Roark Thunderbird, Tengu Swashbuckler
• Pathfinder Creative Director James Jacobs as Shensen, Half-Elf Bard

Dragons & Things, May 1, 6:00 p.m. Pacific

The original crew is back with another online adventure! Join the Krag Krew for another Pathfinder adventure filled with laughs and love, all played online! Stay safe indoors and enjoy your favorite drink while watching this group of amazing actors role play and slay their way through Golarion!

Catch them live on their twitch channel, or hosted on Paizo’s Official Twitch Channel.

Arcane Mark, May 2, 10:00 a.m. Pacific Arcane Mark is a stream with Design Manager Mark Seifter and Organized Play Lead Developer Linda Zayas-Palmer covering all sorts of RPG and Pathfinder-related topics, from GM Tools to Design Diaries to Workshops. Thursday episodes are always interviews, usually covering Paizo staff you might not have seen as often in other interviews. Catch them live on Paizo’s Official Twitch Channel, or directly on their channel here. (We will be prioritizing Glass Cannon for the broadcast times on Thursday. But once Glass Cannon ends the channel should switch back to Arcane Mark)

Age of Ashes with Squiddish, May 2, 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Pacific

“Fires burn atop the ruined citadel on Hellknight Hill, sending plumes of red smoke into the air that could be a call for help. Now a gang of adventurers rise together to investigate the current conflict. How will they handle the Hellknights? Will they all burn in horrendous fire? Tune into this new Pathfinder Second Edition live play show!

Squiddish with the 2 Perception crew streams on the OfficialPaizo on Twitch channel every week at 2 p.m. Pacific.

Court of Corvids with QueueTimes, May 3, 4:30 p.m.

Court of Corvids is an actual play show that takes place in a homebrew setting using the Pathfinder Second Edition ruleset. It is currently on hiatus having finished its second story arc but will return with a brand new one on Sunday, February 23rd at 4:30 p.m. Pacific.

In this setting, facts and fiction blur together. In fact, the story began with a lie, one that grew so much it became the central pillar for an entire community…that is until the party stumbled upon the truth and brought it all down. Since then, they’ve been on the road, trying to find their place in a vast world they didn’t even know existed for most of their lives.

The party, taken through this world by GM and occult enthusiast Jacob Kile, consists of:

• Croog Claudel, played by Croog: A human monk searching for his long-lost siblings, hoping to make amends when he finds them.
• Moss the Magnificent, played by Molly McIsaac: An Elven Sorcerer trying to recapture the fame she had back home.
• Robyn Way, played by Jonas Newhouse: A Gnome druid desperate to hide from her former life and family. She’s married to Remi.
• Remi Ashwillow, played by William White: The Goblin fighter and Robyn’s partner is just trying to make friends and live life after being stuck in a cult for many years.

Catch Court of Corvids being hosted live on Paizo’s Official Twitch Channel, or directly on their channel here.

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We've added a new Forum for Streaming & Actual Play discussions. If you have any questions you’d like to submit for our Q&A segments at the end of our Starfinder Wednesdays or Pathfinder Fridays you can do so in our Forums.

Pathfinder Fridays Fan Club

Starfinder Wednesdays Fan Club

If you have a Pathfinder or Starfinder stream, post it under Third Party Broadcasts.

Catch us live at our Official Twitch Channel. Catch the Video On Demand (VOD) on Twitch immediately after it is done or a week later on our YouTube channel.

Valeros is another Pathfinder Adventure Card Game character that I hadn’t played much, mainly because I considered him simple, especially in his Rise of the Runelords form, where his main power was just to not discard. He’s become a bit more interesting over the years, and I love the fact that the new Core Set abstraction converts him into a sword and shield fighter.

As always, I suggest checking out the related Core Design article, which discusses how Valeros evolved in the Core Set.

Core Set Valeros

Best Skill: Strength (d10)
Character Type: Warrior, Melee

Skills. Valeros doesn’t have the Strength of Amiri, but d10 isn’t bad. Overall, it’s pretty easy to remember his strengths and weaknesses: physical stats are good, mental stats are bad. Valeros makes up for his d10 die with four different subskills. He can choose to fight hand-to-hand (Melee: Strength +2) or from afar (Ranged: Dexterity +1). Melee is on average two points better, but Ranged is a slight rarity, shared by just two other Core Set characters: Fumbus and Harsk. So Valeros might go in that direction just to have a protected niche. Otherwise, Valeros’ subskills are all common as dirt: Diplomacy, Fortitude, and Melee are shared by five different characters each!

Weaknesses. Valeros’s d4 is in Intelligence. He probably doesn’t care.

Cards. Valeros’s focus is obviously on combat, with weapons (4) and armors (3) taking up almost half of his card slots. Valeros also has a good count of allies (3) and blessings (3), which gives him plenty of opportunity to take additional turns. Besides his total lack of spells (0), Valeros is also somewhat limited in items (2), which gives him slightly less variability. Unlike some versions of Valeros, the Core Set character won’t get his hand clogged with weapons, as he can cycle them for local combat bonuses. Nonetheless, he’ll probably want to increase his counts of weapons, items, allies, and blessings in tandem, to remain a balanced character. Valeros is a great example of how to build a balanced character without a lot of complexity, which is what makes him (still) a simple character.

Allies. If you’re planning to pick the Compatriot role for Valeros, allies are especially important. Allies with local powers are especially complementary for Valeros, as he should be teaming up with other people, so take a look at cards like the Bodyguard, the Crow, or the Soldier. Compatriot Valeros will also be able to recover allies from the discard pile, so don’t be afraid of those scant allies that have discard-only abilities (like the Merchant in Curse of the Crimson Throne).

Armor. Because Valeros is proficient with armor, he’ll want the good stuff that requires proficiencies for full usage. Spiked Half-Plate gives some nice combat bonuses, while Chain Mail can be buried to fully resist damage (and maybe even recharged). There are many others. Though most characters don’t like shields because they have no display power and so tend to get stuck in the hand, that’s not a problem for Valeros since he can choose to recharge or reload one at the end of his turn. Something like the Covering Heavy Shield, which can be used to protect others, is particularly nice for a low-level Valeros (though a higher-level Valeros Compatriot can get a similar power on every shield).

Blessings. Valeros is sometimes a follower of Cayden Cailean, but he might also want blessings from Gorum (which tend to help physical combat), Torag (which tend to boost Strength and Constitution), or Lamashtu (for killing monsters).

Items. If you’re planning for the Drunken Avenger role, you might want to stock up on Liquids. This tends to mean Alchemical items, although there are a few exceptions, including Holy Water and Liquid Courage in Curse of the Crimson Throne. To hold on to these items, Valeros will have to take the Liquid proficiency power feat (which will also give him a 1d12 bonus to the various Craft or Divine roles needed to recharge).

Weapons. Valeros is a sword-and-board fighter, so he’ll want to grab all the Sword weapons, right? Not necessarily. In the Core Set, Sword weapons tend to activate their special powers when they reload, but since Valeros can recharge or reload weapons from his discard pile, he may want to consider grabbing more powerful non-Sword weapons that discard for their main ability, such as the Battleaxe or Mace, or even ranged weapons like the ever-popular Deathbane Light Crossbow. Obviously, Sword weapons that discard, like the Dogslicer, are great choices too. And since Valeros’ favored card is specifically Sword weapons, you may want to limit yourself to just one favorite one, ensuring you start every game with it in hand. (And that does suggest that all of this strategy goes against Valeros’ intended theming, but so be it: mechanics rule.) Just be sure not to grab Two-Handed weapons unless you’re explicitly avoiding shields.

The Power of Fighting

Valeros’ combat-focused feats are all pretty easy to use, but there’s nonetheless some subtlety in them too.

Stick with Your Fellows. Valeros has always been a team player, and that remains the case in his Core Set incarnation. Not only can he add to local combat checks by temporarily giving up his weapons and armor, but his roles have some additional team-up powers, and he’s also a cheap avenge (more on which momentarily). So, the simplest rule for Valeros is: hang with your buds. You might stay with another character who can support local characters (creating a synergistic relationship) or you might support someone who’s not a fighter. Of course, you could team up with someone who meets both of those criteria: Lem is a particularly great fellow for Valeros.

Clarification: What is a local check? Local means “at your location” (see page 6 of the Core Set rules), so a local check is a check by a character at your location—including yourself. The important thing to remember about Valeros’s ability to add a bonus to local combat checks is that he can help his friends or himself(!).

Use Swords (and Armor) as Damage. Because of Valeros’ ability to recharge discarded weapons and armor, you should discard those cards when you take damage, because you can put one back into his deck each turn. Make sure you don’t empty your hand of weapons, but if you have extras, you can toss them into the discards. Armor will more often be used to reduce damage than discarded as damage, but when an armor just doesn’t protect from the right sort of damage (or alternatively, when it might have to be buried or banished otherwise), then it should be thrown out, to later be recovered.

Clarification: Can you discard displayed armor as damage? No. When you display a card, it is “not part of [your] hand, deck, or discards” (see page 7 of the Core Set rules). But that also means that you get to keep your displayed armor, even when you empty your hand due to damage. There are times when you might make that decision!

Avenge Your Friends. One of the reasons that Valeros should stick with his friends is so that he can avenge them. For most characters, avenging is expensive, requiring them to bury a card), but Valeros can make the cost more bearable (by discarding, which he can recover if it’s a weapon or armor) or even cheap (if he buys the “recharge to avenge” feat). Though avenging doesn’t save the original character from the bad effects of losing an encounter, it usually saves an exploration’s worth of time (presuming that Valeros doesn’t expend a card that would otherwise give him another exploration) and it’s particularly helpful when fighting a villain that would otherwise escape.

Clarification: What can you avenge? A “local” character can avenge “an undefeated bane” (see page 10 of the Core Set rules). This typically means they can fight a monster or a barrier that a local character failed to beat. This can include a summoned bane, which can be used to good effect. (For example, a local character might have drawn a Warband barrier, which causes everyone to fight a monster. If the local character lost their own fight against the monster, Valeros could choose to avenge the original Warband card, which would cause everyone to fight again, but he’d do better to avenge the monster fight.) It can also include avenging a villain, because you are “ignoring steps and effects that would cause the bane to go anywhere.” Note, however, that you can’t avenge most location closing attempts, because they’re typically just die rolls, not banes. The exception, obviously, is when closing summons a bane that must be defeated!

Take Your Choice of Power Feats. Most characters have a power feat that goes straight to the heart of their character powers, and is thus a pretty obvious first choice. For Valeros, the closest is the ability to increase his local combat help from +1d4 to +1d6, an average of a +1 increase on every local combat roll. But his 4 hand size is brutally low, and should be increased to 5 quickly—especially since providing help requires him to have cards in his hand—so that’s another strong first choice. Finally, a Diplomacy scarcity in the party might cause him to go in that direction. (The ability to avenge with a recharge is perhaps the least compelling as a first power feat.)

The Power of Cycling

Valeros isn’t one of the legendary cyclers like Lem and Seoni, but in the Core Set, he can do a solid job of keeping his cards flowing.

Cycle Your Deck. Cycling your deck—drawing new cards into your hand and putting old cards back into your draw pile—is a particularly important aspect of the game. It ensures your hand doesn’t get clogged with cards you don’t use and it digs through your deck to the good stuff. Fortunately, Valeros has multiple ways to cycle. He can choose to either reload or recharge armors or weapons to grant combat bonuses, so he should do so in a way that spreads each type of card out over the entirety of his deck. Sometimes, Valeros will want to provide a bonus in combat even when the odds are already pretty good, just to clear his hand. And don’t forget about his power to recharge at the end of the turn: though the best use is to recharge a card from Valeros’s discard pile (providing a bit of healing), you can also recharge from Valeros’s hand to help clear it, especially if he didn’t have a combat encounter on his turn.

Clarification: Can you reload or recharge a displayed armor? No, because it’s not in your hand. Valeros’ end-of-the-turn recharge power clearly says that the card has to be in his hand or discard. His help-a-local power isn’t as specific, but the rules (see page 8) clarify this situation: “If you are instructed to play, reveal, display, reload, discard, recharge, bury, banish, or otherwise manipulate a card, that card must come from your hand unless you are activating a power on a displayed card.” So, if you want to be able to use one of Valeros’ armors to help someone out, don’t display it. (Usually, this means you should display your armor just before you draw cards, to have it available up to that minute.)

The Valeros Roles

Valeros’ two roles are clearly segregated: the Compatriot is all about allies and the Drunken Avenger is all about Liquid boons. Choose the one that suits your play and Valeros’ deck better—though if you’re playing the Core Set that’s likely to be Compatriot just because of the paucity of Liquids in that set.

Compatriot. This lets Valeros easily acquire allies and use them to fuel his powers. The ability to acquire an ally that a local character missed is one of his best powers, and almost always worth it, as you’re usually trading a so-so card for a go-again. This role also makes Valeros’ shields better than ever. Generally, take this role if you’ve collected shields or allies or if you’re focused on Valeros’ supportive role.

Drunken Avenger. Similarly, this role lets Valeros easily acquire Liquids and use them to fuel his powers. That might be a little weak currently just because of the limited number of Liquids in the Core Set and Curse of the Crimson Throne, but it’s a lot of fun. The role also offers some powers to make Valeros’s avenging more powerful, plus what may be the worst power in the game: one that forces Valeros to move randomly, but lets him heal when he does so. Since most games are won or lost on character positioning, this can be horrible—but somewhat resolvable if you also have Amiri in your party. Generally, take this role if you’ve collected Liquids, if you’ve focused on Valeros’s avenging role, or if you just want something that’s funny and fun.

Shannon Appelcline
Game Historian

Hello everyone! The Organized Play team has been hard at work on the summer round of scenarios, including the launch of Starfinder Society’s third year: the previously announced Year of Exploration’s Edge. At this time, we still plan on launching the new year at virtual Origins, an online convention scheduled for June 19-21, 2020, with the release of our first few Starfinder scenarios, though we won’t be releasing the interactive special #3-00: The Last Bite at that time. More information will be available shortly, we are just waiting on confirmation of details from the Origins team.

As with every new year of Starfinder Society play, the Organized Play team, in conjunction with our amazing Art Team, puts together a new symbol to represent the events of the upcoming year. The three different images within this year’s symbol really tie-in with three distinct story arcs scheduled to come out as part of this upcoming year of content—we also couldn’t help but sneak in more art of the Starfinder Society’s newest vessel, the Gorgon! We really think that this symbol brings together a lot of what the upcoming set of scenarios is going to deliver.

Credit to Michele Giorgi

One big change in this year is an entirely new cover layout for scenarios that more closely matches the covers of other Starfinder adventure products. In order to make this change, not to mention get some cool looking art for an updated website, we needed a half-page art piece that really showcased what the Year of Exploration’s Edge was all about. Keen eyes may notice that the right-hand side of the image is a bit sparse, but fear not, the team is going to be filling that space with art throughout the year!

Credit to Michele Giorgi

There’s still a few weeks before we start showcasing our new scenarios, including some new pretty useful updates to layout that should be welcome by both Organized Play participants and those GMs looking to run adventures outside of Organized Play. Until then, stay tuned to this blog for the latest updates on Starfinder Society and Organized Play!

Until next time,

Thurston Hillman
Starfinder Society Developer

Tonya Woldridge
Organized Play Manager

Ambrus reaches up and pinches the bridge of his nose, looking away from the stacks of reports piled on his desk. The reports got a little harder to read each year, and not just the ones with the names of friends and students listed in the casualty reports.

“About time for someone from the next generation to take over,” Ambrus mutters to himself. “Fola hasn’t won over the entire Decemvirate yet, but she will if she just spends a bit more time at the lodge. Ah well, no point dwelling on things to come when there’s a task to be done now.”

Finishing his sentence, Ambrus plucks the next report off the pile in front of him. “Muesello’s team is all outfitted... Good. If we’re going to claim the wayfinder as our badge of office, we should at least make sure we know everything there is to know about the things! Hmm... Looks like he’s using the captain I recommended for transport. He’s a cagey old fellow, he’ll keep things under wraps until we know what’s going on.” His ruminations complete, Ambrus quickly applies his seal to the document and moves it to the tray for reports marked “Not for Publication”.

The steward rolls his eyes and lets out an incredulous snort as he picks up the next set of reports and views their submitter’s mark. Two separate files, one stamped with the image of a mask in silver and the other containing Venture-Captain Holgarin Smine’s seal pressed into a lump of charcoal-blackened candle wax. Flipping through the pages, Ambrus suppresses a wry smile. “Should’ve known Smine wouldn’t be happy about me accepting that Razmiri’s application for a lodge. Of course, they’re up to trouble, old friend, that’s why I want us to be the ones keeping an eye on them. Gods preserve us if they team up with the Aspis or someone else with more ambition than sense. And Narsen... That one’s trouble even for one of his ilk, but he’s the finest magical crafter I’ve met since Muesello, and he’s not like any Razmiri priest I’ve ever met before.” Ambrus sets down the reports for a minute and sighs. “I hope you’re worth it, priest. If I’m wrong about you, it’ll be my own Pathfinders who run me out of here before whatever trouble you bring reaches me.”

Setting the reports in the bin marked “For Archival Review”, Ambrus picks up the next file, this one written on expensive white vellum in a crisp hand. “Always so precise, Sheila. Who’d have thought I’d be reading your report on recruiting... a squad of hobgoblin field agents from Oprak? Of all things! As though our last confirmation class promoting half a dozen goblins to full Pathfinder agent status wasn’t enough!” Ambrus sighs again before flipping to the second page. “Smart move to meet the new recruits in Kaer Maga. They’ll stand out a bit less and it might give us an opportunity to learn a bit more about the state of things over there—it’s been a bit too quiet lately.”

Finishing his stack of reports, his desk clear for a few blessed moments, Ambrus smiles and pulls a small cord near his desk, ringing the bell to summon a fresh pot of tea. “They’ll be fine. We’ve got good people. This lodge was here before me, and it’ll be here long after I’m gone.”

“What’s that, sir?” A young, gray robed halfling wheeling a small cart enters as Ambrus finishes his thought and looks up with confusion plain on his face.

“Nothing lad,” Ambrus replies, “just talking to myself. You’ll find that happens when you get a few more years on you and spend most of your days locked in a room reading over reports. Now, about that tea...”

Left to Right, Sergeant Drussem art credit to Leonardo Santanna, and Prefect art credit to Przemysław Gołąb

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This month we have Pathfinder Society Scenario #1-18: Lodge of the Living God, a scenario for levels 1 to 4 by Alex Greenshields that takes the PCs to Razmiran to establish a new and unlikely lodge. Meanwhile, Mike Kimmel takes the Pathfinder Society to Kaer Maga to meet up with some potential hobgoblin recruits with Pathfinder Society Scenario #1-19: Iolite Squad Alpha, an adventure intended for characters from levels 3 to 6. Finally, don’t forget to check out Dustin Knight’s Pathfinder Society Quest #9: Wayfinder Origins, a 1-hour, repeatable quest for levels 3 to 6 that seeks to uncover ancient Azlanti secrets on a clandestine mission!

We previewed the Starfinder Society scenarios for April earlier this morning. You can check out the blog here.

Until next time,

Michael Sayre
Pathfinder Society Developer

[[Data Package Inbound]]
[[Processing...]]
[[Processing...]]
[[Data Package Accepted]]

Celita reviewed the scrolling information displayed on the terminal in front of her. She had come to appreciate intaking data through terminals, rather than directly through optical implants, ever since her decision to retake her original name. As she reviewed the final decoded information, Celita could not help but shift her eyes to the vesk pacing around the small office chamber: Radaszam of the Acquisitives.

“Still no word from Fitch or Ziggy?” Radaszam asked aloud, though the question was more directed to the walls than to Celita.

“Nothing new. Fitch requested Zigvigix’s presence on the Master of Stars due to what she referred to as a ‘very very serious serious situation’ involving some sort of illicit shipment of creatures that may have gotten loose on Absalom Station. She said that she has a group of agents assembled to handle the situation and that it did not concern either of us. I trust her judgement on such matters, and you should learn to as well.” Celita paused in her speaking as the data finished moving through. “Here we are, our data package is complete.”

Without a sound of movement, Radaszam suddenly loomed over Celita’s terminal. The vesk’s reptilian head took the data in at an odd angle and Celita gently pushed her chair back to accommodate a better viewing position for her fellow faction leader.

“Ha ha! You and your agents did it, Celita! It looks like we have finally decoded the coordinates on that beacon found by agents last year. You know what this means? It means we can keep on trailing Jelev Rasheen and her fabled fleet. You get this prepared and I’ll assemble the best team of agents I can find. Oh, Celita my friend, I can smell the credits and fame already! HA HA!”

Credit to Beatrice Pelagatti

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Up this month is Starfinder Society #2-21: Illegal Shipment, a scenario for levels 1 to 4 by Joseph Blomquist that looks into the arrival of some no-good nasties onboard Absalom Station that have something to do with the Attack of the Swarm! adventure path. Meanwhile, Mara Lynn Butler has written the continuation of the Starfinder Society’s search for Jelev Rasheen’s fabled treasure fleet with Starfinder Society #2-22: Rasheen’s Reception, an adventure intended for characters from level 5 to 8. Don’t forget to check out Starfinder Society #1-35: Rasheen’s Riches, another level 5 to 8 scenario, to see the start of the Society’s search!

Check back later this afternoon for the Pathfinder Society release highlights!

Until next time,

Thurston Hillman
Starfinder Society Developer

Our fiction series like the recent Tales From The Drift and The Windsong Testaments are only links in the chain, nay, pearls in the necklace in the legacy of bringing the Lost Omens and Pact Worlds settings to life. Last week we looked at free web fiction of the past. This week we revisit our short fiction!

Pathfinder Tales on ePub

Are you looking for another, perhaps more flexible format to enjoy the free web fiction from last week? Well, forty-six of the titles were converted into a downloadable ePub format. Other short fiction titles were consolidated for you from material originally published over the course of multiple Pathfinder Adventure Paths. Now, they are on sale for a mere handful of copper pieces (25% off) during our Spring Social sale.

If you don’t know, EPUB is an e-book file format that uses the ".epub" file extension. The term is short for electronic publication and is sometimes styled ePub. EPUB is supported by many e-readers, and compatible software is available for most smartphones, tablets, and computers. Now you know.

These stories come from a diverse cadre of talented experienced authors, from fan-favorite authors like Amber E. Scott, Dave Gross, Liane Merciel, Richard Lee Byers, and Kevin Andrew Murphy, to acclaimed game designer–authors like James L. Sutter, Robin D. Law, and Monte Cook, You’ll find two sets of tales from New York Times best-selling author Elaine Cunningham (The Illusionist and Dark Tapestry), and one from legendary game designer and author Ed Greenwood (Guns of Alkenstar), creator of Elminster and the Forgotten Realms. Hugo Award-winner Tim Pratt (A Tomb of Winter's Plunder and Bastard, Sword) is there too!

Just look at the places they’ll take you! The conflict-ridden Goblinblood Wars, the plane-breaking Worldwound, the undead-ruled land of Geb, the devil-worshiping nation of Cheliax, Lastwall, before the fall, the magical college known as the Magambyaa in the Mwangi Expanse, faraway Tian Xiathe, the mean streets of Magnimar, and the River Kingdoms of Kingmaker fame are just of the few of the localities. You can explore organizations like the disciplined Hellknights, the rich merchant lords of Katapesh, the mysterious Shadowcallers of Nidal, the insidious Gray Maidens, and the pirates of the Shackles to name but a few—all written under the guidance of the Pazio Creative Directors.

Perhaps some of them may inspire your next character, NPC, and villain concept in your game, so read on Pathfinders. Let us know what you find, what was meh, and what was YAY! Next week we will dive into the Pathfinder Tales novels themselves, which are available in many formats. In a few short weeks, we will be back with more original free web fiction.

Adventures Ahead!

Aaron Shanks
Marketing and Media Manager

Welcome again to another exciting week! We hope you have been staying safe and sound with all the troubles going on in the world. As we are all stuck at home, we invite you to join Paizo and friends during our daily broadcasts where we play Pathfinder & Starfinder with you!

Be aware that some of the shows on the schedule may be canceled at any moment. We prioritize our employees and content creator’s safety over their productions as we all deal with the current pandemic, we apologize in advance if plans abruptly change from what’s scheduled here.

So here is what’s happening this week at OfficialPaizo on Twitch!

Pathfinder 2E Extinction Curse with Squiiddish, April 20, 1:00 p.m. Pacific

The Circus of Wayward Wonders has just arrived in the remote town of Abberton, and the 2 Perception crew are the stars of the show! After an unfortunate event the crew finds themselves in charge of keeping the show alive. But, how will they fare?

Squiddish with the 2 Perception crew streams the Pathfinder Second Edition Adventure Path Extinction Curse every Monday at 1:00 P.M. on Squiiddish’s Twitch channel here. We will be hosting this show on the OfficialPaizo Twitch channel.

Crits & Giggles by Dragons & Things April 20, 5:00 p.m. Pacific

Join the Dragons & Things crew as they adventure through the Pathfinder First Edition Reign of Winter Adventure Path! Feature Jamie Mills as the Game Master controlling the fates of Candice Berge, Ben Burch, Katie Wilson, Jim Jam, and Meghan Caves. Will these amazing actors survive this winter? Tune into their twitch channel at 5 p.m. Pacific to join in the adventure!

Pathfinder: Kingmaker with Paizo, April 21, 1:00-4:00 p.m. Pacific

Did you know that our Social Media Producer Payton Smith never played Kingmaker? I know right!? We brought in Pathfinder’s Creative Director James Jacobs to hop in and be Payton’s Guide to Golarion. So if you’ve been curious about the history of Pathfinder, it’s lore, or overall want to get to know us. Join us on Paizo’s Official Twitch Channel and for all that is good in this world, help keep Payton alive as he journeys through the River Kingdoms corner of Golarion.

Starfinder X.T.R.E.M.!, April 22, 2:00-5:00 p.m. Pacific

Whether for fame, fortune, or just for the sport of it, various planets and cities host underground wrestling matches where the rules are as light as your wallet. But even before the matches begin, there are mysteries and problems to solve.

Join our XTREM! adventure where Managing Developer & co-creator of Starfinder Amanda Hamon tells the story of how four star-fairing Paizo employees handle themselves in the amateur wrestling ring!

Your wrestlers are…

• Social Media Producer Payton Smith as Kord aka “Bear Drills”, the Vanguard Uplifted Bear
• Front-End Engineering Lead Andrew White as Daeve "The Litigator" Palanchuk, the Dirindi Witchwarper
• Developer Jason Tondro as Hieronomo Jones, the Kasatha Solarian
• Senior Developer John Compton as Trehwas, La Malscripcion, the Embri Biohacker

Pungeon Crawl, April 22, 5:00-9:00 p.m. Pacific

Note: Pungeon Crawl will now be hosted on the Paizo Twitch channel instead of being streamed directly. You can find BBWolfe’s twitch channel to support the show here.

"The results of the breakfast sweepstakes are in and The Biggest Darn Heroes of the Pact Worlds are about to get a new set of legally-distinct sidekicks as the Pungeon Crawl returns! Join the Deep Space Defenders as we find out if a handful of breakfast cereal contest-selected weirdos can keep up with your favorite syndicated space saviors! Sent on a mission with REAL HEROES, they’ll be put to the test as things go wrong, while on camera the entire time! As their situation develops the heroes’ morale may falter, but with the help of you, the faithful viewers, your favorite heroes can grip success from the jaws of failure! Wednesday nights 8e/7c only on Paizo!"
- BBWolfe

Streamed on OfficialPaizo on Twitch.

Side Quest Side Sesh by GlassCannonPodcast April 23, 5:00 p.m. Pacific

Our heroes travel through the inter webway of the world wide web to gather together and battle in a game of rolling dice to achieve critical success in these various side quest side sessions playing through various Pathfinder stories.

Catch the GlassCannonPodcast crew live on their twitch channel, or hosted on Paizo’s Official Twitch Channel.

The Band of Bravos!, April 24, 2:00 - 5:00 p.m. Pacific

A troupe of performing adventurers find themselves hired to put on the show of a lifetime, but when the curtain rises, they quickly learn that they are the stars of a far more dangerous quest.

Join Paizo employees as they brave the absolute horrors that Director of Game Design, Jason Bulmahn has prepared for them.

Your adventuring party comprises…

• Social Media Producer Payton Smith as Lorn Barnes, Human Wizard
• Web Content Manager Maryssa Lagervall as Ilana Thistlefoot, Halfling Druid
• Developer Jason Keeley as Roark Thunderbird, Tengu Swashbuckler
• Pathfinder Creative Director James Jacobs as Shensen, Half-Elf Bard

Dragons & Things, April 24, 6:00 p.m. Pacific

The original crew is back with another online adventure! Join the Krag Krew for another Pathfinder adventure filled with laughs and love, all played online! Stay safe indoors and enjoy your favorite drink while watching this group of amazing actors role play and slay their way through Golarion!

Catch them live on their twitch channel, or hosted on Paizo’s Official Twitch Channel.

Arcane Mark, April 25, 10:00 a.m. Pacific Arcane Mark is a stream with Design Manager Mark Seifter and Organized Play Lead Developer Linda Zayas-Palmer covering all sorts of RPG and Pathfinder-related topics, from GM Tools to Design Diaries to Workshops. Thursday episodes are always interviews, usually covering Paizo staff you might not have seen as often in other interviews. Catch them live on Paizo’s Official Twitch Channel, or directly on their channel here. (We will be prioritizing Glass Cannon for the broadcast times on Thursday. But once Glass Cannon ends the channel should switch back to Arcane Mark)

Age of Ashes with Squiddish, April 25, 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Pacific

“Fires burn atop the ruined citadel on Hellknight Hill, sending plumes of red smoke into the air that could be a call for help. Now a gang of adventurers rise together to investigate the current conflict. How will they handle the Hellknights? Will they all burn in horrendous fire? Tune into this new Pathfinder Second Edition live play show!

Squiddish with the 2 Perception crew streams on the OfficialPaizo on Twitch channel every week at 2 p.m. Pacific.

Court of Corvids with QueueTimes, April 26, 4:30 p.m.

Court of Corvids is an actual play show that takes place in a homebrew setting using the Pathfinder Second Edition ruleset. It is currently on hiatus having finished its second story arc but will return with a brand new one on Sunday, February 23rd at 4:30 p.m. Pacific.

In this setting, facts and fiction blur together. In fact, the story began with a lie, one that grew so much it became the central pillar for an entire community…that is until the party stumbled upon the truth and brought it all down. Since then, they’ve been on the road, trying to find their place in a vast world they didn’t even know existed for most of their lives.

The party, taken through this world by GM and occult enthusiast Jacob Kile, consists of:

• Croog Claudel, played by Croog: A human monk searching for his long-lost siblings, hoping to make amends when he finds them.
• Moss the Magnificent, played by Molly McIsaac: An Elven Sorcerer trying to recapture the fame she had back home.
• Robyn Way, played by Jonas Newhouse: A Gnome druid desperate to hide from her former life and family. She’s married to Remi.
• Remi Ashwillow, played by William White: The Goblin fighter and Robyn’s partner is just trying to make friends and live life after being stuck in a cult for many years.

Catch Court of Corvids being hosted live on Paizo’s Official Twitch Channel, or directly on their channel here.

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We've added a new Forum for Streaming & Actual Play discussions. If you have any questions you’d like to submit for our Q&A segments at the end of our Starfinder Wednesdays or Pathfinder Fridays you can do so in our Forums.

Pathfinder Fridays Fan Club

Starfinder Wednesdays Fan Club

If you have a Pathfinder or Starfinder stream, post it under Third Party Broadcasts.

Catch us live at our Official Twitch Channel. Catch the Video On Demand (VOD) on Twitch immediately after it is done or a week later on our YouTube channel.

Janira rushs into Ambrus’ office, excitedly waving a parchment in the air. Her hurried entrance caused enough of a disturbance to rustle the papers lying on his desk. He glances up from the paper in hand, a look of irritation briefly passing over his features.

Laying the parchment onto the stack before him, Ambrus took a deep breath. “What is it this time, Janira?” he asks, trying to keep the exasperation from his voice.

“Great news from Pathfinders to the east! They’re holding a version of our Convocation in their area. With a pool! And beer! And people! Now I just need to convince the Decemvirate that I should attend.” She bounces on the balls of her feet, her uncontainable enthusiasm preventing her from standing still.

“I’m sure they will say yes. Just complete the necessary request paperwork.” He reaches into his right desk drawer and draws out a roll of parchment, looks up at the lively halfling, then sighs and dips his quill into the inkpot on his desk. “How about I help, since you don’t look like settling down to write anytime soon. What are the particulars?”

Together, they completed the paperwork. “Thanks for helping!” Janira leans over and gives Ambrus a quick hug, then hurries to the door. “You’ll file that today, yes? I don’t want to wait too long for an answer!” Before he can reply, she opens the door, finding a large group of Pathfinders waiting outside. The group parts, allowing her to move into the corridor. Ambrus’ chuckles briefly and motions the Pathfinders to enter. A faint “goodbye” drifts back into the room, caught on the breeze, as Janira runns to her next encounter.

We are pleased to announce the launch of PaizoCon Francia under the direction of Regional Venture-Coordinator Benoît Gros. In his words, “After 6 consecutive years, GardenCon evolves into PaizoCon Francia. Come enjoy the only open-air PaizoCon in the beautiful Geneva countryside. Not convinced yet? How about a laidback schedule, local craft beer, and tables played in English or French to fulfill your mid-August gamers needs! Still not convinced? Did we mention there's also a pool?”

PaizoCon Francia will be held at the Route de la Craz, Thônex, Geneva, from August 13th to 16th, 2020. More details will appear as the organizing team passes them to us, including registration information.

Before you go…We have a procedural announcement that we will include in our next monthly update, but that we wanted to announce to our society GMs and organizers before the first week of May.

Feedback from our communities regarding tables for Pathfinder Society (second edition) indicates that 7-player tables aren’t working. So, we are phasing them out. Starting as soon as possible, we ask GMs to move to 6-player tables. We are giving a transition period so that we don’t cause issues for conventions and events already planned. As of June 1st, seven players will not be legal tables. In cases of 7 players, the tables should be split into two. This will make a more balanced experience and works better within the scaling mechanisms of the program.

That’s all for today. Come back next week when we preview the April scenarios and quest. Until then, may you all stay safe and remember to Explore, Report, Cooperate, Wash Hands!

Tonya Woldridge
Organized Play Manager

No two characters worship the same way. How and why they worship their deities are as varied as the player base of Paizo’s organized play campaign. Many players choose for their characters to follow the examples of several deities, seeing a personal connection between them that motivates and inspires their journey. In some cases, adventuring parties form around one of these custom pantheons, becoming regional memes that take on a life of their own. Perhaps you have created a Pathfinder pantheon yourself?

Now you have the chance.

Lost Omens: Gods & Magic introduced us to a set of rules for creating and worshiping polytheistic pantheons. Developer Luis Loza graciously showed us more examples in his blog post, Friends in High Places. The Know Direction Network in collaboration with the Organized Play Team invites you to submit a brand-new pantheon, with the best submission becoming a sanctioned option for the Pathfinder Society!

There will be several stages to the contest. Upon receipt, Know Direction staff will review all submissions for contest criteria compliance (say that five times fast). After that, Know Direction judges will select their top pantheons from the anonymized entries and send them to Paizo Organized Play staff, for vetting as potential includees in the organized play program. From the vetted pool, the Know Direction judges will select their favorites. Paizo will host a highlight blog about the finalists and launch a period of voting by the public. Once voting closes, the winner will be announced via blog post on paizo.com, invited to participate in an episode of the Know Direction podcast, and the pantheon will be sanctioned for use in the Pathfinder (second edition) Society.

Know Direction Staff Judges:

Dustin Knight
The creative force behind this project, Dustin Knight made his big break-through when he met Alex Augunas and Owen KC Stephens at PaizoCon in 2019. He has since written books and game accessories for Everybody Games and has completed his first freelance assignment with Paizo, Wayfinder Origins. He writes Fox’s Cunning on Know Direction, runs two Pathfinder Society lodges as a Venture Lieutenant in Washington, and is a rabid advocate for anything and everything Pathfinder. You can follow Dustin’s rants on Twitter, Facebook or a smattering of Pathfinder discord servers as “KitsuneWarlock”.

Alex Augunas
Alexander “Alex” Augunas, the Everyman Gamer, has been playing Tabletop Roleplaying Games since 2007 after a friend pretended to be his father in order to smuggle him out of high school so his gaming group had enough people to run a module. Today, Alex is the owner and publisher of Everybody Games, a co-host on Know Direction: Beyond, and a player on Stellar. You can follow Alex’s exploits on Twitter (@AlJAug) or on Facebook. Know Direction fans are also welcome to “@Alex” him on the Know Direction Discord server!

Owen K.C. Stephens
Owen K.C. Stephens is a veteran of the TTRPG industry with more than 20 years of experience, including being on staff at Green Ronin, Paizo, and Wizards of the Coast and being the publisher of Rogue Genius Games. He has worked on numerous RPG lines, including being co-author of the Star Wars Saga Edition RPG, Design Lead for the Starfinder Roleplaying Game, and a writer for numerous Pathfinder RPG products for both editions. You can follow him on his blog, on Facebook, and Twitter.

Ryan Costello
Ryan Costello believes that the collaboration and creative interaction seen in roleplaying games extends beyond the tabletop. What started as a couple of friends hoping to keep the conversation going after their favorite game looked like it was going away forever turned into the longest running Pathfinder podcast, and eventually a network of like-minded gamers and creators working together to serve a community with positivity and enthusiasm. Ryan serves as the Director of Operations of the Know Direction Network, cohosts the Know Direction podcast, and plays Xavier Saveur in the Adventurous actual play podcast. You can follow Ryan on Facebook, or read his regular blog content on the websites for the Least I Could Do and Looking For Group webcomics.

Jefferson Jay Thacker
Jefferson Jay Thacker, also known for Perram, has had a lifelong passion for gaming of all stripes, and a creative itch that he can’t resist. He’s used that initiative and desire to turn a onetime trip to Gen Con into a decade of podcast and video production through the Know Direction Network, a collection of podcasts and blogs about the Pathfinder and Starfinder RPGs, with Perram hosting and producing thousands of hours of content for the community including coverage and recordings of the official Paizo panels and hosting their official streams during PaizoCon and Gen Con.

Vanessa Hoskins
Vanessa Hoskins cut her teeth in the RPG Industry by first writing for Pathfinder Society, Paizo’s Organized Play program, from 2015. Since then she’s written several small-form adventures for Pathfinder and Starfinder Society and Starfinder Adventure Path volume 29, The Cradle Infestation. She’s also contributed to numerous rules systems, player options, and other game mechanics for Paizo. Vanessa also serves on the board of directors at Know Direction Network, GMs the actual play podcast Stellar with Know Direction, and writes the Craft (Adventure) and Random Encounter blogs on that network. She is a cast member for the Fall of Plaguestone and Three Ring Adventure actual plays on Roll for Combat. You can follow her Instagram or Twitter. She lives in upstate New York with her brilliant wife and adorable cat.

John Godek
John Godek is an Executive Producer for Intrepid Heroes. He is a 4-Nova GM for the Starfinder Society as well as a Starfinder freelance writer. When he is not busy running games or working on the podcast, he is a university professor in the Seattle area, teaching business classes. Before earning his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, he was an officer in the US Coast Guard where he sailed the seven seas and circumnavigated North America, in addition to doing scientific work in the Arctic and Antarctic, and law enforcement work on both the East Coast and West Coast of the US.

Contest rules:
Entrants may submit one (1) Pantheon for consideration, via this form. Each Pantheon must contain an entire stat-block, including alignment restrictions, domains, edicts, anathema, list of deities and so on. In addition, each entry should have a paragraph of no more than 150 words describing the pantheon in detail. There is no limit to why the gods you choose are in the same Pantheon, but you only have that paragraph to convince us. All elements of the Pantheon must be Pathfinder Society Legal, including patron deity, alignment restrictions, and cleric spells. Entrants are encouraged to read the full rules for Pantheons in Lost Omens: Gods & Magic and the Friends in High Places blog post for more information. All entries are subject to adjustment before final implementation into the Pathfinder Society campaign to adhere to Golarion’s themes and mythology . All finalists must sign a release allowing use of their creation in the organized play program before the public voting window opens. There is no financial remuneration or award for this creation. All entries are due by 11:59 pm PST May 10, 2020.

We wish everyone the best! Happy pantheon creation.

Come back tomorrow for some big news! Until then - Explore, Report, Cooperate!

Tonya Woldridge
Organized Play Manager

Welcome again to another exciting week! We hope you have been staying safe and sound with all the troubles going on in the world. As we are all stuck at home, we invite you to join Paizo and friends during our daily broadcasts where we play Pathfinder & Starfinder with you!

Be aware that some of the shows on the schedule may be canceled at any moment. We prioritize our employees and content creator’s safety over their productions as we all deal with the current pandemic, we apologize in advance if plans abruptly change from what’s scheduled here.

So here is what’s happening this week at OfficialPaizo on Twitch!

Pathfinder 2E Extinction Curse with Squiiddish, April 13, 1:00 p.m. Pacific

The Circus of Wayward Wonders has just arrived in the remote town of Abberton, and the 2 Perception crew are the stars of the show! After an unfortunate event the crew finds themselves in charge of keeping the show alive. But, how will they fare?

Squiddish with the 2 Perception crew streams the Pathfinder Second Edition Adventure Path Extinction Curse every Monday at 1:00 P.M. on Squiiddish’s Twitch channel here. We will be hosting this show on the OfficialPaizo Twitch channel.

Crits & Giggles by Dragons & Things April 13, 5:00 p.m. Pacific

Join the Dragons & Things crew as they adventure through the Pathfinder First Edition Reign of Winter Adventure Path! Feature Jamie Mills as the Game Master controlling the fates of Candice Berge, Ben Burch, Katie Wilson, Jim Jam, and Meghan Caves. Will these amazing actors survive this winter? Tune into their twitch channel at 5 p.m. Pacific to join in the adventure!

Pathfinder: Kingmaker with Paizo, April 14, 1:00-4:00 p.m. Pacific

Did you know that our Social Media Producer Payton Smith never played Kingmaker? I know right!? We brought in Pathfinder’s Creative Director James Jacobs to hop in and be Payton’s Guide to Golarion. So if you’ve been curious about the history of Pathfinder, it’s lore, or overall want to get to know us. Join us on Paizo’s Official Twitch Channel and for all that is good in this world, help keep Payton alive as he journeys through the River Kingdoms corner of Golarion.

Starfinder X.T.R.E.M.!, April 15, 2:00-5:00 p.m. Pacific

Whether for fame, fortune, or just for the sport of it, various planets and cities host underground wrestling matches where the rules are as light as your wallet. But even before the matches begin, there are mysteries and problems to solve.

Join our XTREM! adventure where Managing Developer & co-creator of Starfinder Amanda Hamon tells the story of how four star-fairing Paizo employees handle themselves in the amateur wrestling ring!

Your wrestlers are…

• Social Media Producer Payton Smith as Kord aka “Bear Drills”, the Vanguard Uplifted Bear
• Front-End Engineering Lead Andrew White as Daeve "The Litigator" Palanchuk, the Dirindi Witchwarper
• Developer Jason Tondro as Hieronomo Jones, the Kasatha Solarian
• Senior Developer John Compton as Trehwas, La Malscripcion, the Embri Biohacker

Pungeon Crawl, April 15, 5:00-9:00 p.m. Pacific

Note: Pungeon Crawl will now be hosted on the Paizo Twitch channel instead of being streamed directly. You can find BBWolfe’s twitch channel to support the show here.

"The results of the breakfast sweepstakes are in and The Biggest Darn Heroes of the Pact Worlds are about to get a new set of legally-distinct sidekicks as the Pungeon Crawl returns! Join the Deep Space Defenders as we find out if a handful of breakfast cereal contest-selected weirdos can keep up with your favorite syndicated space saviors! Sent on a mission with REAL HEROES, they’ll be put to the test as things go wrong, while on camera the entire time! As their situation develops the heroes’ morale may falter, but with the help of you, the faithful viewers, your favorite heroes can grip success from the jaws of failure! Wednesday nights 8e/7c only on Paizo!"
- BBWolfe

Streamed on OfficialPaizo on Twitch.

Side Quest Side Sesh by GlassCannonPodcast April 16, 5:00 p.m. Pacific

Our heroes travel through the inter webway of the world wide web to gather together and battle in a game of rolling dice to achieve critical success in these various side quest side sessions playing through various Pathfinder stories.

Catch the GlassCannonPodcast crew live on their twitch channel, or hosted on Paizo’s Official Twitch Channel.

The Band of Bravos!, April 17, 2:00 - 5:00 p.m. Pacific

A troupe of performing adventurers find themselves hired to put on the show of a lifetime, but when the curtain rises, they quickly learn that they are the stars of a far more dangerous quest.

Join Paizo employees as they brave the absolute horrors that Director of Game Design, Jason Bulmahn has prepared for them.

Your adventuring party comprises…

• Social Media Producer Payton Smith as Lorn Barnes, Human Wizard
• Web Content Manager Maryssa Lagervall as Ilana Thistlefoot, Halfling Druid
• Developer Jason Keeley as Roark Thunderbird, Tengu Swashbuckler
• Pathfinder Creative Director James Jacobs as Shensen, Half-Elf Bard

Dragons & Things, April 17, 6:00 p.m. Pacifi

The original crew is back with another online adventure! Join the Krag Krew for another Pathfinder adventure filled with laughs and love, all played online! Stay safe indoors and enjoy your favorite drink while watching this group of amazing actors role play and slay their way through Golarion!

Catch them live on their twitch channel, or hosted on Paizo’s Official Twitch Channel.

Arcane Mark, April 18, 10:00 a.m. Pacific Arcane Mark is a stream with Design Manager Mark Seifter and Organized Play Lead Developer Linda Zayas-Palmer covering all sorts of RPG and Pathfinder-related topics, from GM Tools to Design Diaries to Workshops. Thursday episodes are always interviews, usually covering Paizo staff you might not have seen as often in other interviews. Catch them live on Paizo’s Official Twitch Channel, or directly on their channel here. (We will be prioritizing Glass Cannon for the broadcast times on Thursday. But once Glass Cannon ends the channel should switch back to Arcane Mark)

Age of Ashes with Squiddish, April 18, 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Pacific

“Fires burn atop the ruined citadel on Hellknight Hill, sending plumes of red smoke into the air that could be a call for help. Now a gang of adventurers rise together to investigate the current conflict. How will they handle the Hellknights? Will they all burn in horrendous fire? Tune into this new Pathfinder Second Edition live play show!

Squiddish with the 2 Perception crew streams on the OfficialPaizo on Twitch channel every week at 2 p.m. Pacific.

Court of Corvids with QueueTimes, April 19, 4:30 p.m.

Court of Corvids is an actual play show that takes place in a homebrew setting using the Pathfinder Second Edition ruleset. It is currently on hiatus having finished its second story arc but will return with a brand new one on Sunday, February 23rd at 4:30 p.m. Pacific.

In this setting, facts and fiction blur together. In fact, the story began with a lie, one that grew so much it became the central pillar for an entire community…that is until the party stumbled upon the truth and brought it all down. Since then, they’ve been on the road, trying to find their place in a vast world they didn’t even know existed for most of their lives.

The party, taken through this world by GM and occult enthusiast Jacob Kile, consists of:

• Croog Claudel, played by Croog: A human monk searching for his long-lost siblings, hoping to make amends when he finds them.
• Moss the Magnificent, played by Molly McIsaac: An Elven Sorcerer trying to recapture the fame she had back home.
• Robyn Way, played by Jonas Newhouse: A Gnome druid desperate to hide from her former life and family. She’s married to Remi.
• Remi Ashwillow, played by William White: The Goblin fighter and Robyn’s partner is just trying to make friends and live life after being stuck in a cult for many years.

Catch Court of Corvids being hosted live on Paizo’s Official Twitch Channel, or directly on their channel here.

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We've added a new Forum for Streaming & Actual Play discussions. If you have any questions you’d like to submit for our Q&A segments at the end of our Starfinder Wednesdays or Pathfinder Fridays you can do so in our Forums.

Pathfinder Fridays Fan Club

Starfinder Wednesdays Fan Club

If you have a Pathfinder or Starfinder stream, post it under Third Party Broadcasts.

Catch us live at our Official Twitch Channel. Catch the Video On Demand (VOD) on Twitch immediately after it is done or a week later on our YouTube channel.

Please join us in welcoming our new employees, celebrating staff promotions, and generally bringing some orderliness to our titles. We invited each employee to add as much, or as little, as they would like to share.

New Employees

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Alex Speidel, Organized Play Associate

Previously introduced here.

Calliope Taylor, Customer Service Representative

[they/them/she/her] Calliope is a forever GM and slightly over-enthusiastic tabletop games evangelist. When not embroiled in one weekly RPG game or another, they can be found explaining the finer intricacies of Goblin culture to increasingly uncomfortable looking people in the supermarket frozen food section. You can follow them at @thegriefmop on twitter.

Devinne Caples, HR Generalist

Devinne has an educational background in Human Resources and Leadership and Management. This wife and mother of 3 children and 2 fur babies, is passionate about living life and always strives to do her best in everything. Away from the office she enjoys spending time with friends and family, watching her children play sports and traveling.

Ianara Natividad, Editor

Heya! My name’s Ianara (she/her), and I’m absolutely ecstatic to join the Paizo team as an editor. I’ve played tabletop and roleplaying games for over the past ten years, even running a few campaigns of my own. I hail from South Carolina, where I worked in the nonprofit sector while freelancing as a writer and editor. I regularly contribute to Worldbuilding Magazine, a fantastic community-driven digital publication for all things worldbuilding. When I’m not working, I take naps and play games. I’m also on Twitter, @imachinate.

Eric Powell, Accounting & AP Specialist

Promotions

Adam Vick, Art Director

Leo Glass, Senior Editor

Leo has worked as an editor at Paizo for 2 years and has contributed to products such as the Pathfinder Core Rulebook, Pathfinder Gamemastery Guide, Starfinder Beginner Box, and Starfinder Character Operations Manual. He holds a B.A. in English with an emphasis in creative writing from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. If you’ve ever overused scare quotes or reflexive pronouns in your freelance turnover for Paizo, there’s a good chance he removed them. He is extremely excited to serve Paizo and his extended family on the editing team as senior editor. He’s also thankful for his loving partner, Ashley, his dog, Rocko, and his cat, Pixel. If you’re a fan of his freelance writing, you can follow him on Twitter @leoglasswrites.

Mark Moreland, Director of Brand Strategy

Sonja Morris, Managing Art Director

Title Changes

Brian Bauman, Software Architect

Brian has worn a number of hats over his two years at Paizo - some of his favorite pet projects have included making our watermarking service faster and more reliable, quadrupling the speed of our builds, and migrating our database to a more stable cluster solution. He currently spends most of his days designing and implementing better tools for the developers, designing Paizo’s cloud architecture, and advocating for industry standards and best practices. In his spare time he plays baritone saxophone in a brass street band, sings tenor in a seasonal Victorian caroling quartet, and plays all the board, video and tabletop games he can get his hands on. His adorable dog Cosmo puts up with all of it.

Sarah Robinson, Director of Visual Design

Scott Keim, Finance Operations Specialist

Tony Barnett, Graphic Designer

Whitney Chatterjee, System Administrator II

From all of us here at Paizo, thank you for your patronage.

Adventures Ahead!

Aaron Shanks,
Marketing and Media Manager

In the holovids, they make stowing away look practically romantic.

Starship corridor lights pulse, jump-suited crew members stand at their stations, and there’s our hero, crouching dramatically in the foreground. She’s beautiful and savvy, her hair flowing and streaked neon as she avoids detection by a laser’s edge. She darts past enemies like a shooting star in the night, spiriting herself away in the ship’s cargo hold. She steals her ride as easy as if she’d harnessed a runaway enercycle. The plot moves on.

Except real life ain’t the holovids, and I’m no hero. My name is Rayuhl Rengott. Technically, I’m a thief. Also technically, I’m a murderer. That last one is patently false, but we’ll get to that later.

I’m not beautiful or savvy, either. I hiss when I talk—and I don’t even have hair. I’m as bald as the dead landscape of my beloved homeworld. Unlike most of my fellow Eoxians, though, I’m very much alive.

Yes, there are creatures on Eox other than just putrefied corpsefolk, skeletal bone troopers, and necrovite spellcasters. And we aren’t all Absalom Station’s most foolhardy traders or undead wannabes living in dystopian bubble cities.

Some of us are living, breathing elebrians. Those long-skulled, dead-eyed, shrivel-skinned monsters you think of when you hear the name “Eox”? They were once us, except now they’re among the most powerful walking dead. And we are at their mercy.

You seem confused. Fair enough. I’ll explain.

Long, long before the Gap, a handful of elebrians survived our kin’s annihilation of the world. As second-class citizens, we’ve lived on our destroyed planet for untold generations ever since, passing flesh-and-blood legacies to our descendants. We try to keep the ravenous undead at bay for a half-dozen decades or so before we expire. We live only where our undead overlords deign to create hospitable environments for us. We perform the jobs they graciously hand out—if we’re lucky, it’s hard labor. If we’re not, we fight to the death for their amusement and profit in sick events streamed galaxy-wide from the Halls of the Living.

Like I said, we’re at their mercy. For most of us, it’s the only way to stay alive.

Which brings me to my current predicament. I’m peering out of the open cargo bay of this starship I hopped from Absalom Station. All around me are desolate hills, fossilized trees, miasmic eddies—you know, typical Dead Planet stuff. This is Eox, all right, but it’s not my beloved home city of the Pyre. Instead, it’s some desiccated place nearby, with the Pyre’s power-generating tower off in the hazy distance.

And I’m staring right at the bone sage who issued my death-warrant—a destroy-on-sight, as I believe the Eoxian authorities call it—over high crimes of murder and theft from his personal palace.

Illustration by Weston T. Jones

Remember when I said I wasn’t savvy?

I thought I was stowing away on an AbadarCorp freighter bound for the loading docks of the Pyre. The plan was simple. I’d slip into the city, meet up with my old Redbloods crew, and help them pull a job big enough to buy a new life for all of us—one meant for the living!— on Absalom Station. They’d lined up the heist in the elite suites of the arcology, and I’d leveraged my Absalom connections. This job would buy me a whole new identity, and it would afford my friends enough credits to comfortably emigrate from this dead rock. Win-win.

Except for that planet-blasted bone sage Kalantrodoch. He calls himself the Unburning. I call him the Bum-squirming. He’s a rabid zombified squox-rat if there ever was one. He also happens to rule the Pyre. And he’s the reason I had to flee Eox three years ago.

Look, I was minding my own business—okay, okay, I had broken into Kalantrodoch’s sky-mansion. I planned to steal some ancient tech artifact the Redbloods had heard he’d smuggled in from Castrovel. I had the thing in my hot little hands, too. It looked like a small datapad, but it was made from a strange metal covered in Elven runes, and was meant to be strapped on the wrist or ankle.

Just as I was ducking out of that awful place, I heard footsteps coming into the vault. I hid behind some technosafes, and I heard Kalantrodoch himself chatting in his horrifically sibilant voice to some of his cronies.

“We’ll put it in the water,” the bone sage had said. “In a fortnight, our problem disa—”

Whatever that meant. I didn’t hear the rest, because Kalantrodoch happened to walk past that particular technosafe at that particular time, and the jig was up. He would have caught me and likely thrown me into prison for life had I not had a vial of rotdust on me. I threw it in his face and he breathed in ground-up undead skin. Corpses hate that—they find it disgusting, on par with cannibalism. Go figure.

Anyway, it was just the distraction I needed to duck out of the vault. From there, I slinked out of the sky-mansion, and I promptly pawned the Castrovellian tech on the Station.

That’s how I earned my death-warrant from Kalantrodoch the Unburning. Why he decided to tell the Pact that I murdered someone is beyond me. I guess he takes thefts from his personal home rather personally. Either way, it doesn’t matter, because ol’ Bum-squirming has made sure I can never safely return to Eox in my current identity. Hence the current plan. And my current predicament.

Because I can tell that the bone sage I’m seeing is Kalantrodoch by his eyes, which do burn like some sort of unholy Asmodean forges. Why he’s out here in the gods-forsaken wastelands outside the Pyre is beyond me. And why he’s meeting an apparently legitimate Abadaran merchant is also a mystery.

My best bet is to creep undetected around these cases of cargo—probably supplies for those monstrous necrovites in the arcology—and simply vanish. Then, I’ve just got to hope my environmental protections last long enough for me to hike the rest of the way to the Pyre. This job can still happen.

I have to get dangerously close to Kalantrodoch as I pick my way around the ship’s perimeter, though. I see he’s got two corpsefolk cronies with him. Ugh, at least I don’t have to smell the stench of rotting flesh no doubt wafting up from them. Thanks to the tympanal cluster implants in my ears, I can even hear what they’re whispering to each other while they’re waiting for the Abadaran to review the cargo manifest.

“That’s the crate,” Kalantrodoch says, nodding to one small, inconspicuous box. “Undetectable, and the scientists promised it’d work this time. They’ve learned much in three years.”

I stop cold, heart racing. What is he saying?

“We’re just weeks away from ten thousand fewer breathers.”

I stifle a shocked gasp. What I heard three years ago suddenly makes sense.

Our problem disappears. Ten thousand fewer breathers.

Kalantrodoch is planning to wipe out most of the living elebrian population in the Pyre. With some sort of undetectable poison? I can only imagine the horrors he means to visit on my kind. Our numbers are well known, and for years the bone sage has subtly complained to Orphys that his living workers are a drain on resources.

Looking around wildly, I assess the scene. There are stacks and stacks of crated goods—this is not a small shipment; Kalantrodoch is smuggling the highly illegal poison in with a vast array of legitimate goods. That’s probably why he’s meeting the Abadaran outside the city limits.

I do see a rack near me with a few high-octane enercycles. I could take one of them and flee to the city. But they’re noisy, and the walking corpses would blast me away before I could get too far. And I’ve got to get to the city without heat on my trail, because I have to warn my friends.

Desperately hoping to find anything that might help, I start quietly prying lids off crates. There’s one with a dozen second skin suits, one with assorted computer circuitry, and finally, one I can work with.

A crate full of grenades.

I’m going to have to time this perfectly if it’s going to work. Thinking quickly, I lash the open crate of grenades to the back of one of the bikes, then I grab another cycle. Standing between them like I’m leading two prize show shotalashus, I slowly walk the bikes around the perimeter of the site.

I position myself just out of sight of the bone sage and the Abadaran. I’ll set one bike off riderless to distract them, I think. Then, when chaos reigns, I’ll ride in the opposite direction—toward Pyre—and none of them will be the wiser. The crate of grenades is mine, just in case I need any weapons once I slink into the city.

It’s a great plan, I think, as I start up the enercycles’ engines as quietly as I can. Until I realize I’ve misjudged the bone sage and his cronies’ line of sight.

“A breather!” one of the corpsefolk shouts, pointing in my direction. Both zombies pull out massive arc rifles and level them in my direction.

Instinctively, I rev the boom-cycle’s engine. Yanking a grenade out, I pull the pin and drop it back into the crate. I let the boom-cycle fly toward the corpses and the Abadaran, and I hop on the other cycle, shooting toward the spire in the distance.

The blast wave from the ensuing explosion nearly knocks me off balance. I can hear the shrieks of Kalantrodoch and his minions. I hear nothing from the Abadaran, and I can only hope that they survived.

I did say I wasn’t a hero.

A few minutes pass as I zoom along the shriveled Eoxian landscape toward the spire. When I dare to look back, it seems my plan didn’t sideline ol’ Bum-squirming for as long as I’d hoped. He’s racing behind me on a scorched enercycle, minions nowhere to be found, his long canines dripping with acidic saliva and his horrific, fiery eyes screaming with rage.

“Rengott!” he shouts.

Great. He knows it’s me. I kick the enercycle, bobbing and weaving, hoping I’ll be able to lose him.

This could be an awkward homecoming. I’ve just got to make it to Pyre alive…

About the Author

Amanda Hamon is the Managing Developer for Starfinder, and you could say science-fantasy is her jam. Her game design, worldbuilding, and adventure writing have appeared in dozens of RPG products, including the Starfinder and Pathfinder roleplaying games. Mostly, she just likes doing stupid voices for characters at the table. You can find Amanda on Twitter at @amandahamon.

About Tales from the Drift

The Tales from the Drift series of web-based flash fiction provides an exciting glimpse into the setting of the Starfinder Roleplaying Game. Written by members of the Starfinder development team and some of the most celebrated authors in tie-in gaming fiction, the Tales from the Drift series promises to explore the worlds, alien cultures, deities, history, and organizations of the Starfinder setting with engaging stories to inspire Game Masters and players alike.

Starfinder Near Space released last month, and to show off some of the new character options available in the book, we present Daytenna Flass, an NPC witchwarper that you can use in your Starfinder campaigns. Among her many abilities, Daytenna utilizes an alternate damai racial trait, the mediator archetype, a new damai-themed witchwarper paradigm shift, and some new witchwarper spells, all from Near Space. While NPCs don’t normally use themes, we’ve given Daytenna the bureaucrat theme to give you a sneak peek at one of the new themes from the book as well. In addition, we offer a brief look at Daytenna’s home world, the colossi-infested Daimalko, which is fully detailed in Near Space.

Content from other Starfinder products is marked with the following abbreviations: AA2 (Starfinder Alien Archive 2), COM (Starfinder Character Operations Manual), and NS (Starfinder Near Space). These books are available here on paizo.com or online at sfrd.info.

Daytenna Flass

CR 12

XP 19,200
Female witchwarperCOM (mediatorNS)
LG Medium humanoid (damaiAA2)
Init +3; Senses low-light vision; Perception +22

Defense

HP 170 RP 5

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EAC 25; KAC 26
Fort +11; Ref +13; Will +15

Offense

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Speed 30 ft.
Ranged valorous LFD sonic pistol +21 (2d8+12 So; critical deafen [DC 18]; boost 1d6)
Witchwarper Spells Known (CL 12th)

• 4th (3/day)—dimension door, modify outcomeNS
• 3rd (6/day)—planned obsolescenceNS (DC 22), prescienceCOM (DC 22), suggestion (DC 22), tongues
• 2nd (at will)—dampening fieldNS, slice realityCOM (DC 21)

Statistics

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Str -1; Dex +3; Con +2; Int +5; Wis +4; Cha +8
Skills Bluff +27, Culture +22, Diplomacy +22, Mysticism +22, Sense Motive +27
Language Ancient Daimalkan, Common, Daimalkan
Other Abilities alternate outcomeCOM (1/day), brazen bravadoNS, bureaucrat themeNS (expert in the field), empathic linkNS, infinite worldsCOM, paradigm shiftsCOM (phantom colossusNS), scrappyAA2

Other Abilities

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Gear platinum AbadarCorp travel suit, valorousNS LFD sonic pistol with 1 high-capacity battery (40 charges), mk 3 serum of healing, serum of enhancement (diplomat); computer (tier 6, hardened, miniaturization [6, Bulk L], security I, self-charging), formal clothing

Special Abilities

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Brazen Bravado Daytenna relies on her incredible force of personality and in-the-moment ingenuity to get herself out of scrapes, rather than on the survival skills common among her fellows. She gains a +2 racial bonus to Bluff and Sense Motive checks. When she aids another creature using either of these skills, the aid another bonus she provides increases to +3. This alternate racial trait replaces survivor.

Bureaucrat Theme Daytenna is a civil servant, operating within institutional boundaries to effect change and navigating the proper channels to find solutions, skills which serve her well in encounters with organizations across the galaxy. Bureaucrats gain an ability adjustment of +1 to Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma at character creation.

Empathic Link (Su) Mediators tap into an innate emotional and psychological understanding of others to act as efficient arbitrators between the innumerable species and civilizations of the galaxy. As a full action, Daytenna can touch up to two willing or unconscious creatures to create an empathic link between herself and the creatures touched. This link lasts for 1 hour or until she ends it for all creatures with a swift action. While linked, she and the linked creatures gain the effects of status in relation to one another. Whenever a linked creature fails a Will saving throw, a different linked creature can spend 1 Resolve Point as a reaction to allow the affected creature to reroll the save; if the effect is an emotion or fear effect, they gain a +1 circumstance bonus to this reroll. An affected creature can reroll a given saving throw only once in this manner. Finally, once per day at the beginning of combat, each linked creature can swap their initiative result with that of any other linked creature within 60 feet.

Expert in the Field When Daytenna spends 10 minutes with a creature that knows about Daimalko’s war against the colossi that walk its surface, she gains a +4 circumstance bonus to her next attempted Diplomacy check to change that creature’s attitude or Intimidate check to bully that creature.

Phantom Colossus (Su) As a reaction, when a hostile creature within 100 feet would take any action to move 10 or more feet toward Daytenna or an ally, she can force it to witness an alternate reality in which a massive horror covered in tongues, teeth, and armored plates is bearing down toward it. The target creature must succeed at a DC 21 Will saving throw or it instead loses its action immediately as it is shocked into stillness, and it cannot voluntarily take any additional movement until the beginning of its next turn. Once an attacker has been affected by this paradigm shift, it can’t be targeted by it again for 24 hours. This is a fear effect.

Daytenna Flass is a talent scout for the Guardians of Daimalko, who defend the planet’s inhabitants from the roving colossi that rampage across the planet’s surface with mystical orbs that allow them to psychically sense and subtly influence the monsters’ behavior. Now the hunt is on for brave warriors beyond Daimalko who might be willing to step into battle against these destructive giants by other, more traditional, methods. Daytenna travels Near Space and the Pact Worlds seeking soldiers, saboteurs, and assassins with the guts and experience necessary to face down terrifying horrors from beyond space and time… and she’s very, very persuasive.

DAIMALKO

Daimalko is a dry, blasted world orbiting a tiny star in Near Space, teeming with rampaging colossi and the struggling survivors of the damai species (Starfinder Alien Archive 2 32). Two hundred years ago, the planet’s oceans evaporated, its greenery withered, and earthquakes reverberated across the planet as nightmarish colossi—kyokors (Starfinder Alien Archive 72), tekenkis (Starfinder Alien Archive 3 108), and even stranger monstrosities—rose from the rocky terrain of the empty seabeds. The colossi destroyed the planet’s population centers, forcing the Daimalkans underground, but under the watchful eyes of the Guardians, people have begun returning to the planet’s surface for the first time in generations.

For more character options and more details about Daimalko and dozens of other Near Space Worlds, check out Starfinder Near Space, available now!

Jason Tondro
Starfinder Developer

We at Paizo love playing games. And just like many of you, we’ve had to postpone our in-person office games. But thanks to virtual tabletop platforms, we can continue our Starfinder and Pathfinder campaigns. So, while setting up for our first game sessions, we thought you would like to tag along

We invite you to tune in and play Starfinder and Pathfinder Second Edition with some of the people who helped make the games! You can start with Starfinder: X.T.R.E.M.! run by Managing Developer Amanda Hamon this Wednesday at 2 p.m. Pacific. Then join us for Pathfinder: Band of Bravos GM’d by Director of Game Design Jason Bulmahn starting this Friday at 2 PM Pacific. We hope to see you in chat during both of these campaigns!

Some shows on the schedule may be canceled at any moment. We prioritize our employees and content creator’s safety over their productions as we all deal with the current pandemic, so we apologize in advance if plans abruptly change from what’s scheduled here.

So here is what’s happening this week at OfficialPaizo on Twitch!

Pathfinder 2E Extinction Curse with Squiiddish, April 6, 1:00 p.m. Pacific

The Circus of Wayward Wonders has just arrived in the remote town of Abberton, and the 2 Perception crew are the stars of the show! After an unfortunate event the crew finds themselves in charge of keeping the show alive. But, how will they fare?

Squiddish with the 2 Perception crew streams the Pathfinder Second Edition Adventure Path Extinction Curse every Monday at 1:00 P.M. on Squiiddish’s Twitch channel here. We will be hosting this show on the OfficialPaizo Twitch channel.

Pathfinder: Kingmaker with Paizo, April 7 , 1:00-4:00 p.m. Pacific

Did you know that our Social Media Producer Payton Smith never played Kingmaker? I know right!? We brought in Pathfinder’s Creative Director James Jacobs to hop in and be Payton’s Guide to Golarion. So if you’ve been curious about the history of Pathfinder, it’s lore, or overall want to get to know us. Join us on Paizo’s Official Twitch Channel and for all that is good in this world, help keep Payton alive as he journeys through the River Kingdoms corner of Golarion.

Starfinder X.T.R.E.M.!, April 8, 2:00-5:00 p.m. Pacific

Whether for fame, fortune, or just for the sport of it, various planets and cities host underground wrestling matches where the rules are as light as your wallet. But even before the matches begin, there are mysteries and problems to solve.

Join our XTREM! adventure where Managing Developer & co-creator of Starfinder Amanda Hamon tells the story of how four star-fairing Paizo employees handle themselves in the amateur wrestling ring!

Your wrestlers are…

• Social Media Producer Payton Smith as Kord aka “Bear Drills”, the Vanguard Uplifted Bear
• Front-End Engineering Lead Andrew White as Daeve "The Litigator" Palanchuk, the Dirindi Witchwarper
• Developer Jason Tondro as Hieronomo Jones, the Kasatha Solarian
• Senior Developer John Compton as Trehwas, La Malscripcion, the Embri Biohacker

Pungeon Crawl, April 8, 5:00-9:00 p.m. Pacific

Note: Pungeon Crawl will now be hosted on the Paizo Twitch channel instead of being streamed directly. You can find BBWolfe’s twitch channel to support the show here.

"The results of the breakfast sweepstakes are in and The Biggest Darn Heroes of the Pact Worlds are about to get a new set of legally-distinct sidekicks as the Pungeon Crawl returns! Join the Deep Space Defenders as we find out if a handful of breakfast cereal contest-selected weirdos can keep up with your favorite syndicated space saviors! Sent on a mission with REAL HEROES, they’ll be put to the test as things go wrong, while on camera the entire time! As their situation develops the heroes’ morale may falter, but with the help of you, the faithful viewers, your favorite heroes can grip success from the jaws of failure! Wednesday nights 8e/7c only on Paizo!"
- BBWolfe

Streamed on OfficialPaizo on Twitch.

Arcane Mark, April 9, 7:00 p.m. & April 11, 10:00 a.m. Pacific Arcane Mark is a stream with Design Manager Mark Seifter and Organized Play Lead Developer Linda Zayas-Palmer covering all sorts of RPG and Pathfinder-related topics, from GM Tools to Design Diaries to Workshops. Thursday episodes are always interviews, usually covering Paizo staff you might not have seen as often in other interviews. Catch them live on Paizo’s Official Twitch Channel, or directly on their channel here. (We will be prioritizing Glass Cannon for the broadcast times on Thursday. But once Glass Cannon ends the channel should switch back to Arcane Mark)

The Band of Bravos!, April 10, 2:00 - 5:00 p.m. Pacific

A troupe of performing adventurers find themselves hired to put on the show of a lifetime, but when the curtain rises, they quickly learn that they are the stars of a far more dangerous quest.

Join Paizo employees as they brave the absolute horrors that Director of Game Design, Jason Bulmahn has prepared for them.

Your adventuring party comprises…

• Social Media Producer Payton Smith as Lorn Barnes, Human Wizard
• Web Content Manager Maryssa Lagervall as Ilana Thistlefoot, Halfling Druid
• Developer Jason Keeley as Roark Thunderbird, Tengu Swashbuckler
• Pathfinder Creative Director James Jacobs as Shensen, Half-Elf Bard

Age of Ashes with Squiddish, April 11, 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Pacific

“Fires burn atop the ruined citadel on Hellknight Hill, sending plumes of red smoke into the air that could be a call for help. Now a gang of adventurers rise together to investigate the current conflict. How will they handle the Hellknights? Will they all burn in horrendous fire? Tune into this new Pathfinder Second Edition live play show!

Squiddish with the 2 Perception crew streams on the OfficialPaizo on Twitch channel every week at 2 p.m. Pacific.

Court of Corvids with QueueTimes, April 12, 4:30 p.m.

Court of Corvids is an actual play show that takes place in a homebrew setting using the Pathfinder Second Edition ruleset. It is currently on hiatus having finished its second story arc but will return with a brand new one on Sunday, February 23rd at 4:30 p.m. Pacific.

In this setting, facts and fiction blur together. In fact, the story began with a lie, one that grew so much it became the central pillar for an entire community…that is until the party stumbled upon the truth and brought it all down. Since then, they’ve been on the road, trying to find their place in a vast world they didn’t even know existed for most of their lives.

The party, taken through this world by GM and occult enthusiast Jacob Kile, consists of:

• Croog Claudel, played by Croog: A human monk searching for his long-lost siblings, hoping to make amends when he finds them.
• Moss the Magnificent, played by Molly McIsaac: An Elven Sorcerer trying to recapture the fame she had back home.
• Robyn Way, played by Jonas Newhouse: A Gnome druid desperate to hide from her former life and family. She’s married to Remi.
• Remi Ashwillow, played by William White: The Goblin fighter and Robyn’s partner is just trying to make friends and live life after being stuck in a cult for many years.

Catch Court of Corvids being hosted live on Paizo’s Official Twitch Channel, or directly on their channel here.

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We've added a new Forum for Streaming & Actual Play discussions. If you have any questions you’d like to submit for our Q&A segments at the end of our Starfinder Wednesdays or Pathfinder Fridays you can do so in our Forums.

Pathfinder Fridays Fan Club

Starfinder Wednesdays Fan Club

If you have a Pathfinder or Starfinder stream, post it under Third Party Broadcasts.

Catch us live at our Official Twitch Channel. Catch the Video On Demand (VOD) on Twitch immediately after it is done or a week later on our YouTube channel.

Greetings from social-distance land! We’ve been talking about the PACG Core Set characters, including Amiri, Lini, Sajan, Seoni, and Valeros. Today I’m going to talk about friend and boon companion to everyone (unless perhaps your name is Meligaster), the iconic bard Lem.

“Player types” is one of those perennial topics in games and game design, equally as likely to come up in discussion of everything from the first tabletop RPG to the latest AAA console title. Anyone who’s looked into any of the academic, professional, or hobby-level study of games and gaming is likely to have run across at least one attempt to analyze things from the player point of view. Whether it’s Bartle’s Taxonomy, lists of fantasy roleplaying archetypes, 3 well-known player psychographics, or the G/N/S model, both gamers and game designers frequently revisit the (important!) idea that different parts of games are better for different kinds of game experiences. There are many examples of this in PACG, but few stand out as clearly as our awesome halfling helper, Lem.

When we first put together characters for Rise of the Runelords, we knew that we wanted Lem to be good at all sorts of things. As a bard, we wanted him to have a bunch of skills. Mike flat-out refused to let him out the door without Knowledge. Gaby wanted him to be charming and friendly, and Paul and I both wanted to make sure that he was good enough at a variety of things that he could choose to fill any gaps in your particular party. That said, he’s a halfling with a troubled history, so he clearly had some weaknesses. We gave him a large Knowledge bonus, made him a Charisma powerhouse to sometimes rival Seoni, and made sure he had a respectable starting point for Ranged weapons and both Arcane and Divine spellcasting. For his cards list, he has a good spread of card types, letting him dabble in any type while also giving him multiple choices for focus. A large hand size represents his inherent versatility as well as a relative fragility, and the option to get into either weapons or light armor means that he can make use of almost any card you find.

For most people, though, Lem’s powers are really where he shines brightest. With a long list of skills and proficiencies, we knew that we’d need his powers to be relatively concise (a theory that I think we proved, the bad way, in Skull & Shackles). We wanted to emphasize his helpfulness and his versatility, so he got one power for each. The first lets him spend cards from his hand to help other nearby characters at whatever they wanted to do. This power has a cost—putting a card from your hand on the bottom of your deck—which helps make it an interesting choice. Over time, players are likely to realize that this “cost” is often a benefit: if you have cards in your hand that are useful some of the time, but just not right now, you can tuck them away for later use, opening up space to draw new cards without the increased risk of death that comes from just discarding at the end of your turn.

The second power helps create the “just the thing!” moments, since it’s easy for him to swap out a “good, but not right now” card for an especially relevant card from his discard pile. These two powers together let Lem invest in a wide variety of cards, even cards with potentially niche utility. If you find that a particular card isn’t useful right now, you can recharge it to help (first power) or swap it for something more relevant in your discard pile (second power). There’s also an element of mastery at play here—once you get a good handle on the game, you realize that after Lem casts a spell, he might want to recharge it—and thus get it back for “free,” but not immediately. Or he might want to fail to recharge it, so he can swap another spell for it next turn. The latter approach costs him a “hit point” if he’s going to take damage, but it lets him have more control over when he has certain key cards in his hand.

His friends get by with a little—or a lot—of help from Lem.

When we were putting together characters for Skull & Shackles, we knew we wanted to change things up a little. Ideally, the characters would feel recognizably themselves, but would also be changed by their experiences at sea. (If you’re familiar with Lem’s history, you probably understand that falling victim to a press gang is especially transformative for him!) While S&S was letting us swap in some new iconics, we all agreed we wanted to bring back Lem in some form: Swashbuckling Lem, Sea Captain Lem, Dread Pirate Lem.

With that in mind, and with apparently wanton disregard for the extra pain we were dropping on the shoulders of the Paizo layout team (To Sonia, Crystal, and Sarah: we apologize. Deeply. Again.), we added Craft to Lem’s list of skills (enabling both Alchemy and ship repair) and gave him our new power for Finesse weapons. This new, tougher Lem swapped a spell out for a weapon, dropped hand size by one, and gained weapon proficiency. His “resourcefulness” power was reduced to let him get back recharged cards more quickly (by shuffling), and his “helping” power was increased to let it apply to himself. It’s still possible to build a super-helpful Lem, but now he can also be a bit more selfish if he wants.

He is the very model of a modern major pirate lord!

For his Bard Class Deck treatment, we wanted to change the focus again, so we looked more to the magical side of bardishness—but not bardiche-ness. (This also contrasted nicely with the other bards in that deck.) Class Deck Lem got a die bump to the top-end d12 Charisma, pushed his hand size back up to variety-and-fragility, and focused his powers more on spells. His helping power gained a new trick: if he used a Healing card to help others, he also got a little self-healing out of it; everybody wins!

Bring the Boom and the Balm.

Finally, we come to the new Core Set. We wanted to build a friendly, helpful, “classic” Lem, using our new templates and layout methods. The switch to a vertical layout let us add yet another skill to one of our skill-monkey characters without causing the designers so much pain (again, we’re sorry!); this let us give Lem Acrobatics out of the gate, which makes him seem more like the halfling he is, and also opens up some weapons options without requiring two lines of powers text. Adding Instrument proficiency lets us cleanly represent his facility without recourse to the clumsy “if you have the Bard or Skald trait” wording on each instrument.

His Knowledge and spellcasting skills drop back down to “great” (from “outstanding”), and his first power lets him make up the difference when it counts most. His deck list spreads out evenly while giving him at least one weapon (you might choose a strong Acrobatics-based weapon, or one of Core’s new helpful weapons). Finally, his second power gives him back some of that resourcefulness while avoiding the potential repetitive play concerns I always drone on about, and also moves the processing to the end of the turn (while the next player is likely already starting).

Snazzy new look, classic great flavor.

Once you get a couple adventures under his belt, you can choose to focus in either Busker or Poet Laureate. Both roles are meant to reflect the performance aspects of Lem, with Busker offering access to some nifty street-performer tricks for getting by, especially in Urban settings (my favorite being “I’m afraid I cannot fight you… but they can!”). Poet Laureate leans more towards the occult power of Lem’s performances. Also, who doesn’t like drawing cards at the start of their turn?

Chad Brown
Adventure Card Game Lead Developer

I wasn’t planning to hit you with a weekly update when I started these, but things keep changing so quickly and new information is reaching us almost daily, that I felt that you needed an update, especially with our new April products scheduled to release in a few weeks.

As many of you are probably aware, various shutdowns of nonessential businesses across the world have left many brick and mortar hobby game stores and bookstores closed for an indefinite period of time. Some stores are still open, while others have pivoted to online sales, doing curbside pick-up, or even hand-delivering game products to customer’s homes! If your local stores are finding creative ways to get our products into your hands, please support them in these tough times!

However, the temporary shutdown of many of these stores, as well as local shutdowns of nonessential businesses, has forced most of our distribution partners to close their operations temporarily. This means that most won’t be ordering our new releases when they come out at the end of April unless things improve before then. For the last three weeks, Amazon has stopped all restocks of nonessential items to give their warehouses the opportunity to provide their customers with essential products to get through this pandemic. To complicate matters, even when Amazon starts restocking our products, the distributor which sells to them for us has been shut down for who knows how long.

The long and short of all of this is that it may be difficult for you to find our new products while traditional distribution is mostly shut down. We are hopeful about being able to open up our warehouse to start shipping products in a week or two if the local situation continues to improve as it has lately (all while practicing safe social distancing). So with a bit of luck, we will be shipping all orders of new product in the second half of April, both for orders you placed through paizo.com and for distributors and retailers that remain open. Hobby game stores can also buy directly from us by registering their store at Paizo.com/retailers.

If you are interested in any of our new April products, then please reach out to your local hobby game store to see if they will be stocking them. Paizo ships our e-commerce all over the world, so if we are open to ship, then that is also an option for you. And finally, for those that are interested in PDF versions of our April releases, those should be available at the end of the month as usual.

April New Releases

PZO2217	Pathfinder Chase Cards
PZO90154	Pathfinder Adventure Path #154: Siege of the Dinosaurs
PZO30106	Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Bigger Ancient Dungeon
PZO7416	Starfinder: Attack of the Swarm! Pawn Collection
PZO7227	Starfinder Adventure Path #27: Deceiver’s Moon

Hopefully this information helps you track down our new April products. Remember that the situation is fluid and some channels that are closed now might reopen, so keep in touch with your FLGS. Feel free to ask in our Customer Service Forums on paizo.com and we will do our best to help you figure things out.

Once again, thanks for your continued amazing support. I know our staff appreciates it! Stay safe.

Lisa Stevens
CEO, Paizo Inc.

OPM Musings
While the past month brought lots of confusion and chaos to our lives, we’re grateful to our communities for providing some safe harbor in the storm. A huge shout out to the entire venture-officer team and the local GM crews who supported the FLGS until they closed and then moved the games online. For those of you that haven’t joined us in virtual, consider this an open invitation to do so! Come play, socialize, and stay strong!

Also, a huge thank you from our team to the community for their patience and understanding. As we scattered to the winds and socially distanced ourselves, we found everything taking more time and more energy. From getting remote offices set up to putting together this month’s scenario releases, it all was a bit wonky. We thank our community for coming together, helping each other, and supporting our hobby. You are awesome!

Unfortunately, not all of our community avoided their encounter or rolled a success on their fortitude save. We have several community members, and adjacent community members, who are dealing with the disease. Please keep them in your thoughts! If you have a bit of cash to spare, consider purchasing the Humble Conquer Covid-19 Bundle, whose entire proceeds go to fighting Covid-19 and rescuing lives.

Finally, if you’ve been waiting to stock up on some Paizo pdfs, consider getting them now during the Paizo Spring Social Sale!

Sanctioning

We have no sanctioning in the pipeline this month, as the transition to work-from-home put some wrinkles in our plans.

Achievement Points

This month, our tech team was forced to shift focus for several weeks as they ensured we all had the equipment necessary to work from home in the fact of the COVID-19 pandemic. As we finish settling into this new way of doing business, we are hopeful that their attention will be able to move back to getting this system up and running.

Campaign Coins

With no travel to conventions, we awarded no coins in the past month. As conventions continue to cancel, alternative awarding methods will be devised so we don’t have a prolonged gap in recognizing the communities’ volunteers.

Stars, Novas & Glyphs

The move to virtual games slowed some of the GM achievement progress. Thus, we have no new five-nova or five-star GMs this month.

Several of our community noted that they’ve seen their stars/novas disappear in different parts of the forums. This is due to our continual upgrade to the website and splitting of how the site accesses data. We’d ask for our GMs not to worry. The data remains in the database and we will re-hook in all the items as we get the new pages established.

Venture-Officers

Over the past month, one of our primary tasks has been updating the venture officer rosters so that everybody has access to the scenarios they need to run games. We are fast approaching the point where the system will be fully updated! At this point, all but one region’s current rostered venture-officers should have received emails. If you are volunteering and have not received an email, please contact your regional venture-coordinator. Their contact information appears here.

Charity Boons

Early in the month, we sent out all outstanding charity boons to their respective owners. Anybody whose information had been submitted should have received theirs by now! If you have not, check with the convention’s event organizer and confirm they submitted your info. If you aren’t sure who the organizer was, send an email to organizedplay@paizo.com and we will help you get records updated.

Online Resources

In the face of the current pandemic, our online venture-officers have stepped up and done a tremendous job of getting the rest of us up and running with online play. Our VTT and PBP communities are now larger than ever! They’ve shared a number of resources with all of us, as detailed in two blog posts last week. Here are links to part 1 and part 2 of the blog.

Be sure to check Warhorn, local meetups, and other community pages for online games supported by local lodges.

Conventions

Convention	Location	Start Date	Status
Tekko (2020)	Pittsburgh, PA	4/2/2020	Postponed
CODCON 2020	Glen Ellyn, IL	4/3/2020	Cancelled
Save vs Hunger 2020	Maryville, TN	4/3/2020	Cancelled
AtomiCon VIII: Story and Song (2020)	Durham, NC	4/3/2020	Postponed
AnimeDetour2020	Minneapolis, MN	4/3/2020	Cancelled
Gryphcon 2020	Guelph, Ontario, Canada	4/3/2020	Cancelled
MAG Con 2020	New Caney, TX	4/4/2020	Postponed
NORWESCON (2020)	SeaTac, WA	4/9/2020	Cancelled
EyeCon 20 (2020)	Sydney, NSW, Australia	4/10/2020	Online
MDog 2020	Kalamazoo, MI	4/10/2020	Online
WonderCon 2020	Anaheim, CA	4/10/2020	Postponed
Who's Yer Con 2020	Indianapolis, IN	4/11/2020	Cancelled
GameOn-Icon 2020	Plymouth, NH	4/11/2020	Cancelled
Crittercon 3 (2020)	Online - Cosmic Crittermander Discord	4/17/2020	Online
Cheyenne Gaming Convention (2020)	Cheyenne, WY	4/18/2020	No Change
KoboldCon 2020	Colorado Springs, CO	4/23/2020	Cancelled
RavenCon (2020)	Williamsburg, VA	4/24/2020	Cancelled
Pretzcon 2020	Ralston, NE	4/24/2020	Cancelled
SacOPF TakeTwo Con	Sacramento, CA	4/24/2020	Online
Ragnarok XP (2020)	Kitchener, Ontario, Canada	4/25/2020	No Change
Chupa VII (2020)	Austin, TX	5/1/2020	No Change
JP Lodge Con GW	Japan	5/3/2020	Online
C4 2020	Acme, MI	5/22/2020	No Change
KublaCon 2020	Burlingame CA	5/22/2020	Cencelled
LexiCon 2020	Lexington, KY	5/29/2020	No Change
UKGE 2020	Birmingham, UK	5/29/2020	Postponed
Huntsville Comic and Pop Culture Expo (2020)	Huntsville, AL	7/18/2020	No Change
1D4 Con 2020	Shepherdstown, WV	10/30/2020	No Change

Premier Conventions

As we announced last week, PaizoCon2020 has been cancelled; see the announcement here for more details on refunds and rolling over tickets. UK Game Expo has been postponed until August 21-23, 2020. Origins posted their intention to announce a decision on or before May 1. At this time, Gen Con continues as planned, though the convention aims to assess the situation closer to the show dates. We look forward to seeing you all when conventions resume!

Check back next week for more Society news!

Until then – stay safe and Explore, Report, Cooperate!

Tonya Woldridge
Organized Play Manager

Alex Speidel
Organized Play Assistant

We have joined with Roll20 to offer free products and resources to help keep your games interesting and entertaining as we all practice safe physical distancing.

Starfinder Against the Aeon Throne AP 1: The Reach of Empire

This first adventure path sends you to a fog-shrouded world in the Vast, where you will soon discover that a small military force from the Azlanti Star Empire has invaded and occupied the Pact Worlds colony there. Will you be able to liberate the settlement from its merciless oppressors?

“I was really honored to write the first volume of the Against the Aeon Throne AP. I wanted to give a real “rebels against a powerful invading force” vibe, so I focused on encounters about getting to know the beleaguered locals, making strikes against the oppressors, and finally freeing the planet from their evil influence.” - Author Ron Lundeen

Claim your copy on the Roll20 Marketplace

Pathfinder Second Edition Core Rulebook Character Art Pack

Paizo is known for its amazing artwork and now you can have a piece of it in your games. This token set is the perfect companion for your next Pathfinder game or any other game you’re in the mood for!

Claim your copy on the Roll20 Marketplace

Pathfinder Second Edition Demo Adventure: Torment and Legacy

Torment and Legacy is a short introductory adventure for Pathfinder Second Edition by Stephen Radney McFarland. Perfect for a quick demo of the game for up to six players, you should be able to complete this story in as little as 1 hour.

Claim your copy on the Roll20 Marketplace

Looking for more information on free resources? Check out Roll20’s other blog posts in the Stay at home, Play at home series!

• Stay at home, Play at home
• Stay at home, Play at home Round 2

And don’t miss the other blog posts in our online series!

• Pathfinder & Starfinder Home Gaming Guide
• Guest Blog: Online Region Resources part 1
• Guest Blog: Online Region Resources part 2

Every now and then, someone makes a typo and realizes that they’ve accidentally created a pun or joke so bad that they must immediately drop it into their team’s work chat, triggering a wave of snickering from some corner of the office. Whenever it sounds like a monster (or something else you wouldn’t want to see in a dungeon), we’ve offhandedly said “add it to the April Fool’s Bestiary.” But surely, we’d never actually stat them up and put them into a blog or some other format for them to run rampant on the internet, right? Well, against our better judgement, here are a few of the monsters that didn’t quite make the cut for Bestiaries or Alien Archives, born of typos, inside jokes, or meetings that started before the coffee pot was quite done brewing.

James Case
Organized Play Developer

Blarghest (2)

Creature 2

When a writer has run up against a particularly tough bit of text, they sometimes let out that most cathartic and universally understood of all sounds... “blargh”. When too many such sighs are uttered at a single desk, they can form into a beast that seeks to bring apathy to all it sees, as long as it doesn’t seem like too much work.

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CE, Medium, Fiend
Perception +10; darkvision, scent (imprecise) 30 feet
Languages Abyssal, Common, Goblin
Skills Deception +9, Diplomacy +7, Intimidation +9, Stealth +8, Survival +7
Str +4, Dex +2, Con +2, Int +1, Wis +1, Cha +3

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AC 18; Fort +8, Ref +10, Will +7
HP 30; Immunities emotion; Resistances fire 3, physical 3 (except magical)
Slack of Opportunity [reaction] Trigger A creature targets the blarghest with a hostile action; Effect The blarghest rolls its eyes and sighs, imposing a deep sense of... blargh... upon the attacker. The attacker must attempt a DC 18 Will save; on a failure, it decides its action is too much work and the triggering action is lost. On a critical failure, the creature is also overcome with lethargy, becoming stunned until the start of its next turn

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Speed 15 feet
Melee [one-action] jaws +11, Damage 1d8+4 piercing
Melee [one-action] claw +11 (agile), Damage 1d6+4 slashing
Divine Innate Spells DC 18, attack +10; 1st charm, command; Cantrips (1st) message, prestidigitation
Consider Shape [one-action] (concentrate, mental) The blarghest thinks about taking on the shape of a goblinoid (a goblin, hobgoblin, or bugbear) or a wolf, but it ultimately decides that actually doing so is too much work.
Placeholder [two-actions] The blarghest shouts “Blargh!” to produce the effects of any cantrip that has a verbal component. This action gains the traits of that spell

Lyz Liddell
Designer

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Demom

Creature 3

Demoms are the mothers that birthed all demons. All creatures that know of demoms simultaneously love and fear them. They seem to never sleep, lying in wait for unsuspecting targets to stay out too late or make poor life choices. It is said that demoms can cook a mean green-bean casserole.

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CE, Medium, Demon, Fiend
Perception +15; darkvision, true seeing
Languages Abyssal, Common; telepathy 100 feet (knows what you’re thinking)
Skills Diplomacy +7, Intimidation +8, Medicine +10, Stealth +8
Str +3, Dex +1, Con +0, Int +0, Wis +4, Cha +1

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AC 19; Fort +12, Ref +9, Will +7
HP 50; Immune disease, excuses, mental, sleep; Resistances cold 10, electricity 10, fire 10
Maternal Aura (aura) 50 feet. All creatures who have a tragic backstory in which they’ve lost their parents take a –4 penalty to all Will saves as they are suddenly overcome with feelings of maternal love.
Shut It [reaction] Trigger A creature targets the demom with a hostile spell that has a verbal component.
Effect The demom says, “Don’t talk back to me!” The caster must attempt a DC 18 Will save; on a failure, it promptly shuts its mouth and stares at the ground contemplating how it doesn’t deserve this.

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Speed 30 feet
Melee [one-action] hug +10, Damage 2d4+4 bludgeoning
Ranged [one-action] stern look +10, Damage 1d10+3 fire
Ground Target [three-actions] The demom narrows its eyes at a target and declared “You’re grounded!” The target creature must attempt a DC 18 Will save; on a failure, it must lay down its weapons, set up camp, and sit in its tent.
There, There [one-action] (mental, emotion, healing) Requirements The demom has a creature grabbed. Effect The demom embraces the creature and pats its back soothingly as it whispers reassurances, restoring 10 Hit Points to the creature.

Joan Hong
Customer Service Representative

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Cacaodaemon

Creature 1

A cacaodaemon appears at first glance to be an ordinary cacao pod, burnt-red in color and shaped like a football. But don’t let the promise of a sweet treat fool you—what looks like a crack in the rind is really a hideous maw filled with dozens of craggy, brown nib teeth. However, when extracted and roasted, the teeth are actually quite delicious.

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NE, Tiny, Daemon, Fiend
Perception +2
Languages Common, Daemonic; telepathy 100 feet
Skills Deception +7 (+10 to appear as an inanimate object), Nature +3, Religion +4, Stealth +5
Str +3, Dex +1, Con +4, Int –2, Wis +0, Cha +1

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AC 16; Fort +10, Ref +7, Will +4
HP 22; Immunities death effects; Resistances bludgeoning +2
Aromatic When a cacaodaemon is reduced to half its HP, the ruptures to its rind exude a fragrant tropical scent. Creatures within 10 feet of the cacaodaemon take a –1 circumstance penalty to Will saving throws until the cacaodaemon dies or is healed above half its HP.

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Speed 5 feet, fly 40 feet
Melee [one-action] nib teeth +9, Damage 1d6+3 piercing plus bitter heart
Bitter Heart (poison) The dissonance between the cacaodaemon’s sweet scent and bitter inside drains the victim’s spirit; Saving Throw DC 17 Fortitude; Maximum Duration 6 rounds; Stage 1 1d8 mental damage and flat-footed (1 round); Stage 2 1d8 mental damage and stupefied 1(1 round); Stage 3 1d12 mental damage and stupefied 2 (1 round)

Avi Kool
Editor

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SKITTERGOBLIN DECKCUTTER

CR 3

In response to the Gap, a cosmic event that erased memories and records across the planes, the multiverse reflexively attempted to rectify the countless paradoxes and uncertainties like a blind surgeon stapling flesh. Among the results were skittergoblins, amalgams of several impetuously innovative humanoids that combine goblins’ destructive curiosity with skittermanders’ compulsive drive to help out. The boldest of these creatures (known as deckcutters) haplessly learn how to bridge time and space, tumbling through infinite realities where even the underlying multiverse’s mechanics vary wildly—and in rare cases drawing bystanders into these alien realms.

XP 800
CN Small humanoid
Init +3; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +8

Defense

HP 32

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EAC 13; KAC 14
Fort +2; Ref +4; Will +6

OFFENSE

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Speed30 ft.
Melee dogslicer +5 (1d4+4 S)
Ranged card +7 (1d4+3 S; critical wound)
Offensive Abilities three-action gambit
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 3rd)
1/day—plane shift 3/day—shifting surgeCOM

STATISTICS

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Str +1; Dex +3; Con +0; Int +1; Wis +0; Cha +4
Skills Acrobatics +8, Mysticism +13, Stealth +8
Languages Common, Goblin, Vesk
Other Abilities multiarmed (6)

ECOLOGY

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Environment any land
Organization solitary, pair, or shuffle (3–6)

SPECIAL ABILITIES

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Card Shark (Ex) A skittergoblin deckcutter transforms playing cards into deadly weapons, treating them as special one-handed weapons with a range of 20 feet, the wound critical hit effect, and the analog, operative, quick reload, and thrown special weapon properties.
Supernatural Scramble (Su) For brief moments, a skittergoblin can follow the rules of other realities to perform awesome feats, often causing others to perceive ephemeral afterimages. Once per day before attempting a Strength- or Dexterity-based skill check, a skittergoblin can use its Mysticism modifier in place of its normal bonus.
Three-Action Gambit (Su) Once per day when making a full attack, a skittergoblin can make up to three attacks instead of two attacks. Instead of these attacks taking a –4 penalty, the first attack takes a –2 penalty, the second attack takes a –4 penalty, and the third attack takes a –6 penalty. If the skittergoblin has another ability that allows them to make three or more attacks, the skittergoblin takes reduces the attack penalties for three-action gambit by 1.

John Compton
Starfinder Senior Developer

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Squirrelwind

Creature 10

Few phenomena are as feared as the deadly squirrelwind. The exact nature of squirrelwinds is a subject of some debate; many scholars believe they are intentionally created by vengeful druids, while others believe they are a bizarre but natural phenomenon created when a tornado touches down in an area rich in both magical energy and heavily populated in squirrels. Despite their deadly and destructive nature and reputation, squirrelwinds are responsible for surprisingly few casualties outside of plants and wildlife, as their chittering can be heard for miles around.

N, Large, Air, Animal, Elemental
Perception +19; darkvision
Skills Acrobatics +22, Stealth +16
Str +6, Dex +7, Con +3, Int +0, Wis +3, Cha +0

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AC 32; Fort +15, Ref +23, Will +17
HP 130; Immunities paralyzed, poison, precision, sickened, sleep, swarm mind; Resistances physical 10
Chittering (aura, auditory) 60 feet. The chitters of wind-buffeted squirrels disrupts the senses, making air and ground within the emanation difficult terrain for all creatures that hear the sound.

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Speed fly 75 feet; swiftness
Melee [one-action] gust +22 (finesse, reach 20 feet), Damage 2d12+10 bludgeoning plus Push 10 feet
Ranged [one-action] squirrel +22 (deadly 1d10, thrown, range increment 30 feet, versatile S), Damage 2d4+10 bludgeoning
Squirrel Surge [one-action] (flourish) Each enemy within the squirrelwind’s chittering aura takes 1d8 slashing damage.
Swiftness The squirrelwind’s movement doesn’t trigger reactions.

Michael Sayre
Pathfinder Society Developer

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Weredigo

Creature 15

The weredigo, a relative of the wendigo, is a monstrosity that lurks in the shadows of large cities where the options for fine dining are overwhelming. When a group of indecisive adventurers reaches a culinary crossroads and can't decide which tavern to peruse for post-dungeon drinks, a weredigo is destined to appear and put these foolish foodies out of their misery. The monster gets its name from the last words uttered by its victims, who continue to ponder their gastronomical dilemma even in death: "Where to go, where to go..."

Uncommon, CN, Large, Beast
Perception +29; darkvision, hungersight
Languages Aklo, Common, Jotun; telepathy 1 mile
Skills Acrobatics +30, Intimidation +30, Restaurant Lore +31, Society +31
Str +6, Dex +7, Con +8, Int +6, Wis +8, Cha +7
Coven A weredigo adds create food, enhance victuals, and ghoulish cravings to its coven’s spells. In addition, a weredigo, wendigo, and hoodigo coven can perform a unique ritual to enter the dreams of a creature responsible for hosting an upcoming party and curse them incurable planning indecision.
Hungersight (divination, primal) A weredigo can precisely sense peckish creatures.

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AC 37; Fort +29, Ref +28, Will +31
HP 280; Immunities indecision; Weaknesses any diner who has a “regular” order; Resistances hunger 20
Speed fly 100 feet

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Melee [one-action] jaws +29 (magical, reach 10 feet), Damage 3d10+14 piercing plus weredigo torment
Melee [one-action] fork +29 (agile, reach 10 feet), Damage 3d6+14 piercing plus Grab
Melee [one-action] knife +29 (agile, reach 10 feet), Damage 3d6+14 slashing
Reduce Options [two-actions] Requirements The weredigo is adjacent to two creatures that can’t decide where to get brunch. Effect The weredigo makes two fork Strikes and two knife Strikes against one of the adjacent creatures. These attacks don’t count toward the weredigo’s multiple attack penalty.
Weredigo Torment (curse, enchantment, mental, primal) A creature affected by weredigo torment can’t recover beyond stage 1 until it has been restored to full HP. Saving Throw Will DC 35; Stage 1 Stupefied 4 (1 day); Stage 2 As stage 1 (1 day); Stage 3 The creature becomes permanently afflicted with analysis paralysis, unable to make even the simplest of dining decisions, absentmindedly sipping their water whenever asked for their order.

Patrick Renie
Developer